Now that's a word punch.

- Grace first transformation with the horns (also in previous commentary, added for angry Grace convenience)

- Correcting transformations

- Start of Grace's conversation with Po

I didn't want to suggest that Grace only attacked Damien because of the form. As far as AUTHORIAL INTENT (imagine sparkles) is concerned, the chicken and the egg order there isn't a mystery, and Grace would have attacked if able with or without the form.

She wouldn't have been able without the form, but still.

Good Enough for Sherlock

Grace's conclusion doesn't follow by necessity, and is a best guess based on the information they have.

Even Grace needing to have used a CMD to unlock access to her own three-tailed form is a best guess. Maybe she just needed to get that angry?

But Grace is confident in her conclusions, and now's probably not the best time to nitpick how conclusive her findings are. She's practically married to Tedd; That will be taken care of (even if it's just Tedd thinking it).

--

- Saturday EGSNP

- Grace first transformation with the horns (from Part 6 of Painted Black, not actually seen until the title page two pages later)

- "She already has a three-tailed part-lespuko form, so maybe she's more experienced than I was..." (thought by Grace while approaching Po)

I don't know about you, but I'm thinking Po is fine. She's relaxed, calm, and knows exactly where her center is.

I think. Just going to do a quick search. I don't actually know what it means to find one's center. It's just a thing I've heard that sounds right in context.

Let's see... Finding your calm, that fits... Proper push-up position? She's flying. That's ridiculous. Travel spots for finding my center? What? Why would my center be so far away from me?

I shouldn't be relying on a search. I'm going to use a good old-fashioned dictionary on my phone.

Right, so... Not a sphere or circle... Is a person a collection of neurons? That's getting philosophical. A player occupying the middle position of a team?

You know what? There are a lot of definitions here, we could be here all night. My point is... I forget. I do not remember where I was going with this.

--

- Thursday EGSNP

- Liam Tyrant Slayer phantom arm introduction

- Introduction of Po phantom arm

- Grace managing a much smaller phantom arm (after accidentally copying Po)

- When last we saw Po

Action sequences giveth pages with lots of panels, action sequences taketh pages with lots of panels.

I was actually plotting to have more panels on this page, but when I got to the moment, I felt I needed all of it.

--

- Tuesday EGSNP

For the record, I did not plan this page with the intent of cackling with glee at it being a cliffhanger. I only have so much room per page.

Though, now that I've got this cliffhanger I'm stuck with, I may as well partake in a cackle or two.

--

- Saturday EGSNP

- Discussion of an unknown immortal plotting against Elliot back in part 4 of Sister 3

- Voltaire vows to "not attempt to have Elliot killed"

- Voltaire is annoyed by Edward into vowing to "not do anything with the intent of Elliot getting killed" (next page)

- Elliot not overreacting

One can fairly argue that the maids should be able to break that vow without it being on Voltaire's head. They are acting autonomously, and Elliot was in the middle of what might have been a failed sneak attack.

(Incidentally, never assume a magical construct needs their eyes to see you.)

One can also fairly argue that one bears responsibility for what their autonomous summoned constructs do in their absence, and I suspect this argument would be stronger.

We don't have autonomous summoned constructs, but imagine if you bought the world's angriest badger (I'm sure there's a way to measure that) and left it unattended in a public park. You might not control the subsequent actions of said badger, but it's your fault it was there in the first place.

Regardless of either argument, much like when a company decides a new confusing user interface is much better, actually, what we think is irrelevant. The maids were designed to work this way, and work this way they do.

However, what Voltaire thinks might actually be relevant to whether the vow would be "broken." By this, I mean his honest perspective (no spin possible) would likely determine whether he faced the consequences of a broken vow. This doesn't change how the maids behave, but it does go some way to explain why they behave that way. Other immortals with their own vows and their own senses of personal responsibility probably appreciate the reduced likelihood of their maids breaking vows on their behalf.

Seriously, a lot about the maids make more sense if you consider them from the perspective of immortals who aren't huge jerks. Voltaire is using them in ways not covered by the warranty.

--

- Thursday EGSNP

- One (in action, pretty much just open handed attacks)

- Three (spinning! That's a good trick!)

The third maid is not angry. The third maid is not capable of anger, joy, or sadness. It was the creator of the maids, an immortal who wanted them to be good, who chose this angry face for aggression level five.

Also, the ridiculously giant blades.

It's enough to make one wonder what she thought the maids would be dealing with at that level. Assuming one is not preoccupied with getting escaping.

Clarification!

Action sequences can be confusing even when read all at once, let along one page every couple of days, SO!

Grace wanted to stop the spinning second maid with telekinesis, but couldn't do so while flying.

So she stopped flying (a perfect plan with no flaws whatsoever).

While falling, she used telekinesis to stop the maid's spinning, then almost immediately flew again to attack.

--

- Tuesday EGSNP

EDIT: Grace used to think "darn sun..." while looking up in panel seven. She is, in fact, STILL thinking that, but actually showing it was an unnecessary detail that affected people's interpretations of what was happening.

That noted, the sun being overhead MIGHT come up again.

