Comic #924: Settle the Score (Patreon)

Because the anniversary event introduced a raid version of Blackrock Depths, which is MUCH harder than the original, I really wanted to make a joke about the fact that there were SO MANY WIPES when running the "easy" version of BRD back in the day.

Right off the bat, I gotta talk about my title here. I so desperately wanted to create a double meaning out of the word "score" which is another word for 20, and this comic spans 20 years, but I feel like nobody will see it. There's gotta be a better title in there somehow, but I couldn't think of one.

One of the challenges in this comic was trying to use my original art style to represent 20 years ago, while still making it clear that the characters at the start are the same characters at the end. Ultimately, I'm sure the final panel makes that clear, but I didn't want to add any additional confusion for the reader. For example, originally, Keydar's role in this comic was going to be given to Narya. But because my vanilla version of Narya looks so different from the current version, I was worried I would create confusion.

Also, this comic is specifically about Blackrock Depths, and I was hoping I could communicate that without using unnecessary exposition. So I figured just drawing the Emperor in the first panel as well as the throne room in the background would make that clear. The background was also key to representing to the reader that the final panel takes place in the same location.