This is the in-between chapters art for the Calliope handbook. It's a redraw of the last page of chapter 34 (https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/just-fine) with a veneer of the Pepe Silvia meme from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

The next update is going to be the chapter cover for chapter 35!! Woo!

AND THE WHO'S WHO IS COMPLETED!

This was a really nice experience, on top of being a nice recap before we embark on the final arc, it also allowed me to get back to a level of inking quality I was comfortable with.

The next page will be our usual in-between-chapters illustration, followed by the cover of Chapter 35!

This final page resets where we were at :

• Emma lost a bunch of stories while fighting Ina - https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/my-own-power

• Emma almost broke down in consequence - https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/did-her-best

• Both swords were re-absorbed to save here - https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/stab

  & https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/another-stab

• Stabilizing both Emma and Warrick - https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/changed-heart

• The first Namesake offers up a faded muse heart - https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/visitor-2

• And, after listening to Emily Gale's tale and weaving some vorpal wool, the gang finds themselves in Oz, specifically, Elaine and Trinket find themselves also with a version of Ozma that is also very intrigued by all the Goblin market receipts she seems to have : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/nearby & https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/just-fine

This conversation with Ozma is where chapter 35 will open.

ONE PAGE LEFT!

This page is less character-description-y than the others, and more like a re-iteration of the factions fighting each other for the power within the universe (as described on this page : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/questions-for-adora-what-factions-are-in-play). But it's also an excuse to show off a few set pieces that feel like characters because of how iconic they are. The tornado, Toto, the yellow brick road, and the Emerald City all appear several times in Namesake without really having lines or being actual characters.

Oz is a place where Ozma, Dorothy and Emma Crewe all felt safe in. While it is their refuge, it's also a location all three of them didn't have complete control over. Ozma is the princess of Oz, but Oz is something her Calliope form set up, and it can be modified by characters such as Mombi. Dorothy felt at home in Oz, to a point where she brought her family over, but the land's immortality magic didn't work on her. Emma feels safe there, but her first and second trip to Oz where accidental, in moments where she lost control of her magic.

Drawing the Emerald City was interesting, because I wanted to draw it in a way that made it seem like a real city, but also in a way where it mixed the round rooftops designs of the W. W. Denslow illustrations with the iconic spires of the MGM movie without looking like I drew a bunch of butts and upside down test tubes. I think I finally mastered a look I liked in the Emily Gale chapter, my third time illustrating the city!

I recently watched a video about folks adapting the Wizard of Oz movie for the Vegas Sphere that briefly talks about how weird extending the Emerald City and backgrounds to fit the Sphere made everything look off, and it reminded me of the process I went through to draw the Emerald city, so I wanted to talk about it! I also gave Oz a lot of rolling hills and little woods, so it would look really different to Dorothy if she got used to Kansas fields. Kansas is pretty gorgeous, as is a lot of the natural American landscape, so it's probably harder to impress Dorothy than we assume.

Here is the video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgEmsKtdsRs

Two pages left in this recap!

Beacons and Cheshires are everywhere in the Namesake universe! We drew a poster of all the Cheshire breeds a long time ago (I still love it!)

Here are a few of my favorite scenes with the cats and the beacons!

• Whisper loves Travis https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/a-little-whisper

• Alice and the Cheshire fam illustration https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/the-aliceversary

• Two Christmas stories revolve around cheshire cats, the first with alice and the second with Nose : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/alice-and-the-cats-part-1 and https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/frost-part-4

• Jasper' death https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/alice-vs-vanessa

• Chester's death https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/when-there39s-ink-there39s-

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/booooored Whisper in Travis' office before the Baba Yaga hut causes havoc.

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/disappear Whisper vaguely remembers shadows.

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/kitten-in-a-basket Whisper has the power to be a conduit for the founder.

• Whisper wakes up again after being the Founder for a while. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/who-me

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/safe-now Inkbell pops out of a beacon!

