The Making of Destiny's Hand:
Sketch Pad #5 - Frederick Matthau
Written by DeFilippis & Weir • Art by Buckethead
Frederick Matthau is Blaine's strategist and also the navigator. No one reads maps and situations as well as Matthau. In order to be a good strategist, Matthau has to be an excellent judge of character, and he is, but he's also a very solitary and lonely man. His life is the ship, and while the crew respects him, few really know him. Most of his contact is with Blaine.
Matthau is supposed to be an owl of a man, wise and stodgy. But we didn't want him to be a wimp or someone who looked out of his element on the seas. He may not be a fighter, but he always looks like he belongs on a ship. Buckethead nailed all these aspects of the character on the first try, which you see here.
Buckethead also succeeded in depicting a certain inner decency, which we really wanted for Matthau. In making him a little withdrawn from the crew and also a strategist, there was a chance he could have come off as manipulative. That's not in this design, and we're glad. Matthau may be the one who guides things on the ship behind the scenes, but in the end, he is 100% loyal to Blaine.
