Too tired for news, but there’s lots of new Shades of Fang!
<3
EDIT: Now I am no longer too tired for news and/or commentary. This page is based off of the events in Chapter 2 of Bactine Gallagher: Corn Miner’s Daughter, which is a prequel to the comic itself. It isn’t necessary to read it to understand what’s going on here, but if you’d like further illumination about the event, you can read it here.
I’ve always liked first meetings, as they’re always strange and full of fate. When Ron and I first met, (he remembers it, but I don’t really) I was walking through a building and he was getting some lunch in one of the rooms. I was in a hurry.
“Aren’t you Colby Roberts?” he asked me as I passed.
“What? Yeah,” I said. He smiled in a very friendly way.
“I’m Ron Purcell, Kristen’s and Ben’s brother.”
“Oh,” I said, not really caring. “Hi.”
And I left.
Thus began a period of about a year wherein we despised each other before realizing we actually make really really good best friends.
He still gives me a hard time about it to this day, how I blew him off. Good times.
Meanwhile, in Lint land, I have 2 updates left! If you have questions you’d like included in the podcast, post them here.
-Colby
November 16th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Um okay so I freaking love this page. Just think you should know that. YAY for Bactine with short hair!
It's so fun to watch them go backwards and see everything with your current art style. 
November 16th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
So she really is dead after all? That makes me rather sad; I was still holding out for a happy ending for the two of them. I want Bactine to live!!!!!
But I guess this ending is in line with the Fortune Teller's prediction. =/
November 16th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Yay for the short hair!
I don't know why this pleases me so. But I guess it's bringing the comic a full circle, back to the very beginning. And so now the very beginning is in beautiful color, too, and it's just fun.
And Sangwine is so very pretty.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:21 am
awwww
November 17th, 2009 at 5:58 am
y'know, ever since the comic got more serious ive had trouble with the fact that her name is bactine. like, isnt that the stuff you put on scrapes to clean them?
i mean, theres no way you could change her name, and it totally was fine when the comic was super funny all the time, but now it just seem weird
November 17th, 2009 at 6:23 am
I apologize for any trauma I have caused.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:29 am
i still don't like bactine asking sangwine to be permanently united with a dead woman. i loved them together, but…not like this. anyway, i am still being patient to see how it will end – and loving the fang storylines!
November 17th, 2009 at 6:44 am
She hasn't asked anything of him.
HOWEVER…
what exactly is wrong with that?
Being permanently united with someone you love doesn't mean you're sequestered from everybody else in the universe for eternity. That would just be silly. That's like saying Xylic is the only family member he can ever have because he can only love one family member forever.
This is only scratching the surface of extremely deep philosophies on love, death, and the afterlife, which really can't be gotten into here, but anyway… it's an ending but it isn't an ending.
Their stories have been written far beyond this point; this just makes for a good stopping place.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:46 am
I really enjoyed making this page. It was fun to recreate the first scene style now that I've a fair-to-middling art ability. Also, it was fun to draw Bactine's hair short!!
November 17th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Well, in a way you could say Bactine -is- alive.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:00 am
But wont it be hard for Sang to move on, find a nice elf maiden, and produce the next heir to Schloffelwhatsit? (plus it wouldn't be fair for the nice elf maiden if he DREAMS of Bactine)
November 17th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Yes it would, indeed, be hard.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Xylic can do it
I like his face in the last panel!
November 17th, 2009 at 11:20 am
I put extra thought into that particular expression, so I hope it came off expressing all the things I was trying to show going through Xylic's mind at that moment.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
i am so surprised by your reply – interesting! first, it's very exciting to know that you've got much more in mind somewhere, somehow, for sangwine and bactine and the whole lint story – i am thrilled!
i still don't entirely understand your philosophical perspective here, but i like it that it's complicated and possibly even above my head. one thing that you do, for example with henry's storyline, is successfully make your readers feel smart – ha! that is a talent. but here i don't get it and i'm ok with that – maybe i'll understand better at some point when you pick up the story again publicly for us! that is to say that i'm with lyssagirl – it's not that i don't believe in soul mates, per se. i do – believe in the possibility. but…sang says here he'd never want to wake up – that doesn't strike me as a good thing, and it does seem to be what bactine is offering him, tempting him with. besides bactine, the advantages would be beyond the imagination – sangwine could consult with his father and previous heads of state on governing, he could pass a message from his mother to fang, or xylic's mother to him – all kinds of awesome. it's just — i'd want him to enjoy the smell of hay, and maybe even make friends with al'bert, have children and so many tangible things in the real world too. well, perhaps the one doesn't cancel out the other…i do like the possibilities you raise and discussion you open with this.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I love flashback!!!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
goodness, i didn't know until way later, and i don't really care! Bactine's an awesome name!