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/inkbell Inkbell's stylish introduction.

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/human-person Inkbell is made of shade, figuratively and literally.

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/clipboard-murderer Beacons in the Calliope storage.

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/heading-back Beacons reaction to Emma becoming the full key when she is about to kick shadow ass.

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/beacon Beacons still being lit despite a shadow casting darkness on a whole world.

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/beacon-browsing Alice Lidell at an auction with a special beacon. Bonus appearance of Henry Jekyll pre-One era.

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/subtle-and-different The memory of past timeline Emma escaping the beacon storage

Only 3 pages left to the recap!!!! Hell yeah!

The inking on this page is a little rough. The Who's Who has been a nice way to get back into drawing all the characters again, but I can't help but feel a bit like my inking just isn't as smooth as it used to be. That being said, I feel my expression game got really strong! I think my art is just changing, but it's a tough thing to process.

This page contains one of my favorite characters to draw (and to have on screen) THE SPIRIT (or the ghost)! She's definitely more of a mechanism than a person, since she's basically all the tumultuous emotions archives inside Emma's page pile brain, but she is so fun and menacing. I love all her scenes.

The spirit

• That time she gave Emma the sword. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/an-exchange-of-lives

• That time she decided to fight One (she lost) https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/bring-it-on

• After she lost she decided to drag Emma back into her brain. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/youre-done

• And then sulk a lot. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/never-satisified

Dro & the Domovoi

• The Domovoi and Dro got an intro page in the original Calliope Handbook https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/calliope-handbook-local-spirits

• Dro likes to dote on our Alice : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/the-welcome-mat

• He was a constant companion to Alice Liddell : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/not-enough-fighters

• He was there when she died : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/into-the-mists

• And when she met a past edition of the seven Emmas : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/summon-the-writers

• He's pretty knowledgeable too. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/beneath-your-feet

• The Domovoi were used by Wendy to prove to Ben he's got a lot to offer to the team! https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/you39re-hired

Suzan, Nandita and Mags - While they are mostly background characters, Suzan has huge important in Alice Purcell's backstory, and Nandita helps Warrick when he gets to Calliope.

• Meeting adult Suzan : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/a-chip-off-the-old-writing-block

• Meeting kid Suzan: https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/just-alice

• Selva meeting Mags and the magic users : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/never-again -- this is also Nandita's opening scene!

Jason Crawford! He's the only namesake so far from Greek mythology, to match the Calliope Founder, who is inspired by the myth of Orpheus.

• We mostly see him negociating with the Writers: https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/elevator-music

• And even One, eventually : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/unexpected-guests

• But he's not above being a badass when shadows invade : https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/the-argonaut

• And he's even ready to take on the Original Namesake! https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/visitor-2

Man, I love the Ozites so much! I do think Agha is my favorite Oz character after the twins. She's always been a character I loved drawing. The top panel here is really inspired by the cover for Chapter 4, but it's a bit hard to see when the text is on it.

Here's a few best scenes of the Ozites as a refresher!

Anlise (and Renge) :

• Dorothy procedures! https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/not-over-yet

• Betrayal! https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/reverence

• Vine battle. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/glow

• Vine Battle 2, this time with a big monster. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/blink

Agha:

• Getting saved by Emma https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/purse

• Agha saving Hercilia https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/taking-care-of-it

• Agha accompanied Warrick on an apology tour. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/warrick39s-southern-limit

• When Agha returns to the story as the Wizard of Oz https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/old-friends

Hercilia:

• Shoe Hercilia attacks https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/poking-at-vines

• Threatening shoe Hercilia https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/how-dare-we-forget-you-hercilia

• More shoe superpowers fighting a shadow https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/there-they-go

• Look who is human now! https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/hey-there-that39s-

• Hercilia taking Emma to her hero's mural when she returns to Oz https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/the-mural

• Hercilia delivering the news that Ozma woke up to the gang https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/status-update

Jinjur:

