Annotated 10-7
This page may seem like just a quiet, sweet moment and a partial antidote to all the upsetting things about Chapter 8. And it is that, but it’s also a decision point. Two roads are diverging in a wood and Syr’Nj has to pick which she wants.
She begged Byron to stop and he didn’t. Only her potion-darts kept him from hacking her to bits. And while the berserker seems like a completely different person and time will prove this largely accurate, how much responsibility Byron really bears for it is more felt than known at this stage. If nothing else, he is responsible for not telling his brothers and sisters in arms what he knows about it.
So it’d be reasonable for Syr’Nj to take longer to get over all that than she does. Some people in her position wouldn’t get over it at all. As it is, there’s a flicker of fear in her as she hears the echo of the berserker’s scream, and then she recognizes a man in mourning. She chooses what she sees. “Seeing what you choose to see” often means delusional folly, but sometimes the choice is a noble and ultimately wise one.
Oh, and just incidentally, by making this choice, she accepts Gravedust’s assessment that she is now de facto leader of the group, even if she’ll lead by following Best for a bit.
Originally, her dialogue in the last panel was a simple “All right,” but one of us (probably Phil) decided we needed a bit more clarity. I dunno, though: I think her body language here speaks for itself.
Can we get that last panel as a poster?
Ooh, man. I know we’ve got the high-def lettered art, dunno about the unlettered art. I’ll dig around on Monday.
The lettered art might work pretty well, though.
The subtle differences between panels 3 and 6 are wonderfully well done.
I agree with you here, T. Syr’nj’s body language works well enough that the simpler line would have been better. In my opinion, ymmv, etc etc.
It also works as is, but I like the simpler line.
It works as is, but the repetition “Everything’s going to be all right” is a sign of anxiety to me. She’s trying to convince Byron (and herself) that everything’s going to be all right and she didn’t feel like she succeeded with the first “It’s all right”.
Maybe that’s just me projecting.
I know the alt text is a reference to something, but I can’t remember what
Looking it up, it looks like an Anakin line from Star Wars Episode II, which is kind of hilarious, since I’d think that’d be the LAST comparison we wanted for Syr’Nj and Byron unless we wanted to make readers nervous that they might have a similarly tragic end. I suspect Phil just wanted to draw a comparison between Syr’s mechanical ingenuity and the process of repairing a broken soul.