^ 40 Comments...

1. Matti
   January 20th, 2012 at 12:32 am

   Nice place Mentl got. Definitive improvement from his car… Dodge was it? Is that song coming from somewhere or is it your original?

2. JED
   January 20th, 2012 at 12:33 am

   Matti - `73 Dodge. And the song is original.

3. Jean
   January 20th, 2012 at 12:41 am

   Looks like he’s been able to make some good money for himself in the intervening time, starting out with just 4k and his guitar and clothes to his name when he hit the coast.

4. aqua
   January 20th, 2012 at 1:07 am

   nice place but it doesn’t sound like he is enjoying it. i think those lyrics are his true feelings.

5. Docsmith626
   January 20th, 2012 at 1:07 am

   Damn! He’s good. . .

6. dolo-pzora
   January 20th, 2012 at 1:13 am

   Pizza, beer, and rum. Key ingredients for a sad love song.
   You came up with those lyrics on your own JED, you may have missed your calling. How about Zona the album?

7. AdamZero
   January 20th, 2012 at 3:31 am

   wow, that’s one way to write your own map home. You know if he does it right he’ll have his way home AND his apology all in the same song.

   But he is in for NO END of bruised shoulders when he gets back.

8. The Old Hack
   January 20th, 2012 at 3:57 am

   Good to see you back in action, Jed. For that matter, good to see Mentl again. I am very curious to see what he has been up to lately.

9. Ike
   January 20th, 2012 at 5:08 am

   Not quite enough pizza boxes and chip bags and empty cans strewn about to really be A Sad like the song is.

10. JustMe
    January 20th, 2012 at 5:23 am

    I like the growing out hair style, but from the way his place looks, he is a little too clean shaved.
    The way I feel the scene is set, he is still awake after a night of trying to drown his feelings in the bottle, so he should look a bit more rough around the edges.

11. JustMe
    January 20th, 2012 at 5:27 am

    Oh and for the bonus points, is that Johnny Marr on the magazine cover???

12. AdamZero
    January 20th, 2012 at 5:40 am

    JustMe: The word your looking for is groomed.

    Only way this could go further in awesome is if those notes were the beats to the song.

    They just might be.

13. JustMe
    January 20th, 2012 at 5:55 am

    @AdamZero: Thanks, not native english speaker, although I can’t remember the last time I read a book that wasn’t in english…

14. Lora
    January 20th, 2012 at 6:16 am

    Great to see you up and running again, JED! And Mentl is back, writing a song about him and Zona.

15. Lebbrin
    January 20th, 2012 at 7:26 am

    I’m betting it’s Zero’s place. Then again, what do I know? Glad to see you back JED.

16. Marci
    January 20th, 2012 at 7:58 am

    YAY! JED! YAY! Mentl!

17. tricksterson
    January 20th, 2012 at 8:50 am

    Well somebody’s feeling mopey. What’s it ccalled, “Music to Slash Your Wrists By”?

18. Loonienas
    January 20th, 2012 at 8:50 am

    @JustMe Why yes, you do get the bonus points. That would be Johnny Marr, on the cover of the Feb 2012 Guitar Magazine. I thought it looked a bit like Gary Moore at first, but after I looked it up, it is a direct render of the actual magazine with Johnny on the cover. Good Job.

19. Raoul
    January 20th, 2012 at 9:05 am

    So, judging by the length of Mentl’s hair now (looks like his added a good six inches), at least a year has passed.

20. Deris
    January 20th, 2012 at 9:18 am

    Get back, get back.
    Back to where you once belonged
    Get back, get back.
    Back to where you once belonged.
    Get back Mentl

    Someone is going to have to drag his but back because he’ll never go even if he did realise he still has magic. The whole” I magically controled the beautiful barbarian princess into loving me idea is stuck in him like a spike in the heart. Whom ever comes for him is going to have a time convincing him to go back. .. Unless they can plead his magic is needed to defeat the great evil…. Hmmmm, that might work…

    Argggg, I hate waiting for a good story….

21. Descartes
    January 20th, 2012 at 9:50 am

    Are we sure he isn’t staying with a friend?

22. JustMe
    January 20th, 2012 at 11:30 am

    @Loonienas: Yeah, I recognized him because he was on the cover of the october 2010 Total Guitar(UK magazine), the big giveaway was the white jaguar…

23. John Savard
    January 20th, 2012 at 12:43 pm

    It’s wonderful to have a new page so soon. It’s wonderful to be seeing Mentl again. I hope this means he’s on his way back soon - probably in the nick of time to save Zona.

24. Karyl
    January 20th, 2012 at 1:18 pm

    Oh gosh, now I am sad! Poor Mentl–nearly gone mental after the loss of love and his life in a faraway place! Wonderful lyrics, JED!

25. Kosine
    January 20th, 2012 at 3:10 pm

    Huh. I was expecting the song to be partially magic. Think he’s got that whole control thing down pat now?

26. JED
    January 20th, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    Jean - He’s making ends meet, but it’s not as nice a place as all that.

    aqua - Yes, I think it’s fair to say.

