Annotated 16-9
So here’s Penk, who surpasses Ardaic (#4), Bandit (#3), and Carol (#2) as the #1 character who deviated most firmly from his original purpose. He was not planned to become a major antagonist to Our Heroes and he was definitely not intended to end up as the de facto president of a united Arkerran coalition.
I had a lot of questions for Phil when he drafted this sequence and tweaked some of Penk’s account of himself in panel 2. In retrospect, though, I think we managed to give him just enough backstory here to be relatable without getting the story stuck in the mud.
I made sure to season those questions with praise, including for the segue in panels 2 and 3, which was easy to celebrate.
If he wasn’t planned to become a major antagonist, what was the original plan for Penk? I can see how his path had taken a wildly unexpected turn by the end of the story, but unless I’m misremembering this chapter, weren’t you setting him up to be opposition from the start?
Could have been like Auraugu’s first crew and meant to die after an adventure or two.
Except wasn’t his first crew meant to last a lot longer?
Opposition, yes, but we figured he’d remain Harky’s helper and an otherwise average soldier/ war drummer, with only Harky, Auraugu, and MAYBE Gondolessa bothering to learn his name
Iiiiii don’t wanna fight, I just wanna bang on my drum all day…
“I had a dream last night, it was just before the fight.
Somebody yelled ‘Attack!’, and there I stood with an arrow in my back!
Please, Mr. Custer, I don’t wanna go!”
I’m surprised. I figured Auraugu was in the top four characters to have deviated from the original plan for them.
Auraugu remained pretty close to the role and personality we developed for him originally. He just got more screen time due to his own likability and changes in the plot.