Black Vatican #8

Artist comments:

This one was a bit of a challenge, and to tell the truth I'm still not very happy with how it turned out. I got very tried of muddling through the perspective in the lab about half way through frame two, and I hate to say it, but it shows. It was a learning experience though. I tried to use the standard artist perspective tricks and
tools they teach you as a freshmen student of art - but digital work is somehow different. And I ended up using Photoshop's perspective tool a lot more than a manually included vanishing point. This will be an environment that I will have to spend some time working with before I get it to where I want it to be. As for the characters, I'm reasonably pleased with Flynn's expression in the last frame, and The Unbeliever's text bubble too. I had some ice covered lettering I was going to use there, but it made it somewhat cliche, so just the bubble. Otherwise I just expanded on the characters from BV#7.

Nerdygirl, I know I said I would rework your character, and I am, it just didn't make it into this comic. By the time I was ready to add the characters I was already about five hours into this bloody comic, so I didn't feel like trying to add the new sprites. Sorry hun, next time...

And now I'm going to go vacuum; it's been a week and it's driving me nuts!

The Reverend's Comments:

Sometimes, getting the comic up is like an episode of Doctor Who. The problem starts out small and innocuous - like drivers that install themselves, or a script that calls for a long, cinematic pullback - then 30 minutes later, our world is overrun by aliens, the fabric of reality is in jeopardy, and Flynn is facing the fact that he may have to strand Nerdy in another dimension and sacrifice himself to save us all. Despite this, he always pulls through in a fashion that would make the Doctor proud. Sure, there are casualties - like this comic was originally slated for 6 panels, not 4 - but in the end it's only red shirts who die, and we all breathe a collective sigh of relief as our little comic Tardis tumbles through time toward its next adventure.

In analyzing this Whovian simile, I have to concede that unfortunately, Flynn is no timelord. If he were, we would simply go back in time and post the comics like clockwork, every Monday and Thursday. In reality, we work more like Torchwood; we get it done when we get it done, and then we cover up all the blood and mess.

I like to see myself as Captain Jack - dashing through time with a hard-on and a snappy, non-standard wardrobe - but I've come to realize that in a sense, I'm the villain. As the scriptwriter, I am the one who creates the situations that break Flynn's computers and strain his illustration skills. I'm no easy, one-shot villain either, but an ongoing nemesis like the Daleks or the Cybermen. Even when the comic goes smoothly, I'm always in the background plotting the next invasion, with a resurrection gauntlet on one hand and a stopwatch in the other...