Do we believe him? I know the audience does, but he is so capable of theft and lying I am not sure if I interpret the closeup panel as being glass..but maybe Erin will let us know for sure.
Unsure. I was under the impression the device needed a gem to work, and he does seem keen to show it off. On the other hand, you’re right, he’s the very embodiment of a scoundrel, and I wouldn’t put it past him to throw in one “sorry, that’s fake, let me take it off your hands, haw haw” for every demonstration just to make a quick buck on the side.
Aaaand as soon as I posted that I realised that he was testing the device on the ‘diamond’ not making it work with it. Oops. Sorry, please feel free to disregard.
Random, com’on. I mentioned that a couple pages back that this is some gigantic indoor crystal palace perhaps something a kin to the one built in Hyde park, London England for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Anyway yes, it’s indoors. 😉 As for nasty audience, rarely are they understanding and nice sad to say. Just human nature. 🙁
And now on another note, Erin, WOW! Woman you have an amazing talent for capturing faces and expression. It is just humbling to look at this work. May I please point out, panel one. You have the young woman’s face showing insult and indigence, yet still tolerating John Henry’s request for her participation.
The audience is a sea of expression. Each face is reading something of an emotion. Amazing.
It’s in panel eight that you really get me. After Hunter tells her the diamond is fake you mastered FOUR (4) emotions on her face. Anger, shock, disbelief and finally sadness with the tell of a tier welling in her right eye. Erin, that’s just mind blowing. Beautiful, just beautiful work. This story is amazing. Looking forward to all your work and the comments the other readers have to say.
wow, i read from beginning to here and this dark relentless unforgiving atmosphere jsut keeps me coming back. i feel genuinely feel bad for all the collateral victims of those two protagonists( for some reason, especially the animals)
just gotta say. WOW. you got yourself a new faithfull reader. i am glad i found this comic
Well I’m not sure if i consider Hunter totally upstanding guy. He has stolen one of those gems if I remember. and what of Vane is she the really bad character in this saga? I see both has seriously flawed people who fate has pitted against each other and I see things going very bad soon for both and for any who are unfortunately near them. Erin you are a masterful story teller, Bravo!!!!
All the usual great things about your pages are here: the great camera work (zoom in, out, crop), the handling of the light, the variety of the crowd (thanks for all the effort on that – we are really enjoying it), and the way people’s clothing magnifies their interiors…
And then there is the story here, which accomplishes a number of things. It’s a good vignette in its own right, but it also builds Hunter’s credibility with the crowd. He could not have planned a better ice-breaker, and the pained, sympathetic look on his face as she leaves the stage in that last cell is winning him the hearts of some in the crowd. He may genuinely feel that emotion – he has shown himself merciless to the arrogant and over confident, but quite tender hearted to the meek or to the underdog. Frankly I was shocked at his handling of Eliza, figuring he might see her on the victim side of the line, but no.
I’m also amazed at how much you packed into that last tiny cell, from the masterful cropping of her face to the chagrin on JHH’s face and whole posture.
I think another thing happening here with this little episode is that we are not liking the crowd much. Whatever is coming their way soon, while I still pity the children, it is a little harder to feel too sorry for the adults. I think that might be handy.
And of course the story is a great way to demonstrate the device’s workings and yet leave us all in suspense a little longer about the ultimate goal or plan Mr. Hunter is hatching up on that stage.
A final detail on my way out (as usual) – I love the way Vane is situated in that first cell; you call her to our attention by putting her in the very center, by pointing the crowd’s composition at her, by having her face be the only one straight upright, by making her hair the brightest in the crowd (maybe the hottest color in the entire cell), and her face the most colorless in contrast. It made the cell seem to say, “She’s right here, here, here!” I love all that subliminal finger pointing. And it made her even more cut off from everyone else, as well. It’s this subtle visual layering of the story that gives NTO so much depth, in my view. I keep calling it out because I enjoy it so much.
