The Astonishing Excursions of Helen Narbon &Co., Chapter Twenty-One.
December 4, 2011 ~ 8 Comments
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I like this installment. It’s a pretty long one (five pages); I must have had a lot of free time that week.
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Man, it’s a good thing I switched to doing these recaps in a typed font instead of hand-writing them (or getting Andrew to write them) like I did in the early installments. It’s legible and everything!
I really enjoyed drawing Victorian Dr. Narbon. Check out her iguana-headed parasol, intended as a weird nod to Mary Poppins.
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Never change, Madblood.
Yes, the Narbons come from Italy. The Narbonne region is in southern France, but All’s Well That Ends Well, the play from which I got Helen’s name, is set in Florence. So the Narbon family is Northen Italian.
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All I can say is, it took forever to draw all those little lines.
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I think I would be awesome at writing romance novels, provided they starred brain-swapping octopus men. It’s too bad Dave can’t be this smooth himself, either here or in regular Narbonic continuity. Regular Dave seems to do okay, though.
I’m sure I was thinking of Gilbert and Sullivan with the last line here. It’s a line from “Here’s a how-de-do!” from The Mikado. ETA: I misremembered; it’s actually from Iolanthe. Which is my favorite G&S operetta for some odd reason.
Even as the most physically imposing creature on the stage, Davenport finds himself utterly bereft of clout. It’s downright disgraceful.
Is there such a thing as an ugly kettle of fish? I suppose a pot of bouillabaisse would be pretty hideous, at least to the surviving relatives.
It isn’t, actually. The song includes “here’s a how-de-do,” “here’s a pretty mess,” and “here’s the state of things.” No fish.
Poor Davenport.
It’s from Iolanthe, in “Strephon’s a Member of Parliament.”
Please, please, please write romance novels with brain-swapping octopus men. I am begging.
“ci ha dato il fuoco” = “He gave the fire” according to Google Translate
“She provided the spark”, perhaps? I don’t know how gendered Italian pronouns are, or how good at handling them Google Translate may be.