Dave Van Domelen (dvandom) says: I am reminded of a Xxxenophile story involving a secret agent trapped in the body of a dog….
So It Begins (soitbegins) says:
I notice that:
1) ‘Tip’, in addition to the gender-inappropriate sweater, is also wearing gender-inappropriate (a) skirt, and (b) high heels.
2) ‘Unity’ does not look like Mell Kelly… KIDDING! She actually kind of does.
3) The dog can TALK?!
Tiff Hudson (tiff_hudson) says: Awwww…Unity has the sweetest pout.
Steve Ford (sford) says:
I think it’s the rifle that makes Unity look like Mel. But I must admit a bit of spatial confusion on the silhouette on panel 2. Does Unity have two pigtails?
This darn comment board’s spelling checker doesn’t work. And since it’s not just a normal html text box, firefox’s spelling checker doesn’t work.
Cameron Nielsen (cameroncn) says: Yeah, looks like she does have two pigtails. See the zigzaggy line above the first in the last two panels? What I’m wondering is, is Unity black? Something about the way she’s drawn makes me think she is, but it’s subtle enough it could just be dramatic lighting. She doesn’t really look like Mell, IMHO.
A.G. Hopkins (blackbyrd2) says: Sounds to me like Tip and Unity are on a team designed specifically to recover super-intelligent animals created by Mad Science. But for what purpose? FOR WHAT PURPOSE?? BUAHAHAHA!
bzzzzd (bzzzzd) says:
Pigtails usually come in pairs, otherwise it’s a ponytail. Of course, some avante-gard girls wear one on the side. Mel does not strike me as the pigtail-type of girl, or one that would work for the government. The ‘dog’ appears to have gerbil-y features, and since ‘it’ talks, it is an obvious genetically modified animal, so could be transgenetic (or maybe the lovely Shannon just draws that way). I only say ‘it’ because the animal’s gender has not yet been revealed. In other news: So, it’s official; Tip’s a he. That makes his entire outfit gender-inappropriate, unless he’s a transvestite. Maybe it has to do with the sex of the lion’s dead master, some psychological trick to make the lion less aggressive. If that’s the case, it doesn’t seem to be working, unless the lion chewing on Tip’s head in a gentle, loving way.
Marvelous Patric (themarvelouspatric) says: maybe unity is a relative of mell’s somehow? like unknownst to her? and then we can have a huge crossover battle? and all sentences will end in question marks?
bzzzzd (bzzzzd) says:
Oops! I made the mistake of saying DEAD master. The master was arrested (I’m assuming they don’t cuff dead people). My bad. As to Mell, or the Narbonics, or Dave or Caliban (Tip’s resemblance…) even being a part of this universe, one can only wonder…
Justin Grubbs (the_purple_knight) says: There’s no way that Unity is related to Mell. Unity is not an Irish name. At least as far as I know. I also think it’s sad that we’re all hoping so desperately for some kind of crossover. It’s pathetic. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m not hoping the same thing.
Justin Grubbs (the_purple_knight) says: And after further analysis, I think Unity is black.
Tiff Hudson (tiff_hudson) says: I just realized Unity is wearing a lovely heart motif blouse, the perfect accessory for her profession – in Shaenon’s world. (P.S., I want a rifle like Unity’s in .308 Winchester. Then she and I could go for long walks in the countryside, shooting antler points off deer. Woot! When I die I want to come back as a character in one of Shaenon’s comics.)
Rachel (admiralshazbot) says: I think Unity’s got one long ponytail flying around her. In the second panel, it’s waving in the wind next to her left cheek.
And now the introduction of the rest of the team. I like how the flow of the dialog shows that Sweetheart outranks Unity (breaking expectations) without having to resort to her breaking character and being aggressively bossy. Also, how Unity, despite being perfectly on-model, is posed such that you’re not going to notice her more striking physical characteristics unless you’re paying a lot of attention. It’s like there’s so much weirdness to share that they’re doling it out just a bit slower than they could so as to give your brain time to adjust to the previous weird thing.
I feel for Tip’s sweater in panel one.
Ok, I never noticed this before, but panel 3’s silhouettes help transition us, and clarify that the people we’re seeing are the very same in the sniper position on the previous page. Lose that panel, and I could see myself getting confused in panel three. There’s an entire language here that I hadn’t seen before.
K G (muppetk) says: EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Dave Van Domelen (dvandom) says: I am reminded of a Xxxenophile story involving a secret agent trapped in the body of a dog….
