Please Erin, never apologize. Every comic you put out is sharing a piece of yourself with the rest of us and letting us enjoy your creativity – for free, no less. We should be the ones thanking you.
Well, he’s been shown to do stuff away from himself, such as vaporizing bullets sent his way, so it’s entirely possible he can just set the dude on fire instead of having to generate the fire at his hand and throw it at the guy… though he does seem to try avoiding outright killing people.
Not much. Haven’t you ever seen Sky High? They just suffocate in the vacuum. XD Wait. Why am I laughing at that? I love Warren Peace! Though he does escape in the end thanks to his teammate…
There might be some kind of bias there about how you use your magic; you’ve gotta admit that Hunter tends to use it frivolously on a whim and always to cause some kind of chaos– to Crawford here, that unruliness may well make him a ‘witch’.
Or maybe JHH is some kind of sorcerer whereas Crawford is a wizard type.
Beautifully arranged page. I love the cropping of the professor’s last face cell and the way the climax action scene is “behind” all the framed cells – I think every one of your pages has this kind of arranging going on and it generally serves the story or the emotional quality (it’s not just arbitrary).
In a similar way, I like the way the professor’s first two cells worth of speech balloons naturally merge together and connect with the two images (where you use your usual great cinema grade close-up). I think all the best comics and graphic novels have this great sense of how to use distance and framing. Yours just keeps improving (and it’s been pretty great from the first few chapters).
Parting observation – I love the reflections of the fire on the professor’s face in the last close-up. Subtle and effective.
I think all the best comics and graphic novels have this great sense of how to use distance and framing.
Yes Arnly that is correct. That’s called perspective which our illustrator is very well understanding of. We are so lucky, and grateful to have such beautiful art to view and enjoy every week. Thank you again Erin, and again no need to apologize. If you need to take a couple weeks off then you just take it my dear, we understand and always look forward to the next brilliant page of NTO. 😉
I like that Crawford has to do fancy signs with his hands to do his magic, but not Hunter. It suggests their magic is different, somehow. I guess Hunter must have a natural talent that he has never tried to reign in (witch!), while Crawford is more the scholarly type (wizard / mage).
I’m happy that we get to see a fight (FIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHT), but I am fearing for the books 🙁 Hopefully Vane ends this quickly with a well placed shot.
I’m not sure if Crawford HAS to wave his hands about, i think it’s partially a matter of control/fine tuning, partially individual style/training*. He may be able to do magic without the gestures, just less precisely. *- There may well be different “schools” of magic, much like schools of martial arts in our world. We may be seeing the equivalent of a duel between a practitioner of Tai Chi (constant motion, broad circular movements) vs Wing Chun (compact, stable stance; short rapid attacks).
RSG, I believe those strange signs are an incantation that Professor Crawford is uttering to control the intensity of his air bending (if indeed that is what it is). And you can see that Crawford is actually pulling the flames towards him and away from the books to protect them, which might not bode well for him. Not sure if Vane can stop the inevitable. 🙁
Wonderful page, and now a battle between two magic users in a stakes scenario.
Hmm, I wonder if Crawford uses the term imperialist in its general form; or towards the political faction we have heard about. Perhaps magic and the occult had some ideological role in the late war?
I just realized I’m “hearing” Hunter’s voice in my head as the voice of Rhett Butler. I think it’s the way he can switch between elaborate, courtly phrasing and more informal speech like the occasional “ain’t” and dropping the “g” at the end of some words.
And yes, I love how the two mages have different styles for invoking their powers; the eldritch symbols that Professor Crawford uses are an extremely nice touch!
Please Erin, never apologize. Every comic you put out is sharing a piece of yourself with the rest of us and letting us enjoy your creativity – for free, no less. We should be the ones thanking you.
fire vs air battles…. the right amount of skill can make all the difference^^. wonder how much of it will happen til Vane seizes the moment.
Noooo! Won’t somebody think of the books?
They both did: Hunter as a bargaining chip, his opponent who’s name escapes me as priceless relics that must be protected
That last panel is pretty incredible and I really like the angles and the blocking on this page.
