Original Commentary

I thought of the idea on Interstate-5 in a very rural area. It was so desolate. I'm not sure if it was the area that inspired me, but when I wrote this, I felt that a big bell just rung in my head - her laugh was like a gong that rang within the comic itself. All the flashbacks have been so quiet. It hits you in a different way. It's almost like a dead silence before it while present-Brisbane narrates, an then a deafening laugh. The last panel is one that makes me really proud - Isabel

Modern Commentary
It's a big moment and stands on its own. I don't think we have anything new to add. We don't know a lot about Brandie here and we don't have to. - Terrence

Original Commentary

That's exactly how I pictured the third panel when I was writing it out. Only thing different, was that the terminal desk was on the right side instead of the left - Isabel

Modern Commentary
Flight 404! Are 404 errors still a thing? Do people still type in URLs? Do the kids these days recognize that as a funny number? - Terrence

I wish we could take another trip l like this. A long road trip where I could write something like this, or just a nice vacation. But our days of leaving the house are over. - Isabel

Original Commentary

Sofia and Kimberly never did get along back in Unlike Minerva. This is why. All we used to know is that she was protective and viewed Kimberly as potential trouble. This explains things better than I ever could've - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Brisbane needs his little sister to help protect him sometimes. And Sofia may have taken that a little too seriously. But he kinda needs it sometimes. And this is exactly why Sofia is suspicious of Kimberly. Dude is a bit too trusting sometimes.

I'm going to say that Brisbane is drinking his chocolate syrup straight. Terrence

Original Commentary

Now, Hippedown is the name of the city that You Say it First (and Unlike Minerva) takes place on. It's also the name of the island (which includes other smaller cities) and the country (which includes other smaller islands). Hippedown (the city) is the capital of the country - Terrence

Modern Commentary
I was kinda hoping the "people I knew locally" would've shown up. He probably outstayed his welcome with a few folks, and some others avoided him out of fear that he'd ask them to come see his vaudeville act.

I really like the visual of Brisbane in that last panel, not entirely directionless but trying to make sense of unfamiliar territory. That's one of our pre-rendered backgrounds there. - Terrence

We've used that background in ND and other comics. It's one of our regular outdoor shots. - Isabel

Original Commentary

The more text you get, the less comments we can write. So, well, Brisbane is going to his room. A year or so ago, we mentioned that the bedrooms have individual keys. There was going to be a plot that involved that as a major element, but things took a different direction. I may come back to it, but it's been a long time since I introduced that element and it seems unfair to bring it back after so long - Terrence

Modern Commentary
And Kimberly totally whiffs it. On one hand, she's not in Sales mode; she feels completely comfortable giving her natural first response. On the other hand, yikes.

Unlike Minerva Kimberly would have tried to sell him something to help boost his confidence and his luck with the ladies.

End-of-YSiF Kimberly would've tried to comfort him.

Right now, she's kind of between things and her personal, unguarded self is kind of a mess right now.- Terrence

Original Commentary

It's a good thing that there's a "The End" right there. Otherwise, who knows what might've happened. Actually, Kimberly has her backstory too, which will be seen soon enough - Terrence

Modern Commentary
One marriage and three kids later, she's made good on that promise.

So...at least she understood what she did wrong and apologized immediately instead of doubling down on it. It's an error on her part, but it's a recoverable one.

Not too much else to add about this. We don't see Brandie again. We don't know what happened to her. She just never intersected our main characters' lives again.
It's tempting to say she's a bad person and, therefore, had an unpleasant life, but that's not always how things work out. Perhaps she was kinder to other people or perhaps she wasn't. We never had any plans to bring her back or discuss things further. - Terrence