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I really ended up liking how this one came out, corny punch line and all. To me, I think a lot of times for the long form comics, the real joke is never really in the last frame, its usually in the 2nd or 3rd to last. I think that ends up happening a lot because we need to tie up the story in a way to a point where we are satisfied.
One of the big decisions to try and move away from this format was that we were getting some feedback that they weren't sure where the joke was...which seemed odd. I guess it might be similar to if you were reading a question and the upward inflection didn't come at the end, it would be pretty odd. So perhaps people were getting set up for some big punch line, expecting it on the last frame, when the real joke came before it, then they would feel as if the overall comic was weak due to a bad finale.
So yeah, the real joke for me in this comic is definitely Ryu turning into the Pygmy dragon, which I thought was a great change from the original script. We had originally had him thought out to be a regular dragon just mangling fairies, then the "male" fairy saying a more normal line. That was the original concept, and it made us laugh a lot, but then when we were working, it just didn't seem right. It was too serious and more cool looking then funny. That's when I had the idea to change him into a pygmy dragon and go the goofy route, which I think made the comic. The last pun at the end was just thrown in because we didn't want to take it seriously, so we just decided...let's just go for the "groan-worthy" pun, because its stupid but made us smile nonetheless.
Hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know which one of the sister comics you liked better and why!