Aw sweet! It's the thing where the criminal mastermind narrates the plan over the heist. I love that thing!
Write what you love, right?
Page 21
That speech bubble to narration box translation at the top of this page works pretty well, 2003 Tim. I like it. I also like that very cat-like drawing of Paige in the ducts. (This is a heist story written by a kid from the 'burbs with not so much as a traffic violation. There has to be stock duct-crawling.)
The guard on this page reminds me of The Immortal from Invincible which I don't think I was reading at that point but IS one of my all-time favorites. (Aside: the Invincible show is off to a good start. Tim says: check it out.)
There are a lot of fun sound effects in this sequence. I can see that 2003 Tim, unlike his predecessor 2002 Tim is making his own SFX in Illustrator instead of only using the ones that came with his Zap Pack floppy disk,
Page 22
Not 2003 Tim's best page here. Everything feels a bit stiff, the perspective on the opening door is wonky and the speed lines on it are straight-up phoned in. Looks like someone had just discovered brush effects in Illustrator!
I DO like the juxtaposition of Paige and Locke's styles though. She's all finesse and he's a blunt instrument with dumb luck.
Page 23
Oh, it's another cringey joke from the early 20s 2003 Tim. This bit IS still kinda funny. Moreso the Locke saying whatever to impress the girl and then immediately regretting it and less the women's prison "Beavis and Butthead" bit but I am a fan of trashy 70's films so let's call this an homage to that rather than a cheesy joke that is probably born more of late-night Cinemax.
Locke's legs are a little long in the elevator shaft panel but at least there's decent detail on the background. The image of Paige sneaking at the top is much stronger.
Page 24
Yes, "zap" that Locke, lock. I'm so grateful that my original readers never busted my chops on not even TRYING to make the heist portions of this comic realistic and were cool with things just being light and fun.
Here's your Mission Impossible-style switcheroo. Locke takes a chip from what appears to be a microwave. Not my most exciting heist stunt but there's plenty of story left and we'll make up for it later.
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When 2003 Tim gets lazy or is having trouble with foreshortening Locke has a way of turning into Batman Beyond as he does here. I feel like this case may be the latter. The thing is it always looked kinda cool so it was an easy crutch to lean on.
I'm not sure if this "Got it?/Got it." bit has been used elsewhere -- I feel like it has to have been -- but I didn't lift it intentionally and I still think it's a snappy little bit of dialogue to end this sequence with.
NEXT WEEK: The morning after.