If you head over to Top Web Comics and vote for HTBAW, you can see a preview of one of the panels for tomorrow's comic that I really liked :). So, if you read all my nonsense down here on the regular, you've probably noticed that I hate Plans. That's with a captial P, not a little p. The trope of "let's make a plan!", which is normally needlessly complicated, and it always fucking works...drives me craaaazy. Granted, usually Plans are a side-effect of a certain type of show. This trope shows up basically every episode of White Collar, Black List (lol white and black), Chuck, etc...but then, the idea that every situation calls for a Plan seeps into almost every other show too. A Plan calls for the situation to be perfectly mapped out ahead of time (usually on such a limited time frame as to be impossible), a team of experts at the ready, every character has some crazy abilities which may or may not have been explored in the past, and all the facts fall into place like...they were crafted specifically for a plot line that requires them to be found in such an order by such a genius. This is fine, it's entertaining, but the fact is...the Plan is very far from real life. So are werewolves! But these werewolves are normal, boring people. Elias is a normal dude with a high school education and weird family issues. Malaya makes coffee. Marin's a lawyer. So on and so on...I'm not writing a story where elaborate Plans will save the day. We're gonna jump in with whatever info we have, and then the resolution to most issues hinge on hoping for the best and not being an idiot. Juuuust like in the real world. Because one more story where everyone's a fucking nuclear scientist in their spare time and my brain will explode. Anyway, rant over, I really ended up liking this page. My first shot with the fourth panel with the little window wasn't as effective. I try and maintain the 180 degree rule, which is mostly a film thing, but it took me awhile to realize, hey...I can go outside. I have that power. Let's go outside! Initially, I thought...okay, I'll break the 180 degree rule, and we'll go from behind them, essentially putting the "camera" in that wall, and focus on the window in the distance. Once I started mapping that panel out, I realized it was needlessly complicated, and didn't really visually sell what I was trying to accomplish. I initially was going to draw little people moving through the lasers in the second panel, but decided it was too distracting. Also, I liked the "elementary school picture day photo" effect of Elias on the laser background. You better believe that every school photo I took had the laser background...usually I picked the pretty green or blue color. That didn't help me with the fact that I looked like an alien in most of my school photos, though. Middle school was not kind to me, especially. Boo, puberty. In TV-watching news, because I have to be entertained while drawing or I wander off to do other things like an unattended child, I've finished Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I have a lot of feelings about it! For one, it's kind of great to see a show that's blatantly feminist while still allowing every character to be a terrible person. On purpose, obviously. I also liked that the protagonist's mental health issues give more than a few opportunities for the show to address the idea that calling someone "crazy" is demeaning and mean. I liked that the main character, Rebecca, is both a total mess of a human being with poor impulse control, while also being a bad ass lawyer. She's a wreck, but she's competent and smart, almost to a fault. Her obsession with her long time ex-boyfriend, Josh, is treated through the subtext as being horribly unhealthy. And when a dude she never knew shows up and treats her the same way as she treats Josh (obsessed with her, way too nice, shows up out of nowhere from across the country, etc), the show makes it clear that this guy is a super creeper and what he's doing is weird and unacceptable. Overall, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend managed to basically...fuck with my brain for eighteen episodes and I really enjoyed it. The cringe factor of second-hand embarrassment was strong, so I doubt I can ever rewatch it, but even until the end, I was worried that the show was going to legitimize her behavior, but it didn't disappoint me. At the end of the day, though, I have problems watching very, very hetero romances, because I cannot relate at all, but that's the only thing I had issues with. If the whole show were about lesbians, they'd all have already dated each other at various points and remained friends, and probably just shoved her into therapy while being politely okay with her messiness. There'd be a lot of cats involved. (This may or may not reflect all lesbians, but I can only judge by my own circle of friends where...this is basically how it goes all the time.) Okay, off to eat breakfast and contemplate...not mowing my lawn today. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow seems like a good lawn day. With all the rain and thunderstorms we've had lately, going outside is basically like walking through a hot swimming pool eeeverywhere. I feel like I'm trying to breathe water.