Ouch. Readers of “Blue Moon: The Adventures of Lyssa and the Pirates” will remember Lyssa’s tremendous punching powers. She once punched Allen so hard it restored his hearing!
Looks like Reade kissed the right guy after all-more or less. Ah well, she’ll make it up to Allen tonight.
As long as nothing else happens. And, heck, what’s the possibility of that?
Aaaaand now we get to tally the sticks and see who drew the short on. Spoiler alert–not who I would have expected.
And man, that’s one impressive punch! I’m surprised it didn’t knock him out cold.
hi, I hope my response helped.
Nelson’s (our) plight reminds me of a song: ‘If weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.’ It seems to fit about now.
“Gloooom, despaaaaiiir, and agony on me…”?
That one also.
He is the original hard-luck kid, isn’t he? Allen has the same problem in his world.
The table full of food broke his fall.
I think Nelson should lock his door, pile the furniture in front of it and avoid all the women in his life. They seem to be bad for his health. ^^
And his clothes. That gravy is never gonna come out.
I am extremely confused. Reade kissed Allen – but apparently intentionally, and then Lyssa punched Nelson, because Nelson’s girlfriend kissed her (Reade’s) man, and offstage Allen is having a conversation with Reade about the kiss, and Reade explains “WE (who?) thought it would keep Lyssa from blaming Nelson” (for what?) and while I understand WHAT happened, I have no clue about WHY.
Did Reade know in advance about Nelson’s parallel dimension duplicate? Did Edison? Did they plan this in advance and if so, to what end? Did Reade kiss Allen thinking he was Nelson? Why did Lyssa get so mad at what was, for all she knew, a genuine mix-up? Reade’s been in love with Nelson for decades, why does she seem so willing to ditch him in favor of a stranger from another universe?
I hate being confused. It makes me cranky.
If it’s any consolation, Tru, you come by your confusion honestly. You’re not the first person to wonder what the heck just happened.
It’s my fault for being too close to the story, and having other stories pop up in the middle of this one.
Reade and Edison mentioned meeting the pirates here. Reade was understandably worried about how Allen and the others would take to her being trans. Especially Allen.
So they decided to have her go straight for Allen and give him a big fat kiss.
They hoped that, either he’d get mad, and Lyssa and the others would calm him down, or everyone would just laugh at the mistake. Either way, he (and Eleanor) would respect Reade’s bravery.
The pony tail line was a joke to help diffuse the tension. Reade knew Nelson well enough that she could “make it up to him” later. Nudge nudge, wink wink.
Of course, not being a part of the Hallow e’en Boulevard family, the didn’t realize that somehow Nelson would end up covered in gravy.
Since Reade and Edison are the only two who have experience with pregnant women, they knew that Lyssa might act unexpectedly.
Lyssa got mad because, well, she’s Lyssa. She’s like Anya in her over-reaction to things, only more violent. Plus, she’s been a pirate for two years. That can make anyone more prone to violence.
Reade isn’t interested in Allen beyond his being a more macho, salty, pirate version of her boyfriend.
I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion. Really, it’s my fault.
You will be pleased to know that I just ordered the book, just because I keep running into pages where I really need to know “what came before” in order to understand “what’s going on NOW!?”
I gather from your reply that Reade was fully aware that Nelson had a pirate doppelganger. Now I’m unsure of timing again. How long ago did Reade change herself? When she refers to her “ex” is she talking about a husband or a wife? If Allen didn’t know he had become a she, when was the last time they met?
Which is Panel 3? The one under the “POW” or the one to the right of it? Is that Lyssa or Reade apologizing to Nelson and if it’s Reade, WHO is having that off-stage conversation in that panel?
You won’t regret ordering the book, “Blue Moon” is fantastic. 🙂
Aw, thanks, Andy. I’m glad you liked it.
Speaking of you, can we still get your fabulous “I, Mummy” real, honest to goodness, paper comic? All the cool kids have ’em. I love mine.
