Steve Baphogon of Uranium City wrote in, asking how Lewis and I managed to come up with such great names for our characters. Well, Steve, there are two main points involved here.

The first is that in general, I thought of the first names, and Lewis thought of the last names. However, there are exceptions to this. For example, I think Lewis named Sid and Stephen, though Sid's last name (Byrahk) was my idea.

The second issue is more subtle. In webcomics, it isn't enough to just think of a name for a character. You also have to make sure that the readers learn the names. One tried and true method of achieving this is to put their names in the dialogue as much as possible. For example, York's last line in today's strip emphasizes that the person to whom he is speaking is named Liln. Similarly, panel three reinforces the dichotomous roles of Sid and Stephen.

The most important thing to remember is that the name should fit the character, not vice versa as in real life. Good luck in your webcomics, Steve!

First things first, I want to talk about our cast page. It is not, at present, useful for someone who wants to know about the plot of our comic. It is, in fact, a listing of who/what portrays each of the characters. This is useful if you want to know what game the Jame piece is from (tiddlywinks) or whether the piece that portrays Stephen is a Sorry piece (no).

As a consequence of that, Ben and I agreed we should have a Dramatis Personae for the strip. So, now there is something useful for people wanting to find out more about who the characters are, as opposed to who they are played by.

We are still going strong in Webcomic Battle, entering our tenth day. There are actually two of our strips up today (#1 & #15), because I assumed we would lose to that Waldo comic and submitted a second strip. We didn't lose, and so they are both in competition today.