Just one more reminder that I will be at Snafu-Con in Reno Nevada this weekend, sharing Table #32 with the crew from Shards! It’ll be a fun time! 😀
I’d like to make a quick note here about update schedule while I am at the con. As I am a webcomic reader as much as I am a webcomic creator, I hate coming to check my favorite strips only to find random filler. So, my intent is to continue story-progression updates while I am at the con. I don’t anticipate issues with next Monday’s update because I will be back in town with drawing time on Sunday, but I am unsure about Friday’s update being at full-power. I intend to post story-progression on Friday, but it may be at a reduced artwork capacity. Whatever I can get done while sitting in layover in Dallas. XD
I always thought that Her color was periwinkle.
Pantone TPX 16-3815
#c0c4da
R192 G196 B218
Which is relatively close to periwinkle (R204 G204 B255), though a bit darker and with just a hint of green.
In any case, though, she’s definitely a bit purplish the way you color her, if you’re using a properly-calibrated monitor. (Which is a relatively logical skin color given that her blood is apparently dark purple… though I have no idea what the chemistry of that would be, since hemoglobin is red and nearly everything, fish included, other than horshoe crabs and skinks has red blood as a result.)
I wrote a story once where aliens had purple blood. My explanation was that they started off with hemocyanin and eventually evolved hemoglobin because it was more efficient, but kept on to the redundant system just in case.
Why would the blood color matter? White people, black people, yellow people, and albinos all have red blood. Does not effect their skin color.
Blood here on Earth is iron-based. Iron is red. They explained Spock’s green blood as “Vulcans are copper-based”. Maybe Selkie’s species is zinc-based? Or magnesium? Maybe lead or silver? Some OTHER mineral than iron.
The color of our skin takes a higher importance than the color of our blood it’s true. However, it’s not unreasonable to say that other creatures don’t have the same chemistry in their skin as we do and thus their blood changes how their skin works. She might have cobalt based blood or something along those lines and it reflects in her skin.
Actually, your blood /does/ help color your skin. But since we all have the same color blood, it’s not like there’s room to compare, say, medium brown skin with red blood against medium brown skin with blue blood.
We do sometimes have people with blueish /skin/ over red blood due to metabolic saturation of silver resulting in Argyria. That can turn out almost Selkie-esque.
In a healthy Selkie case though, we could presume a combination of relatively low skin pigmentation (if any) and whatever makes her blood blue (hemocyanin is the obvious thought here, but hemocyanin is pretty shaky for most closed circulatory systems operating in low pressure environments. Could be something similar based on copper though.)
Unless Dave wants to simplify and say they have hemoglobin red blood and are just naturally tanked up on silver which they use to help conduct their mysterious green energy.
Working as a cashier, I met a man who had blue skin and blue eyes, as in the whites of his eyes were blue. I didn’t ask why, but I remember it being incredibly startling making eye contact with him.
The spice must flow!
Right. Forget the monitor settings Dave, I’m sure I remember Selkie saying in one comic she was periwinkle. That trumps reader perception every time.
Probably due to the lighting and the fact that he considers Selkie a human (the default species) he sees her skin as grey instead of periwinkle.
ME TOO! Periwinkle for the win!
I remember the periwinkle comic too. Perhaps the barista is colorblind?
AAANNNDDD there goes ANY romantic thoughts that she had for this meeting…
though I’m sure there will be others later…
As if those weren’t already smashed by Selkie’s appearing.
I love her face in panel 3.
“I did NOT deal a smackdown to Truck just to be told I look too sick to buy coffee. Screw this noise.”
I like the way he is handling this. Yet more evidence that he will be a good parent. Rather than immediately jump down the guy’s throat, he a.) reprimands Selkie for yelling, and B.) calmly explains the situation to the man without acting like he was offended or anything.
When you get involved with someone raising a child alone, don’t think any of it will be easy…
I’m surprised Mina is so embarassed.
It’s a natural reaction to the children with you suddenly screaming in public, especially when you planned a nice, quiet evening…
This *is* an important thing for Todd and Selkie to be able to deal with: what to tell people who’re concerned about her Odd Appearance. Not everyone will think she’s been pigging out on blueberries.
yeah… she’s too SKINNY to have chewed Wonka’s gum… that is, unless he’s gotten THAT part fixed and is still working on the coloring problem… 😀
Mina didn’t know she was getting Selkie that evening. Mina should have known that she would be getting Selkie as part of the whole package if she is really trying to flirt with Todd.
