Chapter V: LXXX
on 20 May 2017
at 12:01 am
I found the missing art boards (I’d left them at the art space where I work once a week, because I’m just that aware of my surroundings) and finished up the inking and scanning today.
I have a big project to complete tonight and tomorrow, so I’ll aim for a Sunday comic next, but probably not a Saturday one ๐
“Matrons are foregoing the overdress these days”
Hahahahaha.
Spoken like a true seamstress. Too bad there is no Paris because her next line should be that it is all the rage in the Paris fashion runways.
“All the rage on the muddy embankments of the encampment and village at Lutetia” somehow doesn’t have the same ring!
One thing I like from your comic is that you show how diverse was the people who lived in the Roman Empire, specially in Rome herself. They were not all Lilly white Italians but from all over the Mediterranean world and beyond.
In this case the seamstress looks like she’s from North Africa, probably a slave working to buy her freedom or better yet already a freed woman.
That is something that slavery in Rome had above all the others, the possibility for the slave to purchase his/her freedom, basically buying him/herself. A little hope, but hope nonetheless. For Romans slavery was an economic issue rather than a racial or social one.
Aha. A Jimi Hendrix reference.
Dolly – Dagger.
I’ve decided to admit that it’s a accidental reference. But how serendipitous ๐
Plenty of room in the front?! What do the dressmakers know that the rest of us don’t?
Sorry it took me so long to approve this comment! I didn’t get the notification that it was waiting in the queue.
The dressmakers might be making an assumption, or maybe they’re simply wishing her good luck with what of course is meant to be every young wife’s goal, or maybe after all that measuring and poking around their client they’ve noticed something. It’s possible a woman with a small frame might reveal some…hints, let’s say, of something pretty early…that’s all I’m sayin’…not that I might have ever spent a lot of time thinking about this for whatever reason or other or something…
Please tell me that you might. someday possibly, please, please, please, put these in book form? It doesn’t always make sense to me, and having to go back and forth to check something on the computer, well… I’ve been reading it so long, since it was mentioned on “Get Medieval” (I think). I even kept the link when you went quiet for a couple of years, just in case.
Hi, Ruth. There is a book! Well, it’s trying to be. I had all sorts of technical issues with the formatting of the files. I’ll let everyone know the MOMENT the books actually physically exist in my hands.
Thank you for sticking with the story! ๐
I forgot to check back and look at your answer until today (June 6). You have just given me a very happy day!!!
I’m so glad! ๐
I’m also working on getting another two comics posted this week. In the meantime, a few doodles and sketches of the day might show up–but I’ll keep the story moving ๐
As always, I love so many things about your art. The little side story across the top, where the kid notices the little girl has a knife. Clearly he’s dealt with little kids before. I love his smile in the 3rd panel (“I’ve got something really great in here, just wait ’til you see it!”) and her little “what’s he up to?” look. I love the classic lines of the seamstress’s face in profile, and that (as another poster mentioned) there are a bunch of different ethnic types in Rome. The seamstress is *so* elegantly dressed, as is fitting for a seamstress (heh, I think I made a joke by accident… “fitting”, get it? ). And the line about “we’ll give you plenty of room in the front”, a common concern when fitting young matrons. Reminds me of something I heard awhile back, that places that make wedding gowns always leave several inches leeway in the seam allowances, because a substantial number of brides become, er, enceinte between the fitting and the wedding. I can hardly wait to see what happens next!
I like to think Iusta’s seamstress goes to Iusta’s hairdresser and vice versa ๐
I also like to think that even though Damon might be an unholy, vicious brat to strangers and people he doesn’t trust, on the other hand, within what he considers his family, he’s warm and devoted–by which I mean, willing to stab their enemies with kitchen knives.
woo hoo, new page!
love Damon going, here’s what you need to try out yon knife!! heh heh heh. you can never have too many sharp pointy things I always say!
You can be pretty sure he’s going to teach the little’un how to stabby-stab things.
Love the expression on Iusta’s face in the first panel; that’s a very young matron worried about how she’s going to look in her new outfit. Perfect capture.
Tho my favorite little bit is the very last bottom panel; I’m guessing that’s Felix offstage right, impatient to see how his inamorata looks in her new dress. And the tone of his voice must be VERY revealing to provoke the assistant’s sly dig about “room in the front”…presumably for her NEXT pregnancy…
Felix is pretty much always game for some adult activity; as we see in the next installment, though, it’s Iusta’s…er…other husband.
What? Did someone say ‘book’?
Do keep us posted
After a veeeeeeery long wait, it’s finally coming together this summer. There were some technology issues, then some me issues. But yes, there will be a book, with the first 4 chapters and a “preview” of chapter V ๐