859 Alexandria Melvil.

At long last, Alexandria makes her appearance. As far as first impressions go… Maybe not so good.

I didn’t have time to make the posters for her wall, plus I wanted them to look like they weren’t drawn in my style, so I asked around if anyone would let me use their art for set decoration. My friend Agouti said yes. Because he is my bitch. Technicolor Pie  also agreed, but I don’t know her. She is not my bitch. In the eventual print version these images may not appear, but I’m not sure. They might just let me do it. Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Some of you might recognize Alex from my galleries here and there on the Internet. Her original incarnation was created specifically to court furries and entice them towards my regular work. I have often said that if you want a loyal fanbase you could do worse than gather people who already tend to fixate on things. I’ve always hoped that I could find the time to give her a comic of her own, but I’m not at a skill level that would allow that. She has appeared in 2 after Halloween specials that showcase her obsession with sweets. A trait that has carried over to this incarnation.

In early versions of this part Brooksie’s roommate was much more like her than Alex. Too much like her I eventually decided. She was almost a mirror image of Jo, and it didn’t make for a very interesting pairing. When I hit upon the idea of introducing a translated version of Alex to the story all the little story bits that I couldn’t get to sort out fell in to place.

Of course some people will be annoyed that I’ve added a new character while ones that they love are not getting enough screen time. I don’t know what to tell them. The larger story can’t be convincingly told with 6 cast members. They’d all have to be geniuses who studied all manner of disciplines, and people are rarely like that. I think that over time people will come to love the new characters just as much as the original ones anyway. For the most part people even enjoy Reggie’s asinine hijinks. Everyone adds to the tapestry.