Avenir is a philosophical rabbit who appreciates peace and quiet. He likes to put on a show of equanimity, but is easily jarred out of his (relatively narrow) comfort zone. He detests nearly everything about Cochin, but likes to have someone to talk at.
Cochin is a shark - but don’t worry, she probably won’t eat you. Overflowing with enthusiasm, she has more than enough to compensate for Avenir’s relative lack in that area. She can’t be bothered with sitting down and coming up with a life philosophy, because in her view, that isn’t living. She is amused by Avenir, but thinks the rabbit could stand to relax a little. Actually, a lot.
Sly and self-interested, Bradley tends to play Avenir and Cochin off against each other for his own amusement. He befriended Argenta on an underground expedition, and sometimes wonders if that had been a good idea.
Argenta was the despotic Supreme Magistrix and Leader of the Snail People, a technologically advanced people living far underground. Argenta was not always a tyrant, and can sometimes be very sweet – until she forgets she isn't the Supreme Magistrix anymore.
Why is the comic called "Between the Pages?"
As a challenge to myself (and not at all because I can’t draw), all the visuals are originally created inside of Apple Inc’s Pages app. I noticed that there were just a ton of shapes provided, and started wondering when anyone would use even half of them. (In fact, in one of the recent updates, Apple added even more.) So I thought "Why not use them to make a webcomic?" and here we are.
So it's just copied from Pages?
No, first I have to run things through an image editor (my fav is
Pixelmator Pro). Some things (navigation, site background, etc) I had to tweak inside Pixelmator Pro, but the comic itself is generated inside of Pages.
Why don't you have any chat forums? Why aren't you on FaceBook/Instagram/ Weibo/Google+?
When the comic began, the entire staff of BtP consisted solely of me and my elderly cat (and I tried explaining Web 2.0 to him, I really did, he just did
not get it). Since then, the staff has been reduced to just me. So anything that isn't directly related to creating and posting new comics (and their accompanying blog) gets shoved into the drawer labeled “When I've Got Time.â€
(Also, "Google+?" What are you, imaginary person with whom I am carrying on this Socratic conversation, from 2011?)
Well, how should I contact you, then?
For now, you can email me
directly. I shall do my best to get back to you as soon as I can.
How often is the comic updated?
Twice weekly, on Monday and Thursday. This is an aspirational goal, which means even when successful it involves a lot of hyperventilating and ends with a long, relieved sigh. So pay no attention to the largish gaps in the archives, and keep checking back. I'll post again eventually! Probably!
Say...aren’t all your characters named after fonts? Why is that?
Nice to see another font nerd visiting the comic! Yes, each character’s name corresponds with the font in which their dialogue is written. (And, if you have the fonts installed on your system, the blog text shows up in that font as well.) This was another way of underlining the initial conceit for the comic. Like the pre-set shapes, there are more extant fonts than anyone will reasonably ever use - and I’ve collected many many more over the years. Ultimately, just another bit of fun.
Why don't you have larger versions of the comics prior to No. 37?
It was at Comic No. 37 that I changed how I created the comics in Pages. In order to provide the larger versions for the ones before that, I'd essentially have to re-create the comics. I may get around to doing so someday, but for right now, that project also gets stuffed into the "When I've Got Time" drawer.
