Christ, where to START.

There’s a fine balance in HR’s first on-panel interaction with Carol. He thanks her for keeping him mindful of his schedule, which is a pretty basic job for an AA. That’s a lot friendlier than his interactions with his first unnamed employee and Donovan, where he uses no more words than necessary. And yet… he also can’t help but emphasize to Carol that he already knows about the 2:30, that he has known everything that’s on his schedule up to now, and she’s just there as insurance. Even at this early stage, his Walter White-ish arrogance is visible if you look.

The open glass of the backgrounds here was a compromise between my original idea (a sea of cubicles a la Office Space and early Dilbert) and the open plans that’d be more realistic for game design firms of the era. My concept of office work needed some updating. I think this works, as this is clearly the more corporate floor and a company this size should have some offices.

In the original pencils, there was no background in the last frame and HR was in the center of the composition, pushing Carol off to the left. Phil lobbied for the change to what you see here. This turned out to be a very good call because Carol immediately surprised all of us with how important she was to the story. This will be the HR and Carol Show, not a solo act with extras.