Bittersweet news from Penny and Aggie this week as T Campbell announced that artist Gisele Lagace is taking permanent leave from the comic, apparently to focus on other artistic endeavors (such as her wonderful sex comedy Ménage à 3). Meanwhile, Jason Waltrip, artist for Fans! (the other source of my T Campbell obsession), will take over drawing duties.

While it's always sad to an artist leave behind the characters she helped create, I find I can't be too terribly upset about this change. Ménage à 3, a comic I've previously accused of being slow-moving and thin on plot, has picked up immensely in the last few weeks, and I greatly suspect that it's because Lagace's been giving it her fuller attention. And Waltrip has not only shown himself to be a talented artist with Fans!, he's become so adept at aping Lagace's clean style that I frequently fail to notice when he's guesting on P&A.

Some fans on the forum have welcomed Waltrip in with the hope that he'll find his own style -- as he did a bit in "Fan Glam #21" -- rather than imitating Lagace's. Normally, I'd agree, but P&A has such an enormous cast (seriously, you actually need a scorecard to keep track of them all) that a significant stylistic change would likely be distracting and confusing. And with the comic coming off the rollercoaster high of its recent string of incredibly satisfying story arcs (payoff after torturous years of buildup), I just want Campbell & Co to keep the momentum going.

[The Tea Room]