After seeing her in female form, I asumed she was the "Spirit" that saved Jack on the 3rd Attempt by Broadshoulders to kill Zandra/Bannish her to hell.

crack open a video of "within you" from labyrinth. come to think of it, Tomie's wardrobe is a bit reminiscent of the set from that piece.

Very nice! I'm charmed that you made such a connection. And I do love that movie.

Alright, I'll go by your suggestion. You might need to help me with this, I'm suffering "art blindness" a little. I'm too close to the work to accurately perceive the flaw yet, so it's difficult for me to correct. I've altered the panel slightly, can you tell me if it's improved?

Yes! Amazing how the tiniest line can make such a big different.
Unless I was just imagining everything and nothing was actually changed :p
Nothing looks off to me anymore though. I hate to nitpick something so small when the HOURS of work you put everywhere else on the page is so good. It was just in the perfect place to be distracting.

Well, thanks very much for pointing it out to me! Sometimes it's hard to tell when a mistake is made until it's too late.

Looks fine to me as of 10/2 9:03am (eastern)

Really? Cuz I kind of want to give Tomie a "yes, you're sexy" hug.

God's sake... haven't a clue how that could possibly have happened. Just one of those comics where every fourth thing seems to go wrong. But thanks for pointing it out.

Canny observation!

I would also like to know this.

It seems to me more likely that Tomie's exquisite appearance reflects Jack's opinion of her. Cast by someone who did not regard her so highly she might have looked very different, but for Jack, Tomie is beloved, at least in the philosophic sense, and that is writ large on her for the world to see.

Here's how I think this whole thing is going. We know Jack likes sexy women, see last page. He's got his friends with him again. Tomie, meanwhile, is a book. She's afraid that she'll be put back if she does not appeal to Jack because she'll mean nothing to him. It's funny, but it's like she's trying to objectify herself to stay around Jack. Tomie is wholly in control of what her shape is, I think, and she's using it as a perceived advantage.

I don't read their relationship as a sick one. I see a lot of influence from certain medieval tracts which define the evolving relationship between the magus and the work. And I defy you to produce an example of a female that Jack thinks is unsexy.

...I would, but there isn't actually a major female character that Jack's met that we've spent time observing that isn't in some way idealistically beautiful. Closest we get is the Werewolf Alpha, who made Jack panic. Though I believe we should cut the conversation, lest I get into an extremely negative in-depth observation of the webcomic that leaves a sour taste in everyone's mouth.

Go ahead and express your thoughts if you'd like. I might not disagree.

I do worry about the prevalence of idealized figures in this comic, especially lately. I'm not sure I can defend it, but I can at least say that I'm aware of it, and that it concerns me. And that it's... surprisingly difficult to keep from doing it. Which might be a cop out. But there's clearly a part of me that enjoys drawing sensual figures, and I guess the inclination has grown hard to resist as my style has progressed. And another part of me doesn't want to stifle the impulse... artists are used to obeying their muses.

But believe me, I never meant to capitalize on sex appeal, or to enforce the notion that good people are pretty and bad people aren't. I hate that trope, and the comic wasn't made to be that kind of eye candy. There's not intended to be any prejudice against people who don't fall into an aesthetic or erotic standard, and it frustrates me that I've fallen short of clarifying that within the narrative. All I can do is hope to take advantage of opportunities to rectify that impression in the future.

That, and a surprising number of web-comics I read, though not many, have either white/caucasian leads or nonhuman leads. The only two that come to mind, are Order of the Stick's Roy Greenhilt and Godslave's Edith, both of whom are black. Meanwhile, Zebragirl's diversity has come in the form of a black policewoman, Viv, and Tomie, whom I count as nonhuman. By my self-created rules, a nonhuman character cannot qualify for increasing ethnic/racial diversity in a work. It's an odd problem that I didn't think would occur in webcomic format given the independent nature of the work at large.
And, lest we forget, I must also note that villains are rarely ethically/racially diverse either. This I view as a good thing. You're not suppose to like villains, and making them of a minority would compound issues.

