Com'c First Anniversary Super Special!

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Do we get some birthday votes? ;-)

Happy first anniversary of Com'c! :-D

Today, you get a lot of new content - in addition to this super special hand-drawn, um, super special, I've also posted two updates to other sections of the site:

- Extras: Take a look at the original sketches from one year ago, with a bit of commentary for each!

- Randomness: A hand-drawn joke not related to Com'c! (Not exactly "new" content, in that I've been procastinating with posting this for almost four months.)

(Here we go, monstrous commentary time.)

First off, in contrast to most other specials, everything in the drawing is canon except for inconsistencies caused by my level of drawing skills - for example, the angle out the window makes it look like it's elevated, but it's on the ground floor. The canonicity does include the absurdly high roof in the common room (which in #137 was intended as just another symptom of dream weirdness), although I'm not sure how to justify that.

...hang on, the doorway to the stairs is on the same wall as the front window? What. Oh well, too late to change it now. P.S. two days later: Never mind, I forgot that what we're seeing is the back wall. Ella and Iris are standing in the front entrance.

Composing and drawing this special was a lot of fun. I think it took me about seven hours of work to get it done, but that was totally worth it. Every single canonically real character who has been on-screen (plus one who hasn't) is represented in the drawing in some way or another. A few of them were difficult to justify or fit, but I managed somehow. :-)

Victor, Block and Krixwell

Keep in mind that nobody else in the room can see or hear Block and Krixwell.

Victor has moved on from "Colour My World" (by Westlife) to "Flying Without Wings" (also by Westlife, and one of my favorite songs).

This part will be significant for the future of Com'c, and is the reason I said the previous str'p would become important. Krixwell is being tortured here (thus the title of the previous comic), having to hear Victor mutilate a favorite song of his (it's a bit exaggerated, but still - you wouldn't like that either, would you?), and is willing to let Block become noticeable in return for stopping it.

Block's unnoticeability is something I've been bugged by for a while. I've made many mistakes during this year, but establishing that was one of the worst as it landed me in a moral dilemma. On one hand, I'd done something awful to Block by isolating him from everyone else and leaving him basically helpless. (It certainly doesn't help my feelings about it that I freaking acknowledged that it was bad in the commentaries while I was doing it!) On the other hand, reversing it carries the risk of character development of a kind I don't want for the sake of the comic, because Block is such a good character with a personality that is needed. But as I discussed in the previous commentary, he became too good a character, and when he realized this course of action was a possibility, there was no stopping it.

(The stuff below this point isn't that important.)

Marc, Nope Guy and Vee the Gray Fish Tank

What are you talking about, Marc? That's clearly the Gray Fish Tank. Wait, where's Vee? And the Green-and-Purple Toilet Paper Roll?

The Gray Fish Tank is wearing the costume from Brinjal's fan art (used with permission), which is canon mainly because I like the design.

Getting Marc's pose right was difficult, but I think I pulled it off. He looks a bit lanky, which considering his age versus his status as the tallest cast member probably isn't unrealistic. (He's not dirty around his mouth, by the way; that dark bit was caused by my eraser.)

Nope Guy's mouth creeps me out a little.

John, Jane and the Oddevice

Jane was a bit tricky to pose because of the hammer and scale relative to the Oddevice. (The Oddevice still looks a little too large compared to Jane, but I'm blaming that on perspective.) I'm quite pleased with the final result, though, as well as her somewhat tomboyish body shape. One thing that hasn't been entirely clear in the comic about Jane is that her age depends on your point of view: She's chronologically 15, biologically 11, and mentally quite a bit older.

(Jane really doesn't seem to like Oddevices, does she? I mean, she's being rather reckless in her attempts to destroy them, which isn't really like her.)

Drawing the top half of the Oddevice accurately was easier than I expected (with a reference picture, of course). Drawing the bottom half was even easier, as I could just make up a new pattern. This is the first time it has been made clear, assuming it is clear, that the Oddevices float in the air at about shoulder height.

I don't have much to say about John, other than that the table he's sitting by looks awful, and his legs look way too thin.

Ella and Iris

I'm not sure what the main thing Ella is reacting to here is. It's probably everything, from Victor's singing to Vee's flying to Nope Guy's "Nope." and Jane getting ready to smash the Oddevice (which, incidentally, neither Ella nor Iris have seen before).

Iris is polite only because Ella has told her to. She really doesn't care.

Other stuffs

Oh look, it's a movie with TQ Cervelle! TQ's line is not taken from any specific movie, but if it sounds like it does, I've succeeded.

The newspaper on the table is the DBS.

There are a few more minor things in the drawing, but I'll stop here. I'd just like to mention that it took me about two hours or so to write this commentary alone. Wow.

_{(If you didn't check out the extra updates linked at the top of the commentary already, I bet you forgot all about them, had great grandchildren and missed the death of the sun while reading this wall of text.)}