NEW WEEKLY VOTING INCENTIVE! PAPER DOLL PUCK!!!
Starting April 1st, a vote for Puck on TWC gets you access to printable Paper Doll Puck! It was all the rage in Victorian England, and that’s what I call a recommendation! A new outfit pops up every week in April, so VOTE!!!
CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR PUCK!!! IT MAY OR MAY NOT EARN YOU A STUFFED BEAR!
And as for the comic…
Sometimes I’m not proud of how a strip turns out, but I am reasonably proud of this one. I’m always pleased when the joke is carried almost entirely by the ‘acting’ in the comic. To be honest, it’s hard to manage subtle comedic acting with semi-realistic character models. Rage and extreme exaggeration are easy, but this sort of exchange can be hard to visualize. With that in mind, I’m particularly happy with Tracee’s slow burn here.
I find it hard to believe that Phoebe is this clueless… Of course it’s probably because a kid will fail to see their parents as anything other than parents. Even so… Oh well, Phoebe is Phoebe
Would you really want to realize that your sorta friend is sleeping with your dad? I think it’s 50% clueless mixed with 50% denial.
Perhaps all daughters have blinders where their father is concerned.
Most of them. Though the daughters who have fathers like this father should have learned their lesson by now.
I thought for sure she was just leading Tracee into a trap, especially with all those bolded words. Then I get to the 3rd panel in “bathrobe” is bold but “my” isn’t and it all fell apart. Instead of being an obvious jab at Tracee and how she’s totally doing something she shouldn’t it’s a succubus that doesn’t seem to understand sexual relations.
The various aura halos were an interesting touch though. What was Satan doing during panel 2 that made the whole room turn red?
Phoebe definitely is not terribly in tune with the naughty stuff. And the halos change color mostly according to what I think looks good (or what doesn’t repeat a color pattern from the last strip). No rhyme or reason, really. But Tracee is evil like Satan, so I felt she could emit red auras now and then.
Is Phoebe a succubus though? Who was her mom? If she was mortal then Phoebe would be a (female) cambion. So the second Monster Manual taught me anyway…
The offspring of succubi and mortals are alu-fiends, always female.
Your question is answered in, like, a few comics.
It’s hilarious when Daphne gets things that Phoebe doesn’t…kind of like the way she does that around Puck. And Colin. And, well, everybody!
Why isn’t Daphne an evil overlord??
Daphne does have an internal sense of morality that somewhat mitigates her incredible capability for evil. And thank goodness she does, because otherwise things would get ugly!
More awkward, more, more, more. wah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha *cough cough*
I don’t think I can take any more awkward. It’s too painful!
At first I thought she was just being really sarcastic.
I’m still thinking it.
Look at that face! That face is incapable of sarcasm!
*jaw drops on floor, rolls out door, falls in sewer and floats to river*
how clueless can one get?
Phoebe also thinks that professional wrestling is real.
Even if she was just naive, she’ll claim she was being really sarcastic—that is, if she *is* naive and if she *ever* realizes…
No, see, that would require a certain level of venom. Phoebe lacks venom. But she will figure it out, or be forced to figure it out, very soon.
God damn it EG… Here I was hoping for an April’s Fool joke comic.
How’d you let it slip you by?!
…Actually, by letting it slip you by, isn’t that in REALITY an April’s Fool joke comic?…
…
YOU WIN THIS ROUND, EG.
I thought of doing an April Fool’s joke, but that requires extra effort. I am officially all out of extra effort. I am now effortless. Wait, that came out wrong…
I’ve never seen a kinder, gentler busting before! Voted. Love the paper doll!
But if it’s this kind and gentle, is it really a busting? That’s zen. And glad you like the paper doll. I ran a bunch of Phoebe paper dolls way back in September and people seemed to like them, so I thought it was a natural.
Is she being naïve, or just applying a merciless sense of humour…?
No, she’s really honestly clued out. The merciless sense of humour is mine alone.
o_o How did Phoebe manage to live this long, considering the nature of her father and her own place of employment, not to mention the nature of her own bedroom, and remain this clueless…?
Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly how Phoebe managed this, then we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now.
And here I was, about to give Phoebe serious credit on calling Tracee out. XD
Still can’t wait to see how this plays out.
It shall play out like a fine game of snooker. That much I can say. Though I really have no idea what that means. I don’t even really know what the hell snooker is. It’s like pool, right? I think it’s like pool.
