Electric Wonderland "Into Thin Aerynn" Talkback

[Peter Paltridge]

Electric Wonderland #17 - Into Thin Aerynn (Page 1)

I wouldn't know if anyone's noticed, but until now, Trawn's friendship with Natasha and the people from her job have never crossed paths -- until this week, when the conflict that's been inevitable since the beginning finally hits.

Also, Page 4 was not an intended "style shift" -- as one of the more...interesting Page 4s I've ever drawn, there wasn't nearly enough time to finish all that. The finished version should appear in a few days.

 

[Dsneybuf]

Without the colors, I had to read that page twice to recognize all the characters, but it proved pretty funny after that, as did page 9. At least for now, Aerynn seems to break character before the cutoff, but then again, we have seen before that she has more capability for fear than she usually appears.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

Page 4 is finished and up!

It's not out of character for Aerynn. She's been in hiding for quite a while now. She thought Trawn's place was the first where she would be really, truly safe, and the revelation that Natasha has been Trawn's friend the whole time shatters that illusion. The fact that Trawn believes Natasha would keep the secret makes it worse. It's gonna be messy....

 

[Dsneybuf]

I just felt surprised to see Aerynn run away in the face of danger. Then again, I don't recall seeing her in this kind of danger before, and it really doesn't look like something she could just magick away.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

All right, I fell off the wagon on this one, but after nearly two months, the second half is finally in existence.
Electric Wonderland #17 - Into Thin Aerynn (Page 13)

The problem was that this portion was more dramatic than comedic and I don't really like writing that way. None of my series will probably ever slip into Cerebus Syndrome because I'm not a Cerebus kinda guy. When I write stories, I lean toward comedy because I like to have fun, not partake in the literary equivalent of cutting myself. I have a hard time understanding self-mutilating authors.

Of course, the conflict introduced here is far from resolved -- as it's setting up a larger one. Now Trawn will have to keep a secret from her best friend, but how long can she keep it up? And what will Natasha do if she ever finds out?

 

[Dsneybuf]

Less than an hour before you posted those pages, I actually asked if we would have to wait until Fall to see the end, but then I deleted the post.
I read what you wrote on deviantART about how you feared that Aerynn's big long dream sequence of meeting Winnie would come off as you just making an obscure reference to please yourself, but the role that Winnie's tape in the conclusion helped make that sequence seem less pointless. I did feel a little uneasy about the direction that NJ's and Aerynn's relationship seems to have started going in with this and "Team Trawn Redrawn", but now I guess they had to stop hating each other eventually, especially since they've worked together not only for Trawn's paper, but also for their own business with the bootleg videos.