Chapter: Issue 17
Time for the fantasy epic. Wanna hear the roll call?
Let Him Go
Ronni’s angry about a few things, now that you mention it, Ali. And a crappy apology isn’t gonna cut it.
TRANS CONTINENTAL RAILROAD COMPLETE!
This page marks the last page of the prequel for GGA issue 17, Giants of the Urth. From here, Dee is going to take a break, as she is prepping for some conventions, while we work on the edits to insure the final book will be flawless when we start moving forward.
WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOU is that GGA is going on a hiatus. We will be working on GGA stories, as well as other projects we’ve committed to- and yes, we will definitely keep you posted, as well as informed of where and when the dead tree format of GGA will be available. Now that the run is done, we need to turn our eye to publication. The fans who have stuck with us through it all will definitely be kept abreast.
We will continue to serve up your Patreon goodies every month- your pinups will flow, as Dee has committed to insuring those still arrive every month. Meanwhile, as I have pages in the can, we will be starting a new arc, telling the story of the DANGER TEAM. Giant Girl Adventures has never shied from taking the camera off our titular character, so this will be one of those times.
As an investigative reporter is hired to research the Danger Teams of the past, he begins uncovering a mystery that’s decades in the making. I’ve been working with artist Ed Smith on this story for a while now, and you will get to see his art evolve page by page as he endures my training regimen to become a Comic Book Man, in the tradition of those who came before us. Stick with it- I think you’ll really enjoy the story we’ve got cooked up for you, which explains a lot of the past and indicates the future of the Giant Girlieverse.
Lastly, I want to thank our fans. We literally retold the first 35 pages of this story AFTER we’d reached the end, and you stuck by us as we expanded that 35 pages to 52, embellishing the story and making it self-contained. You supported us, commented, and kept the lights on for us. So thank you, Patrons. You are the real heroes, and we are humbled by your support.
DEE’S NOTES
I’LL BE BACK.
Pixie Girl Adventures continues later this year, as Ronni and Lexii’s adventures in the magical land of Hollywood continues!
Maybe you should go break up with your giant sometime girlfriend first
Ali made his play, and now he gets the explanation. Britomart is like a warrior nun- she has no sexual experience, and she just doesn’t get romance. All of her life has been spent pursuing being the best, to be worthy of the gifts bestowed upon her by her god.
Flirting, dating, love and lovemaking are all concepts of which she is aware, but they are concepts with no relevance to her. Devotion and duty are the sum total of her life.
However, Britomart isn’t stupid. She saw that song and dance number- the whole camp did, and saw Ali reject Kane quite publicly after that. She saw the look she got as a love triangle formed around her, because she recognized she was in a dangerous position.
While she is prideful and stubborn and almost always convinced she’s right, the Hand of Vanu is not unwise. She recognizes Ali is a womanizer, a trafficker in dark forces and bit of a cad. So the paladin looks for the light in him, and gives him a chance to foster it in another. To push back the darkness he has inspired in the soul of a very powerful being.
DEE’S NOTES
We do not do silent beat panels often, but when we do, we really try to make them hit. This page has THREE, and I am really happy with the pacing here.
Sabrina gave me lots of meaty stuff to have in the pacing and acting on this page, and it was a lot of fun to flesh out Britomart beyond just “Holy Stick up the Butt” she can often come across as.
Also, I loved adding the beat of Ronni in the background casually tossing the tree, which wasn’t in the script.
A Private Conversation
Hanging out in the plastic hospital (which worked much better than any of the other playsets from a certain manufacturer of peg people) gave us a chance to do a window scene. Since so much of this adventure takes place in the wilds or the woods, the backdrop is often just nature. But in this case, we took advantage of the big plastic house- another of the witch’s gifts- to let Britomart and Ali have a little honest conversation inside, looking out a window.
For his part, Ali definitely has some remarkably clear insights into Ronni’s character. Given his general lack of interest in real conversation, it’s safe bet that he is parroting what he’s heard dear old mama say about our lady in red. But he wants to impress Britomart and sound wise- notice how his entire speech pattern changes for this? That’s his giveaway.
In panel 6, Britomart just nails him. In one sentence she asks about his intentions toward Ronni, how he thinks Ronni sees it, AND points out quite casually that she knows he’s a warlock, trafficking in dark forces. For as loud and abrasive as she is with Kane, Britomart is actually pretty reserved and passive with Ali.
At least until he touches her, and then she pulls away. But note that the sparkles do react a bit… I specifically asked for a little of that, because vanu is wiser than his avatar on Urth. She will need to inspire him to greatness, and fan the flames of nobility in his heart. Maybe a couple of sparkles might help.
DEE’S NOTES
Art wise, this sequence gave me a lot to play with. Setting the meat of the scene inside the plastic hospital allowed for some nice staging, using the window as a literal framing device and keeping the “camera” tight on Ali and Britomart.
That same “camera” tightens in on them as they get a bit closer throughout the scene. That and the almost noir style lighting made for a lot of fun, which we contrasted by the occasional shots of Ronni living up to her descriptions in real time.
I like occasionally setting up separate mini-stories like what’s going on with Ronni in the background of scenes. LOTS of opportunities to have fun hidden in the proverbial nooks and crannies of the story that way.
You Get A Lifetime
This is one of those pages that very easily could have become two pages, because we cram a lot in. Harald’s death has a touch more gravitas now, and we still take a moment to make a few cracks about it.
