Original Commentary

This is draft three of the comic. Upon further reflection, Brisbane and Robert aren't a good combination. They're very similar characters and don't really play off each other well. Robert's lines all got edited down significantly; there was too much unnecessary information in there.

Modern Commentary
Brisbane is really trying here. He's giving a lot more here than he's getting.

Did Jane show up the next week? She probably did. Robert is too afraid and projecting his own fear onto everyone else.- Terrence

Original Commentary

I am trying to get across Robert's lingering feelings for Jane, his deep fear of disapproval, and his utter mortification about whatever happened in the past. There are some arcs, when I look back I feel that I only accomplished about half of what I set out to actually do. I'm trying my hardest to make sure that this isn't one of those. I can get so caught up in trying to get all the moments right that there isn't enough time for me to get in all the moments I mean to - Terrence

Modern Commentary
And Robert becomes properly Robert. More specifically, he's paralyzed by shame. He wants to do something - anything, but he can't. And Brisbane wants him to choose something so Brisbane can help him do it. But he won't, at least not yet. - Terrence

Original Commentary

There were a few more jokes I had thought of doing, but there was a voice in my head that said "Get Brisbane out of there now". Which I think needs to be done to move things along. Other points of note include the similar wishy-washiness between Brisbane during Unlike Minerva and Robert now. We least tolerate in others the bad qualities that we see in ourselves - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Honestly, a firewire card is useless if you don't have a firewire peripheral to connect to it. And Brisbane does not. Nobody's throwing those where he can find them.

Probably could've used that to bribe Brisbane if we needed to do this again - offer him something he could actually plug into his new-to-him firewire outlet.

Anyhow, Robert's problem is that he's gotten himself into a bad situation and he just wants to be taken out of it. As someone who's been in a bad situation once or twice before, I'm not entirely unsympathetic. But the only way out is through. - Terrence

Original Commentary

I mentioned where the plot needed to go after this, and Isabel suggested this comic. She drew it and then I wrote Brisbane's text in afterwards - that's the opposite of how we usually do things. And I'm sure any of you can see how an old employee contact list plays into this. And Brisbane's position brings him in possession of all kinds of interesting yet outdated paperwork - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Brisbane is, once again, putting in a lot more effort than Robert is. Robert's plan, to sit around feeling sorry for himself until the problem goes away, isn't usually a winner.

Anyhow, how did Brisbane know to check a 2003 employee directory for Jake? He cross-referenced the release date for Final Battle Adventure Online, since Jake was still working there then. - Terrence

Original Commentary

Why the attitude? Jake is always like that. Condescending to people who don't know as much about his area of speciality as he does. Brisbane knows someone with a very similar attitude, and they didn't get along. I've met technicians with similar attitudes, too. Doing tech support at a hospital cured me of that. I mean, if you can perform surgery on people, I'm not going to put you down for not knowing that "ctrl" means "control" - Terrence

I hate drawing phones, which is why I had Terrence pose (with real phone) for all three panels. Of course, I can only do this when he's home so it's a mixed blessing that he's not working. I've been meaning to do the whole circle background effect within the comics again, but since I've been doing the pre-rendered backgrounds lately, it doesn't seem to fit. I should only use them in comical moments from now on - Isabel

Modern Commentary
So, how many people work at Lemon Technology?

I think we settled on a number around 50 to 70 after some deliberation. So ten of them being named Jake seems like a bit much. But some departments - especially those that deal with Ms. Taylor directly - have very high turnover. - Terrence

Original Commentary

It makes you wonder if Jake has been in similar predicaments with other would-be good-doers in the past. I have no idea what game Jake is supposed to be playing in that last panel- knowing him something free and possibly with on-line play. -Isabel

Modern Commentary
That game is Final Battle Adventure Online. It's probably some kind of event mini-game.

Brisbane is trying to fix Robert and Jane because he cares about Robert and wants him to be happy. Jake was trying to fix Robert and Jane so they stop bothering him and let him play video games all day. - Terrence