Illjwamh

I feel I should also point out that we're a third of the way through September, or 69.5% through the year, and: Ellen has only appeared twice Nanase has only appeared once Justin, Susan, and Diane have not yet appeared at all

Mon. Aug. 1, 2022 Mr. Verres: 194 Andrea: 40 Tara: 70 Elliot: 1124 Grace: 1046 Wed. Aug. 3, 2022 Tara: 71 Mr. Verres: 195 Elliot: 1125 Grace: 1047 Andrea: 41 Fri. Aug. 5, 2022 Grace: 1048 Andrea: 42 Elliot: 1126 Mr. Verres: 196 Tara: 72 Mon. Aug. 8, 2022 Mr. Verres: 197 Tara: 73 Elliot: 1127 Grace: 1049 Wed. Aug. 10, 2022 Elliot: 1128 Mr. Verres: 198 Tara: 74 Grace: 1050 Andrea: 43 ???: ???* *When this is eventually revealed, only the one speaking will be counted for today, as the other two(?) are indistinct blurs. Fri. Aug. 12, 2022 ???-1: 2 (The one speaking in the previous strip, as deduced by their dialogue being a continuation) ???-2: 1st appearance (probably?) ???-3: 1st appearance (probably?) Wed. Aug. 17, 2022 Elliot: 1129 Grace: 1051 Mr. Verres: 199 Tara: 75 Andrea: 44 Fri. Aug. 19, 2022 Mr. Verres: 200 (11th)** Elliot: 1130 Grace: 1052 Mon. Aug. 22, 2022 Mr. Verres: 201 Grace: 1053 Elliot: 1131 Tedd: 944 Wed. Aug. 24, 2022 Elliot: 1132 Tedd: 945 Grace: 1054 Fri. Aug. 26, 2022 Elliot: 1133 Tedd: 946 Grace: 1055 Wed. Aug. 31, 2022 Elliot: 1134 Tedd: 947 Grace: 1056 Cheerleadra: 117 Mr. Verres: 202 **Mr. Verres is the first non-main character to reach 200 appearances. FULL COUNT

Fri. Jul. 1, 2022 Andrea: 34 Tara: 64 Mr. Verres: 185 Elliot: 1120 Grace: 1042 Mon. Jul. 4, 2022 Steve: 3 (2022 debut) Mr. Verres: 186 Wed. Jul. 6, 2022 Mr. Verres: 187 Steve: 4 Fri. Jul. 8, 2022 Mr. Verres: 188 Steve: 5 Mon. Jul. 11, 2022 Mr. Verres: 189 Steve: 6 Wed. Jul. 13, 2022 Mr. Verres: 190 Andrea: 35 Tara: 65 Steve: 7 Fri. Jul. 15, 2022 Grace: 1043 Andrea: 36 Tara: 66 Mr. Verres: 191 Mon. Jul. 18, 2022 Mr. Verres: Andrea: 37 Tara: 67 Elliot: 1121 Wed. Jul. 20, 2022 Andrea: 38 Mr. Verres: 192 Tara: 68 Elliot: 1122 Grace: 1044 Fri. Jul. 22, 2022 Mr. Verres: 193 Andrea: 39 Tara: 69 Elliot: 1123 Grace: 1045 Tedd: 943 FULL COUNT

Mainly.

España

Wed. Jun. 1, 2022 Dwight: 13 Andrea: 29 Liam: 28 Virginia: 8 Fri. Jun. 3, 2022 Liam: 29 Dwight: 14 Elliot: 1115 Mr. Verres: 176 Mon. Jun. 6, 2022 Elliot: 1116 Tara: 60 Mr. Verres: 177 Dwight: 15 Liam: 30 Grace: 1034 Wed. Jun. 8, 2022 Liam: 31 Dwight: 16 Mr. Verres: 178 Grace: 1035 Elliot: 1117 Fri. Jun. 10, 2022 Virginia: 9 Grace: 1036 Mr. Verres: 179 Mon. Jun. 13, 2022 Virginia: 10 Grace: 1037 Mr. Verres: 180 Andrea: 30 Tara: 61 Wed. Jun. 15, 2022 Elliot: 1118 Virginia: 11 Grace: 1038 Mr. Verres: 181 Fri. Jun. 17, 2022 Virginia: 12 Grace: 1039 Liam: 32 Mr. Verres: 182 Mon. Jun. 20, 2022 Dwight: 17 Liam: 33 Grace: 1040 Virginia: 13 Mr. Verres: 183 Andrea: 31 Tara: 62 Wed. Jun. 22, 2022 Mr. Verres: 184 Elliot: 1119 Grace: 1041 Andrea: 32 Tara: 63 Liam: 34 Wed. Jun. 29, 2022 Ashley: 303 Andrea: 33 Pandora: 121 (1st appearance since 2020) FULL COUNT

