[11/5/2007]
Today, there were a whole bunch of Guy Fawkes masks (the type from “V for Vendetta” pasted over various pictures and posters in the hallway (example). Figures.
nNyway, the final installment of “Sandstorm” has arrived. Sorry about the weirdness of it all. Let me try to explain:
“Sandstorm” was intially going to be a parody-type thing of those “alternate universe” mini-stories, like those RPG-based ones from Megat*kyo. Hence, the first installment was titled “Alternate Universe Rodeo: Sandstorm”. But then, for some reason I don’t remember, I decided to take it in a more serious direction, with only a vague idea of where I really wanted to go with it. (Actually, it seems that normal N-wars works that way too. Hmm.) So, bascially, we get incoherent elements such as “Sandstorm J” ‘s knife. (For why I’m referring to the character this way, see this entry and this entry.) It was supposed to be somewhat important originally. Spreading it out over 6 months wasn’t particularly helpful either.
Also, not planning out the plot led to a 180-degree change in direction right in the middle of drawing this comic. Until I started on the third panel, I had completely been intending for “Sandstorm J” to escape successfully. Why the sudden change? Part of it might have been due to the difficulty I was having in drawing the pose I had originally intended, but I also realized at that point that the ending I had had in mind was not going to work. Given the way this one turned out, though, I’m almost sorry I didn’t. There would have been an actual sandstorm (which, judging by the third panel here, I would have done a bad job on) and sandpunk police cars. (I was toying with the idea of a stirling– or steam-powered motorcycle, too.) The meganekko police girl would have gotten more appearances, too. But I couldn’t figure out how to work it out so that “Sandstorm J” escapes from the police cars on foot. (Granted, he’s dodging a bullet here, but perhaps the police chief is just not a good shot at that range.)
Sometime before drawing this comic, I decided to plan out the rest of the lines in the story, because if I did it wrong, I would give the piece the wrong tone. I’m not even sure how to describe what I was going for here. Part of it was trying to leave the true nature of the reactor’s origin abmiguous — I may have overdone this part a bit. I can say, though, that I had originally (before the part where I pulled a 180 on the plot) been intending for the reactor to have been placed there by someone else. Now, even I’m not really sure exactly what really happened. It’s like the story’s been detached from my influence somehow.
Or perhaps I just didn’t feel like making up my mind?
