Page 995…
UPDATE:
OK. You asked for it.
Here’s Nicole’s letter in its entirety!
I will have this up for only the rest of the day. THen it goes away.
ANyone who wants to read it…feel free to click the link and vote.
Donna wrote this all on her own. And she did it all on a WACOM tablet. So hats off to her for helping out.
🙂
Well… today is the start of the 4 day montage sequence.
Each page will have a letter in the background. Today is Nicole to Felicity. See if you can guess the rest as they come up.
I’m sorry I wasn’t able to put any “montage music” on to the jukebox. It’s been very very hectic here.
I hope you enjoy the next few days. And thanks all for reading along.
Scott
Yay! Montage time!
I wonder if the training period would be less than 3 weeks if Alex was a better student. Any guesses?
Yay second comment! Oh wait… Heh… I like the montage ^.^ Good flow I think.
You got a little then/than thing going on in the next to last bubble. Great layout, I think!
I like this thread so far. 🙂 And those “poor” centaurs. 😀
Now if I can only see what the letters are… Trying to decipher it behind those images. 🙂
Who did the writing? I’m not gonna make fun of the penmanship, ‘cos mine is pretty bad (esp my signature which everyone says I write like a doctor and sign like one!).
I have to say it just keeps getting better ^_^ keep up the great stuff man.
That is a good way of summing thngs up!
The more i would like to learn how to fly while i’m dreaming, it would end up getting borring staying too long at that =P
I’m looking foward to what will happen in the next monatges!
And how will be #1000, the first after the monatges end, if ‘m doing the math right =P
About those letters on the background, i’m now very curious to know all that is writen on it! Though i can see the general content, i would like to read all details! (yes, i’m very curious!). Specialy because next should be Felicity to Nicole, and then orion to Dan and Dan to Orion…. my guess, at least!
Any way we can see the full letter? 😉
Looks like Nicole to me. And as you said. Doctor’s are known for their handwirting and she’s studing to be one.
What’s Your Excuse! *Points Dramatically*
I know doctors have bad handwriting. It’s some kind of requirement for writing prescriptions. Come on though. Nicole’s handwriting is nearly as bad as mine.
Nicole has the handwriting of a serial killer. 😀
i would be intrigued and giddy to see the full letter that is written in the background.
Anyone have any idea what the letter says? It’s easier to figure out the last couple lines, but I can’t really make out anything in the first half of the letter.
Any chance we can get a transcript of what the letter says? 😀
Doubtful. I’ve studied fencing (though we didn’t use big honking swords like that one!), and I can tell you that you might be able to pick up the most basic skill elements in a few weeks; but to use a sword in a real fight and have a chance of survival against a skilled opponent (or a dragon, I suppose) would require quite a bit more time, even for a VERY intelligent individual with athletic tendencies and good kinesthetic learning capability.
🙂
Actually, didn’t Dan say something about alternating with Nicole for letter-writing? So the next may be from Orion to Dan. We’ll see …
😉
C’mon, folks, Nicole’s handwriting isn’t that bad. It’s quite legible, I think! (Of course, mine is atrocious, and I’ve seen much worse than even mine … )
Great page, Scott, love the layout! I especially love the way Kiwi’s trail ties the whole thing together into a sequence.
😀
Aww I’d love to read those letters ^^
I’m really liking Felicity’s expression. You’re great with eyes.
I just back to the pick and there is much more words than that, and the comment about Doctor right after it, it says something about longer lives so that’s not it. 😛
niiiiice technique – avoids lengths in the story 🙂
I like it.
It starts with:
“Dearest Felicity,
…. You would not believe all of the things …..ged ……..can …people we always talked about. It has not been easy…I’m doing………….I miss her every day! I guess that’s another reason I …. to be a doctor to help people live longer better lives! There are so many more things to tell you …… meet again soon.
Nicole”
Sheesh! She’s a college student and has handwriting and punctuation like a 6th grader! The state of education these days!
On the other hand: Perhaps one of SCS’s kids, or one of the kids of the other crew wrote it, then all is forgiven (if that kid is in 6th grade or below, that is.)
