#043

I'd apologize for faking you out and making you think there'd be some sort of ginormous explosion, but I'm not sorry. That's just like Thomas apologizing for smacking Stanley. You know he really isn't, and he'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Words about the new style: It definitely takes less time overall to do (yeehaw), but the colours end up looking a bit washed out (gnarly). I'll probably keep doing it, partly because it saves time, but mostly because I actually enjoy drawing them this way quite a bit more. Plus, the lines on Thomas' scale mail take much less time to draw freehand as opposed to digitally.

Have you been reading the character bios? I've heard a lot of support in favour of them, and if people really do enjoy seeing them, I can keep doing them. I've got tonnes of characters outside the main cast too. Dorian's story is pretty great, and so's Count Stern's. But hey, I should probably finish up the main cast first.

Stanley LeStapp

I'm not 100% sure that I'll finish the comic today, so here's a quick drawing of Stanley that will be featured in it. I figure I owe you something at least since I'm supposed to update on Wednesday's, and I haven't yet (This doesn't mean I'm not going to have a full comic today. Consider this a potential bonus update).

I'm a bit disappointed that you can't see his furry, beastly arms. Seriously, no matter what I try here, it never seems to show when I scan the image. So instead you just see some arms. Try and imagine them in their full sasquatch-esque glory.

Stanley LeStapp is the sole proprietor of the Shady Grove tavern in Cawloaka. It's a full time job keeping murderous bands of adventurers from sobering up, but if anyone is equal to the task, it's Stanley. The bar's been in his family for many generations, originally built by a Steve LeStapp almost a  couple hundred years ago after the Great Upheaval (ooh, capitalized, that's probably an important event).

The LeStapp family is comprised mostly of men named Steve in honour of their entrepreneurial patriarch. Stanley's father (Steve VIII) broke that tradition, otherwise Stanley would be Steve IX. I'm pretty sure I've said somewhere that the king is Andol IX, but don't read too much into that. Seriously, even if way back Stanley is related to the king (not saying he is, but hey, stranger things have happened), there'd be a few hundred people in the line of succession ahead of him.

In his youth, Stanley worked as a sailor in the Vargetian Navy. However, when he received word of his father's ailing health, he packed it all in to return home. Steve VIII died peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by loved ones (or as adventurers call it, "Like a sissy"). Stanley's been running the tavern ever since.