Missing Menander

[spqrblues]

I was fixing the order of pages in one of the SPQR Blues portfolios and discovered two things:






1. Because of a misnumbering, the drawing countdown was off by 100. Although it's off anyway, because of random pieces of art done over the years and not included in the total, the new "official" countdown stands, as of Friday's comic, at 5070. Getting down to zero now? Piece o' honeycake. Suuuuure :P

[edited to correct the number AGAIN: I guess this means I haven't missed celebrating the halfway mark.]




2. When I pulled out a sheet of illustration board that was tucked behind a smaller sheet, I discovered unfinished pencils for a missing Menander comic. It would have been the first of a sequence showing where Aster gets her little kitten that needs nursing.

Menander leaves Speudon's house, after seeking him out (dressed in about five layers of body-hiding clothing) for some disastrously unhelpful advice on love and sex. On the street outside, Menander rescues the kitten from boys who are taunting it in a fountain.

I don't remember why I didn't finish the scene. Maybe I felt it slowed things down, or maybe I simply misplaced the sheet.

In any case, see it now below.






 

Comments

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Showing Menander as an actively, unselfishly compassionate person in this way illuminates his character and connects him more strongly to the "bakehouse people." His affection for Mus can be read in a lot of ways, but this is a situation where there's no personal payoff for him: it's pure kindness, in the same way that Felix getting him away from Domitian was a kindness.

Possibly it felt weak because his foils here are NPCs, essentially---if he intervened in this way against a known character in the strip---say, taking the kitten from e.g. Cynthia to save it from being drowned as an unwanted one---maybe it would feel less digressive?

TBH without this I assumed Aster has kittens because there are lots of them around a fish-pickle factory, and she's probably trying to dress them up, too... togas don't really work for that, but I'm sure that kittens with garlands and ribbons were a thing.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I do think of Menander as the sort of person who's been through mistreatment from the ugliest aspects of humanity but who can still show compassion to others because of the kindness shown to him. Whereas Damon may have gone the opposite road, but he did save the kitten too.

Hmm. That makes it doubly important to add the scene back in. I could use Cynthia for the scene, or bring back the two NPC boys who tried to grope Elisa in the shrine. One of them even got a name, while Vibius was threatening to break his fingers.

True, the fish-pickle factory would probably be inundated with cats and kittens, making themselves useful keeping down the vermin population. This occasion clearly calls for a kitten dressed up with ribbons on a post-it.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

D'aaaaawwww!

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

"Noticed 2 things…"

1. This is awesome.
2. This is awesome.

As a fellow artist, I implore you to not "finish" the unfinished, sketchy work.

I love seeing stuff like this as it shines a light on an artist's working process, their thought dynamic, etc.

But also, realizing the artist-thing, you do whatever the hell you want, it's your work :D No pressure

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

No pressure :)

The rest of that sheet of illustration board is blank, and I was thinking I might recreate the unfinished strip beneath the original pencils and carry on from there.

[corvideye.livejournal.com]

I'm quite intrigued by the modesty post-it...

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Only one other person has seen under the modesty post-it (the amazing artist Dylan Meconis (http://dylanmeconis.com)) and I'm still embarrassed :P I decided the newlyweds needed a little more privacy about their fumbles and stumbles, and readers could probably figure out what they were up to without additional details :)

[corvideye.livejournal.com]

I think the way you conveyed it in the finished strip was very elegant, leaving the reader to use their imagination. I'm just the nosy sort that wants to peek into the previous artistic process!

[amedia.livejournal.com]

So. Much. Love.

It's awesome to see Menander setting out to do something on his own (consulting Speudon). The answer he gets: *zing!* Probably not the answer he expected, but very realistic on at least three levels: realistic because he is, after all, a slave and has to do what he's told; realistic because, as Speudon points out, he is no longer an exceptional child (which reminds me of the plight of Dr. Daystrom in "The Ultimate Computer"; and realistic because, who better than Speudon to present it as a slap in the face?

And then Menander saves the kitten, and I just want to take him home and snuggle him. Not something he set out to do on his own, but it shows what he does spontaneously--which really indicates his character.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

That settles it. I'm definitely drawing the kitten-rescue scene!

[amedia.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely drawing the kitten-rescue scene!

Yay!

And I just realized something.

I read a bunch of these on my cell phone, so I was going back through them on the computer to get the hover-text.

I saw the alt-text over Menander, Aster, and the kitten ("Menander with two kittens" - d'awww) and then I saw again the panel where Talicus loses control of Damascina and Menander has turned to shield the girls from the horse--saving his kittens to the bitter end.

Which makes the first kitten-rescue foreshadowing.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Menander has turned to shield the girls from the horse--saving his kittens to the bitter end.

That panel is on the "tweak this art" to-do list. I want it to be just right :P