The Saga of Chuque.

I've written before that Chuque was a real person I met when I came out, here introduced in the college strips a bit differently than he was in the Big City ones. No, he didn't actually spell his name this way, but he was indeed that anal retentive, and openly despised me for not being "gay enough." To try and explain that: in the '90s, especially on college campuses, there was a wave of gay activism that sort of demanded that you stand up and be counted. And there was a bit of a division between gay men who just wanted to assimilate and get married and have a house in the suburbs, and those who wanted to let their fairy flag fly. I'm really not the most masculine guy in the room, but Chuck believed it was an act. And it might have been.

Technical details: I finally get rid of Tad's freckles, and was SO impressed with myself that I had started using a gel mesh to shade Tad's hair. The way you used to do it was get these giant sheets from art stores and press them on to your strip to do fancy shading that reproduced great in a paper. I had to ride twenty blocks on my bike in Tucson in 110 degree weather to get this stuff, and ultimately I don't think it did a damn bit of good. Photoshop has really, really saved my behind.