DICK RUBY AND THE CASE OF
THE LITTLE GREEN MEN PAGE 10
http://adventuresinpulp.com/dick-ruby-page-10/
We slow
down for a minute to start the build up to the finale. This was around the time
I pointed out to Matt that it was January in New York .
You'll note that Dick is trying to keep warm without his jacket and a little
boy is wearing a pretty heavy coat.
Beyond the date, I never mentioned weather or any cold imagery in the
script so, in retrospect, I should have scripted specific elements to remind
Matt to keep it cold looking.
Matt added
an additional panel stretching out the recovery of the weapon which gives the
moment added weight.
Another set
up from page six plays out here. On page six I had Dick say, "I realize
I've grown a tail. I manage to lose it on the way to my office, making only one
quick stop along the way." The stop was to hide the weapon. I hoped it
would go under the radar and that readers would think the reason he did not use
the weapon in the office when the aliens came after him was because they got
the drop on him but in actuality, he didn't use it because he didn't have it
with him.
One of the very few times Matt deviated from the
script and it didn't work for me was in the last panel. Originally scripted as:
"Close on Ruby in as the elevator doors are closing." I wanted to end
the page with a beat that Dick was now determined to turn the tables. He was
going to stop re-acting and start acting. I wanted to see the determination on
his face. To be fair to Matt, I should have been more specific and less vague,
but I must confess that I was spoiled by how intuitive Matt is to emotion when
he was drawing "Jigsaw World." So naturally once I had a close shot
on Ruby and the accompanying dialogue the way it read, I assumed he would get
it, but the fault is mine not his. Like I said on the page three commentary, if
there was no change to the intent of the scene (it's still there in the
narration), and the change didn't effect the plot, so there was no reason to
request a change of the artist. It's a collaborative medium. That was his take
on the way to close out the page. Please don't think I'm dismissing what he
did, ending the page with Dick in motion creates an urgency that virtually
propels you to the next page. Apples meet oranges.
Matt and I
are both fans of "Doctor Who" so when I saw the elevator attendant
wearing a fez and a bow tie, I immediately called him and said (in an
absolutely horrid Matt Smith voice): "Fezzes are cool."
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