Ah, the first page. A quiet shot. Serious men talking in the darkness. Not a hint of the youth-based super-action set to erupt.
When I first started writing The Young Offenders, oh-so many years ago, I made a few choices that I would probably never make again. One of those, was to let a minor character narrate the entire first chapter.
This is a technique I've seen used in Japanese comic and cartoon storytelling. You introduce the sidekick as the main character, and then introduce the main character through the perspective of the sidekick. In the case of The YO though, I went with the
villain's sidekick.
It's not that I regret telling the story that way – it's just a storytelling method I use, that I won't use again. Part of that's just because this seems like my definitive use of the technique, so I feel like it'd come off as a little too repetitive if I tried to drop this kind of introduction piece into something again.
What's also interesting (to me) about the first page of the series, is that it takes place outside of the neighbourhood that the rest of the series takes place within. There's a sense of opulence and class to the first page, which is all that much more removed from the ones to come.
I like how this page shows no motion, but has motion to it. A man sits, and a camera slowly zooms in on him. His eyes flicker around. He's emotional, on-edge.
Darkness surrounds everything.
SHL
