Page Commentary No. 26

Gunwild: We were just talking about tea.

Psu: The first of many of our holiday comic strips...

Gunwild: They're not THAT Thanksgiving-themed, I'm pretty sure they're just a couple of 4koma - which is to say, four-panel gag strips - I wanted to do, and this was a good excuse. But hey, they're celebrating their colony, like the Pilgrims, and Jones Soda always makes those Thanksgiving soda packs, so...

Gunwild: By the way, these aren't the first. We did the Halloween ones, remember?

Psu: The second of our many holiday comic strips.

Psu: I remember doodling these out pretty quickly, the intention was that I could spend a little less time drawing and a little more time doing holiday stuff when those came around. But generally speaking I'm not too satisfied with these visually. They were experiments in shading and coloring and I think the Vraxiopeia one has just enough effects to get its point across but the lineart is pretty shaky.

Gunwild: On the other hand, the Simpsons tea spit...

Gunwild: That's a running gag for Maddy I like.

Psu: It's not a real running gag until it happens a third time!

Gunwild: Challenge accepted.

Psu: These are really cute strips but I think, on the story telling front, it runs into a particular problem that webcomics have. The authors like these characters before the readers do. By the time we had drawn these strips, we as creators had been with Vraxiopeia Colony and the Vanaa for months. For the readers, it's been much shorter and they only appeared in a few. I'm glad people seemed to enjoy the spirit of these but I think the writing of these two mini comics asks the reader to have a little more familiarity with the characters.

Psu: We've only seen a couple Vanaa speak at this point, so this gag strip is one of the first impressions of the Vanaa. Thankfully, it's pretty in keeping with their characters all around.

Gunwild: I was charmed by how many commenters noticed that the colony added two people by the time Maddy saw news of the place.

Psu: We definitely have to respect our readers. Fans will comb every inch they can on the page and it's been my privilege to make it worth their while.

Gunwild: I wonder if soda keeps bubbling while it's in your tumtum...

Psu: Refreshing!

Gunwild: Nimoo's smile-eyes right there are the best.

Gunwild: That is how I look right when I get a soda after it's been a while. And he's never had one before!