8th Mar 2021, 8:30 AM
The initial idea for this page was to follow the two pairs of characters, going their separate ways, but for the reader to eavesdrop on snippets of each conversation in such a way that it would seem like the characters were responding to each other, while actually being in separate locations. I've seen this done in live action films and TV shows, but it turned out to be much more difficult to accomplish on a single comic page, and still have it make sense!
The choices of how to depict this conversation - what to draw in each panel - was integral to the effect I was trying to pull off. I felt it was important to establish a deliberate rhythm to the panels, that's why the layout is a very straightforward six-panel grid. Reading it in the conventional way establishes an "A - B - A - B - A - B" rhythm. I have Night Knight/Sleep Tyke in all the left-hand panels, Steamroller Man and Paige in all the right-hand ones, each group occupying its own distinct territory on the page, always facing away from each other. I tried to further clarify that they are not talking to the other group by using mostly wide shots. You can clearly see they are nowhere near each other - Night Knight and Sleep Tyke are now on the rooftops, whereas Steamroller Man and Paige are at street level. I think this is another reason why the page took so long to complete. I probably put too much detail into the backgrounds of those relatively small panels, but I felt it was warranted in this case.
It was a struggle to make this work, and I’m still not sure if I was entirely successful! I tried several variations and it wasn't clear that the characters weren't actually talking to each other. I decided to modify it so that rather than apparently corresponding, the two conversations were, instead, kind of "echoing" each other. That's when I hit upon the idea of having the resolution of each conversation be a flip of the previous page - they had each changed their mind, but they would still unwittingly be in conflict with each other.
Then there was the matter of injecting some humor into this very wordy page! Not much to say about this. The jokes here are kind of throw-aways, and came pretty organically, as I was massaging the dialogue at the end. Hopefully they give you a chuckle.