This was a fun page to work on.  It might sound like a strange way to describe a funeral scene, but there’s so much cool stuff in here.  Here’s a few interesting tidbits:

– The Gentleman Giant makes his one appearance in the comic here.  And a lot of readers don’t actually notice him on first reading!

– This page marks the first appearance of Zena Zarthos, who will go on to play a significant role in our story.

– The character standing next to Bill Finney was originally intended to be Dwight Dowalski, a character who shows up in issue #3.  But due to the delay between drawing issues #2 and #2, Jon had forgotten he’d drawn Dowalski before by the time he got to his appearance in issue #3, and ended up designing him completely differently there!

– On the far right of the frame is the former Sky City Police Chief Merryweather, who makes a cameo appearance in a future flashback.

– The woman on the left with the unusual costume and distinctive ponytail was actually inserted there thanks to a contest Jon Rector and I ran through Jon’s blog.  Entrants were to design a character, with the best creation – chosen by Jon and I – earning a cameo appearance in THE STANDARD #2.  This lady here one.  Sadly, after much searching, I can’t find a record of the person who created her or the original design, but if I can dig it up I’ll be sure to share it here.