Actually that's Chris's favorite too. personally my favorite Chris expression is panel 4 of 21

http://www.madinkpress.com/comics/and-chris/issue-21

that was when we started getting into really making the character's appearance mailable, but without loosing the sense of realism. while i love that expression in issue 4, i still feel that it's a little jarring next to the other expressions, too extreme a shift.

"child-like Chris" on the other hand is not only appropriate, but Aodhan says he is fun to draw.

still my favorite variant so-far is "Barbarian Aaron" (which is fun to say... barbarian Aaron...) specifically in the upcoming issue 50.

That or George and Stephan's look in tonight's update (47)

He's an Aryan barbarian!

I was going to say that Aaron was Swiss but he informs me that he is Swedish... and not sweetish...

personally all i know is that sweetish is different from Swiss in that one is a cheese and one is the flavor of grandpa candy, however, aaron has said that he'll be happy to loot and pillage the apartment to demonstrate the distinction.

This is important to note, and i don't have it up in enough places yet. with the exception of some name changes, every character who shows up in "...and Chris" is either someone i know personally, a famous individual, or a direct reference. there is not a single named character who has ever shown up in the scripts that isn't someone i have an emotional attachment to in real life be it pop culture, fiction or my downstairs neighbor. If it's not my making fun of a star of fictional character (in which case i think it's usuially pretty obvious) it's someone i know, with a subtle name change or a slightly different hairstyle. Marishka actually does look like that, lives downstairs, and harassed us in much the same manner, but that's not her real name. (though come to think of it Chris and i called her Marishka so much that i can't remember what her real name actually is...)

the fun part is they almost ALL read my comic, and they always recognize themselves... so when a new comic goes up i get phone calls.

Are you referring to Swedish Fish? Because those are awesome. But I'm sad that I can only ever find the red ones, which are my least favorite, anymore.
I did assume that the characters were all real people though.

yeah... especially the George GM for George-quest... we always used to make fun of him for looking like Dr strange!

and i don't have that problem but then again i live in a city where there are candy stores that specialize in Swedish fish of all varieties, and you can buy jellie bellies assorted or sorted by the kilo!

still, I'm certain you can find your little fish in the pig pond we call "teh interwebs"

What? The internet is just a series of tubes, right?

Also, is George-quest a real (in whatever sense you want to take the word) game? By which I mean, is it fictional, invented by someone you know, somewhat obscure, or am I oblivious for having not heard of it?

it's a home-brewed version of original rune quest that we called "insert real name of the person here"-quest. he hated it, i even made up character sheets and a logo for (name)quest, compete with frilly letters and over the top sword. I printed the logo up in large format and gave all the players binders with the logo on it.

it was awesome. we don't play it anymore though.

back to teh topic of artwork... i absolutely adore that Aodhan uses Kirby dots.
http://www.madinkpress.com/comics/and-chris/issue-42

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_X2Flh5CSe80/SY8uTsz8nEI/AAAAAAAACY8/Nbn9TJY7X8E/s400/Molecular+Master+


http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/33krackle.html

i think it's amazing and i think more people should use it. It's a great effect.

This is not at all a post entirely designed to give a preview of Aaron the Barbarian. Nope. Nothing to see here at all.

here we go. barbarian aaron in his final form!

we tried to give him the squint-y badass look in as many panels as possible.

If I am ever half that badass in real life, I guarantee you I'll have like eighteen medals of honor.

I'm enjoying this conversation. Thanks for pointing out the Kirby dots. Very nice. I also enjoy the evolution of Aaron in the artwork. His ascent to warlord is barely a metaphor for his latest transformation. Just compare his worrisome visage in the bottom panel of issue 13 to the central mural of issue 49. Wow!

Don't worry. He goes right back to 13 again. I wouldn't want to give him TOO much glory.

besides, who else would we make fun of? Marishka?

just passing by

Dear Kalman, you address an important issue, add some diversity to your characters. You should add a female character, say.. Emerson?

I have no idea who this is, but sir i salute you.

For those of you who don't know, Emerson is one of my best friends who lives across the street from me and who is scheduled to make an appearance as a regular somewhere around #100.

Emerson has wanted to be in the comic for a long time, so I'm saving his debut for something special, though i do like your suggestion.

What else do you have in store, you monocled, Hatted specter.

I do say my good man,
You know me quite well,
But if answers you're after
It's not I that will tell.

Though I'll give you a hint,
Indeed a specter I am,
Here but for a moment,
Then back on the lam.

-The Veritable Hatter

is it... the March Hare?