I’m not a big fan of decompressed storytelling, taking a 3-or-4-issue story and padding it out to 6 issues (typical graphic novel length) by just telling less of the story in each issue. I tend to pack a lot into my stories, dating back to my Tick days when I had to tell an entire story in a single issue. The downside to packing a lot of story in is that I sometimes don’t get the space to just do some nice mood setting or environmental shots.

In this case, I knew the rest of the story was going to be all-out frenetic action, so I wanted to take a moment to show the calm before the storm. I really love this page as it shows the calm of the Oniaka City Station and slowly zooms in on the Julawna Tavern exterior, which sets up for the free-for-all to come…