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| Here's an example of something I like to do on occasion, which is hide things in the background. Ideally, those "things" would be jokes. The problem is that I've yet to properly get the hang of effective use of space, and so we end up closer to things cowering in the background. Here, the space is used well, but Shirk and his coupon book aren't exactly a joke. There is something else unusual in this strip that would have needed attention had we moved into post production. It's hard to tell in black and white, but Shirk's shoulder belt is on the wrong side. This is because it was necessary to mirror him to keep his head from disappearing behind text bubbles. It also means that Shirk is reading backwards, which gives him quite a headache. | As with 90% of this strip, the police uniforms were a last-minute decision. Often this sort of thing comes out of rummaging around in the prop box or stealing costumes from other productions. In the interest of simplicity (and of Not Getting Caught Stealing Costumes), I simply drew T-shirts with some roughly badge-shaped patch on them. The collars were added to complete the effect, because otherwise it looked like the town of Bob had a bunch of yuppies and their polo shirts policing the town. And that was just frightening. For those of you not in the know, "botched his sneak roll" is slang for throwing up on the cell guard and then slipping on the mess and knocking yourself out cold on the floor. | No, you're right. This panel likely makes no sense. Being forced to explain a joke is generally a sign of a really bad joke, but that's just what I'm going to do. See, Nate is responding to the revelation that Shirk just had in Panel 2. Andrew, being the source of the revelation, is asked for clarification. Okay, I admit it. That's not even a really bad joke. I have given you a strip without a punchline and with a very confusing cliffhanger. I'm a bad person. |
Once Upon a Table is © 2002-2024 by Mark Evan Jones
