Behold, yet another instance of my all-time favorite way to open a story—namely, five panoramic panels featuring slightly ambiguous close-up shots, which are setting up a proper Big Ol’ Establishing Shot on the next page. Note that I borrowed this opening approach from Tetsuro Ueyama’s manga Solevision Mitsuyoshi, as explained in detail on an installment of the now-dormant “Comics Riffs I Love” feature on my Patreon. (Note, however, that Ueyama follows up the Ambiguous Close-Up Page with a full-on double-page-spread for maximum visual impact.)

Panel 1: Predictably, sound the Excessively Petite Feet Alert on this shot of Ninjette’s bare foot. I consciously avoid such an issue with my current drawings; however, I can assure you that the riff was absolutely not a deliberate choice on Decade-Ago Me’s part, but rather yet another unintentional stylistic flourish. (These are the some of the unplanned, unthinking, “just wingin’ it” artistic idiosyncrasies that drove me to take up life drawing from photoreference in late 2017.) 

Panel 4: Might’ve been better to just use a different word than “niggardly,” so as to avoid having to cram another word balloon with the Demonwolf hastily clarifying the term. As is, the two big balloons crowding into this shot damn near cause Present-Day Me to sound the dreaded Overdialoguing Alert.

Today’s Patreon update: Open slot in the weekly schedule today! Not sure what I’ll be posting, but something will go up today. I’ve been posting every weekday (sometimes multiple times per day) on this Patreon for over a year, so why stop now?

-Adam Warren