    Docsmith626 - Yes. Yes, he is.

    dolo-pzora - I was okay with the lyrics, but the tune I am not happy with. Far too derivitive, and I would never record it. Someday I’ll redo it, maybe after I get my guitar skills to where it’s not painful to listen to. Right now I am going crazy on the ukulele. Don’t laugh. It’s too much fun.

    AdamZero - Maybe, maybe not. The situation wasn’t black and white. But … we’ll see.

    The Old Hack - Well, you’ll hear a little, not a lot. This will not be a long scene.

    Ike - Agreed, but at least there’s an old dried apple core under the coffee table …

    JustMe - Perhaps, but remember he does have a regular gig on Fridays and Saturdays, and what all else he does to earn this palatial lifestyle.

    AdamZero - They are the notes of the song - but only in Mentl’s world. But thanks!

    Lora - True. I am also having too much fun with my new beast. She has a lot of guts, and nothing installed except what I need. Being custom-made, there is zero bloatware installed. Me likey.

    Lebbrin - You would win that bet. Actually, this is a little two-bedroom apartment in the Valley that the two of them share.

    Marci - !!

    tricksterson - Actually, it’s the opening track on “The Love Sucks Collection.”

    Loonias - Thank you. I love it when things like that work as planned.

    Deris - Thank you for the compliment. We are inexorably drawing to the denouement of this major story arc. It will yet be some time, I am afraid. Hope you think it’s worth the wait!

    Descartes - Yes, we’re sure. See above - he’s rooming with Zero.

    John Savard - How it ends only I know.

    Karyl - Thank you. Yes, Mentl’s gone all emo at the moment.

    Kosine - Noticed that, did you? How about that?

27. Kettricken
    January 20th, 2012 at 4:15 pm

    Oh I see it now. Mentl will drag zona to his dimension, where she isn´t a mule and she will be pregnant.?

28. Mikey Likes It
    January 20th, 2012 at 6:53 pm

    Just as an aside; COZ is still ranked 15 on TopWebComics! Woot!!

    @JED: Glad to see you back up and running. Even gladder to hear that the new box is everything you hoped … “Did you ever know that you’re my hero, and everything I’d like to be? I can fly higher than an eagle, ’cause you are the wind beneath my wings.”

    Sorry, some of Mentl’s emo rubbed off…

29. JustMe
    January 20th, 2012 at 7:04 pm

    Wait a second, another bonus point, or I’m just obsessively pointing out the less obvious artist references in the picture(Jimi Hendrix poster is too obvious) but the picture on the screen is of the Beatles

30. GhostWolf
    January 20th, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    OH crap!

    “And there’s just nor more escaping
    what a goddamn fool I’ve been
    As I reach out to the empty space
    beside me once again”

    This does NOT bode well

    Empty space = Zona

31. TheCreeper
    January 20th, 2012 at 8:57 pm

    Hey, John, glad you’re back up and running!

    My hair is usually almost that long. Not fun keeping it out of my eyes and mouth. Not fun at all.

32. crazeyal
    January 21st, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    The magic seemed to be tied to his emotions when in Zona’s world, and far too easy to reach. He sometimes didn’t even need an instrument. Methinks the magic isn’t showing because he’s A) Not trying to force magic into a technological world. B) Making magic AND music AND a love song?? Might just remove a twelve block radius due to EMO..

33. vrwhammer
    January 21st, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    well done

34. kernbrit
    January 22nd, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Let’s not forget - the last time Mentl tried to use magick, as far as he knows it didn’t work. I’d bet that he’s thinking he doesn’t have it anymore.

35. The laughing rifleman
    January 22nd, 2012 at 2:37 pm

    @kernbrit :
    You mean when he sung “Here comes the sun” to the old woman in the street ?
    Well, in fact, it worked. With a certain delay, of course.
    But still, it worked since the woman recovered her memory after her encounter with Mentl.

    By the way, if “Mentl” is a nickname, what is his real name ? Is it something like Michael ?

36. Mish_Lady
    January 22nd, 2012 at 4:51 pm

    @the laughing rifleman: yes, I do believe his name is Michael. I think the jeweler that he sold the ring he got from Queen Yanora called him Michael. JED-glad to see that everything is kicking again! In the meantime, I reread the entire comic arcs up to this point-and you made me laugh and cry! Awesome!!

37. Prairie Son
    January 22nd, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    Actually, his name is Michael Levy. As far as JED’s revealed, he doesn’t have a middle name.

38. Mace
    January 22nd, 2012 at 10:51 pm

    There is a point to make regarding his magick in this world too.

    While he remains unaware of it’s effect on the old lady, which he may well put down to his unfamiliarity with magick and not knowing how to make it work in her case, he did successfully cast a banishment spell. Though given how bombed he was at the time, how much of that he remembers is perhaps open to question as well.

39. Ooorah
    January 25th, 2012 at 10:35 am

    For some reason I was reading the words to this to the tune of Windmills of Your Mind:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcFTjWOdg8M&feature=related

    It just seemed to fit so well.

40. JED
    January 25th, 2012 at 10:45 am

    Ooorah - It fits. Hmm.

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