Chapter 1: Page 6
StopWatchers on July 4, 2017
SWORD FIGHT!
The beginning of the first big action scene in the comic. Incase anyone was wondering that “KAPOW!” is definitely homage to the great 1960’s Batman, starring the late Adam West. I had been wrestling with what sound effect to write for Duglas’s blow to Enzo, going through about three of four different options. None of them seemed to fit right. So in the end I just decided to go with a pop culture reference, whether someone gets it or not.
I really do love this page. The layout ended up being very strong and dynamic, and I’m super happy with how the first panel turned out. This page really gets the action of the comic off on the right foot. It only gets bigger and better from here though folks!
So what do you think? Disagree with any of my thoughts on this page? Agree with any of them? Leave a comment below and let me know!!
El Cid at 12:36PM, July 4, 2017
Oh, and while I'm being nitpicky, these "heroes" lose some major points, because they just as easily could have appeared a few minutes earlier and stopped Mister Ripper Dude *before* he carved that poor woman up like a Thanksgiving turkey. They're bad at their job.
StopWatchers at 1:42PM, July 4, 2017
Thank you for reading the first few pages of Stop Watchers El Cid! To address your comment about going back and stopping Ripper before killing the girl: when writing time travel stories, you have to decide on the "rules" of your story. For Stop Watchers, I'm going with the "paradox" rule. So, the only way they were able to find Jack the Ripper was because he was committing these murders. If they went back and stopped him before he committed them, then how would they have found him in the first place? A paradox, which (much like the explanation in Back to the Future) could tear the entire universe apart. When I wrote this, I envisioned that they finally pegged him after the murder he committed on the first page, and immediately sprang into action to bring him in, which is why they showed up a minute later. I know this was a long explanation, and these rules of time travel will be explained in a future chapter, but since you pointed it out I wanted to explain at least this rule now.
El Cid at 12:35PM, July 4, 2017
It's a pretty snazzy action sequence, as far as Hollywood-style swashbuckling goes. They should have gone with a better design for their extendo-swords, though. Those blunt-edged broadswords were really best for armored knight-on-knight combat in the Middle Ages, because they were basically just baseball bats with a pointy tip that you could pummel a guy with. These guys should be going at it with rapiers or something like that.
StopWatchers at 1:43PM, July 4, 2017
It made me so happy to read the word "swashbuckling"! That's exactly the tone I'm going for with the action sequences! And thank you for the quick note on swords. Very interesting, obviously you really know your stuff!!