Original Commentary
I don't really know what a cactus smells like. The last panel, originally, read "[Richard and Sinclair]", which is sufficient to summarize it. This time I was able to revise that before Isabel had to draw it. I was listening to "Le Cactus" by Jacques DuTronc at the time - Terrence

Modern Commentary
We've got a few medium-sized cactuses now. I'm not getting close enough to smell them.

Cactus candy is generally citrus-flavored but perhaps less sweet. - Terrence

Original Commentary
The easy part is to have a comic that says "I've got a brilliant idea". The hard part is to come up with one that seems plausible. I really hope that small business owners aren't banging their heads against walls right now. I meant to come up with more scents for the whiteboard there, but real aroma chemical companies seem to have fairly limited product lines as well - Terrence

Modern Commentary
What does a blue apple even smell like? Why does it seem more ridiculous than blue raspberry? - Terrence

Original Commentary
About 80% of Kimberly's speech was written for her conversation with Brisbane. The tone seemed wrong for the situation, especially since they had just made up. However, Dan still backed the old plan so the lecture got repackaged - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Yeah, Kimberly can explain it better to Dan than she can to Brisbane, because Kimberly is just Dan's (kinda) acting boss here as opposed to also being his wife. I think Brisbane was taking it personally a little. - Terrence

Original Commentary
Ok, so "we need to act quickly" isn't included in the previous comic. The phrase was included in an earlier draft, then things got changed. I kept the line because it implies that there is a decent amount of meeting that occurs between yesterday's comic and today's - Terrence

Modern Commentary
That's the thing; if I want the business to be interesting, I need to make it interesting. I can't just write that there's billion dollar deals and famous people and what-have-you. There is nothing inherently interesting about aroma chemicals, no matter what Bath & Body Works says about it. - Terrence

Original Commentary
Brisbane, Kimberly and Dan control 24% of the company. However, since 39%* belongs to Kimberly's grandfather and 15% belongs to Ms. Taylor, they've got a plurality of the votes right there. The reason they're not telling the shareholders is because I didn't think another meeting would be helpful to the storytelling - Terrence

*: Technically, he owns 45%. Brisbane and Kimberly have proxy ownership of 6%, which he could take back if he chooses to. Since he hasn't shown up at all, it's not a major issue

Modern Commentary
Sandra is the only person in the sales department who's spent any time around the actual scents. Patrick would write about how mint makes you feel and why Western Mint is the right choice for soaps, but actually being in the same room as any of it is someone else's job. - Terrence

Original Commentary
Ok, it's a transition comic. Originally the lines in the last two panels were reversed. Brisbane's line was "That way I'm not the only date who's being brought" or something like that. I'm sure that half of you reading this can come up with a good way of phrasing that within a few seconds, but it's easier this way - Terrence

That is such a Miz Taylor outfit it burns. BURNS. -Isabel

Modern Commentary
Has Brisbane figured out how to expense lunch? No. But they deserve a nice meal together anyhow - Terrence

Original Commentary
I was... a bit out of it, for a large variety of reasons (at the time, it was just my grandmother who had recently passed away- my niece was only sick at the time), so my mind was a bit otherwise occupied when working on this and the next comic... I read the scripts and thought I understood it, but Terrence told me later I drew it wrong. In panels three and four it was Jane and Sandra at the Italian restaurant that was mentioned in the previous comic, with Patrick's line in panel four Sandra's. Honestly, I think my brain rejected the extra work of having to make the Italian restaurant's background and drawing Jane. It works, I think... -Isabel

Actually, it was my intention all along for lunch to be brought in, so that works out. Having Jane show up here was supposed to be "payoff" for the previous day's comic and kind of a reference to the original outline for this arc in which she played a larger role - Terrence

Modern Commentary
I no longer have a version of the script that mentions Jane. What we describe here is awful - new background, way too much action for four panels...

I liked the idea of bringing Jane on. I felt that her Secret Language of Coffee would translate well to describing and marketing aroma chemicals and it would have been fun having her work for Lemon Technology.

But also, I didn't have anything for her there. No plans for how she'd interact with Richard or Sinclair or Patrick. I thought I'd figure that out as we go, and I'm a bit sad that it didn't happen here, but I couldn't talk Isabel into it. All I had was "I don't know how it ends but trust me, it'll be awesome" and, well, that's how I talked her into doing this arc. I like how it ended, but it was a struggle to get it where it needed to go. - Terrence