Original Commentary

I think Emily has gradually become more and more self-absorbed. No, Rod has never been seen in the comic. And yes, Kimberly knows things about Emily's past boyfriends that we don't know yet - Terrence

Modern Commentary
This is the first "big story" - everybody shows up in one storyline. It's not the same kind of thing as the larger business adventures later in the comic, but it was kind of fun doing a big story with everyone. I don't think we had a lot of material for most of the folks there, and I wish we had planned things a bit more. - Terrence

Original Commentary

In the original script Terrence had Jake coming in asking the three lounge guys if there were any more burgers. I looked at him and said, "It's 11 at night and you want me to draw how many characters?!". So, we made a few alterations to the script and had Lounge Guy #3 ask about more burgers- which truth be told works out a lot better (and shows just how greedy these guys can be about their food). -Isabel

Modern Commentary
Yeah, not much planning on my part. I just figured that I could throw everybody together and hilarity would ensue. I mean, the Lounge Guys are annoying by accident except when they're annoying on purpose. But I'm not quite sure you could look at this and say that eating all the hamburgers at a picnic is such a Lounge Guy thing to do.

But I like that first panel. Kimberly is up to something and clearly enjoying this more than she would usually enjoy a picnic with Emily.- Terrence

Original Commentary

When I drew this comic, I had a slightly different script than the one posted in the comic... in it Kimberly had no real idea that she was being so sneaky about things, but this way just leaves it implied. I ended up messing up Brisbane's eyes in the second panel, so I digitally added in new eyes I drew elsewhere on the paper. Behold! The magic of technology! -Isabel

Modern Commentary
If we had this to do all over again, I would've tried to come up with a slightly better plan for Kimberly and I would've made sure that Emily really deserved it. I mean, for something she did lately. She tried to break Brisbane and Kimberly up but that was a while ago. Kimberly was still carpooling with Emily after that. They went to her Halloween party. If Kimberly is doing this as payback, it should be for an specific thing, not just for Emily being Emily in general.

And trying to keep Emily and David away from each other isn't a good plan. It doesn't even rise to the levels of being a bad plan. - Terrence

Original Commentary

Yes, that is Jake in the first panel. Why is Kimberly being like this? She used to be a lot more devious before she settled down with Brisbane. And, well, if Emily wants to pretend that their friendship didn't change, well, that's probably what they were like in high school. Kimberly's probably wishing she still had that portable trapdoor... - Terrence

Modern Commentary
When I was re-reading this, I had a realization - after Kimberly left, Emily found a new set of friends. Then right about when this chapter started, Emily fell out with those new friends so now she's back to trying to hang out with Kimberly.
That's why we don't see Emily's friends here.

But now that I re-read this, you see that mostly-offscreen guy in the purple shirt in the first panel and the woman over on the left side of the second panel?
Brisbane doesn't know them. Must be Emily's friends. So as much as I like the above theory, it looks like Emily hasn't completely alienated her other friend group. I guess they like her enough to accept a free lunch. - Terrence

Original Commentary

I really wanted to do a comic about Brisbane meeting David, but it came out all sitcom-ish, which is bad. So Isabel came up with the idea and drew it. I scripted it. Look different? I shaded it. Isabel will almost certainly reshade the comic in the morning. I think I undershaded it; I'm usually afraid I overshade things. It comes from the early Kevin & Kell strips which look a little, well, too colored. What was Robert going to reveal in the first panel? That Kimberly is Ms. Taylor's daughter; Jake used to work for Lemon Tech, but either resigned or was fired, depending on who's telling the story - Terrence

The alternately shaded comic is now up. You can see Terrence's version here. -Isabel

Modern Commentary
Lola is at least forty years older than the other folks here but between Dan and the Lounge Guys, she has more on-screen suitors than anyone else in the comic besides Sofia.

As you can see from that version that I shaded, this isn't the first time we've adjusted the lettering and word bubble positioning. Also, I think this was the only time that I shaded the comic. My style really doesn't work with Isabel's art. Going forward, we've left the comic unshaded or uncolored instead.

My technique hasn't really changed; add until it's too much then take away until it isn't. If anything has changed with my coloring, it's been my judgment.

I still think that it wouldn't work well with Isabel's art. - Terrence

Original Commentary

I had written a comic where Brisbane told David "You're Emily's boyfriend, right?" and David went into a speech about how he could be described as such but wouldn't want to be defined that way. It made him seem pointlessly oversensitive. Isabel suggested this, which works a lot better - Terrence

Modern Commentary
It's David! He does exist, no matter what Kimberly says.

I just now realize that we didn't explicitly say that this is the last croissant. It is. That's why there's the polite deferral and why neither of them get a croissant.

So, really, Kimberly stealing the food is why David and Brisbane are friends.

In the missing script, Brisbane asks David if he's Emily's boyfriend and he says "No. I'm David. I'm going out with Emily, but that's not my identity. I just think that there's more to me than who I'm going out with.". Then David asks Brisbane if he's Kimberly's boyfriend ahd he says "Yeah, pretty much".

Eh. - Terrence