3418 Another Wonderful Day
This is a BIG one! And WordPress seems to have compressed it, so it’s oddly small.
EDIT: Thanks, HKMaly, here’s a link to the full-sized strip to make it easier to see. Open it in a new window and you can use the below descriptions to refer to the strip more easily!
3418: Another Wonderful Day
EDIT EDIT: Here’s a link to a Christmas cartoon I made with Ben, Heather Dale and S.J.Tucker for a Yule concert they did! Happy Holidays!
Krampus Loves Music
To all those who Celebrate, MERRY CHRISTMAS! And to all those who celebrate other holidays at this time, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! And to all those who aren’t celebrating anything in particular, hope you’re having a great week and have a great weekend!
——————
This strip came to me while I was driving and listening to some old SF/Fantasy soundtrack remixes, and one of them was one I use a lot while getting inspired for YAFGC, but they’d laid in some jingle bell sounds which turned it all sort of Christmassy for me. So with some fond YAFGC nostalgia, I dreamed up this… monster.
It is a sequel/follow up to this strip:
0567: A Wonderful Day
And makes a contrast with how their lives were going then with how things are going now.
There’s a LOT to unpack in this comic, and I suspect a lot of you will be confused. So I’ll lay in a commentary right here to try to clear some of it up for you.
Panel 1: Charles Hunter and Louis Steward wait in a high tower, watching the path in the snow.
Panel 2: Charles spots something approaching and points it out!
Panel 3: A large wagon rides up to Castle Greyfort, the guard from the front gate escorts it in.
Panel 4: From the covered wagon, Glon waves to Lucas and Cadugan. Cadugan’s little fox peers around from behind Cadugan’s legs.
Panel 5: Lucas helps Maula Bloodhand out of the wagon while Cadugan helps little Princess Lucca. Glon and Gaggia are carrying large packages into the Castle.
Panel 6: The whole Bloodhand clan enter the Castle, as well as Queen Hogga! They are introduced by Lucas and Cadugan to Flannet and Charles Hunter, and the visiting Stewards (In the fg you can see Philippa and Louis).
Panel 7: Greetings and warm embraces continue.
Panel 8: Gaggia and Cadugan watch amused as the Fox romps with the Orc children.
Panel 9: Lucas and Cadugan meet Blan Smitharm, his wife and their daughter at the side door. Master Blan Smitharm is, of course, Lucas’ natural father, and Glon’s adopted father. His wife, Chikka, is his trophy wife, and they have a daughter, Martha.
Panel 10: Glon meets one of his childhood friends at the door, Delman O’Mason, his wife Leslie, and their two children, Stoan and Tawnie.
Panel 11: Glon meets his other childhood bestie, Marty FitzGrey and his boyfriend Sebastian Sherry.
Panel 12: Chikka Smitharm coos over Gaggia’s pregnant belly while Stoan O’Mason rushes to join and hang out with the older kids, Charles and Louis.
Panel 13: Tawnie O’Mason joins the littler Orc kids as they chat and pet the fox.
Panel 14: Charles shows off some of his fencing skills while Martha, Louis and Stoan are amused.
Panel 15: Maran rings the dinner bell!
Panel 16: At the start of the feast, Lucas has a speech.
Panel 17: Cadugan tells him to shut up and pour the wine already!
Panel 18: Gaggia agrees “CHEERS, You drink the good stuff while I enjoy this grape juice!”
Panel 19: Maran serves the wine, Blan and Chikka are suitably appreciative.
Panel 20: Louis exclaims that this is the best food he’s ever tasted.
Panel 21: Princess Glonda tell Prince Mauler off for not using the utensils in a polite, Human fasion.
Panel 22: Master Blan Smitharm proposes a toast with a moving speech about how proud he is of his two sons and how well they’ve done for themselves. Everyone is touched and emotional.
Panel 23: Ibkis, Gaggia and Leslie O’Mason lead the littler kids off to nap in a big guest room.
Panel 24: The little kids are wiped out and fall sleep almost instantly. The fox curls up with them.
Panel 25: The PARTY STARTS!! Musicians fill the hall with lively tunes.
Panel 26: Flannet Hunter teaches Maula Bloodhand and Philippa Steward a Matriarch’s jig she learned from the Halflings.
Panel 27: Lucas and Cadugan cut a rug at the couple’s dance.
Panel 28: Charles encourages Louis to ask Martha Smitharm to be his dance partner for the next one.
