OK, so by now a couple of things should be becoming obvious…for one thing, why I couldn’t make much of a comment on the strange young man in last Thursday’s strip, and for the other thing, why I hadn’t given the main cast the customary visual do-over ahead of their re-introduction. =P
For getting onto that Stockades & Skeletons Ride has proven to be a much more life-changing decision than one would have reasonably expected. Particularly in Gregory’s case, who never had to wear glasses before. He hasn’t always been a zombie, of course, and he hasn’t always been a goth…but he’s never been a nerd before. He seems to be dealing remarkably well with that change, up to now, but I’m sure that the inevitable mental breakdown is only delayed, not averted.
The other changes he’s gone through are less drastic and more mundane – he’s a bit younger than he used to be, and his lower jaw has grown back. Trivial stuff, compared to suddenly being a nerd. XD (Actually, the thing with the jaw is kind of a script artifact. Gregory was supposed to be missing his lower jaw in the last chapter, which is also why he wore that high, stiff collar covering his lower face…but the scene were that would have been revealed and become plot-relevant fell victim to a rewrite.)
Mopey hasn’t changed quite that drastically. She has neither glasses nor an additional jaw, and her age…well, there’s no polite way to discuss a lady’s age, so let’s not get into it. XD It’s understandable that she hasn’t even realized the changes yet…we’ll have to wait and see how she likes her new outfit and hairdo.
You might feel that there’s a certain discrepancy between Mopey’s silhouette and her actual appearance, once that well-timed cloud covered the sun glare. That’s…uh…because Gregory hasn’t gotten used to his glasses yet. His confused visual cortex interpreted the data in the context of him having recognized Mopey’s voice, that’s why she seemed to look like she did before until Gregory got a better look at her.
More on Mon…uh, Thursday.