The previous strip evoked a lot of discussion on the what where and how of Selkie’s origin and the reactions of people to her “not-human” status that I found interesting. I must admit, it’s fascinating reading everyone’s ideas and speculations about Selkie. I’ve been more and more eager to get to this “citizenship form” mini-reveal for a while now, and I’m very keen to see where this takes everyone.
Additionally, I had a technical question for everyone. It’s been brought to my attention that the Secret Director Commentary alt-text is difficult to read for some people because it does not stay active long enough. I use Firefox 4, and for me the alt-text on an image remains up for as long as I keep the cursor perfectly still (which for me means taking my hand of the mouse). Does alt-text have a time-limit on other browsers? What does everyone think? Should I try to keep the alt-text short and sweet in the future?
Also, I accidentally typed the strip’s dialogue in Times New Roman instead of Lucida Sans without noticing my error (Typography 101: Pay attention to font! >_<). This may work out though, because TNR is a smaller font so I can fit more wordy dialogue into the comic (like Grandma’s reading-out-loud). But because it’s a smaller font I think it’s also a bit more difficult to read. I’d love feedback on the font, if any.
Discussion (121) ¬
I didn’t even know there was alt text til now! Now I have to go back and read through them all to see the alt text 🙂
The mouseover works fine for Safari on OS X. One word of caution however, that mobile platforms like iOS and Android don’t have a way to view mouseovers at all. XKCD has a “mobile” site with a button that shows the alt text for mobile users, you could add a small icon or something to click that would show it in addition to the mouseover that would obviate the problem on other browsers/platforms and on mobile.
Awesome comic!
EEEkkk its almost Selkie’s birthday!
She’s got the same birthday as my mother. (A couple of decades later though…)
The alt text stays up for about 5 seconds for me, still mouse and all. I’m running Windows 7 home and IE whatever came with my computer last year. 😉
However, I have yet to find something with alt text that stays active until I move my mouse; they all seem to go away. I’ve gotten in the habit of reading and counting at the same time, moving the mouse away and back, and picking up where I left off.
The only place the TNR is a problem is in that last panel. I think it could use some differentiation; it’s hard to tell the word bubble from the background at first blush.
And…dear God, poor Selkie!!! And then she comes home and Grandma gives her a grape. Now she’s going to associate Grandma with doctors via upchuck. 🙁 Hugs for her when she wakes up!
It means that we have 2.5 weeks to Selkie’s birthday and that she’s a Gemini 😉
Definitely keep the secret commentaries. They’re usually very fun and give insights not only into the world the comic happens but also into the making of the comic itself. Also, don’t shorten them – if the hover text doesn’t stay on long enough for some, at the very least it can be gotten from the page source code. (Worked for me on both FF and IE – the latter being something of a surprise to me.)
I use firefox and have no problem seeing the alt-text. As for the font, I didn’t even really notice a difference… *isn’t the most observant person in the world!* I wish we could see the entire journal the caretakers wrote while she was in the orphanage, it would be absolutely fascinating to me. Keep up the great work!!!
In Chrome, alt-text stays up for 5 seconds. It can be difficult when it’s long, but I can just open the site code or read it in batches. 🙂
This font is quite a lot harder to read without clicking through fro my feed reader.
Dave> Yes, the alt-text goes away for me. It didn’t used to on other computers. I thought it was my computer. I dunno anymore:( But yes, after like 5 seconds it goes away. I like either font. If you use TNR, just make it a tad bigger? I can read it okay but others may not.
Heh heh! Selkie’s bday is the 24th, huh? More proof that the “Judgement Day” is not on May 21 of this year. We gotta celebrate Selkie’s bday! Gotta get some more fan art goin’:)
Selkie is a political refugee?
Guys… go back to strip #1 and check out its date, then go back to the citizenship form. ^_^
By the way, I´ve wondered about this back in strip #53: What is a Hot Dog in the US? Where I live, it´s a sausage in a bun.
No problems with the font here. How about using TNR for reading out loud (presumably it´s the same font as the written text) and the normal font for normal text?
A hot dog is meat-by products (mostly the left-over meats that don’t go into the “good” cuts) ground and stuffed into a tube. So basically, a pinkish tube of unspecified meat. Possibly some binders/filler.
Hot sausage? Inna bun?
