NEW CHRISTMAS VOTING INCENTIVE!
Everyone loves cats on the internet, right? And everyone loves Christmas? Well, boy, do we have it covered!
VOTE FOR PUCK TO PROVIDE CHARITABLE MITTENS FOR NEEDY KITTENS!
As for this comic…
Merry Christmas, you wonderful people you.
And here we have a comic that is decidedly non-Christmas. It does, however, give you the gift of ridiculous ‘fashion’.
This one comic, I must note, almost killed me. I dislike drawing and coloring backgrounds, and this particular comic’s particular demands meant that I started it early and still finished it late – an extra challenge given the time of year. The other snag is that the program I do coloring is … a little touchy at best, and the more complex the comic gets, the slower it becomes. So it’s this escalating feedback loop where a complex comic takes me a long time, but the lag increases with the complexity as well, making it nightmarish. Got it done, though.
My wife was somewhat perturbed to see Phoebe’s dress front and center in this one. “That’s the third dress you’ve designed that essentially doesn’t have a front,” she noted. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
At least Puck’s dress is tasteful.
For the record, the building they’re in front of is NOT Satan’s mansion, even though it bears a passing resemblance to said structure. This is an old train station that was lavishly refurbished into a hall for events. It was also the site of a major action scene in the first X-Men movie. I’m not kidding on that.
They even have the baby waking police officer.
How swanky is that? What a first for Phoebe.
Merry Christmas
Good eye. It is, indeed, the baby-waking police officer.
It’s Christmas Eve, almost midnight, and here I am reading comics. What has my life come to?
Not much better than me, who is posting comics on Christmas Eve.
@EG
It’s Christmas in Canada !?
Surprising.
You guys get so many Holidays wrong.
Funny. I was about to say the same thing about you Americans. 😉
@EG
Your next chance is “The Epiphany”, where we Americans all … um … er … do something KEWL !
So, so there.
(god dammit)
At least we don’t have Boxing Day.
You Canadians are so violent!
@Lokitsu
Canadian Civilization is but a thin veneer that covers their Inner Animal.
…And Daphne seems unsure of herself again.
This amuses me almost as much as weirdo Phoebe does.
I’m glad amusement is to be had here.
Merry Christmas to you too, EG! (And/or belated to the rest of you readers, depending on when you celebrate; I celebrated yesterday).
In regards to the comic:
Your wife isn’t wrong on it being the third one basically having no front.
I see no issue with the dude feeling confident wearing a blue tux. I used to have a friend who wore a strange, lime green colored tux and it didn’t affect his confidence at all.
…At least not to my knowledge.
I like how the police looks like he’s about to ask if Phoebe is mocking him and Puck just casually confirms that no, she is in fact not mocking him.
Lime green tux? If one can be confident in a lime green tux, then one can do anything!
Phoebe always puts up a good front, regardless of whether her outfit does.
I approve of this message, Brother Parvus. +1 for you, sir.
They’re dressed to the nines, but soon they’ll be at sixes and sevens with each other.
A much better earworm than Christmas carols. Thankee sai.
Number puns are the best puns.
So long as nobody realizes I lifted the gag from “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina,” I’m set.
Hmmm, I was going to say it was unlikely the cops would give the mayor’s daughter a hard time, but then I realised this was Canada, and I don’t know how cops work in Canada. In Australia, the cops work for the state/territory, and the offspring of politicians are not safe. Many of the US TV shows I’ve watched (mostly Simpsons) seem to indicate the cops work for the city, and answer to the Mayor (which have a lot more power than the same named position in Australia). But this is Canada, and while it is easy to think of Canada as similar to US (in the same way I’m sure some people think New Zealand is similar to Australia), I’m sure there are some big differences in the way they run things.
Cops in Canada, like in the US, are municipally hired for the most part, though the police are not directly overseen by the mayor. They have the police board, their own governing body. And no matter who is in control, in Canada I would never consider politicans’ Kids any more or less safe than anyone else. It’s a low key country.
You really do need to watch season three of “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
@pat
I don’t think that is allowed anymore.
“Generic holiday message” to the lot of you, as goes a shop window greeting in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. I eagerly await more Puck, so kep up the good work, EG.
That’s the coolest neighborhood in America! If they celebrate generic holiday, then I should too!
What is this GERIATRIC HOLIDAY MESSAGE ?
Ah, Phoebe, what a sensitive soul she is! (That is if Satan’s daughter can HAVE a soul.). But isn’t she nice? Happy holidays, and happy 2019 to all.
Phoebe has a soul; it is not owned by her father. And ironically, if this universe has a heaven, she’s likely a sure bet to getting in.
Happy Every Holiday (I love them all!) and thank you for your sacrifice getting this little pleasure up there!