Panel 29: Apparently Martha agreed, and the kids dance together, Charles with Maran, and Stoan with Ibkis.
Panel 30: Delman O’Mason, Blan Smitharm and Eldwig Steward catch Marty and Sebastian making out in a pantry!
Panel 31: Glon dances with Chikka Smitharm and gets to know his step-mother better. Blan Smitharm dances with Maula Bloodhand.
Panel 32: Lucas and Cadugan get the Bloodhand Queens (And Hogga) into a wild can-can type affair.
Panel 33: The Orc Matriarchs perform a Traditional Black Mountain Chorus praising times of peace and friendship.
Panel 34: Glon, Lucas, Delman and Marty sing a raucus song, probably not one about the sausage maker… but the same one they sang years ago at the bar.
Panel 35: The party is declared over, and everyone hugs.
Panel 36: Maran shows the guests to way to their rooms. Blan and Chikka Smitharm are surprised at this additional hospitality.
Panel 37: Delman and Leslie O’Mason prepare for the night… without kids!
Panel 38: Marty and Sebastian climb into bed.
Panel 39: Glon and his wives (and Hogga!) snuggle into a big cuddlepile.
Panel 40: The older kids, Charles, Louis, Stoan and Martha, after whispering and giggling for a while… drift off.
Panel 41: Philippa Steward has had a great time and falls asleep with a big smile. Her husband, Eldwig, however, is disgruntled at having to spend a rowdy day in the company of Monsters and the morally lacking peasants.
Panel 42: Blan Smitharm lies awake for a while, thinking about how wonderful everything has become.
Panel 43: Maula Bloodhand sits alone in her room, a candle burning by a painting.
Panel 44: Maula looks sadly at the painting of the Late Baron Owen Greyfort, Glon’s natural father.
Panel 45: A strange gust of wind flickers the candle, but Maula isn’t surprised.
Panel 46: Baron Owen’s ghost greets Maula.
Panel 47: Owen and Maula enjoy their reunion.
Panel 48: It is midnight at Castle Greyfort. Happy Holidays.
This was originally only part one of a two part comic, but I ran out of time to do part two. I may follow it up later sometime.
Anyway, as I said, Happy Holidays.
Rich “BK” Morris
Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, Rich! Beautiful strip, but a little small, yeah. Hard to make out the details at times, but your commentary definitely helped 🙂
This is so cute!!!!! This is so cute …… This is adorable… they’ve really come so far! They’ve changed and grew so much! I love them I love how HAPPY everyone is… I love the union between everyone it’s really such a hopeful note to end on and awwwwww
Everyone matured so much awww?
Happy holidays to you too Rich!!!
Depending on your particular browser, using the scaling option in the menu bar makes things much easier to see.
Merry celebration of winter solstice, or Christmas to those who don’t consider Christmas celebration of winter solstice, and have a nice day to those who don’t care about either.
Hmmm … can’t you upload the bigger version and just link to it?
Actually, https://www.yafgc.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-25-3418-another-wonderful-day.jpg works …
Very much of the "thank you’s", that makes it much easier to spot the little details (like Tawnie peeking up at Glon in panel 10, and Maula’s glance in panel 45 😀 )
Ooh, that works beautifully. The sharper facial expressions alone are worth the extra look.
Rich, if WordPress won’t cooperate on the main page, you might include as part of your commentary the link hkmaly gave?
Oh, wow, thanks! That’s so much clearer.
Well worth the hard work you put into it, to quote Gaggia: "CHEERS!"
Looks like Hogga is at least open to the idea of marriage to the Queens… and Glon 😛
We’ve had a significant time-skip — Gadgia is very pregnant, for example — so they could have already made it official. In fact, from Rich’s mention of "Queen Hogga" in the Panel 6 blurb, it seems they have…so congratulations to all five of them!
Wasn’t Hogga *already* a Queen? Of the Goblinland Goblins?
Hoping it hasn’t happened (yet), so Rich can show the wedding 😀
Yeah, Hogga was already Queen of the Goblins, they haven’t made anything official yet, but she certainly seems to be getting comfortable with the idea.
Looking forward to your depiction of an Orc/Goblinoid wedding 🙂
Oh wait, we saw an Orc wedding when Glon first got married, didn’t we?
Will still be good to see another one 😀
Yup. I drew scenes from Orc weddings then Glon married his wives (and again when he married Goria), and I drew scenes from a Goblin wedding when The Goblin War Minister tried to marry Gren’s sister, Jalla.