November 17th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
hehe
Xylic: hey watch it, pretty boy!
Bac: O… M… G…. he looked at me!
love that last panel!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
That Sangwine would say “I'll never want to wake” is not a good thing, but it's to be expected; he has mortal fallacies and weaknesses just like everyone else. As far as whether or not Bactine is tempting him with it, you'll have to read the next two pages.
She sacrificed everything for him already… I think it's pretty safe to say she selflessly wants the best for him, in any circumstance.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
SQUEEEEEE!!!
I love this page! It's so pretty! I was going to say 'especially Sangwine', but then I would have had to say 'and especially Bactine, and especially Xylic'. So the whole thing is gorgeous. 'Kay?
(I agree with Rachael, too)
November 18th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Bactine (and Xylic, in a way) had a real punk attitude in the old days; I never really realized it before, but looking at the way that Bactine had her hair cut real short, her style of dress, and the way she lounged against that wall looking at her fingernails before she noticed Sangwine–that's kind of what it reminds me of. Of course, she has cleaned up, and gotten more sophisticated, and more romantic with the way that Sangwine has shown her the world beyond Mud City, and into her own heart. But at least she still has (or had, whatever tense it might be in her case-present or past) a wild streak..
November 18th, 2009 at 10:39 am
It's true, they were sort of ne'er-do-wells. Not really, but kind of.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I absolutely love everyone's expressions in this page, they're great! ^.^
November 18th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I watched Angie from across the room in math class for two semesters before I had the courage to say hi…
November 18th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
*rolls eyes*
Boys…
November 18th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Awwwwww! I can see you guys with your math and your sums and your products and your irrational numbers being all not-talking. I miss you guys! (and Utah)
November 18th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Only two? How saaaad! I'm going to have to read it from the beginning again! Now I'm like afraid to look for updates…
November 19th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Yes, boys are dense. She practically had to hit me over the head with a 2×4 to get me to take her on a date.
We miss you too. I feel particularly bad for not taking the opportunity to be together more often while you were here.
November 21st, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I'm glad you put in that line “I'll never want to wake.” It was the first thing that popped into my mind when she began explaining it. But then I find it pretty hard to wake up anyway. My dreams are amazingly cool
But, y'know, even with the people you really love you don't want to see them ALL the time. Otherwise you have nothing new to talk about. After a while I can see him being all “Hey Bactine.” It is kinda the only way they can stay together… He's an Elf, she's a human. It was almost inevitable that Sanguine would outlive her.
November 25th, 2009 at 10:10 am
I kinda feel like when webcomics don't update more often, I get disconnected… when they talk about something, I'm like… wait… what?
Not saying you need to hurry, its just thats how I feel… I get all caught up in the story and I'm like great story! and then I get to the last update and look up and see how often they update and i'm like… great…
But i seriously love the way you are taking your time and making it beautiful as you can… you can really see the love you've put into these last pages…
seriously, you should consider making another one!
can't wait to see it! (expectation…?)
^-^
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:01 pm
So, I'm going to toss this out there. On the previous page, Sang says he doesn't really remember his dreams. Maybe then, he has met Bactine many times in his dreams, or altered states, what not, already. Perhaps it is like being in a state of enlightenment: it happens, but he comes out of it he doesn't really remember much of what being in that state was like. So while he says he'll never want to wake up, he has to wake up. By not remembering the meetings he has with Bactine, he is able to go about his day being king. If he did remember, he would indeed just try and go back to sleep, if sleep is what it is.
Just thoughts out loud here. Can't wait for the next page and have some questions answered and heartstrings tugged.
December 5th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Kind of like a really weird version of 50 First Dates…
December 9th, 2009 at 10:25 am
… TBeen awhile since the last update… is there a status update that I'm missing somewhere?
December 9th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
agh! that's a disturbing thought – what a double-life! i doubt that's what's going on – he will begin to remember them from this point is my guess, but i could be wrong. anyway, though we only have two more comic pages left to lint for now, i think this will all be answered by colby. read fang – read it now!
December 10th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Sorry! Concerts and Christmas have made me busy! I updated the status on the right sidebar. Thanks for checking in and for mentioning it!
December 10th, 2009 at 11:01 am
You'll just have to read it all again once I get done
December 10th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Sorry! Concerts and Christmas have made me busy! I updated the status on the right sidebar. Thanks for checking in and for mentioning it!
December 10th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
You'll just have to read it all again once I get done