#jane fitzpatrick

In every loss, in every lie, in every truth that you’d deny And each regret and each goodbye was a mistake too great to hide And your voice was all I heard; that I get what I deserve

🍀🍀🍀 Here's to the Fitz. She changed my life. (art by @sakura-rose12) Been coping with a lot of dysphoria lately but St. Patrick's Day has me reminiscing on how I wrote Jane Fitzpatrick for 'What I Learned at SRU.' She was the catalyst for opening the doors of gender discussion for my heart.

I’m really happy with how this cover turned out. I’ve got to admit that drawing “cool” covers for OTV has been hard because not a lot of “cool action” happens – Hannah isn’t a superhero after all. But I think I managed to capture a good amount of Hannah’s personality and attitude here.

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Ok, as many of you already know, this was the original chapter that I created for THE ARROW OF TIME. At the time I called it “chapter zero” because I wasn’t 100% sure just what I was doing and I was pretty sure that this wasn’t the actual start of the story, but it’s a good name because this is pretty much ground zero for when the shit hits the fan.

I’m still really happy with how this chapter looks 6+ years later. I was just figuring things out at this point and this chapter really set the mood for how the rest of the art ending up looking. I was also trying some stuff out with the storytelling and seeing what I could do and after the fact, I think those things I tried really do work.

This chapter is also where we start to follow Hannah – which is key because she’s our gateway into the world of On the Verge.* Whereas I discussed earlier that Jeremy, Lucas and the Professor were set up to follow the three different types of scientists, Hannah was purposely different. She’s new to everything and really seeing it for the first time just like the reader is. Plus, since she’s not defined as one of these types of scientists, she really gets to question why things are like they are.

I always worried about not really focusing on the main character until this far into the story. But at the same time, I kind of like the plot twist that it serves. We kind of follow this celebrity scientist and the poof! he’s kidnapped. And at the end of the day, it’s how everything kind of shook out. I really tried fighting Hannah being the main character, but it just made so much sense. And now that everything is done, I kind of look back and wonder why I ever doubted it.

So a couple of quick points that I feel are worth sharing:

One of the big things that I was trying to do was figure out “how” to draw the characters here – which is one of the reasons why Hannah is doing so much different stuff. Page 95 for example has seven panels – six of which are Hannah pulling different faces as she works.

The original story that made up “chapter zero” ended when Hannah arrived at home and found the appartment in shambles and Jeremy missing. At this point, I decided I didn’t know what to do next and went off and did part one of THE JUMPER. When I came back, I added the six pages where Mr. Tall deploys the test for the Arrow of Time.

And then the last bit with the Daily Recorder got added in when I decided to go back through and add those sections to each chapter. This really provided me an opportunity to give the reader lots of detail on things that had happened and not take up too much space.

Anyway, I’ve always really loved this chapter and I still do. It’s got a bunch of great little character moments in it and a couple of hidden Easter eggs. I’m glad it still holds up!

*One of the things that I think worked especially well about the Harry Potter series is that as you read through it, Harry is basically the stand in for the reader, seeing everything for the first time. I liked that idea and wanted to replicate it.

Chapter 10 continues! REad #OnTheVerge: The Arrow of Time page 320 here. #webcomics #comics #lfwc #sciencefiction #scifi #weirdscience

Ok, here’s a new scene starting today and look who it is… I’ve tried to keep pretty mum over the past bunch of posts about just what happened with Hannah. The last we saw here, she had just been shot and was talking with Jeremy. But while I didn’t feel like I could kill off the main character in this whole story, I did feel like I could keep you guessing about just what happened. So in short, she…

He pulls her into an embrace.

Red rain trickles from the ocean above.

Wind picks up, whipping at Coral's hair. Red droplets prickle her cheeks.

He crumbles to ashes in her grasp, wisps away with the wind.

Red rainfall turns to black ash-fall.

She sinks to her knees.

"Everything I touch turns to shit. Always has, always will."

~Tell me, where are the wonders you promised with this life?~

She is kneeling over a woman with blue-streaked hair.

A dented baseball bat. A cracked helmet. The woman is Ethel..

~Try to pray away the demons but I guess you need something more than sighs~

Jane, over top Ethel, levels a knife above her chest.

Tears in her eyes, Jane hesitates.

~I'll be your Isaac, I'll even help you bring down the knife~

Coral lunges forth, grabs Jane's hands.

Coral plunges the knife into the Ethel's chest.

Blood pools across the flame-licked grass.

~I wanna live on the edge of dyin'~

Now the woman is Auntie Atiq, laying at Coral's feet.

~Wanna bleed til these bones are dry, yea~

The knife is in Atiqtalik's chest.

Blood pools across the white lit tarmac.

~Wanna burn til there's nothing left~

Ocean of fire above.

~And I will rise again~

Coral stands up. Stares at Atiqtalik in horror.

Katrina weeps.

Jane's shadow speaks.

~I wanna scream til my lungs explode~

"I always wondered..."

~Fight the devil til it kills my soul~

"...what kind of a person could do such a thing."

~Burn in hell til there's nothing left~

"There's fucking...nothing inside you."

~And I will rise again~

"Nothing at all."

~I wanna live on the edge of dyin'~

"You're pathetic, and sad, and empty."

~Wanna bleed til these bones are dry, yea~

Coral lashes her fiery rage at Jane's shadow.

~Wanna burn til there's nothing left~

Ashes to ashes.

~And I will rise again~

I’m such a goddamn sucker for those Jane Fitzpatrick types.

Or I guess ‘Chloe Price’ types, to use a more recent reference.

Fortunately, Dylan is also that type, but a bit older and has a more level head on his shoulders because of being a bit older.

Still. Legit sad that Cody’s character had so much potential and it didn’t get a chance to go much of anywhere (and her actress hasn’t been in too much, sadly, and what she HAS been in is short-term and sounds like it might not be written too well).

As it stands, her presence in the story hits too close to home for me in a lot of ways -- just another temporary, passing person you get intense feelings for and then they’re gone just as quickly as they popped in.