Chapter Five: Pages 13 - 18

Last week, Alexandra and her father were rushing towards Barathron on the back of a horse that was clearly becoming exhausted under the effort, especially with two riders. Alexandra's father was unwilling to turn around to water the horse, but fortunately a potential oasis has appeared on the horizon…

This week! A new uncle drops as we meet one of my favourite characters in the book. This is one of the sequences I've most been looking forward to (just like all the others). Six pages in this post, because breaking it up any smaller would have been dumb.

EISNER AWARD NOMINATION!

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY has been nominated for a Will Eisner Award, in the Best Webcomic category! For the third year in a row!

I've been lucky enough to say it before, and I'm happy to be able to say it again: growing up, reading Wizard magazine, I internalized the idea that there is no higher honour for a comic than a Will Eisner award. To receive a nomination feels unreal. It did the first time, it does now.

Thank you, of course, to you, Secret Reader, for keeping the fires of this project burning hot and bright.

Voting is live right now. If you're a comics-industry professional, you're eligible to vote, and if you're not already signed-up, you can apply right here! Good luck choosing in the "Best Publication for Teens" category, yikes, that is a tough one.

DELETE DAD?

… is the note that I wrote to myself on page 17. Here's what it originally looked like, the way I drew it.

That's two very similar poses right next to each other. Of course, I only noticed it once I had scanned everything in. It looked okay in my thumbnails because word balloons were dominating the composition.

Noticing the problem, I thought I'd see what it looked like if I just flipped dad. (I colour over my flatted pages, so I don't have a screenshot from earlier.)

It was an improvement over having two almost-identical drawings of dad, for sure, but he really doesn't need to be there, and we're not going to settle for half measures, are we?

So I deleted dad. Without the word balloons, it looks a little bare, but I think the final page composition works best this way.

The hardest part about revisions like these is wondering whether they'll be worth the time. I can look at the panels now and say "ahh yes of course," but it's harder to feel certain about those things up front. Is the amount of time I spend worrying about whether something will be worth the time, in itself worth the time? I dare not do the accounting. I just trust in the process.

EDIT: Speaking of revision, as Laura pointed out in the comments (thank you), chickens wouldn't be out at night, which I should have considered, but I was too enamoured with the idea of chickens underfoot. I could write something into the narrative that acknowledges or explains the chickens, but that might be too much noise. So they might get replaced by some other skittish yet nocturnal farm animal. :)

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On a personal note, I think I got COVID? I haven't done a test, but the symptoms line up and, besides, my partner (an ICU nurse who was treating all of Vancouver's worst COVID cases at the height of the pandemic) would know. I made it safely all the way through the last five years. I can't believe I got hit now. And friends? I do not care for it. Though the first few days were rough, it all seems to be slowly working itself out.

Anyway, this is all to say I suspect an annual booster continues to be a good idea. I didn't make time for one this year or last (laziness or busy-ness, you pick), while my partner gets them every year. I got hit (without even having any fun times to show for it) and she didn't. Make of that what you will! Stay healthy!

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Next time, we'll see how far Alexandra and her father get… <ominous music>

Until then,
I remain,
two very similar poses right next to each other,

;)
TC