Annotated 8-3
I mentioned before that Erica would add more panels than were in the scripts, more often as time went on. This one was originally four panels, and I’m trying to remember how I ever thought that was going to work.
Even so, different artists have different attitudes about these things. Jason Waltrip would probably have loved it if I’d given him a ten-panel script, because he finds head-shots the easiest part of the job. Gisele Lagace assesses each page’s difficulty by how many “heads” it contains, so she would’ve been much likelier to prefer fewer frames here.
We never nailed down the meaning of the varryn too precisely, but in most of its appearances and mentions, it seems to be a bigger deal than Syr’Nj is making it out to be here. Maybe not an engagement ring but at least an apartment key. I think that, having just contemplated how soon she might be dead, she’s ready to make a commitment herself, but she suspects (correctly) that coming on too strong would only scare Byron away. So yeah, sure, Byron, wood elves use nature’s bountiful excess as appropriate for anyone they just kinda wanna smash on the caj, no big.
Random thought not particularly related to this specific strip: has anyone made a “dream cast” list for Guilded Age before?
I’m thinking Sebastian Stan as Byron, Michaela McManus as Syr’Nj (it’s the cheekbones), Zachary Levi as E-Merl. Don’t have ideas for any of the others yet.
I don’t think anyone has. It’s hard for me to think that way, and my knowledge of film actors and actresses is woefully incomplete, so I don’t have many ideas myself. But we did definitely model HR after William H. Macy, and it’s hard to resist the concept of John Rhys-Davies as Gravedust.
I think, and I feel just a LITTLE bit awkward about this, that Peter Dinklage would work well for Gravy.
And that’s totally NOT about “hur hur he’s a dwarf”- sure, the height would be a boon, but he just shows that he has a natural talent for stoic, determined, yet emotive characters- I’m thinking mostly of his role in X-Men:DoFP.
Peter Dinklage crossed my mind, but I don’t thnk he’s really heavyset enough for Gravedust. (When I’m making dream cast lists, I tend to try to come up with actors that match the physical appearance of the character as closely as possible.)
Any thoughts on Frigg or Best?
Marisha Ray for Frigg, perhaps? Her character on Critical Role, Beauregard, is a little bit friggish in some ways
How about Molly Quinn?
Or — and I know this is a weird limb to go out on — Ashleigh Ball.
I’ve only seen Molly Quinn in Castle, but she comes across too sweet to play Frigg. I’m not familiar with the other three.
Ooh, I just had a thought… Chloe Moretz! She’s got the right build, the right face shape, and plenty of sass. Might be a bit young for the role, but I bet she could pull it off.
Big Bang’s Melissa Rauch for Bandit.
This was always one of my favorite pages of this comic. Neatly stating some things and setting up for others later without anything seeming forced or overstated. And I was already at the Syr’Nj+Byron train at this point, so it just made me go “yaaaaaaay!” I am ever thankful to Erica for making it this way instead of as four panels!
I always thought it was a bit sketchy for Syr’Nj to do this and underplay it as just a “thank you.” She’s making a one-sided commitment and lying about it.
Definitely sketchy. But she’s definitely tapping into the ambiguity of “let me buy you an ale,” something that could either be a platonic gesture of thanks or an invitation to exploring a possible romantic relationship. Still far, far short of “at least an apartment key” of course.
I thought this was a bit out of character for Syr’Nj. She’s been portrayed as both shy and principled, and then she gives her varryn without being clear about what she’s doing? Seems abrupt and not like her. But, I suppose that if the meaning of “varryn” was vague to the creators, it might not have seemed like the weighty thing it later became.
The same sort of thing used to happen to Tolkien, if his letters and such are to be believed. He’d come up with some word and find out as a story went on that it had great gobs of meaning.