Shaenon: More from the original Skin Horse email:

-- Moustachio the Thinkonium is a massive copper clockwork robot built in the Victorian era. He is no longer mobile but can still think and talk, albeit not necessarily all that well. He has been permanently installed in the offices of Skin Horse and hooked into the office computer network. It's a sort of retirement for him. He needs to be wound every morning.

-- Gavotte is a sentient swarm of bees with a hive in a window of the Skin Horse offices. She's/They're the director of Skin Horse. Gavotte is the least human of the group, both physically and psychologically, and can be difficult to talk to. She/they has/have a sardonic sense of humor.

That's what I've got so far. I thought of it last week, so it's still pretty unformed. Like I said in my last email, I'm apprehensive about working on it because I'd prefer to do something radically different from Narbonic (my other strip idea right now is a newspaper-friendly comic about two adorable little girls, only one of whom is a mad scientist), but the concept kind of appeals to me.

And that's it. Well, except for the parts with spoilers. I'm not sharing those, of course.