page 1300 – …and also the REAL monster
AAAAAAND WE’RE BACK! The start of a whole new year of Far Out There, and on lucky page 1300 no less! …which makes me kind of wish I’d been able to plan out something a bit more thought out than this. Aside from the fact that I would’ve loved to so SOMETHING meta about a page number like this, but also didn’t want to burn our first page back on something that didn’t advance the plot… there’s also the fact that the plot meant doing a fake-out gag with A WHOLE MONTH’S BREAK in the middle. Yeah, the whole point of introducing Stilez fighting the food monster was to comically cut away right afterwards to Avi being a little brat. It’s already the kind of gag that would work better if I could get back to the twice-a-week schedule rather than just one, but having the punchline land after SO much other stuff feels… wrong. But, I mean, I can’t exactly go back into the past and add one or two extra comics into October or November to change where I am now (though WOW that would be an awesome trick), and I’m generally trying to stop needlessly dragging the pacing out any worse than it already is. I guess what I’m saying is, I’ll always feel like I’m falling short of how that amazing 2014 cliffhanger turned out without me even trying.
But yeah! I’m easing myself into a regular schedule again for the new year. I don’t have any convention trips on the horizon for a pretty good while, so the goal is to get caught up on various other side-projects for a while. Preferably during this brief window of post-Christmas come-down, when doing one page a week still feels like a luxurious break and before it goes back to feeling like a frantic scramble again. Speaking of which, if case you missed it, a new TWC Voting Incentive went up a bit late last week, but it IS there, and a new one should be up on Friday… and I think it’ll be the last one in this “Stuff That’s Canon” series! Meaning I need to come up with some NEW gimmick before next week! WHEEEEE!
EDIT: Oh yeah! I should really mention to anyone who missed it that an extra New Year’s page went up on Monday!
1/6 EDIT: Well, it did indeed take me longer than expected to get done, but the last “Stuff That’s Canon” Voting Incentive IS finally up!
While jealousy is icky, it isn’t going to directly damage the ship in any way, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
…wait, Avi’s a spoiled brat with no concept of restraint, let alone self-restraint. Never mind, it’s a massive problem.
Exactly! While Stilez would never intentionally destroy a ship which Tax was on board, I definitely would not put it beyond Avi to do so, likely via some ill-conceived plot to heroically “save” Layla from the destructing ship at the last minute to win her favor. In addition to the aforementioned lack of restraint, he also has no concept that his actions have consequences, thanks to a Nitpicker and a few Septillion space dollars of Mommy and Daddy’s money. After all, the last 500 ships he destroyed in the name of Justice didn’t ever have any bad consequences at all, so why would this one? Heck, he’s already tried to destroy it once.
In fairness, that ship relies mostly on automation (it’s the only reason they were able to make it do anything in the first place) so they probably didn’t realize just what the defense systems would actually do once they were activated and started running on their own. Of course, they probably clicked past about a dozen “are you sure?” warnings without paying attention, so there’s also that.
How irresponsible!…is what I’d like to say, but of course I click through all those warnings myself all the time without reading them, just like anyone else would. If they really wanted me to think twice about pressing the big red button or pulling the lever, it would be covered with a glass case that you have to break with a hammer, and there wouldn’t be any hammer.