That face in the last panel. 😮
So, what can a Fire mage do if an Air mage sucks all the oxygen away from him?
Well, he’s been shown to do stuff away from himself, such as vaporizing bullets sent his way, so it’s entirely possible he can just set the dude on fire instead of having to generate the fire at his hand and throw it at the guy… though he does seem to try avoiding outright killing people.
Not much. Haven’t you ever seen Sky High? They just suffocate in the vacuum. XD Wait. Why am I laughing at that? I love Warren Peace! Though he does escape in the end thanks to his teammate…
Air mage calling the fire mage a witch.
There might be some kind of bias there about how you use your magic; you’ve gotta admit that Hunter tends to use it frivolously on a whim and always to cause some kind of chaos– to Crawford here, that unruliness may well make him a ‘witch’.
Or maybe JHH is some kind of sorcerer whereas Crawford is a wizard type.
Beautifully arranged page. I love the cropping of the professor’s last face cell and the way the climax action scene is “behind” all the framed cells – I think every one of your pages has this kind of arranging going on and it generally serves the story or the emotional quality (it’s not just arbitrary).
In a similar way, I like the way the professor’s first two cells worth of speech balloons naturally merge together and connect with the two images (where you use your usual great cinema grade close-up). I think all the best comics and graphic novels have this great sense of how to use distance and framing. Yours just keeps improving (and it’s been pretty great from the first few chapters).
Parting observation – I love the reflections of the fire on the professor’s face in the last close-up. Subtle and effective.
I think all the best comics and graphic novels have this great sense of how to use distance and framing.
Yes Arnly that is correct. That’s called perspective which our illustrator is very well understanding of. We are so lucky, and grateful to have such beautiful art to view and enjoy every week. Thank you again Erin, and again no need to apologize. If you need to take a couple weeks off then you just take it my dear, we understand and always look forward to the next brilliant page of NTO. 😉
I like that Crawford has to do fancy signs with his hands to do his magic, but not Hunter. It suggests their magic is different, somehow. I guess Hunter must have a natural talent that he has never tried to reign in (witch!), while Crawford is more the scholarly type (wizard / mage).
I’m happy that we get to see a fight (FIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHT), but I am fearing for the books 🙁 Hopefully Vane ends this quickly with a well placed shot.
I’m not sure if Crawford HAS to wave his hands about, i think it’s partially a matter of control/fine tuning, partially individual style/training*. He may be able to do magic without the gestures, just less precisely.
*- There may well be different “schools” of magic, much like schools of martial arts in our world. We may be seeing the equivalent of a duel between a practitioner of Tai Chi (constant motion, broad circular movements) vs Wing Chun (compact, stable stance; short rapid attacks).
RSG, I believe those strange signs are an incantation that Professor Crawford is uttering to control the intensity of his air bending (if indeed that is what it is). And you can see that Crawford is actually pulling the flames towards him and away from the books to protect them, which might not bode well for him. Not sure if Vane can stop the inevitable. 🙁
I finally realized why I like this guy.
He looks a lot like a young version of Yen Sid from the Sorcerer’s Apprentice piece in Fantasia. 🙂 Especially in panels 1 and 2.
Wonderful page, and now a battle between two magic users in a stakes scenario.
Hmm, I wonder if Crawford uses the term imperialist in its general form; or towards the political faction we have heard about. Perhaps magic and the occult had some ideological role in the late war?
J.H. , (J.H.? John Henry?) WOW, that never even crossed my mind. How very astute sir. Ma’am?
I just realized I’m “hearing” Hunter’s voice in my head as the voice of Rhett Butler. I think it’s the way he can switch between elaborate, courtly phrasing and more informal speech like the occasional “ain’t” and dropping the “g” at the end of some words.
And yes, I love how the two mages have different styles for invoking their powers; the eldritch symbols that Professor Crawford uses are an extremely nice touch!
I was wavering about labeling JHH as evil villain or lovable rogue. But this threat to a library? Dastardly villain!