Comic 751 -- Saving Maxwell Mah - Part Two

Hey guys, early post! Owing to vacation plans, it makes sense for me to get this online now.

For best results in a riddle game...

... make sure both sides really have to have the same cultural frame of reference. Otherwise, things can get a bit wacky.

Many thanks to reader "janedotx" on the message board for alerting me to the fact that I didn't manage to transfer my old fanfic over to my new website. Whoops! For those of you who haven't seen it, I wrote a story called "Relentless: A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic" some years back. If you're a fan of the anime or manga. (or even if you're just familiar with the original, I guess), you might get a kick out of it.

Ranma 1/2 (by Rumkio Takahashi) is somewhat tough to explain if you don't know what it is. The central premise involves a macho young martial artist who is "cursed" to turn into a girl when he is hit with cold water, and changes back to a boy when hit by hot water. Other people in the series have similar curses that transform them into animals. It's zany martial arts comedy, basically, but it was written in a time when transgender awareness was lower than it is today, so I'm not sure how well it has aged.

Nor am I sure how well my own contribution to the Ranma Fanfic lore has aged, for that matter. The anime and manga versions of Ranma 1/2 were not rigorous about maintaining a shared continuity, and since "Relentless" draws on both, it is particularly un-rigorous. The same can be said of its editing. But you might find something to enjoy in there anyway.

Cheers, everyone...

Comic 750 -- Saving Maxwell Mah - Part One

And on Sharon's side of reality...

... time to spring the other Mah brother.

I love doing sequences in the Exile World. I get to draw dragons and sphinxes and all kinds of fun stuff. Hope you guys enjoy it too.

And hey... 750 comics! Wow. That's either a sign of perseverance or a need for serious editing. Thanks to everyone who has stuck it out so far!

Comic 749 -- Jude's Offer

Time to finish off the prison break...

For Gail, the whole "what would Jesus do" question starts to take on all sorts of new and spooky meanings.

Comic 748 -- How Not to Think Like Vigil

When there's a missile on the way...

... you work with whatever you've got.

Maybe there are some military-minded folks out there who could tell me one way or another if a single conventional cruise missile fired from a US Navy guided missile cruiser could actually destroy something the size of San Quentin prison. I'm going to take it as a given that it could for the sake of the story, but I'd be curious as to whether I'm fudging this point or whether I've actually got it right.

Anyone know? 

Comic 747 -- Hell Is for Children

Gail asked, the demons respond...

... and everything's going to Hell in all sorts of ways.

Hi everybody! Hope you're enjoying the comic.

Comic 746 -- A Crisis of Faith

Keeping the faith isn't always easy...

... especially given everything Gail has been through lately.

The term "dark night of the soul" gets used somewhat ubiquitously these days to mean a rough patch of any sort, but the original meaning was more specific. It was first coined by the Christian mystic San Juan de la Cruz (Saint John of the Cross) in the poetry he wrote while imprisoned by the church for heresy. The meaning is a time of spiritual desolation, when all faith goes away, and the sense of God's presence that the mystic so long has found solace in disappears.

Gail's been due for one of these for a while. And there's no rule saying you only have to experience one dark night...

News Update: Website Hosting & Appearance

Hi everyone,

First off: you're probably seeing weird error messages on the Thunderstruck site. My hosting service seems to have been absorbed by another hosting service, and the migration is causing some glitches. Hopefully this will get sorted out soon. I'll keep you posted.

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In other news, anybody going to Denver Comic Con? If you're there on Sunday at 5:00, drop by Room 404! I'm on a panel called "Polishing You: Finding & Staying True to Your Unique Writing Style." It's been a long time since I've been to a Comic Con, so this should be fun!

Comic 745 -- Interrogating Saxony

Sorry for the delay! Here we go...

Ouch. Sax has not been having a very good day.

Yes, I managed to mess things up a bit by not having all my plans sorted out when I went out of town, but we're back on track now.

Anyway, now that Gail's on the scene, I'm sure she'll be able to talk everyone down here and handle the situation through reason and peaceable diplomacy.

Technical Difficulties

Well... crap. I've encountered some technical difficulties, and I'm also out of town right now. The update is going to be a bit late.

Check back next week on the 6th. I should have it done by then.

Comic 744 -- T.E.A.M. Encounters a Snag

Vigil's elite force...

... isn't having its best day.

Well, when your commando team doesn't succeed, what else are you supposed to do but call in the big guns?