Tools and P.A.R.

(And Skog’s Escape page 11)

Apparently it’s already been a week! (and a day, nope two days, make that three - shhh -don’t tell anyone I’m late.) These pages were involved, but I am proud to say that I put in some solid work! They were certainly fun but challenging. We’re continuing the story I started last week with a fire call going out during the dispatcher shift change. (You can see that here.)

This week’s anecdote highlights a few key aspects of being on the fireground. First off, since this story, highlights the importance and challenges of communication, I put a little more emphasis in our radio, communication procedures. Clear communication is crucial. (That’s why the fire service no longer uses 10 codes. ) Another noteworthy concept is, not only the importance of equipping ourselves (and each other) with tools, but more specifically I wanted to showcase the deeply ingrained parts of our training that cause us to act without thinking. It’s pretty likely for us to be doing something dangerous without being fully awake, so instructors work very hard to drill into us the importance of basic things like tool accountability and use. (Some of the things they did to accomplish that is a story for another time.)

Even more important than tool accountability is, of course, personnel accountability. As you will see, we struggled with this a bit on this particular fire scene. Even when everyone is plainly visible, it is a challenge to tell who is who with all of our equipment. During regular intervals, command conducts PAR checks (personnel accountability reports) To make sure that every member of every unit is accounted for throughout operations. Sometimes it takes a second to make sure you’re not pulling a Home Alone style headcount.

AnyWho, without any further ado:

For the sake of length, I had to make all these panels a gallery instead of displayed in line. Hopefully, it still reads OK.

Probably good to include this sometimes.

Watching some other artists lately I was inspired to use my old-fashioned crow quill pens. To simplify my workspace, I tried using a brush pen to brush the ink onto the quill instead of dipping into a reservoir; it worked pretty effectively. I started with traditional drawing quills, but it was slow going and got frustrating pretty quick (I like the idea of crow quills and dip pens, but they really are a lot more fussy.) So I tried a B-6 calligraphy nib, and that worked much better for me and the way I draw. In school, I was taught to have a stigma against the calligraphy nibs, however, my go-to plastic nib pen of the last few years is apparently a calligraphy pen, so I figured why not give it a try. It surprised me how much I enjoyed using it! It’s range of line weights is limited from my plastic nib pens, but it really does produce a nice line quality that it is difficult to find in other modern pens. I might have to try it again!

I don’t know if it reaches ASMR levels, but here’s seven minutes of quill scratches and chairs, squeaks for anyone interested.

Well, it’s been fun, but I’m a little frazzled with multiple projects going on. Probably gonna take a little comic break after this story to prepare for some upcoming conventions and focus on other projects.

That being said, I will be at Superstar Comic Con in Savannah Georgia next weekend, May 3 and 4! If you’re in the region, you should check it out.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Go brew a pot and I’ll catch you again in a few days.

-Calvin

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