Templar: Like a kid getting caught with Dad's Playboys.

I've got to say, Ben's going to get a lot of negative feedback for that ending if he puts it up on a Livejournal or something. XD

I'm also glad to see that as an adult they can't force him to come back, but I've got the feeling they could make his life a living hell.

And ooh, the knock at the door? Could it be Regan who'll discover that Ben secretly writes smut? ^_~

One final thing, I linked to Templar, Arizona today in my comic since it's inspired me to try to incorporate backgrunds more as well as build up the history of my own fictional city. Admittedly, my artwork still sucks but I'm trying! ^^ Thanks, Spike!

Oh my God, Ben's smut ... I had a friend in middle school who would send me e-mails JUST LIKE THAT. Love it.

Ahhh. I'm a sucker for a good ending to a story. Like the the videos someone posted on YouTube that show the original ending to "Little Shop of Horrors" that I never even knew existed. God, that would have been the BEST MOVIE EVER if they'd left it that way, but nooOOOooo, the test audience wanted a HAPPY ending. Sheesh. Some people.

Anyway.

I am more and more curious about Ben's life back in Yakima, and how he was seen by his parents and shrink. Because so far all we've seen of the conversations with the doctor has been about the consequences of his leaving, and that everyone up north there felt that was the wrong thing for him to do; and nothing about why he wanted to leave and why that was the wrong thing to do even though he's an adult. I wanna know, darnit!

Wednesday is a bad day for me otherwise I would offer to be your tour guide for Philly.

Email me for my cell # and you guys can call me in case of emergency (if you get lost or whatnot)

Hah. Wow. I didn't expect the smut to turn like that. Got some deeper issues there Ben?

Also, even though he doubted it before, I bet he thinks the knock on his door is his parents.

I'm rooting for it being random Cook guy again :-P

Once in my 9th grade English class, our teacher gave us the assignment to write a different ending to Romeo. I wrote one that was well-written, but—predictable—as no one (or only a few people) died.

I had time left over when I finished so I decided to write a joke ending too. There were many silly insults amungst the characters, and the last three paragraphs involved the characters running around slicing each other with swords and knives--often lopping off body parts in a Monty Pythonesque way. I ended every third sentence with "And blood splattered everywhere."

When we finished our short endings we had to hand them to another student to read out loud. It made things extra funny, and even the teacher laughed (but was relieved when I gave him my real paper). :)

Is that therapist in bed with Ben's parents? Because it really sounds like they are trying to guilt trip him into going back.

I get the feeling that this wouldn't be the first copy-book that ended that way.

Hell YES go to the Mütter Museum. Oh man, the swallowed objects alone are worth it.

Then since you probably won't feel like eating (unless you are a lady of fortitude) I suggest Oscar's, on the 1500 block of Sansom, for a tall, cheap glass of beer. Of course there's oysters down the street if you like to party like a Roman emperor.

I love Ben. He always looks to me like he hasn't washed his hair in a couple of days.

That's not why I love him, just, y'know. Observing.

What did Ben spit out? I thought it was a pen, but on second glance it looks like an unlit cigarette.

Ohhh, I know who those sketches are by.

Don't worry, I won't tell. ;)

Well, and this is from the personal experience of someone close, in the case of some psychological disorders - borderline, most prominently - counselors and other low-level mental health professionals fairly typically wind up being 'recruited' by the borderline parent in group talk sessions.

The person I know had a mother with borderline personality disorder and their weekly sessions with a counselor turned into her mother *and* the counselor haranguing her together about how her horrible behavior (95% of which being imagined by her mother or trivial stuff like not folding clothes properly) was ruining her mother's life.

A psychiatrist will generally recognize borderline, a psychologist might or might not, and a counselor is almost always worse than nothing at all.

So... yeah. Between that, the primacy of 'mom' (borderline is largely female) in the fuck-you letter, and the therapist treating Ben like he's a naughty child for leaving his poor, unoffending parents behind - and really overemphasizing the level of control they have over him (it's a common characteristic of bpd to presume entitlement to absolutely ridiculous things - the one I was talking about earlier spent a month calling her work, then calling her phone company trying to get her information using her SSN, after she left and severed contact)... it wouldn't surprise me.

The third panel makes it look kind of like a candy cane. Speaking of which, what month is it? Ben's been there for two months and it's not summer. Is it the holidays there too?

It's one the cigarettes that reagan gave him on page 64 (end of the first chapter).

Hey! I've been reading Templar for a while, but never noticed the comments section before. Anyway, after learning that you're interested in human oddities, I thought I'd point out this excellent website that I spend way too much time reading: http://www.thehumanmarvels.com/

It's possible that you've seen it before, but if you (or any other interested parties here) haven't, then it's definitely worth checking out.

Love the comic, by the way.

I love this page so much.