• Insulting Warrick while she lives in the West Castle https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/jinjur39s-point

• Her leading her army is attacking the vine-infested Emerald City https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/a-reason-to-revolt

• We saw her one last time when Ozma re-shielded Oz from the greater world. https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/something39s-happening

Scarecrow

• He's so nice! https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/a-most-excellent-solution

• He loves his nephew! https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/in-plain-sight

• His last scene... https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/so-it-begins

  
  

We are back to a part of the story that is pretty well remembered. I love the twins so much. Their relationship really is one of the best parts of the story. This section is essentially the Chapter 7 flashback.

https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/chapter-7-cover-redraw

I still adore the cover redraw AND the original.

I miss you, Tin man.

Here is the blank version, as usual.

Happy holidays to one and all from Isa and Meg! Isa unfortunately has a holiday flu, so Meg stepped in with today's update! Please enjoy her festive Christmas tree.

We wish you joy and hope you are spending time with those you love doing the things that you enjoy. Thank you all for your support of our comics this year. You have made a serious difference in our lives, and we appreciate every one of you. Crow Time will be back on January 12, and Namesake will be back on January 15.

I love Adora so much! Selva and Warrick look a lot like their parents (on purpose), but Adora's vibe is really different than Selva's. Adora is a background character with a huge influence on the plot. She haunts the plot, quite literally sometimes. Her story is pretty tragic. She wanted to care so much for her family, but her heart was not physically capable of doing that.

When we needed a character to spill the universal beans about namesakes to Emma, Adora felt like an obvious choice! The scene where Emma sits down for a long talk with the memory of Adora is still one of my favorite parts. Especially with the gut punch of Warrick only being able to catch a glimpse of her at the end...

Here's a few of my favorite bits around Adora and Ozma!

How Adora was created :

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/the-maiden

Adora answering questions bonus page:

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/questions-for-adora-what-happened-with-chiseri

The whole scene where Adora and Emma chat :

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/not-the-selva-you39re-looking-for

The end of that chat, with Warrick :

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/mother-2

Ben resuming the story so far, with a cool Adora image :

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/book-7-story-so-far-page-2

Adora appearing in the Emily Gale chapter:

• https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/bad-news

Textless version woohoo!

Ozma is a fun character, because no matter how complex the story is, her backstory is pretty basic. Muses ran things, and put in place systems like the Namesakes and Death. Namesakes being those who keep magic spread evenly across worlds, and Death being the one that makes sure energy is recycled. Shadows ate all the muses but one, Calliope. Calliope ran, lived a long life where she was basically always running, and eventually created Oz and Ozma from her power.

While a lot of characters - like One - see Ozma as Calliope, she is not. She's made from what remains of Calliope after the muse discarded power, memory, and huge chunks of her being, including some eyeballs. The closed analogy would be that Ozma is like Calliope's daughter, born from unusual means. A bit like how Emma Crewe was made. It wasn't a biological birth, but Emma Ramos still sees her as a daughter.

Unfortunately, because the person creating Ozma is also the one that became Ozma, she is a bit of an unfinished project. Ozma knows something is a bit off with her, that sometimes she has thoughts, memories and reactions she doesn't quite understand. But she is taking matters into her own hands, because Ozma wants to truly be ONLY Ozma, as the muse had hoped.

It's basically a storyline that is very similar to Emma's. And like Emma, Ozma has to take a beat and take control. There's a line in the comic - spoken by Adora, Warrick's mom - saying that Warrick's heart went to Emma Crewe , because she was the closest thing to Ozma the heart could fine. And Emma is similar to Ozma is so, so many ways. How thy were created, what they want, their power level, their personalities. I really hope people see the two characters are parallels.

Folks who have read the Oz books written by Baum know that Ozma was temporarily turned into the Ozite boy Tip by Mombi. This is a situation the comic referenced a few times. In chapter 35 of Namesake, we'll get to actually see Ozma as Tip, and I'm very happy to draw that!