Arnly, I read your comment and you write that John Henry in the last”cell” has a pained, sympathetic look on his face. ??? I’m not seeing that. Even under extreme magnification (400% on my computer) I can barely make out any expression other then his hand up to his mouth, and an “Oh dear” look on his face. That to me looks more like a mocking expression. Personally I think Hunter is no more then an opportunist and takes what ever he wants. A classic narcissist. On your other comments I say yes, I agree. Especially the stories layering that gives it depth. I think we all enjoy that, very much.
jsfury, I can understand your point of view, and how it makes you see Hunter. That’s a fascinating aspect of this – that the reader’s point of view can cause a certain interpretation of events, gestures, expressions, etc.
I’m operating under the conviction that Hunter is being driven by a situation larger than just himself. He’s not above getting whatever he can along the way, but I see him as a soldier in a larger cause or scheme of some kind, and while the means might suck, the end he is trying to achieve might not… And the chapter in the plague camp put a different spin on him (and on Vane) which hit me hard. Mostly I now assume I don’t know much about either character, and even what I think I know I probably have wrong because future events will re-interpret them. That’s why I find NTO to be one of the most compelling graphic stories I’m reading now. And it makes me work hard to see both characters in the best light possible (giving the benefit of the doubt). I can afford that luxury, since I won’t end up dead like so many characters around these two…
I came back to look at the ring on the hand of the first, unfortunate volunteer. And I just noticed how much the cell where JHH is removing the ring looks like a dress moved up off long legs, while he removes a garter…
Do we believe him? I know the audience does, but he is so capable of theft and lying I am not sure if I interpret the closeup panel as being glass..but maybe Erin will let us know for sure.
Unsure. I was under the impression the device needed a gem to work, and he does seem keen to show it off. On the other hand, you’re right, he’s the very embodiment of a scoundrel, and I wouldn’t put it past him to throw in one “sorry, that’s fake, let me take it off your hands, haw haw” for every demonstration just to make a quick buck on the side.
Aaaand as soon as I posted that I realised that he was testing the device on the ‘diamond’ not making it work with it. Oops. Sorry, please feel free to disregard.
Man, I hadn’t noticed until now that they were indoors! It’s the light effects in panel 3 that gave it away for me. Nice.
I agree that I am not entirely sure what Hunter did here was honest. He could have palmed the real diamond and replaced it with some glass too.
Nasty audience though. The woman is already sufficiently humiliated, no need to laugh at her too.
Random, com’on. I mentioned that a couple pages back that this is some gigantic indoor crystal palace perhaps something a kin to the one built in Hyde park, London England for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Anyway yes, it’s indoors. 😉 As for nasty audience, rarely are they understanding and nice sad to say. Just human nature. 🙁
And now on another note, Erin, WOW! Woman you have an amazing talent for capturing faces and expression. It is just humbling to look at this work. May I please point out, panel one. You have the young woman’s face showing insult and indigence, yet still tolerating John Henry’s request for her participation.
The audience is a sea of expression. Each face is reading something of an emotion. Amazing.
It’s in panel eight that you really get me. After Hunter tells her the diamond is fake you mastered FOUR (4) emotions on her face. Anger, shock, disbelief and finally sadness with the tell of a tier welling in her right eye. Erin, that’s just mind blowing. Beautiful, just beautiful work. This story is amazing. Looking forward to all your work and the comments the other readers have to say.
Thanks so much for the observations, js!
Drawing this crowd every other panel is killing me; I wish they’d go away.
Nothing to see here, folks, move along now!… Sorry, Erin, they won’t budge. Guess Hunter hooked them good 😉
Gosh… if only there were some other reason for them to depart…
wow, i read from beginning to here and this dark relentless unforgiving atmosphere jsut keeps me coming back. i feel genuinely feel bad for all the collateral victims of those two protagonists( for some reason, especially the animals)
just gotta say. WOW. you got yourself a new faithfull reader. i am glad i found this comic
Thanks for the readthrough & the kind words and I hope to see more of you in future comments!
