PANEL 1

VERY excited to get a turn with these kids. I love their designs, I love their weird personalities, and I love that they are maybe the most normal people in all of homestuck. And one of them is a southern gentleman, so you know that’s saying something.

One of the first pieces of fiction I ever published was about a guy who realizes that he is a side character in an immense story about someone else. I don’t recommend looking for it, it’s not very good, but it was one of my first forays into “how does this NPC feel about their role in the story”. It’s especially interesting to me if it’s in a story like homestuck, where everyone sort of knows that they’re in a story.

PANEL 2

I used to sit around in diners a lot as a teen. There isn’t really anywhere else to go besides restaurants and cafes, you can’t get into bars, movies are expensive, etc etc. There was a diner in my town that didn’t care how long you sat there or if all you bought was coffee. At least, I don’t think they cared, they never kicked me out.

Also here we have Chekov’s troll in the foreground, and you know how that saying goes. Can’t have a new troll in the panel if she’s not going to become relevant by the end of the update. Or something.

PANEL 3

I really like the idea of there being troll-owned small businesses. Standing up against the all-powerful encroaching force of Crockercorp.

Silas comes from a pretty conservative, old-money family and probably hasn’t brushed shoulders with many trolls. I don’t think she’s a racist, or anything like that, I just think she’s young and impressionable and hasn’t grown up around the best role models. Good things she’s hanging out with these awesome Woke Teens now.

PANEL 4

And speaking of being woke, what’s more woke than accidentally eavesdropping on a bunch of famous Celebrity Gods’ marital problems.

Nothing like an extremely awkward situation to bring people together.

PANEL 5

Here Avril is suffering under one of the most intense modern conundrums—to post or not to post. Like, we all know that we shouldn’t post. Posting only leads to misery and sin and depravity, but it’s just so tempting. You just have so many things to say, so much salacious gossip to make your numbers go up. That’s the best shit.

PANELS 6-8

Remember high school friendships? Not the good ones, the friends you hang out with on the weekend with and do sleepovers with and shit. The “friends” who weren’t really even friends, just people you had to see every day in class, and tolerate to a certain extent. What a weird fucking thing. I honestly don’t know if there’s any comparable situation to “people you go to school with”. I guess there’s work friends, but you at least have a little bit of control over where you work. You can, I guess, in theory, “quit your job”. You can quit school, too, I guess, but most people don’t. And then you legally have to just be there, everyday, or you and your family gets in trouble with the law. Isn’t that kind of fucked up?

Being a teen is a really weird time to be alive, especially an older teen. There you are, 17 years old, old enough to have developed opinions and routines and a life trajectory, and you still have to raise your hand and ask for permission to go use the fucking bathroom.

I really like Silas’s fancy shoes in this party scene. Incredibly good.

PANEL 9

I love this panel. Everything going on here is just not anywhere near what I was imagining, but it’s perfect. Haven’s composition is always just so on point.

Up until now, war has been conceptual for these kids. Not anymore.

PANEL 10

There she is!! Miss Ruthie. I’m excited for you all to meet her!

See you next time!