2-10 The Rat
Sunday, May 20th, 2007– Commentary –
J.D.: Poor Marcus.
Craig: He may be evil, but Ignatius has style. I love how he responds to Marcus’s saying “I hate you” by saying “How sweet.”
J.D.: Well, good stories do require interesting villains. Or antagonists, anyway.
Craig: Marcus and Ignatius have a very interesting relationship. Ignatius is obviously able to command Marcus, but Marcus is an unwilling servant.
J.D.: And Marcus retains some freedom of will, in that he is not a mindless servant, even when Ignatius is exerting his will.
Craig: Marcus is also one of the few characters for whom we show his internal monologue. I believe Leon is the only other character who we do that for.
J.D.: Well, it’s kind of necessary for Marcus, because he doesn’t really have anyone he can confide in. And he’s certainly not going to tell Ignatius these things.
Craig: Yeah, they’re not exactly bosom buddies.
J.D.: (laughs) It’s interesting that you say that, because the origin of the phrase “bosom buddies” or “bosom companions” has to do with the concept of nursing at the same bosom. That is to say, as close as or closer than brothers.
Craig: Oh, I see. Because siblings would have nursed at the same bosom. So in a way, saying that two people are “bosom buddies” are like saying that they’re as close as twins. That’s really interesting.
J.D.: I love how Marcus’s last statement is a prayer.
Craig: Marcus praying that his mother would rescue him is especially interesting in light of his first words in the comic, where he suggests that “Mother” was the one that put him into the box in the first place. Apparently she’s both his jailer and his rescuer.
J.D.: Which begs the question: Why did she put him in the box in the first place?
May 27th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Craig and Jennifer,
1) I found your comic via Roger Barnett’s
links page for Angband — Tales from the Pit.
2) Unless your comics are on reruns, you probably want to update your copyright watermark from year 2005.
3) I’m making a comics links page for comics I read at the above website URL, and have created a link-back icon for fans to use on their sites to recommend your site (free advertising for you). I used your Pen@nce title graphic plus a panel from one of your comics as resources for making that icon. Please feel free to grab a copy to add to your site so other fans can also publish links to your site by copying it to their site:
http://www.well.com/user/xanthian/ComicLinkmarks/Penance_logo.jpg
4) I _love_ what little I’ve seen of your comic so far, and its the first “every four days” update schedule I’ve encountered.
xanthian.
May 28th, 2007 at 1:00 am
Kent: Thanks for linking to us! We always appreciate it when people spread the word about Penance. I’m so glad you like the comic! We love making it.
Thanks for the heads-up about the watermark. We are in reruns at the moment, but we’ll have the correct year on the watermark when we resume new comics.