With that, the match is officially concluded, with Molly being crowned victor.

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and feedback over the course of this little foray into a slightly different direction with Molly Beans, as she met with with the characters from Alexandria Archives. Kilt, Recursive, Jone, et al, check out their ongoing adventures over at that podcast.

With that again, I’d like to take a moment to talk a bit about those characters. I’ve received many notes and comments regarding Jone in particular when she made her appearance, and I won’t lie, that put a little smile on my face. Reason being, Jone (and the characters the others are based on) once appeared in a comic that ran for five years back in the days of the primordial Internet (circa 2000-2005), and the fact that there were still folks who remembered and remembered fondly was gratifying. I was always hesitant to mention that old comic, however, for two reasons.

First, it belonged to a different time and a different Internet. Long before mainstream social media, youtube and all the rest, and in my opinion, with a far stronger sense of community. There really wasn’t a monolithic place for everyone to meet; there were many multitudes of far more intimate places. The community built around that comic was, for its time, a sizable example of one of those places, and it almost felt wrong to try and drag that into this modern day, where there have been literally three brands that have dominated the online community and drained it of all of its prior organic sense of belonging.

Second, I kind of wanted Molly to stand on her own feet. I think she’s done that admirably, but I also couldn’t resist a bit of self indulgence and throw in a couple of references to the old comic here and there. Molly’s hair, her Dad’s appearance, the occasional Vampire emoticon, and so forth.

Now that Molly has officially interacted with characters derived from the old comic, and I have blatantly referenced a long running storyline from it, I suppose I ought to talk a little bit more openly about it.

For those who don’t know, Pyrocam.com has hosted an archive and tribute to the old comic, called Life Of Riley, for years now. I can’t even begin to thank them enough for doing so. Honestly, to say the least, it’s a privilege; If there’s anything I can do for you, within reasonable limits of my mortal flesh, message me.

If you haven’t yet, have a look through those old archives. Have a look at the work of a much younger me who, along with a group of other much younger people, were wildly winging it in uncharted territory. There’s something to be said about having affection for the war years, and I can reflect on those old days, warts and all, with a fondness I honestly didn’t expect. Jeff Lofvers from Don’t Hit Save and his friend Michael Buonauro were contemporaries of mine during those days, and it was an odd bit of serendipity that he launched his new comic around the same time as I was preparing to launch one of my own. It was sheer coincidence, but a good one.

With all of that said, I enjoyed having Jone and the others visit, it was like a mini reunion of sorts, and I hope any readers of Life of Riley felt the same. I’ll be back next week with more stuff.

:Dan