#115 “Costumes”
The big day arrives and everything is all set for an interesting evening!
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The Monster Under the Bed by Brandon Shane is licensed under a
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Also Barandon would be pleased if you replied to this, ive been a patreon for a while now (one of the reasons i stopped comments here was cos i was reading it on Patreon app) and for some reason all im getting from you there now is the rough draft, is the completed page for higher paying patreons or do yo u just forget? Anyways keep up the great work been a fan since i belive around the 3rd page or so 👌
Umm… no idea. I’ve been posting the rough drafts, inks and final versions as they’ve been done without fail. You should be getting them all if you’re a paying patron.
Username: Shad0wFL4ME pledgeing $2 per page and the last three updates were:
page 113 final version, page 114 rough draft, page 115 rough draft. I dont mind returning to the site all that much, i was just wondering why they aren’t showing for me
I sent you a message on Patreon. Go check it out!
I have to say, on top of the TV is the WORST place to put your game consoles.
The controller cords will hang down, and block the screen!
Well worst place or not that is exacly where i use to put my old PS1 and yes i had that problem… But i was youg and a bit lazy so i just lived with it.
More so an SNES ontop of a NES
Well, that’s actually okay. The original NES was a front loader, while the SNES was a top loader.
Back in the day, I had a whole load of different consoles stacked on top of each other in my TV stand, almost like a bad round of Tetris!
well yes it is, but maybe you can you know take it down if you’re gonna play.
I love this comic. Best series I’ve seen so far. Maybe we could chat sometime about it. I don’t want to give spoilers….
Where can we chat about this awesome web comic? I w8sh there was a forum.
Huh?
You’re HERE! (What more would you want?)
Why do I get the feeling that next time Shadow shows up, it’ll be in a golden lion costume?
Or someone who already HAS golden skin…
It took me a couple of minutes to realize what was playing on the television. Good old Animaniacs.
As for the mother’s “golden lion”…. I’m guessing either some interesting Halloween ‘night play’ with her husband or, if my suspicion is correct, her demon/shadow/monster form?
Yep, Animaniacs. One of the best cartoons of the 90s. A classic.
Well, we’ve already clearly established that she’s Lady Blackheart; do you mean you suspect that she isn’t, but that she’s some other monster? That would be a twist.
Animaniacs on tv ?
YEAAAAAAAA!!!!!!I finally found an explanation(valid;also theory) which might change your mind!
If most of you think that Blackheart is Ruth,then why did Brandon hinted(don’t deny the facts Bran 😉 )at the “possibility” of Blackheart being somewhat tied to Shadow in a “family” way(mom,aunt etc.).I mean,if that were the thing,then(by a looong shot) Tim and Shadow would be “far-away” cousins,which would be kinda disturbing,but I know that’s not the way Brandon is gonna go.
Possible/Plausible explanations(for know):
-Tim is adopted(sad and depressing);it doesn’t make sense for BlackH.(short) to make(highly unlikely;because science) or to try to adopt a human and live in the human world to hide from her past(we know she has magic(obviously) to teleport to different places) so I’m thinking there is another way(not enough info to theorize on this one);
-Shadow has been randomly chosen by Blackheart to be spyed on and “helped”(not really plot intensing,which would SERIOUSLY ruin the “magic” of the story,if you know what I mean *insert Mr. Bean meme here* )
-Blackheart is tied up with Shadow in a “family” way and Ruth just uses the wrong words(chosen by the author to tease us with possib…stup….divvvvvvvvv-erse…theories(high possibility in MY opinion/also a “reasonable” explanation for the plot,yet again from my opinion)
-Or I’m just a fucking moron because I’m not like the rest of you(*insert freedom speech here*)(somewhat jk).
