How Pirates Think #1

Just a quickie I sketched out after taking a break from making these comics based on my socio-political beliefs. I've got two more "storyboarded" if such a thing is even done for comics, but this one was shorter to put together, and I wanted to try some things with the formatting.

Normally, in the past, I've actually typed out the dialogue, printed it, and then adhered it to the physical drawing. If it sounds unbearably tedious, it kind of is. However, I've got two really good reasons (well, three, but the first one is just, "Because I say so! Shut the Hell up!" which isn't quite a good reason, so let's call it an honorable mention):
1) the text tool in GIMP is a nightmare to work with; I really miss working with Arcsoft, but GIMP does give more file formats to work with and it's compatible with anything so it doesn't matter that I'm not using Windows for the time being.
2) by physically putting the words on paper, it gives me something that I can show to people when they ask what I'm doing. It's the best part about traditional art; people can physically see it with their own eyes and hold it in their hands, all without me having to explain anything (except maybe how to hold the book if it's one of my accordion books).

This time, though, I thought I'd give the text tool another go, and while I still have many gripes about it (like how, if you want to move the text box, you can't just click inside the rectangle of the text, you have to actually factually zoom in close enough to click on one of the letters, otherwise you move the entire background with the text perfectly still ) I am getting a little more comfortable with it.

I also wanted to try something different with the border. Normally, when I'm doing multiple panels, I get everything cropped and rotated and whatnot, and then open up a big blank canvas big enough to hold all the panels plus a little room at the top for the title. This time, though, because both panels are on the same page, I thought I'd try just using the "add border" tool and save myself the trouble of working out the dimensions. That's the reason for the black bar at the bottom as well as the top; I can set the border size on an X and Y axis, but there wasn't a way to set the Y axis off-center, so I added a copyright notice and web address to the bottom. Normally, I don't like to do that (seeing as how the Berne Convention says any finished/published work is protected by default and DeviantART already puts your name and copyright below the upload), but I figured it helps it look a little more professional, like a real webcomic.

The strip itself is fairly self-explanatory, giving an admittedly-not-too-fair comparison of pirate/tracer logic to everyday life. The whole, "I'm a fan. I love their work. It's not stealing. It's spreading the word." may sound well-intentioned, but there's a world of difference between writing a review on a movie you've just seen that you liked and just posting the entire film wholesale on a torrent. As I've said, admitting to something wrong doesn't absolve you from the consequences.
I could go on, but there's a companion piece to this in the works that touches on a similar sort of defense, one that's built on even more broken logic than this one.

UPDATE:

~FlyingFatality is way better at drawing cops than me. Actually, she's better at drawing people than me, full stop.