Soup the Comic Strip by Alun Clewe
Comic strip for December 10 2023.
PANEL ONE: Lambor faces Drv'dxx across the bar of the Dive Divine. LAMBOR: Hi, Drv'dxx. A glass of that pale blue nectar, please. PANEL TWO: Change of angle, from behind Lambor. DRV'DXX: I also have hell–brewed poisons that can slay the very gods in writhing agony. Would you like to try some of that? LAMBOR: Er... No, I'll just go with the nectar, thanks. DRV'DXX: Suit yourself. PANEL THREE: Lambor is still talking to Drv'dxx across the bar. LAMBOR: You know, I haven't seen Erlak around here lately. DRV'DXX: He hasn't been here lately. PANEL FOUR: Close on Lambor. LAMBOR: Hm? Why not? Do you know where he's been? PANEL FIVE: Close on Drv'dxx DRV'DXX: Not for a certainty, no. But perhaps, just perhaps... PANEL SIX: Slightly wide angle on Drv'dxx. DRV'DXX: Perhaps he has simply come to fear the terrible revenge I will wreak upon all of you, and the destruction I shall mete upon this world and others, when I am free. PANEL SEVEN: Drv'dxx leans forward closer to Lambor. DRV'DXX: I make no secret of my thirst for vengeance, but most gods don't take my statements seriously, they see them as the desperate ravings of a defeated foe. PANEL EIGHT; Bird's eye view of Drv'dxx. DRV'DXX: But perhaps he, alone among the gods, has come to recognize that all my threats are not idle, that I WILL someday find a way to free myself of my servitude, and that I WILL have my revenge. PANEL NINE: Drv'dxx raises (some of) his arms dramatically. DRV'DXX: Perhaps he has come to realize that this world is doomed, and that all the gods are doomed with it. PANEL TEN: Close on Drv'dxx's eyes. DRV'DXX: And knowing this, perhaps he has fled in terror to some distant world, never to return, hoping — vainly — that my path of destruction will never reach his hiding place. PANEL ELEVEN: Drv'dxx and Lambor regard each other in silence. PANEL TWELVE: Lambor talks to Drv'dxx across the bar. LAMBOR: Okay, that was an unusually tenuous pretext for one of your vengeful rants... DRV'DXX: Maybe he's on vacation or something. I'm stuck behind this stupid counter all day. What do I know?
December 10 2023

Well, dang it to heck. Not only have I not finished any new strips this weekend as I, uh, meaninglessly vowed a few days ago (and sure, at the time I'm writing this, the weekend isn't over, but I have a lot of other urgent things I need to do, and it's clearly not happening), but I forgot to reletter and upload this strip until the early evening. Well, it's sure a good thing nobody saw that, because nobody knows about this strip and nobody's reading this!

Okay, seriously, why am I bothering keeping the comic up if nobody's reading it? Well, because I do hope to get readers, of course. I'm not quite sure how to go about it, but I haven't put any real effort into it either yet. I'll wait to do that until the site is more presentable, i.e. when I finally have the Cast and Archive pages up and make the site more mobile-friendly, among other things. Those are all things I should have done a long time ago, but... I don't have a lot of free time. Still, the holidays are coming up, and the film industry generally more or less shuts down for the end of December, so I'll have a few weeks I'm unlikely to be working. I have other things I need to get done in that time, too, so I can't spend all my time on Soup, but maybe I'll be able at least to devote enough time to getting those site features up and running. And then maybe in 2024 I can figure out how to publicize the site and maybe start getting some readers...