Soup the Comic Strip by Alun Clewe
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Comic strip for February 18 2024.
PANEL ONE: The champion rides alongside Xaga. CHAMPION: So, do you, er, summon a lot of ghosts? PANEL TWO: Side view of the champion and Xaga (with Maiz also visible) XAGA: Oh, yes. I make it a practice to summon at least five ghosts a day. I summoned three this morning before you woke up. CHAMPION: For the sake of my continued sanity, I'm going to assume you're joking. PANEL THREE: Slightly wider angle on the champion and Xaga XAGA: I haven't summoned a lot of ghosts before, but I know the principles. It's not that hard, really. PANEL FOUR: Closer on Xaga. XAGA: I mean, if I was bringing back someone from the Vales of the Dead, that would be one thing. But if you're right about the Orb of Souls and your friend is already around as a ghost somewhere, this should be simple. PANEL FIVE: Front angle on the champion and Xaga. CHAMPION: Is it going to take long? XAGA: Nah. Once we get to where she died, summoning her ghost should be really quick. PANEL SIX: Close on Xaga. XAGA: Of course, we won't have any control over the ghost, but if she was a friend of yours I hope that shouldn't matter. PANEL SEVEN: Side angle (and from slightly behind) on the champion and Xaga CHAMPION: So ghosts aren't automatically evil or anything like that. XAGA: Oh, no, not at all. PANEL EIGHT: Closer on Xaga, in 3/4-rear profile XAGA: Well...except, of course, that they DO for some reason seem to bear a great animosity toward anyone who was near them when they died. Nobody knows exactly why. PANEL NINE: Close on Xaga, from the front. XAGA: In fact, invariably, within six months of its death, a ghost will appear to each person who was there when it died, slaying him horribly with a soul–draining touch that seems to be usable only in that circumstance. Other than that, though, no, ghosts aren't any more hostile than when they were alive. PANEL TEN: Close on the champion. CHAMPION: But wait! _I_ was there when Ligiani died! And it's been almost six months now! And...and... PANEL ELEVEN: Slightly wider on the champion and Xaga. CHAMPION: ...and you're joking again, aren't you? XAGA: Well you're SUCH an easy target!
February 18 2024

Phew! Yes! I did it! Another two weeks' worth of old strips relettered (and redated) and uploaded!

Well, two weeks minus one day.

Why minus one day? Because the two-week period in question included April Fools' Day. Now, back during the original run of Soup, there was a common tradition for webcomic creators to swap strips on April Fools' Day; two different comic creators would write and draw each other's strips. This wasn't invented by webcomic creators; it was actually done in newspaper comics first (which were... somewhat more culturally relevant then than they are now), but webcomic creators took up the practice. Anyway, Soup strip for April 1, 2001 was drawn by the creator of a different comic.

So why not just run that strip on April 1? Well, for one thing, the other webcomic in question is no longer online. And for another, due to the leap year issue, the strip wouldn't fall on April 1 now anyway; it would fall on March 31. So it would seem very odd to run a completely noncanonical Sunday April Fools' strip drawn in a totally different style on Saturday March 31. I do still have a copy of the strip in question, and I guess on April 1 I may as well upload it and put up a link to it in case anyone's curious, but it won't be running as the April 1 strip. Or the March 31 strip.

Which means I'll have to write and draw a new strip for March 31. Well, that's still a month and a half away; I'll get to it. In the meantime, I've got about eight more weeks of to-be-relettered old strips to go...