In the first pass of the script, this scene with the rustlers didn’t exist, but I eventually came to realize that the story was focusing almost exclusively on the Brimia crew. I hadn’t given any face time to the “bad guys,” so they were just there to be ciphers and obstacles for Roka’s crew without ever having their own personalities. I remember hearing some commentary for LOTR: Return of the King, where the writers mentioned that originally, it was just a giant faceless orc army attacking Minas Tirith. But then it felt lopsided since there were such clear leaders and main characters on the Gondorian/human side, but no such characters on the evil side. So they added Gothmog and some other orc lieutenants to the mix giving out orders and rallying the troops so that the bad guys would have a “point of view” as well as the good guys.
With this scene, I wanted to accomplish the same thing by spending just a few moments with the bad guys. I thought it would be nice to get their names out there and also show that they’re actually quite competent and well aware that they are being followed. I think that sort of thing adds suspense since, as a reader, you now know something the protagonists don’t, and it also establishes the bad guys as more formidable adversaries.
Mission accomplished I would say.
I’m beginning to wonder if the “Snow Job” might involve Baso and the mysterious character going up against Warsaw & Uskulon with Roka and his crew getting caught up in the middle.
Time will tell…
Very nice. They have names and goals and lives, which always makes “the bad guys” about ten thousand times more interesting.
Also, very cool character design, especially on Warsaw. Your ability to come up with fabulous aliens still astounds me. 🙂
Wow. that looks awesome.
I enjoy seeing the bad guys act in a companionable manner. Warsaw’s compliment makes him a far more fascinating character than if he was simply a tough guy loner.
(sorry, been lurking without a comment since fall 2009 lol. I feel like I REALLY have to reply)
Warsaw = tough guy loner?
It didn’t feel like that to me. It seems to me that Baso is the new guy as the loner of the gang (aka Bocce in the good bunch). After all, Warsaw asked Uskullon (whatever how his name is supposed to be) first and then Uskullon asked Baso about the tail in a tone that is almost taunting (espically with Warsaw’s quick compliment disguised as a slightly sarcastic insult).
At least that’s the way *I* read it. I might be a bit too biased in considering Baso as the new member being a loner.
Interesting read. I actually had not intended Baso to be the mirror for Bocce on the bad guy side, but it’s definitely an interesting angle. As for the dialog, yes, Baso is the new man of the group, but Warsaw and Uskulon aren’t really beating him down. They’re actually testing him to see if he’s ready to “earn his mark.” So they are genuinely complimenting him. More on that “mark” coming up in issue #3…
Ah, should I feel relieved that Baso isn’t being insulted then?
Just wondering anyway… Do you know that Warsaw is a famous city in Poland? Why did you pick a polish city to name one of the aliens anyhow?
PS This may sound dumb but it feels like a thrill to have you replying to my very first post here. Hey! It’s only my first time, so it’s just a weird feeling to have the creator of a comic that I really love to read responding to **MY** thoughts. Freaky, super freaky.
I do know about Warsaw, the city, but didn’t intend to refer to it in any way. Since both words “war” and “saw” have aggressive connotations (“saw” in this case being a jagged cutting tool), I thought the combination would be a cool name for a bad guy. In establishing my RUNNERS universe and its characters, one thing I decided NOT to do was to go with the standard sci-fi unpronounceable strings of letters for alien names. I deliberately don’t want names like “K’thk’x’cn” or “Ydih K’lth” or that kind of thing. For some reason, a lot of the time, that just seems a bit fake to me. So in almost every case throughout the series, alien names in RUNNERS will be fairly easy to pronounce.
Yes, i would’ve been disappointed if these ‘cattle rustlers’ were taken down to easily.
Of curse the Cattle has more to it then you think!
Not as much a “famous city” as “the capital”. Though not really since the XVI century, as some people think. And the name of the city is actually derived from a personal name (Warsz – not used anymore round here, though) so this is somewhat appropiate I think. And if Terry Pratchett can have “Sto Lat”…
Also – love the snow planet! (But it’s winter there, right? It has at least brief periods of summer?)
Always interesting to get some background info on where city names came from! As for the snow planet, I guess it has brief periods of summer, although I’m not sure how much warmer it gets during those periods!
I like your personalization of the villains, because it fits with your storytelling style, but in reference to your notation on the LotR movies, I disagree with the inclusion of villain identities that were not specifically created by Tolkein. As I see it, having a faceless horde assaulting Gondor was a deliberate choice on Tolkein’s part, since it better emphasized the overwhelming tide of evil arrayed against man. Sometimes a nameless adversary is more effective.
Interesting take, and I totally agree. That’s been my long-standing complaint about Star Trek and the Borg. Back in the TNG series, they were just a force of nature that could not be reasoned with and had no clear hierarchy of leadership (IE weakness). The introduction of the Queen in First Contact really killed that and, for me anyway, ruined everything that made them so unique. So yes, in a number of cases, a nameless adversary can be much cooler.
“Warsaw”? Why’s that guy named like my country’s capital?
Ha ha. Sometimes I just pick a name that I like the sound of. There’s another character in this story named Goshen, which is a local town in my area!