page 1263 – ewww
YAY! I’m back to posting a complete, finished page right away instead of a rough draft! …but BOY was I tempted to go ahead and do that for a third time in a row. Just in case anybody didn’t see me bellyaching last week, this page was SUPPOSED to be the bottom half of last weeks page, until I realize it was gonna be waaaaay too crowded. And the funny thing is, IT’S STILL WAY TOO CROWDED! I had to do some major surgery to the top panel to try and work around all the people sitting between Mariska and Layla, and I’m not gonna lie: part of the reason for the more abstract, colorful layout was just so had an excuse to obscure as much of the table as possible and hide how the perspective kinda makes no sense. You’d think that, after so many years working on a comic with so little forward momentum, that I’d know how to draw a bunch of people sitting in one place.
Also, guess who totally forgot to do a new TWC Voting Incentive last week? Yeah, things were just blowing from every direction, creatively speaking, and I just completely lost track of what I was doing. Sorry about that. And the worst thing is, as much as I’d like to do the whole “I promise to do better this week” thing… I honestly don’t think I can. One of said things blowing up was the current Conventional Wisdom set of comics, which I spent much of last week reworking and will thus spend much of THIS week frantically scrambling to get back on track posting. In the midst of all that, I can’t in good conscience guarantee that I won’t totally lose track of what day of the week it is AGAIN. I mean, I’ll TRY, but still…
Honestly, it would probably be mostly fine if it happened to a full adult. The biggest issue for Marshall is that it occurred in his teens, and, worse, his EARLY teens. That’s the second major physical growth period of the body, and preventing that from operating properly is going to cause BIG health problems for him. If there is a known solution to his current health issues (without causing WORSE ones), Marshall’s parents should find it and get him to apply them ASAP. As in, within six months of it occurring in the first place.
Also, I now really want Frank to have been the test subject for that machine, and actually be in his 30’s, while being completely ignorant of his health issues simply because he looks young and has his food managed for him. As in, he hasn’t eaten anything that wasn’t prepared specifically just for him to eat since he was seven level of “his food is managed for him”.
I mean, the more ya’ll bring it up, the more it makes total sense. If he already acts like a man-child at all times, it’s completely fitting that he’d literally LOOK like one.
Also, the implication of Tarkus’ dialog is meant to be that there IS treatments Marshall’s taking to keep things under control. It’s just, you know, this is Tarkus talking, so I guess it’s doomed to sound more terrible than it was supposed to.
I would surely expect that in a time when you can transplant heads and morph your body into a giant bug or whatever a tiny thing like age-mismatched-body-growth would definitely be treatable with no problem, just very expensive. (There actually is apparently a disease like that in RL!) Thus why he’s kind of stuck being a nitpicker even though his personality isn’t well suited for it – it’s one of the very few jobs that pays enough to afford the treatments he will now need. Or possibly the Guild covers the cost, but only as long as he’s a member.
@ Blitz: Tarkus’s dialogue only really says that there’s treatment to mitigate the negative side effects.
@ Ed8: If you remember really far back to the beginning of the story, those also have potentially horrific side effects, but everybody just ignores that for “fashion”, “self-expression” and “surviving in otherwise horrifically inhospitable environments”. Also, they are probably best applied to those who have fully adult bodies. The problems Marshall will have are closer, but less pronounced, than the issues the actor playing Principal Baby would have. “Fixing” things like that would take a LOT more work, over a longer period of time, and may not actually fix anything.
Also also, remember that it’s implied that this whole thing happened to him by accident, which no doubt means the results are much different than if the procedure was done properly.
Avatar doesn’t see what the big deal is, try looking like you’re 10 for the rest of the existence of the entire universe!! (and even after that)
Yeah, it hit me half-way through that I really needed to make sure it was clear that this isn’t the same thing all over again (though you can bet those two will end up talking shop at SOME point)