#also he has this annoying formula that repeats across many characters and situations

[captainadwen]

finally finished project hail mary. the last few chapters got really, really good. like, can’t put it down good.

unfortunately it took 400 pages before it got that good

[afanoftheglassscientists]

The Glass Scientist Read-Through - Chapter 1, Pages 1-9

The webcomic’s on break at the moment, so lets just take this moment to go back to the beginning.  I’m going to look though the entirety of Chapter 1, starting this Sunday and finishing it next Sunday.  This week I’m only doing pages 1-9 because I have no restraint and I talk too much because it sets one type of mood but then there’s a sharp cut in the atmosphere with the last panel of page 9.  Chapter 1 is probably going to be the easiest chapter to cut apart because its mostly set-up with just one problem that needs to be tackled.  With that in mind lets enjoy the Spirit of London at Night setting up the mood here.  

As of writing this post Chapter 7 in the comic was just finished, so if you haven’t read up til now there’s going to be light spoilers throughout.  I suggest keeping a tab open with the comic itself as we go through page by page.  Now come read with me!

Chapter 1 (The Wolf on High Street) Cover - It’s the Babey!!!  

First cover is a simple one for the eyes.  It features Jasper’s werewolf form front and center.  A part of his body is missing, leaving only his his bones, fur, clothes and two furry hands politely folded in front of him.  Behind him is a wave of lit torches.  Without his face Jasper appears unaffected by the flames behind him, which spoilers is not true.  But my read on it is that the people holding the torches don’t care what he’s feeling, or what is beyond his bone structure.  They just see the shape of a werewolf and they’re not cool with it.

What’s important to note here is that as of Chapter 7 we still don’t know why Jasper is wearing a dress on the cover.  He hasn’t worn anything similar to it since then, and while there’s conceptual backstory on why that might be on Sabrina’s blog, that backstory is no longer in line with what may be the actual explanation.  So for now I think its just good to put a pin on this cover for when we learn more about Jasper’s life before our story began.

Pages 1-2 - “The Spirit of London at Night” by TSoLaN (The Spirit of London at Night)

...Alright I’ll admit it: I love Hyde’s monologues.  His way with words shows how he truly sees himself as both immortal and unparalleled - he is powerful and never wrong.  He really thinks he’s hot stuff, and he’s completely shameless about it.  Which, you know, is the opposite of how Jekyll feels most of the time. 

I also love how Hyde can’t just say, “Hey I like spooky stuff and this is my hangout.”  No it has to be poetic.  His thoughts must be worthy of Shakespearean prose (whatever that means.)  For someone who can’t stand still for five seconds and claims to have few cares he sure seems to spend a lot of time working on his monologues.

I’ve read through these two pages so many time I’ve lost count, and Hyde’s love for the dramatic and the spooky, along with the imagery, is forever ingrained in my mind.  I could close my eyes and see the fog rolling past the will-o-wisp lamps and I can hear Hyde not even trying to contain his excitement when he says things like, “It is a magical place, a spooky place, my favorite place in the whole wide world!”

Pages 3-5 - Hey Spirit of London [at Night] Shut Up We Needs to Save Babey!!!

Page 3 - So Jasper bursts into the scene teeth out and already terrified.  I don’t know how conscious Jasper is after taking the botched poison, but I know when a dog’s snarling it means that they want you to back off.  I feel like Jasper was already terrified the moment he transformed, and so he bursts through the wall feeling everyone and everything is out to kill him.  Which I mean...he’s right.  Its those fight or flight instincts kicking in.  He chooses flight, but if someone tried grabbing Jasper earlier it might have gone bloody.  I feel like in Jasper’s case being a werewolf before taking the potion was akin to having a six-hour panic attack, but that might be me asserting too much.

I think of this page as changing the scene from “setting up a spooky tale by the campfire” to “chasing away a misunderstood creature by a murderous human mob.”  Every time I get to this page I can’t help but think of the mob song from “Beauty and the Beast.”  Where’s the fanart where Werewolf Jasper is attempting to feed birds but then too many birds land on his hands and soon enough they are perched all across his head and shoulders people!?

