From the original resolution image;

"Bodybuilding Luchessa Dawnwake"?

So, I gotta ask. There are a lot of references in this side-arc to things that seem to have happened off-camera, like Arti dying in the first place, Vinci's suicide, Greer existing at all, etc etc.


Do you have to have read something else to get this whole thing?

I don't think so, just have to read through each one of the side arcs to get a feel for it. I may have missed something, but I picked up on it from just reading all the side arcs through and filling in the blanks. If someone knows otherwise let me know though cause I'd love to fill in the blanks with the actual story.

I was just rereading some of the past arcs, made it to the first page of The Incredible Starfish Whisperer and remembered thinking something a while back: I was under the impression for a while that maybe Vinci and Silverblue, along with any other souls in Hell with their eyes open, would eventually try to at least let other souls know that there's a way out of Hell, even if they can't convince them. Particularly this exchange made me wonder: "So what you're saying is that the angels aren't refusing to help us because they don't want to, they're doing it because they -can't-?" "Right! But we can!"

But now Vinci's out of the picture. I'm happy that he finally took a shot at life again, and it looks like he made it this time, but I can't stop thinking that...well, there can't be that many souls who have their eyes open, let alone any that feel/felt compelled to stay in Hell to help anyone else.

Or TRY to help, anyway. I can't imagine that they could just go around telling people there's a way out, and hint to how to do it. All I can see happening is Silverblue or anyone else trying to help would end up getting maimed.

I still don't understand why Hell exists.

Or, rather, the conclusion I have reached is incompatible with Dave's statements on the nature of God...

Because the only point I see Hell having is entertainment. Drama. What is a play without suffering? Of course, this is exactly the case since it is a comic strip - but it does not bother us because we aren't torturing real people. But in the context of the story... it's disturbing.

Yeah, I'm planning to touch on that again, but not in the current arc.

Jack's made mention of Silverblue and Vinci wanting to help him help others in one of the main arcs. I think it was "Been Reading Job". There was also a script I wrote that we ended up not using (It's in the fanfiction section somewhere!) where Vinci's lamenting about trying to help people and feeling as though he's not making much of a difference. He -did- manage to get at least one person out of hell, aside from himself though.

I only have one thing to say and that's ...

So it's just making many references to events that have occurred in the setting history, but have not been depicted in any way?

As a for instance, Arty being an Angel kinda blows my mind considering his previous depictions. Not that he was a huge jackass or anything, but nothing in anything I've read suggests that level of virtue.

Or am I overthinking the qualifications here?

Arty's death is mentioned in a newspaper in one of the pages of Eye Opener. Same for Vinci's death, he mentions it first in Eye Opener and then confirms it in Side Arc 1. Greer is first mentioned in Eye Opener and shows up in Been Reading Job as a child and Side Arc 2 as an adult.

The angel thing, there's a specific set of criteria AFAIK but I'm not sure how much Dave's revealed so I'd better play it safe and not go into detail.

I actually drew an image depicting Arty's death in Jack canon, but it's pretty morbid.

Moving though....
he may have been a jerk, but he died a hero's death....
not that that was that much of a comfort to Vinci....

Even the wisest of angels have broken the rules on occasion.
What does this tell us about both the angels and the rules?

Might be pretty morbid, but I gotta be honest I'd be interested in seeing it. If he died as a hero in a fire I think it would be rather interesting to see doing what specifically.

He pulled a woman out but it's not shown in the image.

http://saucepls.info/A/94/1213259689.vi ... f_arty.jpg

The dragon character, by the way, was the fursona of a dear friend of mine who was killed in a motorcycle accident last year, so this picture bums me out now for that reason.

Phew, I was expecting him to be really burned up..I guess he died from smoke inhalation? Still an awful way to go. Heartwrenching picture, and great as always. Thanks a lot for sharing it, and I'm sorry about that friend of yours.

Same, I'm sorry to hear about your friend. But yeah interesting to know that he died a hero. Sounds like the way to go. Very detailed picture, too. Very nice. You can pretty much feel the emotion on Vinci's face.

That's it for the side arcs! Thank you all so much for reading them!!

Keep watching the side arc section for goodies sometime next week!

Bummer, thought we'd get one more entry. Oh well.

*goes into diabetic shock from reading today's comic*

WAIT WHAT IS THIS CRAP ENDING

WHO PUT IN ALL THE SPARKLIES

FFFFFFFFFF

GOOD BYE ANN MARIE.

GOOD BYE CHARLIE WILL I SEE YOU AGAIN

D; D; D; D; D;

Touch that watch...and you can never go back!

