This is the first point where I really let the limited palette chosen for the comic act expressively rather than as a faux-sepia tone color-replacement, especially in the last three panels.

A lot about this first scene is meant to really emphasize Long John’s isolation.  Here is a dude that looks like a big hero and, in pretty much every page, we’re taking this guy we just met––who looks tough and acts tough––down a notch, setting the tone for the comic in terms of overall tone but also Long John’s starting place in the “race” that is this story.

By successively draining the color out of him in the last three panels, I was hoping to really show that––even though we don’t really know what his story is, yet––we know where he is: empty and without reserves.