About the Comic

Influences

I'm hoping to cobble together some of the best things about the various shounen manga that top my list.

One obvious example would be Fullmetal Alchemist. Hagaren's female characters are, by anime/manga standards, absolutely AMAZING. In fact, I'd say they leave superheroines and pretty much anything the West's come up with in the dust as well. There are exceptions, of course (I <3 you, Ellen Ripley), but for the most part, Izumi and company are ridiculously awesome. They're not scantily-clad (even Lust, the closest thing to a femme fatale in the series, wears something that seems absolutely conservative compared to what I see over here), they're not stupid or portrayed as irrational, and they don't take shit from anyone. And I thought no one could write women anymore. This series is pretty much the only reason I created any female characters for Re.FLECT at all. Thank god, 'cause I freakin' hate femme fatales. Elektra, Catwoman, entire female cast of Sin City? You can kiss it.

One Piece and Naruto both have some great overarching themes, including the extremely Japanese idea of doing your best regardless of circumstances, "treasure", and friendship. I think they have a kind of heart that is entirely missing in superhero comics. Luffy is infuriated by the anyone who harms another person's treasure, whether it be a straw hat or a pet food store. Naruto is a hyperactive idiot, but he values his friends above all else, even his own life. And, wonderfully, if either of them go into emo mode, you can be sure it's not long before they're back up and swinging instead of whining endlessly about how they're not accepted or have to hold back their powers or what-have-you (I'm looking at you, X-Men D:<).

Mushishi, likewise, does a great job of portraying a main character who makes a job of meddling in people's lives who somehow manages to be completely inobtrusive. A lot of the stories center around acceptance and the fact that the creatures Ginko deals with are neither good nor evil, only conflicting with human life as a matter of course.

Superhero Comic?

Re.FLECT has a lot of superheroes in it. It is not a superhero comic, mainly because the superhero comics I read today are preachy, retcontastic, and like to beat me over the head with politics I already agree with and drop mention of said politics as soon as the storyline's over.

How Re.FLECT is made

1. Usually, a page starts with a .txt file I have saved on my computer, in which I jot down every ridiculous thing I happen to think of that might relate to the comic. This includes ridiculous things like the "have you ever heard of snails" conversation.
2. (Optional) Occasionally, someone (probably Rad when he's breen drinking, which is always) will be like, "YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE COOL?" and gives me an idea.
3. I usually plan out my pages with a real ghetto-looking doodle, like so.
4. Next is sketching out everything with stick figures. I do this in bright blue and put different frames on different layers, which I'll change to black as I refine the doodles. Bright red is also useful. It still looks totally ghetto, but gradually gets better. Extensive eraser use.

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