Wow that was freaking brilliant. you've populated your world with such rich enviroments and characters, and each panel is framed imaginatively, with a number left textless just for those beats in the story. I think you've done a great job with the women in this issue, and I was pleased to see Jen in one panel, her ample bosom rolling forth, but also Angie in her bikini.
You're too terribly kind, Kitch! Thanks a ton for this lavish outpouring of appreciation, so much of it centering on details I'd hoped would leave an impression! I'm so pleased you've made special mention of the non-dialogue stretches, which I like to employ to establish mood (also to give folks a break from all the blamed verbosity that can tend to dominate!) Makes the sometimes excessive page-count worth the effort!
I suspected you'd be pleased to see Jenny again! You have a particular affinity for her, I know! I think it important to allude back to absent characters occasionally, so that readers won't miss their favorites and to keep them in the public consciousness, that any reintroductions won't seem out of left field. Glad you were pleased by the image of Angie in her bikini, too! Daring dress certainly isn't expected of Tabor County characters, and I was eager for a bold juxtaposition! Also to demonstrate how much her horizons have expanded since she left home.
The Bat had to come back and give me nightmares didn't it? That's an evil looking thing, unlike those poor dogs at the beginning you captured them cowering before Ijoli in a manner where you immediately despise him, but eventually respect the savage after that scene with Charity, who is really becoming a favourite of mine despite her phobia of tickling. Even on the beach her attire is modest, and I think she's a sweetheart.
Yeah, plenty of pets in this one! I like to draw animals (as I know you also do, what with zoo's-worth of the avian and ocean life that graces your stories), a pleasing artistic challenge which also adds nice variety to scenes.
I'm most pleased that you're warming to Ijoli and Charity! In a story that's rather light on romantic connecting, Charity is meant to fulfill some of the classic ingenue function (though I don't intend that she should
really run off with Ijoli to the Stonedene community… she has some independence to assert, as well). Both of these characters are bound for Pandataria to supply outsider perspective… they'll likely face some of the hidden horrors that wouldn't flummox wake-walker candidates quite as profoundly.
I think that 'beach' is glimpsed briefly near the end of the Stargate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I bet Hunter S. Thompson is down there somewhere, off of his trolley maybe seeing Mario speed about in a go-kart.
Hah hah! I hadn't even considered those weird colored landscapes from 2001, but that's pretty apt! I'd already shown a normal beach, so spiffing up the grains with dye was about the only thing I could think of to make the Imp's Ransom special. In Bliss Harbor, it's always easter somewhere!
As per usual, it's a scene that draws you in to more characters; I laughed at the muscleman doing his obligatory gun show for the ladies, and the character in the hat greedily eating the ice lolly while tickling Charity's feet.
"Ice lolly"… love that term! Heard it first in the Dudley Moore version of "Bedazzled" (never saw the remake, which looked ridiculous). In the US we tend to call 'em "popsicles", but I think that's actually a brand name that went generic. I can't eat 'em anymore, no matter what they're called; I'm off refined sugar now.
I'm really pleased the two beach bums made an impression! I was eager to capture the giddy party-time atmosphere of the Frankie-and-Annette milieu… short of staging a Twist contest, this seemed the most effective option. Too, I was keen to try my hand at some surfer-dude slang.
A brilliant bit of visual humour in that expression, and the usual ensemble of diverse and esoteric bystanders, although I found myself saying 'what the hell is that?' about the character furthest right in the last panel of page 34. The one Fiona is looking at. That's an oddity and a half.
Thank you! I do my best to imbue the crowd scenes with quirky types… it's a perfect opportunity for creative risks, since I'm not bound by any of these designs for more than one panel. Actually, crowd shots have served as a sort of recruiting pool for some of the story's continuing characters (not simply here, but in some of my other longer comix)… when I can't get one of them out of my head, I tend to flesh out a personality and function for him. I also consider it a useful idea to repeat characters in crowd scenes, even if they never assume independent identities… gives the environment a sense of community if you see the same faces now and again. The pasty-faced guy Angie finds so arresting, for example, appeared originally in the theater seating in Chapter 25. A couple of random background females from the same chapter can also be seen fulfilling the same function here, though I intend expanded roles for them during the Pandataria expedition.
I really enjoyed the dialogue for Golden boy; very much the himbo on the beach, with his bullying remark about dogs licking Charity's feet, before Ijoli returns to make good on his pledge. He should prove useful.
I'm very happy that the Golden Boy's beach argot (and that of his scroungy buddy) worked for you! I was faking my way though most of that (the "dog licking" speech is basically just Beavis-and-Butthead), but I used it sparingly enough that I didn't figure I could get into much trouble.
Ijoli should indeed prove useful, to Charity's confidence-building most of all. Spared worries about being victimized, she can finally buckle down and show off her value in the areas that actually interest her. We'll see some of that as soon as the boat ride to Pandataria!
Just excellent work all round, LBH. Great characters and development (inspiring me for my next comic), great designs, incredibly vivid and unique backdrops and a well-paced narrative structure. I think the tickling scenes are a delight, but the series would still be a wonderful story without the tickling, and I think that's the best I can say about any comic or prose story on here.
You really compliment me, sir! It's always been my contention that this Low Roads story isn't a tickling story per se, but rather an adventure/horror story for which tickling is a defining motif. Spice can't be a meal in itself… it can certainly make a meal your favorite, but without proper meat there's no nutrition. That said, Tales From the Low Roads is one of the projects I'm most proud of, and it'd hardly feel the same without its fetish compliment! Interest in tickling is what got me here, after all!
My grateful thanks for this detailed, generous appraisal! And, of course, looking forward to the completion of Fish Tales and your upcoming Prickly Hills saga with the keenest interest! Can't get enough of them Fox girls (my sweetie Lucy especially!)
