Without Fear

HEADSPACE #3, you got it?

If so, dig in.

We give Shane a little light and then we bash him in the face with a black light LED on strobe. Poor guy. I really dig this issue as it gets Max moving and pushes Shane around when he just wishes he could get from point A to B easy and quick.

COVER

Seriously, Eric is pushing himself on these covers every single time. He refuses to rest on his laurels and he wants every one to be better than the last, all of them. It’s a tough ask but when he’s pulling it off with such aplomb I will not stand in his way. The map was something that came up in email discussion between Eric, Dan Hill, and myself. Eric then added the three figures so creatively placed.

Then he popped in some black background and it all came together. Getting these in my inbox is one of the best parts of this gig.

PAGE 1

Well in, Sebastian Piriz. Joining the team on the first page of your first issue, no pressure. Ha. Sebastian is taking over the Max IRL sequence because Chris Peterson has had to leave the project due to conflicting levels of mega-success. It’s sad to see him depart but we all wish him well and we know Sebastian will round out the creative team here at Carpenter Cove HQ.

This page is a pretty standard piece of business. It’s just setting up location, action, waiting for the page turn. The captions talk of other things, and people, though, so do pay attention.

I also really like those MUNCH sfx because they make Max look insane.

PAGE 2

The way Sebastian lays out Max inside his own head. The flow of those letters from Eric. Marissa’s gorgeous green pants on Max. Everything here is just as it should be.

PAGE 3

A touch, a past, an inevitable series of bad mistakes that you’ve been rinsing and repeating your whole life. Yep, just another day being human, guys. I really dig the way Sebastian draws Max with all those arms, and Marissa making those inset panel edges a colour is fantastic.

PAGE 4

This whole Max IRL sequence is just a vignette. Something to throw you off your pace. I wanted to show Max as a human. As a man with a real life, and interactions with normal people, and a possible shot at hope though it seems it’s just something he can’t take, or won’t manage to align. Either way, I wanted to humanise Max here and I’m really happy with this sequence. Max might be a killer but he’s also human. Sometimes a person can be both so I wanted to show that. I believe sometimes you can pause the jetpack narrative to slow and look and feel and touch.

PAGE 5

Now here we return to the Cove as Shane is told many a truth as we see the location, and see how weird it is. This is where Max’s memories are being harvested. I love the turning track/path Eric drew onto the page leading down. I also super dug on the DHARMA jumpsuits from Eric, yeeaaahhhhhh.

PAGE 6

Talking. Heads. I tried to boil the exposition down and maybe we were successful. I really like the body language given to Shane and the Librarian, these two guys are really interacting. I’m also always a sucker for someone taking off their glasses and cleaning them on the page.

PAGE 7

This page is so important. The Librarian reveals a foolproof plan to leave, the unconscious aspects of the Cove are explained (right back to that very first page, I told you to pay attention so don’t give up now, there’s more to come), and we see some of the grim reality around what’s happening.

I’m also impressed that Eric gets to recycle half an old page of art. Well in.

PAGE 8

Those red garbed foreground people in that panel of this page really set a new tone. It’s great because it’s a spot on way to do it. You should also look closely at what the Librarian says and if there are any nuances and how and why.

PAGE 9

I scripted this beat down but Eric really added some gravity and funk to it. This guy is a hard bastard and I almost don’t want to turn the page…

PAGE 10

The first panel really packs that punch in. Then panel two shows the man so angry he will barely remember who else was there after. Shane has to run after both of them absconding. This is the heart of Shane, his blessing and his curse – he’s a ‘leave no man behind’ kind of guy and doing that means you’re constantly running back into that which you have already escaped. It’s not the smartest battleplan.

PAGE 11

I love Max in the limo. I love how insane this scene gets really quickly. It’s a whole mess of things converging, a whole scatter shot of emotions on display and parts of Max’s brain around them all. I also really dig Panel Four as the limo speeds away from Shane. Eric drew that really damn well and shrewdly.

PAGE 12

This final image floored me when it came in. Mostly it’s the red sky but it’s also the posture of that beast. The way he’s weirdly stumbling through the building. I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s drunk.

Also, this big guy only exists because Eric drew him in that splash of Shane flying above the Cove in issue #1. I saw him there and knew I had to use him later. So here he is, you’re welcome.

And as far as final splashes/moments go, I’m really happy with this one. It ups the ante from the normal-but-escalating scene we’ve just followed. And in a perfect world it’d be a full splash page but Eric’s time is money and I can’t keep him forever drawing my fancy pin ups. Plus, I kinda like it on this scale with some story beat above it, too. I have zero complaints.

BACK MATTER

As always, all hail Christopher Kosek, Designer Supreme.

TRUE DETECTIVE really did blow me away and inspire me to want/need to do more. I love a good slice of fiction that propels me into more of my own.

ESSAY

I love Dan’s title for this essay: Dirty Wars & Messy Minds – We can forget that for you wholesale.

As for the actual content, man, whoa, its intense. Dan’s always pushing me to think more and really analyse the world around me. He’s good like that.

—

Another issue down, albeit a touch late. Thank you so sincerely much for wading this deep into Carpenter Cove with us all. This story is really getting murky and we cannot wait to show you the funk with issue #4. Trust us, things get deep and dark and will affect you.

We’d also appreciate it if you spread the good word. Indie books live and die on the vine due to exposure and word of mouth. Hit up twitter with #headspacecomic to share your thoughts, and possibly end up in the back of an issue, too. Chat with myself @ryanklindsay or Eric @ericxyz and let us know your thoughts. We love to chat about the stuff we create. Or just about other stuff. Tell your friends about the book on Facebook, or in person, actually phone a friend to talk about Headspace, or gift the comic to someone. It’s all appreciated.

We’ll see you for #4 soon. Til then, face front, true detective…I mean, true believer.