Page Commentary No. 146 (Patreon)

Gunwild: I introduced the word "baronetess" to the comic here, which people have never ceased trying to 'correct.' Surely I mean "baroness," right? Well, no, a baronetess is specifically the female equivalent of a baronet. Which is like a small-time baron. It's a rare title but I didn't think Maddy should be going "full baroness," that sounds too grand and it would be confusing why she didn't have more political clout.

Psu: I think we have at least one friend who would appreciate a drawing of Maddy as GI Joe's Baroness.

Gunwild: Well yeah, but character-wise Maddy is very different from that Baroness. Or, really, most baronesses who spring to mind in fiction. Which is why I tried to skirt that whole problem. Their phone pictures of each other are really cute, they were not my idea. All that credit goes to Psu.

Psu: Well I based a lot of this page on stuff I have (like Maddy's fitbit and the tablet cover stand) and that includes feels. I don't do a lot of actual phone calls over Skype but I do know that if it's voice only it'll default to a photo. But who deserves the credit on "lil' Spock?" I don't remember adding that.

Gunwild: Oh I think that was a team effort when we were deciding what to label the callers, since of course calling apps would do that. Meant we had to give at least one dad a canon name.

Psu: I still call them Rhett and Link. But Gunwild doesn't have the same refined taste in Youtube personalities that I do.

Gunwild: That is true. I am watching dorks talk about the history of George Psalmanazar's Formosa Hoax and other obscure crap like that, while Psu watches videos about things that actually matter to... living in the world. Anyway I think a lot of stories really shove loving parents far out of the way because they're too ready a support network when the writer wants to show a character in pain. But I think that's kind of ignoring that having nice parents doesn't make you automatically okay all the time.

Psu: Well it's often hard to write in extra characters, and parents are just so extra sometimes. I think this is one of the most successful pages we've done in terms of mood. Do you remember when we put it together? It's so different than the rest of the chapter.

Gunwild: Well I mean we just had a crying page with Nisa and Ashley couple pages before, but kids cry all the time so I think we went "we should end on a harder emotional hit than that," hence the appearance of the little-seen "To Be Continued" text down there.

Psu: So much crying in this comic. Oh hey... I just realized. The photo Maddy used must've been taken the day of the Christmas flashback. It's gotta sting to see yourself smiling when you're not.

Gunwild: I've heard worse excuses for never smiling in pictures.