page 1262 – good dinner conversation
What? AGAIN? Yes, I’m posting an unfinished draft of the comic, for the second update in a row. I know, I know, but this time it’s not just that I’m really bad at time management (emphasis on “just”). This is another one of those cases where the comic you see before you is only half of the comic I’d originally intended to draw, but then I realized THAT comic would be way too cluttered and crowded. So I lobbed off the first two panels and started over. And not only did that suddenly put me WAAAAY behind schedule, but also meant I wound up having to make up a lot of new dialog, since what I had just sorta… stopped without any punchline. AAAaaand suddenly it was 5:30 in the morning and my bed was calling and I was starting to make really stupid mistakes and figured I’d better go ahead and post what I had while I could.
So yeah, here’s the coloring book version. I’ll hopefully have the final draft done sometime this afternoon/evening and then that “glow in the dark” line will actually make sense.
EDIT: Okay! Finished version! Just for the amusement of those who came in late, here’s the draft that went up this morning. Compared to last week, the line art was already a lot more polished this time around, but you’ll definitely notice that some finagling went on with the backgrounds… in the sense that this version actually HAS backgrounds now.
So is Marshall aging faster, slower, or is he now an “Eternal Child” until death, like Avatar? Those are the “easy” answers for what “not aging right” looks like.
Alternate answer, he’s chronologically displaced in a biological manner, which is what allowed him to be in dozens of places at once, but also means that he has significant trouble aging consistently. Which means that some days he ages forwards, others he ages backwards, and sometimes parts of his body ages forwards while others get younger, and none of it is doing so at a consistent rate. Which makes being healthy, improving musculature through training, and going through normal aging processes, like Puberty, absolute NIGHTMARES. And that’s ignoring the fact that he’s, theoretically, simultaneously a seemingly ageless immortal and likely to die from old age at all times.
Okay, I’ll spoil just enough to say that unpredictable backwards/forwards aging is NOT what’s going on… if only so I can have room to say what an AMAZING idea that is and I’m totally stealing it for later use 😀
Which implies that the HH have anti-aging tech, or age-reversing tech, and use it, presumably on their most important people to preserve them (which seems reasonable considering the important role they are supposed to have), so Frank is probably a LOT older than he looks…and has likely been a jerk the entire time.
You’re definitely on to something there!
Frank, despite being the 3rd most important person in the universe according to the HH, is unimportant enough to wander about pretty much anywhere he wants with only two guards who are easily distracted. After all, that’s what was happening when the cast initially met Frank back on page 66. So I doubt he’s the target for the anti-aging tech. It’s probably intended for The Most Important Person In The Universe, with possible application on The Second Most Important Person In The Universe.
Though, honestly, if anyone’s maintaining the stability of the universe through their existence alone, it’s probably Avatar. With The Kid being a secondary option, because of their weird colour-changing mystic circles.
I’ve toyed with the idea that the First and Second Most Important People are SO important that they’re permanently kept in suspended animation, just to make sure nothing happens to them. If so, then being allowed to run around while receiving de-aging treatments could actually be a step DOWN.
My thoughts are, The First is in suspended animation as he’s so vitally important, only being taken out occasionally to receive de-aging treatments, because the suspended animation isn’t perfect, simply to ensure that he’s always ALIVE throughout the process. The suspended animation extends the periods needed between de-aging treatments significantly, and the periods when he’s de-aged allows him to breed new children who might have the genetic potential to take on some of his responsibility (aka, all of the “most important people” are actually the children of “the most important person”, who founded the cult, and are listed in their birth order).
The Second is effectively imprisoned in luxury, free to move around their heavily protected luxury grounds, and nowhere else, receiving deaging relatively regularly. The lab was either connected to where The Second is living, was doing maintenance on the dematuration capsule, or is seeking to improve the dematuration capsule.
If it was used on Frank at ALL, then have him be the original “important” test subject for the Dematuration Capsule, and it’s DIRECTLY responsible for him becoming an immature twerp, though the HH spoiling him is responsible for him remaining an immature twerp.
The thought of Frank receiving “special treatment” that’s actually just a test run for the stuff no. 1 & 2 get definitely has a lot of comedic potential.