--

Past me: "Yeah, this needs to be ten panels. It's okay, several of them are simple."

Closer to present me at the time of writing this: "Past me, you jerk."

The last time Grace used Telekinesis in an action moment, which was when Grace used it to stop "Evil Elliot" from attacking an already defeated griffin, Liam Tyrant Slayer. She then proceeded to keep Liam from getting back up for a bit.

I don't think I actually commented on it back then, but I made a point of having Grace standing, not flying, when she stopped Elliot for the exact reason mentioned on this page. This was intended to perfectly balance Grace, but of course she found an exploit.

--

- Saturday EGSNP

NEW EGSNP! (New yesterday, anyway.)

- Nose scratching and one-way telepathy (also, keeping up appearances in case Voltaire is watching)

- Previous Whooshing away from the scene by Po

And with this latest decision, Agent Bishop's future frustration headache doubled in magnitude.

Granted, at the time of my writing this, I don't know what reader reactions to this will be. For all I know, Tedd's just given all of you frustration headaches, too.

If so, um... Sorry! This is what Tedd would do in this situation.

--

Hey, I already mentioned the latest EGSNP at the top, darn it!

TOMORROW: A new EGSNP storyline begins!

- "...it gives me some self defense options." (Tedd meeting Rhoda)

- "You figured out I was the copper, didn't you?"

- "Aggression Level One"

Okay, who ordered the two cliffhangers?

(Also, yes, if anyone has EVER wanted to criticize how my comics look, enjoy the last panel! It has been served to you upon a silver platter.)

Part of what makes the maids fun for me is they can be a bit nonsensical without being illogical. Pretty much everything weird about them can be explained by one or more of these three things:

1 - They were designed by a single quirky immortal.

2 - They were designed for use by immortals in general.

3 - They were designed over a hundred years ago (page where Hope explains). This was WELL before the new, less strict rules. The maids have adapted to the new rules, but their core behaviors were defined under a stricter system. This is part of why they're overly chatty when they autonomously do things on their immortal's behalf.

They didn't put their immortals in danger of being reset due to the necessity of intent (Pandora explaining in Sister 3), but there were other potential concerns (including immortals worrying about it regardless).

(For additional reasons why they're like that, see reason 1 - They were designed by a single quirky immortal.)

- Start of the last action nonsense Grace was involved in (Griffin meetup in Balance)

- Hope's maid making absolutely CERTAIN Grace and pals understood this

"Why did you bother asking first? I am told the previously summoned me was very clear about that."

"You CHECK before doing something like that!"

Tail Whip

I prioritized showing one specific action and its aftermath, BUT! It raises the question:

Where is the other maid Grace was blocking?

The answer is pushed away by tails. Not destroyed by tails, mind you, but taken out of the equation for an adequate moment.

- "I want to meet her as soon as we're done here."

- When last we saw Hope and Ellen

"Elliot turned into Cheerleadra and flew away."

"Not again."

"He does that a lot?"

"At this point, I think he just likes flying around."

Under my previous comic planning approach (in which I wrote page by page instead of writing everything out and THEN figuring out pages), I'm pretty sure this page would have found a way to end on Ellen's question. This most likely would have been done by making Diane and Rhoda talk more before seeing Hope.

Granted, I'm not a hundred percent certain of that, but it feels like something past me would do. In any case, I like this more.

- Diane and Rhoda parked closer

Text to speech does not flow like natural speech, and it does not properly respect the pause I wrote into the script for panel four.

It is, however, impartial, and by its metric, this conversation was 22 seconds. Even if we allow for more realistic pauses, it was far less than a minute, and could have been about half of one.

My point is, Rhoda showed up at Elliot's house for the first time ever and saw Elliot turn into Cheerleadra within one minute.

EGSNP

July 2nd. Thursday. (Also, imagine a movie preview voice in 3... 2... 1...)

In the next one thousand percent canon EGSNP, we go to the distant past… The day after Jay and Susan became friends.

As Jay processes unfamiliar feelings of friendship, she and Susan are kept separate by the looming threat of finals.

Susan has, however, sent Jay a link to that review show of hers…

- Introduction of the summoned maid

- Voltaire's maids

- Voltaire's maids again (earlier in this arc, simply behind Voltaire)

- Hope promising to tell Tedd about her summoned maid

- Voltaire's maids yet again (still simply behind Voltaire)

- Hope shows everyone her summoned maid

- Three pages later, three maids of Voltaire's

And, of course: Ragnarok.

Worth noting:

• The maids act autonomously once summoned, but have guidelines for behavior.
  
  
• The maids are not morally, well, anything, but they're designed to "simulate moral good."
  
  
• The maids HAVE to be summoned from within an immortals room.

That last part doesn't guarantee much of anything specific, but it does limit possible explanations regarding when / where these three were summoned, and where they could've been just before now.

Which is an interesting thing to consider, really. Many bits of information are much more useful for removing possible answers than outright answering them.

- Lespuko (discussed when Grace touched the mirror)

You might think this is a Friday comic, and technically, you'd be correct.

It is in spirit, however, a Wednesday comic. MONDAY will be a Friday comic.

