Hi, and welcome to issue #2's commentary. I'm Nate Raymond, a.k.a. Nate1234, the writer and creator of NQT. Let me warn you ahead of time not to read this commentary unless you are reading the issue or have finished reading the issue.
It's strange, I've written almost ten drafts of the script for NQT #2, yet they all seem to have had the exact same plot, give or take one or two things. I must say, though, I'm very pleased with how it came out. We brought on board a new artist this issue, Marie Yuen, to replace Avatar (I'll discuss all of this later in the commentary). So... on with the page commentaries.
Cover
This was originally intended
as a gag picture for the main page of the website, but {dixey} spent so
much time drawing it and I liked it so much I figured "Well, geez, might
as well make it the cover." I really like it, though.
Page 1
Tigrr Wildcat drew this
first page. I must say, this issue her art improved 200%, which is quite
amazing. ALl the artists on this issue claim their art improved, but Tigrr's
improvements I think are the most impressive, which I think is cool.
I tinted the window on the computer using a standard darkening technique. Most of the artists seemed to have a hard time making it look dark outside, so I just told all of them "Don't worry, we'll just deal with it in post-production."
Notice the lines on Sierra's pants near the bottom? Well, every artist but Tigrr and Marie drew them. I didn't notice the lines the others were drawing until {dixey} brought it to my attention. So Tigrr and Marie had to draw them really quick.
Oh, and a small blooper, I accidentally put the credits out of order. Marie should be last, since her pages are the last pages.
Page 2
Recognize the psychiatrist?
If you do, good for you, cause it's Sir Anthony Hopkins! Make your choice
of which of his movie psychiatrists he is in this issue, I prefer to believe
he's actually Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter.
Originally, actually, I wasn't going to send Sierra to a psychiatrist. But a few of my friends started bugging me about how it's sorta weird that Sierra isn't bugged by the fact that she killed a man in the previous issue. So I threw in this scene, which actually I'm glad I did.
Page 3
Ah, yes, Sierra's dad. He's
watching tv. I was going to actually put captions for the television and
have it he was watching Frankenstein, but I got lazy. I'm not sure
if it's a coincidence or not, but Tigrr's dad resembles an early sketch
KatroZ! did for me years ago of him.
Page 4
Ain't that cute? After {dixey}
drew me the cover, I became inspired to have S-409 meet a real cat and
see what her reaction would be, so I went for it. I love it.
Page 5
{dixey}'s pages start here.
Not much to say about it, really, except that I cut some dialoge to make
it read smoother.
Page 6
Hey, there's a monkey on
Matt's shirt! I guess one of Glock's real-life friends has a shirt with
that on it. There's also an "AS" on the door last panel, that's {dixey}'s
initials. And Sierra's coat... yeah, she has that on for a good reason...
Page 7
Yup, it's true: Sierra really
is Supergirl. Kidding, of course. Naw, it's sorta cool this page is. Sierra
gives off this very sensual vibes along with displaying her abilities.
I'll have to get that pic of Sierra cropped and colored one of these days
for the website.
Page 8
Once again, I tinted the
background to make it look more like evening. You'll also notice Sierra
and Matt are wearing Wolverine and Mystique masks. I figure, why would
you fly around Seattle without a mask? Someone might take photos, and then
what?
This entire flying scene for some reason I've always insisted upon having in this issue. I'm not sure why. It may have begun as a homage to Superman: The Movie, but I doubt it.
I also had a huge list of other things for Sierra to pick-up off of Matt's mind, but a lot of people objected to those.
Page 9
Glockgal's pages start now.
Not much to say about this page, really.
Page 10
Ideally that cat would have
stripes on it, but *shrugs* ya can't always get what ya want. But it's
a great page (though, geez, for a two-person household you'd think they
could do the dishes).
Page 11
Well, I know I censored
this word last issue, but geez, what would you be screaming if you saw
a huge cat jumping at you? I love this page a lot, though. It'd make a
great t-shirt.
Page 12
There's supposed to be more
dialog this page, but it's such beautiful art that I cut the dialog in
order to preserve the art. And, yes, I cheaped out by having conveniently
a knife on the ground, so sue me.
Page 13
Marie's pages start now.
Marie was brought on board to replace Avatar who had told me when he first
came on board for issue #1 that he could only do one issue. I discovered
her at an X-Men fan-art page. She's a great artist, I hope we can keep
her around for a long time.
This was also the first completed page for NQT #2. It's beautiful, really, though I had imagined a few panels differently. The entire thing with Sierra stoping S-409 from fighting I had come up with before seeing the X-Men movie, but after it came out I decided "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if Sierra stole the idea from the movie?" Thus why I included that scene last issue.
Page 14
The fading ink effect was
done with Adobe Photoshop, apparently. Also, you'll notice Sierra's dad
lost his glasses.
Page 15
Dialog's a tad corny, I
know, but it happens. But great art, eh?
Page 16
This page is exactly how
I imagined it (thanks Marie!). I know I stole the idea from some movie,
though I can only recall that Scary Movie spoofed which ever movie it was
near the end. But great page.
Well, that's it for now, be back in 2001 for NQT #3!