“Striking Sparks” — Page Seventy

Apr12
by Bob Forward on 2015-04-12 at 21:00
Chapter:

Aaaannnnd… scene!

In movies this would be called the Martini Shot. So I guess in webcomics this is the “Martini Page.” And I’m fairly certain Max-The-Artist is having one. Seventy pages of high-octane crashing helicopters and burning down City Hall, chilled with ghostly presence, shaken well via explosions, and poured out into the Right Kind of Glass with just a dash of feels. Oh yeah. He’s earned it.

For that matter, so has Max the MC, who did just get blown out of a building a day ago. Not all the spirits in a man’s system have to be ghostly. But in keeping with the color scheme, he may choose to make it Sapphire.

Whew.

BTW – just a heads-up that next week will be a semi-hiatus to give the artist a breather; but we’ll have some Fan Art. And I’ll try to set something on fire and do a blog about it. So there will be an update, just nothing canon. Then we’ll have an Epilogue or two, because the world doesn’t stop simply because our hero is sidelined with a broken ankle. We’ll be invoking some Comic Book Time, of course, but there’s still going to be some stuff happening during that period that we’d like to explore. So stay with us!

And more below!

 

Bobservations

The Felicity Effect

 

A common problem in physics – or just life in general – is what is called “The Observer Effect.” The fact that it is difficult to observe something without having an influence on it in some way. A physical thermometer will slightly cool the liquid it is attempting to measure; a tire pressure gauge will often release a small amount of air in the process of checking the tire.

And as any entertainer can tell you, an audience’s reaction can definitely affect a performance, even while it is still in progress.

In the show Arrow, for instance, Oliver Queen’s stated goal was to “save his city.” He did this primarily by leaping off buildings, growing beard stubble, and sticking arrows in people. He also scowled a lot, lurked in shadows, and surrounded himself with people – primarily women – who were bitchy, self-centered, and invariably had their own evil agendas. He kept saying he wanted to “save his city,” but why? From all indications the place was a cesspool and everyone in it was rotten to the core. As a result, despite some excellent production values, Arrow was in serious danger of drowning in its own grimness.

Enter Felicity.

She was just supposed to be a minor character, a one-shot appearance by a little-known actress as a tech girl, but she was adorable, self-assured, free of guile, and she got Oliver to smile. She lit up the screen. She lit up the audience. Hell, she lit up the whole damn city. There, right there, was the real reason to “save the city.” Because crappy though Starling City was, it still had people like Felicity in it.

So she was added to the cast, the show was vastly improved, and now of course she is in serious danger of being over-used. But there’s no doubt that the audience’s initial reaction to her gave the show a much-needed shove in the right direction.

In our own storyline, especially for this episode, there have been a number of changes from our initial rough. Oddly enough, the initial thumbnailed rough was seventy pages long, and the final result was seventy pages as well. However, a good deal was changed along the way. And I think mostly for the better. I’m not going to give you any details — better you just think that we had it planned out from the get-go. But we pay attention to stats and feedback and it is obvious when things are working; even if they are things we hadn’t originally anticipated. And to the extent we can, we seize onto those things and play them up.

So yes. In the coming storylines, some changes will be happening. Some we had planned from the get-go; a few others were influenced by you, the readership. You won’t know which. But you’ll probably like the result.

Because you helped make it happen.

— Bob out