I see someone else has been reading Discworld books too… 😛
They sound soooo bad, but they taste sooooo good! 😀
normally, it is a sausage served in a bun, and that is the way it is served if you order it out. But, it also just refers to that particular type of sausage itself. with or with out the bun. Hot dog, wiener and frankfurter are used interchangeably in the U.S.A. to refer to the unspiced (usually) pre-cooked sausage made of meat (chicken, turkey, beef or pork) and sometimes cereal fillers, like corn or wheat.
Spiced sausages will normally have a specific name based on the spices, preparation technique, or country of origin or inspiration.
Ah… okay. Thanks, both of you. This comic is turning out to be almost as educational as it is entertaining.
Meanwhile, in the upper midwest, we have “brats” (you say it so it rhymes with yachts) and polish sausage. Those are your typical “sausage in a bun” types. Hot dogs have a much smaller diameter –about 3/4 of an inch (2cm or so). Brats and polish sausages get to be about an inch and a half diameter. Also, brats are usually much yummier because they’re made of better meat bits. Not ground steak, but better than the mush in hot dogs.
Brats!!!
Also Zweigel’s white hots.
… I am going to sneak the Zweigel’s brand into Selkie’s universe and make sure they become her favorite ‘dogs.
Wow, that was a surprisingly good explanation. You should be a lexicographer! Please tell me you contribute to Wikipedia.
Oh also, I can’t believe I forgot to say this before, I am glad someone caught my little in-joke for making her birthday 5/24. 😀
Hot dogs are normally in a bun. However, it’s also common for parents to cut up just the “sausage” into little disks for a small child to eat– no buns or anything else. Keep in mind that it’s fairly bland, very cheap, and super-simple to heat in the microwave– all big factors when deciding what protein to toss on your 4-year-old’s plate next to the beans and veggie.
Also, even if they presented the hotdog to Selkie in a bun, she probably would have rejected the bun and eaten the hotdog straight.
Well, on the font, stick to Lucida Sans. In addition to being a nicer font than Times, and sans (all-caps sans, really) being customary for comics, it’s also a lot easier to read than the smaller Times here, and looks less crowded when stuffed in a word bubble. Difficult to read text in webcomics is a rampant problem (particularly for those of us using fairly high-resolution laptop screens), and you’ve generally done pretty well.
Safari Mac keeps the tooltip hovers active for about ten seconds, by the way, which is enough to read it comfortably. I actually consider overly short tooltip hovers a design flaw, although programs that are too aggressive about keeping them onscreen are equally annoying.
Sorry for not commenting before, but I learned a few things about fonts when I first started studying comicing. So, sorry if it seems like I’m just critisising your font choice, but I just want to say I HAVE been enjoying your comic, and not really caring about the font. It’s only because you asked.
Actually, all comics guides I read agree that you should go for a font that at least looks hand-written, so it looks like it’s part of the artwork and is less likely to kick readers out. But not comic-sans. You’ll attract hate, even when it is fitting. I can point out a site where you can get free comic fonts, if you wish.
At the very least, go back to your previous font. Serif fonts do not work for comics. Well, maybe for a steam punkish robot thing, but I don’t see any steam punk robots here.
Also, first thing I learned. You don’t want your avarage word count per bubble to be more than twenty, and the lower the better. The more words in a bubble the more impact those words have to have in order to not take away from the visuals. Now, this comic has a slow pace, so you CAN get away with more than, say, a superhero comic could. Just keep that in mind.
And to end this on a high note, that I almost posted before, nice improvment over time, and I really liked the artwork in the Kathryn and Sue section. Interesting take on what a cartoon would look like in a universe that looks like Selkie’s!
Thanks for the advice. ^^
I’ve heard the Comic Sans Hate discussions before, I dunno why it’s so vilified. I guess because it gets used a lot, and people are sick of seeing it? *shrug*
I know some comickers pay a site to create a font FROM their handwriting. I can’t do that though, my handwriting is godawful. XD
Yeah, it is partially a thing of it being over-used, and also tends to be used by non-proffessionals more because “Hey! This comic font comes with the computer!” and thus may be used even when it doesn’t fit the comic (it’s lighthearted, so it doesn’t fit comics with serious tones). Plus there was a time when every amateur logo maker used it.
Yeah. It’s a simple way of adding a unique style even to the lettering, without going all the way to hand lettering, and custom fonts can fit what you want EXACTLY! But it is kinda expensive.
Still, if you ever want to try and make a font, you just need some concentration. It’s amazing what spending an extra five minutes can do to the legibility of a word.
There are a few sites that do free fonts, but you’d better keep an eye out for the agreement terms. Blambot makes theirs very clear.
