The Early Bird

THIS FRIDAY: we return with both a new comic and a new round of Q and A! As always, if you've got a question you'd like answered, just pop it in an email with "Q and A" in the subject line, or hit me up on twitter!

MEANWHILE: would you like to own the complete Sam and Fuzzy series in print? Because there is still time to get in on 'em, even if you missed the Kickstarter. In our preorder store, you can grab the last two volumes, or a complete series set! (And/or, you can nab our mega discounted complete ebook bundle, which is available on it's own or bundled with our physical books. It contains all of our main series ebooks, plus a bunch of fun bonus collections!)

Ok friends, that's all for today. See you on Friday!

-Sam Logan

Jess Stars

We're back, with a new episode of Inhuman Relations. Come back on Wednesday for the next one!

Someone on twitter referred to Jess as a "breakout character" the other day. I never thought about it, but I suppose that's true! I kind of forgot how minor a character she was when she was first introduced. But as it turned out, she was a lot of fun to write, and worked as such a great second banana to pair with Dev or Gert. That later part in particular is what probably what ultimately earned her a place in the regular cast, even after she'd served her initial role in the story as Mr. Sin's double agent. But now, I'm having a lot of fun writing a story where she actually gets to take the lead.

-Sam Logan

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A:  Ageless Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"Is 27 Jess' real round-the-sun age, or a translation from slug people years? (This is the kind of question you get if you remind us Jess is a Slug Person!)" -James

I will level with you, James... I just made up Jess' age on the spot as I was filling out her dating profile, since I had to put something in there to match the standard format of Tinder.  Perhaps we should interpret that to mean that Jess herself also made up that age on the spot. I have no idea how old she is!

"With the revelation that most of the Underground was tar-born, I’ve been thinking about how much of the Underground this actually represents. Mr Sin for example was a space gopher, and the wolfpeople blur the line - regular humans, but having an allergic reaction to vampire bites.

What proportion of the Underground is not born from the tar? And are there above-ground humans whose ancestors might be humanoid tar-constructs?" -Brad

That's a good question! The general theory is that pretty much all the major inhuman species of the Underground orginated as tar creations. These species all long predate the discovery of the Pit, so if they really are tar born, it must be from previous times in history when humans encountered other smaller pockets of tar and (possibly accidentally) transmuted it with their thoughts. (That's presumably why most inuman species feel like the product of human imagination... vampires, talking animals, and so on.) I think of wolfpeople as tar-born as well, just in an indirect way, since their existense is a byproduct of tar-born vampires.

Of course, the inhumans in S&F are generally the descendants of these hypothetical original tar-born inhumans, since it's been hundreds of years since anyone had access to tar. Even the wolfpeople we see are mostly just descendants of other wolfpeople, rather than former humans. I think the only speaking inhuman character in the comic that I'm willing to say was definitely born directly from transmuted tar is Rexford. As for tar-born humans, I think it's technically possible, but it hasn't happened anytime in known history.

Mr. Sin, on the other hand, is definitely an alien. I have some thoughts about exactly where and how he came about, but I gotta save them in case I ever want to make a comic about it!

"Was it easy writing Hazel as asexual, or did you find it a challenge?" -Alexander

I would say it wasn't any harder than writing any other character! This might sound kind of silly, but it's not super hard to write about a character's lack of interest in something. Hazel has a lot of strong goals and desires that propel her story. I always just focused on those things.  (And I mean, it's not like Hazel is the only character I write who isn't interested in sex. Fuzzy seems pretty functionally asexual... I think the rare times we've seen him express any kind of attraction to humans are probably just him trying to appear masculine.)

To be honest, my biggest concern with Hazel was ensuring I didn't accidentally imply that the things she was struggling with --her deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy and inability to forge lasting social relationships -- were somehow connected to her being ace. Hazel isn't lonely because she is ace... she's lonely because she sabotages her friendships by prioritizing her quest for the Pit. I hope that's clear to folks as they read the story.

That's all for today, team. But come back on Monday for our next comic!

-Sam Logan