That’s all for now(if I don’t want to type 5 comment pages in one day…which I don’t)
I don’t recall Brandon hinting there is any familial relationship between Lady Blackheart and Shadow. I do know, from the comic, that according to both Tim and Tim’s dad, Tim’s mom seems to know a lot of unexpected things. So, if Ruth is also Blackheart, her interest in Shadow could directly derive from Ruth knowing Tim is interacting regularly with Shadow, starting with some of the earliest comics in the series (in particular, see #41, append this to the website-name: /?comic=41-instant-karma –to see Tim’s mom detecting stuff, possibly including Tim and Shadow hiding in a closet). It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
but after that we see Ruth busting Tim’s dad,and even if we don’t know the structure of the house,maybe she just heard through the walls,we don’t know the actual layer of the house,a lot of possibilities like that.or he just let the door opened and Ruth heard him or the fridge door,after all Tim’s dad says:”close the door and make sure it’s locked this time”…soooo how do you know it was closed in the first place so that Ruth didn’t have a possibility of hearing him or knowing in any normal way?
also,about BlackH and Shadow,you just have to look a bit deeper,or at least use common sense:why would she be helping some stranger girl who’s meeting a human?there is the possibility of her simply not wanting Shadow to make some mistakes she made in the past,but yet again,that’s not tooooooo surprising or intensifying,just a stranger helping another much younger stranger;(meme)”what could go wrong?”
Why would she help shadow? I mean maybe because her son (if the theory I subscribe to is right) is dating her?
it is a possibility,bull we’ll see if that’s how it is 😉
@Mage If Ruth is BlackH, then it was only after tucking her son in bed on his birthday did she realize he might be crashing on Shadow. She had earlier help Shadow anyway.
Regarding the house, I’m pretty sure Tim’s room is not very close to his parents’ room. For evidence, see #3 ( 3-its-complicated ), #49 ( 49-nipped-in-the-bud ), #92 ( 92-the-good-stuff ), #110 ( 110-role-reversal ), and possibly #84 ( 84-or-not ), all of which feature some fairly loud sounds in Tim’s room, none of which led to an investigation by his parents.
ok,but…what does this have to do with anything I’ve said?When I talked about the house,I was focusing on the kitchen and the parents rooms,trying to figure out a normal way through which Ruth has found out about the stolen cookies,not anything with Tim’s room.If you could be more descriptive about what you wanted to object then I’d be happy to see.Have a good day/night
I can only recommend you look at #41 ( /?comic=41-instant-karma ) again, which specifically shows Tim’s mom doing something other than ordinary listening, along with #42 ( /?comic=42-parents ), in which Tim specifically states his mom “has a weird way of knowing things”.
Now, if Ruthie is actually Lady Blackheart, then so long as she knows Tim and Shadow are interacting in a friendly way, however or whenever she learned it, she might keep all knowledge of it to herself. Her “monster ethics” (more on that below) might supersede “mom ethics” (which for one thing would insist Tim go to bed and get a good night’s sleep). Also, keep in mind that she has a lot of experience interacting in a friendly way with at least one human (Tim’s dad).
Note that in #20 ( /?comic=20-a-wonder ) Shadow explicitly calls herself “a monster”. We know from #36 ( /?comic=36-bed-bugs ) that she is in a group that is supposed to learn some “basic skills”, and from #43 ( /?comic=43-the-smell-of-fear ) that scaring humans is one of those skills. Shadow hints at something like “I’m a failure” in #17 ( /?comic=17-the-oldest-trick ) because Tim is not afraid of her. In #33 ( /?comic=33-its-funny ) Shadow talks about how peculiar/weird it is for a human to interact with a monster as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. And in #34 ( /?comic=34-crazy ) she thinks it is quite okay to be called “crazy”. Then in #72 ( /?comic=72-no-one-knows ) Shadow expresses dislike of being called “a good girl”, prefers to think of herself as “a freak”, and in #77 ( /?comic=77-do-you-see-me ) even goes to Tim for emotional support, who in #78 ( /?comic=78-weirdo ) calls her “a weirdo”, which pretty obviously increases her happiness level. “Monster ethics”, see?
And of course if Ruthie is not Lady Blackheart, then Tim’s mom, despite having a weird way of knowing things, was probably completely in the dark about Tim’s relationship with Shadow …except that #109 ( /?comic=109-sweet-dreams ) seems to blow that theory (not knowing) out of the water. But how could an ordinary human mom (but one who has a weird way of knowing stuff) possibly condone her son getting involved with a monster?
