NOT QUITE TERRESTRIAL #3
Writer's Commentary

Hi, and welcome to issue #3'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.

Cover
Great cover, isn’t it? Drawn by Tigrr and colored by Marie. We were a tad scared at first how it would work, because we’d never had Marie color a cover that had been drawn in only pencil. But, as you can see, our worries didn’t matter in the end.

While we’re talking about pencils, I think it’s a good time to mention something about this issue: this issue features no inks, just pencils. This was done for the sake of saving time and to preserve detail.

Page 1
Tigrr’s pages beginI had originally intended for all of the funeral pages to take place inside a church, but Tigrr had just gone to a funeral a week or two before drawing these pages and drew them outside. Not that it really matters, cause I think you could change the background in her pages to be a church and no one would notice the difference in mood. Nothing too special about this page that I know of. I know I struggled for a while to come up with a title for the issue and I found the quote using Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, but otherwise, not much of a story to it.

Page 2
The large panel with Sierra standing alone was added by Tigrr, I didn’t write it in the script. I really wish the captions didn’t take up so much space so they wouldn’t have to cover up so much of that panel.

Page 3
Originally, I wanted the “Sierras” to each be in a different language, but I in the end decided that would accomplish nothing. I would tell you where those “Sierras” are coming from, but it’ll have to wait until later in the issue.

Page 4
Hey, like all the other “species” in the first panel (yes, that’s was the “S” in “S-409" stands for). There’ll be more next issue too, but these are a few. When I look at this page, I start to realize how Shawn loves S-409 like a personal cat or dog. Just look how he uses her for comfort and brings her special goodies.

Page 5
Ah, lots of cool stuff this page. The first panel has Emily, the girl we found out last issue Matt did “something with” when he was dating her (she sort of looks a little slutty, doesn’t she?).

The second panel has Sierra’s psychiatrist, who I usually call Dr. Lecter in my scripts, which, for those of you who have seen either Silence of the Lambs or Hannibal, will give a completely different meaning for that last sentence.

The next panel has Sierra’s dad’s book editor. I threw her in because I wanted to emphasize how Sierra’s dad was a pretty bid-name author (well, not super-big, but big enough to get a book optioned).

The last panel features... us! Yup, from top clockwise is {dixey}, Marie Yuen, Glockgal, Tigrr Wildcat, and myself, Nate1234. Tigrr really does have a tattoo like that. Same with Glock’s hat, I believe. I don’t earn a shirt like that, though. Marie told me it was her little inside joke cause sometimes I make it seem like I almost believe the crap I’m writing.

Page 6
I had written this page with the idea that Matt would look a lot happier in this first panel. He was going to say something like “Hey sexy,” and then Sierra would tell him “Shut up.” However, Marie gave me a page with Matt a little mad, so I had to come up with some new dialogue for him. I thank {dixey} for that.

Page 7
Ooh, what’s this? An interlude? With... wait, wasn’t that girl in that color one-page story {dixey} drew? Yup, that there happens to be Kindle, and it looks like she’s in some trouble! Believe it or not, a lot of the creators of NQT like her more than Sierra (mainly cause Kindle is such a wild character that she’d do anything). I had created Kindle when I was ten-years-old, and she’s gone through several altercations over the years, this being her final. I have a few old sketches of her that I’ll add to the site someday.

Page 8
Great shot, eh! Yup, look at the butt on her! Oh, there’s a few guys on fire, yeah, but who really cares about that? Naw, I think this will show you that the name “Kindle” is not just her first name: it’s what she does, she kindles fires, she’s a pyrokinetic.

Page 9
Starting on {dixey}’s pages. Ah, we finally get some tasteless t&a into NQT. Though, I dunno, I think that Sierra looks so depressed that it’d be hard for any guy to find her attractive at the moment (which is a good thing). You’ll notice that the mirror is getting a message. It’s from Sierra’s dad, just like the “Sierras” earlier in the issue. Sierra’s dad has some unfinished business like most ghosts. I don’t expect him to come back after this next arc, though. Oh, and if you’ll look carefully you’ll notice Sierra’s initials are embroidered into her towel.

Page 10
Had to be very careful with this page, cause we didn’t want Sierra to see the message. You’ll also notice even better in this page how {dixey} carefully put those towels in spots that would cover her “down there.”

Page 11
I love this page! Look at all the poses Sierra gives in it! I tried really hard to keep as much of the bubbles as possible in order to preserve the page.

Page 12
Not too much here. Notice the coldness in how Sierra talks to Matt and how she never faces him.

Page 13
Glock’s pages begin. I insisted on having Glock draw this page because she drew the bus scene in issue #1. I think it gives the page a nice book-end feel to issue #1. Sierra and Matt’s relationship began her and now it almost seems in a way that it may end here.

Page 14
Well, I guess it won’t end here. Great splash, wouldn’t you say?

Page 15
Not too much to mention here. The bus driver sort of looks like my dad. =)

Page 16
Originally I wanted to replace the panels at the top of this page with photos, and I had for a while, but it didn’t look that good. I did, however, modify the outer-space in the third panel to be darker.

Well, that's it for now, be back in a month or two for NQT #4!