Well, there's Anna Galactic too. But I know what you mean. That's also been a concern for me. Believe me, it's crossed my mind before that there didn't seem to be enough ethnically diverse characters in the comic. And it's been brought up before, too.... I remember one reviewer said that it was "inexcusable."

I'm not sure I'd go that far... it seems to advocate tokenism, the idea that it comes down to filling a quota. But it's still something I'm aware of, and I've tried to mitigate the lack of diversity over the years with Lord, and Suze, and Viv, and Tomie, and Shaun. Though so far only Viv and Tomie have been more than supporting characters, and both you and the reviewer that I mentioned have said that Tomie doesn't count. Which strikes me as maybe slightly harsh, but okay.

Actually, if we're being perfectly honest, I always thought of Doyenne as non caucasian too. But shading skin was difficult and dodgy back when I only used pens. Come to think of it, that's actually kind of the primary reason why I didn't draw darker-skinned people more often throughout the formative years! And it's a dumb reason, I admit.

In any case, again, this is something I'm aware of, and something I'd like to improve in time. But this comic does move slowly, and it's difficult to introduce new cast members at this point while giving them enough time and space to come into their own as more than minor characters. And I have to let the story grow organically, along with all its pieces.

I hope we see Doyenne again someday. I *liked* her. Although I figure Wally would give her a piece of his fist... and his teeth, and so on.

Have you ever looked at historical african art, or indian art, or japanese art, and noticed the people don't look tinted? When everyone's the same color, color ceases to be an issue, and people get drawn as white because only the facial features matter.

It took cultural diversity to make it necessary to express cultural diversity.

You are a beancounter, keep your quotas away from art

Tomie appears to be a West Indian to me, not a non human like the crazy rabbit.

True, but she's also a book. Her human form is a construct that either she or Jack made for the purposes of not weirding out everyone they meet, among other possible reasons. That's kind of what I meant by non-human. She (probably) didn't come about in the organic life-form way. She was written into existence.

On the other hand, from our point of view, the point of view that can judge racial imbalances like this, they all were written into existence.

Wow, way to descriminate against Tomie just because she had a different birth and upbringing than most people.

I don't know about the lack of racial diversity.

It seems to me that Joe has included PLENTY of racial diversity.

You've got Lepus Americans, Lupine Americans, Lamia Americans, Daemonic Americans, heck, that's only to name a few! Oddly enough, I suspect that Joe will include whatever racial types he feels is appropriate to the story.

There would be the possibility that some over sensitive types COULD misinterpret Joe's meaning, if he were to use an ethnic minority as, say, a vampire or werewolf or some such. Someone might interpret that he was trying to demonize said minority by, (in this case) literally, demonizing said minority character.

This would turn into a no win situation, and I seriously doubt that ANYONE want's to see that happen.

Well, then again, there ARE those out there who just want to see the world burn...

If so, remember... Bring plenty of marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers!

*Expresses boundless gratitude!*

As far as I understand the mechanism behind Jack's shirt, is that it belongs to him in a magical manner. We saw it extend, shapechange, get torn to shreds, we saw it move as if winds tore into it while in an interior. I believe that Jack's shirt is no longer a piece of clothing, but a part of his soul and a projection of that part into the material plane of existence...
Theories...

But he was without it for a while a few pages back. Like it had to rest, or something.

Hmmm...

Actually, I'm of the opinion that the Shirt Of Plaid is now magick, or more precisely, it is now composed of woven magick.

The Plaid that everyone sees is its projection of itself into the minds of the observers around it, as it's true form is incomprehensible to the mortal mind.

Either that, or magick is sapient and just likes screwing with everybody's minds!

Just sayin'...

She IS a library. A gigantic private library. Probably filled mostly with porn, knowing Jack...

Yeah... long time.

Weird? Not the word I'd use. It's the ambition of artists to build bridges between imagination and real life. I'll thank you for finding such a bridge, it's the greatest comfort an artist can have.

It's my genuine pleasure to strive to deliver more. Thanks very, very much for reading and enjoying what I've put out, and for letting me know. It means more than I can describe.

Aw! Thanks for that. Good to know.