Space Opera

Wouldn't this be the alien equivalent of having a dick-measuring contest?

Who should we ship with Stabula XIV?

It's obvious that yoga provides waaaaay too much blood /oxygen to the brain.

i love the person in the background jsut going "the heck are they talking about?"

What's this? Marigold, OUR MARIGOLD, exuding self confidence in panels 1 and 4? The world turns upside down!

Jeph, you have just got to stop trying to read every cheap sci-fi /fantasy book* you can find! (...or maybe not. Maybe that's what keeps his plot-brain churning). *I was going to write "...every Ace double novel..." but that would really show my age (correctly, alas).

Am I the only one reminded of the character Lily Iglehart from the Netflix series Sex Education? This sounds like the plot of one of her stories.

Hanners and Marigold run into Yay and co and this somehow makes its way into their Cubicles and Coworkers campaign.

You know, in a former life I'd be pretty vocal about all this talk of ovipositors...

That background Side-eye is elite

QC 2021: everyfleshy is tappin' an AI Pintsize has a humanoid body. I PH34R TEH R3PROC|_|5510NS

I'm almost certain we've had both an ovipositor gag AND a "Chekhov's ________" gag before, but never both at the same time. Having now achieved joke fusion, QC will be leaving the main sequence. Whether it is massive enough to evolve into a red supergiant remains to be seen.

I love the image of Iris impaled on Willow's ovipositor, a mix of confusing and irritation on her face. "Wut."

Hannelore's pants are uncolored in panel 4

Hanners is the comments.

I don't know, Willow looks rather mammalian to me.

I wasn't expecting Hannelore to be familiar with ovipositor fiction, but it's a nice reminder that Hanners is one of the weirder* characters in the QC-verse. *the use of the term weird is purely appreciative

And of course number XIV HAD to be obsessed with the sun!

I ship Stabula XIV with Willow. Sorry, Iris.

Yeah, uncomfortable knowledge gap here. Marigold is shipping, Hanners is reciting from page 956 of the Galactic History book.

We're learning a LOT about Hanners this week and while she kinda lost me with the ovipositor stuff I like where her head is at

Turns out these two doin' some robogay shipping is exactly what I needed after today's horrible bullshit

When Hanners fan-fiction hits 1.21 Giger-Watts we're gunna see some serious shit...

But what about Willow's despised and much reviled sibling, Stabby McStabbyface?

I'm looking at the passing lady in the last panel, giving Hanners some side eye.

I haven't heard the word "Ovipositor" since the original Fallout, where it is a specific location you can target with called shots on some enemies.

Dang. I just got tested and came up ovinegative.

Hanners projecting her relationship with her mother and giving Marigold an indirect warning before she grows in Power and sheds the weakness of human emotion that has been part of the Masquerade. It's going to be a while before her ovipositor grows to its matriarchal fighting size. Also the real reason she doesn't like to get touched. The subjugation pheromones of her breeding toxin aren't yet under conscious control. The compulsive hand washing and clean-up keep her from creating thralls and attracting the attention of territorial Full Queens. The last week of QC will be all about Hannelore's ultimate metamorphosis and the Days of her Wrath.

Feverishly scanning the archives to see if there’s an ovipositor mounted on the wall in Willow and Iris’ apartment

THINK OVIPOSITIVE 😭😭😭💚💚💚

Wasn't "Stabula" Swordsmary's online handle?

And then Iris saves everyone with a hastily fashioned ovinegator that cancels out the ovipositors in a huge ovineutron explosion, simultaneously banishing Stabula to the Floofy Planet and giving Iris and Willow the sexiest haircuts ever

Go to any Stabula convention, and the majority of fans will agree that even-numbered Stabulas are always superior to the odd-numbered ones.

What happened to Stabula IX? Stabula VII ate IX.

I know Jeph needs the weekend off, but damn is it a long while till the next comic. These days of agony, each and every weekend, over and over again. *dramatic pose, save and exit*

First I've heard of this pretender Stabula! The stars will sing out with the ruination of her rot-hollowed throne!

This plot only works out because the NRA has been lobbying for years for interstellar law to allow concealed ovipositor licenses.

Stabula XII flew into a giant windshield.

That dude behind them so, so confused about what he just heard.

Marigold knows how to run a tight ship.

Hanner's pants on Panel 3 have a lack of coloring, for the record.

I would watch/read that series.

I'm like 99% sure Iris is aromantic. She got a spray of a heart being crossed out once! Also it's Arospec Awareness Week.

So good.

Hanners. Dearest. Just forget this obsession with ovipositors. Ain't gonna happen.

Iris and Willow, directly behind them off-panel: Uh, guys? We can hear you...

Good Marigoldface in the first panel

I'm a simple man. I see a reference to checkovs gun and I heart.

This comic sponsored by Bad Dragon

The punchline is vintage QC. Is Marigold the new Marten?

Wow, that ovipescalated quickly!

Hanners sure had a wild mind.

Everything comes back to Leto II eventually

oh okay!

Is it me, or does Hanner's torso look a little thicker in that last panel?