{scene: A low-saturation, almost-sepia-toned image showing an excavation in a cave. An adventurer-type stands supervising a worker digging in a pit.}
1 Fedora: How long?
1 Henchman: Nearly there...
2 Henchman: {holding up a magnificent gold cross} Here it is!
3 {camera zooms out to show two out-of-focus figures in the foreground, watching the action from a hidden position behind a rock}
3 Fedora: {admiring the gold cross} At last...
4 {focus changes to show the figures in the foreground are two boy scouts}
4 Young Monty: The Cross of Coronado!
4 Friend: Monty?
4 Young Monty: That belongs in a museum!
4 [caption]: {at bottom of frame} UTAH 1912

This is a very special strip. Some readers may recall I recently sold my old film camera. Before parting with it, I decided to shoot one last roll of film.

This is the first Irregular Webcomic! ever to be shot on film, rather than digitally. I figured Monty's flashback sequence would make a fitting subject. I originally planned to sepia-tone the images, but it didn't look quite right, so I just lowered the saturation a lot instead. I also made the speech bubbles very close to each other in hue - something I normally avoid as much as possible - to maintain the low saturation brown toning effect. I realise they're harder to tell apart this way, but this is what people had to put up with in the early days of photo webcomic technology! (And yes, I know the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was in full colour. Hey, let me have a little fun with the production.)

The great thing about shooting with a high quality SLR camera is the control I have over the depth of field, as you can see in the last two panels. That effect would be trickier to achieve with the cheap digital I normally use for IWC (possible, but trickier.)

The bad thing about film is that I don't get to see what the images will turn out like until after the film is developed. Fortunately, every shot I took worked pretty much as I'd planned.

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2016-02-09 Rerun commentary: Nowadays there are lots of photo webcomics.

I wonder how many of them have shot on film, rather than digitally. A quick Google doesn't turn up any, other than this sequence of IWC. It's a bit tricky to search though, as "film" matches a lot of different meanings.

By the way, this flashback sequence of Monty's early life fits into the ongoing story as Monty's "life flashing before his eyes", mentioned in the previous strip of this theme.