That's cool. As detailed as it is, I'm going to suggest that there be even more detail on the thorns in the last panel, and the water drop in the center; even more realistic. I think it would really look amazing.

Damn it, I'm hoping when this is colored it'll be more clear. That's a blood drop in the center which lands on a fern leaf in panel 5 and from which a tiny speck is landing on the talisman in panel 6. I can imagine it's hard to tell without the color.

But I'm glad somebody commented on SOMETHING after three pages.

Y'all are increasing my paranoia.

I thought it was blood.

Can't quite make out the amulet myself. In panel 5, it kind of looks like a hole has been burned through that leaf.

Your art is becoming increasingly intricate. I like it.

I also like how the background is out of focus on that blood drop panel.

That's it. I'm coloring that panel.

Keep in mind that by now you will have seen the talisman colored three or four times before this which will help in IDing what we're looking at..

I have a layer over the whole thing to try and make it look like night. That may require further thought.

I'm not married to the position of the caption, either.

I'm going to have to redraw those leaves.

Oh. Now I understand. Panel FIVE. No, no amulet in Panel 5. Just leaves and that is the blood drop from Panel 4 hitting a leaf. It'll be clearer when it's colored. I hope.

All of the magic we've seen so far is blood magic, primitive and powerful. That is why Sir Michael cut Bhekifa's hand when he cast the spell that protected them from Elessa. Skyler had to be wounded from a plot point because some of his blood MUST get on the amulet. A molecule would do. But nothing happens until that can happen.

The next panel of page 39 sez: "Sunlight and drums burst in Skyler's head, and voices singing in joy, as if a song had been started from the middle."

"Or as if it had been playing all along and only now could he hear it."

The second line is basically true. You know how you yell at the TV even though they can't hear you? Well, it's sorta the same thing our ancestors do to us. But when Skyler's blood hits the talisman, he can hear them. And more.

So I can now say I know what page the actual hero of the book finally makes an appearance. The next one.

Well, now we've come to it. The thing that separates the comic-drawing men from the boys: fx and action shots.

I'm having a hard time with the transformation scenes. And the first shot of our hero. Although, more work will fix the latter. I hope. Wish I still had my old Ploog Werewolf By Night.

As I say, now we come to the parts where fakery only gets you so far.

This is not really what I envisioned but unless I want to spend another two weeks on it, this is going to have to do. My inadequacies are hard to hide, now.

Page 39, panel 6: only the single most important panel in the whole book.

It looks great to me Rick, and I usually stay away from commenting on these things because I'm quite a harsh judge. However, the background in that last panel is, for my tastes, too detailed if you want your emphasis to be on the central figure's transformation. I'd be tempted to go with no background at all, or (corny as it sounds) just some 'drama lines' a la old school comics. Or possibly a mixture.

I think the figure work and the angle are spot on though!

Similar to what you have done in panel 3 really. .. if you left that with a black or even blank background, you could utilise that effect in the last panel maybe

Done very quickly and sketchily with my s-pen on my phone but you get the idea?

Cool! I didn't know you ever looked in here!

Oh I knew what you meant. I bet I tried on those 4 panels, about 12 different things. Including what you did above. It just didn't work for me. It felt as if, after all the detail and realism on every other page, I was suddenly trying to be Sal Buscema and 1970s Marvel. I got nothing against either one, you understand, just that that approach seemed out of left field compared to what had gone before. Besides which everything in panels 3-5 would actually be visible if you were there and by 6 the transformation is over. So I settled on him standing back amid the park forest. I kinda like him there in the moonlight which I can see in my head and unfortunately, no one else can yet.

I also eschewed a big jaggaly "AROOOARAggghhh!!!!!!!" word balloon for the same reasons. It just looked out of place. So I say in the caption he roars. But believe me, I was a Marvel Zombie and as I said somewhere else, John and Sal are actually what I keep seeing in my head when I'm drawing INSTEAD of the people I've called influences. It's just seeped in after all those years, I guess. But for effects that aren't actually visible, I try a more realistic approach in this. No sound effects, no thought balloons, no action lines if I can get away with it. I think with a character like Jet, that 70s Marvel style would really work. We'll see when I kidnap Hanzo and make him draw it.

Another thing, as I've said, if I was doing this for black and white I would have to consider all the rendering and detail differently. But that background on 6 is going to be pretty much monochromatic; the lightest thing in there will be our hero, and the only thing to really have any sort of lighting effect so he will stand out. The colorist is going to make sure of it.

I'm also thinking some of that detail is going to plug up (not too much, I'm hoping) which will tend to make it blacker which is fine since this is a night shot.

What's throwing it off, I think, is that there's too damned much empty space on the bottom of panel 6. But I'm not changing it now. It was originally supposed to be a full page shot. We can see how that worked out.

But the best thing is you think the figure works. That's the most important thing. Parts of it look wonky to me but if I fix it it'll have to be when I haven't looked at it in a while. But I am happy with the face.

And I'm an old man; harsh isn't going to bother me. It's probably something I already think and I left it to go to the next panel. There may be as little as 5 pages left. So comment and critique away. I so appreciate it.

The trouble is, I can turn a photo of myself into an old, white British gentleman or a teenage black kid; I cannot turn myself into a muscled-up, rampaging superhero. Mens and da boys, I'm telling you.

The action shots coming up are going to be killer. In a bad way.

Use toys. Seriously. It's amazing how useful they can be for giving you dynamic positioning.

"Hi! I'm Rick's toy. You may know me from such panels as Page 32, panel 3!"



Any trick I can...

The bulkier Captain America is going to get a workout soon.

Overall, I agree with Evans, I think the page looks fine.


Here, normally I'd agree but you'd have to have it match the style of the rest of the pages. You've established a detailed background style before so the panel as you have it matches that. I don't remember if you have the "action lines" look in previous panels but you don't want it to be a glaring difference in style. Perhaps you could go for some kind of medium here.