Revenge of Ask T Questions

[Alice Macher]

A thread in Michelle's story we haven't seen picked up in a long while is her attitude toward, and relationship with, her father. Has it improved since we saw her hug him after Penny's intervention in "D-Day?"

[Valerie]

T, I may have missed this before, but you mention that Lucy has a "learning disability." Is it anything specific, like ADHD or something?

[TCampbell]

A thread in Michelle's story we haven't seen picked up in a long while is her attitude toward, and relationship with, her father. Has it improved since we saw her hug him after Penny's intervention in "D-Day?"

Absolutely. That story was a giant wake-up call for her parents.

[TCampbell]

T, I may have missed this before, but you mention that Lucy has a "learning disability." Is it anything specific, like ADHD or something?

I've always had a tough time diagnosing characters. Michelle's eating disorder and Cyndi's antisocial tendencies were things I developed holistically, by thinking through the characters' full development, rather than rushing to the latest medical journals. So is the state of Lucy's mind.

I think ADHD might not be too far off the mark, though, possibly coupled with a mild OCD which accounts for her savant-like ability to memorize lines and (with a little coaching) act in plays. She would clearly like to be smarter, but has difficulty following and understanding everything in school and in her social life. Her emotional intelligence is obviously much sharper than her IQ, though.

[Bo Lindbergh]

Is Eyeless Penny deliberate?

[TCampbell]

Is Eyeless Penny deliberate?

This is far from the first time that Jason has left out facial features when he certainly could have put them in with just a few dots and lines. I generally find he uses this "unfocused background" effect to control the perception of the panel. A face, even a simple face, draws the eye toward it, and that might be attention that's better directed elsewhere. I didn't talk to him about this one, but I figured he just wanted to keep Penny's noticing Sara on the periphery of our awareness in panel 1 so we'd be a little more surprised and engaged when Penny confronts Sara in panel 2.

[Lia S]

Before I risk making "what happened to the dead rat?" into a bad meme...

What did Aggie do with Finister after he died?
When will she clean out the cage?

[Jason Waltrip]

Is Eyeless Penny deliberate?

This is far from the first time that Jason has left out facial features when he certainly could have put them in with just a few dots and lines. I generally find he uses this "unfocused background" effect to control the perception of the panel. A face, even a simple face, draws the eye toward it, and that might be attention that's better directed elsewhere. I didn't talk to him about this one, but I figured he just wanted to keep Penny's noticing Sara on the periphery of our awareness in panel 1 so we'd be a little more surprised and engaged when Penny confronts Sara in panel 2.

Huh? Wha-? If you say so, T.

[TCampbell]

Is Eyeless Penny deliberate?

This is far from the first time that Jason has left out facial features when he certainly could have put them in with just a few dots and lines. I generally find he uses this "unfocused background" effect to control the perception of the panel. A face, even a simple face, draws the eye toward it, and that might be attention that's better directed elsewhere. I didn't talk to him about this one, but I figured he just wanted to keep Penny's noticing Sara on the periphery of our awareness in panel 1 so we'd be a little more surprised and engaged when Penny confronts Sara in panel 2.

Huh? Wha-? If you say so, T.

Hey, man, I never assume you're just slacking.

[TCampbell]

Before I risk making "what happened to the dead rat?" into a bad meme...

What did Aggie do with Finister after he died?
When will she clean out the cage?

There was a burial.

A couple weeks, probably. She hasn't thought of it like this, but that'll probably be a sign that her mourning is complete.

[Alice Macher]

In this strip from "Out Front," Stan admits to once having actively misled a girl by claiming he wanted a serious relationship with her (as opposed to the case with Michelle where, as Jack points out, he simply put off saying he didn't want one). Could you tell us a bit more about what went on with that? In particular, does the way the girl is dressed in the flashback panel mean she was a foreign exchange student, and that her cultural expectations influenced Stan's deception for the purpose of sleeping with her?

[Doc Harleen]

I have a few questions:

1. I'm not sure if this has been answered before, but how old are Meighan and Hilary supposed to be?

Also, I've thought about the Sara/Daphne relationship a lot, and I have my own ideas for answers to the following questions, but I really would love to know the real answers:
2. What changed for Sara to make her want to ask Daphne out originally?
3. Did Sara truly never trust Daphne at all, or did she retcon her own past a bit when things started to go south for her in Hollywood? (I assume that she at one point really envisioned a future for them - she did picture them getting married at one time.)

I would also like to say thank you, T, for the "Ask T Questions" threads. I think it's really amazing that you provide your readers this sort of a forum to get true inside knowledge of the characters and behind-the-scenes looks at your process. It's just awesome, and I like how friendly these boards tend to be (virtually flame and troll free - a rarity on the internet). So again, thank you.

[darklion]

This may have been commented on before, but I was just archive-trolling via procrastination and I noticed that #1203, the first page of the August chapter, is missing both the next and latest links.

[TCampbell]

This may have been commented on before, but I was just archive-trolling via procrastination and I noticed that #1203, the first page of the August chapter, is missing both the next and latest links.

No, it's not. Hit refresh.

[TCampbell]

In this strip from "Out Front," Stan admits to once having actively misled a girl by claiming he wanted a serious relationship with her (as opposed to the case with Michelle where, as Jack points out, he simply put off saying he didn't want one). Could you tell us a bit more about what went on with that? In particular, does the way the girl is dressed in the flashback panel mean she was a foreign exchange student, and that her cultural expectations influenced Stan's deception for the purpose of sleeping with her?

Yep, you're pretty much bang-on about this one, right down to the foreign exchange. Stan would point out that he said "pretend" rather than "claim," which is an important distinction in his mind, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference to the girl. It was fairly early in the history of his love life, and the way things shook out with her did make him a bit more careful about advertising his intentions in the future.

Michelle got through his defenses because she practically whipped out a megaphone and said "I AM READY FOR SEX," after they'd only met in passing a few times before that. Also because the Rich connection muddled him up a bit.