Book 4 Page 49 (4-10-2019)

[Kris@WLP]

Mischa moved house, and I've been busy with taxes and writing chores. But we're back! (Pinup next week.)

[matteso585]

Jean better hope that the campus isn't far. And that it's currently empty.

[John]

I'm not sure that this is the right place, but I need to express my difficulty reading Peter is the Wolf since the art style change and - more importantly - the typesetting change. They go hand in hand. I don't know if the speech bubbles are smaller and therefore the text is smaller, but I am seriously struggling to read the comic without being uncomfortably close to a screen or uncomfortably zoomed in. I found the previous typesetting difficult to read, but reasonable so there would not be too many panels or too little artwork. Now, it is nearly impossible for me to have a whole page on screen and read it comfortably.

Along similar lines, have character sheets been posted somewhere? Going back to the beginning of the comic, I realized that it was extremely important to have the meeting about Sarah's transformation. It let so many characters be introduced at once, specifically their appearances and obvious differences. For example, before the art style change, I knew Nero as the bald one with the mutton chops. As opposed to Cramer, the one with a full head of hair and mutton chops. Yes Nero had hair, but it looked wispy, like he was all but completely bald on his crown. After the change, I had to slow down and re-learn the character designs because Nero, while his hairline looked to be as far back as his had, suddenly had much fuller hair. I know he also had longer hair than Cramer, but that didn't help from every angle.

I've also seen shots where I could not differentiate between Jean and Peter. This was also a problem in the past because Jean was not consistently tan, but I could often rely on her fishnets to make up for that. In the new style, however, her skin darkness is much more subtle, to the point where I am not sure when her outline is or is not colored-in. The more "realistic" flowing hair also makes it difficult, since character silhouettes aren't rigid enough to be reliable.

In other words, if there hasn't been one already, I believe we need an ensemble picture or strip soon. It would both help the audience become more familiar with the redesigns, and the artist could reevaluate how easily identifiable all the characters are when crammed together and viewed from different angles. And as awkward the writing might feel, a group discussion where everyone addresses each other by name once or twice would be a big help.

I hope this isn't too off-topic. I actually felt my breaking point when I read page 426, and I didn't have the slightest idea who the person on the phone was supposed to be. I had to go back five pages to be reminded. Personally, I think that on page 424, a cutaway shot of Jean hearing the gunshots would have been more effective at both escalating tension (Who did the shooting and who was shot?), reminding the audience of Jean's perspective, and also showing her immediate reaction to the event. If I can't rely on character designs to remind me who's who, then I would like to be able to rely more on context like that.

Point being, I would very much like to enjoy this story without a notebook and a magnifying glass. Even if other readers don't need it, I'm sure they would appreciate it.

[Kris@WLP]

There's an announcement coming up this week, once I get home from Momocon, that addresses this.

[IskraTS11]

Yeah, I'm a newcomer to PitW, but it's true that, after reading a good chunk of it, the older typeset was more comfortable to read. I don't have issues with the new one on PC, but it's harder to deal with on my phone, as I've got to zoom like mad to read it.
Apart from that, great job, I'm glad the author's been at it for so long without giving up!