Volume 2 PDF

[Spidrift]

The PDF version of volume 2 of the print collection has now been released to Kickstarter backers. Notes for anyone wondering what’s in it...

Well, mostly the strips we’ve already seen, of course. But the ones that were previously just bluelines have now been inked, and I think this may give the buyer higher resolution versions of the strips than we've seen before, which for me really brings out the quality of Giz’s art. Which, when we’re seeing so many Ruby expressions, is worth having.

Talking of which, we also get two bonus stories — both of them actually about Ruby, in case anyone doubted that the comic was actually about her by the time it ended. However, we’ve seen “The Director” before, which just leaves “Natural Honey”. This is set after the end of the main comic, but doesn’t add very much or tie off any really serious loose ends (and I would like to see something done with the Larose parents one day). We merely learn that Ruby’s calendar Kickstarter is a success (surprise), and then she has a brief emotional wobble when she realises that she’s making money as a pornographer of sorts. Note: the ending of the main comic notwithstanding, she still uses the expression “I’m no better than my sister” as severe self-criticism. Still, she gets over this and makes one last little adjustment to reality, and last we see, she’s clearly about to bang Andy’s brains out.

Oh, and there’s one other little bit of symbolism. The first time we saw Ruby, she sat on a sofa with her sister, Amber drinking wine, possibly white, Ruby drinking what I’d guess was meant to be a soda. The last time we see her, she’s sitting on a sofa, drinking red wine. There’s a thesis to be written on the iconography of character beverage choices...

[brasca]

I had hoped that Andy and Ruby's first time might get the same treatment that Menage a 3 gets with scenes redrawn without regard for advertisement censors, but no dice. And while I liked the bonus story I agree with Spidrift about seeing the Laroses and whether they would approve or disapprove of their daughters' career choices.

As evidenced by my avatar this became my favorite and I really wish it could've gone on longer since it had so much potential, but I'm optimistic that these characters will appear again in Pixie Trix Comix again.