Poppy O'Possum

[Sydonai]

Poppy O’Possum is a story about a mother named Poppy Odeletta Possum who lives on a world called Flora and wants nothing more than to retire to a comfortable homemaking life with her daughter, Lily. Unfortunately, living’s especially rough on Flora when you’re an opossum, and Poppy’s a regular trouble magnet. She’s moved to a little town in the Fenneclands called Eggton to try and start a new, low-profile life. This fails immediately.

Wild monsters, Mafia goons, military regimes, and even ancient magic conspiracies all want a piece of her, for reasons both mundane and unusual. But they’re about to bite off a lot more than they can chew, because a life of progressively harder knocks has turned this mom into one of the toughest, strongest women the world has ever known.



Poppy contains occasional violent/frightening content, mild crude language, and suggestive humor, and is recommended for ages 10+.


Ian Everett is a graduate of the Ringling College of Art and Design, illustrator and writer, and weird marsupial enthusiast. They can be contacted at [email protected]

Page1: http://www.poppy-opossum.com/comic/a-story/
edit:

[Sydonai]

I like this comic but almost nobody seems to know about it.
Which is a real shame, because the setting is really interesting and much more complex than it seems at first glance.

[Lost Demiurge]

Well holy heck! Thank you for posting this!

I'd never heard of this before, and one archive binge later, it's bookmarked and I'm eagerly awaiting the artist's next update. This is good stuff!

I'm especially liking the nature of dragons in this one. Did NOT expect them to be like elder gods.

[cobaltstarfire]

Well holy heck! Thank you for posting this!

I'd never heard of this before, and one archive binge later, it's bookmarked and I'm eagerly awaiting the artist's next update. This is good stuff!

I'm especially liking the nature of dragons in this one. Did NOT expect them to be like elder gods.

Morbi (the artist) is currently on a small break, I can't remember when they're expected to start updating again (July or something?), but there is supposed to be an anniversary drawing sometime this week?


I think the hardest thing about reading Poppy is that Morbi often either overloads themselves, or life likes to throw them curveballs so they end up having trouble keeping and maintaining a buffer. So know that sometimes the update rate becomes inconsistent.

[aurilee]

I also just finished an archive binge today and this is now on my "following" list. The art, settings and characters are great. It had me actually laughing at my computer screen, which is pretty significant.

The author clearly put a lot of work into the setting and mythology and I'm really enjoying it. Can't wait for the next story!

[Sydonai]

I'm especially liking the nature of dragons in this one. Did NOT expect them to be like elder gods.

The author clearly put a lot of work into the setting and mythology and I'm really enjoying it. Can't wait for the next story!

There is a lot of background stuff that hasn't been mentioned in the comic;

I had a very sad dream about Laika while I was napping and I thought I’d make it canon to supplemental materials for Poppy.

Laika was a Floran astronaut sent to gather data from Skyhenge, a strange structure at the edge of the universe. During approach, her shuttle’s propulsion system malfunctioned and the teleportal system linking back to Flora was damaged, leaving her stranded on Skyhenge.

Ever the upbeat worker, Laika kept in touch with her research team via superluminal communication and sent cheerful realtime video footage of her findings even as her resources drained. She continued to do this all the way up until her craft’s oxygen supply finally ran out, 46 days after impact.

[aurilee]

There is a lot of background stuff that hasn't been mentioned in the comic;

Yeah, I've been spending the hiatus browsing Morbi's tumblr, especially the Asks. Lots of good stuff in there.

[cobaltstarfire]

Yeah, I've been spending the hiatus browsing Morbi's tumblr, especially the Asks. Lots of good stuff in there.

It's also really fun watching Morbi troll the trolls, though I think the trolls have come to realize that it's a waste of their time cause it hasn't been as bad lately.

[aurilee]

It's also really fun watching Morbi troll the trolls, though I think the trolls have come to realize that it's a waste of their time cause it hasn't been as bad lately.

Oh it truly is a wonder. I marvel at their troll-trolling skills.

[Tectonic Robot]

Poppy O'Possum is one of my favorite webcomics. I've been following it ever since one of my friends shown it to me; caught up around the dragon arc, I think. It's VERY good.

[Sydonai]

The comic is currently in an intermission, luckily it involves someone we know very little about;

edit:
Whelp, the Veil is weird as ****.
And somehow not "on Flora".

[Lost Demiurge]

I am freaking loving Lila Moon. The character design, the attitude, the fact that she's the first monkey I've seen in an anthro comic that I don't want to punt through a window... yeah, she's cool.