I know WHY Comic font is hated, but it still doesn’t make sense to me – it’s a good font. That’s like people hating Arial or Times just cause they get used a lot. :-/
What comic has steam punk robots?
Girl Genius does.
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php
On the tooltip: Firefox seems to keep it up forever, and if not, there’s the “Right Click”->”View Image Info” option. I don’t know if that’s available with other browsers.
Naw, I don’t see any “view info” anywhere when right clicking:(
In Chrome, alt-text lasts about 6 seconds. Font looks good to me either way, but I have a fairly large monitor too…
Physiology questions!
Given the gills and the tiny nose, can Selkie sneeze?
Given that she’s an 8-year-old humanoid, will she be getting loose teeth?
Why is it that she’s able to eat fish and meat with no problem, but Crook got sick from tasting her blood?
If she does sneeze, she´ll probably do it out of her gills, not her nose – remember, she breathes water in through the nose, out through the gills. Maybe the gill flushing is more or less equivalent to blowing her nose? When here gills needed flushing, she even sounded like she has a blocked nose.
I think Crook getting sick could be some sort of defense mechanism of Selkie´s species – if your blood makes a creature nauseous, it won´t try eating your kind more than once. Crook certainly won´t…
I suppose she could sneeze, don’t see why not. But Sir Chaos is correct about her breathing out through her torso gills. If she did sneeze, it would make her clothing go “fwooph” and flutter out.
Loose teeth… hmm, hadn’t considered that. I’ll have to get back to ya. >_>
She should keep losing them and growing new ones in, like a shark!
Eventually, she’ll have a lovely necklace… 🙂
Was about to suggest shark-teeth mechanism.
Oh, and as for the blood question, she just tastes really bad. Which is an equally effective deterrent against being eaten. XD
FF4 here, and the alt text stays… And yeah, there’s addons for most browsers, I’d think. I didn’t notice the mouseovers, really, but I’m sure I’ll re-read your comic again later…
Also, on the fonts, there’s the fact that, if you ever go to print, small fonts tend to look better, but you have to makes the bubbles smaller too… I’m not too sure, I know lots of comics that have to re-letter for print (erfworld had a huge time delay in getting printed orders out because of it, for example, and while it looks different from the online version, they both look good for their media…).
I think it looks great for this one though… perhaps fitting for the document? perhaps leave the quoted text from the page in TNR and the spoken text how you normally have it? It’d be something to try, at least~
Country of origin: R’lyeh
That’s exactly what I thought hahaha. Ive been wondering if Selkie and her species are similar to the ancient civilizations Lovecraft describes minus the insanity inducing Gods lol.
Let´s wait until Selkie is at least a teenager until we decide she doesn´t induce insanity… 😉
I’A I’A!!!
I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say; one of Selkie’s inspirations is indeed Lovecraft stories. She is not, canonically, a Lovecraft horror, but the inspiration is there. 😀
But R’Lyehans (R’Lylians? R’Lyehlanders?) are monsters.
Selkie is people. So her people must be people. As for Selkie, she’s clearly a refugee.
Oo! Exiled royalty! It should be “Princess Selkie”.
I know ^^ I mean like a less monstrous version lol
An interesting point. Remember her dreams. She mentions a crown and having dead fish come back to life. Perhaps you are not that far off with the exlied royalty thing.
Awww, monsters can’t be people too? Define “monster”?
Er, present company excepted?
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Sesame-Street-Birds-Favorites/dp/0375805613
That’s my favorite “monster” definition right there.
The alt text lasts until I move the mouse in Opera.
Alt Text: Lasts for 5 seconds, but immediately pops back up again if I move the mouse. That said I am able to read it all in the first 5 seconds anyway so it doesn’t matter. I use Chrome.
Font use: I was fine with how it is today. However if you’re really concerned about people’s ability to see it, maybe try a ‘pop out’ for the strip. I’ve seen this used in some other strips to ‘enhance’ a scene that would look better if it were filling the whole page. Usually their the one panel shots, but I don’t see why it could be used to help people see the font if you’re going to have more dialogue than usual. basically everthing on the webpage stays the same size, but the comic itself can be shifted into a bigger version of itself. Kind of like how IE can make pictures bigger if you click on it.
Oops.. the above was supposed to read: Usually they’re the one panel shots, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be used to help people see the font if you’re going to have more dialogue than usual.
That’s not a bad idea, any clues how to implement an extra “al text button”?
