Sorry for the lateness. I accidentally set the comic to go live at noon instead of midnight. XD
Today’s Director Commentary (under the Transcript) discusses Suko.
Also, got a new Fan Art update! Courtesy of Jado:
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Thanks for the silverfishies. 😀
When Suko was originally introduced, I mentioned in commentary (but not at that point in the strip) that he was 4. I wrote him with the intent of "toddler-speak" initially but upgraded him to 4 later without modifying the dialogue for reasons I can only describe as "making sense at the time". Readers with more parenting experience than me were quick to point out, however, "4 year olds don't work that way". I'm willing to admit a mistake when it happens, and I'd rather keep the toddlerspeak and make him 2 than change the dialogue I envision for him. So I'm canonizing him at "2 and a bit over" now.
Hrm… baby Sarnothi look like/are fish eggs. Will this make the “fish face” insult a little easier to deal with?
On a more serious note, are there any other large predatory animals that make use of spawning and produce tiny numbers of eggs?
Squid, including giant. Some types of sharks.
Thank you for indulging my laziness. 🙂
Suko is cute and all….but now I am VERY curious about this infant daughter and how the fish tank is involved.
Um… It’s that spherical thing in the middle of the seaweed. Baby De’Medeia is an egg. I thought we all knew this.
Source: Page 380, panel 2; Suko points at the egg saying, “Sissa! Me sissa!”, to which Sai Fen responds, “Yes, Suko! That’s your sister!”.
I did a quick Google search…..
and found jellyfish…..
This is in reply to Sybarite….after 3 screw ups, you’d think I’d learn how to use this comment system by now.
No no no, your comment is so much better without the context 🙂
Hee! 🙂
HEH!
I have to agree with the folks above- Much better without the context! But thank you. 🙂
Time to sit Selkie down for a discussion about the birds and the bees…Pohl should handle it, he’s a doctor…
Pohl seems to be enjoying her confusion a little bit. And Suko’s speech patterns make much more sense seeing he’s just 2.
Dr. De’Madeia, you have received your tribal name, and it is …
Lies-About-Babies.
That is all I have to say about this page.
I had a thought about Suko’s age, based on what you said in your commentary. Why would it matter what a *human* child looks or sounds like at a certain age? Suko is an entirely different species. Who says that their developmental progress (physically, mentally, or verbally) needs to progress at the same rate as a human child? He could very easily still be 4 as you originally intended. But given that he’s a member of an aquatic species living solely on land, speaking a language that his vocal chords were not designed to speak… There could be a plethora of reasons why he doesn’t “sound” like a human 4 year old.
This was entered into the discussion in the comments section of the referenced comic, the discussion which resulted in his age being “a little over two”. As to why do they have to age at the same rate? Because Selkie has been aging at the same rate as her peers, or else she wouldn’t be able to hide with humans.
I don’t want to over-lean on the “fantasy species” rationale.
The fact that you want your mythology to be internally and relationally consistent is awesome. I absolutely love the comic, but I’m beginning to believe that I like you as an author and universe-builder even more.
:3 Thanks!
Heh. I sense a “Where do babies come from?” moment approaching.
Selkie is at least familiar with the human child-rearing process (with a nursery at the orphanage) so it’s not surprising that an egg would look, well, odd to her.
Remember, she has had no idea that she’s not HUMAN, at least a weird-looking one, for a long time. She doesn’t know what she is, she doesn’t know the Sarnothi even EXIST, and I guess has just though of herself and her mother as a weird offshoot of humanity.
Naturally she would have thought that she would eventually have babies like humans do at some point in her life. I doubt that her mother would have taught her about the whole egg thing before age 3 (8 years old now, 5 years in the orphanage) given that she doesn’t appear to have siblings.
Two things:
1) She knows she´s not human. She didn´t react with denial or surprise when Todd asked her “If you´re not human… is it okay to ask what you are?”
2) She spent three years at the orphanage – she said she had been there since she was five.
I seriously doubt a T-Rex impression can pass as a proper Sarnothi greeting.
Just wait until Selkie’s told that is an egg, I can hear her now: Dads, why cants I haves a beds like thats?
OK, don’t usually comment but I have to say I ADORE the fan art!! Artistically because I love the eyebrows skyrocketing into the hair. And subject matter…ly? (?) Because I frickin’ HATE silverfish! And they show up in my apartment sometimes and just… UGH!!! Not to mention I generally like fish and have wondered several times on the name because I’m like “Fish? Cool, pretty, deliciously dangerous sometimes. Silverfish? GROSS! How does this happen??”