Enter Ashley, Stage Right
So here we go, another edition of Missing Number…
This comic introduced David and Chris’ strange nerdy next door neighbor, Ashley. We had fun doing this one, all except our inker, who didn’t like the amount of characters he had to ink for this one. At this time, we hadn’t yet refined our inking/coloring cycle, and it took around 10 hours to ink, by hand, pixel by pixel…
Joke’s on him! The next one has even more people!
Our color guy also does our backgrounds, and was somewhat unimpressed with his “pile of couch debris.” He said it looked like a pile of play-doh with stuff sticking out.
Reminds me of “Devil’s Thumb,” from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Except without the creepy music. Or mashed potatoes.
Quench our thirst so we can make more comics! ($2.50 for a 6-pack, $5 for a 12)View Transcript
There’s a “Knock, Knock!” at the apartment door. David walks up and opens the door. “Hello?” he asks.
Standing on the other side of the door is a tall man with blond curly hair, square gold-rimmed glasses. He’s got a purple vest with a gold embroidered “greater-than” sign on the left breast. Undernith is a darker purple shirt and a white long sleeved undershirt. Purple colored shorts and white leggings with leather boots. All in all he looks like he just popped out from an RPG.
“Hi!” He says. “I’m Ashley, your next door neighbor. I came over to say hello…” He then gestures to a box of Dr. Peppy cans in his hand. “And provide some carbonated, caffeine laced beverages.”
David takes one look at the box. (Dr. Peppy: Drink a barrel roll!) “Come in, good Sir!”
David gives Ashley a once-over. “You sure are dressed wierd. Going to a gamer convention?” He pops open a can of Dr. Peppy.
“Actually, I just got off work. I work at a game development company, and we all have to dress up like a character in the game.”
“A game programmer?” asks David. “Chris has always wanted to meet one. I’d bet he’d bow down at your feet if you two ever meet. So, what are you working on?”
“I’m developing the language for ‘the Ancient Ones.’” He gestures broadly. “It’s hard work making up a language from scratch!”
“I can imagine,” David responds.
“So, you living alone?” asks Ashley, looking across the room, taking in the small pile of couch debris.
“Nah, I moved here with my best friend. He should be here any min…”
The door slams open and Chris dashes through holding a box over his face. “Gang way! Com’in Through! HEAVY BOX!”
He trips over the pile of couch debris. CRASH!!!
David leans over his friend, stretches prone on the ground. “You just dropped a very heavy box on the toes of our next door neighbor, Ashley.” He pauses a moment. “He’s a game programmer!”
“A GAME PROGRAMMER?!?” shouts Chris, suprised.
What Ashley said with the heavy box on his toes were completely non-translatable, both for the fact that it was in the language of the “Ancient Ones,” and, well…
…it wasn’t quite G rated.
[...] April 30, 2009 Blank version of this comic: http://missingnumbercomics.com/missing-number/enter-ashley-stage-right/ [...]