So It Begins (soitbegins) says:
I notice that:
1) ‘Tip’, in addition to the gender-inappropriate sweater, is also wearing gender-inappropriate (a) skirt, and (b) high heels.
2) ‘Unity’ does not look like Mell Kelly… KIDDING! She actually kind of does.
3) The dog can TALK?!
Tiff Hudson (tiff_hudson) says: Awwww…Unity has the sweetest pout.
Steve Ford (sford) says:
I think it’s the rifle that makes Unity look like Mel. But I must admit a bit of spatial confusion on the silhouette on panel 2. Does Unity have two pigtails?
This darn comment board’s spelling checker doesn’t work. And since it’s not just a normal html text box, firefox’s spelling checker doesn’t work.
Cameron Nielsen (cameroncn) says: Yeah, looks like she does have two pigtails. See the zigzaggy line above the first in the last two panels? What I’m wondering is, is Unity black? Something about the way she’s drawn makes me think she is, but it’s subtle enough it could just be dramatic lighting. She doesn’t really look like Mell, IMHO.
A.G. Hopkins (blackbyrd2) says: Sounds to me like Tip and Unity are on a team designed specifically to recover super-intelligent animals created by Mad Science. But for what purpose? FOR WHAT PURPOSE?? BUAHAHAHA!
bzzzzd (bzzzzd) says:
Pigtails usually come in pairs, otherwise it’s a ponytail. Of course, some avante-gard girls wear one on the side. Mel does not strike me as the pigtail-type of girl, or one that would work for the government. The ‘dog’ appears to have gerbil-y features, and since ‘it’ talks, it is an obvious genetically modified animal, so could be transgenetic (or maybe the lovely Shannon just draws that way). I only say ‘it’ because the animal’s gender has not yet been revealed. In other news: So, it’s official; Tip’s a he. That makes his entire outfit gender-inappropriate, unless he’s a transvestite. Maybe it has to do with the sex of the lion’s dead master, some psychological trick to make the lion less aggressive. If that’s the case, it doesn’t seem to be working, unless the lion chewing on Tip’s head in a gentle, loving way.
Marvelous Patric (themarvelouspatric) says: maybe unity is a relative of mell’s somehow? like unknownst to her? and then we can have a huge crossover battle? and all sentences will end in question marks?
bzzzzd (bzzzzd) says:
Oops! I made the mistake of saying DEAD master. The master was arrested (I’m assuming they don’t cuff dead people). My bad. As to Mell, or the Narbonics, or Dave or Caliban (Tip’s resemblance…) even being a part of this universe, one can only wonder…
Justin Grubbs (the_purple_knight) says: There’s no way that Unity is related to Mell. Unity is not an Irish name. At least as far as I know. I also think it’s sad that we’re all hoping so desperately for some kind of crossover. It’s pathetic. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m not hoping the same thing.
Justin Grubbs (the_purple_knight) says: And after further analysis, I think Unity is black.
Tiff Hudson (tiff_hudson) says: I just realized Unity is wearing a lovely heart motif blouse, the perfect accessory for her profession – in Shaenon’s world. (P.S., I want a rifle like Unity’s in .308 Winchester. Then she and I could go for long walks in the countryside, shooting antler points off deer. Woot! When I die I want to come back as a character in one of Shaenon’s comics.)
Rachel (admiralshazbot) says: I think Unity’s got one long ponytail flying around her. In the second panel, it’s waving in the wind next to her left cheek.
Wow Sweetheart looks different
And now the introduction of the rest of the team. I like how the flow of the dialog shows that Sweetheart outranks Unity (breaking expectations) without having to resort to her breaking character and being aggressively bossy. Also, how Unity, despite being perfectly on-model, is posed such that you’re not going to notice her more striking physical characteristics unless you’re paying a lot of attention. It’s like there’s so much weirdness to share that they’re doling it out just a bit slower than they could so as to give your brain time to adjust to the previous weird thing.
I feel for Tip’s sweater in panel one.
Ok, I never noticed this before, but panel 3’s silhouettes help transition us, and clarify that the people we’re seeing are the very same in the sniper position on the previous page. Lose that panel, and I could see myself getting confused in panel three. There’s an entire language here that I hadn’t seen before.
Sweetheart feels like she looks a little different, in the early strips? More rectangular, maybe?
Her facial expressions always really amaze me, though. You can totally see her tone shift completely, without relying on anthropomorphizing traits.