Well, the program chose Daniel for my avatar. That’s OK, though I’m more like Nicole out of all of them…
PS “Montage” = “exposition in place of storytelling (for purposes of pacing)”
When handled well, it can be a fun interlude to getting ready for the action. Think of the A-Team or Ash (“Army of Darkness” etc.) building anything.
The real question is, who is the master that this speaks of? Is it Orion, and his flight training/spiritual journe; Nastajia, and the Journey of love; Dan, and the journey of “fixing alex’s issues one problem at a time”; or The Sword, which seems to know a lot more than it is saying right now. Probably not the best way to phrase it, but each of them has a very interesting path for alex to take, as we all know, alex is the student.
Maybe it’s my bad understanding of English, but I don’t know what is meant by that “interior design” centaurs don’t know about. Would someone explain to me? Is it a psychological thing (since I doubt that there is vivisection involved)?
It means decorating your house, usually with the help of a professional.
I can add a little bit to the letter:
Dearest Felicity,
…. You would not believe all of the things that have changed… school now to become a doctor so I can help people like we always talked about. It has not been easy…I’m doing…I miss her every day! I guess that’s another reason I want to be a doctor to help people live longer better lives! There are so many more things to tell you …… meet again soon.
Nicole
Outstanding work as always.
I went back to try to read Nicole’s letter and as I went through the panels it strikes me that Dan’s look is one of surprise. It seems to me that he’s not looking at Nicole, but at something else. He seems to be grabbing Nicole’s shoulder (interrupting her studying judging by the look on her face) and his hand is coming up to point at something.
…or it could just be my imagination. 🙂
I am very amused by dan and nicole. what are the chances they’ll jump at each other’s throats at some point? looks like a heated argument there. 😀
(I’m sure that it could lead to a more pleasing (for them… for us, too 😉 ) way to vent all that heat…)
Scot, maybe you can put up the underlying letters up as a vote incencitive (is that the right word?). This way we can actually read them 🙂
Is it just me… Or does Nicole write like a 4 year old? Hey, since it’s the BAG that’s magical, surely someone could slip in some lined paper… That way people can write in a straight line.
Then throw in some DVDs about Earth. Surely the Dreamlanders can reverse-engineer a DVD player, what with all the magic and what Alex understands about how they work, right?
At least yours can be read normally. I am not allowed to turn in hand-written homework. I have to type it all up. That works out for me, because I am a faster typer than a writer and its legible that way. And I can listen to music or read comments while doing it. Yay for horrible pensmanship! 😀
I take insult to that, my handwriting is much worse. If you can manage to read it, there is a school that wants to hire you just to read my handwriting. Seriously, they have offered a job to any one who can translate my writing in to some thing legible.
Sadly, its the parchment that is instantly cleanable, not lined paper (hide scraping any one?). I doubt Alex could properly explain a TV, much less a DVD player. I also think that Scott tilted the page a little on purpose and then put the montage scenes. I also think there was a previous comment on the fact that the parchment was magical, some thing to do with the instant cleaning that doesn’t damage the parchment in any way I think?
Several comments about the alleged low quality of the handwriting, but nobody seems to have considered the likely reason for this. Items have to be small to fit into the pouch. The writing has to be very small if it is to consist of much more than “Dear Felicity, Love, Nicole”. To become a background for the montage, the letter will have been magnified considerably.
Also wishes to know what the letter says. be a pal. scott and tell us someday. You cant have us wander forever.
Since the master/student text is adjacent to the image of Orion and Alex, and Alex is learning from Orion, I expect Scott was implying Alex is the student and Orion is the teacher. The other things you mention may be happening, but the master/student reference is singular, so I think only the first is implied.
I think this is a case of Dan’s eyes not looking directly at Nicole as they should. Perhaps Scott tried laying out Dan’s image that way and it didn’t look good, so he went with this.
Or an even more likely reason. Have any of you seen a real medical doctor’s handwriting? Such as their scribble on a prescription? Talk about illegible!
I think Nicole is just practicing abysmal handwriting (I understand it is a required course in medical school) for her big day when she gets her M.D.
In my opinion, she’s still far too legible and needs to work on her messiness before she can consider herself a professional. 🙂
You know I just have to wonder. Master of what exactly? He can’t be master or flying since he can’t fly. Is he teaching Alex to fight is he master of combat? But it seems like having four feet would be too different from having two feet so I’m not sure that would work either. What exactly is Alex supposed to be learning?