Also highly amused by the thigh-drum things. Talisman? Seem to be, allow her to conjure her divan without the whole spell rigamarole. I'm betting that different drum-beats do different things.

[Sydonai]

I am freaking loving Lila Moon. The character design, the attitude, the fact that she's the first monkey I've seen in an anthro comic that I don't want to punt through a window... yeah, she's cool.

Lots of people thought that Lila was a monkey.
But Word of Morbi is that she is Human.
And Morbi seems to think that this should be very obvious.


Note;
Morbi stated that "There are no Humans on Flora" in an earlier comment, when questioned about the discrepancy the answer was basically "The Veil is not on Flora".

Anon: What species of animal is she? I think she's a primate but that's about it.

Morbi: It’s obvious, isn’t it? She’s a human.

Anon: Wait WHAT? Didn't you say humans didn't exist in flora???

Morbi: I actually said that there were no humans on Flora. That continues to be true.

Anon: No offense but i thought lila was a monkey for a bit oTL

Morbi: These past two updates have taught me that a surprising number of people don’t know what a human looks like.

Anon: Do you really not see how Lila could be mistaken for monkey? She strikes as being at least monkey-esque.

Morbi: No, because I know what monkeys and humans look like, you see.

[Lost Demiurge]

You sure Morbi's not trolling us with that response? Those bare feet and those teeth look pretty darn monkey-ish to me.

[aurilee]

She looks pretty human to me.

I think the only reason most people think she's a monkey is because of the "no humans on Flora" thing.

I take it from Mobi's comments that this exchange isn't happening on Flora, but some sort of astral plane (thus all the stuff about the veil and such).

[eschmenk]

You sure Morbi's not trolling us with that response? Those bare feet and those teeth look pretty darn monkey-ish to me.

I'm pretty sure. It would be pretty pathetic if he is trolling the readers.

Even before this, I had the impression that Morbi wasn't particularly concerned with making the comic easily understandable for the readers. For example, characters kept referring to location names without them being defined. That even included places like Eggton and Flora. Given that, I wouldn't be surprised if Morbi doesn't care if people think Lila is a monkey. Morbi may think that that's just the reader's problem.

The other thing is that once you imagine it one way, it's hard to see it some other way. I had to make a conscious effort to see the monkey-like aspects to be able to see them. Morbi would have probably had to do the same, but probably just didn't bother.

The trolls may have something to do with it, too. Morbi may be reluctant to give them any ammunition.

I think the only reason most people think she's a monkey is because of the "no humans on Flora" thing.

Well, to be fair, she's a very monkey-like human. There are a lot of things that would suggest "monkey" or "ape" to a person's subconscious. A strip of cloth was hanging between her legs like a tail when we first saw her; her gloves make it look as if her palms have a different texture than the back of her hands; the shin guards do the same with her feet; the area around her mouth and nose is lighter than the rest of her face; she acts like a monkey...

As I said, I had to be wonder why someone would think that she looked like a monkey before I could see those things, though.

[Sydonai]

I take it from Mobi's comments that this exchange isn't happening on Flora, but some sort of astral plane (thus all the stuff about the veil and such).

IIRC The Veil is in/on either Flora's Moon or Skyhenge.

[Lethologica]

Well, I'm avoiding the comments in this thread for now, but that artwork has convinced me to pick up this comic. Looking forward to it.

[aurilee]

Well, to be fair, she's a very monkey-like human. There are a lot of things that would suggest "monkey" or "ape" to a person's subconscious. A strip of cloth was hanging between her legs like a tail when we first saw her; her gloves make it look as if her palms have a different texture than the back of her hands; the shin guards do the same with her feet; the area around her mouth and nose is lighter than the rest of her face; she acts like a monkey...

As I said, I had to be wonder why someone would think that she looked like a monkey before I could see those things, though.

I see your point, but she also has a braided ponytail, and we haven't seen any other animals with added hairstyles (as opposed to other anthropomorphic works that tend to do that). So to me at least, that seemed like a dead giveaway.

But yeah, if you want her to be a monkey (as in, you're determined that this is not a human), there are some ways to interpret the art to suggest that.

IIRC The Veil is in/on either Flora's Moon or Skyhenge.

Right, so not on Flora.

This does raise interesting questions about humans though, like whether they have a tree and how they fit into the general cosmology of Flora.

[Sydonai]

This does raise interesting questions about humans though, like whether they have a tree and how they fit into the general cosmology of Flora.