It seems to me that while Phoebe’s dress is indeed short in the frontageness, her essential innocence transforms the situation. She’s like a classical nymph barely dressed and if there are any naughty thoughts, that’s on you.
And on me.
And on everyone else at the prom.
Agreed. I do like your explanation. It is elegant and cultured.
Is Phoebe issuing a VULCAN SALUTE ?
(Panel Four)
That could explain quite a lot.
The Vulcan salute is 2+2+thumb. Leonard Nimoy took it from a truly ancient gesture used in certain Jewish blessings, where the pairs of fingers represent the horns of an altar in the Temple in Jerusalem. Phoebe is doing 1+2+1+thumb.
Yes, the 1+2+1+thumb is the official Puck salute. I’m surprised Salem hasn’t caught onto this yet, but I love drawing hands in that position. It’s a little trope that can be found hundreds of times in my comic. It doesn’t mean anything – or rather, it means that it’s a hand position that I can reliably draw with some success so it gets horribly overused.
@EG
Huh ?
(continuing, with respect, my undying tradition of being the very last one to “get” any joke)
I just glanced at a bit of the archive, and I found the Puck salute in 440, 441, 449, 452, 456 and 457, though that was only with a cursory glance at 20 comics. #456 in particular has a very choice shot of Phoebe doing the salute in panel four. It’s a trope.
I thought that the “Puck” salute was, “Argo Puck yourself.”
I’m pretty sure that outfit Phoebe is barely wearing would get her banned from a great many proms.
Sadly.
(fine melons)
Honestly, you’re probably right.
“COMPLEX” three times in ONE Paragraph ?
Shame.
You’re slipping.
No, just tired. It was Christmas Eve and I was worn out.
@EG
So the missus is jealous of an imaginary character ?
Repeat After Me: “Sorry dearest, it will never happen again”
That kid in the blue tux is just too young to know any better than to think he’s cool in it. Happy Boxing Day to everyone who has it!
@ChrisH
“Happy Boxing Day to everyone who has it!”
I find this traditional “SPORT” abhorrent.
Now THAT’S tradition! Looks like Queensbury rules are in full effect there.
Agreed. Kids (especially boys) wear the dorkiest things sometimes because they just don’t know any better. And they won’t listen to their moms who do.
Regarding Phoebe’s frontless dress: Remember “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”? I heard someone asked about the bodice on her outfit and how she achieved it “A cast iron bra and lots of spirit gum,” she reportedly replied.
When I see one of Phoebe’s frontless dresses, I always think of spirit gum or some other type of glue.
Glue or tape required. And a bunch of other witchcraft too.
Nice view of Liuna Station! Still pretty recognizable!
I try. I’m bad at backgrounds, so when one is required, I try to give it my best shot.
Is it just me, or does the police officer look like Colin but shaved and darkened? I mean, looking at Colin in panel 3, and the officer in panel 4, they have the same line for the nose, and the same middle-section of facial hair.
Yes. This is true. It doesn’t mean anything beyond the fact that I’m lazy and sometimes draw characters who look overly similar to each other.
@Salem, no, I hate that “sport” too. I refer to the post-Xmas holiday derived from gift boxes, and celebrated in Britain and some of its former colonies. (I wish we had it in USA, maybe someday we will.)
🙂
@ChrisH
Mebe I have it wrong, but if Boxing Day refers to putting away Ornaments, it’s just way too early
Boxing Day is a British tradition that actually refers to the practice of the landed gentry giving their servants the day after Christmas off. They would also give their servants gifts in boxes on that day. And we keep the tradition alive in Canada by doing the same with all our servants.
Just kidding. Not about the origin but about the Canadian servants thing. Up here it’s kind of like a weird post-Christmas Black Friday.
Ornaments and decorations are taken down not later than Twelfth Night, January 5th. This is a traditional end to Christmas festivities, traditionally marked by much beer, rowdy festivities, Morris dancing and what-not, although not much observed in these degenerate times.
There might be accordions, if you are particularly unlucky.
It is followed by Plough Monday, the traditional return to agricultural work in rural areas.
As unlikely as Phoebe’s dress may be, I find it even less likely that the cop is actually making eye-contact.
Honestly, that incongruous element did occur to me. But we stretch the bounds of the believable here.
That cop gets all the best assignments! 😉
Well, last time his assignment involved a screaming Miranda, so … not always. But here, yes!
@EG, Please pardon my sarcasm. Of course, Miranda is a screamer, she takes after her mother. 😉
That’s it. Phoebe in that last panel is becoming a profile pic.
The last panel? Huh. I’m curious as to what you like about it. But if it works for anyone, they’re welcome to it.