I have to say, I’m with those who want to be able to read the entirety of the letters!
Also.. for those insulting Nicole’s handwriting… stop and think a moment.. There’s a good chance someone -actually- wrote this. Scott? His wife? Kids? A friend? So you’re not just insulting Nicole’s handwriting.. you’re insulting whoever wrote it. 😉 Hehe
And on that note.. I’ve seen MUCH worse handwriting. The above is actually legible. You should see how some people address their mail (and still expect it to get delivered!!) Plus.. you try writing on paper with no lines.. I know -my- writing winds up going all kinds of wonky.
I just wanted to say that one of my least favorite things in the world of comics and assorted graphical type stories is when letters or word bubbles are blocked out by other things making them impossible to read. It never fails to make me sad. It’s like seeing a book on fire.
I wonder what Nicodemus is doing for those three weeks. . . .
Berating his minions?
Brooding?
Counting his treasure?
I noticed that too ^^; I was distracted by my laughter at the comment overall, though. I think Scott threw that snippet about Kiwi in there just to see if we were paying attention 😉
Disagree with most about the handwriting. It’s very feminine, and clear. It waves around the paper, but that’s common on non-lined paper. It is written slowly and carefully, with attention to detail, but by someone who has been writing long enough to develop their own flourishes and quirks: short risers on d, strong sweep on the descenders of g and y, etc.
I’ll add a little bit more, some of it guesswork from context, partial words or letters:
Dearest Felicity,
[illegible]! You would not believe all of the things that have changed… school now to become a doctor so I can help people like we always talked about. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m doing well so far…[lots of words blocked by the two fighting]… (you……[lots more words blocked by the two fighting]…I miss her every day! I guess that’s another reason I want to be a doctor to help people live longer better lives! There are so many more things to tell you, I will write again soon.
Nicole
Of course, you are talking 8 hours a night of training (potentially more or less depending on time warping an how long Alex sleeps) and potential rehearsal during the day. So he’s going to be learning “faster” (in terms of days not hours) than someone who took even a daily course for a few hours per session.
I’ve made that mistake almost my whole life. Then my college prof twisted my ear (and grade) enough times that it finally sunk in. Then is discribing time. If you are comparing something (ex: I like this better than that) THEN you use THAN. Silly English! Love the page though… I’m trying to figure out who I picture voicing it. Maybe David Prowse…
I totally agree, with you and with Heartsong above.
This handwriting is quite readable and attractive to me, and appears to be clearly feminine in origin.
If I were a betting man, I’d put money on this handwriting actually belonging to Donna Sava! Something to consider …
😉
Yea!! 30th or so comment!!
As a confirmed rationalist nerd, I totally identify with Nicole. I’d totally freak out if I had to accept the reality of Dreamland!!! But it’s a wonderful bit of escapism.
Have you all read Scott’s note in today’s page description? For today only, you can see the original note by voting for TWC on the main page. Donna wrote today’s note.
Hah! That was easy! All we have to do is keep pestering Scott and he’ll do anything we want!
Hey, Scott! Would you please produce a 45 minute how-to-dance-the-foxtrot video featuring Paddington as the instructor and post it TOMORROW? Then Rumba Thursday and The Lindy Friday! Just think of how much fun Paddy will have with all the presses and body throws (a flying Rock Giant is not scary at all)! Please, please, please!
That’s true. I’ve always wished I could learn things in my sleep!
😉
You beat me to it, JakesDad!
(I told y’all it was Donna’s handwriting!)
So what are y’all waiting for!? Go vote, and see the note in its entirety!
Donna has some pretty good handwriting for a Wacom tablet, at least I notice that when I write on a tablet, my hand-writing becomes 25% worse. Sucks about Nicole’s grandmother, it’s hard to lose a grandparent.
Hahaha I saw that, had a bit of a twitch and then immediately checked the comments to make sure others had caught it already. 😀 Hey Scott, aren’t you glad you have such great editors!? 😉
Easy. Vote! It’s a pretty straightforward letter, but through the topwebcomics vote, you’ll see it’s entirety
“than they really wanted to”, Scott, not “then they really wanted to”
She’s probably more accustomed to typing than handwriting.