I'm preparing to move overseas again, so I figured I should clear some backlog before I go. Mon. May 2, 2022 Liam: 19 Dwight: 3 Fri. May 6. 2022 Tara: 56 (2022 debut) Andrea: 24 (1st appearance since 2016) Liam: 20 Dwight: 4 Elliot: 1107 Mon. May 9, 2022 Andrea: 25 Grace: 1026 Dwight: 5 Liam: 21 Wed. May 11, 2022 Tara: 57 Elliot: 1108 Dwight: 6 Grace: 1027 Liam: 22 Fri. May 13, 2022 Elliot: 1109 Tara: 58 Andrea: 26 Liam: 23 Grace: 1028 Virginia: 1st appearance (offscreen) Mon. May 16, 2022 Virginia: 2 (1st onscreen appearance) Grace: 1029 Elliot: 1110 Dwight: 7 Wed. May 18, 2022 Liam: 24 Andrea: 27 Grace: 1030 Tara: 59 Elliot: 1111 Dwight: 8 Virginia: 3 Mr. Verres: 172 Mon. May 23, 2022 Mr. Verres: 173 Elliot: 1112 Dwight: 9 Virginia: 4 Wed. May 25, 2022 Liam: 25 Mr. Verres: 174 Virginia: 5 Dwight: 10 Elliot: 1113 Grace: 1031 Fri. May 27, 2022 Virginia: 6 Dwight: 11 Grace: 1032 Andrea: 28 Liam: 26 Mon. May 30. 2022 Dwight: 12 Liam: 27 Grace: 1033 Virginia: 7 Elliot: 1114 Mr. Verres: 175 FULL COUNT

Unbelievers - Vampire Weekend

This fits well with my "always punch Nazis" philosophy.

https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-154 In my mind, Liam's voice is somewhere between Keith David and Dennis Haysbert.

That would require her to be in every single strip for six months straight - something that to my knowledge has never happened before - and also for Dan to take no breaks and not miss a single day for that entire period. I'd say a year at the earliest.

Given that Elliot has been the first to every milestone save one (600) and Grace has been second since 300 (save that same 600), my money's on Grace.

Fri. Apr. 1, 2022 Cheerleadra: 112 Elliot: 1095 Liam: 8 Mon. Apr. 4, 2022 Grace: 1016 Dex: 30 (1st appearance since 2016) Cheerleadra: 113 Elliot: 1096 Liam: 9 Wed. Apr. 6, 2022 Cheerleadra: 114 Elliot: 1097 Liam: 10 Fri. Apr. 8, 2022 Cheerleadra: 115 Elliot: 1098 Liam: 11 Grace: 1017 Mon. Apr. 11, 2022 Cheerleadra: 116 Elliot: 1099 Grace: 1018 Fri. Apr. 15, 2022 Grace: 1019 Elliot: 1100 (1st!) Liam: 12 Mon. Apr. 18, 2022 Elliot: 1101 Grace: 1020 Liam: 13 Wed. Apr. 20, 2022 Grace: 1021 Elliot: 1102 Liam: 14 Fri. Apr. 22, 2022 Liam: 15 Elliot: 1103 Grace: 1022 Mon. Apr. 25, 2022 Liam: 16 Elliot: 1104 Grace: 1023 Mr. Verres: 171 Wed. Apr. 27, 2022 Liam: 17 Grace: 1024 Elliot: 1105 Dwight: 1st appearance Fri. Apr. 29, 2022 Dwight: 2 Elliot: 1106 Liam: 18 Grace: 1025 FULL COUNT

I wasn't a big fan of Shortpacked either. I think what draws me most to DoA is the major theme of escaping childhood religious indoctrination.

Indeed to both. I think Dumbing of Age is the best I've seen at it.

Nanase and Ellen are the farthest removed from the rest of the cast. They're kind of almost their own thing. Either they're the focus of the story for months at a time, or they're barely in it at all. They've both had single digit appearances per year multiple times.

