#bruce isaac

Sad am I, glad am I,
for today I’m dreaming of
of yesterdays.
—“Yesterdays,” Helen Merrill (1955)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’
#12 - Novac I

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NEW!IKROAH is now mirrored on Archive of Our Own!

NEW!The comic is now posted directly to @ikroah! No more redundant links, only archive links, and production notes and original pencils are together with the transcript below.

Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript:

Notes:

Funny seeing you here. In case you didn’t notice, comics are now posted first and fully to@ikroah instead of getting reblogged from @fallout-lou-begas. Originally I liked separating the notes and pencils from the transcripts because I felt like it would be too long all together, but ultimately I hated having two different sets of links for the comic under each issue that went to two different blogs. It was confusing and pointless!

Also, don’t miss that new link in the comic links: I’ve uploaded IKROAH to AO3 for easier and more convenient reading and tracking! You’ll still get the same original posts here on Tumblr, but if it’s easier for you to keep track of a fic that way, the option is there. This also means you can now leave comments or kudos on individual issues easier than ever before, so say something nice, why don’t you.

As for the issue itself…whew, haven’t had an issue this long and dialogue-dense since Primm. My poor hand still needs to recover. There’s a lot of really great strengths to the vignette approach to making IKROAH, especially as a fancomic, in that it lets me gloss over a lot of the stuff that people would already be familiar with (especially exposition) and get right to the character moments and interactions that forward the story of Agnes, not necessarily the story of Fallout: New Vegas. An expat of New Reno herself, it felt almost necessary to give her a chance to catch up with Bruce Isaac in Novac and reminisce about their time with the Bishops, and especially their “mutual friend” Yancy. Yancy’s an original character, by the way, don’t go looking for him on the Fallout Wiki.

Original Pencils (click for full size):

Not a lot of post-production magic on this one, actually! Almost every line you see on the final product was a line drawn on paper, with the only real exceptions being instances where I wanted to duplicate panels exactly (like on the first and fifth pages) or knew it’d be easier to color background characters separately and place them in the shot afterwards (like on the last page, where Boone, Cass, and Daisy are floating in the sky).

That exception on the first page actually resulted in my favorite funny thing to ever happen while drawing. I wanted to copy Agnes’ face exactly between panels so that it would succeed as a match cut, but I didn’t want to freehand the eyepatch she’d wear in the present day in post-production, so I drew a “spare” eyepatch to place over the face after I copied it. However, all that did was end up giving Agnes a very big “:D” face, and honestly if I was just a little bit more fun and cartoony of an artist than I already am, I would have been tempted to keep it in.

Transcript:

EXT. NOVAC.

AGNES SANDS walks along the balcony outside the second floor of the DINO DEE-LITE MOTEL.

AGNES (thinking): Hmmmmm…shit.

INT. MOTEL ROOM.

The doorknob jiggles as AGNES tries her key.

AGNES (thinking): Did Cass say that ours was the first or the thirdroom?

SOMEONE is already inside the room. They hold up a revolver, readying themself as AGNES opens the door and walks inside.

SFX: KLIK

AGNES (thinking): I’m pretty sure she said third.

SOMEONE: ST-STOP!

Years earlier in another place, AGNES grimaces. Her hair is longer, she’s dressed in a dress shirt and slacks, and both of her eyes are open wide in alarm. She’s been recognized by BRUCE ISAAC.

BRUCE: I know you! You work for Mr. Bishop! He sent you after me, to—

AGNES (hands up): Hey!Hey! Don’t shoot! I workedfor the Bishops. Worked,that’spasttense. Not anymore. Not for years.

BRUCE sheepishly lowers the gun.

BRUCE:…Oh.Sorry, there. Didn’t mean to give you a fright…admittedly, I was wondering why he sent his safecracker instead of a skullcracker, if you know what I mean.

AGNES:Yeah…but how‘d you know that? Officially, I was just their doctor.

Years ago, again. AGNES and BRUCE sit across from each other in a booth in a hazy club. A young man with scars over his eye and smoking a cigar has his arm around BRUCE.

BRUCE:Oh! I was a singer at the Shark Club.Yancyreally liked me, like a friend. He’d talk about, uh, business. I’m not sure if I was ever supposedto know any of it, but hebought the drinks, so I’d just let him talk. Did you ever see me perform by the way?

AGNES:I might’ve. I’m sorry, I don’t remember. I try not to think about New Reno much anymore.

BRUCE lights AGNES’ cigarette.

BRUCE:Don’t worry, friend. I think I’d like to put it behind me, too. I’m Bruce Isaac, by the way, currently out of work. You must be, too, if you’re also all the way out here.

AGNES:Agnes. And, well…no, not necessarily. I guess I’ve been taking some time off. Didn’t really think it through.

BRUCE:HA! “Time off.” Sure is one way to put our situations.

AGNES:Can I ask you something, Bruce? About the Bishops?

BRUCE winces, a bit bashful.

BRUCE:Oh, uh, sure. Go ahead……so long as it’s not about who Mr. Bishop’s little girl has been sleeping with.

AGNES:Rachael?Ohno,youdidn’t.

BRUCE:Well…I didn’t say I did, didI?

AGNES:Fuck, Bruce. Forget the Mojave. You’d be better off hiding on the moon.

BRUCE:Yeeaahhhh…he’s about that mad.

As AGNES and BRUCE recollect, images and emotions from the past resurface. For AGNES, it’s like she’s there again.

AGNES:Anyway…you know that…thingthat Yancy bought after he got glassed…

BRUCE:Yeah, I know. The robot.

AGNES:Yeah. The robot. Do they still have it?

BRUCE:Ahaha, in storage, maybe. Despite all the caps Yancy sank on it, all it ever did was scare gamblers away.

AGNES:…I always hatedit.

BRUCE:You weren’t alone. Imagine singing to it.

BRUCE (coy): Can I ask you something about the Bishops?

AGNES:Sure.

BRUCE:You were the one who saved Yancy the night he got glassed, right? And that’s why they hiredyou, “doc?”

AGNES:Tch,unfortunately. I’d say “conscripted” is more accurate.

BRUCE:Mhmm.And I know he likedme, but…he wasn’t a nice man, I always thought.

AGNES:Yeah. You’re telling me. The attack scarred his face. Not as bad as mine, you know…but he was just so vain,right?Vain.

AGNES’ expression grows more serious, more worried.

AGNES:I think he only keptme because I’d saved his life but not his face, and he was just so angry about it. He let me have it all the time. Insult after insult, screaming abuse. Not sure if he ever even knew my name, really, just…for…for…

AGNES (quietly): …foryears.

BRUCE:And how did Yancy Bishop die, Agnes? That was right when you left, if I recall.

Beat. AGNES looks away before looking back at BRUCE to respond.

AGNES:He died in surgery,Bruce.

EXT. NOVAC. The sun sets over the town.

BRUCE:…weren’tyouhissurgeon?

AGNES:He was shot by the Wrights,thenrushed to me, bleeding out. I did all I could for him, Bruce. I did everythingIcould for him.

One last memory: The Shark Club, 2274. YANCY, AGNES, and BRUCE backstage. AGNES and BRUCE are laughing.