I’ve been scripting ahead in RACIANTAU and I’ve got to tell you, it feels really good to step back and work on “Battlemon” after some of what I’ve written. “Battlemon” is simple, sweet-ish and largely unassuming in a way that later scripts are decidedly not.

That’s not a spoiler, since A) you can’t possibly know what I’m talking about unless you’re reading FROM THE FUTURE and, B) all of my scripts usually start out in a much sadder headspace than I’m comfortable actually working in and future drafts are in many ways exercises in making the core ideas I’m trying to communicate palatable to a healthy human being’s mindset and outlook.

Oh, and the fact that the “HANG IN THERE!” poster is displayed in such a prominent position here is another happy accident of the sort that found Racia’s “Home is where the heart is” decoration in such an ideal location on earlier pages. I wish I could take credit and I will, since even though the end result was unintended I was still responsible for the things that made it happen. There, little peek behind the curtain for you.

Minimalism is really hard to do. I really respect highly stylized, vibrant, and distinct minimalism like the sort you’d find in Rick and Morty or Adventure Time or whatever. I’m not actually trying to draw something that looks like any of those shows, but RACIANTAU is very much a creative exercise exploring a few themes I find myself obsessed with lately. So this page, 16, is one of a few “Very Special Pages” in “Battlemon.” This is one I tried restraining myself the most on; completely ignoring objects that would “be there” but would interrupt visual flow, as little SFX as possible– I don’t know why I’m listing things off you can clearly see up there, but you can’t even see her eyes on this page yet it’s rather clear how she feels throughout. Plus, the Racias featured in panels four and five are cuuute.