PTC 04-07-19 Built like this guy

[Giz]

New strip! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/built-like-this-guy/

Happy 4th!

[Chantaru]

They have quite a payroll for a budding indie label.

[Spidrift]

To be fair, they may be paying people like Felix piece rates, and nobody's talked salaries with Aaron yet. I'd guess it's only Julian, Zadie, and Ramona pulling down full-time pay cheques from the comics business. Which still means they need a reasonable lump of seed capital, but nothing off-the-scale unbelievable.

I'd assumed that Julian (and Dillon) grew up somewhere out of town and moved to the Big City at adulthood, which made me blink at Julian knowing Aaron like this... But I guess that the former was never stated as such, so whatevs. Acceptable levels of comedy coincidence there.

And I now have to admit that the joke here is actually quite good; random growth hormones vs. intent... Oh, and of course we're all waiting for the other shoe to drop on Zadie, given that she's now making doe eyes at Julian.

[Dragon Paladin]

Who wants to start making wagers on how the characters get paired off? My guess is Aaron ends up being a closeted busexual and ends up with Felix.

[christopheftw]

Hahaha! Look at young Julian checking out the male physiques young Aaron is aspiring to!

[Spidrift]

Who wants to start making wagers on how the characters get paired off? My guess is Aaron ends up being a closeted busexual and ends up with Felix.

Hard to guess. Jokes notwithstanding, not everyone in these comics turns out to be bi (just most people), and while it would sort of serve Aaron right if he discovered that truth, he’s been such an ass about things that a turnaround would be quite serious drama... I kind of get the feeling that Aaron being an obnoxious idiot is set to be a fixed point in this comic, indefinitely. But then again, Gary being a hopeless virgin was a fixed point for a long time, until it wasn’t.

But what do I know? It’s not like the mood or the plot arcs of this comic are anything like established yet.

[Valkog]

Did any of the other comics introduce this many characters within the first 30 strips? It's like Tite Kubo is writing this thing.

[Spidrift]

I only count six characters so far (Aaron, Felix, Julian, Jung, Ramona, and Zadie). Ma3 hit that many at least as quickly (Gary, Matt, Dillon, Zii, DiDi, and Jung).

[lordoffiling]

If I recall correctly, strip one of Ma3 introduced us to Gary, Matt and Dillon immediately. We then met Zii and Didi very shortly thereafter. So that's five. Six if you count Lita, and I think we must.

And here we have... Zadie, Ramona, Julian, Jung, Aaron, and Felix. Six.

So technically we're right on pace.

EDIT: Spidrift won the race to the Submit button by a nose here...

[Valkog]

I guess you're technically correct. On a superficial level, anyway.

[captainswift]

Also technically, if you're a long-time Ma3-verse reader, Ramona and Jung are already well-established, and Aaron and Julian are existing tertiary characters as well, so we've only actually been introduced to two characters so far.

[Spidrift]

I wouldn’t split hairs that far. Anyhow, although Valkog was wrong, I can see where they got the idea from. The other comics opened with a lot of characters ... in different places, heading in different directions, with plots attached and running. This one is feeding all the new characters into one situation (employment in or around the new company), and hasn’t given any of them much in the way of plot yet.

It may well all pay off eventually, sure, but right now it’s just character-character-character...

[SailorDh]

Plot seems to be can Aaron be a bigger asshole than Matt. The answer seems to be "Hold my beer."

[brasca]

I have to wonder if Julian got his physique naturally or he had to work at it. I suppose I might be jealous too if one growth spurt later and Julian is who he is today. Well if Aaron is feeling inferior perhaps he should see a therapist. I think there's someone who knows something about that.

[Spidrift]

Working out can improve a lot, but it can’t make someone taller.