Annotated 13-14
Phil did pump up the action FX on this page and punched up the dialogue a bit, but in any drafted version, this is where Rachel really clicked for me. Oh, I was having fun with her before, but I didn’t feel bonded before this.
She is fully aware that after this attack, she’ll be falling from a dangerous height, but she was going to fall from that height one way or another, so why hold back? We all have to die sometime. If this is her last minute of life, better to spend it doing what she believes in. I’d say this was foreshadowing for her eventual actual death, but if so, it was accidental. Her fate was not yet even in the planning stages. She’s… just like this.
Yalaria’s description was built on Phil’s earlier notes about avians. Some of them are as articulate as almost any human, as Gondolessa’s already shown, but others’ psyches are far closer to birds and there’s a broad range in between. If you weren’t watching the tags too closely, you might think her name was “Gralor” and her non sequitur at the end of the first panel just means that lifting heroes up and dropping to their deaths is hungry work.
Ooo, sparkly…
Realizing that the show wasn’t on Netflix yet at the time, did you take any inspiration from Iron Fist in designing Rachel’s fighting style?
I’m gonna say no with qualifiers. Phil and I are both Marvel readers, so we were both aware of Iron Fist, but at this point I thought of IF’s power as concentrated in his hand, hence the name. The Street Fighter influence is a lot more obvious here.
Beyond that, I was a little inspired by a scene where the Hulk beats on Graviton in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, not because of any specific fighting moves, but because of the sheer off-script abruptness of it, the refusal to follow the fight’s expected and then-established rhythm. I fondly remember watching it with Phil and one of his then-roommates and Phil commenting, “Fuck THAT guy!” That neatly anticipated the Hulk-Loki bit from the Avengers movie, but it was a more fast-paced series of different attacks.
Also, the reveal of Rachel’s hair here dropped my jaw.
The stockings were a surprise. I don’t know why, but I expected her to wear leggings or pants.
Spirit, courage, and unyielding heart are all well and good, but that still doesn’t explain how she could kick that high up.
Very good core strength, that’s how.
Much like Gravedust, Rachel secretly has a very impressive six-pack. It’s kind of like trappist beer.
Her abdominal muscles are also, like, really really strong.
Huh…sounds almost like a super positive version of the Sith Code.