ONE:
On the maindeck, where DRAKE and the cluster of CREWMEN are trying to put out the fire.
Of the three remaining FLYERS, we can see TWO in the BG, here, buzzing around like wasps on meth, coming around for another pass. The CLOUD of SMOKE still visible, blocking the view of Iron Crown.
A couple of the DECK MARKSMEN are taking SHOTS at the FLYERS, and missing.
DRAKE has realized that the sand they’re throwing won’t get the lines doused in time.
1. TAILLESS: —sand, get some sand on it—
2. TAILLESS: It’s spreading, keep it from the sails—
TWO:
DRAKE tosses away his BUCKET of SAND, and is producing a bone-handled KNIFE from somewhere on his person where we’ve never seen it before because I want him to have a knife for this, Rick, okay, deal with it.
3. TAILLESS: —Maker’s name, keep it from the sails!
THREE:
DRAKE slices the BURNING RIGGING with one hand, grimacing as he grabs hold of the burning ropes with his other, casting them to the deck.
4. DRAKE: gnhn
FOUR:
Past DRAKE, reacting, as the GUNNER from the doomed flyer that has just passed overhead comes crashing to the deck, landing atop the burning rigging that’s just been discarded.
5. SFX: WHUMMP
6. GUNNER/wobble/faint: *groan*
HAH! “Deal with it”
Ah. You’re one of those weirdos who reads the scripts, hmm?
I love that I put that in, and Rick’s response is to give him not one, but TWO knives on his braces.
I count three, at least. Unless one of those is a second gun.
I think the brown (wood) handle is a second gun.
Two guns and a knife on the braces. Uppermost gun looks like one of those 2- to 4-shot derringer-type pistols.
I also noticed that he had Drake grab the burning rigging with the coat wrapped around his hand so he doesn’t burn himself directly. (Hot tar-coated rigging will be plenty hot through the coat so the “ungh” is reasonable.)
And this is yet another reason why I love working with Rick – I didn’t script it, but it was absolutely perfect that he do so.
Don’t MOST of us read the scripts? I LOVE that you include them.
http://i.imgur.com/1etEKy3.gif
Mean!
It’s raining men! (well, pilots anyway)
*snerk*
Niiice. You just made me spray my morning coffee….
What happened to the guy with the keel gun?
He’s still in the keel gun. There were four flyers, and we’re jumping all about the ship at the moment. Young Erich will be seen again shortly.
Well, considering his collar just got sprung in the ruckas, a case could be made for a back of the collar sheath.
*kof* “Ruckus” I hope you mean 😉
Yes, cause the other could be not only embar assing, but also painful.
It’s fun to read the script, as you find out the differences in interpretation. Or what is extraneous or hard for Rick to compose in a coherent drawing. We have the presto-appearo knife but also the missing bucket of sand.
One of the things that’s been most interesting about watching this process as both one of the people involved in the creation of the strip, but also as a person who has, long before Lady Sabre, been a fan of both Greg and Rick, is the truly collaborative nature of their work together.
There’s a…well, I was going to say unspoken, but it’s actually been verbalized several times…trust between the two of them. Greg provides some visual description, but you’ll notice that he doesn’t write like a shooting script. Most of his descriptions tend to deal with the characters, their actions, reactions and emotional states, and their position relative to each other. But he doesn’t, for the most part, define where the, for lack of a better term, “camera,” should be. This makes sense I think, because Greg’s storytelling is very much based in character. You’ll notice that even in the middle of a battle, the action isn’t all about spectacle of conflict, but the way each of the characters are dealing with the situation.
I might be biased, but I believe Rick to be a vastly underrated visual storyteller. Greg believes it too, which is why there’s so much trust. When I read the script, my imagination composes the scenes in my head, but when I see Rick’s drawings, it blows my imagination out of the water. He’s got talents at pacing, framing, and showing action across a page that I think aren’t valued enough in mainstream comics today because they’re not flashy. Rick was inspired by a long line of folks who might best be called “artist’s artists,” and I think he’s joined that lineage.
I’ve contributed two ideas for visuals via in-between single images (the chapter 08 “Next” image with the Pegasus reflected in the gunner’s goggles, and the snowball fight for the holiday card this year), and let me tell you, it is a rush to give an artist an idea, think you’ve got it looking pretty good in your head, and then have them return something that positively amazes you in ways you didn’t expect. I am infinitely jealous of Greg and other comic writers who get to do this regularly.
This is the reason why we were eager to include the scripts (in addition to providing a way to tell the story for people who have visual impairments), so that you all could appreciate our comics as a collaborative process.
P.S. In appreciation of Rick, and to highlight that chapter 08 image, which I am still proud to have had a hand in, take a look back and notice that, where other artists might copy + paste, Rick took the time to draw the Pegasus from two different angles to reflect the different viewpoints of each of the gunner’s eyes: http://www.ineffableaether.com/2012/09/20/ch08aaateaser/
Agreed, including the scripts makes things much more interesting.
That is good new page for us the madly fans
If that guy is still alive, I have a feeling he’s gonna get stabbed.
Cut the gunners chute straps, cut his throat, throw his body over the rail, take no prisoners, he’d have shot you down like a clay pigeon and laughed about it, this is war, people.