Illjwamh

Gotta admit, I did NOT see that coming. Nice one, Dan.

Yes, I know. That's why I made this Godzilla thread.

If Scarf and Gullet do double-team Raven, that's when Pandora will intervene.

Exciting! Wed. Jan. 3, 2018 Susan: 495 (2018 debut) Aussie Vampire: 7 (2018 debut) Li'l Nase: 27 (2018 debut) FULL COUNT

This sounds plausible. Bonus points if the energy drain ends up involving actually wrapping the victim up with his scarf. Double bonus if it's not even really a scarf, but rather an extension of his mouth and/or tongue.

First update of the new year! An exciting comic, though there's not much goin' on character-wise. Mon. Jan. 1, 2018 Mr. Raven: 105 (2018 debut) Gullet: 5 (2018 debut) FULL COUNT

Okay, and with that, it's finally time for the 2017 year-end wrap-up. Been a while. Characters Introduced This Year Heka "The Butler" Comically Evil Guy Gullet Small-Eyes / "Scarf" Francine Brad Pamela Aussie Vampire Dragon/Cape Vampire Scorpion Centaur Spiky Vampire *A good number of these are one-offs, interestingly. Or at least they certainly look like they will be. Why am I including them, you ask? Shut up; you're not my real mom. Characters Returning After a Year or More Terra (2007) Lord Tedd (2008) A.D. Liefeld (2010) Magus (2010) Sybil (2010) Susan's Logic (2012) Mr. Dunkel (2012) Mrs. Dunkel (2013) Old Helena (2013) Old Demitrius (2013) Sarah's Chubby Fan (2014) Arthur (2014) Li'l Nase (2014) Jeremy (2015) Helena (2015) Demitrius (2015) This Year's Count Elliot: 45 Pandora: 42 Tedd: 40 Susan: 34 Diane: 28 Ellen: 27 Sarah: 20 Ashley: 14 Zeus: 11 Magus: 9 Mr. Raven: 9 Sirleck: 9 Grace: 8 L'il Nase: 8 Aussie Vampire: 6 Justin: 5 Nanase: 5 Heka: 5 Small-Eyes: 4 Gullet: 4 Francine: 4 Mr. Verres: 3 Catalina: 2 "The Old Man": 2 Cheerleadra: 2 "Mild-Mannered": 2 Arthur: 2 "Goth": 2 Heidi: 2 Jeremy: 1 Mr. Dunkel: 1 Mrs. Dunkel: 1 Lord Tedd: 1 Mr. Tensaided: 1 Noah: 1 Susan's Logic: 1 Demitrius: 1 Helena: 1 Terra: 1 A.D. Liefeld: 1 Old Demitrius: 1 Old Helena: 1 Sarah's Chubby Fan: 1 Magic Emissary: 1 Voltaire: 1 "The Butler": 1 Comically Evil Guy: 1 Sybil: 1 Brad: 1 Pamela: 1 Dragon/Cape Vampire: 1 Scorpion Centaur: 1 Spiky Vampire: 1 *Elliot takes his 7th top spot - the most by a margin of 2. Pandora makes the top 3 for the second year running (she was 3rd last year), and Grace and Nanase hit their lowest placements ever, at 13 and 17 respectively. Diane's 5th place finish makes me feel vindicated with my decision to include her as part of the main cast. **Some might note that Ashley has not been bolded, despite me saying I was considering it. I still am, but she didn't have a huge banner year or anything that would make it absolutely necessary, so I think I'll sit on her a bit longer. ***Dang, there were a lot of one-strip-only appearances this year. ****Also, holy crap; I didn't even notice that Ellen passed Sarah again. The full count below has been modified to reflect this. FULL COUNT

Final post of the year! Wed. Dec. 27, 2017 Zeus: 17 Diane: 159 Spiky Vampire: 1st (only?) appearance Mr. Raven: 103 Fri. Dec. 29, 2017 Susan: 494 Aussie Vampire: 6 Mr. Raven: 104 Gullet: 4 FULL COUNT

The penultimate post for 2017. I'll do one more next week followed by the year-end wrap-up. Mon. Dec. 11, 2017 Diane: 156 Zeus: 14 Susan: 489 Aussie Vampire: 3 Wed. Dec. 13, 2017 Aussie Vampire: 4 Small Eyes: 4 Susan: 490 L'il Nase: 25 Fri. Dec. 15, 2017 Susan: 491 L'il Nase: 26 Aussie Vampire: 5 Mr. Raven: 100 (13th) Mon. Dec. 18, 2017 Susan: 492 Mr. Raven: 101 Pandora: 112 Wed. Dec. 20, 2017 Pandora: 113 Susan: 493 Zeus: 15 Diane: 157 Fri. Dec. 22, 2017 Diane: 158 Zeus: 16 Mr. Raven: 102 Scorpion Centaur: 1st (Only?) appearance FULL COUNT:

Mon. Nov. 20, 2017 Magus: 32 Ashley: 132 (now in 10th - highest-ranked non-main character) Terra: 3 (1st appearance since 2007) Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 Ashley: 133 Magus: 33 Pandora: 110 Sirleck: 17 Ellen: 629 Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 Ashley: 134 Magus: 34 Sirleck: 18 Ellen: 630 Old Demetrius: 4 (1st appearance since 2013) Old Helena: 3 (1st appearance since 2013) Demetrius: 15 (1st appearance since 2015) Helena: 21 (1st appearance since 2015) Elliot: 893 Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 Magus: 35 Sirleck: 19 Ellen: 631 Ashley: 135 Wed. Nov. 29, 2017 Susan: 485 Diane: 153 Zeus: 11 Mon. Dec. 4, 2017 Diane: 154 Susan: 486 Zeus: 12 Pandora: 111 Mr. Raven: 99 Wed. Dec. 6, 2017 Diane: 155 Zeus: 13 Susan: 487 Li'l Nase: 23 Fri. Dec. 8, 2017 Dragon/Cape Vampire: 1st (only?) appearance Li'l Nase: 24 Susan: 488 FULL COUNT:

You weren't the only one. I was about to say the same.

