Commentary
for June 24, 2022:
It’s the start of
a new chapter, Chapter 39: ‘Potentia’. The title of this story is
one of the few things retained from the original tale, told in
Eon’s Comic #155-156, but we’ll cover that at the end.
This page was a bit of a slog. Getting that shot just right in the
first panel took much longer than I’d hoped. It wasn’t just the
placement of things, either, but the colours too. Indeed, I wasn’t
at all satisfied with my initial efforts on the first three panels
and came back the next day to make a few changes. I’m reasonably
satisfied with them now, however. But the last two panels took a few
days for me to get to, because I needed to make sprites of Sonic’s
family. Uncle Chuck was easy enough, given that he’s basically a
paler blue Sonic with a moustache and eyebrows (and a slightly
different wardrobe), but Bernie and Aleena took a bit more effort.
Still, I’m very satisfied with how they turned out. I suppose I
should say something Sonic’s parents here. In official fiction (in
western media anyway), there have been two completely different
characters who have been Sonic’s mother, and I was inspired by a fun
Tumblr blog that reimagined them both as Sonic’s parents.
When I said “MAKE IT GAYER”, I meant it!
But if Bernie (who is based on Sonic’s mum from the Archie comics),
has been recast as Uncle Chuck’s little sister, does that mean Jules
(Sonic’s father in the Archie series) doesn’t exist in Eon’s
World? Honestly, he may not. I liked Jules well enough in the
old comics, but I think the most interesting part of him was that he
was the last roboticised person on Mobius, and roboticisation just
isn’t a thing in this setting. I don’t know how I’d make Jules
interesting and, given that I’ve made Aleena (based on Sonic’s
mother in Sonic Underground) Bernie’s wife and Sonic’s other
parent, Jules is just kind of surplus to requirements. That doesn’t
mean he’ll definitely never appear, just that I have no plans
for him at this time. And if he does appear, he won’t be
Sonic’s father.
Anyway, enough of that. You’ll be forgiven for not noticing, given
that the date is not stated anywhere on this page, as it often is at
the start of a new chapter, but this story actually takes place over
a month after the events of the last two chapters. It is now mid
October, which is why autumn is in full swing and it’s harvest
festival time on South Island. So far, the only other holidays I’ve
established to be observed in this setting are the winter and summer
solstices, and I wanted to add a bit culture to the world of...
Eon’s World. And that’s why harvest festival is a thing. I’m
kind of imagining it as being a little like North America’s
Thanksgiving, but without any of the problematic colonial baggage.
But I digress. Sonic getting together with his family for harvest
festival and taking this opportunity to introduce his parents all
spun out of the autumnal setting and Silver’s musings over a world
that still has things like the fall; the family scenes in this
chapter were not in the original plan I wrote for it about two years
ago now. I’d say more about Silver, but as you might guess, this is
a Silver story, so there’ll be plenty of time to say more to say
about him in the coming commentaries. |
