Selkie 871
Jan01
on January 1, 2017
at 11:56 pm
I am very sorry folks, but I’ve committed a really big mistake. I am currently out of town visiting family, and I brought my laptop along so I could work on comics after everyone else went to bed (I’m a bit of a night owl), only to find when I went to unpack that I forgot to pack the laptops power cord. >_<
So instead of skipping updates entirely for today and Wednesday, I thought I’d try something different. Here’s what would have been today’s comic, in prose form. Couldn’t fit it all on one screen, so there’s a second half in the blog.
It’ll be another prose format Wednesday. Drawn and illustrated comics will return Friday. Thank you for your patience.
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
Could be worse! A former boss of mine once brought her laptop bag and suitcase on a 2.5 hour trip with me for a project at another building. When we got there, we found out some upper management folks we’d never met before were on-site. She went to pull her laptop out of the bag so she could start working…and realized the laptop itself was back on her desk. She had the bag and power cord, but no machine. Not the greatest introduction in the world but she survived it. Prose is an interesting change of pace and I love that you’ve found a way to still give us some story while you are computer-deprived. Happy New Year!
Hey, prose is fine!
Btw… I used to go by the name “Ogre” in these (and other comic) comments, I’m the one that used to do the fancy Shakespearean posts once upon a time. I casually posted that I was Genderfluid one time, when the Transmale character was introduced. Well… I’m not Genderfluid. After much soul searching, I’m simply Trans. So from now on when I comment, it’ll be the same Gravitar icon, but now I’m using my chosen name…
Aria. *curtseys* Nice to meet you all! Happy holidays and new year everyone! And Dave, keep up the amazing and awesome work!
Pleased to meet you again!
Pleased to meet you again!
* Wonders if the curtsey I just saw is a formal court curtsey, a graceful ballet curtsey sweep, or just a between-stairs-maid knee-bend bob. *
*Gently takes her skirt at the hem in both hands, closes her eyes, bows her head, bows forward gently while gently raising her skirt slightly, bending her knees as she turns her left leg outwards so her left foot is facing left*
That’s how I curtsey. Hope that made sense… ^_^¿
Thank you Aria! And it’s a pleasure to re-meet you! 😀
Thank you! It’s great to be here!
Thank you for the text update! Much as I love your art, I’m happy not to have the cliffhanger making me go ‘noooooo’ til Friday. 🙂 Happy new year to all of y’all.
Guessing she’ll go visit her mom after all then.
I like this.
I’ve done that before. Fortunately, never during the intersection of (can’t retrieve it fairly quickly) and (need to do critical work). I like the solution you’ve used.
I think this might be a better format when you have a lot of subtext you want to convey. Maybe add a picture to accompany the words?
The writing’s actually pretty good. I could see a side story or interlude of some sort — for example, a bonus in the Selkie print versions — done in illustrated text. Maybe a flashback that doesn’t need to be told in the main story, or something. Or what the neighbors were doing during a key moment in the regular plot.
Also, this felt a lot better than what’s going on with Erfworld, where text updates and comic updates are staggered, and both responsible for a large portion of the same plot. It’s entirely understandable why they’re doing it — Erfworld’s artists have had some serious problems get in the way of creating timely updates — and the text updates are actually pretty good and have been used to tell nuances that the comic format might’ve had trouble with, but it still feels (to me) like they’ve strayed a little over the line of “how much text (or lack of illustration) can you add and still be a comic?”
Which is actually a useful thing to know, and we don’t know until somebody tries it, y’know? (I once asked Scott McCloud about it, and he said basically “just tell your story and don’t worry if the formatting falls in one category or another,” but I think the category also affects the audience, and that’s an important consideration to any artist.)
This reminds me of the text interlude in Strangers in Paradise. Similar feel somehow. (I liked that, and I like this.)
Aww. This is sweet. I’m kind of enjoying it.
Interesting idea, except recycling centers aren’t supposed to accept urns
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/29328321/urns-stolen-from-gravesite-found-at-sand-island-recycling-center
Fortunately it’s not an urn, it’s a metal thermos.
How much would you even get for something like this? Just toss it in the nearest trash can imo.
I think the idea is mostly symbolic. Turn something bad into something good.
Nice prose, Dave!
Opera pose – yer prose:
adroit and to the point.
Looks like you’ve honing
skills with iPhone-ing
And just to be clear
Happy New Year!
I am in no way against text based story telling. Certainly better than NO update.
Yeah, I keep a charger at home. A spare at the office, but I can’t see getting a third to keep at Mom’s house, too. Yeah, No!
You see creativity and flexibility are closely related. And in order to keep being creative it is good to experiment with different things you can do with your comic. Predictability is good only up to a point. It also becomes a constraint that withers creativity. Just like watching your ability to draw evolve and improve, one of the strong points of this comic is watching you do different things. So I am in favour of this update. It’s not one that I will go back to because it gives me the giggles or the warm feels; it doesn’t stand out like that, but it does work as an update, and will even work in book form, because it adds variety.
This is perfect! I love the comic – but the story is what drives me back every day to hope I got a random extra comic 🙂 Thank you for this story and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I like the text interlude! Happy New Year.
That being said…they better straighten out the Selkie/Amanda thing. Speaking as someone who had an abusive sibling, there’s nothing worse than the horrible sensation of not having any safe zone to get away from your bully. And especially hearing crap like “You’re SISTERS, you should love her no matter what she does!”
I really enjoyed the prose. To me, the best thing about your work is the nuanced detail. This prose provides insight into that.
Maybe Andi could take the urn to her mother. “This is the granddaughter you wanted, so this is the granddaughter you’re getting. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
That’s a great idea! Snarky, sure, but less horrible than Andi’s mom deserves imho… I still have a hard time understanding parents who don’t support their children; I realize that this just means that I am lucky enough to have a family where that was never something I had to wonder about, and I am grateful, but it makes me so sad to know that there are any kids (let alone so many kids) who can’t count on their family to have their backs. Andi gets a lot of hate in the comics, and what she did was wrong, but the one person in her life who she should have been able to trust to do right by her, namely, her mom, essentially forced her into a terrible situation when she was at her most vulnerable… She has plenty of issues and growing up to do, but her mom totally deserves some karmic justice!
I’m somebody whose parents didn’t want kids nor the commitment to have them. It made things kind of weird when my Dad finally died last year. I’m still having to unravel the mess his estate is in while remembering that he truly didn’t *want* us.