In nearly every appearance he’s made, Victor has been depicted as a scowling monolith – a permanent frown on his face.

For this story arc, I thought it was important to see him smile – if for no other reason than for being recognized as another human being. I decided to make Victor smiling my Top Web Comics incentive sketch as well. If you’d like to see it, click on the graphic to the left and vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics.

Something I was concerned about writing this strip is that people would think I was depicting Tom as the hero for being accepting of Victor. The somewhat purposeful stride in the last panel might lead people to that conclusion, but that’s not my intent.

Victor just took a REALLY BIG RISK by kissing Tom on the mouth. Knowing that Victor is a prideful person who maybe just overplayed his hand, Tom’s trying to be delicate about the situation.

I don’t want to examine it too much because the point was that there’s now an unspoken understanding between these two – and life goes on.

In fact, I think that’s a good place to stop for now. The comic is shifting it’s focus to Jimmy and Charlie next week. But don’t worry. This isn’t the last we’ll see of Victor.

Have a great week, everyone!