2009 was the only year in which not all of the main characters appeared (Sarah and Tedd,were the ones missing, incidentally).

Another shortened month. That's three in a row now. Wed. Mar. 9, 2022 Elliot: 1089 Cheerleadra: 106 (2022 debut) Tedd: 942 Mr. Verres: 162 Grace: 1008 Mon. Mar. 14, 2022 Elliot: 1090 Cheerleadra: 107 Mr. Verres: 163 Grace: 1009 Wed. Mar. 16, 2022 Mr. Verres: 164 Grace: 1010 Elliot: 1091 Cheerleadra: 108 Owl Griffin: 1st appearance Fri. Mar. 18, 2022 Owl Griffin: 2 Mr. Verres: 165 Grace: 1011 Elliot: 1092 Cheerleadra: 109 Mon. Mar. 21, 2022 Owl Griffin: 3 Elliot: 1093 Cheerleadra: 110 Mr. Verres: 166 Wed. Mar. 23, 2022 Owl Griffin: 4 Mr. Verres: 167 Grace: 1012 Fri. Mar. 25, 2022 Elliot: 1094 Cheerleadra: 111 Owl Griffin: 5 Grace: 1013 Mr. Verres: 168 Mon. Mar. 28, 2022 Owl Griffin: 6 Grace: 1014 Mr. Verres: 169 Wed. Mar. 30, 2022 Owl Griffin: 7 Grace: 1015 Mr. Verres: 170 *Our first new character of the year! **Three main characters: Justin, Susan, and Diane, have yet to appear this year. FULL COUNT

I'll agree with this, though I find that the latter instances outnumber the former significantly. Ironically, if it's something important that does need to be explained for the coherence of the story, Dan generally does a pretty concise, succinct job of it and moves on quickly. When it's some minor detail that's not important but that they're worried somebody will misunderstand, that's when they spend way too long trying to explain themself. It's frustrating, and it's I think the only thing about Dan's writing that I don't enjoy.

https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/assorted2022a05 Today's comic (and accompanying commentary), is something about Dan that's always been very obvious to me, and it's something with which I've always heartily disagreed with him on. It's clear Dan feels the need to explain himself to his audience, and I can even understand why he might feel that way, but I do not consider it necessary at all. In fact, I find that the times an artist goes out of their way to explain or contextualize their art almost always weakens it.

What other hand? This is precisely what I was getting at. Part of it, anyway. I'm also opposed to hand-holding. Let me figure things out on my own. Indeed. Dan's standards with regard to their own work tend to be different. I have no way to verify this, but I suspect it stems from being a people pleaser.

There have been a couple here and there over the years. Can't remember the last one, though.

Oh yes, of course. Off-screen dialogue always counts, yes.

Another short month. March will be as well. Gonna be low numbers this year. Wed. Feb. 2, 2022 Ashley: 296 (2022 debut) Magus: 62 (1st appearance since 2018) Sirleck: 29 (1st appearance since 2018) Ellen: 740 Kevin: 12 (1st appearance since 2018) Tedd: 936 Grace: 1002 Sarah: 773 (2022 debut) Fri. Feb. 4, 2022 Kevin: 13 Ashley: 297 Sarah: 774 Grace: 1003 Tedd: 937 Fri. Feb. 7, 2022 Kevin: 14 Elliot: 1084 Ashley: 298 Sarah: 775 Wed. Feb. 9, 2022 Tedd: 938 Kevin: 15 Sarah: 776 Ashley: 299 Fri. Feb. 11, 2022 Kevin: 16 Ashley: 300 (10th) Mon. Feb. 14, 2022 Mr. Verres: Tedd: 939 Ashley: 301 Elliot: 1085 Grace: 1004 Wed. Feb. 16, 2022 Grace: 1005 Mr. Verres: 160 Tedd: 940 Fri. Feb. 18, 2022 Sarah: 777 Elliot: 1086 Mon. Feb. 21, 2022 Elliot: 1087 Sarah: 778 Tedd: 941 Ashley: 302 Grace: 1006 Wed. Feb. 23, 2022 Sarah: 779 Elliot: 1088 Grace: 1007 Fri. Feb. 25, 2022 Mr. Verres: 161 ???: ??? (Lavender) Noriko: 6 (1st appearance since 2020) FULL COUNT

https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-111 Yes! My favorite character is back! And this is a storyline I've been looking forward too as well.