Hyde calls Jasper a “beautiful brute,” which I have to laugh at because Jasper is neither beautiful nor a brute.  I mean, he is a cutie pie, but he’s no Morcant, which I feel would disappoint Hyde.  Werewolf is broken, too small!!!

Page 4 - As Jasper runs away we catch a glimpse of the spoopy man himself, taking his sweet time enjoying the scenery.  There’s excitement in Hyde’s eyes as he stares at the mob, like he wants to jump in it.  There’s a lot of high energy going around that mob and Hyde’s a high energy man.  I feel like Hyde wanted to started brawling with the mob.  He could take ‘em!

Meanwhile Jekyll’s like, “Oh no baby is in trouble!!!”  Even before he knew Jasper as a person he calls him a “poor thing.”  This goes in line with how he dealt with Morcant in “Bleeding Heart,” even though an injured Morcant is both way bigger and also far more intimidating than Werewolf Jasper.

Page 5 - Hyde cuts a nice silhouette as he readies a jump from one rooftop to the next, which makes page 5 a bit of a favorite of mine.  Interesting thing to note is Hyde has a cape that quiet similar to Jekyll’s a mysterious stranger who will appear later in the chapter.

Jekyll has to push Hyde to get moving, mainly because I think Hyde enjoys annoying Jekyll.  He probably thinks no matter how late he is on moving Jekyll will find a away to save Jasper, so who cares right?  I’m sure that way of thinking will not come back to bite Hyde in the tush later.  

Pages 6-9 - Jasper the Generic Mad Scientist Versus Jasper the Burgeoning Character

Page 6 - I like the transition of Jasper going from fearful sounds as a wolf to fearful sounds as a person as the potion starts leaking out of him.

Page 7 - I’m absolutely sure Jasper thought he’d meet is end when he sees he’s cornered by the mob.  If not for the police he would have met his end, which is a weird thing to feel.  Not that it makes him feel any better that the police are going to lock him up in place of being killed by the mob.  We get to see Half-formed Jasper, which sadly we don’t get to see after the first chapter.

Page 8 - We meet Sergeant Brokenshire.  He’s pretty calm when talking to Jasper.  I suppose the nicest thing you can say about him at the moment is he’s not trying to kill Jasper.  I do find it weird that he somehow knew Jasper was a mad scientists werewolf instead of just...a werewolf.  Was Jasper being investigated before this happened?  I feel like I’m forgetting something...

Right now we don’t know Jasper yet.  We don’t even know his name at this point.  So it feels like he’s saying a lot of <insert mad sciency line here> stuff.  Like, “my formula” and “repeat my results” and stuff.  Which goes with having to set up the world of The Glass Scientists as having a lot of mad scientists who get in trouble with both mobs and police.

Page 9 - I think this is where I feel like there’s the biggest clash between Jasper the character and Jasper the generic-mad-scientist-that-needs-rescuing.  We don’t really get into Jasper the Character until Chapter 2, but knowing what I know now about Jasper I can’t imagine Jasper referring to his creatures as “my experiments.”  He doesn’t number his creature, he names them!  He has an attachment to them.  So I just find that a bit weird.

Brokenshire has Jasper restrained only after Jasper pukes glowing goop, which shows that Brokenshire isn’t scared that Jasper will fight back as much as he is of him trying to escape.  He’s very much in control of the situation.  But with the clip-clopping of hooves his grip on the situation is going to loosen.  

Speaking of the clip-clopping I think the last panel marks an abrupt end to the “misunderstood beast is being attacked” setting and swiftly goes into “an elegant and out-of-this-world gentleman has come!” vibe.  This is where the mob song stops mid-sentence.

That’s it for today.  Next weeks I’ll finish off Chapter 1 with pages 10-23, and then the Sunday after I’m going to do a Sunday Prediction for what I feel might be featured in the upcoming chapter.  Just hang in there!  Two more weeks and we’ll be back to weekly updates.

Until then, let me know what you thought of when reading this first part of chapter 1.