Illjwamh

First update of the year! (I had to select a new color for my notebook. It ended up being a reuse of 2004's color; 2002 having already been reused, and 2003 being too close to 2018). Mon. Jan. 10, 2022 Elliot: 1075 (2022 debut) Mrs. Dunkel: 18 (1st appearance since 2018) Tony: 21 (1st appearance since 2019) Mr. Dunkel: 14 (1st appearance since 2018) Wed. Jan. 12, 2022 Elliot: 1076 Tony: 22 Tedd: 932 (2022 debut) Fri. Jan. 14, 2022 Elliot: 1077 Ellen: 739 (2022 debut) Mon. Jan. 17, 2022 Elliot: 1078 Nanase: 684 (2022 debut) Mr. Verres: 153 (2022 debut) Wed. Jan. 19, 2022 Mr. Verres: 154 Elliot: 1079 Tedd: 933 Fri. Jan. 21, 2022 Mr. Verres: 155 Elliot: 1080 Agt. Bishop: 6 (2022 debut) Mon. Jan. 24, 2022 Elliot: 1081 Tedd: 934 Mr. Verres: 156 Grace: 998 (2022 debut) Wed. Jan. 26, 2022 Tedd: 935 Elliot: 1082 Mr. Verres: 157 Grace: 999 Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 Mr. Verres: 158 Grace: 1000! (2nd) Mon. Jan. 31, 2022 Elliot: 1083 Mr. Verres: 159 Grace: 1001 FULL COUNT

Enemy - Imagine Dragons Anyone wanna guess what my absolute favorite show of 2021 was?

Because why not? On March 30 in History: 1432 - Future Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II is born. A collective chill runs up the spine of every citizen of Constantinople, but is dismissed as just the wind. 1841 - The National Bank of Greece, a private company owned by a Swiss man, is founded. The nation of Greece is immediately in debt to it. 1863 - The Greeks need a king. "Hey, how about this Danish guy?" "Sure, seems legit." 1867- U.S. Secretary of State William Seward buys a massive piece of land from Russia for peanuts. It is filled with gold, oil, and myriad untold natural and mineral resources. He is mocked for it until his dying day. 1870 - The United States let Texas back in. Both sides regret it to this day. 1870 again - The U.S. Constitution is amended to make clear that non-white people should be allowed to vote. Not women, though. That'd be crazy. 1981 - John Hinckley, Jr. shoots the president of the United States in order to impress a young girl he saw in a movie. It reportedly does not work.

I was expecting it too, but at least she's pretty much guaranteed to hit it this year.

Now comes my favorite part of this whole thing: the YEAR-END WRAP-UP! Characters Introduced This Year Agent Knight Chicken Guy Agent Bishop Line Cutter Uptight MSHS Teacher Flying Turtle Characters Returning After a Year or More (Parenthesis indicate year of most recent previous appearance) Damien (2011) Boar (2012) Agent Wolf (2013) Amanda (2014) Fox (2015) Cheerleadra (2017) Magic Emissary (2017) Agent Cranium (2017) Zeus (2018) Raven (2018) Sybil (2018) Will of Magic (2018) Jeremy (2019) Mr. Verres (2019) Noah (2019) Mr. Tensaided (2019) Lucy (2019) This Year's Count (Main characters bold, new characters italic) Tedd: 58 Grace: 48 Elliot: 38 Susan: 34 Arthur: 26 Justin: 24 Sarah: 22 Diane: 20 Ashley: 18 Mr. Verres: 17 Catalina: 17 Nanase: 16 Rhoda: 16 Magic Emissary: 11 (Cheerleadra): 9 Luke: 9 Agt. Knight: 7 Ellen: 6 Agt. Bishop: 5 Sybil: 4 Chicken Guy: 4 Dr. Germahn: 3 Agt. Wolf: 3 Line Cutter: 3 Lucy: 2 (Fox): 2 Flying Turtle: 2 Amanda: 1 Damien: 1 Jeremy: 1 Mr. Tensaided: 1 Noah: 1 Agt. Cranium: 1 Raven: 1 Boar: 1 Will of Magic: 1 Camdin: 1 Jay: 1 Uptight Teacher: 1 *Tedd has placed 1st for the first time after 20 years of EGS. Justin, Susan, and Ashley are the only remaining main characters who've yet to do it. **At 18th, this is Ellen's lowest placement ever ***At 8th and 9th respectively, this is the lowest placement for both Diane and Ashley since joining the main cast

