This is yet another imaginative adventure! No one can deny that even if this is a toon, Low_Road's plot would always have the dark overtone.
Very much appreciated, Bohie! Thanks very much! This series does indeed tend toward darker themes, though I hope they're taken in the spirit of ghoulish fun that's been intended! The same giddy relish for the forbidding and unknown that juices us up on Halloween night is what I strive to achieve. For me, it's Halloween night almost every night!
The Putz is a very interesting character. As to how he's been "made" in the stern labs of Putsey, with tickling as an essential life giving force behind it - a conceptual genius (of Low_Roads) by itself, shall I say, it brought back some memories of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in a different way. It absolutely has a different twist for any fetishist who likes to really read a comprehensive plot.
Most pleased indeed that the eccentricities of the story sit so well with you! My aim is to twist the plot-lines up as much as possible without compromising narrative coherence. But, of course, classic themes are often too tempting to ignore! Frankenstein's "life from out the ether" dynamic is a fun one and I was keen to work it into a unique fetish context. I'm always on the lookout for ways to appreciate tickling as something other than dominating torture, and while Chapter 28 certainly has elements of that (Lufan, Tessie Tingle and Aileen Lovette), I'm hopeful that the example of Putz suggests an more affirming outlook. Lees can gain empowerment from the practice as powerfully as lers do, but it's often difficult to convey that sense.
Then the color treatment is perfect and carefully selected. Every panel is a journey for it's special setting, very artistic indeed. What I appreciate about Low_Roads is his consistent discipline to delivering pure art, even if it is tickling.
Coming from an expert at color and composition, such words are greatly treasured! Thank you so much! This Community is blessed with hosts of super-talented artists and authors; it's heady company, and I'm most privileged to have found s place among them!
Then in the end, the Putz had a place as justified by his unexpected heroism. What a solid plot, humor and artistry! Thank you for the generous contribution. *bows*
Thank
you for your generous assessment of this chapter! I'm so pleased that you were rooting for the Putz, a character whose pervading silliness might have inspired indifference. He's extremely lucky to have your good opinion! Me too!
t’s great to see a new Low Roads chapter! It was very satisfying to reacquaint myself with everything about Low Roads.
Hi again, Lee! I'm more used to hearing from you at the TTC! And I was afraid I might miss you altogether, what with Tickle Theater having been down for such a long time and me not having posted anything for so many years. I'm so pleased my fears were proved wrong!
I had almost forgotten the unique horror-humor mix of your art, the visceral, tactile, deliciously creepy-funny feel of it. Horror always inseparable from humor, tickled disconnected limbs become a monster named - the Putz! A creature so likable, I hesitate to call him the monster he is. I will root for and enjoy following him. I too felt relief at the lack of a torches and pitchforks wielding mob in the town.
I'm so very pleased you've grown to like this rather secondary character! I've always felt it important the the supporting cast should have personas just as distinct as main players... that with a little focus shift, they could become main players themselves with their own intriguing stories to tell. The world seems so damned limited otherwise! Of course, it helps that this story is so outlandishly long... there's plenty of room to absorb a digression or two.
It's true, I'm naturally drawn to the horrific and outlandish; practically every bit of fiction I attempt contains some measure of fantasy, even if it isn't the primary focus.
This almost all narration chapter reminded me how much you enjoy playing with language, as colorful and lovely as the art.
How nice of you to say so! You're quite right, I do have a great deal of fun slapping the scripts together, and this one is as text-heavy as any I've attempted (or any I'll write hereafter; I might get away with this once, but twice would be pushing it!) The language is particularly arch because I wanted to reflect the rhythm and flowery quality of heroic poetry. In fact, I initially tried to fit it into a fixed meter, but that became old fast. It probably would have been tiresome as hell to read as well as write.
There were so many wonderful tickle scenes, the sap, pollen and tendril wielding plant my favorite, giving well deserved tribute to the borrowed detritus characters Isobel and Abigail.
Heh heh, I borrowed all those plant attributes too! Detritus was quite generous with suggestions I'd asked for, and the notions of pollen dusting and especially the forced ingestion of plant sap to stimulate
internal tickling are a couple of his most insidious! I'm really pleased it worked do well for you, as it means I did the ideas justice!
I found it surprising, funny and charming to see the lowly blue tissue given several frames of its lone travels. It came alive as a character for me then. Little did I realize its destination. (Perhaps its capture had backstory that I had forgotten.) I was very surprised and intrigued on seeing the relation to Sid. One of the charms of your stories is the intricate web of connections between characters and events.
Thank you! The interconnectedness you refer to is vitally important to me, as it keeps the reading experience fresh (the writing experience too, of course. Nothing quite so tiresome as limiting the relationships). Am most pleased that the severed Sid tentacle achieved an identity! For the most part, he's carted around like a article of clothing, without any hope of developing character. I hate to inflict that on any of the story's participants, however rudimentary they might appear.
The Sid scrap actually had a history of sorts: severed from Sid by Von Smutt during the Swillwell battle, collected by Sheriff Mew directly afterward and carted off to Putsy for scientific analysis. Alas, some of my human characters don't have biographies that involved!
I forgot that Sid, a misshapen blob on first inspection, actually has such recognizable structure, attitude and character. I know Sid. I enjoy Sid despite, or perhaps because of, his exquisite depravity.
Thanks for saying so! I kinda patterned Sid's jolly attitude after the philosophy attributed to the pirate Ned "Blackbeard" Teach, who'd allegedly quip "Let us all go merrily to hell together!" I don't know if Blackbeard actually said that, but I'd like to think so! And it's definitely Sid's attitude. He doesn't care so much about conditions as long as he's in agreeable company! I hope to strengthen that impression even more in later chapters.
Thank you for efforts. They are much appreciated here.
-Lee
And you, my friend, are very much appreciated by me! No Low Roads submission ever seems complete until Leenotler's had his say! Thank you for sticking by me so long!