At Night All Mice Are Gray (page 2)
Fitz on Aug. 3, 2007
The script for this episode just got longer - so I figured I'll be posting every new page as soon as it's done and ready, not the whole thing at once. I barely made it to update twice in the past month, and that's an eon in internet terms, anyway. Plus, there are actually people asking me about the comic (which is like… WOW), so how could I possibly keep them waiting? :)
How do you like the cat clock, btw? Personally, I love it :D I even made it my avatar on msn! Anyway, that's my version of the KitCat clock. I tried to make it look more sinister than the original - which does look kinda creepy itself, anyway, with those watchful eyes. I gave him a Cheshire Cat smile - and voila, the essense of evil! :) With an accordingly twisted name - barely visible on the dial under 12.
Now riddle me this: what IS his name? :) Hint: a modification of the original cat's name.
Also, can you make out all the book titles in the last panel. Some are piece of cake, but some are cropped or obsured by speech bubbles, so take a good look. The first person to name all the books and their authors (maybe except the first book from the right) wins… uhh… umm… Just… wins. Yeah ;)
Btw, she actually owns some of these books. I mean, the girl. The mysterious “she” from the comic. Yup, she's an actual person - a good friend of mine and my official muse. She actually inspired me to start the comic - and then nagged at me to hurry up with it :P
More about her next time :)
Stig Hemmer at 2:20PM, Feb. 11, 2008
Lovely art work. The clock freaks me out, it aught to scare the good mice out of their shoes! And there is poor mistreated Mickey...
trevoramueller at 12:58PM, Oct. 16, 2007
Great shot of the books, with the spider hanging down in front of them. Love the visuals!
phillip_the_tortoise at 4:14PM, Aug. 19, 2007
sorry i took a while to update ive been busy. Ur one awsome artist is there anything you cant draw? i really love the cat clock ive always wanted one!
harryq at 3:40PM, Aug. 18, 2007
Just found You. I'm happy.
Abt_Nihil at 6:46AM, Aug. 12, 2007
Very, very cleverly written script -- I could learn a thing or two. I think my favorite visual so far was the spider's perception... but the cat clock's close. Great stuff.
Coyotejeff at 12:59PM, Aug. 9, 2007
The Cat Clock Rocked!
Nepath at 1:14AM, Aug. 7, 2007
Great page! I love the artwork on the scissors, very simple but extremely well drawn. Fav'd
Bocaj at 3:04PM, Aug. 5, 2007
(I love the cat clock.) The art in this comic just keeps on improving, I haven't technically favorited this comic yet, but this page; the art, the style, the awesome just put you in my favorites. Truly great job, please continue with this comic.
dgriff13 at 1:39PM, Aug. 5, 2007
wow, maybe I'm just oblivious, but I never would have caught all those subtleties ... I noticed a couple refs to rodents in the books, and LOVE that cat clock, but I'm surprised how much thought and effort was put in to this, Fitz. Good work! P.S. also lovin' the torn-up mickey with that quote... nice.
keithmccleary at 7:37AM, Aug. 5, 2007
The spider and the cat clock are both ridonkulous!!!
Bekefel at 7:35AM, Aug. 5, 2007
Screw literary visual references. I like the way you draw various parts of the room, instead of just drawing two characters talking to each other back and forth. Another great page. :D
Fitz at 3:13AM, Aug. 5, 2007
Ersatz: wow the associations you came up with reach far beyond what I put there intentionally, and they do make sense! Especially the theories about Dracula. As for Papillon it's really much simplier. Papillon is French for "butterfly" - so the spider is onto his potential prey. And the Polish dictionary is what she wants, since I'm her Polish teacher starting Monday :)
Ersatz at 3:00AM, Aug. 5, 2007
P.S. I feel daft! I thought it said 'KillCat' to begin with. But then when I read your comment with reference to 'KitCat' (which I didn't realise was the original name), I just assumed I'd misread it! GRRRRRR! Hehehe!
Ersatz at 2:56AM, Aug. 5, 2007
OK, let's see. The first speech bubbles about getting out of here, do they refer to Papillon's prison break? Or escaping from Dracula's castle? The Idiot links to the 'smart guy/jerk' bit. The Polish dictionary refers to your nationality I reckon. I'm thinking that the scissors refer to the 'Curious Incident', but it's about 3 years since I read it and can't really place why I think this. I've also got a feeling that one of the books bears a reference to the 'stick with you' and stickiness of the fly paper, but again, I might just be making this up. Perhaps Dracula again - like flies in a spider's web? Gah! I'm really tired, it's my day off, and I'm trying to associate literary-visual references! Damn you, Fitz! ;)
Fitz at 10:04PM, Aug. 4, 2007
Whoa, JMT, great job there! I didn't even remember the pet rat from The Curious Incident, and I'm actually kicking myself for not having read Les Miz. The books were there because these are some of her favorites, so kudos to you for finding the connection I wasn't really aware of! Your theory about Dracula is spot on. As for the other books, they refer more to the general situation. Check my previous reply to Ersatz about Death Wish. And what do you make of the spider dangling directly in front of Papillon? And Mick's speech bubble touching Dostoyevsky's book.
Fitz at 9:53PM, Aug. 4, 2007
DancingChaos: thank you :) Thanks for stopping by! Ersatz: good work! You got it all :) I think Papillon was the most difficult to make out, as most of if was obscured. Actually, most books here hint to something, referring to what they just said or what's happening. Like the last name Garfield below the line "Thank God she's not a cat". There's more so try and guess :) Kilroy: Yup, that's a KillCat :) It's so pretty it makes me want one. The funny thing is, I could make one myself. I work at a company that makes stuff of plastic :) Aaanyway... Can you see the picture with the yin-yangified lady in it? Try and guess what it is. Same hint as with KillCat - but this one's tricky :) Thank for stopping by and the compliments, I'm really flattered :)
jmt at 9:45PM, Aug. 4, 2007
I think it is interesting that of mice and men is there. I also know that Dracula has a rodent connection, if not in the book then in the mythology around the character. In so far as he might be considered a disease traveling across the see in a boat. Much the same way the plague was "shipped" from shore to shore with rats as carriers. Maybe that isn't so clear in Dracula, but in the old film "Nosferatu" (whose plot was copied from Bramââ¬â¢s Dracula) that was a clearly drawn metaphor. In Dracula though I know it was alluded to him being able to control rats. And in Les Mis, Gavroche has a cagein his bed room, to protect himself from rats. In The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night time, I think there is a pet ratââ¬Â¦ named Toby. Do the rest of the books on the shelf have this sort of common thread? You know, dangerous rodents?
Kilroy at 8:37PM, Aug. 4, 2007
What a fine KillCat it is, too. This comic is really unique! The way most of the panels don't actually show the action but rather the bits of the environment that may not seem relevant but are, the witty and realistic dialogue about very unrealistic things, and the basic premise compound to make a really trippy, peculiar comic. This definitely goes on my faves.
Ersatz at 4:31PM, Aug. 4, 2007
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon Death Wish - Brian Garfield Dracula - Bram Stoker Pappilon - Henri Charriere The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (nice touch) And the final one on the right I'm guessing is a Polish dictionary? I work in a bookshop, so I'm a bit of a cheater! And the cat clock looks great! Not sure about a name, aren't you going to keep the name KitCat?
deleted-byrequest-03 at 1:35PM, Aug. 4, 2007
Your artwork is great! :D