Fri. Dec. 3, 2021 Elliot: 1072 Tedd: 924 Mon. Dec. 6, 2021 Tedd: 925 Elliot: 1073 Wed. Dec. 8, 2021 Tedd: 926 Elliot: 1074 Fri. Dec. 10, 2021 Arthur: 58 Mon. Dec. 13, 2021 Tedd: 927 Arthur: 59 Wed. Dec. 15, 2021 Tedd: 928 Arthur: 60 Fri. Dec. 17, 2021 Tedd: 929 Arthur: 61 Mon. Dec. 20, 2021 Tedd: 930 Arthur: 62 Wed, Dec. 22, 2021 Tedd: 931 Arthur: 63 Bishop: 4 Fri. Dec. 24, 2021 Arthur: 64 Bishop: 5 Wed, Dec. 29, 2021 Mr. Verres: 151 Flying Turtle: 1st appearance Sybil: 8 Fri. Dec. 31, 2021 Mr. Verres: 152 Flying Turtle: 2 FULL COUNT

November's pretty easy. And hey, (sorta) big milestones! Mr. Verres is, as usual, the first non-main character to reach a benchmark, this time 150. Though being there are two more main characters than there were when he hit 50 and 100, this means he's now the 11th overall to get there. And Arthur is the 30th character to reach 50 appearances. Mon. Nov. 1, 2021 Arthur: 47 Tedd: 913 Mr. Verres: 148 Fri. Nov. 5, 2021 Tedd: 914 Mr. Verres: 149 Arthur: 48 Mon. Nov. 8, 2021 Tedd: 915 Arthur: 49 Wed. Nov. 10, 2021 Arthur: 50 Tedd: 916 Fri. Nov. 12, 2021 Tedd: 917 Arthur: 51 Mon. Nov. 15, 2021 Tedd: 918 Arthur: 52 Wed. Nov. 17, 2021 Arthur: 53 Tedd: 919 Fri. Nov. 19, 2021 Arthur: 54 Tedd: 920 Mon. Nov. 22, 2021 Tedd: 921 Arthur: 55 Wed. Nov. 24, 2021 Tedd: 922 Arthur: 56 Mon. Nov. 29, 2021 Tedd: 923 Mr. Verres: 150 Arthur: 57 FULL COUNT

Suicide Blonde - INXS It's one I've been coming back to a lot lately.

..."just following orders"?

Captain Malcolm Reynolds : So me and mine gotta lay down and die... so you can live in your better world? The Operative: I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil; I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.

I strongly suspect one of them is Abraham, but until it is officially confirmed in-comic (or by Dan in a commentary or something), it doesn't count.

Wed. Oct. 6, 2021 Ashley: 293 Justin: 541 Rhoda: 85 Elliot: 1069 Mr. Verres: 141 Cheerleadra: 103 Tedd: 906 Fri. Oct. 8, 2021 Ashley: 294 Justin: 542 Knight: 7 Elliot: 1070 Mr. Verres: 142 Cheerleadra: 104 Wolf: 19 TBD*: ? (Raven) TBD*: ?(Abraham) Arthur: 42 *The two consultants will retroactively have an appearance added here once it becomes clear who they are. Don't let me forget. Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 Arthur: 43 Wolf: 20 TBD: ? (Abraham) TBD: ? (Could be Raven or Vladia, so no count) Wed. Oct. 13, 2021 Arthur: 44 Dr. Germahn: 16 Tedd: 907 Fri. Oct. 15, 2021 Arthur: 45 Dr. Germahn: 17 Wed. Oct. 20, 2021 Ashley: 295 Justin: 543 Fox: 13 Elliot: 1071 Magic Emissary: 33 Cheerleadra: 105 Mr. Verres: 143 Grace: 995 Nanase: 683 Tedd: 908 Fri. Oct. 22, 2021 Mr. Verres: 144 Tedd: 909 Grace: 996 Mon. Oct. 25, 2021 Mr. Verres: 145 Tedd: 910 Grace: 997 Wed. Oct. 27, 2021 Mr. Verres: 146 Tedd: 911 Arthur: 46 Fri. Oct. 29, 2021 Mr. Verres: 147 Tedd: 912 FULL COUNT

https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-070 I'm now 95% certain one of the "consultants" is Abraham.

