A slog of a page – renders were done earlier this week, and I ground out the next page and most of the one after that over the past few days while juggling work, commissions, and other activities typical of the freelance contractor/artist lifestyle.

The Make Art process was typical of comic production – what made it a slog was the constant, incessant niggling of the Ghost Of Vice and the lemming-like urge to pause production and blow the rest of the night on video games. Usually that sort of twitch crops up when I’m gaming and know I should be getting shit done – feeling it in reverse has been unexpected and somewhat unpleasant. It’s an itch I’ll scratch as soon as the page is posted, of course. I’ve gotten a good amount of work done this week – I’ve earned a little breather.

The Ghost Of Vice thing? I’m getting used to it. The occasional I WANT A DRINK flare-up is something I’ve realized I’m going to just have to live with, unpleasant as it is. Right now I can’t afford it, which is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, prudence keeps me from giving in. On the other, the fiscal stress takes the usual “Man, I just wanna go out and talk to somebody” drink-urge and cranks it up to epic levels of near-anxiety. I used to deal with anxiety by drinking until it shut the fuck up for a minute. These days I just kind of fidget until work takes root. Sometimes that takes awhile – but overall, I’m in much better creative shape than I was when I was perpetually hung over.

As usual, a few minor deviations from the workbook script. Nothing big. The next page should be easier on me – I should be getting an earlier start on it (yay weekend!) and it’s a challenge I’ve been looking forward to for quite awhile.

Shang Tsung is definitely the sort of character Whitehouse would gravitate towards after the events of the past couple of chapters. I have no idea which character he’d select prior to the events of Dead City Radio. If the Slice Of College Life aspect was something I wanted to spend more time on, the mental effects the flashbacks are having on Jason could easily be depicted in a variety of ways – a shift in video game character preference, a shift in art focus or style, taste in music, books, etceteras. When Jason’s altered perception finally kicks in in a meaningful way, it’ll be tectonic, as opposed to aesthetic. While the details certainly matter, DCR is less about the little clues on screen and ultimately more about what isn’t shown.