This short run of pages (like 3 more) is going to read better continuously, in the finished book or in the archive. I don’t think the pacing is right for a once-weekly update. That’s a struggle I deal with constantly — making pages that work on the slow update pace, or pages that work well in a continuous reading. It’s hard to do both at once.
Don’t worry, though. I’m sure Joey will do something every week to get your attention. Oh, look, he’s picking up Jacob’s mail, isn’t that thoughtful…
↓ Transcript
Roger: You're Dahnai. You're alive.
Dahnai: You have me at a disadvantage. You are...?
Roger: Roger. I can't believe you're here.
Dahnai: I thought you were expecting me.
Roger: I mean, I knew you used to be here. But Jacob was so sure that you were dead.
Dahnai: That man. I don't want to speak to him. He smells of every kind of death.
Roger: Jacob's not a bad guy. I've seen worse.
Dahnai: You have me at a disadvantage. You are...?
Roger: Roger. I can't believe you're here.
Dahnai: I thought you were expecting me.
Roger: I mean, I knew you used to be here. But Jacob was so sure that you were dead.
Dahnai: That man. I don't want to speak to him. He smells of every kind of death.
Roger: Jacob's not a bad guy. I've seen worse.
When I saw the panel I thought Joey is sending a package to Jacob. Then I read the comment and saw that it’s the other way round (more or less). The panel is mistakable.
Last we saw Joey, he was asking about the old smuggler’s drop, so no, I’d say it’s pretty unmistakable. Would be more so in a single reading, to be sure, but even with a page a week, it works for me – and apropos that: I’m usually picky about pacing, but this comic’s just works for me.
Struggle: Successful?
Thank you for an engaging comic!
@Sidhekin: What do you mean? There’s nothing in the last panel indicating that anything is going on other than Joey sending off a package to Jacob.
Context. Last we saw Joey, he was asking about the old smuggler’s drop. It’s not in that last panel. It’s in the context.
Okay, thinking about it, I guess you could interpret it as Joey sending off a package through the old smuggler’s drop. Really though, in context, that never would have occured to me.
Elaborating on context: Before Joey asked about the old smuggler’s drop, he had concluded that Jacob was “searching for something”, and he doubted “it’s buried somewhere”. Straight from that, he jumped to the old smuggler’s drop.
And more context: We have already been told that Fumiaki has sent Jacob dozens of skull-filled boxes from many ports. Jacob has, to his and our knowledge, picked up only one of those. It’s something of a coincidence (unless specially arranged), but having Joey come across one of these, does not sound like a stretch.
That’s some impressive branch cover if Roger can walk up there…
Dahnai is still cute.
Yes, that is exactly what he should smell like, given what he is…
Six comments before I woke up this morning? Wow, people. 🙂
Yes, it’s a box of skulls. Like I said, it’ll be more obvious with the next page. I could have put Joey receiving and opening the box on the same page, but I’m trying to balance just one of Joey’s bright panels against the dark backgrounds of the jungle scene. It’s an artistic decision, and I think it’ll read better in a book rather than on a one-per-week web page. I won’t play these tricks often, I promise you.
Of course, next week, you’re all going to flip out anyway…oh, well, what’s drawn is drawn. 🙂
Wasn’t Jacob the one who suggested she go into hiding? I mean, it was somewhat hard to tell who the Genocide Men with Lola were since they had hair in the flashback.
Yes, that was Jacob. They were also wearing sunglasses. 🙂 But back then everyone thought Dahnai had the lifespan of a large dog. We’re almost sixty years later.
Most of the questions you all are asking will be answered soon. I wish I could have delivered this five-page segment all at once.
To be honest, I had forgotten what the smuggler’s drop was, so when Joey asked about it I thought he was going to use it for something. And in this page I had forgotten his name, so I thought he was picking up his own stuff.
Because sending himself packages filled with useful equipment seemed like a clever thing to do. Then again, I suppose ‘useful equipment’ would mostly be things that would be much too irresponsible to send through smuggler’s drop. So maybe not clever at all, if that had been the case.