Commentary
for June 16, 2021:
It may be that I haven’t done
any serious work on Vol. 2 in over a year now, but I wasn’t happy
with how the art was turning out over the last four pages. That’s no
longer the case. I am quite pleased with how this page has turned
out, especially that first panel. And I have no complaints at all
over how I’ve drawn Nicole in panels 2 and 4. Heck, even Sally looks
all right, and I’ve always found her a little tricky to draw.
Speaking of Sally and Nicole, you may have noticed that I’ve revised
their designs a little since they last appeared in Chapter 9, two
years ago. I’ve drawn Nicole essentially as she appeared in the
Archie Sonic comics as of issue 252, with just the addition
of visible joints to indicate that her body is robotic, rather than
holographic. Previously, I’d simplified her outfit a bit, but I
decided to just say to heck with it and put her in the outfit she
wore in the official comics. Who’s to say she doesn’t have more than
one outfit, after all? Same deal with Sally, really. Here she’s
wearing an outfit based on a drawing I did of her for
Pride 2019, slightly modified to
remove the sleeves and replace the gold cuffs with her ringblade
bands. And yes, those are her ringblades, dear readers; if you’ve
read Vol. 1, you’ll even know
when she got those now. Of course,
if you haven’t read Vol. 1, first of all, what are you doing? You’re
missing out on some of my best writing ever! Go check it out! But
secondly, you may have noticed that Sally’s tail is a lot smaller
than when she last appeared.
In Chapter 9, when Sally made her true debut in Eon’s World,
I had reimagined her as a squirrel, rather than a chipmunk, given
that she was originally based on the
Ricky squirrel released from some Badniks in the classic
Sonic games. But early in writing Vol. 1, shortly after
wrapping up Chapter 9, I went back on that decision and went with
her more conventional chipmunk portrayal. Here it’s a retcon. I have
considered going back to Chapter 9 and editing the art to replace
her squirrel tail with a chipmunk one (I could do it relatively
easily), but I’m not sure it’s necessary, because retcons happen.
Sally was originally pink in the official comics, after all.
The presidential house in panel 1 is based on a background sprite I
made of the same building back in the days of Eon’s Comic,
albeit rendered as a full 3D model, which I was able to use as a
guide for that first panel. I deliberately framed that panel to
evoke the same kind of establishing shot I’d have made for Eon’s
Comic back in the day. Indeed, those kind of establishing shots
can be found often in Eon’s World Vol. 1, now, too. That
said, I am considering using a lot of more 3D modelling for
backgrounds in Vol. 1 going forwards, so it would be quite amusing
if those sprites never got reused for Vol. 1 when the story gets far
enough along.
Anyway, enough about the art. What about the story? Well, if you
missed it, the issue here is the fallout from
something that happened in Chapter
10, as indicated in panel 3. President Rosko of the Cornerian
Federation has been murdered and the Cornerians believe Eon Squirrel
is the killer; so, naturally, they want him extradited to face
justice for his alleged crime, but Sally, President of the Terran
Union, is having none of it. More on that on Saturday... |