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal has something like this– beneath many of the newer comics is a red button. When you hover over this button, a bonus image appears. I don’t know how this is accomplished, but I’m sure the author will be happy to help you out! The site is http://www.smbc-comics.com .
As is usual when dealing with the unknown, getting the first set of answers just leads to further questions… Todd is going to have a few pages of those at the first follow-up visit, assuming he even waits that long.
I use Firefox too, so the “hidden” commentary stays put as long as the cursor does. Please keep it up, just refrain from putting crucial info there to spare the wrath of script-disadvantaged readers 😉
Hmm…I don’t like the Times New Roman. It just doesn’t fit artistically as well, to me. RE: the alt text – I use Chrome, and it does go away after a bit. It’s a bit of a pain on longer alt text, but was not a problem for the length today. That said, I really don’t mind the longer alt text either – I just move the mouse and it comes back.
… The “Citizen Ship” form? Heh.
Thanks for commenting on that Foxhack … you saved me from looking like a grammer police swat team.
Oooooooooooh, I did do that didn’t I? XD Doh.
Hmmm. So much to think about. The blacking out of certain information makes me think of classified documents, and I doubt that’s coincidence, you’re too good a storyteller for that. Sooooo…. Could Selkie be here as a form of political asylum, a protection program for someone who could be in danger? That implies that she/her parents/people have some power and influence.
Come to think of it, Lillian said Selkie’s mother dropped her off, and she (the mother) didn’t speak English. Did Selkie speak English then? Don’t remember if that was ever mentioned.
Is there any proof her mother was actually her mother, or even one of her people? Could it have been a human servant? The little hair bow looks like an ordinary plastic one, which might mean human contact.
Given the choice as a reader, I’d go back to Lucida sans. TNR looks wrong somehow.
Took another look: You have not yet revealed in what way Selkie is eligible for citizenship. I hope you will.
Perhaps her mother was not native but Selkie was born “here”? Or perhaps someone brought her to seek asylum?
I thought that if someone was born in the United States to a non-citizen parent, they just got a birth certificate and Social Security card, not citizenship forms. I could be way off-base though. Since it says “Country of origin: REDACTED” I’ll go ahead and assume Selkie was born…elsewhere.
You’re correct Scowdich. US Law is that anyone born on US soil (including non-state territories like Guam or Puerto Rico) is automatically a citizen and need not apply for citizenship. Likewise, the child of any American citizen is usually a citizen and need not apply for citizenship. There are some restrictions on this one, but describing them will just cause headaches all around.
Anyway. If Selkie were born on US soil, she’d be a US citizen and have no need of that form in her file. If one of her parents were a US citizen, she’d probably be one and either not have to file that form at all, or have to file a different form to certify her citizenship status.
A serif font is easier too read and less strain on the eyes.
I respectfully disagree. On paper, that may be true, but in an electronic medium, especially webcomics, I’ve always found sans serif fonts to be easier to read.
The new text is great! More words, and for me, it’s easier to read (since the letters look more unique from each other). In Google Chrome, the alt text usually stays long enough for me! Selkie appears to be some sort of predatory fish… she/her species probably lived near the land, based on her having feet adapted for walking and not being developed to live at the bottom of the ocean (if she was from the bottom of the ocean, probably her head would be a different size, most of her other bones would be less developed, she would have bigger, differently shaped teeth, photophores, and larger eyes…). So she seems like part of a species with amphibious sorts of habits, even if she is not an amphibian PER SE. However, Selkie seems likely to be an amphibian, shark, or fish kind of creature, since she’s no mammal. Shark seems more and more likely.
I couldn’t find it quickly, so I can’t post a link, but Dave did post up an anatomical sketch of two adults of Selkie’s species. The females do suckle their young, and hence are, at least from that perspective, mamalian. Now, the question is, are they “warm-blooded”? I don’t recall that Dave had addressed that in his anatomical notes accompanying his sketches. So, they are different, but perhaps could still be classified as mamals.
Very complex species …
Honestly I didn’t even notice the font was different XD
The mystery in this comic has a tendency to deepen and become even more mysterious. Though I have two other comments.
-If she has gotten sick because of these doctors, she must know what to do immediately to get better.
-If her country of birth stuff is blacked out, where did they get her from?
I think ‘where’d they get her from’ was adressed earlier. I might have to check.
As for country of birth, it seems to me that if they’re blacked out the government knows but isn’t telling. Or Lillian wanted it to be a secret in consideration for Selkie, but I wouldn’t put my money on that.