But given that the very issue in question was first accidentally discovered by the two of them, it couldn't be.

Calling it now: It's George and Tensaided.

Wed. Sept. 1, 2021 Susan: 616 Catalina: 75 Nanase: 682 Tedd: 905 Sarah: 768 Fri. Sept. 3, 2021 Catalina: 76 Susan: 617 Sarah: 769 Mon. Sept. 6, 2021 Sarah: 770 Catalina: 77 Susan: 618 Wed. Sept. 8, 2021 Sarah: 771 Susan: 619 Catalina: 78 Fri. Sept. 10, 2021 Grace: 994 Rhoda: 80 Mon. Sept. 13, 2021 Rhoda: 81 Catalina: 79 Uptight Teacher: 1st appearance Fri. Sept. 17, 2021 Ashley: 292 Justin: 540 Rhoda: 82 Sarah: 772 Catalina: 80 Mr. Verres: 140 Elliot: 1068 Cheerleadra: 102 *We might assume Luke and Camdin are among the hooded pursuers, but since there were more than just them, we can't be certain so they aren't counted here. Mon. Sept. 20, 2021 Rhoda: 83 Catalina: 81 Camdin: 6 Luke: 76 Wed. Sept. 22, 2021 Luke: 77 Catalina: 82 Fri. Sept. 24, 2021 Luke: 78 Catalina: 83 Rhoda: 84 FULL COUNT

Mon. Aug. 2, 2021 Tedd: 904 Grace: 993 Mon. Aug. 9, 2021 Sarah: 765 Susan: 612 Catalina: 71 Wed. Aug. 11, 2021 Sarah: 766 Catalina: 72 Susan: 613 Fri. Aug. 13, 2021 Susan: 614 Catalina: 73 Sarah: 767 Diane: 343 Lucy: 29 (1st appearance since 2019) Rhoda: 75 Boar: 14 (1st appearance since 2012) Wed. Aug. 18, 2021 Rhoda: 76 Diane: 344 Line Cutter: 1st appearance Fri. Aug. 20, 2021 Rhoda: 77 Line Cutter: 2 Mon. Aug. 23, 2021 Rhoda: 78 Line Cutter: 3 Wed. Aug. 25, 2021 Diane: 345 Lucy: 30 Rhoda: 79 Mon. Aug. 30, 2021 Susan: 615 Catalina: 74 *In my head, the line cutter's name is Brad. FULL COUNT

Fri. Jul. 2, 2021 Justin: 539 Grace: 989 Damien: 51 (1st appearance since 2011) Mon. Jul. 5, 2021 Susan: 607 Elliot: 1062 Wed. Jul. 7, 2021 Susan: 608 Elliot: 1063 Sarah: 764 Catalina: 70 Fri. Jul. 9, 2021 Elliot: 1064 Susan: 609 Mon. Jul. 12, 2021 Susan: 610 Elliot: 1065 Wed. Jul. 14, 2021 Elliot: 1066 Susan: 611 Mon. Jul. 19, 2021 Camdin: 5 (2021 debut) Luke: 75 Fri. Jul. 23, 2021 Elliot: 1067 Mon. Jul. 26, 2021 Grace: 990 Tedd: 901 Wed. Jul. 28, 2021 Tedd: 902 Grace: 991 Fri. Jul. 30, 2021 Grace: 992 Tedd: 903 FULL COUNT