Anyone else notice that croissant going from half-eaten, to one bite taken, to whole? o.O is this sbrawkcad or what
The magic power of bad continuity! It’s more the angle, but yeah, I totally get what you’re saying. Not nearly as glaring as the continuity problem that Tracee is seated on Phoebe’s right, even though in the last comic it was clearly shown that Phoebe was sitting at the corner of the table. (Retcon: they slid over a few feet to accommodate Tracee.) 😉
Phoebe a succubus? I never thought of her as any kind of Tanari’i. Just a Chaotic Neutral imp. 😀 But an Outsider, defineitely
Phoebe is not a succubus of any variety, by any definition of the term. She’s just Satan’s kid – a human-demon cross, to be specific, but more on that in coming strips…
So, she is a Tiefling? Cool beans! Annah of the Shasdows is one of my favorite FR characters of all time!
“Tieflings are human-based planetouched, native outsiders that are infused with the touch of the fiendish planes, most often through descent from fiends — demons, devils, evil deities, and others who have bred with humans.” Sounds right to me 😀
Is it a bad thing that I don’t even know what the heck ‘FR’ is?
FR = Forgotten Realms. A Dungeons & Dragons world-setting popularized by author R.A. Salvatore. /geek
Now I know. And knowing is half the battle, if I were actually battling anything.
Except Annah-of-the-Shadows wasn’t from the Forgotten Realms. She was from Planescape: Torment.
At first reading this, I thought that maybe Phoebe was just being facetious with Tracee but she really IS that green. Heheh.
I mean her seductive everyday, hot chick attire had me fooled at least thinking that she could smell the obvious when in front of her.
And therein lies the joke I guess.
Man, your color scheme is so awesome for this. I’ve seen no other strip, to my knowledge, that utilizes such vivid hues. Kudos.
I’m glad that you are pro the insanely vivid hues. Sometimes I wonder whether they’re too garish.
I enjoy how Puck shows the fair sex.
I’m glad.
Oh! By the way, how do you pronounce Phoebe?
I, for one, pronounce it Fee-bee. Why? Don’t ask me.
It’s pronounced Fee-bee. That’s the proper pronunciation in English, so you’re in good company!
Fee-Bee, Fee-Bee, Stac-Bee, Sta-Cee, STACEE !!.
Sorry. Once my walnut-sized brain gets fixated, it’s hard to re-direct.
(please tell me Stacee has a Twin Sister. No, wait, she’s one of TRIPLETS ! omg, omg)
Tracee gets me so worked up, I can’t even remember her name.
Good Thing THAT never got me into trouble (sigh).
There are WAY too many names that end in a hard ‘e’ sound in this comic. Three of which appear in this comic. I’ve never noticed my affinity for that before. (Interesting side note: my wife’s name also ends in a hard ‘e’ sound.)
Front note to your side note: It’s really not that interesting. But now I’m almost certain I know your wife’s name. And knowing is half the battle. It really is a shame that I was unaware there was a battle to be fought.
Oh. I get it now.
This comic is now going to be about Tracee getting pregnant and having Satan’s kid, isn’t it? That way it can be two spawning stories in tandem.
(Gives you a look of abject horror)
I second that.
Tracy: “Let me help you out with that, little dog girl. In what really should be no surprise, Transgression is a major fetish for Mr. First Fallen back there. I’m just now realizing why Sigmund was in such a hurry to get all the bedsheets in Pheobe’s room freshly washed late last night before you arrived.”
Daphne: “……….. EW!”
Pheobe: “…Well… I suppose they might have gotten a bit musty, since I haven’t slept in that room in more than a year. That was nice of him.”
Tracey: “It really, really was.”
Daphne: “FFS, Pheobe…”
Your creative expansions are really creative. And plausible. Perhaps too plausible.
Why thank you. ^_^
Now… if only I could draw… 🙁
Well, I have heard that there are insanely talented artists who hail from countries where a few thousand dollars a year is an incredible salary. Believe me, I have considered the possibility of farming out the actual drawing to someone else who (let’s be honest) would likely be a much better artist.
If you have a vision, they are out there!
Yeah, quite a few of them from Peru are on retainer for my friends over at Ranmabooks.com (who I mentioned I’ve done some short writing work for before) though they’re being paid more in the ballpark of $150 for a pinup page, $250 for a comic page, USD (and frankly that might say more about the weakening US economy and devalued dollar than their own local standards of living).
I have nothing bad to say about your art style whatsoever, quality-wise. I’ve commented on how this or that choice might be ODD to me, (apparently random glow effects, for example) but never have I pointed a finger and said “This panel could have been better drawn”.
I quite like your art style, honestly, and find it solidly of a professional level.
The adherence to a standard of female proportion we can call “true-life realistic if puberty averaged kinder” I particularly appreciate.
If ever I’m nit-picking this or that small thing, please keep in mind that overall I find you first rate. 😉
Well, most of the odd choices are intentional. Misguided perhaps, but intentional. It’s more the fact that I am not a big fan of my art. I just know there are much better artists out there, who can work way faster. I sometimes regret the fact that I must sink a ridiculous amount of time into making op drawings that are serviceable at best.
But I do enjoy drawing, so it’s a bit of a difficult scenario.