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http://TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Enticia connects her previous backstories. If you're not sure what's going on in panels 2, 3, and 4, you may want to reread the "Even a Rose Has Its Thorns" storyline for a refresher on Enticia's origin story, which also explains how Mick brought her family vacation to a jarring halt. It only occurred to me now that I gave both Lana and Violet (Rose's mom) a similar, uneven striped pattern on their clothes. This was totally unintentional; I'd forgotten about having created this top for Violet years ago. Maybe they both like the same designer (Rose?). Don't forget, folks, I've got my birthday fan art contest going on! Full rules are on the Heroes of C.R.A.S.H. website, but in short, you need to make fan art or a game avatar based on one of my characters before my birthday, and you get free art from me! Sweet!

TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Some insight into how Enticia learned about relationships. Although Violet's behavior/advice explains quite a bit about what Enticia did, there is a key difference between how the two have treated boys. Looking at Dino-Mo's expression - which has suddenly changed from surprised (and possibly sympathetic) to annoyed - she may have caught on. Have you? In the early days of my strip, I wanted there to be at least one established couple; having EVERY character be un-attached seemed a little unrealistic - or at least boring - to me. I wound up pairing Sugar Rush and Dodge, and that pairing has helped influence Dodge's personality a bit. Dodge does have a wild streak that he lets out on occasion, which Sugar Rush loves. But he can also be patient and logical, which helps balance out Sugar Rush's impulsiveness (not that impulsiveness is necessarily a bad thing). However, Sugar Rush hasn't been the only one to make me think how I wrote Dodge's character; his protective nature was influenced by having the often-defenseless Gelatin Boy as his best friend. Perhaps it's because of his sports theme that Dodge has grown to be a team player in his team and in my comic's cast! Ah, the return of character-colored flashbacks. Every character's flashbacks are a different color. Enticia's are tinted in browns and reds, to match her hair, skin, makeup, and the broken-heart-halves on her pants (And because using blacks and grays to match her clothes and shoes didn't look vibrant enough). Similarly, Belt Boy's have been yellow to match his hair and his belt buckle (and, admittedly, because yellow is my favorite color and he's the semi-central character), Cannon's were green to match his armor, and Titanium Maiden's have been pink to match her scrunchie, lipstick, shoes, and the flower on her shirt. Hmmm... in hindsight, this may get me backed into a corner if other characters have flashbacks... Obviously, Gelatin Boy would have orange, but what would Dodge have, if orange, red, and yellow are used up? And what would Sugar Rush have? In the future, I may do two-tone flashbacks. I might have to study how Kathleen Jacques colors her Band Vs. Band comic (Which should be on my totally-needs-to-be-updated Links page)... As far as that “bundle of hormones and crazy” comment, I think it sums up teens pretty well (although it doesn’t necessarily disqualify them from serious, meaningful relationships). To be fair though, I think “bundle of crazy” (minus the hormones part) sums up most adults pretty well, too. Just look at the loon that adults got into office a year ago today.

TheHeroesOfCRASH.com A callback to comic #312, this probably won't be the last time we hear this phrase. And yes, we will soon get an explanation of what Mrs. Greene has to do with Enticia's attitudes on relationships... to some extent, anyway. Enticia's got a lot going on below the surface, and I look forward to exploring more of her character in the future. :-) Titanium Maiden and Dino-Mo, as you can see from panel #2, are still there. TM tends to be quiet and gives other people space, whereas Dino-Mo's still taking all this in. If comic #475 and the last panel of today's strip didn't make it clear, Sugar Rush is canonically bi. While she finds other women attractive, she's quite happy in her monogamous dating relationship with Dodge. The two of them happen to be a loving, passionate young couple who just happen to high-five each other whenever a beautiful woman passes by (I think I let Marshall and Lily from How I Met Your Mother influence how I depict their relationship a smidge). Oh, almost forgot; Enticia's last line was, at one point, going to be, "I'm being punished, aren't I?!", borrowing a quote from one of my favorite movies: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze. I decided to skip that quote and use some dialogue that made Enticia's feelings of frustration and guilt a bit more apparent.

TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Enticia utters four words that everyone fears. Enticia's been one of the more fun characters for me to write. She may be my favorite character outside of the main 3. She started off as a femme fatale, but I found myself discovering her character and backstory, and she's evolved as the story progressed. That being said, she isn't always easy to write. I've become increasingly aware of how frequently men take advantage of women in the real world, especially in the last few months, and while I enjoy subverting expectations to create new characters and situations, I didn't want to make it look like I was dismissing what women were (and are) going through by turning men into the victims*. There's MORE than enough of that online. I hope that as the story goes on, that readers will find Enticia to be as deep and loveable as I do. As far as the art in today's comic, my first sketch of Enticia in the last panel had her face looking even more cartoonishly exaggerated, but I felt that it made her look crazed instead of distraught. I feel pretty pleased with how I have her hands clutching her head and messing up her Halle Berry hairdo. By the way, If you've been following me on social media, you know that I'm disappointed by the FCC's recent decision to repeal Net Neutrality laws (And if you enjoy webcomics like mine, you're probably disappointed, too). That being said, this isn't over. There's still plenty of things you can do! 1. Go over the FCC's heads and demand that your representatives in the Senate and Congress put Net Neutrality laws in place. 2. Tell the FCC that you are displeased with their decision; Net Neutrality isn't about taking away people's ability to take selfies and make memes, but about people's ability to have a voice that can be heard globally, and about small businesses having a chance to compete with big businesses. 3. Tell your ISP that you're not a happy customer; you want their website to guarantee that there will be no throttling back the speed at which information comes to you, that there will be no paid prioritization, and that they can still guarantee that low-income families have access to the FULL internet. Don't give up on this cause! Keep listening to what's happening, and keep speaking out! *In the context of this statement, I mean men as a whole. I am aware that men can be victims of abuse in relationships as well as women. However, a disappointingly high number of online complaints involve men complaining that women have it easier than they do, or that feminism is "taking away their rights", and that's just total malarkey.