Chapter V: LXXXXIIII
Back again, after the break for getting the printed book sorted out.
For the month of October, I’ve decided to try drawing the comic digitally, since I planned to be on the road a lot this month (and sort of on the road, at NY Comic Con). There may be a bit of a learning curve, and some panels may end up being tweaked (by which I mean, “obsessively fussed with) after posting. So far, though, the learning curve isn’t as severe as the last time I tried drawing the comic digitally. I think that’s because of an improvement in the tech, not me.
I find that drawing digitally makes my line a lot looser–not necessarily evident in this comic, since I forced the line into line–so we’ll see how that develops.
Well, I have to pick my jaw from the floor. This I did not expect.
Felix requesting help from Domitia instead of pleading to Titus is not the norm.
My understanding is that Domitia, through her family connections, was pretty well tied into the Roman power structure in Flavian times. And the historical accounts suggest that she and Domitian were particularly attached to each other.
So this seems to me to be a pretty astute play from Felix. It goes around the fraternal rivalry to someone more likely to influence Domitian in a positive way, and also seems less like a direct affront to the Flavian gens; it’s a soft power move rather than a hard one. Felix the former grunt seems to have learned the old cavalry adage that one get’s over heavy ground as lightly as one can…
While we knew that Felix can think, he is more the type of going full charge into the enemy defenses. This is a lateral move, that coming from Felix is quite novel.
But I think that he got the idea after talking with Mus and of course remembering the times when Domitian caved to his wife’s desires pouting like a misbehaved child.
I hope the sense that Felix had a push into trying a different sort of strategy did come across from his conversation with Mus; and from knowing Domitia has made Mus her pet project; and from Felix being called out on his tendency to punch and/or stab and/or throw you off a roof and/or threaten to get you punched/stabbed/executed….
It does, but as I said it is quite a nice twist seeing Felix try a non-direct approach to get what he wants. And Domitia is a really powerful ally against Domitian. She is the only person who can control him, if anybody can that is.
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/1.809751
Are the late books still being shipped? I answered the Kickstarter survey August 25, I think.
Things are just this past week resolved with UPS wanting to take back the whole shipment to assess the damaged (and lost) books. I’ll be shipping starting Thursday when I’m back in town.
Thanks, Klio! 🙂
Cleo: I saw Justa at World Fantasy Con. Same cute little upturned nose and red hair. Oddly enough it turns out Just has a charming Aussie accent. Who would have believed it?
that’s a long lunch they are having.
Well, Roman meals were a spectacle. Dancers, singers, circus performers and the food of course. 🙂
Plus, they get to lay down to feast. In my case, naps after lunch would be pretty much obligatory
Hey, Klio! Are you okay? Just busy with life, I hope. And/or with straightening out a whole mess with lost and/or damaged books, it seems. Anyway, send up a signal flare. Enquiring minds want to know what happens next with Felix et al. (Hey, I just spoke Latin and didn’t even mean to! I suppose I should have said “et alia”.)
Hi! Sorry for the long silence and hiatus! Modern life (work plus flu plus omigosh the work draaaama stuff) has taken away all my brain cells. I…think…they’re starting to grow back. Any day now, Felix will be frolicking and Mus will be moping and Iusta will just be trying to get all her boys in order….
I thought Felix was moping, Iusta was frolicking, and Mus was getting all his boys in order. ‘Cause…he’s single now…
happy to hear you are okay! as for RL taking over, can totally relate, so no worries!
Okay, I lose all my info for 6 months and now you go and print a book! Aaaagggghhh!! Feel my anguish! Is it possible to still get one, please?
Just checking in…hope the hiatus is just IRL getting in the way and not, say, the effects of war, fire, plague, or volcanic eruption.
Monthly check-in for July…you okay? Still there? Hello? Is this thing on..?
I exist! Adjusting to a new job, trying to get things moving—always trying to keep moving 🙂 And how are you?
Yay! Glad to hear you’re okay. Hope the new job is going well and things are moving along.
The world of epistolary Internet relationships sometimes feels like what it must have been back in the day when you sent a letter off to your pal in Mediolanium hoping they were still there and not massacred in barbarian invasion or dead of the plague six months earlier. You don’t hear anything back for half a year and you start to worry; “Did I hear someone in the market say they’d heard a trader say there’d been a big fire in Mediolanium..?”
Anyway, I’m out in the hot Portland summer in boots, work pants, viz vest, and hard hat, and feeling a certain rueful kinship with Felix’s mates from Legio X Fretensis slogging away in the Judean heat in their full battle-rattle. Well, minus the Judean rebel attacks, of course…
Anything new happening? I’m loving the story, but I see it’s nearly a year now.
Sorry it took so long to approve this comment. As you’ll see, I’m just returning to the story!
You should be able to post comments without moderation now 🙂
Coming up on the anniversary of the last strip. Will Felix ever get lunch? ;<)
Only about a week to the anniversary! Can Klio get a strip under the wire..?
Five days and counting…
No pressure, right? 😀
There was another comic after this. I think I disliked the art so much, I redacted it out of existence, and then forgot I did that. But I still have it (it’s digital art). I could clean it up today, even….
:O
Under the wire…and to victory!