Original Commentary

Were two versions of the memos sent out? It wasn't explicitly stated before but it fits what's gone on so far. Ok, so it's a revision. It's a necessary one, though. It explains why Ms. Taylor is so upset - not just at her previous memos being edited without her knowledge but at the fact that there were two contradictory versions sent out. One was angry and slightly incoherent. The other was obviously in the middle of being edited, with a decent number of sentences that make no sense whatsoever. Ms. Taylor didn't look them over or notice that her three pages turned into seven. It makes Brisbane's task more difficult and plays into two or three of the plots that are still developing - Terrence

Modern Commentary
So here it is 24 years later. Microsoft Outlook has a built-in email recall function that doesn't work if the email was read and runs client-side. Which means you can't recall emails sent to folks using webmail or reading mail on their phones... - Terrence

Original Commentary

Terrence's original direction for this comic was to show... this man. But, I felt that not showing him just yet added a little suspense that would have been there anyway, more or less (he is a new character, so revealing his face wouldn't have made a difference anyway).

I had originally planned on writing some text in (by hand) on the memo in the first panel, but thought it better to not put any text in (I didn't know who's version of the memo he was reading, not that it would have really mattered, but that's besides the point). More on this on Friday. -Isabel

Modern Commentary
Meet Dan! The instigator of the palace coup that will take over the rest of this storyline.

He's comparing the memos Ms Taylor sent to the ones Brisbane sent.

The original script has Dan listed as "The Duke", and he had one army medal pinned to his suit.

That's got to be a reference to something but I'm drawing a blank here. I wouldn't just add a detail like that in for the sake of adding details...

Speaking of details that didn't make it in, who is Dan talking to? His assistant who never got mentioned again? - Terrence

Original Commentary

Terrence originally had Dan down as a staunch, older, short haired kind of fellow. Then I made him into a lion. And, well, I don't have enough lion characters to give the first one a crew cut. Maybe next time. -Isabel

I've got a few other characters I need to introduce in this arc. I could use that look for the next one. Admittedly, Dan is telling Kimberly a number of things she already knows but the readers don't. But yes, Lemon Technology has regular interdepartmental meetings. Kimberly has to go to them but isn't allowed to participate in the discussion. I was going to include a joke about Kimberly either being made to sit at a separate table or feeling like she's being put at the kiddie table, but I couldn't fit it in properly. I may use that reference later - Terrence

Modern Commentary
I'm pretty sure we never meet the other department heads. There are presumably other high-ranking people who run sections of the company. We wanted to have the option of bringing in The Accounting Guy just in case that became critical to our future plans.

Never did, though. The comic ran for nine years and, considering that, we kept the cast reasonable. Like most Doonesbury-influenced comics, I've got a tendency towards cast sprawl and at least we didn't waste it on a fully-detailed upper management - Terrence

Original Commentary

Yet another comic with a gag that got cut and a direction that I could've taken but didn't. Now that YSIF is back to five days a week, I may have to stop doing that. Or write faster. So, is Ms. Taylor out of her gourd or did she just have a bad day on Monday? A little of both. Kimberly also had a bad day then and it wouldn't be surprising if the two were related. Whether or not I manage to work that in to the comic remains to be seen. Whether or not I need to work it into the comic, too. I may try to write it as NamirDeiter.net bonus content - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Regarding the previous commentary, I never did detail the fight that Kimberly and her mom had. It was meant to be a reference to the previous storyline.

Re-reading things, Kimberly didn't mention a fight with her mom in the previous storyline. And she said Richard has been sick all weel, which heavily implies that On Pins and Needles didn't take place on Monday.

Doesn't really matter; the feeling is there and we're not working on a strict timeline. And Kimberly can have more than one bad day. - Terrence