Now we see how Pastor applies the favors that people owe him. Anytime, anywhere, no questions asked.
When I was writing this story, Ray had about three or four different fates, from the grisly to the mundane. One actually involved a pretty sweet knife fight with Pastor, but strangely, the action sequence just slowed down the story. Whatever I decided had to move the story along and expand on some aspect of Pastor or his world. (A three-panel, continuity adventure strip is a fantastic excercise in lean storytelling.)
Ultimately I decided on the idea of Pastor calling in a favor for Ray’s benefit. Pastor shows a bit of mercy, but his intentions aren’t entirely altruistic, since he still has Ray under his thumb until he’s able to clear the junkie’s story. But why not turn him over to the cops? We’ll see shortly…
Also, since we’re about to move on to the next chapter of The Thrill-Seekers, I thought it was appropriate to take us out of the alley and bring us back to the street where the action began in the first strip, “Junkie Chase.” However, those two ladies just completely hijacked this week’s strip from me! Somehow, these two background characters decided to make the most of their walk-on roles and developed a lot more personality than I intended.
Stay tuned!
- JEP
NOTE: Based on the very constructive feedback offered below, I made some changes to the word balloons. Hopefully this reads a little more clearly. Thanks for your help everyone in making this a better strip!
- JEP
23 May 2009
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Nice! And I was totally trying to imagine the women’s story before reading your note.
Looks great. My only issue is the balloon used for the telephone. It looks like a double tail balloon. On panle 1 it almost looks like it is pointing to the guy walking off panel, and panel 2 it almost looks like a balloon tail pointing to the ladies. And the sister in panel 2 is stealing the show. Hope we get to see more of her later.
Ooh, good points. I hadn’t noticed that before. Maybe I’ll fix that up and re-post it. Good catch, sir!
Doug G. -
It is a whole WORLD Of Hurt. Maybe I’ll pull a Sin City and come back someday to this panel and tell the tale of the Statuesque Sister and the Mean-Muggin’ Old Lady.
- JEP
Terrific strip, I particularly enjoy your art. I just bookmarked you, so keep the good stuff coming.
-Dwayne McDuffie
Wow. Wow.
I am deeply, deeply humbled and honored.
Thank you very much.
- JEP
Yeah, it took a second for me to realize he was on the phone. But I’m slow.
Angry White Man -
That may be the case
, but I could have communicated the point better that it was a telephone conversation. As The Pirate Musketeer stated, the double spikes for the telephone caption boxes can be confusing. I’ll try to fix that up.
- JEP
“The Badass Life of Statuesque Sister.” I’d read that.
I’ve been keeping up with The World of Hurt for a hot minute now, and I admit— This place is pretty HOT! Hot enough that I did a review of it! Come check it out
Planetgriffin.blogspot.com
[...] complacency. When WORLD OF HURT was barely a month old, Dwayne McDuffie was kind enough to leave a word of encouragement on my site. I was flabbergasted. After all, this was the guy who gave comic book fans Static, Damage [...]