23rd Dec 2020, 5:51 PM
We're starting the year off with some action, but I'm hoping in reality that this year is niiiiiice and boring!
It's really fun to have some new characters to draw. Night Knight and Sleep Tyke were originally going to be part of a larger group of new characters (and they still may be, in a future story), that were going to enter into the story in a more tangential way - in fact they weren't going to really be part of the story, originally, but more of a one-off, "funny-name" joke. Once I came up with the character designs for them, I started to like them more and more, and realized that I could actually streamline the story somewhat by having them play a greater role. I won't say anymore at this point -- don't want to spoil things!
If anyone is wondering, yes, that is a pillow that Night Knight is using as a mask, and Sleep Tyke's cowl and cape is supposed to be one of those kids' hooded bath towels. They fight crime in their jammies!
This page was an absolute blast to write and draw, from roughing out the action poses to coming up with as many sleep-themed puns as I could fit in there! I only just noticed that I used a Jack Kirby technique in the first two panels, by only showing a partial figure of Night Knight entering the first, and leaving the second panel. Jack Kirby did this a lot in fight scenes. As well as helping to frame the composition of the panel, I think it really enhances the feeling of action. Almost as though the character is moving so fast, the "camera" barely catches him.
I've studied Ying Jow Pai - Eagle Claw Kung Fu - for nine years or so, and the moves in panels three and four are based on actual techniques used in that system. The sleeper hold pose in panel five is deliberately wrong for a simple reason - I thought it was funnier, visually, to have the mugger's bulging eyes be surrounded by the grey of Night Knight's arms. A real sleeper hold would have his whole head exposed.
You may notice the lack of backgrounds on this page. I thought they were unnecessary here, and I think that the action feels faster without them, perhaps because your eye is spending less time looking at each panel because of the simpler compositions.
Overall, a really entertaining page to write and draw, so I hope it was fun for you to read!
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