Some more exposition, just to get it over with a the start of the chapter, and… Welp. I guess this mostly just makes something explicit that should actually have been obvious enough by implication – but that can’t hurt terribly, and it’s certainly nothing unheard of in a B-movie, now is it?

And…I have no idea whether it’s the same for a reader, but for me, as the author, having it spelt out brought something like emotional closure to the Professor’s disappearance. And it is a bit of an emotional moment, which is also the reason why I couldn’t really end this particular strip with a punchline or gag.

Naturally, you’ll notice I’ve only put the Professor on a bus – I haven’t dropped a bridge on him. But don’t take this as a sign that I intend to bring him back – its just because, why bother with a bridge, anyway? It’s not like this webcomic (or B-movies as the underlying genre) are highly dedicated to realism, so bringing him back from a bridge incident would have been hardly more complicated than having a bus turn back – and I have done it before with characters, haven’t I*? And the bridge thing just wouldn’t have been as nice as this sort of riding off into the sunset…or riding off into the sunrise, as the Professor probably feels he’s doing, according to his words.

More on Thursday.

* Even with a literal bridge, and as early as Chapter 2.