Here a few refresher comic sequences to check out before we enter chapter 35!

• Emma doing a dream deep dive where she awakens as Ozma meeting Warrick again - a scene that is about to come up in-comic.

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/saving-people-again

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/ozma-isn39t-it

• Adora telling Emma about the muses

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/the-muses

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/the-runaway

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/sanctuary

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/trying-to-forget

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/what-the-heart-did

• The comic draws a lot of parallels between Ozma and Emma via Warrick because he was at some point in love with both, though his infatuation with Ozma was one-sided and based on vibes.

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/hard-to-choose

• This segment has Ozma spell out that she is a new person made from Calliope, but mainly I love how lively she is in this sequence. It was sooooo nice to draw Ozma speaking for herself instead of being seen mainly thru other characters.

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/forgetful-fountain

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/old-magic

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/time-to-leave

And of course, textless illustration once again!

I wanted to draw a little section in this "who's who" to this set of characters. Namesake is a story carried a lot by siblings. Warrick and Selva, all the Crewes, and the "Gales" (technically, only Emily is a "Gale" but we tend to talk about Kansas Emily and Emma as the Gale sisters). We got a whole chapter that just ended with the Gales, that was really fun to write and draw.

Sb hasn't gotten to do much yet, but she has been as defiant as Emma and Elaine where she could. She isn't sheltered - she saw the whole world happen while being trapped in Emma's brain, she's as fighty as her sisters. She's been trying to get Emma to be less hesitant in general. Sb's little nudges to the plot crack me up. She may be a somewhat tragic figure, but she won't back down!

• My favorite SB nudging Emma scene :

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/not-alone-in-your-mind

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/leave-me-alone-to-die

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/teen-rebellion

Oh, Ben. We love Ben. He hasn't been a super active player in the story as he tends to be low drama. His job is to be an anchor for his friends. The sequence where he wakes up Emma after Calliope decided to put her in stasis remains one of my absolute favorites. What a guy.

• Here's the best Ben scene! SB is actually there too.

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/there-you-are

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/out

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/please

• Also, while Ben is non-magical, let's remember he's got an affinity for it!

    https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/you39re-hired

I love Whisper a lot. He's written as a bit of a scaredy cat because his two previous lives died tragically. Chester - the cheshire cat we all know and love from the original Alice in Wonderland tale - was killed by Ina in a jealous rage. Jasper, the life after that, was killed by Bird when she switched to the side of the Rippers. That's two very rough deaths. As such, Whisper is a softer, more meek little kitty. I think the scene where he gets rejected by Inkbell is the funniest one with him. Inkbell is totally a human and not at all a cheshire cat, after all, why would she bother with him?

• Chester's death with Alice Liddell:

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/when-there39s-ink-there39s-

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/taken-by-shadows

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/all-your-fault

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/freed-from-the-cage

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/sister-vs-sister

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/struggle

• Jasper's death with Alice Purcell:

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/the-death-of-jasper

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/no-other-choice

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/alice-vs-vanessa

• Inkbell being kinda mean:

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/inkbell

        https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/human-person

Dorothy is so gorgeous in this page. I love drawing Dorothy. She is definitely more of a background character. We didn't want her to take the story away from the currently namesakes, but she is a bit of a cool ghost haunting the narrative. 

I put One and Ina on the same page as Daniel and Elaine, as they seemed like the biggest opposing forces. Like yeah, Emma has kicked the most evil butts in terms of numbers, but Elaine is the one most capable to face One, as she has before.

