Ooh!! Mechanical arm!
I’m not sure if it was obvious, but I made sure never to show Azarek’s other arm until now, which again made the previous fight panels pretty difficult to stage. While the poncho was effective in hiding the arm, it was actually part of that original Grissom design as well. So that worked out!
The arm surprise also contributed to my decision to cut the earlier fight scene with the three bounty hunters, since I think it would’ve been hard keeping his arm hidden the entire time without it becoming distracting.
Some of you may notice the use of more sound effects here. In past commentaries, I mentioned my ongoing struggle with when to use sound effects and when to let the action in the artwork imply them. Recently when posting my comic over on Webtoon, some readers mentioned the big fight in Vol 2 feeling oddly silent without the sound effects and I kinda agree. At the time, I felt like I used too many in Vol 1 but now maybe I used too few in Vol 2. We’ll see what happens next!
“Black jack” is a term I used waaaay back in the very first RUNNERS story ever, which appeared in the Small Press Expo 2000 Anthology. It basically refers to any kind of dampener or disruptor that shorts out a system.
I didn’t notice the amount of sound effects…which tells me they were used just right cause they didn’t distract me. =)
Nice! Also, KA-POW! Had to throw in an extra sound effect there. 🙂
This seems like a good use of sound effects.
Wouldn’t slapping a black jack on a cyborg arm be extremely risky? As in you could give someone a heart attack or cause the limb’s power packs to overload and explode?
Generally, I use “disruptors” to refer to weapons that shut down a system, like an EM pulse, I guess. In some cases it’s selective, IE pirates use them to knock out a ship’s propulsion, weapons, etc, but not life support. In this case, it would just shut something down but hopefully not overload it. I guess the art does make it look more like an energy surge though.
This is the visual storytelling I mentioned on page 2. The hiding and revealing of the Battle Arm. Nicely done!
Good use of sound effects here. They tell us something about the type of damage being done.
I don’t remember anything being strange sound effect wise in volumes 1 or 2, but maybe that’s a good incentive to read them again on Webtoons. I think the last chapter I read there was the moment Grissom is introduced.
To be honest, I’m sure the SFX are something I tend to OVERthink. In most cases, I don’t think I’d really notice in other comics if they were there or not. But I do think, as long as they aren’t intrusive art-wise, they can add a little bit to an action scene, even if they’re not consciously being read and absorbed.
And yeah, the arm was a bit tough to hide in a few panels. But I like that it wasn’t really noticeable, so when you get to this page, you go back and check the previous ones. I love stuff like that!
Hehe~ Not only is she a better fighter then the three outside, her streak of one liners are on POINT! ;D
Also hmmMMmmMMMMmmmm… I do have to wonder if this T-13 she speaks of is something more along the lines of Bocce’s arm tech. Be hard to clip a little EMP to plasma-ish stuff, after all~
…Then again, could also be me overthinking. Ever since the flashback last chapter showed that he had that tech BEFORE his tragic backstory moment, has made me wonder just how… ‘common’ that tech must be under normal circumstances. Bonus so when we’ve already seen at least two other characters who’ve lost their arms, but have forgone getting ANY sort of prosthetic, even of the most basic kind…
Overactive theory crafting brain runs abound 8D
Or the T-13 is super low tech, like made out of wood and coconut husks. Gilligan’s Island tech always defeats disruptor technology! Seriously though, I enjoy your thought process. Even I had to think a bit to remember which other characters had lost limbs and didn’t have prosthetics. Now I know why some writers have other people to track details for them! 🙂