Thar she blows!
Man, I love panels 2 and 3 – Joe and Cup materializing out of the water spout from the whale’s blowhole is amazing! The script only called for Joe and Cup to be expelled from the blowhole, but Danilo added the Aurora Borealis light and made it a truly epic, eye-catching moment…
In fact, when I first saw this page’s finished colors it reminded me of a certain passage from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick*:
From Chapter 51, The Spirit-Spout – “It was while gliding through these latter waters that one serene and moonlight night, when all the waves rolled by like scrolls of silver; and, by their soft, suffusing seethings, made what seemed a silvery silence, not a solitude; on such a silent night a silvery jet was seen far in advance of the white bubbles at the bow. Lit up by the moon, it looked celestial; seemed some plumed and glittering god uprising from the sea.”
The moral? When making comics, it really helps if your artistic collaborator instinctively recognizes the potential of your gag and turns it into a mythic moment. Thanks again for your outstanding work, Danilo!
Speaking of outstanding, NEXT WEEK’S page will blow your socks off! It’s ALL-OUT WAR, as the final battle between the whale and the Custer begins. Meanwhile, Joe’s done his part, now it is up to SCIENCE to save the ship! Make sure to RSS, Like, or Follow because the survival of the Custer might well depend on YOU!
Before I go, I want to give a shout out to our regular commenters for a great conversation on last week’s page! I purposely stayed out of it to give you guys the floor. Thanks for sharing.
As always, please vote early and often for the Daredevils at topwebcomics.com, and make darn sure to stop by the blog to check out the latest installment of the Sunday Bonus Lunch. This week you’ll learn more about the most mysterious member of The ThreeOneFive, Dan Fifield, and just why COMICS > CANCER.
Oh, and by the way, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Anyways, till next week!
-Matt-
*And, yeah, it’s pretty obvious that Moby Dick is a big influence, right?
They are going to need a month in dry dock, just to pound the dents out of the Custer.
I guess Joe and Cup will not need a bath after all, as they just had a nice swim in the Ocean, dodged that bullet!
You’re assuming the Custer survives what comes next!
Joe may have completed the challenge, but the Daredevils are not out of the woods yet…
This comic gets better and better. It is without a doubt the most suspenseful one I read, I am genuinely excited every Tuesday to see what it happening next. Chapeau, as they say here in Geneva.
Welcome aboard, Timmagio!
Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you are enjoying the Daredevils, and we’ll keep doing our best to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Seriously, that has got to be the funniest way to exit a spirit challenge of some sort. I just hope the ritual they have to do works.
I don’t understand… What is the challenge Joe completed? He just a spent a very pleasurable time among the Inuit, where nothing was expected of him. How is that a challenge?
First, I wouldn’t consider watching an entire village die a “pleasurable time”…
Regardless, the Shaman believed that if Joe saw that Armstrong’s punishment was justified (as he says on page 27) then Joe would not seek to release him from the curse. So, Joe’s challenge was to bear witness to the tragedy that befell the Inuit people, which was brought upon them (unknowingly) by Armstrong, and then make a choice to either help him or let his punishment continue. Even after witnessing the death of Inuit children, Joe still chooses to forgive and honor his promise.
Now, you are correct, we did not spell that out explicitly in the text, and we debated whether or not we should do so. In the end, we didn’t want to weigh down the pages with heavy-handed exposition.
On page 33, The Shaman asks Joe three questions that I believe explain the nature of the challenge. In the Inuit graveyard, the first thing that the Shaman says to Joe is, “Now…do you see?” Basically saying, “Now that you’ve seen things from my point of view, do you understand why I’ve cursed Armstrong?” And then in the following panels he asks Joe, “Your answer…does it remain the same? Do you still seek to save the sea captain?”
So, it all boils down to this – the challenge was to witness a terrible tragedy and chose between forgiveness and revenge.
Joe chose forgiveness.
I see. Because of the magical background I expected a more traditional, i.e., fairy-tale kind of challenge: blood from dry bones, a seal to catch and kiss, that sort of thing. Forcing Joe to bear witness makes sense, too, but could have been presented a bit differently.
Yes, when we were plotting this portion of the story we actually kicked around ideas for more traditional challenges for Joe. None, unfortunately, were as cool sounding as your examples, and we just didn’t feel there were enough pages available to give space to a traditional challenge and the tragedy. At a page a week you’ve got to keep things moving…
Well, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read and comment on our work. Real constructive criticism is a tough thing to come by.
I hope you enjoy the upcoming conclusion to Secret of the Beaufort Sea!
Thanks!