Then we’re off to the day’s fighting, which we tell in fast forward montage. Which could have been a lot of interesting imagery and snapshots of moments that ended with the dramatic sunset. Coulda been a page unto itself.
But sometimes you want a dense page, where there’s a lot going on, yet you are storytelling with economy. And this was one of those times. We extended a lot of the original narrative, and often for space, because I did a lot of this- 2 pages in one. Small wonder I drove Koen crazy.
Having established Karloff’s effects later in the narrative, we can insert them to good effect here, and a little later down the line. Working backwards is extremely advantageous for this sort of continuity.
DEE’S NOTES
This page was amazingly fun to work on, and is a prime example of how Sabrina and I bounce ideas back and forth. As an artist, I’ll always look for places to add additional “business” to a sequence for added punch. We workshpped 2 specific gags here that weren’t in the original script, but I’ll let you all suss out just which ones. 😉
Dashing through the Snow
Okay, admittedly, this would have worked better as a Christmas pin-up.
Dee got in a crunch this week and couldn’t manage a page with all the other chainsaws she is juggling. So rather than just show nothing, here’s the February pin-up image.
We usually run these as vote incentives on the Patreon, but since we’re a little behind, as a show of appreciation, we wanted to share this one with you.
Enjoy, and tune in next week for our regularly scheduled shenanigans.
Point Of Order
As you can see, Ronni is really over taking orders. Or suggestions, at this point. She’s going to do things her own way, and she has good reasons to do so. While Britomart’s logic would hold true for most conventional adventuring parties, Giant Girl breaks all the rules, as she explains and illustrates here.
She’s still not keen on killing, but she is willing to punt the locals into the stratosphere. Which is a subtle distinction, but one that is clearly working for our lady in red.
DEE’S NOTES
Lots of fun with Ronni’s shrinking and growing, but also with her EXPRESSIONS, which are all over the place as she manages her frustration with Britomart and the rules of Urth. And by “manages”, I mean “takes her frustration out on the giants”. LOL
In the script, Sabrina wrote that Ronni was holding the hillbilly giant like a doll, so of COURSE I interpreted that to mean she would HAVE to talk with her hands.
Tables Turned, Giant Girl Style
I think it says a lot about Ronni as a person that she casually tosses a giant to what she assumes will likely be his death, but her next choice is to capture one of the giants and render him ineffectual.
Also to steal his hat, but Ronni’s a gal what likes a good hat.
Dirk and Leonitas battling the troll and ogre as she’s doing her thing points to the fact that while this is a no-danger effortless exercise for her, the rest of the party is having to work to stay alive.
“Mom’s mad” still makes me laugh every time.
DEE’S NOTES
The original script gave me options on how Ronni was going to get the giant’s attention. It was either THIS whistle, or a shout and slapping her own bottom suggestively. I felt like the 2-fingered whistle was more fun and more in character for the moment. That required making sure she took her glove off, which provided some fun little acting and posing bits for the page.
Also, we’ve found that one great way to showcase SIZE in some of these scenes is with a little selective blurring.
To Battle Giants
Smoke and R’Lithon show what they can do, each fighting in a style that highlights their strengths. Meanwhile Britomart demonstrates that she is a “Do as I say, not as I do” leader.
Also? “THPIDER!” I was going to leave that panel silent, but Dee convinced me to add some panicky dialogue, and we decided a lisp was appropriate, because the giant’s got a man-spiga on his nose.
DEE’S NOTES
One of the challenges we have been tackling in the retelling of the opening of this issue has been in both fleshing out Ronni’s journey and in balancing tone. Initially, this scene ended up being almost completely played for comedy, so with a chance to reapproach the material, we keep the hijinks where needed, but also try to bring the thrills in as well.
I like drawing the giants as equally capable of being scary AND funny from panel to panel, and playing up their SCALE helps to keep the threat imminent.
Like Your Life Depends On It
Harald’s death now serves a purpose- setting the stakes for our heroine, as she discovers just what sort of world this is. A savage and dangerous world of kill or be killed.
I like that look back at Ali, who offers resignation. This is how it is, he says with a shrug, and she embraces it, tossing the giant off the planet. As the script read, OH F*&%IN WELL GUESS I’M IN.
Big kudos to Dee for the swirly mystic shield, understand why the script called for a giant to be using a catapult as a flail, and roaring spittle.
DEE’S NOTES
I love drawing the physics of Ronni getting big. She’s dense enough for that catapult to shatter off of her, but the impact is still moving through her to the ground at her hand. Plus, I got to add a specific REASON for that “X” shaped scratch I’ve been drawing on her head gear for the entire book.
Setting The Stakes
Poor Harald is finally ready for his moment to shine, and his dice rolls fail him.
We’ve all been there.
In the original script, Harald’s death just kind of happened, and not a lot of note was taken of it. But this time around, I took advantage of the moment to set the stakes for our heroine. As she is not a native of the land of swords and sorcery, she’s not used to this kind of warfare. Harald getting pulverized will definitely set that tone for her, as we’ll explore next page.
But Karloff’s expression in that final inset panel is meant to convey a lot here. Yes, that man’s dead. Yes, these are the stakes. Yes, death has quite a sting here, and it is just as (if not more) permanent than it is back home.
DEE’S NOTES
We don’t use sound effects all that often, and I am a big part of that, as I will often argue against them unless they plus a scene well. THIS is a case where I so totally supported the liberal use of sound effects to highlight this somewhat sad death scene.
Poor what’s-his-face. Lol
Giant Girl Adventures
Login with Patreon
Recent Comments