It took more effort that I thought to find good old fashioned saber rattling speeches to use as references. One of the more interesting speeches discovered during production of this page was an as yet unused address for the Queen of England to be read in the aftermath of a nuclear war. It’s eerily relevant to the story, so naturally I included a few choice bits. Here is a little more:

Now this madness of war is once more spreading through the world and our brave country must again prepare itself to survive against great odds. We all know that the dangers facing us today are greater by far than at any time in our long history. The enemy is not the soldier with his rifle nor even the airman prowling the skies above our cities and towns but the deadly power of abused technology. But whatever terrors lie in wait for us all the qualities that have helped to keep our freedom intact twice already during this sad century will once more be our strength.

On making comics: Sometimes a minor change can affect a whole scene. For example, the original version of this page had Jane take the telescope from her brother, but he didn’t have the binoculars around his neck. By simply adding the binoculars the dynamic changed from Jane being a total jerk to both of them being selfish and rude to each other. Like siblings.

On a similar note, the queen became African-American when I went to color her in; it wasn’t something I’d planned in the script.

Return to this spot on Thursday for some real excitement.


Original Script

The Webb family are on the upper deck of their air ship. 
The adults are being served snacks by their maid. 
There are a two royal guards on board, too.

ANNOUNCER
Jingoistic pontificating about standing together in unity and grand gestures, etc. 
The troops are heading east as a show of force.

During this speech Jane and brother are arguing over a telescope. 
Jane holds it out of Rohit’s reach while he is hindered by a safety strap. 
Jane is not wearing a safety.

BROTHER
Give it back. I had it first.

MOM
Listening carefully to the speech coming from one of the acoustic horns.
Quiet down, Rohit!
I cannot hear the speech I composed.

JANE
Smiling gleefully as she looks through the scope.
Indeed. Quiet down, Rohit.

Show more parade vehicles as seen through the telescope. 
Some of the tiny figures on board are pointing at 
something above the viewer (Jane).