Or the government *doesn’t* know, and some bureaucrat who didn’t want to have dissection nightmares for the rest of his/her life decided that the best way to handle the situation was to make it look like the entire thing was classified. Hey, an orphanage beats Hanger 13, right?
Yes, in comic 82 Todd says that according to the file (of mystery!) Selkie was dropped off by her mother, who didn’t speak English. How does something like that happen???
Well, in one of my stories, a big war was going on and kids were dropped off at the orphanage in order for the parents to come collect them again once they could, or for safe keeping in case they never could return again. My question is, if she couldn’t speak english, who told her what an orphanage was and where to find one?
Someone who could speak HER language, but knew OUR customs & such. Which actually still deepens the mystery.
I see three possibilities:
1) Somebody who does speak English (and her language) explained what the orphanage is and where to find it.
or
2) She only pretended not to speak English, in order to avoid answering unwelcome questions (such as “What the heck are you?”).
or
3) She didn´t know it was an orphanage, and she simply (probably in great desperation) dropped her daughter off at a place that had lots of kids, figuring that she´d be taken care of somehow. Maybe she thought it was some kind of day care center?
That leads to another question: Who named Selkie?
Did her mother somehow manage to communicate her daughter´s name? Did Selkie herself tell them, once she learned enough English? Or is “Selkie” simply something mother or daughter said, which means something completely different (such as “Where is my mommy?”)?
Selkie is almost eight! Does she get a birthday party? ;3
I think she IS 8 already – if I remember right, isn’t it already August in-universe?
I don’t mind the alt-text fadeaway at all… I’m a quick reader and don’t mind reading in batches.
My conspiracy theory is that Selkie is from ATLANTIS. That’d be pretty sweet. And also I am obsessed with Iron Savior, a band that plays music revolving around the story of a self-aware 6-mile wide space station from Atlantis that both razes planet Earth and saves it from alien invaders.
But enough of that tangent.
This band sounds AWESOME.
Not going to speculate on Selkie’s place of birth. Most of the ones I came up with have already been mentioned.
As far as browser, I use Chrome to read my fav comics and the alt-text stays up for about 5 seconds. That gives me plenty of time to read. If I use my cell phone, it lasts about the same amount of time.
Re: Alt Text; I use IE 8 … the alt text stays up about 5 seconds for me. Usually long enough, though sometimes I have to move my cursor off, then back on to the image. No biggie though, several web comics have alt text and I have to do that with all of them. Now that I know that it is apparently some setting in the browser, I’ll just deal with it. 😀
Re: Font; I much preferred the Lucida sans. You’re right, you could fit more text in using the slightly smaller TNR, but it doesn’t look right for a comic. However, one thing you could do is use TNR when they’re reading something out of the file. So, for example, the bubbles where Grandma is actually quoting directly from the documents, that could be in TNR … then the bubbles where Todd and Grandpa are discussing the forms, those could be in Lucida. I don’t know though, it would make more work for you using two different fonts. But the quoted part in TNR would look like an official document text.
I suspect that the country of origin is blacked out because it is a country that is not commonly known … and the government doesn’t want word to get out. I like folk’s theory of the political-type refugee too. But still, her species isn’t commonly known, so the place of origin probably isn’t either.
I don’t read much into such things myself, but I still find myself finding out what they are for people…in addition to being a Gemini, she’s also born in the year of the Horse. (Specifically, Water Horse.
I’m still thinking on the idea of her species.
I use Google Chrome and there is a time limit on it. But I also am used to it and just keep moving the mouse to try and keep it up.
Love the comic. Love the alt text. Keep it all up!!!
See, that’s my problem. I use IE and after it goes away, I can’t get it back unless I scroll over something ELSE that has an alt text then go back to the comments, so it is more of a pain for me to read. It does this with other comics I read so I assume it is IE.
Jade,
It most likely is IE. If it’s causing you more problems, try a different web browser. You can download them for free.
I feel physical pain for you. You poor thing, who has nothing but a Microsoft browser. You can download Firefox here: http://www.mozilla.org and Chrome here: http://www.google.com/chrome . Both are free. Firefox is “open source,” which means “awesome.”
Chrome is super-simple and easy to use. Firefox gets as complicated as you make it, since tons of add-ons and extra features are offered. Starting out, Firefox is at a similar level to IE.
You can run multiple browsers at the same time. I have five different browsers on my computer, and IE is my least favorite.
