I don’t know if panel 1 came out as well as I was hoping. I wanted to introduce the video footage of the Tique Amara, while still showing the crew, so I decided to do a semi-transparent screen with characters visible behind it. But I think it all gets a bit more jumbled visually than I would like.
In this sequence (and the earlier one with the Tedeskian captain Lennig Niska), I used subtle horizontal banding on all the video to help visually differentiate the past action on screen from the present action of the crew watching it. I also used a different panel shape for all the video playback content.
I do think the horizontal bands work well to convey video playback even though the sci-fi nerd in me feels like that sort of tech issue would’ve probably been worked out by now in an advanced spacefaring culture!
That guy is talented. Hacked open a stasis tank with an energy axe, had the contents spray out, and did not even get wet.
As for the horizontal bands, it adds a 1970’s-to-1990’s movie aesthetic to the comic. It’s like picture-in-picture scanline from the capture of a monitor on set. So I really like it. I think we need more substance and quirks in our media instead of this endless march towards sterilized, smoothed over perfection.
Ack. Did not think about that. Also, he has a personal shield on that you just can’t see that keeps him from getting wet. Nailed it.
The first panel does take a good look to see what’s going on, but it looks really cool after that process.
Visually I like the look of the horizontal bands. It’s a very efficient way to tell the readers that they are looking at a video.
Perhaps in an advanced spacefaring culture there is more emphasis on constantly improving the spaceship engines than improving video screens. Perhaps in this universe live entertainment is more valued than watching streaming services, so that’s another reason for video screen development to be a low priority.
If Star Wars can have flickery holograms as their primary displays, you can have blue-tint banding.
I parsed the first panel fine. This page does a great job both at conveying a lot of information and at keeping a discussion about video footage interesting.
Thanks everyone! Glad the look of the screens works! And always fun to see people chime in.
You’re of course assuming these guys have state of the art equipment. My guess is they wouldn’t and they’re lucky there’s no pixelisation. 😀