Aw, Nicole already has a doctors’ scrawl!
😀
Ahh~~ now I understand what you meant by the Montage… thanks for clarifying last time, Scott, but I still thought it was a summary of what already happened…. but now I get it. =D
And I like it =) Both the idea of using the format and how you laid it out =) And great idea to put the letter as a vote incentive =) thanks!
Yeah i agree I was also a bit surprised at how Nicole writes. Doctor notes that I get are usually very cursive. Even the illegible ones are usually cursive that is so squished together it looks more like signatures than writing. But Nicole’s letterings are nice and round, even if a bit messy. But I guess it fits well with the fact that she’s trying to be legible on a tiny piece of parchment paper. It’s actually better than how I’d do =P I’d probably realize I am running out of room at the end and my writing for the last few lines would get smaller and smaller, and then I just sign roughly in the corner =P
And I say Donna did an awesome job considering she was using a tablet =)
Can’t wait to see Nastajia’s or Orion’s writing =D
And awesome letter~ to the point but touching… just like a real “long time no see, let’s catch up” letter =)
That does bring up an interesting point. Will the Wed-Friday montages also have a letter background? If so, will it be letters from Felicity, Dan, and Orion? I don’t see how we can see letters from Dan or Orion without revealing spoilers.
Thanks a bunch! It makes sense now. 🙂
I am I am!
🙂
Thanks guys!
BEST VOTE INCENTIVE …. EVER !!!
For the record…you weren’t SUPPOSED to read what was said.
It’s just background dressing.
Thanks all.
I’ve not decided if I’ll show Dan and Orion’s letters as yes they would be spoilers.
But if I can come up with something mundane enough…I will.
🙂
LOL, I LOVE the line about Centaurs learning more then they ever needed to know about interior decorating.
Just when you were sure it couldn’t get any betterer…….MONTAGE.
GO KIWI! Show those stuffy Centaurs a thing or two!
I LOVE the montage, Scott!
I understand that, and that’s part of the reason I don’t like it. It’s just one of my pet peeves, I’m sure you have some too. But it’s an established practice, so it’s not like I can do anything about it.
So vote for the comic and save the letter to have on hand.
Ha Ha! I loved what you did with Kiwi. Even in a montage, we still get a laugh :).
BIG, BIG Kudos to you, Scott! You got the VOTE button up and have new artwork as an incentive at TWC.
The story is taking an interesting twist now, isn’t it? Your efforts are NOT going amiss, you are rising in the rankings as I write this. I look forward to seeing the letters as artwork for the next 3 days, but I won’t be seeing them until this weekend. I only go to to TWC and vote for you daily, then gather in the pages that you’ve done over the weekend. I do that with all of the comics that I vote for, catching up with a few each day, but I like to save the best for last – and that’s where TDC comes in.
“Science and Fantasy “, “theory of flight”, “master and student”… loooooooool, with the grat big sword I can so imagine Orion saying “open yourself, call the Force, young padawan”
By the way, I totally agree with Ironbandit, great idea of the vote incentive (sooo cute ^^). So let’s vote everyone, keep it up (I mean, voting for a comic’s WAY better than voting for a president… if you vote here, at least you’re sure to get something good out of it. At best… *falls on the floor drooling*)
All righty there people! Yes, the writing is mine…and it’s much better on paper than on a WACOM tablet! Good grief…you try writing a letter with that thing!!!
I love you all!
Donna
Ha Ha! You’re Grandpa Pistacio!
Perfect!
I think the “then” thing was intentional judging by the UPDATE entry with two words OVERcapitalised!
“THen” “ANd”
DUH!
Love the letter 🙂
And I just thought I’d say that for some reason, every time I hear this song I think of dreamland:
http://tinyurl.com/yhyhchj
“Fireflies” by Owl City
Scott, just have the CIA look at Dan’s and Orion’s letters first. For example
Dear Orion,
Yesterday I took your suggestion to ……… the ……… but unfortunately, the …….. refused to move. When I tried ……. instead, it decided to attack me instead with its ……. Fortunately I had on my track shoes, so I escaped with only some ……. to my ……….. Doctor ……. at the Emergency Clinic says my …… should recover within 6 months, but I’ll probably never want to eat peanuts again. Any further suggestions? I’m starting to run out of …….. and I have this idea you may be giving me these suggestions as a ………. joke or a ………. drinking game. Sincerely (writing now with my …… hand), Daniel.
