Extra-sized action-y post!
Page 26:
Sometimes I read these REALLY old pages from the early RL stories and shake my head at 2002 me. This is not one of those pages. Locke's reaction here is exactly what it should be and it's kind of before I really figured out who he was myself. This grade school reaction to someone trying to kill him is super on-brand for him and I love it. Daniels wordless response is too. These characters have a long way to go but this page gets them both just right.
I don't hate the "multiple Locke's" bullet dodge panel either as long as I'm patting myself on the back.
Page 27:
Fun-fact: At some point, while working on part 1 of Mad at the World I decided I wanted to streamline Locke's look even more and get him looking more like Batman Beyond or Nightwing on the New Batman Adventures.
Anyways, I did redesign Locke with a zipped-up jacket and drew a few pages that way but I didn't like it so I went back and changed it back to his open jacket look in Photoshop. Even I can't really tell for the most part but in panel 2 of this page, I can. Locke's chest just looks a little too much like a jumpsuit. I guess 2002 Tim thought he could get away with something because it was a silhouette anyways. Slacker.
Not to keep the love-fest from the above going but I can see Locke getting more on-model here. The panel with him climbing a ladder looks like it's from a later story to me.
Page 28:
The influences on this page are over the board.
The top panel, which began on the previous page and continues through the rest of this sequence is a very graphic design-y/Chris Ware way to convey a cross-town chase. The next three panels may as well be taken right out of a manga and then I end it on some physical comedy. This is another instance where I know that 2002 Tim wasn't that clever to intentionally juxtapose these things for effect. This is just 2002 Tim being kind of all over the board and liking a lot of different things. In that regard, I haven't changed that much.
Page 29:
Jokes! Even in a life-threatening situation, Locke can't help pick-pocketing a dense Las Vegas crowd. Follow that up with another Looney Tunes style zip off-panel and then a one-liner for dessert. Hey, 2002 Tim:
Page 30:
Random cat cameo!
At one point in my career, I worked at a casino and I wish I had the knowledge I do now when I wrote RL. There is NO WAY a random could waltz into the back of a casino and leave via an employee exit like this. That is NOT a thing. As such, this page is pretty much nonsense but it was written by a guy whose casino research consisted of going to Las Vegas on the company dime for conferences and then over-indulging in all kinds of ways.
NEXT WEEK: SHOWDOWN!