For anyone worried, I promise this is still a superhero comic. While I had to deal with a bit of a hack attack last week, you know it will take a lot more than that to stop the show!
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Another page where the lettering got surprisingly tricky, I spent a disproportionately long time on the second panel.
First an admission- somewhat similar to the Eve sequence from a few weeks back, the next two pages are actually recycled from a previous scene from the “old days” that had been removed very soon after originally appearing. Unlike the earlier sequence where the original scene itself was just moved for continuity purposes (the “new” scene basically played out as it did originally), these pages are being completely overhauled for the purposes of this scene (only the art is being used, the entire scene is now different). Just wanted to get that out of the way in the spirit of full disclosure.
It might not seem like it but there’s actually a lot going in that final panel (okay, maybe not a lot but definitely something major to be picked up on for later) aside from just being a subtle American Pie homage. I’m not giving any hints other than to (re)direct you all to what I said here. In hindsight this is one of those pages where I really wish I was a professional letterer who actually knew what he was doing 
, while I think I did an adequate job of laying out the word balloons in that final panel to produce the desired effect, looking back I think it could have been done just a bit better. The lettering process is actually something I’ve gained a great appreciation for from doing Stealth, it’s always the thing that gives me the most trouble.
As alluded to last week, Allen’s recently developed habit of sleeping in class hasn’t gone unnoticed. After all, he is supposed to be Mr. Super Scholar.
Perhaps an interesting footnote on the character of Allison here, way back in the day when I first developed the initial comic that would eventually morph into Stealth (another story for another day, now that I’ve let the cat out of the bag I’m going to definitely have to post the actual first comic featuring a teen hero named Allen White, I’ve actually still got it laying around after all these years- but I digress ) this character (then named Allison Bell) was supposed to be the main love interest/female lead. The relationship was supposed to be more of the tried-and-true lifelong best friends who come to realize that they’re meant to be more than friends formula but for various reasons I decided I didn’t like her character as a love interest- I still liked the character though enough to keep around.
As the comic morphed into the Stealth we now know and love , a new character, Ashley Belle, was developed to be the primary love interest- I intentionally made the name as similar as I could to set up a kind of natural rivalry between the two, kind of a homage to Lois Lane and Lana Lang. I even went so far as to craft a (potential) scene in my head where Allison explains her dislike for Ashley stemming from always being matched up with her due to their names always coming back to back and being so similar and as a result she always exists in Ashley’s shadow so to speak. However, one of the first people to read the comic, now noted comics reviewer Christopher Allen- who was one of a handful of comic reviewer types on the old and dearly departed WFC Jinxworld message board I asked to check out the then brand new Stealth online comic- pointed out that the names were too similar (obviously the casual reader wouldn’t pick up on what I was trying to do until I actually did something to explain it all, which at my pace would definitely take a while). So that’s how the character’s name ended up changing to Allison Bain, still close enough for the general idea of what I had intended but enough of a distinction to set the two apart.
Eventually though the character of Carrie popped into my head as an idea for an “other” love interest and so Allison took another backseat. Between Ashley and Carrie there simply hasn’t been much room between her first appearance and now for Allison to get any screen time but this was a situation tailored made for her character as an eagle-eyed observer (gossipers tend to be good at noticing things, that how they get to be gossipers ) who just so happens to be one of Allen’s better friends (in case anyone is wondering, Allen doesn’t really have a single, true “best” friend). Now that I’ve re-introduced her (so to speak) I think I’m going to make sure she has a stronger presence now and who knows, maybe there is room for her and and Allen to be more than just friends…
I’m just saying
Even though it’s a bit of a stretch, a special no-prize goes out to anyone who can identify the show being referenced in Allen’s last thought there. That show itself didn’t do too well but a retooled follow up did do very well, I’m pretty sure everyone would recognize that one- here’s a hint, it’s been referenced within the comic before. Like I said, it’s a bit of a stretch.
Allen sure does seem to be tired a lot lately, I wonder if anyone else has noticed…
p.s. make sure to keep checking out the Lightning Man/Stealth crossover with updates every weekday (I don’t know how Dave does it), it’s a pure fun blast!