Unsheathed

Page 287

Unsheathed
Cartoon Brian

Unsheathed

Original Release Date: February 12, 2013

One thing that really started to shine towards the end of Mike and the Ninja was the hand-lettering. I struggled with it when I switched to it in the middle of Volume Two, but it comes a long way between then and now. It develops its own character. For example, on this page, Briggs' cry in panel two isn't just a straight line of letters that are all the same size; there is some variation in the size, angle, and vertical distribution of letters, which makes it much more interesting than the same cry would have been a hundred pages ago. Similarly, when Sword Goon yells "Briggs!" in panel four, even it has a little bit of arch to it. I think it brings a lot of life to the dialogue. It's easier to capture that with hand-lettering, but I feel like digital lettering is so much easier to do. However, digital lettering just doesn't have the same life because it's more difficult to adjust it to the circumstances of any given moment. I go back and forth on which method to use on future projects.

Here, the Chaos Effect turns the tables. It simultaneously takes a Hypergoon out of the fight, and also provides enough of a distraction for the ninja to regroup and get back in the fight. There's a little bit of humor added to the situation, as well--it turns out Evil Bad Guy Ninja has a shocking, humorously unrealistic number of swords concealed on his person. This is one of the advantages of my art style not accounting for any of these weapons--the ninja can just pull them out of the ether whenever they need to.