Obviously a time dilation in the temporal statis!

As I've said before, when I started this comic, I didn't expect continuing characters, not even teachers, but there were only so many math jokes, and a whole lot of teacher jokes. My artwork was even more simplistic back in the day, and I was happy with it ... for a while. But I realized that my original four students had to go. It was easier just to create new ones to fit the look I wanted.

Oddly, I had three characters in mind to use in the anniversary comic: the "English major", who was the blonde; the first character I ever gave a name to, Miss Bradley, the brunette, and the undistinguished auburn-haired young lady. What tipped it was that the first piece of dialogue I came up with was the "Mini-Me" comment.

The blonde would have to pair up with Judy, while the auburn would match Michele. Since Michele was elevated to main character, it made sense to give her the student teacher, and we had a winner.

What's her name? I don't know. If she appears again, she will have one. Suggestions and possible honorees are welcome, but I have shied away from punny names for my characters -- so much so that I wanted to name Annie after someone special, but she would have been "Annie Graham". Instead, I gave that name to Barbara instead.

Lots of changes in the past ten years -- both in the comic and my real life -- but this test is already too long. I'll post a reflection soon. I hope.