Annotated 21-2
Love that first frame of John’s! Talk about a visual transition that ramps up the stakes!
Credit goes to Phil for the specific design of this trap and the way it’s put together: I was a lot less particular in the plot and initial draft.
Bandit sure breaks down how it works pretty quickly while she’s running for her life. One imagines that even though she herself was never a large-scale designer, that sort of mechanical aptitude is central enough to gnome culture that it still rubbed off on her.
Solid framing device here, and I feel like it benefits from the fast pace and front-loaded structure. Had Phil executed this outline (assuming he kept the trap), we’d probably have started with the battle that you see later in this chapter, putting the trap on pages 2-3 and making this page 4.
The pacing of Guilded Age really is something to be admired. While during the comic, I was occasionally flummoxed, I was so caught up in the story that it only made me re-read the previous pages repeatedly to piece together the larger story. Sure enough, the groundwork may have been subtle but it was always there; my confusion was mostly just being used to having a plot liquefied and spoon-fed to me. Thanks for giving us something to really chew on.
I admire your extended metaphor. It tastes as good as it looks!