So let’s add up some other data items. In #42 ( /?comic=42-parents) Shadow says that Tim’s dad smells like Tim. In the COMMENTS of #72 ( /?comic=72-no-one-knows ) Brandon pretty-much makes it clear that the reason Shadow stole Tim’s socks was because she liked his smell. Well, if Tim’s mom is Lady Blackheart, who is a monster with a keen sense of smell, and who married Tim’s dad, we could easily conclude she liked that smell, too. In #94 ( /?comic=94-a-helping-hand ) we have L.B. in Shadow’s room before Shadow arrives, which gave L.B. an opportunity to discover Shadow’s sock collection –all of which smell ONLY like Tim (per comments of #72). Lady Blackheart KNOWS Shadow likes Tim, and #109 ( /?comic=109-sweet-dreams ) shows us Ruthie positively knowing Tim likes Shadow. So why wouldn’t she encourage the relationship? Yet she knows it has to be done very carefully on the Nox side of things, because most Nox folk (monsters, remember) won’t like that idea at all –see Midnight’s reaction in #51 ( /?comic=51-stupid-human-stuff), for example, and Midnight is Shadow’s best friend.
Wow! I don’t think even I think this much about the comic, and I’m the one writing it!
Brandon, you are quite welcome. But you might be warned to expect all sorts of negative feedback if you break consistency in how readers perceive the pieces fitting together. “Consistency” is why I asked about the change in prominence of the mole on Ruthie’s cheek. The biggest upcoming INconsistency I can foresee involves something that 18-year-old Tim said in #31 ( /?comic=31-away-she-goes ), “Shadow and I have been through a lot!” –while in some comments I encountered, you said something about how all the background presentation will be done at the end of the current chapter (or maybe the next chapter; haven’t got time just now to double-check it), and most of the overall TMUTB story will involve the older Tim and Shadow. Will we ever see the “lot” that happened between ages 12 and 18?
No, not really.
interesting points,some make sense but for now I’ll stick with the more traditional:LadyB dated a human in the past,she ran so she wouldn’t be found,then(somehow,hopefully explained in the future )finds out what Shadow is doing,and because she(LadyB) made some mistakes in the past(as sREe said in number 95) she wants to help Shadow to not make the “same mistakes”(get it?tittle joke?no?ok…) becuase he is Shadow’s mother or some kind of blood related family member.Plus I still don’t see the REASON why she helps Shadow,it must be someting on a personal level(helping her daughter as an example).But the Tim theory is…something…too.
damn typos….
Shadow has a lowish probability of being the daughter of Lady Blackheart. The background story opens in July of some unspecified year, with Tim’s 12th birthday 3 months from then (October), and Shadow’s 12th birthday 2 months previous (May). So Shadow is just 5 months older than Tim. There is a lot of data hinting that L.B. is also Ruthie, Tim’s mom (one of the biggest hints is the silhouettes of what look like Ruthie and Tim’s dad in #95 ( /?comic=95-the-same-mistakes ). Since Tim was born only 5 months after Shadow, and human pregnancies usually take 9 months, well, the logical probabilities are pretty obvious. About the only thing that can affect it is the possibility that Ruthie is actually Tim’s step-mom, who married Tim’s father when Tim was too young to know the difference.
So here are two more possibilities. First, if Ruthie is L.B., then she knows a serious relationship between Nox and human is perfectly feasible, which might be all the excuse she needs to help Shadow avoid mistakes made by L.B. Second, if L.B./Ruthie is Tim’s real mom, then Tim is half-Nox and it is even more feasible for him to have a serious relationship with a Nox person. And being Nox herself could influence L.B. preference of mates for Tim, see?
Because of all those hints mentioned above, I haven’t given a lot of thought to L.B.’s motivation if she is not Ruthie. In #65 ( /?comic=65-blackheart ) we are only told *about* rumors regarding what happened to L.B. –not the actual rumors, and certainly not any facts. She might not have had anything to do with humans besides coming up with inventive ways scare them and increase her status in Nox. Yet that seems contradicted by #95, and #96 ( /?comic=96-take-care ) certainly tells us she knows Shadow is involved with a boy –which leads to thinking about THIS: If L.B. is *not* also Ruthie, why encourage Shadow to “take care of that boy of yours”??? Humans are for scaring, remember!
