Rune

I’m obsessive about details. It can be both a benefit and a curse.

When I’m reading fiction, nothing “pulls me out” of the story more than a detail that fails to make sense.

For example, I was recently reading a comic about a run-away princess. A commoner notes that her hands have never seen hard labor. Later, we find out that the princess is an accomplished harpist. Have you ever played a stringed instrument? She would not have soft, pampered hands if she was a harpist!

I understand that the storyteller just wanted the commoner to suspect that the woman was a princess. I also know, from experience, that it’s incredibly difficult to concoct a fantasy world where everything is internally consistent. But I did try my best!

Now that the Rune story is complete, I’m going to have a little fun with it. I’m going to go through the Rune graphic novel again and post commentary so I can talk about all the little details in each scene. Hopefully it will be like re-watching a DVD with the director commentary audio enabled. Feel free to ask questions or give feedback to help me see areas where I could have done something better!

Since the pages changed from their original webcomic run, I’ll be posting them again here on the blog.

Let’s get started!

Page one. The goal here was to introduce the characters of Justin and Rune. Notice how they address each other by name in panel two. People don’t usually do this in real life but it’s a necessary evil in writing.

I have Justin call Rune “little brother” because it instantly gets the reader to understand their relationship – Justin is protective of Rune, although we later find out the reasons are more complicated than actually being brothers.

We also setup a question in the reader’s mind: what truth is Rune going to reveal? And to whom? Why does Justin disapprove?

It’s not a great hook, but a first page needs something to get the reader curious enough to turn the page.

Art notes… I’m not happy with the background terrain in these panels. The original opening took place in an open field, but I wanted something a little more bleak. The rocky area ended up being too featureless, though. In retrospect, I should have commissioned a digital painter to do some landscapes for me. Live and learn!