Vote over at TWC and you can see some thumbnails! Exciting.

Excellent! I survived these pages! So many people to draw, so many trees and camper things...we're almost free, kids. I get to draw Charlene by herself for a few pages and it'll be like a dream.

So, my intention was that both these ladies work probably work for Ford or maybe Chevy in the few factories they still have around the Detroit area, thus why they like big trucks (and they cannot lie, those other brothers can't deny, etc.). A half-ton pickup is something like a Ford F-150, and then you'd move up the line for a heavier duty truck like a 250 or 350. They're all very big and hard to park, though they're practical and tough in midwestern winters, so at least there's that. I can't drive any of them because I'm very short and anything over a small sedan leaves me flying blind in the driver's seat, so all I know is that you need a beefy vehicle to pull a trailer as big as these.

Anyway, not all Midwesterners are this enthusiastic or this aggressively friendly, but many are! Especially as you get up through Wisconsin and Minnesota. I guess it's all that Canadian influence, who knows. This can make it somewhat hard to get the fuck away from people when you're trapped in the friendliest conversation you've ever been in and it takes 20 minutes to say goodbye, but once you're here, you get used to it. This personality type grates some people the wrong way, because they find a sort of "I like everyone" generic friendliness to be shallow or vapid. I find that it makes getting to know people very pleasant and easy over time, so the initial surface level Mr. Rogers-iness culture we have here suits me well. It greases the wheels of society, so to speak. I also like that people are very friendly in a sort of rough way, especially around Chicago. There's no pomp, no hierarchy, and most people are very direct all the time. You're going to treat the fanciest people you meet like a total bro, just like you'd treat anyone. This did not translate well when I moved to Los Angeles, however, because my general friendliness towards everyone made people think I was either their best friend immediately (I am not, I just treat everyone the same) or that I had an ulterior motive (I have very few motives, let alone ulterior ones). So that was a culture shock! But it made me like the Midwest better. People are just easy here, even when they're difficult.

Anyway, Charlene doesn't have time for a Midwestern Goodbye, so she countered with Southern Manners and escaped! Super Effective.

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I haven't forgotten about my idea for a contest yet! It got a bit waylaid because my life is chaos and I'm trying to get a million things done this month it seems, but we'll come back to it one day! In the meantime, there's new merch up at the Hivemill store. I added some new prints and tshirts finally, so if you like my comic and would like to support me, please go see if there's something you like! The shirts are American Apparel, so size up if you're not sure what size to get.

I made a TikTok? I haven't been using it really, but China already knows my whole life at this point anyway.

HTBAW Fandom Wiki is up and running! Thanks to Myk Streja for tons of help with moderation efforts and everyone else who's done a ton of work on adding information and filling out the Wiki. I know nothing about how this stuff works and I'm too old to learn :D.

Feel free to check out my goofy Amazon store if you're so inclined (this is an ad, as I get a tiny commission if you do buy something), or I have some merch up on Society6 if you're looking for my old store link! Thanks to everyone who's come out to support me through Ko-fi and Patreon!