Well, I was hoping to have this page up earlier but I spent most of last night making edits to a few pages to some pages of chapter 1 because they are TOO HOT FOR WEBTOON. I fully admit that was probably the spicest 3-4 pages of chapter 1. Shout out to Webtoon for being quick to restore those episodes when I made the edits. I've read about people being mad at Webtoon for removing their episodes and giving no reason (they are vague in their takedown emails), but if you ask them politely they will tell you specifically why it got removed. I have some thoughts about my intentions with that scene. For reference, it's the scene when Ivanhoe and Marina meet for the first time

I don't entirely agree with Webtoon's removal of those pages but I also understand why they did it. I definitely toed the line of what's appropriate, and the inappropriateness was intentional! Part of my intent with that scene was to be a) funny and b) start Ivanhoe and Marina's relationship off on a real shaky footing. And when I say relationship, I don't mean romantic or sexual, just their dynamic in general. To be clear, the most that happens there is some kissing. As of Chapter 2 (where Ivanhoe IS 18), he and Marina have never hooked up.

I had a dream recently that people piled on me in the comments about how Marina is portrayed in the comic and I was like "Oh just you wait!!!".

Anyways, she and Ivanhoe are supposed to have an uncomfortable relationship! Ivanhoe is 100% in love. Marina joined the crew strictly out of necessity because she was on the run from the law (I haven't forgotten about this tidbit!). But then she stayed because she enjoys the antics. She keeps Ivanhoe at an arm's length because she knows how he feels and she really doesn't want to lead him on. Ivanhoe chills out a bit up til the epilogue when he shoots his shot again. This is the last straw for Marina and things get really awkward between them (hence why Georgio becomes their go-between).

I really can't go into too much detail because spoilers, but if you're thinking "wow it's kind of gross that Ivanhoe won't stop hounding her" and "how they met was gross", well, it was 100% intentional. And it's not even the worst thing that happens in this comic. LOL Buckle up!

It's mostly off-camera, and the comic gets into it more later, but Ivanhoe regularly ignores Marina's boundaries. When she found out how old he was, she was immediately uncomfortable, but Ivanhoe doesn't care. He's trying to grind her down until she submits.

Now for this week's page, I've been DYING to introduce Smith, Ralph and Brad. This week's page has a new image size! I've been using my ipad for inking comics and the image quality on it sucks ass! So I've upped the resolution and hopefully it looks a bit better for people reading on a tablet and hopefully less dead space on the side for people on mobile. Eventually I'd like to make all pages this resolution.

Character name trivia: Ralph is named after Ralph Wiggum, the son of Chief Wiggum on the Simpsons. Brad's last name "Gunn" was chosen because it sounds like "gun" and he's a redneck. Smith was originally going to be named "Chester" and Ralph always called him "Chess" but I thought it sounded too nerdy, and instead I went for something I thought sounded WASPy. I was rewatching Mad Men recently and decided he needed a last name for a first name, like Brooks (who marries Roger Sterling's daughter).

I had originally planned on naming Miriam "Marian" but I'm dumb and forgot Marian's name. I had also considered Rowena as her name for the English folklore connection, but I thought it was weird naming her after alover of Ivanhoe or Robin Hood. Miriam just stuck, and it's a good name.