Let's Talk This Out

This was a hard strip to post. Even though it's not real, and even though this story does not mirror my own life situation, showing my characters in vulnerable places is never easy. I've always strove to create multi-dimensional characters, and during the initial writing of JC I realized 2 very important things: First, Caitlin's obnoxiousness wasn't happening in a vaccuum; something was going on there. Second, after drawing the strip for several months not only had her mother not been introduced, but at no point had I ever even tried drafting her or writing her in. She simply wasn't there, and adding her just didn't seem right for some reason. I finally realized it was because she'd died, and thus this story arc came about.

When I first drew this story arc this particular section was very clunky and disjointed; as a kid I knew where I wanted it to begin and end, but I really made a hack job of the middle section. It took almost 3 whole weeks of cutting strips, adding strips, and untold hours of dialogue editing to hit this point in the strip. We're about 2/3 of the way to the end of this arc, but I'm very pleased with how it's progressed to this point. I hope you've been enjoying it too, dear reader.