Merry Belated Christmas! and a Happy Belated New Year!
Same to you. Even more belatedly.
I was going to wait until the most current comic to comment, but I actually remember having prom at that location, and it was super nice! So I had to choose this one. Close enough to the current comic anyway. I’m glad you chose it for this story arc, made me happy and homesick to see.
I have a couple comments from some previous comics too ~
First: I honestly only recognized the Hermione Granger dress from the montage. Though that may have to do with my age and also my crappy memory, it does make me feel horribly uncultured.
Second: I am a 21 year old female and I know how to tie a full-windsor. Though I was also a hipster/fangirl teen, so it was a trend to wear ties. I cannot, however, walk in heels, which is why I opted for wedges for my own prom. Much more manageable.
Third: There was something said about the ‘wow’ factor for girls at prom not being for the guys, and therefore not about the chest area, and while I agree I also know that my friend Sarah and I did not exemplify that rule in high school. We were both dressed to impress in that area, and for specific guys at that prom. My dress was almost as bad as Phoebe’s. But we also didn’t care what anyone else in that school thought…
Well, that comment was far longer than it had any right to be. But it’s been a while since I’ve stuck my nose in here so… yeah
Jocelyn! I was thinking about you the other day, wondering what you were up to. So yeah, you have a very unique perspective, seeing as you attended prom at this very venue, and your prom was supervised by me. So art imitates life. Directly. This location is my favorite prom place; they rotate with a bunch of other locations every year, but Liuna Station is the nicest. Glad I could provide you with this blast of nostalgia.
As for your many comments…
1) I’m not surprised you didn’t recognize the dresses. Most of them were 80’s vintage and well before your time, so it’s more a sign of me being old and out of touch.
2) I don’t even know how to tie a full Windsor. I’m impressed. And honestly, I don’t think I could even manage a wedge. So doubly impressed.
3) From my observational experience, most girls are not dressed to impress guys; they are dressed to impress or intimidate other girls. Or themselves. Guys are often an afterthought. And so it is with Daphne. As for your prom dress, I don’t remember it being nearly as bad as Phoebe’s. Maybe a little. But not that bad. 😉
Ah, it’s nice to be thought of! Just living the University life – my eyes glued to Plato, Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, and my mind permanently stuck in existential crisis mode. I’ve wanted to swing by the school when I’ve been in the Hammer, but always chicken out. Perhaps next time I’m down there I’ll stop in.
Yeah, Liuna Station was gorgeous. Much nicer than Carmens from the year before, though it had its perks. If it hadn’t been freezing out the patio would have made it my favourite, but it was just too crowded as it was. It must not be fun to supervise, though, you don’t really get to participate in the dancing, do you?
Also,
1) I don’t think you’re old and out of touch. I feel like the 80s were an iconic era for movies and I should be better educated. My brother would probably know all of them, tbh.
2) Online tutorials! It’s really not that hard – took me about 2 minutes to learn. I think you could manage. The wedge thing I don’t blame you on though 😛 Even as a female it’s not really worth it. Heels and wedges are too uncomfortable for the effort. I’ll admit I did kick mine off to dance. One of my friends was smart enough to bring flats to put on.
3) That is true! Sarah and I were just special cases that year. And Daphne has a particular fish to fry in this scenario, I’m cheering her on all the way. I do feel bad for the poor girl who pissed her off, especially since I’m also Dutch and we stick together lol.
Depends what year you’re thinking about. The one at Liuna wasn’t bad, but Carmens was, though I picked it because it made me feel like a mermaid honestly. Nothing can stand up to Phoebe’s dress. It always amazing what comic physics can accomplish.
University is nice/awful that way – at least the classical Humanities-based education model of university. You get to immerse yourself in the thinking thoughts of thoughtitude. While it can be a bit much, it’s in direct contrast to everyday life AFTER university, where you have no time to think thinky thoughts and just end up cleaning floors and doing laundry most of the time.
Supervising prom is … okay. I’m less bothered by it than some because I don’t mind ridiculously loud music. Honestly, though, lots of teachers like it because it’s an excuse to dress up and go out, like Puck here. I like to go to prom because it reminds me of what it feels like to be young and excited and happy.
Yeah, my profs like to joke that they’re teaching this stuff so that they can have friends, and making it impossible for us to make friends lol.
And that’s fair. But you don’t have to be a teenager to have fun and be happy! It just makes it slightly more difficult to find a place and time for it
I just need try harder to have fun and be happy. I’ll get it eventually!
You know, 80’s movies do not reflect my experience as a teenager in the late 80’s at all. I thought it was my fault.
Dare you design your wife a dress?
No. No good can come from that.
Nope. No good can come from that at all.