Hey, that's a good angel! I deserve all As for that angel. Also note the dramatic lighting. You can tell I'm making an effort when I try to do shading, because that stuff is hard.

Judging from the backgrounds, the cherubim have apparently not only broken every picture frame in the house (except the one on the stairs containing a large flat insect), but ripped off the wallpaper. Stupid cherubim.

You are not going to believe me, nobody in their right minds could possibly believe me, but it's true, really it is: I went through about a million possible names before it occurred to me to name Caliban's opposite number Ariel. I did research. I studied Hebrew. I fretted over this character's name for weeks. Then, when it was down to the wire and I had to stop futzing around and draw the strip, I suddenly thought, "Hey, I should call her Ariel." And felt like an idiot.

People have pointed out that, unlike the Disney character, Ariel in The Tempest is male. In my flimsy defense, Ariel the angel isn't really female, as angels have no sex. Which is another reason Caliban is reluctant to go back.

At the time I drew this strip, I was displeased that it didn't have a real punchline, but now I like it. Maybe I'm just mellowing.

It's nice when I don't get overly wordy. Good work, me.

"Cloud City" is either a Star Wars or Super Mario 3 reference, depending on which day you ask me. It's the name Andrew and I gave to the Upper Geary neighborhood in San Francisco, which is on top of a hill and nearly always cloaked in fog. It's like Heaven, if Heaven sometimes smelled like garbage and sometimes smelled like pie.

When this first ran, some people were confused by Caliban's comment about the situation with Ariel going "pear-shaped." It's just Caliban being inexplicably British again, "pear-shaped" being slang for "all screwed up," but there were people who thought he meant that Ariel put on a bunch of weight after he got cast out of Heaven. Which is a better story, come to think of it.

Yes, now that he's mortal, Caliban is literally gross.

Mell's expression is nice. As is that weird thing Ariel's robe does.

I remember writing this and being very amused by the idea that both cassette tapes and the band Air Supply predated the Biblical creation. I think most people just found it confusing, but oh well.