But I clicked on the link and it said “Page Not Found.”
Time for a shameless plug, my friend!
Oops, I missed this. 😀
Why yes you CAN still purchase a dead-tree version of my wonderful little story. Right here:
http://www.indyplanet.com/front/?product=118876
And I”m working on the drawing to put in the book, Tru. Thank you!
Nelson told Reade of his doppelganger, even though they hadn’t met yet.
Reade transitioned about 5-10 years ago, before Nelson and everyone moved to Innesmount. Her ‘ex’ would’ve been his wife back then.
Last time they saw each other was after Reade’s marriage, but before Reade’s transition.
Why didn’t Reade tell Nelson? Well, he’s a DJ, and they move around a lot. They probably lost contact with one another. Remember, this is all pre-Internet.
Panel 3 is the one with Allen and Reade-the “Your girlfriend did!” panel (with one of my other favorite Reade faces).
It’s Lyssa apologizing to Nelson, while Reade and Allen converse offstage.
The scout panel of that episode may be my all-time favorite of the entire strip so far…
This is my favorite of the scout panels.
It’s the repetition of their postures that makes them so great; “same s#!t, different day”…
OK, my head hurts less now that you explained that.
No fun for Nelson, though…
Wow, it’s like a good, old-fashioned farce. You should have alot more doors, where people can enter and exit at the most inoportune times, for maximum mix-upedness. Poor Nelson, though. I suppose somone had to suffer for what happened on the last page. Might as well be an innocent.
One of these days I am going to do a farce with these knuckleheads. Probably with the Original 5: Eleanor, Lyssa, Nelson, Toivo, and Larry.
It always seems to be Nelson in these situations.
Totally apropos of nothing…Reade looks very cute in the last panel.
Doesn’t she? That’s one of my favorite pictures of her.
Hey, gang. Since there hadn’t been a strip in awhile, I sent a note to Charlie to see if everything was okay. His reply:
“We’re coming in to Hell Week in rehearsals for ‘The Taming of the Shrew/The Tamer Tamed’ here in [[REDACTED]], and I’m too tired to get much done. Plus, I’ve lost the ability to draw again.
There probably won’t be a strip this week, but I’ll try to get one done for Monday.
Sorry about that.”
So the Author is well (but busy), and don’t expect new stuff for a bit longer.
/TheMoreYouKnow
(Oh, I redacted the name of the town for Charlie’s privacy. No stalking for you!)
Good info.
Charlie take your time. We need rested and ready to go when you are ready. BYW, my infection is well on its way to be done with. Hope you are feeling better.
scifijoe, I’m so glad about your leg. Take it easy, and I’ll have strips up as soon as I can.
Can’t wait to see your King Gidorah model in all its glory!
I just put up some new stuff over at DA.
And it’s sweet!
You all should pop over to scifijoe’s Deviant Art page and check out some coolicious model work.
Groovy, Kinda has the most talented commenters…
Hello again, King G is done… along with other stuff over at DA.
Hope you doing well.
Thank you for that. Yep, we open tomorrow night.
The not being able to draw thing is very frustrating. I have a strip that I think you’ll like, and I can’t get the pictures down on paper. Oh well, it’s not the first time.
Thank you for your patience.
Charlie, opening night in a few hours, I really would love to see the performance but here over the pond will have to settle for RSC. Break a leg!
Thanks so much! We had a great time with opening weekend.
Since we’re pairing “The Taming of the Shrew” with John Fletcher’s “The Tamer Tamed,” the whole evening is 3 hours long.
And the air-conditioning broke. Other than that, it was a lot of fun. I love doing Shakespeare plays.
2nd weekend coming up!
I hope the play is going well. How long is the run?