You know, that would be a perfectly acceptable ending to erotica in Japan. In fact, it's naggingly familiar.

Spike, do you do your own lettering, or do you use a font?

When I read it, I got the feeling that he only typed that ending as a joke, because his shrink was annoying him. Y'know, take it out on the characters? I have a feeling he'd go back and erase it later and finish it the weay he meant to - I can't picture Ben writing something so whack as that.

Could be wrong, though!

And it's totally an unlit cigarette.

Having written smut/romance fluff for pay before, I feel Ben's pain! I have done precisely that, right there. "AND THEN ROCKS FALL AND EVERYBODY DIES AND RAVENSNATCH MANOR EXPLODES BECAUSE I HATE THESE PEOPLE."

It's immensely satisfying. I even had the same grin.

I was going to wait for the new blog post but I can't keep it in anymore ... WHAT HAPPENED TO ZORA'S HAIR!?

My guess: either lice, or kids-getting-into-stuff-they-shouldn't.

You don't have to shave a child's hair off to treat for lice. I'm thinking she got into something she should or she's having a rough time adjusting to school (IOW - bullies).

You don't have to shave a child's hair off to treat for lice. I'm thinking she got into something she should or she's having a rough time adjusting to school (IOW - bullies).

I'm thinking it's a Jakeskin thing.

That said it's pretty adorable in a sad kinda way that she's just holding her little fish clip.

you...you don't have to shave off all the hair for headlice?

but. They shaved /my/ head. i was in third grade. They shaved half the class. ;_;

Yeah, you can use that noxious white foamy shampoo-stuff and a really really fine comb. Hurts like hell though. Not sure what would be worse...

By the way, Spike, just thought I'd tell you about Tomgeeks.com (if you haven't already heard about it). It's a webcomics community for female webcomic creators. I was linked there from another webcomic and thought it looked great, so I've been looking for female webcomickers to invite. Go along and see what you think, at least it'd be extra publicity (not that you need it) :D

Sorry to ask, I just have a question...

What just happened in the last few pages? I'm a bit confused about Ben's wandering around. Did he go to his parents' house, take the note and go back home? Is there a cat at both houses? Are they two different cats? Or...?

I'm just feeling a bit.. out of place. Sorry for confusion!

Ben was writing his, er, story and thinking about the day he left his parents' house. This was probably triggered by the doctor trying to guilt him into coming home and Ben remembering that he's not sorry that he left.

I'm sort of confused about where we are right now. That's gotta be Zora, but wasn't he just leaving his house a moment ago... *rereads last few comics*

In any case, not sure if you've heard about this, but thought you might be interested. (Sorry for the long URL... HTML doesn't seem to be working on here.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=499240&in_page_id=1770

To everyone that is confused: it's called a flashback.

Ben is not in Yakima anymore. He was remembering when he left while writing smut and talking to his therapist.

Hmm...Is the art in the sketch updates done by who I think it's done by? ...The style looks familiar.

Why would the hair be a jakeskin thing ? It's Bo who's Jakeskin, (Bo who missed practice to get AIDS) Not Reagan or Gene...

That's a pretty good shave for childhood mischief. Shaving your head is hard, guys! I want to see how she did on the back. Then I'd know if she had help.

Wood, Gene is the Jakeskin.

http://www.ironcircus.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=13020#13020

Also here:

http://www.ironcircus.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=14463#14463

Oh right, so it's Gene they were talking about on page 74 of chapter 2 ? I always assumed it was Bo, because it looked like they were talking about somebody who wasn't there...

Oh dear...zoraaa.... What have you DONE?

"Oh right, so it's Gene they were talking about on page 74 of chapter 2 ? I always assumed it was Bo, because it looked like they were talking about somebody who wasn't there..."

The conversation went like this:

Moze:
"Emma wasn't so bad. She could bake."

Sunny:
"... Emma married Gene, Moze. GENE. That's NOT FUNNY."

Moze:
"Eh. He's Jakeskin. You know how they get. Probably got ten more running around."

Now I'm confused ... what is Jakeskin?

Yeah, totally enjoy the Mütter Museum! It was my first Philly museum experience. But I recommend the Nodding Head, same block as Oscar's but with excellent home-brewed beers.

She hasn't explained what "Jakeskin" is in the comic, yet, but I betcha we're going to find out very soon. BTW, the little fishy pin is an amazing touch. Poor Zora, she had lovely hair.

That last panel, wow. The look on Zora's face is perfect. It says "I thought I did something right, but your reaction is making me nervous, so I'm going to get all defensive now..." The little touch of her fiddling with the fish pin...genius.

Some spoilerific previews for people curious about the Jakeskin religion, from a forum thread:

http://www.ironcircus.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=13020#13020

http://www.ironcircus.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=14463#14463

Wow. I am almost crying about Zora.

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