One is basically a shadow that worked really, really, hard to think like a very smart person. He gets up every day, ignores his stomach grumbling, so he can work towards his ultimate goal, and then maybe get a nice big snack as a reward. Shadows aren't usually the best at patience. There's a study on delayed gratification called the Stanford marshmallow experiment (sometimes shown in tv sitcoms) where a child is given the choice to eat one marshmallow immediately or wait for a short period of time to receive two marshmallows. Most shadows will torture (or help) the same marshmallow a bit to give it more flavor, but will usually eat it after a few years at the most, before another shadow comes along and steals it. One has been staring down the same marshmallows for decades, eating the occasional side-marshmallow, but resisting the urge to gobble every thing up. He'd love to eat all of Calliope right now. He's a shadow torn between the big goals he really wants and the snacks he really wants. You really see the worse of him in the Emily Gale chapters.

Elaine is a natural writer and reality warper in ways One can't plan for, and she can be as determined as he is. While Namesakes fight Rippers and storybook creatures, Writers will often be those opposing the shadows, as their powers most closely resemble Muse powers.

In chapters 31 and 32, during the battle on Calliope grounds, we see a little newborn shadow, sprung from Ina and One's cumulative forms, try to tempt Selva to get shadowfied.

https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/beautiful-anger

https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/alternate-path

https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/betrayer

It's not really good at it, it's newly hatched and temptation takes skill, but this scene illustrates how Ina became a shadow when her resentment got out of hand. I love drawing Ina. She's so scarily gorgeous.

Daniel and Ina are also similar I find.

Elaine is a bit distrustful of her dad at the moment. She's slowly realizing he may have done some bad things. It's going to be hard for her to reconcile how she feels about her dad and how she feels about Daniel Crewe, ex-Ripper. Daniel adores all his kids, but Elaine is the one he raised basically alone. Them rebuilding their relationship is going to be a emotional.

We could write so, so, many paragraphs about how cool as hell Elaine is. And we have! It's the entire comic. Elaine is very much the heart of the story. She has so many people protecting her because so many people love her and that's cute as hell.

Here a few pages to check out as reference:

• The One composition exposition:

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/patchwork

• Warrick and Elaine combining their powers to harm One:

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/bug-surprise

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/elaine-vs-one

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/egg

• One losing his cool and deciding "screw this, I'm eating everyone" (leading to the big fight between Emma and the united shadow forms of Ina and One):

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/shattered

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/henry-and-hyde

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/that-sound

• Banshee with Henry Jekyll, when she was called Rose. This was in a flashback with Alice Liddell.

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/beacon-browsing

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/flower-code

• And then Banshee talking to Emily Gale, by then she was a Ripper:

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/builder-and-healer

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/fooled-again

Here is the textless page once again, for fun! Chains, eyes and vines all over!

Bad guy time! Or more accurately, victims of One's machinations. To One, the best ally is someone who needs you more then you need them. Anything else is just a meal. Writing these descriptions, I'm noticing how much Bird was a load bearing character for part 1 of the story. Her, Banshee and Penta are all in the Goblin Market now, waiting to come back to the stage.

We haven't all the Rippers do much yet, but we've seen a few of these in the background. Now that One and Ina were imprisoned in a building by Emma in Alexandria, the village surrounding Calliope, it's likely One will call upon these minor characters to plan his escape.

Here a few pages to check out as reference:

• Emma putting Ina & One in a a time out:

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/time-out

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/that-worked

• Rooster and Moon in Nose's flashback Christmas chapter as well as during the battle on Calliope grounds.

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/frost-part-2

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/incoming

• Sting and Venom in the early chapters, and then later in the battle on Calliope grounds.

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/arrow

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/siphon

• Fish deciding to switch sides.

            https://www.namesakecomic.com/comic/beacon

The Nameless are around here and there, in One's manor, and during the battle on Calliope grounds.

Here is the textless page once again, for fun! I love the look of Bird's fire.

I added Trinket to this page because while Mountain has ties to Wonderland being a playing card, Trinket pretty much only has ties to Mountain at the moment. Someone get this kid a found family, stat!!!

Also here is the textless page for fun!

Hello, Isa here! This page was finished pretty last minute because I had a flu most of October, was ok for a week, and then got a flu AGAIN. I catch everything. 

I love Jack and Penta so much.