Mon. Oct. 30, 2017 Diane: 151 Susan: 483 Elliot: 888 Catalina: 60 Susan's Logic: 5 (1st appearance since 2010) Wed. Nov. 1, 2017 Diane: 152 Susan: 484 Aussie Vampire: 2 (Retroactively - 1st appearance was not counted) Small Eyes: 3 Fri. Nov. 3, 2017 Ashley: 126 Elliot: 889 Mrs. Dunkel: 15(1st appearance since 2013) Mr. Dunkel: 11 (1st appearance since 2012) Mon. Nov. 6, 2017 Ashley: 127 Elliot: 890 Wed. Nov. 8, 2017 Elliot: 891 Ashley: 128 Ellen: 625 Sirleck: 13* Fri. Nov. 10, 2017 Ellen: 626 Sirleck: 14 Magus: 28 Elliot: 892 Sun. Nov. 12, 2017 Magus: 29 Ashley: 129 Wed. Nov. 15, 2017 Magus: 30 Sirleck: 15 Ashley: 130 Ellen: 627 Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 Magus: 31 Ashley: 131 (tied w/ Mr. Verres for 10th) Sirleck: 16 Ellen: 628 Nanase: 582 Francine: 4 *I am continuing the pattern of counting Sirleck's appearances in tandem with his host's. Thus, for as long as he is manipulating Ellen, they will both get credit for an appearance. FULL COUNT:

It doesn't look like Elliot; it looks like his original body, which happens to resemble Elliot. I remember when I first read that strip all those years ago, I assumed Magus was an alternate Elliot from yet another universe.

Well that's a Wham Episode if ever there was one. (I deliberately did not link to the TVTropes page. You're welcome.) Everyone seems to be assuming that Magus has possessed Elliot, but it looks to me like he was just returned to physical form. As in, he has his own body. This is what I'd always assumed would happen, and the art seems to support it. MY big question is and has always been: Why on earth does Ellen zapping Elliot with FV5 have this very specific effect?

Mon. Oct. 16, 2017 Susan: 477 Diane: 145 Mr. Raven: 98 Wed. Oct. 18, 2017 (My birthday!) Diane: 146 Susan: 478 Fri. Oct. 20, 2017 Susan: 479 Diane: 147 Mon. Oct. 23, 2017 Susan: 480 Diane: 148 Wed. Oct. 25, 2017 Diane: 149 Susan: 481 Fri. Oct. 27, 2017 Diane: 150 (9th) Susan: 482 Nanase: 581 FULL COUNT:

She's been shown in the mall during canon NP strips.

That seems to be what this is leaning towards. I think it also lends credence to my theory that Diane is sensing their power as well. I had thought it was just an innate ability she had, but if it's because they're related that makes more sense.

I dunno; this strip seems to be strongly hinting that she can. If not at all times, at least when someone is posturing.

Wed. Oct. 4, 2017 Susan: 472 Diane: 140 Fri. Oct. 6, 2017 Susan: 473 Diane: 141 Mon. Oct. 9, 2017 Diane: 142 Susan: 474 Wed. Oct. 11, 2017 Susan: 475 Diane: 143 Mr. Raven: 96 (2017 debut) Fri. Oct. 13, 2017 Susan: 476 Diane: 144 Mr. Raven: 97 FULL COUNT:

Well damn. I'm going to take this as essentially confirmation of what I've been convinced is true since this strip. Also, does Diane perhaps have an innate ability to sense magical power? Kind of like Raven does? Neat.

Okay, having to retroactively add some characters here. Two, at least. Sybil never had a name, and I never expected her to, but her debut is officially being counted as 2010. Likewise, Arthur will be getting one additional mark for his appearance in that strip, and though it would also count as his "first appearance", it doesn't change the year or anything. At least Francine only goes back a couple of weeks. Wed. Sept. 20, 2017 Sybil: 2 (1st appearance since 2010) Arthur: 8 Mon. Sept. 25, 2017 Nanase: 580 Ellen: 624 Wed. Sept. 27, 2017 Brad: 1st appearance Pamela: 1st appearance Francine: 3 Fri. Sept. 29, 2017 Susan: 470 Diane: 138 Mon. Oct. 2, 2017 Susan: 471 Diane: 139 FULL COUNT:

Wed. Sept. 13, 2017 Susan: 468 Elliot: 886 Fri. Sept. 15, 2017 Susan: 469 Elliot: 887 New Jerry: 10 Mon. Sept. 18, 2017 Nanase: 579 Ellen: 623 Ashley: 125 FULL COUNT:

Mon. Sept. 11, 2017 Nanase: 578 (2017 debut) Ellen: 622 Diane: 137 Justin: 414 Grace: 800 (2nd) *'Bout time Nanase showed up. The year's two thirds over. FULL COUNT:

Fri. Sept. 8, 2017 Ashley: 124 Elliot: 885 Sarah: 630 FULL COUNT:

If she ends up with more appearances than Diane (who, to be honest, I probably jumped the gun on a bit), she'll force my hand and she'll have to by default. Otherwise, she'll need to go through the same process Diane did, which is to say: consistently appear regularly for several years in a row, demonstrate that she is going to be a continued participant in storylines going forward, and have more appearances than any other character outside the main group. If she does all that, then when I make the end-of-year count, she could get her own color. And to be honest, it looks like that's going to happen.