February 08, 2010: One of my favorite things about writing Fetus is playing around with the humor. So much of what makes comedy work (and fail) is timing. Look at all the great comedians over the years - so much of their routines come down to timing. Without the proper timing, a joke can easily fall flat. In comics, timing can be even trickier. You don't have the cadence of speech, or movement, or even a pregnant pause to really work out the timing of a joke. What you have are panels. And the reason I'm droning on and on about this is because I feel that this page worked extremely well in the use of panel pacing and layout to bring home the timing of a joke. The setup comes with the tone being so serious for the first 3 panels. We've established Fetus as fairly unlucky in his attempts at being a villain. He tries, but he never gets to really be as dastardly as he wants. Here, with the serious tone of the kidnapping of the Mayor's son, he's finally getting to be truly evil! So when he leaves, and we have the panel of the Mayor and his wife in silence, left to deal with this traumatic situation, it ups the dramatic tension. Therefor, when Fetus suddenly pops his head back in for the last panel, it's actually quite funny. But that gag wouldn't have worked without the proper timing!

See? I actually rambled for a reason!