page 651 – Rings a Bell
…well, at least he remembers now. That’s something, right? Also, SUDDEN YELLOW!
For some reason, this page just did NOT want to be drawn. It’s not even a very elaborate thing, but I still had to completely toss out one draft and start over from scratch. I guess a page that loudly, obnoxiously draws attention to Layla’s attractiveness is gonna demand extra attention to character detail or something.
Speaking of weirdness finishing pages, the rest of this week will be a little unusual. The 4th of July lands on Friday this year, meaning the holiday page I was planning will preempt the usual second update of the week. I’ll TRY to get a page ready to go up Saturday, but that all depends on how long it takes to get Friday’s thing done.
And last of all, New Voting Incentive!!!
(Historical Notes: Okay, I think I’ve put it off long enough, let’s really get into the weeds about how much Disonar SUCKS in these early appearances. I mean, he’s SUPPOSED to suck. He’s meant to be an even more extreme version of what Frank and Kevin were introduced as: terrible creeps Layla could briefly latch onto as a potential source of income, only for it to fall apart when her pesky sense of decency couldn’t tolerate what a gross guy he was. The Disonar introduced here is honestly a bit too much of a sleezeball for Far Out There in general, but even if we let that slide, he’s still a character CLEARLY intended to receive some kind of horrible but well-deserved comeuppance at the end of this arc… but then Astrid happened. Disonar sort of got caught up in her surprise character development, and wound up going through some unplanned shifts of his own to better facilitate it. The Disonar we see at the end of all this is a VERY different character than the one we see here, one who I can’t see openly creeping on Layla like this. Honestly, I can’t even see that guy having those two ladies on his arms like we saw at the beginning. The pathetic puppy we see in those later pages would never have the confidence to actually mack on multiple girls at the same time, it doesn’t even seem like he’s used to successfully talking to ONE. I can’t say we’ve lost anything in the change, either. Again, I think this Disonar is too icky for Far Out There in general, and I’d totally be up for rewriting these pages completely if I wasn’t already taking way too long on the re-posting as is.)
Re: historical notes: Clearly those two ladies with Disonar aren’t actually women he picked up – they’re employees. No, I don’t mean in some equally creepy worlds-oldest-profession way. They’re actresses, which is basically what Disonar is, too. He’s hired to play the role of zillionaire philanthropist playboy, and nobody is going to be convinced of that unless he’s got a couple of attractive ladies with him, so they hire two local small-time actresses to play the role. Basically, they’re sub-contractors as part of the “Zillionaire Playboy Philanthropist Package Deal”, option package B-2.
No wonder Disonar was so shocked that Astrid, a attractive* woman who wasn’t even on the payroll was actually hitting on him!
*(for some peoples definition of that word)
Yeah, I came in just to read the author’s comment, and had a similar thought. The other option is that they’re Disonar’s Groupies, girls who follow him around simply because he’s famous, and thus “rich”. As his Groupies, Disonar has gotten used to them, but also expects them to drop him at a moment’s notice, either due to them finding “true love” (someone rich enough to take them in and give them a pampered lifestyle), they get bored, or if he simply stops doing the party playboy lifestyle for a week.
Basically, in this interpretation, Astrid’s interest boggles Disonar because she’s actually interested in him. Not his lifestyle, not his theoretical money, not as a connection to the people surrounding him, but Disonar himself. Not only that, Astrid’s hot, and not “I’m young and thus hot”, but a “I’m going to remain hot until I’m physically past middle age” type hot.
Honestly, both those girls Disonar has on his arms in page 647 are late-teens at the oldest, and only one of them has a noteworthy bust. Give them a few years, maybe a decade, and they’ll likely look “too old for teens”, and that’s WITH them looking after themselves. Astrid, meanwhile, will likely continue to look practically the same as she currently does. And current Astrid could make a notable portion of an All Boys Highschool follower her around like pets, if she so wanted. Layla could too, and likely would be able to when she reaches Astrid’s Age, but she’s also the type who actively doesn’t want to, while if Astrid has some different friends, she might have done it as a college prank.