I can’t help but feel this is a seed for future conflict.
Hogga and a certain human King gave clear signs of having… let’s call them feelings, for one another in their youth. Though we didn’t see them cross paths following the big battle, there may be some of those feelings floating around. And, that king has been shown to be a little SHORT sighted when love is involved.
Methinks some people see what they want to see. But maybe you’re right.
Fantastic comic, always great to see everyone happy and together.
A merry holiday season to you also Rich, and everyone on here, or at least a fantastic couple weeks for those who don’t celebrate. I hope it’s as perfect as the strip is 🙂
This is so wonderful. You could do a panel a day for months.
Wait, that wasn’t all of the words. I meant, I mean, what I was thinking when I wrote that, was how much I would love to see each panel at high-resolution, with the caption right below it. And then I thought, one a day for… whoa, 48 days! And then part two?!! I don’t think I better ask for that! I’m not asking for that! …I just thought it.
Like a YAFGC Advent calendar, eh? Hmm… make a note to consider that for next year.
The tricky part will be giving us chocolate.
Yeah, you’ll have so supply your own chocolate, hahah!
I suggest liquors, they’re much yummier.
Why not both? There are plenty of chocolates with liquor in them. Even as Advent calendars. 😉
Yeah, that’s what I was talking about. Chocolate liquors.
We might be like the orcs once all the calendar doors have been opened. 😉 https://www.yafgc.net/comic/1109-true-brew/
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas, everyone. ^_^
And what an impressive artwork, BK!
It’s wonderful.
The page could be split up: first part being the first fourteen panels (up to Charles showing his moves), then the next ten panels (up to the littlies going to sleep), then twelve panels (up to Maran showing the Smitharms to their quarters) with the final twelve panels
But looking at it again, it seems to already be divided into fours (or at least eights) 🙁
I draw these by hand, and my 8.5"x11" pages only handle 8 panels at a time. I have to stitch them together in Photoshop.
Had just been thinking of a way to split them up and post them one a day, and those seemed to be good ‘breaks’
Rich, that was absolutely fantastic.
Just what I needed at the end of Christmas day. ?
I am sitting here, crying with joy. Damn you all the way to heaven, Rich! May you never lose your ability to make others happy, and may all that happiness come back to you! Merry Christmas!
Absolutely loving this. I just adore how much happiness there is with Cadugans Fox.
To everyone out there in the YAFGC fandom land, I wish you all a day of happiness and merriment.
I especially adore it, because I was worried about that fox–I guess he managed to get by while Lucas and Cadugan were statues.
It’s very sweet of you to be concerned, but despite his being friendly with Cadugan, he is still a wild animal and they get along fine on their own for the most part.
They didn’t stay a statue for very long, Charles and Caelin(?) helped with the aid of the gnome the gorgon’s had held a slave (something Charles would rather never have mentioned again 😛 )
This is great. It’s not drama: it’s not tension and danger and will my favourites survive? It’s something that rarely pops up (effectively at least) in gaming.
And it’s so good to get this now, in times of uncertainty and isolation.
It’s so vivid. I can hear the rustling of the robes, the clinking of cutlery on plates, the conversations, the kids laughing and yelling, the unity and sentimentality of the songs. I can see the kids’ excitement and bashfulness (which soon will pop like soap bubbles), the smiles and the joy, behind tears or not, of people just being around their best people.
I have never experienced, but like seeing, royalty rubbing shoulders with craftspeople with mutual enthusiasm. The sight of your small children and your friend’s children sleeping in a big bunch is familiar, though. Dancing like nobody’s watching. Making out in the hopes of there being no one watching. Going to bed realising that you can strip off everything and join with or at least fall asleep close to the skin of your spouse (or spice, as the case might be) without the kids showing up. The bigger kids staving off sleep a couple of minutes more.
Glon is, unapologetically, a bit of a monster. Somehow it also shines through the drawing that he is dashing, humble, and loving. I like this guy.
Dear old fearsome and crafty Maula; so good that she does not end up lonely this night.
Ár ok friðr — peace and a good year.
PS: but what about Nelussa? Has she been able to convince any of the boys to touch a boob yet? Take a look if she pulls her top aside? Look at a crude pencil sketch? Stand outside as she presses them against the canvas on the wagon (Nell, that’s NOT more revealing than normal)? Hear the sound if she drops it against a table? Smell it? C’mon guys…
Smell? Smell what?
