original_post: 3/18/2008____________________________ now this one is further back than I had ever gone with the flashbacks. This was high school for Max and Emily. I had to mine some of my own high school memories and think about what kind of people Max and Em would be back then. Emily, of course, was writing for the school paper. Max was a struggling art student, finding his way. I realize that the joke in the last panel might come across a little abusive, but it certainly wasn’t intended that way. “Ashley” was actually based on a classmate of mine, gothic and angry.