Yeah, but even married couples with multiple kids find ways of being married couples with multiple kids, if you know what I mean. Todd and Mina need to go ask a couple with several children how they manage it.
Remember, it wasn’t Todd’s plan to bring Selkie with him. He couldn’t find a sitter on short notice.
Whoa, I always saw her as light lavender through the monitors. Definitely not gray. o.O
Poor Mina. But as others here have pointed put, you date a single parent, you get the whole package. Even when the kid isn’t there, he or she is still “there”.
And I find this a great and timely juxtaposition on the current Great Ebola Freakout.
It fun to see Todd getting better at that lawyer speak… After all being a different species is an “inherited condition”.
While I’m sure Todd is used to this, it would make sense for anyone else he were dating to be kind of embarrassed.. except Mina. She’s as familiar with the public reaction to Selkie almost as much as Todd is. I’m kind of surprised she’s not shrugging it off.
I don’t think Mina’s issue is with the guy questioning Selkie’s appearance. I think it’s the fact that Selkie is making a scene in a place Mina likes to frequent.
But I’m sure Mina has seen this exact situation happen to her before, including Selkie’s outburst. She looks different enough that what she looks like can’t exactly be chalked up to “sickness”. It’s like seeing a physically deformed person in public, or someone who has a chromosomal disorder. You wouldn’t ask them if they were sick- twice, before serving them. Especially if the person said they weren’t the first time. Not only should she not be embarrassed, but she should be well prepared for this line of dialogue, including Selkie’s outburst, because she’s seen Selkie go through much worse.
” You wouldn’t ask them if they were sick- twice, before serving them. Especially if the person said they weren’t the first time.”
People double-check what children say all the time. For good reason. How many kids will protest that they are not sick just to be allowed to go someplace they want to go?
Most people can’t think of a genetic disorder which would make their skin a weird color. And Selkie didn’t say that, what she said was “I’m not sick.” The bit about “I haven’t puked in a week” from the previous strip would come across as “I was sick recently” to most people.
As to Mina’s reaction, and having to see this all the time… she saw it once, at the beginning of the school year. She’s gotten used to it now. And Selkie doesn’t come across as the sort of girl to take something that isn’t actually name-calling and twist it into name-calling. (After all, being called sick isn’t an insult, it’s obviously out of concern.)
“People double-check what children say all the time. For good reason. How many kids will protest that they are not sick just to be allowed to go someplace they want to go?”
Her father was sitting right there. Also he asked first, if she is contagious, which could be interpreted as name-calling (more than the question if she is ill).
Terrible English, I know. Sorry.
Geez, Mina, stop being such a jerk.
She’s light blue-grey to me.
Dave> lol on the transcript commentary:) And I am definitely guilty of putting up filter during the busy months of either a con or a holiday in which I work… Eh.. Like Tomorrow…
No one’s commented on “Roast Darkness”? Truly, coffee has never sounded so EPIC: this must be the brew of choice for vampires and supervillains.
Kudos to the barista for knowing how much “roast darkness” and “pasty breads things” are off the top of his head … on a somewhat related note, I think I know what I’ll order next time we’re in Starbucks.
Hey, can I have a “Roast Darkness” to go?
Great comic and I understand how cons go, they are all kinds of hectic. Thanks for trying to keep up with regular updates but unlike some webcomics (not dropping any names!), we’d know that you would be back on the following update if you did need to do a filler. That is why your comic is one of the best.
BTW, you might want to look into the Comic Chameleon app, you just submit an application and from what I read, it’s free to join! That way, we can all enjoy our Selkie wherever we are!
I see a color somewhere in the middle of blue, purple, and gray.
By the way, I’ve been wondering about Selkie’s carnivore diet:
Is the vomiting response triggered physically by some mechanism in her body recognizing the presence of cell walls (which plant cells have and animal cells do not), or psychologically by the part of her brain where instincts live thinking “I’ve just swallowed something that’s not food. Better get rid of it before it makes me really sick.”
If you’ve eaten something that tastes bad enough to induce throwing up, do YOU stop to think that?
No, but if your entire species does, you might stop to study it.
It’s really odd. I can think of no other obligate carnivores that reflexively regurgitate plant matter.
Dunno, our cat seems to do that pretty reliably.
I want some roast darkness too!!!
I’m going to go with bluey purplish grey.
http://www.splloyd.com/photo%20gallery/people/markets/kichikildy/turkish-man-web.jpg
Well look who i found