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There's a new, special nine page chapter of my webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, online to-day. Usually the chapters are just eight pages. Why is this one longer? I miscounted the pages when I was writing the script. Oops. But lucky you.

Happy Birthday to Emperor Go-Komyo (後光明天皇) of Japan; Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Harold Lloyd; Lionel Hampton; Betty Lou Gerson; Tito Puente; George Takei; Peter S. Beagle; Ryan O'Neal; Veronica Cartwright; Luther Vandross; Crispin Glover; and Andy Serkis.

There's a new chapter of my web comic, Dekpa and Deborah, online. It's a Deborah heavy chapter. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Mary Shelley, Evelyn De Morgan, Joan Blondell, Fred MacMurray, Peggy Lipton, Frank Conniff, and Jessica Henwick.

It must be a blue moon because there's a new chapter of Dekpa and Deborah to-day, my rarely updated webcomic, the first chapter since September. I hope I can do better than one chapter a year now that I'm more or less settled in Japan. But even if I only do one chapter a decade, I will finish this comic.

To-day's chapter title, "To Guard or to Strike with Edge or Point", comes from John Milton's pamphlet Of Education. I'm proud to say I work at schools now that do teach kyudo and kendo, Japanese forms of archery and fencing, respectively.

Twitter Sonnet #1436

Canary wings support a little flight.
The only ring improves the khaki dress.
A cloud of tea obscures the heavy light.
The weighty game's assumed to copy chess.
A heavy eye contributes weight to see.
Across the sand, a desert builds a line.
Across the water, drops construct a sea.
A heavy rain distributes light to shine.
With divvied pipes, the raiders claim the street.
Required dogs protect the watchful kid.
In cows and moles we find requested meat.
The bucket's full and breaks its flimsy lid.
Repeated songs enhance the pixel game.
Authentic days adopt another name.

Those interested in canon court matters may be pleased to find my infrequently updated webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, has its first new chapter since September. Over five months! I'm determined to get the next chapter out much quicker. This one was delayed by a lot of time spent writing a research paper. This particular chapter, and the one before it, required some research though I did most of it in early 2018 and 2017. The two latest chapters of Dekpa and Deborah deal with the true circumstances following John Milton's death, when his brother, Christopher, who was a Royalist and therefore ideologically John's opponent, and Betty Milton, John's wife when he died, filed a nuncupative will--that is, a will spoken rather than written. Since John was blind, he was obliged to do all his writing this way.

There was a bitter and, as some biographers and commentators consider it, embarrassing dispute between Milton's daughters and the team of Christopher and Betty regarding the veracity of this will. The court documents remain in existence and its one of the few direct pieces of information about John Milton's family that didn't come from John himself. So it's a valuable item for me since John's daughter, Deborah, is one of the main characters of my comic. Of all the characters in this new chapter only Dekpa is my invention and presents my interpretation of the events, what I think may have happened in the world outside those documents. So let me take you back to December, 1674 . . .

Twitter Sonnet #1213

An olive rolled between the cobble stones.
A giant's steps were marked in crimson shade.
The strongest house's timbers cracked as bones.
The morning's breath in fog begins to fade.
A diver shaped the air with freezing hands.
As clouds begin to slow they change to damp.
A thirsty story's told in sifting sands.
The message came but late to warn the camp.
Umbrellas gather late to wash the sun.
In careful carried vessels water drips.
In silhouette the crow was like a nun.
Her higher rank was told in godly pips.
Between the words a plantly human grows.
As flower closed apace they changed to toes.

A new chapter of my infrequently updated web comic, Dekpa and Deborah, is now online. Inspiration for this chapter came from literary critic William Empson's 1961 book on Paradise Lost called Milton's God. This bit:

" . . . the poem is not good in spite of but especially because of its moral confusions, which ought to be clear in your mind when feeling its power. I think it horrible and wonderful; I regard it as like Aztec or Benin sculpture, or to come nearer home the novels of Kafka, and am rather suspicious of any critic who claims not to feel anything so obvious."

I came across this while I was reading about both Milton and West African Vodun for my comic. It was a slightly weird coincidence to come across something about Benin sculpture in a book about Milton.

Enjoy.

A new chapter of my infrequently updated webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, is online to-day in which one of our heroines hatches a scheme with dubious ethical support.

With this chapter the comic is now at over 100 pages.

Happy Birthday, Peter Sellers, Patsy Cline, Aimee Mann, Neko Case, and Martin Freeman.

Another chapter of my infrequently updated webcomic, The Devils Dekpa and Deborah, is online. Feminine hygiene and violent revolution are discussed. Enjoy.

Happy birthday, Mary Wollstonecraft, Ulysses S. Grant, Coretta Scott King, Russell T Davies, and Jenna Coleman.