My browser keeps it up indefinitely, but truncates the text. All I see when I hover my mouse over it is: “Secret Director Commentary: The Citizen Ship form is taken from a real governm…”
On the other hand, I can right-click on the image and select “properties” to read the whole alt-text if I want.
WHAT.
GOOD GRAVY.
I DID NOT KNOW THAT TRICK.
THANK YOU!
with all the talk of Selkie’s birthday all I can think of is the cake that Duff on Ace of Cakes talks about wanting someone to make him for his birthday. He says he wants one made entirely of meat. I’m envisioning one for Selkie, bacon roses for trim with a few little fish attached as garland. Maybe make the main body of the cake out of meatloaf… I may have to send you a piece of fan art to truly describe my vision of a Selkie B-day cake!
Haha! I saw that episode! The staff made it for him, too. It was hilarious:)
Does anyone know a good meatloaf recipe that doesn’t involve adding breadcrumbs?
I used to have one back when I was 17. I considered myself doubly blessed because of it. But then someone stole it and took off like a bat out of hell.
Oh man that sounds good. Also bloating! XD
How about Leberkaese as a cake substitute?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leberk%C3%A4se
It´s actually technically sausage, so Selkie could eat it.
The corned beef might be trouble and the onions would definitely be trouble…but I bet Todd could find a butcher who could make it without any vegetable matter in in!
And that looks very yummy.
As someone who regularly reads 36 webcomics and is in the process of adding more to my RSS reader (does that qualify me as a connoseur? an afficionado?), my suggestion is this: remove the alt-txt from the strip altogether or make it a meta-humor one-liner about the strip, and put the Secret Director Commentary at the start of the comic blog, since that’s what the comic blog is anyway, really.
Regarding Selkie’s birthday, we may be in May but she’s already 8, and it’s August–there have been several references to the month and at least one to her age. So she’s 4 months in our future. However, I think a fanart of her celebrating her birthday with her new family would be adorable and great. Hint, hint.
Hey, Dave, you wouldn’t happen to have a Deviant art?
I do, but it does not get much attention because I am lazy.
http://eclipsing-saturn.deviantart.com/
Just an observation: The ocean isn’t a country…
WE don’t call it a country, anyway. I wonder if dolphins do?
I may be wrong, but isn’t Selkie a freshwater creature? She uses fresh water, not saline, to rinse her gills.
There are plenty of creatures that can function in aquatic or marine environments with no ill effects. Salmon, for instance. Being able to breathe one type of water does not imply inability to breathe the other.
Salmon and other migrating fish don’t work in both at once. They have to make changes in their physiology and biochemistry to be able to change from one another. If you take a salmon from the ocean and drop it in fresh water, odds are it’s going to die.
Salmon are born freshwater, then develop inti saltwater-breathing adults. No fish has the ability to survive in either/or at the same stage in its life, if at all.
By the way, kind of a funny coincidence that they are learning some basics about Selkie in “Selkie 101″…
Don’t kid yourself. It was probably planned this way 😛
Oh I wish I had planned the timing that way. XD In fact I should probably close my mouth and take the credit anyway… >_>
Found it easier to read in TNR. I love the comic, keep it up!
Times New Roman has a very “Official Form” feeling to it, so I guess it’s appropriate for this strip, but please don’t make a habit of it. There are plenty of great sans serif fonts out there, and they are ever so much easier to read on a computer screen than serif fonts.
Oh, and I like the alt text the way it is. Keep it up and keep putting out great comics.
Perhaps Selkie has no country of origin, because countries in general are areas of land (and some water in there, but it’s the land that counts, even in case of islands-based countries), and her kin come from water.
Holy Cow!!! 99 comments??? I guess SOMEONE better make it 100!!!!
Oh … never mind …
Ha ha, congrats on being comment 100. 😀
The font you want is Futura Condensed. It is VERY easy to read, even when you shrink it down. You won’t need to shrink it, though– it takes up less left-to-right space than most fonts, without looking cramped.
Fun fact: I was personalizing a name tag for my dog. The address line was three characters too short to fit my address. They automatically use Arial. I contacted the company and asked them to use Futura Condensed so one of the lines of my address would fit. They did– and it did! They even had room to add a period after “Rd.” The address is beautiful and very readable!
I think the hardest thing to accept about this scenario isn’t Selkie, or people accepting her but the govt ever letting her go! Otherwise this is a wonderful strip.
I’m seriously impressed that you pulled a real-life government form for reference.