Commentary
Thank you to everyone for your patience and support. There was an unexpected pause in comics due to something going on in my personal life, and not a single tomato or tomato emoji was thrown in my direction. While I'm going to be recovering emotionally (and physically, I've been sleep deprived) for a while, I'm eager to get back to comic creation and sharing in full force.
Whoops!
- The design disaster that is touching the mirror to transform
While touching the mirror COULD have been a choice made after much intense dramatic debate worthy of all the awards and accolades that exist in the world of comics, I decided to go with accidental blunder. Accidental blunders are SO much more time efficient (and, in my opinion, fit the general tone better).
Speaking of unexpected past delays and blunders...
One may recall an announcement about a "blunderous blunder" (in the commentary from October 6th) and having to push back comics because of it. Now that Grace has touched the mirror, I think I can get into it without it implying any spoilers:
Tedd's dad, Edward, was originally going to hide the mirror.
Edward doesn't fully trust Arthur (scene from Balance), and Bishop by extension. Also Bishop by just being Bishop. Given what the mirror can do, I felt Edward would be hesitant to share that information with anyone who would later tell Arthur about it.
The problem being that Arthur already knew about the mirror (end of the party with Ashley arc). Edward himself told him, which makes sense. Edward was generally sharing information (from Question Mark) regardless of his misgivings about Arthur. Tedd's success in solving the problem was also likely something he'd wanted to share.
I consider both Edward telling Arthur, and Edward impulsively hiding the mirror from Bishop, in-character. Past Edward would have debated whether to pass on information about the mirror, and decided in favor of doing so because it could come back to bite both him and Tedd later if he didn't.
If he hadn't already shared that information, however, and Bishop was suddenly going to be showing up, he definitely would have moved the mirror to the other side of the basement.
I'd forgotten that Arthur knew about the mirror, however, and wrote things such as quick asides on the way to the basement to "not mention the mirror." A LOT about part four would have gone differently.
With the benefit of hindsight, the pacing is a lot better with Bishop simply knowing about the mirror, and being able to get into things like this with all of them together.
That, and it means Bishop and Vladia get to give their two cents on things like Grace's crisis of conscience.
Anyway, all of that is why I'm gradually compiling an offline personal wiki—actually just a collection of notes—as things come up, and why the magic door mirror was first on the list. Included is a note about Arthur knowing about it. It is marked with an owl emoji (for "who") and cites the page in question.
--
