Jessica Belmont is hanged until dead in a California Prison in the 1850’s, and we see the land that was fought over is now the present day 2013 SAN QUENTIN State Prison in California… – The End

I loved the top hangman’s noose panel with the Flag of the state behind Jessica hanging from the gibbet, and the last panel is stark and sums up what it was all about- land for a prison to be built on that is there 160+ years into the future.  Now onto the editing, and inking process with my writer Kevin Truglio who has stepped in to fill David’s shoes to make sure we hit all the script points so this works when you read it later in 2013.

Elijah rides off into the proverbial sunset and Jessica in a few years is arrested and walking death row in the California 1850’s era prison system…

I wanted to give Elijah a stern look while on Chinaman’s horse, and show Jessica without her fancy hair, attitude and finery, cut down in prison stripes- this page is really about closure, and effectively shows us the elements- Elijah leaving in a cliche way, but a nice angle/POV, the hads shackled and her walking the row, with the priest giving last rites in the background while she looks up at the hangman’s noose (see next page)

UPDATE- I made an alteration on the top panel- see correction above the page- I fixed some perspective and anatomy issues with the horse and Elijah- much better- thanks Joe and Jeff!

The Sheriff is Dead, Jessica- broken and reduced to tears without her man to be with her… she stands under the mercy of a now victorious (By the grace of God?) over the villains that killed three women for a piece of land in Northern California…

Really wanted to show some action in the top panel, a broken Jessica- by her torn expression, pose and position UNDER Elijah’s fist, and the last panel is Elijah telling her he wont kill her, I love this panel, the horse is back (remember Chinaman’s horse?) we see the house again, and Jessica cradling Sheriff’s now dead body… I really worked on her face in panel two, and it is raw with emotion, tears, anger, pain, it just flowed for me.  Her arched shoulders were something I scored from my figure drawing class- thanks ladies of State College!

The Sheriff tries to stop Jessica and gets shot protecting Elijah Holman, his life the cost of his soul… Jessica is in shock…..

This page had a great layout and angle with three overlapping figures that I really liked on top, and a very cool side profile of Jessica that I wanted to explore her raw emotion as well as the arm going off and back on the page- the page really conveyed that split second of deadly decisions as I worked to wrap this thing up-

Elijah is out of options, and a reveal- he was once the town preacher, a man of god, before he became a gunslinger… and the Sheriff flashes back to this with a spark of conscience.  Of course Jessica Belmont doesnt care and the Sheriff’s new guilt wont stop her from killing the one person in her way of exposing what she did to the Painted Ladies of San Quentin! Will Elijah survive? Technically, I love the middle flashback to Elijash as a preacher and the drama in the bottom panel- with Jessica’s look and the over the shoulder look- I need to fix the top panel, not really happy with the background and Elijah, I love the Sheriff and Jessica in that panel.  Big thanks to figure drawing class from the last few months- the bottom panel is all thanks to those hours of work!

NOTE #1- I redid the top panel totally- since I really didnt like it- and super pal and artist Jeff Lavezoli called me out on it- I love it now, added an inset panel dropping the gun to add some impact to Elijah losing his weapon –changed every element. Comments?  Compare and contrast the new top panels!

 NOTE #2- I redid the bottom panel as well- overlapped elements and made Elijah more dynamic and less stiff- thanks Jeff Lavezoli for  calling me out on this- anyone notice today’s theme- Jeff forces Jason to make better work- thanks Jeff-!!  Compare and Contrast the new and old bottom panel.

Overall – this is now an incredibly dynamic and strong page, it’s amazing what constructive criticism and good coaching can do for your work when you listen!

A defiant surrendering Elijah and a pinup re-intro to the villains  who have been pulling the strings  bring us full circle to a set up for the last 4 pages of the story…. basically a setup page for the reader to take a break before the final act.

This page really ended up being a great way to show a cocky surrendering Elijah, head down at an angle with his hat obscuring his eyes… giving attitude even in surrender… and I love the gun in hand mode- he’s out of bullets, so there isnt much to do now, but he wont drop his gun.  The other panel is the pinup pose that Jessica and Sheriff needed- they didnt get one yet outside of the cover, and I wanted her to look sexy, angry and psycho in one glorious pinup closeup with the Sheriff to really showcase them before the end in a larger shot.  I tried for a “Billy Idol/Sid Vicious” scowl on Jessica’s lips to go with her crazy eyes as I tried to give her a 9/10th profile view, unlike the mostly front on views we have gotten of her to mix it upa little bit on her look  (a tip from Zoe at FFGames about my women) , and I also made sure to cross elements by having the Sheriff and Jessica overlap (thanks Jeff Lavezoli) .  Also I really wanted to show the Sheriff’s obese size as I worked towards having him as my first “big” person character with a good deal of body fat- (thanks Darren Auck).  So three pointers from three pros came into play on this one- thanks everyone!  I think this page worked to re-introduce my main villains and show a surrendering and wounded (defeated?) Elijah Holman- how can he get out of this?  Read on in a few days as more updates come in to find out! And thanks to my wonderful wife Crystal  for the hand modeling on Jessica’s right hand, I needed an immediate hometown assist on that one to get it right!

Page 16 finds Jessica Belmont and the Sheriff coming back to clean up the loose threads of their killers failing to eliminate Elijah Holman- El Alacran’s shot is halted just shy of killing Elijah by a shotgun blast through his mid-section.  Jessica watches her man kill this loose end (they dont have to pay him now, or deal with him!) then they walk over the bodies to confront Elijah for the final showdown!

Technically I wanted to mix up the angles and went for some extreme and odd angles- gun through the body hole to background, and feet over body.  Jessica of course lifts her skirt- gotta be a lady even in cold blooded murder of shooting a man in the back! I think it works while keeping hte page layout, panels and camera angles changing and not duplicating. I liked Jessica’s small facial expression in panel 2- she has a neat snarky/evil look every time I’ve drawn her.  And I had alot of fun drawing the hole through our Mexi-Bandit leader’s body, and extreme shot for some extreme characters.

Aftermath- 4 dead- 2 injured… and the man known as El Alacran shoots the Chinaman in the back, killing him… and prepares to elimnate Elijah Holman who is out of bullets and not able to walk well after getting shot in the leg….. Amping it up for the big final 6 pages….

One of the big things PLOSQ has taught me is reminding the reader of space, and the first panel of this page is all about the space they have been fighting in the bodies are laid out in the phyical locations I defined the kills from 13-14 in, and Ive been trying to keep the light sources to the building to the characters motion location and interactions straight in my mind, to the paper so it all makes sense from a physical aspect of “who is where when and how does it interact with the others and how can we properly show this relationship(s) etc.”

Overall, I think Ive achieved a fair sense of consistency with this project in that regard.  And I love the last two panels- El Alacran is a bad man, symbolically by shooting an honorable fighter in the back, we tell the reader just exactly how bad of a man he is, so that is also a success on this page as well thematically.

And the smoking gunman with his hat slid up the sword his head was impaled on was just classic detail to add into the background!

This is the combined 2 page fight scene as it was meant to be seen, along with my thumbnail guide- Red for Elijah, Blue for Chinaman, and a deleted set of Green panels for El Alacran, which didnt flow well, so I cut it.  Again, you can read this as a top and bottom parallel track, or read it regularly, it is slightly different each way, and both work well.