Original Commentary

Kimberly looks like fricking Madonna with that pant suit on. XD

Unfortunately since this is Terrence's arc, I don't have much to say about the actual story... other than I put Kimberly in as manly of an outfit as she's capable of (with all that blonde hair and all), as a sort of power play.

I'm sorry I can't go more into the plot... Terrence explained it to me once, but it flew over my poor little brain. -Isabel

Modern Commentary
Here I was, doing a complex storyline which centered around percentages of ownership and the font we were originally using didn't even have a percent sign. We ended up having to use a different font for that, which meant a separate layer and hoping the size and position matched well enough.

It was a real hassle and one of the reasons that I'm re-lettering the comic with a modern font as we go. - Terrence

Original Commentary

It wouldn't be Kimberly if she didn't at least try to sell it. So, do any real companies have arrangements like this? I'm not sure. One of the advantages of making up your own country is that I can make up some of the finer details of their laws when the plot requires it - Terrence

Modern Commentary
"Mixing office politics and family tension isn't my thing", she says. That's going to be the overarching plot for the next several years.

Sorry, Kimberly. - Terrence

Original Commentary

Ol' Dan looks so proud of himself in that last panel. I bet he's been waiting for someone to tell that to for years. I asked Terrence if 8% was enough for him to be of any actual force, and he said that it is. I believe he now owns the most shares of the company (not counting non-Taylors). -Isabel

Yes, it is enough to be an actual force, provided that Kimberly's father and grandfather (who own about two thirds of the company) don't show up. They haven't voted in the last few years, so Dan has a bit of leverage - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Dan has a lot of independence in how he runs his department. Part of that is that he's been around for decades and is very good at his job.

But part of it is also that he could sell to Mr. Taylor or to outside investors and entirely change the balance of power at Lemon Technology if he were sufficiently antagonized - Terrence

Original Commentary

I've been begging Terry to move the story on, or at least make the conversation between Kimberly and Dan less "talking head". His response?

Dan- "I know you have plenty of questions, Kimberly, but for reasons I cannot say, we must continue this conversation while skiing down a mountain".

Push come to shove, I'll get him to use that line yet! -Isabel

Modern Commentary
The original plan had involved Dan leading a cadre of minor investors. He's the only member of his faction that gets actual screen time. The others just got streamlined out of the story. If someone never shows up and you stop implying they exist, are they still there? - Terrence

Original Commentary

I was planning on including Kimberly's response to Dan's question, but I realized that it wouldn't be an interesting comic - the crux would be one word at the beginning. And, let's face it, if the answer were "no" there wouldn't be much else to do here. I was planning of having Brisbane's last line be spoken, but Isabel changed it. For the better - Terrence

Modern Commentary
That's Brisbane! A short-term plan to delay the unpleasantness *and* make it worse when it inevitably falls apart - Terrence

Original Commentary

No, Brisbane isn't trained. I tried to work in the line "We both know you haven't had any training", but it wouldn't. And I had Brisbane's last line as "You may pass". But this works better. For a while now, I've been trying to get Kimberly to reach this deep into her old bag of tricks. Isabel suggested the basic idea for this strip; I adjusted it very much and here it is - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Kimberly indeed reaches into her old bag of tricks.

That was one of the plans for this storyline. Back in Unlike Minerva, Brisbane had this nervous, paranoid energy. Kimberly had this crafty, conniving energy.

I wanted to get them moving in ways that were new yet familiar. You can't go back to the past. The Minerva Theatre went out of business. But the past can inform the present. - Terrence