I find I enjoy these a lot more when I do them in big chunks. Wed. Jun. 2, 2021 Knight: 4 Bishop: 1st appearance Fri. Jun. 4, 2021 Bishop: 2 Knight: 5 Chicken Guy: 4 Mon. Jun. 7, 2021 Rhoda: 73 Catalina: 68 Justin: 529 Grace: 980 Cranium: 23 (1st appearance since 2017) Wolf: 18 (1st appearance since 2013) Sybil: 7 Arthur: 41 Knight: 6 Bishop: 3 Susan: 606 Diane: 342 Fri. Jun. 11, 2021 Ashley: 291 Nanase: 681 Elliot: 1060 Mr. Verres: 139 Cheerleadra: 100 (14th) Justin: 530 Grace: 981 Rhoda: 74 Catalina: 69 Sarah: 763 Luke: 67 (2021 debut) Mon. Jun. 14, 2021 Justin: 531 Grace: 982 Wed. Jun. 16, 2021 Grace: 983 Justin: 532 Luke: 68 Fri. Jun. 18, 2021 Justin: 533 Luke: 69 Grace: 984 Mon. Jun. 21, 2021 Luke: 70 Justin: 534 Grace: 985 Elliot: 1061 Cheerleadra: 101 Wed. Jun. 23, 2021 Grace: 986 Luke: 71 Justin: 535 Fri. Jun. 25, 2021* Justin: 536 Luke: 72 Noah: 72 (1st appearance since 2019) *This could either be Catalina or Rhoda; while later strips imply it's likely Rhoda, the art style is unclear and so neither shall be counted at this time Mon. Jun. 28, 2021 Luke: 73 Grace: 987 Justin: 537 Wed. Jun. 30, 2021 Luke: 74 Justin: 538 Grace: 988 Mr. Tensaided: 69 (1st appearance since 2019) *Cheerleadra is the first pseudo-character to hit 100 appearances FULL COUNT

My guess is the "emergency plan" involves Catalina transforming into a cat-person and Rhoda making her huge. Huge cat monster.

Yes, I know. That's a student. The figure on the left is the teacher.

Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about either. Aside from Puritan!Teacher, there was a student behind the text box, but that was it. Also, just want to add: with a flashback coming up on Wednesday, we might be going in to the next part of this storyline. If Dan doesn't call it "Part Not 2-B", I'll be very disappointed.

I don't know what got me thinking about this today, but I've had conversations about this before with friends, and I was just wondering what everyone here counts among their favorite fictional universes? For this to count, there has to be extensive world building involved, and multiple entries within it (i.e. a series, multiple films or books, cross-media, or some combination thereof). Also, I'm not counting things that are basically our world with one or two small differences - like the Fast and the Furious franchise (which would not have made my list anyway, but just as a point of reference). Things that purportedly take place in our world but contain fantastical hidden worlds alongside the familiar mundane, like Artemis Fowl, are fair game. I'll also point out that this is a "favorite universes" list, which is distinct from "favorite stories". A universe is a setting, and may or may not contain several distinct stories within it, some good, some bad. I'm not limiting this to a TOP 10 format either, since I'd probably just end up either forcing myself to come up with a full ten, thus including things that shouldn't really be on a "favorites" list, or else having to go beyond 10 by including a bunch of "honorable mentions", so the list will simply go until I don't have anything left that I like enough to want to include. And lastly, this is just for fun, entirely subjective, and mostly a result of me just liking to make and read lists of things. I'm sure that will surprise many of you to learn about me. 1. Star Wars . . . . . 2. One Piece 3. Harry Potter/Wizarding World 4. Avatar (Last Airbender/Legend of Korra) 5. Wheel of Time 6. DC 7. Marvel 8. Dragon Age 9. Song of Ice and Fire 10. Percy Jackson 11, Middle Earth 12. Narutoverse 13. Attack on Titan 14. Mortal Kombat There are some that might well make my list someday that I just haven't seen/read enough of yet, like Discworld or The Land of Ooo (from Adventure Time). If any of you know more that I should delve into, let me know! Any and all mediums.

Awesome news! Good to see you, old timer!

I miss everyone. If we had more people here, I'm sure someone else could reminisce with me. Season Three – 7.8/10, The edge of the great Friends plateau -Last precious drops of nostalgia -Early stages of cringe humor as a staple -End of Ross and Rachel (bittersweet but well done) -First major flashback episode -Rachel quits her job and starts a career -First major bottle episode -The chick and the duck -Joey’s first serious relationship -Great guest characters (Pete, Frank Jr., Kate, Janice again) -Lackluster guest characters (Tommy, Chloe, Bonnie, Joanna) -Consistent quality (only a couple stand-out great episodes, but no really bad ones) Top 3 episodes (ascending): 3. The One With The Giant Poking Device 2. The One With The Morning After 1. The One Where No One's Ready Bottom 3 episodes (descending): 3. The One With Phoebe's Ex-Partner 2. The One WIth The Screamer 1. The One With The Football