I think he means she’s shoving her boobs in their faces.
"I think he means she’s shoving her boobs in their faces."
No, I was imagining that she kept trying to "sell" her boobs to they guys but gradually realised that she didn’t have to, that they helped her because they cared for her (to some extent) and that she couldn’t domesticate them with her mastoi, as it were.
So rather than shoving anything in their faces, she’s backing off and mumbling to herself about smell.
We can split up the royalties later 😉
I was trying for either an ad nauseam or ad absurdum escalation for comedic effect. If I only managed to create a nauseous mental image I am sorry, it was not what I intended.
Was just trying to figure out what we (or they) were supposed to be smelling
And what was she dropping against the table
Not nauseous, just confused
Let it go!
Rich, this was magnificent! Like so many have said, it’s so great to see all these people we’ve come to care about have a moment of celebration and happiness, especially all that they’ve gone through in the recent past. It’s also welcome for all that we’ve gone through in this past year.
You’ve managed to put in so many delightful details, from the Charles and Lucas looking out of the tower window with great anticipation, the arrival of the Bloodhands, Glon and Lucas’ parents, his friends, their spouses and children, the greetings, the kids getting to know each other and have fun, even Cadugan’s fox romping with the little ones. There are so many lovely moments in this comic, Rich. Thank you so much.
Warmest wishes, Rich, to you, Dungeon Master and your family, and to everyone, for a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, a lovely weekend and week. And wishing everyone health, joy, happiness, peace, and love in 2021.
Just wonderful! Merry Christmas & Joyous Yule!
I love all this so much.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and enjoy the break, everyone!
Thanks for a wonderful, generous tale today!
How can a winter story be so warm? 🙂
Thanks for the page and for the description, I was very lost with some characters.
Also the archive for Louis Louis Steward is wrong, it link only to https://www.yafgc.net/comic/0251-ah-but-were-not-in-england-are-we/ and this page.
Thanks for the catch! I’ve fixed it.
To think a few days before they were all fighting for their lives and their souls. I hope Chtier and Ranna are both getting along wherever they are now.
We also need to check on Louis and Eddy and the rest of the magicast!
Merry Christmas, Rich. Great work, you old grouchy beholder you.
Absolutely, positively beautiful. Thank you *so* much for this, and happy holidays!
Merry Christmas!
This is great…a nice shot of "peace and goodwill towards…everybeing?"
Considering what everyone had to go through to reach this…everyone deserves it.
Thanks for this, Rich.
Merry Christmas, but Rich, wasn’t Gaggia sterile? I remember a conversation woth Glon during theyr exploration of the lost valley.
It’s Shaija who can’t have children. Unless you can find a strip I’d forgotten about!
Thank you for this strip, Rich! And for the comments too, they did clear a few things (i.e. I thought Hogga did marry Glon until I read them). And also for the link of the old strip! Its nice to see how far they got since. Most noticably, that Glon’s family can openly visit Grayfort shows changes on a bigger scale as well. I can well imagine though, that Greyfort is the most open-minded (human) city in the entire North-Realm…
"Eldwig, however, is disgruntled at having to spend a rowdy day in the company of Monsters"
Makes one wonder whether he is aware of that he is doing that every day, assuming Lucas and Maran are still werewolves.
And as a closing comment, I also wish all of you a Merry Christmas (or whatever else you are celebrating now) and a happy holiday! 🙂
They've been visiting Greyfort for years now. Since long before they were royalty, back when Owen was still alive.
https://www.yafgc.net/comic/0576-a-wonderful-day/
There is something, I’ve been wondering about already after the last strip: Can Glon and Hogga have kids? If not, would the residents of the Goblin Lands accept GLon’s heir as their next king/queen? Because if they want to avoid some serious internal conflicts in the future, these are important questions to clear before Hogga says yes…
That’s a very difficult and multilayered question that depends on a lot of things agreed upon by Glon, Hogga, the Orc Wives and the peoples’ of the Goblin Lands.
But I can tell you that yes, in this world, there /can/ be hybrid Orc/Hobgoblins.
And some of them are family of Cadugan, sure 😉
The family of Glon never ceases of grow. The only he hasn’t. A sister.
There are many childres. But how less…
Unless a ghost can be a father, a sister he isn’t getting
Not a biological sibling, no. Not from Maula. Not only is she sleeping with a dead guy, but she’s past the point of having more children.
Welllllll…. in a way he does have a sister. Bear with me here:
His biological parents are Maula and Owen.