I recognized the similaritys of the silhouette in #95,but it can also be a teasing,after all,how hard can it be to mislead someone?But hey,both theories are a possibility at this point,we’ll just have to see
This cartoon Tim is watching is zany to the max. I hope he know to sit back and relax, because he’ll laugh ’til he collapses…
Don’t worry, he’s taken the proper precautions beforehand!
Goodnight everybody! (LOL)
I’m guessing it’s something like Vix’s outfit (purple hair) but in gold:
http://www.dream-scar.net/?id=261
On the other hand, it may have been a proper lion outfit:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Animal-Jungle-Onesie-Outfit-Costume/dp/B0161N4HFI/
Or something like this?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drawstring-Adjustable-Christmas-Halloween-Festival/dp/B01NBHM7MU/
I’m not going to *conclude* yet that the golden lion outfit is the form of Lady Blackheart (assuming that Ruthie is actually L.B.), but IF that’s the case, then something Tim said should be extremely relevant in the not-distant future. See, if Tim as a much younger kid knew that the L.B. form was actually his mom, what is the likeliest way he knew that? Answer: Her voice. All kids thoroughly know their moms’ voices. So that means as soon as Shadow meets and talks with Tim’s mom, presumably just before she and Tim go trick-or-treating, Shadow will recognize the voice of Lady Blackheart…(mostly because for Shadow, it has only been some hours since she last talked with L.B., earlier in the day of Oct. 31.
Now, if Tim’s mom is not actually L.B, her voice will likely be different. Or if the golden lion suit has nothing to do with L.B., then even if Tim’s mom is L.B., there is still a chance that her voice could be different on account of the transformation of body-form, between human and Nox. What I wrote above only applies if Tim’s mom is actually L.B. *and* the golden lion suit is her Nox form.
I should have said, “all kids that have moms thoroughly know their moms’ voices”
Pretty sure it’s just Brandon teasing us and it was an actual suit that she and her husband… well… you know what I’ve meant;)
Man she has a MASSIVE wedgie in panel two. WTF. How do pants even do that? Did you draw her naked first, and then remember at the last minute that she should be wearing clothes so you just colored in her skin khaki-colored?
Very early in the series, Brandon indicated that the comic would be “rate”-able as somewhere between PG13 and R. This means that when you see something semi-blatant like that, you should just enjoy it and not fuss.
I’m not complaining that it’s too sexy. I’m complaining that it looks unbelievably bizarre.
Wait…Brandon…something is wrong…someone is missing…someone with seemly random comments…GREG BLACK!I mean…White…CODE RED CODE RED!We got a missing one boys!put your tin foils on!they’re coming!
‘ey Brandon? Can you help us out with what year this happened in the current comic strip and the first few strips of the comic when they are 18 please? Seeing there is alot of questions as such. We know that the above cartoon on the TV above was aired back in September of 93. Is it a possible rerun or what? With the NES and SNES, seems like the comic would be correct for such time. (Used my NES and SNES til 96 when I got a PSX/1 for that Xmas) So would that mean that it was 1999 or 2000 at the start of the comic?
There is no exact year this takes place, with the only stipulation to this rule being that it definitely takes place after the 80’s.
Since this IS a fictional world, you could stipulate that the cartoon in question aired … whenever needed in this world.
Lion costume riiiight hahaha
Question: Why is the mole on Ruthie’s cheek much less prominent in this cartoon than in #5 ( /?comic=5-grounded ), #6 ( 6-wrongfully-accused ), #7 ( 7-rats ), #11 ( 11-above-board ), #27 ( 27-off-the-hook ), and even #74 ( 74-a-little-busy ) ??? I do see that the mole was also had less prominence in #99 ( 99-wish-come-true ) and possibly in the dimness of #109 ( 109-sweet-dreams ), so apparently the change is deliberate –I’m just asking “why”?
I just started using a better colour than just making it a black dot on her face, that’s all. Artistic licence and all that. I mean, have you compared how they all looked back then to how they look now? They’ve all gradually evolved in style as I learned to draw them better.
Thanks! Are you likely to edit the older images some time? (when you actually can find the time, of course!)?
Please not
They’re now historical documents and should be archived in their original format. (I mean, Americans don’t revise their Declaration of Independence to correct the spelling!)