Spoilers, obv.
These are a little delayed, due to the business of the month. I’ve
gone from SDCC, to a few days in San Diego, to running a stag, to
being ill, to doing a Wedding and then settling back into work. I
haven’t even been working out, which says everything.
Anyway – as WicDiv 13 is out next week, thought I should put
some bits and pieces down here, before they just don’t get done.
This was obviously a stressful one, as it was the first
of the guest issues and follows directly on from issue 11. Kate’s
great, but I felt for her, as she was going into a pretty intense
crowd. The general response was what we expected – what surprised
us that the regularity of comments that had no idea that we were
doing a Guest arc. As in, the number of people who don’t read
anything in the backmatter, ever. That we had people mailing and
messaging us to ask about it implies there’s people who follow us
closely enough to actually know where to find us online whose don’t
read the writing at the back to see if it tells them the answer to
their questions.
Obviously this isn’t judging them – seeing how people choose to
process information, and using that to see how best to reach them is
kinda part of the job. But it was a bit of a surprise, and has made
us consider a few other things, in terms of the backmatter.
Jamie’s Cover
First of the new design. We’ll be keeping this
until issue 17, I think, and then changing up when Jamie comes back
on the book. I like this a lot.
Kate’s Cover
We bounced ideas off each other, and basically
both went “Pieta.” Sometimes it’s easy.
Kate’s an enormous fan of Inanna. When we first asked her to do an
issue, and the Inanna one, she was enormously excited. Then she read
the issues and clearly wanted to kill me. Sorry, Kate. Love you!
Page 1
I look at this and think “At last.” I’ve been trying to do a
straight six-panel interview format for the whole fucking series. It
was originally going to be a motif across all of Fandemonium,
interviewing a different random person or fan about their
relationship to the gods, building towards the end of issue 10, which
would be Laura being interviewed post-Cassandra becoming Urdr.
But there was never any space. Like, ever. So it always ended up
on the cutting room floor. Oddly, it makes it somewhat appropriate
that it actually appears in a scene which is actually set in a
cutting room.
This is actually basically the interview I’d have ended issue 10
on, but used in a different way. When originally thinking about issue
12, I was thinking the whole issue may be interviews like this –
basically a version of the documentary Beth described. Thinking
about it some more, I realised I was much more interested in pursuing
the character’s logical next steps from this disaster –
specifically, throwing Baal and the Morrigan at each other.
Yes, we messed up the date here. Laura wouldn’t be around by this
time. We’ll fix for the trade.
We talked to my friend, Sian Fever, about all the editing set up
here. Thanks, Sian. You’re a hero.
Really like the round-edges Kate did here. I was thinking of what
Kate and I did with Young Avengers 6, which also used some
steady-angle shots.
Page 2
And welcome back, Beth, last seen in issue 7, trading barbs with
Cassandra. She isn’t any happier now, evidently. I remember seeing
some people surprised that issue 4’s text ever came up again. Well,
now you know.
I was a little surprised by how many people seemed to quite like
Beth. For me, she’s basically got all of Cassandra AND Laura’s bad
points, plus a whole bunch of her own. I find myself thinking that
there’s characters you would hate to know, but are fine watching in
fiction. She does have a way with a one-liner.
Robin and Toni make up Beth’s own trio. There’s probably a TV
Trope name for this triad of personality types. I feel for Robin,
whose long suffering expression through all of this says a lot.
Page 3
Hey, it’s that scene in issue 3. I wonder if there’s a reason
we’re reminding people of that.
Ther’s a lot of restating information across this scene, with that
re-cap turned into something other than just “Hey – remember that
time a month or two ago when you cried?” by leaning on the “how
the events were perceived on the outside. As this the first chapter
of the third volume, this is particularly important. Key
relationships and facts have to be restated.
Oh, Toni. That extra O in COOOL. What are you like?
I suspect the reason people may like Beth more than I expected is
actually down to Kate’s cartooning. Her frustration on the table here
is pretty wonderful.
Page 4
Tara, next month. Worth reminding people of some key facts about
her.
Kate nails the transition between panel 2 and 3.
One thing about Kate’s slightly more cartoony style than Jamie’s
is that it brings the emotions of the character nearer the surface.
Also, it stresses their age.
Page 5
Left Behind being the series of Christian Rapture fiction I have
never read and undoubtedly never will. Or watch the movies. I think I
may have reviewed one of the games once. Wait – no I didn’t. I
passed it off to a freelancer. The power of Reviews Editors.
Page 6
Purple flowers, because it’s Inanna, innit?
I was probably thinking about England the week after Diana died
with Beth’s first line.
Oh, hello. Lightning from the sky. Who’s this?
Page 7
I don’t think I’ve ever included “Oi” in an script before.
Actually, maybe Uber.
We originally put Baal in an all white suit, but thought it
carried too much of Lucifer’s semiotics, so added the black T. Baal
in white is semiotically loaded in its own way. This is mourning
colours, in his own way.
Kate sells the steady-angle shot here across the last four panels.
Cute tiny hand action in the last two on the police too.
Page 8
Kate’s got a more muted palette than Matt. I think the issue leans
low-key – especially the opening half – which makes me think this
in the format of documentary TV. Or even Reality TV, y'know?
