Soup the Comic Strip by Alun Clewe
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Comic strip for March 24 2024.
PANEL ONE: The monster holds up a villager in its tentacles. PANEL TWO: The champion and Xaga hide from the monster in an alley. CHAMPION: Okay, the monster should be turning back into Maiz any minute now... XAGA: I'd be a little more confident if that weren't about the twentieth time you've said that over the last three days. PANEL THREE: Villagers run from the monster. PANEL FOUR: Xaga and the champion run from the monster. PANEL FIVE: The monster swallows a villager as Xaga and the champion look on in dismay. PANEL SIX: Xaga and the champion run from the monster. PANEL SEVEN: Xaga and the champion look back as the monster rears up. PANEL EIGHT: The monster starts to shrink. PANEL NINE: The monster continues to transform, its fur retracting and its multiple eyes merging. PANEL TEN: The monster continues to transform, looking now almost like Maiz. PANEL ELEVEN: Maiz lies in front of Xaga and the champion. CHAMPION: Whew! That's a relief! PANEL TWELVE: Side view of Maiz, Xaga, and the champion. MAIZ: Yeah, it's kinda good to be myself again. CHAMPION: That, and I'm glad that really was you and we haven't been chasing some random monster around.
March 24 2024

So, no, I still haven't written the strip for March 31... at least, not completely. But... I have figured out what it was going to be about, which was a big step. This strip was going to be slotted in between a bunch of existing strips, so it couldn't really introduce a new storyline, and couldn't do something that didn't fit with the surrounding strips. Should I focus it on Erlak, or on the champion? The previous weeks' strips had just featured the champion, and the next few strips would focus on Erlak; I could either do a strip that kind of followed up on what had just happened with the champion, or do one that sort of led into what was going to happen with Erlak next week. Or I could do an unrelated strip that still made sense just before or after the appropriate week.

Or... wait, there was a third option. What about some other, minor characters who hadn't been seen in a while? Well, Snormar had just appeared in the strip; the Duke and Jarum were going to be seen again very soon... but then it occurred to me that the answer was obvious. I'd been saying in past commentaries that I ought to have Nizini do more; well, this would be the perfect opportunity for that. I'd have the strip featuring Nizini, not talking to Erlak or doing a favor for him, but doing something that didn't involve Erlak at all. It still took me a while to figure out what she would be doing—again, since the strips before and after this were already written, it would have to be a self-contained strip that didn't require immediate follow-up—but I finally came up with an idea I like.

I have not, however, come up with a punch line I like. Oh, I have a punch line... I just don't really like it, and am holding out hope I'll come up with something better. Eh, we'll see.