Squished

"... And another one gone. And another one gone. Another one bites the dust. Hey, I'm gonna get you too. Another bites the dust." (Queen)

Getting rid of members of the fellowship brings me joy. It makes me feel all tingly inside. I thought about killing off the otter but then decided that a more gruesome fate lies ahead for the little pesky water rat. But I digress ...

I crammed a lot of characters into this panel – three for the gag and one to address the absence of the other member(s) of the fellowship and Flik who gives us the "call to action." I knew the panel was going to be a visual mess and compensated by carefully placing the word balloons. So even though the panel doesn't "visually" read right away, the dialogue leads the reader to each character which eventually leads to Flik holding the match. Flik's arm coming out of the panel (and breaking the fourth wall) is designed to lead into the next panel, give a sense of depth and allude to Flik looking into a larger space that the rest of the characters haven't reached yet. That's the general idea anyway. I've seen Matt's next panel and it ... well, you'll just have to wait until the next post. Only five more panels to go.

-Marcolm