I suspect a lot of his issue’s merits fall on how much you care
about the Inanna/Baal of it.
Page 9
Of course, twitter’s DM rules have changed by now. Oh, how will
the kids of 2016 understand WicDiv now.
In case you didn’t know, “Gold Standard Lesbian” is a horrible
phrase, and very much a tell about Beth.
Baal’s urgency in panel 3 is pretty cute. Aw, Baal, you big puppy.
Page 10-11
Once again, with the steady angle. “Looking” is very much the
visual theme of the issue, which Kate leans into at various points.
This is a pure performance sequence.
I sat and wrote this, and tried to work out a natural flow taking
in as much as possible. Just wrote it as a monologue, and then I
edited, and worked out how it would fit into a six panel grid.
The cup of coffee as a prop makes me worry he’s going to spill it
on his nice white suit. Don’t do that, Baal.
Page 12
You know WicDiv is a book about cycles and recurrences
and stuff? Well, here we go again. Obviously this whole sequence
mirrors the one in issue 5. It’s all very compare and contrast, which
is one of those favourite devices of mine. THE SINGLES CLUB was
entirely built around it.
Oddly, Highbury & Islington turns up a bunch in THE IMMATERIAL
GIRL. Soon we’ll be able to have a GillenMckelvieWilson walking tour
of North London.
You can say many things about Beth, but she’s certainly committed.
Page 13
Kate’s original roughs took the last three panels in a different
way. In the end, I asked her to take it as a 1:1 on Jamie’s pages. If
the point is the parallel, we’d want the parallel to be as precise as
possible.
The Morrigan shows her age here, which I kinda love.
Page 14-15
This page took a lot of work. Lots of roughs and trying to work
out how to create a reading line – getting it across the page is
tricky enough, but with the unusual panel shape, it’s even trickier.
Having the whole page as Inanna’s symbol was Kate’s idea, and is
well clever. Visual subtext. The central image being the lens is also
pretty nifty. We are looking.
I’m always a big fan of impact craters in walls.
The question has to be why Morrigan doesn’t fight back, of course.
Issue 16.
I do like the rhythm of this sequence. It’s pure fight scene as
character stuff.
Page 16
Oh – this whole sequence was written Marvel Method.
I’m not sure the sub-visual element here works as I’d have hoped –
that Beth approached closer than the others and got hit herself. It’s
only a secondary thread, but I suspect I may have been better writing
in a different way. C'est la vie.
Page 17
“They'd” is key, of course. Yes, it’s clear that Inanna is
driving this, but Baal is very aware Inanna wasn’t the only death.
I winced at this sequence, worrying if it was too much. I worry a
lot.
Love Makes Fools Of Us All is a Thackery quote, but it lodged in
my subconscious from it being used as a subtitle of a Midsummer
Night’s Dream screen adaptation. It’s a pretty good summation of what
Midsummer Night’s Dream is about. Morrigan going down quoting is very
Morrigan.
Ah, foreshadowed crying, you are the worst.
The intensity in the colours is key here. Compare and contrast to
how it’s used earlier in the issue.
Page 18
I think I asked Kate to give me jRPG weapons on the Valkyries, and
she certainly provided.
Jamie and Kate had to talk a bunch of the storytelling in this
whole sequence – in terms of where the Morrigan moves during the
fight, how Baal pursues, etc. This is highly tricky to do.
When writing an ongoing series, no matter how much a conception
you have a character beforehand, they naturally grow as you’re
working. It was during this issue on this page where I realised that
Woden quoting people and using their words against them was a very
Woden thing to do. He’s a DJ Producer god. He’s all about sampling,
y'know?
Page 19
Baal was the first god to emerge, hence “doing it the longest.”
I said “Doing it.”
We’re just doing Woden’s issue now. It’s a fun one. I mean, it’s
horrible, but I think you’ll like it.
Page 20
A lot of this page is trying to segue between this scene and the
final beat. That panel 4 creates a little stillness, plus the sense
of them being watched (Which is a little like the last panel on the
previous page).
And hello boots!
Page 21
Burning feathers may be a WicDiv thing.
Repeat of Baphomet’s core statement, obv.
(The WicDiv playlist has just played “It’s cold here in the
dark” from Roadrunner. I like that kind of coincidence.)
Page 22
The Queen Is Dead being the Smiths album (and song). Queen of the
Underworld was how Morrigan considered herself. No, she’s not dead
(though no-one presumed that which I saw.)
Page 23
A rework of the design page so we can finally get Dee a full
credit. We both wince and smile at the CREATED BY credit at the top.
The BackUp
Actually, the main worry from understanding people aren’t reading
the backmatter was that perhaps people are going to entirely miss
that there’s another one page vignette drawn by Jamie. As in, they’ll
just shut the comic.
The problem becomes where to put it. Putting it straight after the
credits would break the effect of the main strory – like having
another random bar at the end of the chapter. Shall we move it nearer
the front? We’ll see. Issue 13 basically fills the issue, so it’s
less of a problem, but we’ll have to do some thinking.
The concept of the back up stories is pretty basic – a fragment
of an interview. Video Games is a standard pun – a game of video.
Anyway – this one I used to twist the knife a little more. Oh,
Inanna. Sniff.
Right – less than a week until the next issue. Will be
interested to see what you make of it.
Thanks for reading.