I SAID...TOUCH THAT WATCH...AND YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK!! D8<

SHUT UP ANNABELLE.

Vinci's Expression in the second to last panel is ADORABLY cute.

What about Bash?
can he bear Vinci dying? WILL HE TOP HIMSELF IN GRIEF?

Wait to see who's who in Hell in the future....

Well, their problems are over...

ARTY IS SECRETLY A TWILIGHT VAMPIRE! RUN, VINCI!

*koff* Ahem. Sorry, I think I was momentarily overcome with giddiness. Glad to see these two finally have a happy ending in heaven!

Congrats, Candy, on completing what may be the best of the Side Arcs so far.



And thank you for doing them! While I'd be saddened if there truly are no more of these to look forward to, your promise of additional "goodies" bodes well. Can't wait to see what you've got for us next!

Wing

At the risk of sounding like an ass-kiss or a creeper, I need to confess something.

This last page made me cry. What can I say, I'm a sucker for happy endings. Thanks so much, both Vinci and Jonas, for your hard work on this excellent excellent arc, and all the side arcs. They were doozies, but I'm glad it ended well.

Y"know, I had entirely forgotten about Eye Opener... But I did get the feeling that something was missing from the side arcs, so I guess that was it...


And I had entirely forgotten about Greer in that one comic... I'd say "bad nerd," but I think I can let a single appearance in a comic early in an arc slide...

Thank you (and Jonas on color) for creating them!

Well, it's finally come to an end. Overall, I think this story started off well, went into a bit too much melodrama, but it did get better as it went along, and this ending is satisfying. So all in all, a good side story for two characters from the main arcs.

Thank you, wonderful Vinci...
and everyone else involved.

Warm fuzzy feelings all round....

What I would like to see now is some of their life in Heaven.

If Artie keeps working as an angel, it could lead to interesting complications.

Because just because he's in Heaven, don't mean the ethical issues go away...

I dunno, I figure at about the point that you're working on direct orders form the Most High, most ethical issues really should go away

Not really. Something that is evil does not magically become good if an authority figure says it is.

Even if that authority figure is the only thing allowing the concepts of good or evil to exist, as they created the universe in its entirety?

Yes. Especially then. Because for such a being, there are no excuses for incompetence.

What about keeping the complaints department employed?

OH my. This was mushier than the Amazons and cheesier than Switzerland but damn! What a sweet story! I can only chime in with:


I know heaven is the bias in this universe but I still think Vinci is the lucky one to live life twice instead of just once. It's just more memories and experience.

Does anyone else wonder if there's room for several true lovers in the afterlife? Vinci did have a new guy in the second life after all. It wouldn't be so strange since they are all good people with an eternity between them. Time-share? Bigamy?
... or does it never happen at all so that the second best "one true love" must always hit heaven's singles market?

I'm not sure Vinci had a 'new guy' in his second life. Yes, he had Bashful as a one true friend, but Luey shows Bashful was straight. Still, a good friend can be as powerful as a true love, and I'm sure both gave support to the other.

But even so, the idea of one pair as a true love is actually rather religious in origin -- and was really created to handle the problem of inheritance. If you set up a system where you command a man sleep with one woman and one woman only, there's no doubt that any child born is that of the couple involved. But even stressing this as a religious doctrine, it was quite common for parents to offer their daughter to passing gentleman, as those traveling during those days typically had money and/or position, with the off chance that the girl would conceive, and thus entreat a raise in her life style from her lover, for the sake of the child.

But, to answer the original question, I think it's possible there could be more than two people involved in a 'true love' relationship.

Marriage is contract to raise a better quality offspring, but if everyone had to start from scratch when reaching adulthood, then who fathered who wouldn't matter. All the wealth of the dead is divided equally among everyone else. All children belong to the clan or village. Everyone looks out for everyone's child, because a productive child is important to the survive of all. In a prefect world. Somehow, this doesn't work with the very large populations, because everyone can't know everyone else.

In Jack,
we have seen that Love ones get left behind by the death of a true love and they sometimes love another for awhile. Look at Jack, His true love is Jill, but he loved Central, and another skunk-girl after her. And he seem to love Farrago, now. Will he still love Jill when he finally gets to Heaven? Yes...

In Heaven, You remember every life, and every memory, and If you second mate loves you, they will let you go to your true love. Because more than likely they have their own true lover waiting for them in Heaven. And/or who knows maybe true loves would share a heaven and don't always come in groups of twos.

PBH