Nice! That’s all you can say to me! REAL NICE!
For the record, Donna, I guessed it was your handwriting from the beginning, and defended you all along.
Tablet or not, you have beautiful handwriting.
(And I still owe you a recipe on your blog; I haven’t forgotten … )
Just so you know, Scott, I suspect Tessa may have something called “Selective OCD”. I have this myself; it is basically exactly what it sounds like: I have a few compulsions, and I will occasionally obsess about something, but I don’t have the full blown OCD symptoms (the counting, the obsessive neatness, compulsive handwashing, etc.). I am told that I may or may not progress to full OCD in years to come.
One of my compulsions, and I suspect Tessa’s as well, is reading: when I see text, I feel compelled to try to read it. (As a kid, I used to put the cereal box in front of me every morning at breakfast, and read the entire thing – even the ingredients and nutrition statistics – while finishing my bowl of cereal.) This compulsion is nearly irresistible, and I feel quite uncomfortable, psychologically, if I am unable to read the text (if it’s too blurry or small, or partially obscured).
For your benefit, Tessa, there are a few tricks to deal with this. First, try to teach yourself to scan over something without actually reading the words to determine if it is readable, so that you can ignore it or block it out (or even physically cover it if need be) in the event that it’s not readable. Once you start trying to read it, you will spiral, trying to fill in or guess missing words, etc. (you know the drill from there).
You might also want to try learning to speed-read, though I wouldn’t get your hopes up there – it will be very difficult to learn. (I never quite mastered it; the best I can do is to scan and get a very general feel of the text, but even that is quite difficult.)
But your best tool will be self analysis. Try to be aware of when you’re becoming irrationally upset about something and when you recognize that you are, step away from it for a while and get your mind occupied with something else.
Hmm. I didn’t really mean to ramble that long. Oh well; I hope that helped – or at least provided a little insight – for one or both of you.
😉
Okay, for some reason my last two attempts to post this have failed. Let’s try this a different way:
http://ohdededear.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/twicipes-a-funny-story-now-on-my-blog/#comment-50
(This would be the recipe I posted on Donna’s blog … )
🙂
After nearly 1000 pages of catching up (more than that if you count the behind-the-scenes pages) I finally caught up with the comic. It took a while, since I was reading them a little at a time, but thank you for making such a great comic. It is a great escape from my hectic life.
I missed the letter… Yesterday I wasn’t able to connect. What a pitty!
I missed the letter… Yesterday I wasn’t able to connect. What a pitty!
Please, can somebody send me it? Thanks in advance!
(You can send me a link or email to [email protected]
Does anyone have a snapshot of Nicole’s letter from the voting? I missed it and dying to read the text…
I’m a man… In spite of these beautiful female picture… 🙁 It was automaticaly chosen by this blog).
Great development with this chapter!
I do have one concern about this page, though. The portions of the letter that are still visible (e.g., not obscured by the panels) possibly lead the reader to make assumptions that are not accurate and could create confusion.
Specifically, the part that reads “I miss her every day!” is perfectly visible, but the reader cannot see that she is actually talking about her mother. This causes the reader to infer that she is likely talking about someone in Dreamland, other than Felicity, that she is unable to see anymore. Readers may then build into their assumptions the notion that Nichole misses seeing Nastajia, Kiwi, or someone else and then wonder why this is not fully explored later.
Me too! Away at a workshop! 🙁
It’s changed to Kiwi since then.
i’m too late too see it D: serves me right for not coming often .
Orion: “Okay, Alex, this is a sword. The pointy end goes in the bad guy.”
Aww, missed the voting for what the letter said… Now it’ll bug me until I completely forget about it.
Aw. I’m a new reader and I missed it. 🙁
New reader. Missed the letter.
I am disappoint. ._.
Missed the letter 🙁
I think that’s Nicoles handwriting. I read some part, “I miss her everyday, I guess that’s nothing…….To be a docter.” So I think its Nicoles handwriting.