Maula had daughters and sons with the General before, but they don’t count because they’re all dead.
Owen had not other children (that we know of), and swapped out Lucas for Glon, handing Glon over to Blan Smitharm.
Blan Smitharm had no other children (that we know of). But we DO know that he had a partner before. Who was Lucas’ real mother???? Is she still alive? Does she have other kids? We don’t know. But since we don’t know, that doesn’t count either.
Blan Smitharm raised Glon as a single dad. Therefore he counts as his father too. Probably more so than Owen.
After Glon moved on, Blan married himself a ‘trophy wife’, Chikka (who Glon referred to once as Chicky-Boo).
Chikka and Blan have since had a daughter who’s training up to take over as a Smith. Her name is Martha (see comic above)
Since Blan counts as Glon’s father, AND Lucas’ father… they are adopted brothers. And Martha is their half sister.
Therefore: Glon has a sister, Martha Smitharm.
That’s it. Thank you.
A ling time ago you said blood are important but family is more important.
Lucas and Glon are brothers like Charles and Cadugan.
You aren’t the only to think that.
Family https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w-P29vvoVEA
Happy whatever the ex-Black-Mountainers call it!
B.K. …. you have been much too generous with us this time, you could have kept your audience occuiped 2-3 weeks with all this!
I really must have a word with your publicist….
MERRY CHRISTMAS to you too!
Fantasitc present and thsnks, but I was already having a pretty good day, you?
Next year, YAFGC Advent Calendar
I would buy one of those.
Hmmmm… I shall consider this.
Glon gets all the ladies, I wish I was royalty, then it wouldn’t matter that I’m fat and annoying.
Well…, Glon was annoying and kidding but he gets ladyes more before he was royalty.
His mom was crowned when he have a large harem
Very nice comic! I know it must have been a ton of work to do all this. Thanks for doing it and thanks for the comic.
Happy holidays and happy new year!
Thank you, it took about a week. But I had to do it for myself, for the characters, and for you all. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. 🙂
An artistic note,
On my kindle without, expanding for a closer look, the candle in the final panels is simply amazing to behold.
Great job, Rich.
Merry 12 Days of Christmas to one and all.
Thank you!
If anyone’s curious, I draw the strips in pencil (roughs in colour -purpose or green or red usually- and ‘ink’ them overtop with a B pencil), then for dark or nighttime scenes I use Photoshop to drop the levels. I fill in the sky in black, and the moon in white.
For the candle I filled it in with white and then used the brush with a very large, soft focus setting at 50% opacity to just ‘dot’ on the glow.
I’m really pleased with how it came out. Thank you very much! All the best and happy holidays to you too!
Rich, you’ve given us 2 gifts this holiday, with this beautiful celebration of the families and friends, but also the animation for Heather, Ben, and S.J.’s "Krampus Loves Music."
Folks, if you missed it, look for Rich’s "EDIT EDIT" paragraph in his introduction to the comic for the link.
It’s obvious that Martha is Lucas’ half-sister.
This was fantastic!!! After all the hardship and pain there is still good in their world. Thanks a lot!
Panel 20: No apology necessary for burping…That’s not an display of bad manners, but a compliment for having good food.
As others have said, such a beautiful strip.
And I admire that, even amidst the joy, you are, through Eldwig, not pretending that families are unilaterally loving and cooperative.
Plus bonus – that hug in Panel 7 always looks to me (yes, I return often) like she’s opening his head like a can opener.
t!
Wow. I am always impressed at the sprawling nature of this epic, but you’ve introduced at least three new characters in the Christmas comic. (And here I’m just wondering what happened to the teenage halfling love triangle…)
Anyway, I love this.
And a very merry Christmas to you too, Maula! Ha.
I do hope that you can find someone that knows how to stop the site form downscaling the strip, it's so hard to see what's going on in the shrunk version.
It's always nice to see these Christmas strips. Despite how much wider the world has grown, Greyfort is still one of the most important places in it, and I do hope that that won't change even as other things do.
Always nice to see Glon with his wives too, even if he still doesn't find orcs physically attractive, he clearly loves them all so much. And Hogga does seem to be getting very comfortable with the idea of joining them. Not just that she's sleeping with them, but that she's here *at all* speaks volumes; she really doesn't have any other reason to visit Lucas except as part of the Bloodhand family, does she?
And it's great to see Owen and Maula still together again, he must be so glad he learned to touch things.