I am enjoying my copy of Lyssa and the Pirates very much, thanks! 🙂 I’m kinda glad that I met Lyssa HERE beforehand, because it’s helped a lot in following the plot. Though it’s a bit hard on the nerves seeing some of the doppelgangers behave so … wrong! (I’m a little confused about Prospero, to be honest, vs. the guy her boss hired. Never mind the “Pirate King…”)
The artwork is a real delight, and I’m getting a kick out of the story. I feel like I underpaid you, seriously.
I’m so glad you’re liking it, Tru.
The doppleganger aspect is a lot of fun. Same people, different worlds. Geoffrey (in the Pirate World) is such a pompous villian, while Prospero is such a nice guy.
If you ever read “Utopia, Unlimited (NSFW!)” he’s the First Officer to Eleanor’s captain. Still pompous, still arrogant, but more prone to getting beat up.
“Utopia, Unlimited (NSFW!)”?
What’s that..?
http://zizki.com/charlie-wise/utopia-unlimited
Careful with that – it’s loaded!
Charlie – I may have just overstepped my boundaries – please delete that link if I should not have posted it.
Not at all, Tru!
I’ve posted that link before. I really need to scan the original pages and put them online. They would look a lot better than this.
By the way, there’s 3 Utopia, Unlimited. This is number one. Number two came out shortly after. Number three has never been published. If I could figure out how to do it, I’d post a picture from it.
I just tested the link to make sure it still worked (it does) and was a little … taken aback by the nature of the ads at the bottom of the screen. Dunno if you have any control over those at all, Charlie but you might want to do what you can.
Huh? I’ll check it out at work. My home computer has ad blocking, so I don’t see them. Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks, Tru (and Charlie)!
[Opens link]
Whoa..!!!
I just ordered a copy; not sure why I waited so long…
Just got the book today; love Love LOVE the portrait and the inscription!
Can’t wait to jump into it…
I need to buy a copy of Lyssa… I need to buy a copy of Lyssa… I need…
I would pay for PDFs of Utopia Unlimited, if that helps. I think my originals were ruined in a flood.
You DOOOO, you DOOOO, you DO believe in… wait, oops.
But yes, you do need to get Lyssa and the Pirates. I just finished my second (of many) read-throughs. Charlie, what ever happened to LYSSA’s doppleganger? You can tell from some radio chatter that she obviously swapped worlds too.
Maybe it’s like multiverse whack-a-mole?
Lyssa pushed her pirate doppelganger into the next universe, who then pushed that world’s Lyssa in to the next. And so on and so forth. I’m sure it’ll come back around to the original Lyssa in an eternity or two. That’s my head cannon anyway.
I hope you’re doing well, Charlie. It’s been a few days since you’ve commented and I”m guessing I’m not the only one hoping things are ok. Is the play still running or are you tied up in something else?
We miss you. 🙂
And I miss you!
The play was fun, but it was also a lot of work. You can read the review in the reply I made to Delta-v.
The good news is that I FINALLY finished the strip that I’ve been agonizing over for the past two weeks!
So, with any luck, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled program tonight at midnight, Pacific time.
I just want to thank you for your patience and perseverance. You really are the best, and I’m the luckiest comic creator on the web to have you all (you, you, and especially you!) as part of Groovy, Kinda.
Sooooo? How did it go? Did anyone but the cast and crew notice the First Night fluffs and miscues? Most audiences don’t, you know. ^^
Well, we had fun. Yes, there ware a few flubs.
The air conditioning was broken the first two nights, so it got into the 90s, and then we performed in the local park in 95 degrees. I think we all got heat exhaustion.
The local paper was very charitable. I got a nice mention.
This weekend I’m playing Fibber McGee in an on-stage radio reenactment, and then I’m done. No more theatre. It takes up too much time, energy, and creativity. I don’t ever want another spell of Artist’s Block like the one I just went through.
Given the rest of the review, you got a terrific mention! I wish I lived in the area and could have come to see it. 🙂
The break in pattern was probably good for you. I can’t wait to see where you go next with the comic. I’m just glad I’m not one of those people who like to “figure out the plot” ahead of time – you’re really good at sharp departures from the predictable. 😉