SYLAR page 4

I have a REALLY good excuse for not posting last night. You see, in Australia they just aired the 3rd episode, so I have to download my episodes (naughty me!). I couldn't jump on to post because I was waiting with bated breath for RUN! to come down. I enjoyed the heck out of it but kicked myself when Zane asks Sylar if he's Dr Suresh behind the security door. There wasn't any security door in my photo reference! I like everything to be perfect so the experience of the comics feels true to the show. I don't want my comic to feel like the poor, invalid cousin of a television program. I'd rather it be like nuts on ice-cream... you don't need it, but it sure enriches the experience (and you can always eat the nuts by themselves).

Anyway, onto page 4. This page is totally all Annette. If you hold them up side by side you can really see the amount of work that Annette put in. It's quite funny, Annette may not yet be the best colourist in the business, (this is not a slight, we're both at the start of our careers - and we both want to be the best - but we're not there yet) but she is one of the best storytellers in the business. Her commitment to the story is always paramount. I don't just mean things like motion blurs, and the incredible ice effect that she did on panel 3 (look at my black and white! I just wrote her some notes as to what I wanted and the rest of the magic is hers) . What I'm talking about is that after panel 2 I totally forget to draw the helicopter again. But Annette places its flood lights in almost every panel adding a foreboding sense of drama that I dropped the ball on. That's what good colouring is people.

But let's not dwell on that alone. The movement of the road on panel 2. The ice effect and the movement shine on the wheels in panel 3. The reflection of the siren lights on the ice (oh my god!). Again the helicopter light on panel 5. Wow!

The other thing that drove me nuts was the number of cop cars I had to draw! I think there's about a dozen or so. I was gonna headbutt my monitor by the end of it.

On the upside the script brought a revelation to the HEROES universe here. We'd never seen Sylar us his ice powers like this before. I wrote Annette some notes mentioning that I really didn't want it to look like Iceman from the X-men. A beam of ice never made any sense to me and wouldn't look right in the HEROES world. I figured that the air around his hands would simply just get really, really cold rather than a beam of ice shoot out of his hands. I figured he could then extend and direct the coldness around his hands towards the road (I couldn't get him leaning out and touching the road - how would he steer the semi?!). But where does the water come from that forms the ice? Is it the oxygen in the air slowing down? Should I have drawn the ground wet from rain? Given that there was no direction for the latter in the script, I opted for the former.

So my comic implies that he could freeze someone from a short distance (3 feet?). I wonder if they will use that or if he needs to actually make contact with someone? I wonder if he can do it from further away?

Questions, questions...