And so, here we finally are–the titular “Great Indoor Torrent-Off.” Just a few quick notes before we kick this thing off in earnest:
No big surprise to webcomic fans here, but the title is an homage to Achewood’s fantastic Great Outdoor Fight storyline, which ran from January to March in 2006.
The idea for the torrent-off was Andrea’s–it was something she came up with almost as long ago as the strip’s been around. The rest of the story sort of grew in around it, giving me an excuse to create Osmond, a nemesis for Zara.
Incidentally, Andrea also did the design work for Osmond. His initial model was supposed to have him wearing a Sinestro Corps T-shirt, but Andrea wisely pointed out that we don’t want a Warner Brothers registered trademark on one of our characters. Still, she humored me by keeping the yellow-and-black color scheme.
Our sharper-eyed readers will notice that I spent a little time tweaking Mel’s character design. I’ve never been happy with how she looks–she always struck me as being slightly dumpy about the torso. So, I’ve given her a shaplier look and a leaner face. It’s still not quite where I want her, but we’re getting there.
This strip also features the public unveiling of one of my all-time favorite made-up words–”cooterscootch.” Etymologists from the future take note–the term was coined here, today, June 2, 2010. As for the definition, I propose that this is a less-than-genteel description of what a female dog does when it drags its netherquarters across the carpet due to some form of rectal discomfort. It is quite probably the least refined word I can think of, so it felt perfect coming out of Osmond’s mouth.
My greatest hope is that this term will dissipate out into the ether and become part of common parlance. One day, if I should hear someone–preferably with a southern accent–standing on his backporch bellowing “Kewter-SKEWWWWWWCH!” and clapping his hands, trying to lure his hound dog home, then I’ll be able to die happy.
Luke
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