Now (well, when I posted this) there's going to be an entire weekend for people to ponder what three "whooshes" could possibly be. Like, their entire weekend, GONE, figuring this out, AND THEN, come Monday?

It won't have been Larry, Rich, and George. Sorry. That guess was wrong.

Cheerleadra both existing and being public knowledge is fun in moments like these. Someone flying? Well, who do we know who flies? Exactly one person. Probably her.

- Mist having illusions on top of projections (From Layers)

- Serena of the paranormal helpline introduction (not named at the time)

- EGSNP short storyline featuring Serena (which is where I gave her a name)

- Meeting the suspicious officer (who is oddly startled)

- "I doubt that" (Two pages ago, Po's complete lack of concern about the officer)

Oh hey, it's Serena of the paranormal helpline! Hooray!

Which also means Bishop's about two seconds away from knowing something's up.

Officer Mist

Out of fairness to all concerned, I kept "Officer Mist" in-character. His "mm-HM?!" was meant to convey a calm reaction to hearing Tedd and Grace followed immediately by alarm upon actually looking at them.

Reader reactions that day were an avalanche of totally calling he was Mist.

Next, however, came Mist explaining himself. Gradually, it felt to me like most people had decided, no, he wasn't Mist.

He totally was, though! Anyone who said he was acting weird and doing a bad job were totally right! He absolutely was!

No matter how this plays out, Bishop is going to throw a fit.

Grace's stance in panels two and three was less ready for action than Po's, but it wasn't NOT ready for action. She was trying to keep her stance somewhat friendly while still ready to move and defend if Po did something.

Granted, she wasn't prepared for Po to suddenly leave. You probably should have been, Grace. You did essentially tell her to do that a minute ago.

"Anyway, we're friends now."

"BY WHAT LOGIC?!"

- Grace literally would not be able to touch that wing if she couldn't see through the projection (From Part 2 of Layers)

- "Unless it's because I'm a seer and you're a seyunolu?" (In regard to seeing through the projection, and I guess this answers the seyunolu half)

There's a lot of nonsense to remember with projections. Fortunately, this page makes sense even if one doesn't recall that Grace needs to be able to see through the projection to touch the wing. Just the fact that Grace is deliberately doing it is sufficient evidence for Po that Grace sees through it.

"Heck, I was entranced just by the opportunity to do science, but if treasure's on the table..."

- Grace accidentally copies Po's form

- Grace in Po's form attempting to see auras

A question I received after the last page was "how does Mist know Tedd knows that Mist has a horn?"

I think I distracted from the obvious answer by referencing when Tedd looked at Mist's form in the mirror. I drew attention to something Mist wouldn't know about, and that created confusion.

Mist expects Tedd to know he has a horn because there was a witness (Hope), and Mist assumes that witness told Tedd.

Passing notes

Dead drops are a real thing and not at all a term I've invented. Given that one can just look it up themselves, I'm going to go ahead and say (basically) what they are here: A dead drop is a method for dropping off or exchanging things without ever meeting face to face through the use of secret locations.

I've undoubtedly heard the term in a number of things without really thinking about it, but what burned the term into my memory was the game Fallout 4. There's a secretive group in it that loves to open missions with dead drops that give you the details of those missions. This is a decent bit of flavor in a game focused primarily on running around and fighting things, but the locations of these dead drops could be a bit, um... Immersion breaking, shall we say.

"Agent whisper, we have a new mission for you. Retrieve the dead drop from an old mail box in West Everett Estates."

"West Everett Estates?"

"Yes."

"The old ruined neighborhood that has since become a base for deadly super mutants?"

"Yes."

"WHY THERE?!"

"You have to admit, no one's likely to stumble across a dead drop there."

- Tedd seeing Mist in the mirror

Since the start of this comic, I've written things panel by panel, comic by comic, page by page. It felt like the most natural way to do things, and in many ways, it has been. 

What I've also found, however, is that it's absolutely terrible for writing ahead when dealing with stories (as opposed to standalone joke comics). I'd spend considerable time thinking of things like what note I want to end a page on, or what might fit into a specific panel, or when the next row of panels would start, etc.

It's a series of speedbumps and set stopping points. There's a feeling of "done!" when I think one comic has been written. That's not an insurmountable obstacle, but it can stop what might otherwise be the natural flow of writing.

Starting with this part of False Kings, the experiment has been writing without any regard for panels or pages. It is only when I do the page layouts that I edit what I've written to work in comic form.

Three finished pages in, and I'd say it's working very well. There's a lot more editing of the script at the layout stage than before, but that's by design. Things will naturally be added, removed, or changed to work better in comic form.

For example, Mist's rant in panel three. That didn't exist in the rough draft. It was only when it came time to figure out what would be on this page that Mist's rant came to be, and I could only really know there was a place for it because I was working on the layout at the same time.

I'll likely have more to say about the pros and cons of this approach later. For now, I can think of one con: I don't actually know how many pages I've written ahead. I know I've written plenty of stuff happening, but I won't know how many pages they really represent until later.

Uh-oh?

Probably uh-oh.

Possibly "eep," even.

--

- Thursday EGSNP