Princess Fluttershine, Part 11

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The Script For Today's Comic!

Princess Fluttershine

SCENE:
Still at Branch’s house. Tom has regained control of himself, perhaps slicking back his hair in an attempt to be penitent, as he stands – figurative hat in hand – over the shrinking figure of poor, irritating Branch. This should be the big “Say Anything” moment where the character has an epiphany. Branch, on the other hand, does not change expression significantly while he’s talking. She is completely unreadable, a Sphinx.

TOM: Look, I… didn’t mean to yell.

TOM: But you don’t have any long-term friends outside of Karla. All you have are these guys who listen to you to try and get into your pants while you blather on about Michael Crawford.

TOM: And they all leave you. Because you’re annoying.

TOM: But you keep hanging around with us, and I think you’re lonely. It’s hard to say because you’re a freak, but…

TOM: Maybe you can’t just say things right.

TOM: So maybe we should do the campaign by email, where you won’t freeze up when I look at you. You can show me what Fluttershine does when Branch isn’t nervous. And maybe that’ll help Branch a little.

TOM (gruffly embarrassed in the face of this monotone extravaganza that Branch has given H-I-M spells “him”): That’s it.

(He leaves.)

(A small heart appears over Branch’s head, connected by a little jaggie, as she clasps her hands together and smiles in actual radiantness. She is totally head-over-heels in love.)

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Ferrett Says

Today marks a first in Home on the Strange history in that this is not the end of the storyline. It is merely a convenient break before we continue onwards. I promise that things will get much much stranger as time goes on, and this is going to develop in very psychotic ways, but it’s time to show something else for awhile.

The problem with HotS is that it’s telling a rather large story, but spending too much time on one thing can get monotonous. I have about fourteen panels a week to work with, and that’s really not a lot. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I feel like I’m trying to squeeze an ocean of plot out through a toothpaste tube, one tiny panel at a time.

If you were reading this all in one shot? It’d work. It’d take you ten minutes to get through it, and it’d be fine. But the medium as presented here is three times a week, and three weeks is a long time to stay in a room with the same basic configuration of characters. And for every week we spend here on the Tom/Branch/Karla bit is occluding the Tanner/Izzy relationship, and the Seth gaming stuff, and some kooky stuff with Tom and Izzy.

We can go serious for only so long. Trust me, we will be returning to the Princess before the year is out. But for now… Well, next week is just cheap jokes. I hope you enjoy.

Roni Says:

While I agree the stories feel much longer in real time than they do as a script, I'm untroubled by taking our time to tell them. Compared to animation, where one short story would take me an entire semester, the pace which we tell Home on the Strange is down right speedy.

That or even my subconscious recognizes telling the stories faster means more drawing per week and my fingers curl at the thought. I'm already drawing as fast as I can!

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