I’m starting to get feedback on the first couple of issues and other than the single “WTF?” I got in comments here about last issue, most have been pretty positive.
I did get some minor criticism about flashbacks and why I’ve made choices not to use them in my comics and instead use large blocks of text where the character describes the flashback as they see it. Two obvious things, the first being that I have eight pages of story to work with per issue and the art alone for some of these flashbacks would take up the entire issue and second, I don’t wanna. I’m a lazy bastard.
Well, not really. I know everyone expects flashbacks with grayed out or dulled visuals while someone does a voice over and tells what really happened. It’s cliche. It gives the reader a set of data that seems to be true because it was told in a flashback. That’s how they do them in movies, TV, comics, media, etc. That’s what you expect to see.
In my universes, it’s more like “real life” where someone tells you a story from their point of view and there’s no fancy graphics or reenactments popping up, you have to trust them at their word that these events happened.
In “Retro, Retro, Retro” everyone has a story. Some stories conflict. You’re never going to get “the truth” out of everyone because everyone has (and lives) their own version of the truth. The story Celine told in Chapter One may be full of shit. Or parts of it may be. The crazier story told by Mae may also be true, but you won’t know until you see the events play out.
Is forcing people to read large blocks of text explaining the flashback damaging to the story? Maybe. Am I just a lazy bastard who didn’t have the models prepared for the aliens or the invasion of Earth done in time for the story? Maybe. You can decide without a fancy flashback to when I was 12 and someone flashback to when I was 5 and scarred me for life.
That said, chapter three (“Land of Confusion”) is set to release on Friday. It is set in an over crowded bathroom. There are twists, turns and all that other fancy stuff that you’d expect from a Jim Finch production.
Stay tuned,
Jim