Since there are now a couple threads about this: I will confirm that Hunter is being 100% honest about the “diamond.”
John H Hunter, after all, is a totally upstanding guy.
He is definitely standing up, anyway.
what if diamonds were the philosophers stones
Well I’m not sure if i consider Hunter totally upstanding guy. He has stolen one of those gems if I remember.
and what of Vane is she the really bad character in this saga? I see both has seriously flawed people who fate has pitted against each other and I see things going very bad soon for both and for any who are unfortunately near them.
Erin you are a masterful story teller, Bravo!!!!
All the usual great things about your pages are here: the great camera work (zoom in, out, crop), the handling of the light, the variety of the crowd (thanks for all the effort on that – we are really enjoying it), and the way people’s clothing magnifies their interiors…
And then there is the story here, which accomplishes a number of things. It’s a good vignette in its own right, but it also builds Hunter’s credibility with the crowd. He could not have planned a better ice-breaker, and the pained, sympathetic look on his face as she leaves the stage in that last cell is winning him the hearts of some in the crowd. He may genuinely feel that emotion – he has shown himself merciless to the arrogant and over confident, but quite tender hearted to the meek or to the underdog. Frankly I was shocked at his handling of Eliza, figuring he might see her on the victim side of the line, but no.
I’m also amazed at how much you packed into that last tiny cell, from the masterful cropping of her face to the chagrin on JHH’s face and whole posture.
I think another thing happening here with this little episode is that we are not liking the crowd much. Whatever is coming their way soon, while I still pity the children, it is a little harder to feel too sorry for the adults. I think that might be handy.
And of course the story is a great way to demonstrate the device’s workings and yet leave us all in suspense a little longer about the ultimate goal or plan Mr. Hunter is hatching up on that stage.
A final detail on my way out (as usual) – I love the way Vane is situated in that first cell; you call her to our attention by putting her in the very center, by pointing the crowd’s composition at her, by having her face be the only one straight upright, by making her hair the brightest in the crowd (maybe the hottest color in the entire cell), and her face the most colorless in contrast. It made the cell seem to say, “She’s right here, here, here!” I love all that subliminal finger pointing. And it made her even more cut off from everyone else, as well. It’s this subtle visual layering of the story that gives NTO so much depth, in my view. I keep calling it out because I enjoy it so much.
Arnly, I read your comment and you write that John Henry in the last”cell” has a pained, sympathetic look on his face. ??? I’m not seeing that. Even under extreme magnification (400% on my computer) I can barely make out any expression other then his hand up to his mouth, and an “Oh dear” look on his face. That to me looks more like a mocking expression. Personally I think Hunter is no more then an opportunist and takes what ever he wants. A classic narcissist. On your other comments I say yes, I agree. Especially the stories layering that gives it depth. I think we all enjoy that, very much.
jsfury, I can understand your point of view, and how it makes you see Hunter. That’s a fascinating aspect of this – that the reader’s point of view can cause a certain interpretation of events, gestures, expressions, etc.
I’m operating under the conviction that Hunter is being driven by a situation larger than just himself. He’s not above getting whatever he can along the way, but I see him as a soldier in a larger cause or scheme of some kind, and while the means might suck, the end he is trying to achieve might not… And the chapter in the plague camp put a different spin on him (and on Vane) which hit me hard. Mostly I now assume I don’t know much about either character, and even what I think I know I probably have wrong because future events will re-interpret them. That’s why I find NTO to be one of the most compelling graphic stories I’m reading now. And it makes me work hard to see both characters in the best light possible (giving the benefit of the doubt). I can afford that luxury, since I won’t end up dead like so many characters around these two…
I came back to look at the ring on the hand of the first, unfortunate volunteer. And I just noticed how much the cell where JHH is removing the ring looks like a dress moved up off long legs, while he removes a garter…