Vote for me over at Top Web Comics if you'd like a brief spoiler as to whether or not they get out of the chains. (This spoiler seems rather obvious?) If you don't want to be spoiled, then vote anyway and just close your eyes or something. I am working very hard to concentrate long enough to get this comic up, let me tell you. Some combination of allergies and sinus issues from all the rain we've had lately has fucked with my equilibrium, so I am basically like, six toddlers in a human suit in terms of focus and stability right now. Which is a shame, because I'm thinking of getting breakfast/brunch after this goes live. There's a place near me that serves an egg breakfast (I order two eggs and always get three, which I'm fine with) and it comes with a side of pancakes. The pancakes are not the meal, they are the side. It's mind boggling. I think I should be fine if I don't run over anyone's mailbox on my way there. Gotta FOCUS. The brain fog is strong, but I'm stronger. And I think it's starting to clear up a bit, but that may be wishful thinking. Okay, so on to further business, Dave over at Grrl Power gave me a shout out yesterday in his comic, and I was hardly online yesterday and didn't notice until this morning. HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS, I got 70k hits in one day yesterday. On a Monday. My best day to date has been like, 22k hits and I was damn proud of that. So welcome, new readers! And hey, you all came by at a great time, because shit's about to go down in this comic :D. Friendly reminder everyone, if you like this comic, please white list it in your ad blocker! And if you happen to see any ads for other comics or whatever that interest you, please click on them :D. That helps me out a TON. I wouldn't say I get enough money from ads that I really can support myself off of them, but it does help cover the cost of advertising in general, so your support helps me support spreading the word about this comic, which is awesome! I've spent most of the week painting my kitchen (I'm so close to having a usable kitchen again!), so the comic fell a little off to the side, but I managed to pull a couple really long days and get shit done! A couple people brought up the idea that Vincent could just take off the wolfsbane (notice the werewolf calls it wolfsbane, and the biology major sticks to calling it aconite), and I said I'd address it down the line. Welcome to down the line! I tried to work it in earlier, but I needed a few interludes before we got back to the Let's Escape the Basement Happy Hour. We're like, almost there. So close. I've debated a LOT as to how I want to proceed with the next handful of pages, because suspense or whatever, so expect things to get rather whiplash-y between Mal's scenes and these guys and so much werewolf. So much werewolf. I'm writing a comic about werewolves, and it's going to take like, 170+ pages to get to the real werewolf action. I'm all about a satisfying werewolf experience, friends, and that means this shit takes time. All these toddlers that make up my human form are getting antsy and weird, but I'm almost done ranting. In TV news, I finished watching Stranger Things, and I'm almost done with Person of Interest. (I don't want to be done with Person of Interest...what the hell else do I do with myself after that? Such a perfect show.) Stranger Things was pretty legit! I remember watching Steven King TV mini-series when I was a kid, especially Tommyknockers for some reason. I watched the fuck out of Tommyknockers...why though? I also watched Carrie and Pet Cemetery and the first part of the movie It fairly often. (It as a movie is waaaaay too long, but what I could stay awake for, I enjoyed.) I mentioned last time that I liked creepy shit as a kid, and I meant it. Stranger Things feels very much like a Stephen King movie, which is actually pretty impressive. It's a story that feels grounded in reality and place and time in a way that you don't see very often in storytelling lately. When the main antagonist of the movie is only hinted at for 90% of the series, I feel like that's when things really start to work. The focus of the show is in the characters and the family relationships and the friendships, and the evil monster thing is really only there as a vehicle to push these characters in new directions. AS IT FUCKING SHOULD BE. Not to say that you can't tell a fascinating story that involves a monster in a big way, but if your characters are boring or underdeveloped, then why do I care about your monster at all? It's not a person. It's overall pretty insignificant. Storytelling, to me, works best in micro rather than macro. For example, if I were to write a story about a character who's a spy, the natural narrative would be big spy adventures and political intrigue and corrupt governments or some shit, but I'd be more interested in what this guy does the rest of the time. I already have context for what a spy movie is like. What about the days this guy is just out being a dude? Does he go get ice cream? Do some shopping? Does he have to hide who he is so he doesn't blow his spy cover? Is he lonely? Figure that his most frequent and meaningful contact with another person is probably with his handler, who generally isn't there in person. What if they're both lonely? What if they mutually enjoy the friendship of the other person, but can't really spend time with each other out of work, but also can't form solid friendships otherwise due to the nature of their business? At the end of the day, a spy drama, to me, is more fascinating if told through the lens of what being a spy does to your social life versus whatever's intriguing about scaling buildings and shit by yourself all night long. So, if you're going to go out and tell a story about a monster stealing kids (and Barb! Oh Barb...), maybe it's a lot more interesting if told through the various relationships of the people in this town. Because really, fuck the monster.