[Trollbabe comics] Tea and Sympathy strip #1

[Ron Edwards]

Hi everyone,

Check out the first strip of the new Trollbabe story, written by me, pencilled by Rod Anderson, inked by James V. West, at the Trollbabe comics page. It's the first one to feature Retta and Tha in the same story!

No, they do not get naked.

This is also the last story I've done for quite a while. For those of you who don't know, I wrote "Sex and Death, With Music" through "Avatar is Plenty" in one big rush, with minor revisions during production. Then as that set of stories rolled along, I wrote "Dusty Musty Wisdom" through "Tea and Sympathy" in the same way.

I have not yet written a third cycle of stories, let alone set up schedules with artists, so this might be it for the Trollbabe comics for a while - unless I get all inspired at some point soon. I'm actually very tempted to write a number of stories without the gals in them for a while, focusing on some of the characters who've stepped up with "lives" of their own.

In the interim, if anyone has any suggestions for nifty artists they know or have worked with, let me know.

Best,
Ron

P.S. You can also see the full "We All Have Issues" story at Jonathan's website, linked at the comics page.

[Andrew Navaro]

Hey, Ron.

I'd be interested in doing a story about Vanth--like a Trollbabe Noir story.  Could be cool...

--Andrew

[Ron Edwards]

Hey folks,

The first half of this six-strip story is now viewable here. Any thoughts so far?

I promise not to snap at anyone ... much.

Best,
Ron

[lumpley]

Don't snap, but: remind us where we can read up on Retta and Oskar's past interactions?

The Goo Feud, was it?

-Vincent

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Vincent,

That's the one!

As it happens, the original intended order for the strips' release was to start with "The Green Goo Feud," with "Sex and Death, with Music" being the second strip. Just worked out differently.

Best,
Ron

[Jonathan Walton]

So far, this is my favorite strip ever.  I love comic stories where nothing happens and the characters just hang around talking.  Characterization, baby!  And Retta and Tha are just priceless.  Priceless!

[Ron Edwards]

I appreciate that, Jonathan.

From the Trollbabe comic news thread a year and a half ago, replying to some comments of Jesse Burneko's ...

Retta's a wanderer and a free spirit - she sees things without judging them much, but when circumstances get too extreme, she simply weighs into the situation based on a very personal connection. The "greater good" isn't an issue to her, but she's sensitive to personal needs. I think her stories will be more entertaining to you insofar as they contribute to a larger story, over the long haul, because the little vignettes just set up material for the consequences of her actions rather than focusing on the crisis of her decisions (as you point out, there's not much crisis there).

Tha lives in a city and has lots of authority and social connections there. She deals with everyone else's notions of the "greater good" all the time, and takes a lot of responsibility for other people's problems that get put onto her. Shit, she even dies for the ghost-wolves at one point. The whole baby-thing is the only thing that's really hers.

Two different sorts of loneliness.

Anyway, there's a peek into the head of the author. I like both gals and think of them with a little sadness, actually, as well as admiration for their boundless energy.

Best,
Ron

[joshua neff]

Okay, a little help here, please. What the hell is the most recent strip (T&S#4) referring to? It's obviously referring to a previous story, but the one line ("Don't be disgusting!") and Tha's shocked look, then then "Of course she tells her" is all dancing around it. I can't remember what story this is referring to, or what Tha would be telling Retta.

[jrs]

I'm guessing Retta's quoting the vegetarian troll Aiga from "A Day at the Circus" (see strip 9 of that story).  Knowing that let's you fill in Tha's "!" comment.  

Editing in to add that you'd also want to re-read "Holy Trollers".

Julie

[ejh]

Yeah, I've found this one a bit confusing too.

I'd forgotten Oskar appeared in the Green Goo Feud until just now.

I'm assuming that the "one really great guy and I should have done something" refers to Aiga (though one might have thought it was Oskar considering he shows up in the next panel), but I'm not clear on how from that, Tha realized he's the "rogue troll" she killed.  Unless she just got it from the timing and description of the scene of carnage during Aiga's escape -- that carnage being what provoked the hunt for the Rogue Troll?  I wasn't clear on that.  No, it can't be; Aiga must have gone on a killing spree later on, after he and Retta parted ways (though presumably he kept his modus operandi of carrying around heads he'd ripped off people).

I never thought Ron's elliptical storytelling style would be able to render nearly incomprehensible a simple conversation over tea... but in Trollbabe Comics, nothing is ever simple, I guess. :)

[lumpley]

Not me! I got it at once. I got a pleasant little "uh oh..." too.

This is a very funny chapter so far. I like it a lot.

-Vincent

[ejh]

Oh, I like it, I just got confused this week.  Also, in my kvetching I neglected to mention that I am *really* taken with this penciling/inking collaboration.  It definitely is a great look, as unique as each artist's own vision but different from both.

[Valamir]

The "great guy" has to be Oskar or else the headsmack when he enters the room doesn't make much sense.

But what I found confusing in the last strip was Tha's "!" response.  Combined with Retta's (look Ron, no "H") abbreviated opening it left me having no idea what was going on at all.  I actually thought Retta's "You what?" in the last panel was supposed to be "You're what?" in reference to Tha's announced pregnancy...the point being it took a few moments for her to process what Tha said in the midst of her own rambling.

But having it pointed out that Retta was talking about Aiga in the first panel, the rest does make more sense as her confronting Tha about having killed him.

Question...why the "!" in the middle panel?  If Tha instead had said something like "Oh, no...I think I may have killed that troll" then the strip would have been much clearer.

[joshua neff]

I went back and read "A Day at the Circus"--yeah, that was a reference to Aiga. Got that now. And it was Aiga that Tha killed in "Holy Trollers," right? (I reread that one, too, and no, it isn't blindingly obvious that Aiga is the rogue troll--but I seem to remember a thread at the time in which Ron verified that yes, the rogue troll is Aiga.) So, the last panel of the current strip is Retta's reaction to Tha explaining that she killed Aiga. Okay, got it.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

As I see it, the role of Aiga in the comic so far requires looking across three of the stories, not including the present one: A Day at the Circus, Holy Trollers, and Vengeance is Mine, Saith the Worm.

The present story clues in the two heroines about it.

Aiga's actual, personal story (note Tha's thought balloon in Holy Trollers) remains untold and therefore the Aiga-story, which is to say, our heroines' decisions about it, is not yet complete.

I'm irked that a few people have passed judgment on the current story while blithely stating that they can't remember or haven't bothered to re-read the previous ones. Given the remaining two strips in this one, I can tell you now that reading the full saga-til-now is absolutely necessary to understand anything about Tea & Sympathy.

Best,
Ron