Jason Badower/Blackout, Part 1
Jason Badower shares his comments and original art about his work on Blackout, Part 1.
Page 1
Jason said he was not as pleased with Blackout, Part 1 as some of his other Heroes novels. "I think my biggest mistake was to not go back and double check my layouts. While I'm happy with the art, I think there are some areas where the storytelling suffered."
Page 2
Jason expresses concern about two issues on this page: Mohinder's head in the first panel seems uncomfortable, and the nurse's face in the third panel isn't worried enough. "If she's not worried, then the reader isn't worried."
Page 3
Jason outlines the problems with this page: "The first problem is that people aren't sure where [Mohinder's] being knocked into. Because of the heart attack patient established on the previous two pages, you instantly assume that he's being knocked into that room. That he gets knocked into another room is confusing...I should have had the heart attack patient visible in his room on panel 2 or 3 so we know that he's in another room."
"It feels to me like Mohinder is wheeling his arms trying to get his balance for a good 2-3 seconds while the director and the Primatech guy cross the floor towards each other to embrace. In my head it's like some Wile E. Coyote sketch. One solution is to place the salesman closer to the director...But if I did that, [it] would destroy the flow of the story."
Jason also felt it wasn't clear that the director was elbowing Mohinder, and wishes there was "a little, 'Oof!' from Mohinder on panel 3" and "maybe a small, 'Ah!' on panel 4." He also thinks that in his rush, he didn't use his best storytelling skills to properly convey the "It's not polite to stare" comment. "What I should have done was had Mohinder staring off panel to our right at the patient.
Page 4
Jason really enjoyed drawing this conversation between Mohinder and the teenage patient. He also refutes any silly theories that the teenage patient is actually a depiction of Kristen Bell.
Page 5
Jason found the third panel to be especially challenging. "It needed to be exciting enough that you'd want to come back and find out what happened in the second half. But I didn't want it to be insanely over the top either. The kid's not Electro and Mohinder ain't pulling on the red and blue spandex."
In the script, Mark Sable wrote the blackouts to be flat black. However, Jason tried to make sure a window was visible each time to provide a light source.
Notes about Jason's drawings are taken from his weblog.
See Also
- For an interview about Blackout, Part 1, see Interview:Blackout.