I may not remember correctly but I think that there is no Human tree.
I don't think they have a Patron God either.
It may be the same for all the species that only show up in the Veil, because apparently Seals don't show up on Flora either.

edit:
Added a fandub of the intro pages to the first post.

edit:
I was wrong again, big surprise.

Anon: You previously said (or at least i remember you saying) that the magic on flora would kill a human, if this is true, how exactly does Lila survive using magic and being one the assistants to one of the most powerful witches in the comic? Does she wear some kind of protection (magic hazmat suit?) or is this going to be explained later on?

Morbi: People used to ask me a lot of boring questions about Earth interacting with Flora and in response, I said that magical radiation would kill normal humans (as in, us), because we don’t have any natural bodily mechanisms for processing it.
Lila is descended from the Trees of Life just like everyone else is, so she’s inherently tied to magic.

[aurilee]

I may not remember correctly but I think that there is no Human tree.
I don't think they have a Patron God either.
It may be the same for all the species that only show up in the Veil, because apparently Seals don't show up on Flora either.

edit:
Added a fandub of the intro pages to the first post.

Do we know for sure that seals don't show up on Flora? Sorry, I'm not 100% caught up on the canon.

As for the Humans...Lila clearly has magic, so according to how (I think) Flora works, humans should have a tree, no? It might just be that the people of Flora (like Poppy) don't know about it.

[cobaltstarfire]

Do we know for sure that seals don't show up on Flora? Sorry, I'm not 100% caught up on the canon.

As for the Humans...Lila clearly has magic, so according to how (I think) Flora works, humans should have a tree, no? It might just be that the people of Flora (like Poppy) don't know about it.

Morbi stated that Seals are not on Flora itself, so yes it is 100% canon.


I thought that Lila might be a very humanish monkey at first just because of the previous "no humans" bit, but I can easily see that she's a human upon correction. It takes more mental gymnastics to see her as a monkey or ape than as a human anyway.

Morbi is not "trolling" the readers with the slightly obtuse responses they give, Morbi simply doesn't want to spoil things, so they usually answer questions in a way that is technically true but very misleading.


I can't remember if Morbi stated that there was or wasn't ape or monkey trees (Morbi considers apes to be separate from monkeys), it could very well be that there is no human tree, but maybe there is/was an ape tree at some point, and humans are apes soooo.

All that said, other than action scenes I don't personally have trouble following the comic at all, Morbi is kind of bad about keeping action scenes zoomed in too much so it's hard to tell what's going on though, and staunchly refuses to accept critique on that sort of stuff.

[Sydonai]

Do we know for sure that seals don't show up on Flora? Sorry, I'm not 100% caught up on the canon.

When people questioned the presence of a human in the Veil Morbi replied with;

There is a reason most of the species you see in The Veil don’t often appear on Flora and vice versa.

Seals don’t appear outside of The Veil either, for instance. Nobody seemed too surprised by seeing one of them, though.

Also as to Lila's magic;

Anon:So, does Lila wear big poofy shorts so that she can store things in them, or because she's self-conscious about her own small butt and/or hips?

Morbi:They’re literally magical drums.
She does use an article of clothing to hide something she’s self-conscious about, but it’s not her figure.

She doesn't have Anti-Magic like Opossums do, so nothing stops her from using magic items.

Also also, according to Lila Poppy is "Iron Matron Candidate 53"?
Unless I'm misremembering something didn't that Dragon call her "The Iron Matron" as well?
Or was that Poda? I'll have to go back and check.
Nope. It was Silvana.

[Lost Demiurge]

Huh. Okay, so she's human then.

I feel a bit of disappointment. This brings the number of monkey-based characters in anthro comics that I actually like back down to zero.

[cobaltstarfire]

Huh. Okay, so she's human then.

I feel a bit of disappointment. This brings the number of monkey-based characters in anthro comics that I actually like back down to zero.

Suburban Jungle has a chimp character in it, though I dunno if slice of life anthro comics are your thing. (though if you do want to check it out, it's a completed comic)

[PhantomFox]

I thought she was a monkey at first. But that was because I assumed this universe HAD no humans in it, and her skin was a color that fur could possibly be. The other details I just plain missed.

[eschmenk]

I thought she was a monkey at first. But that was because I assumed this universe HAD no humans in it, and her skin was a color that fur could possibly be. The other details I just plain missed.

No, sorry, but there must be more to it than that. Assuming that she wouldn't be a human and thinking there might be fur wouldn't make you zero in on the idea that she was a monkey. There are plenty of other anthropomorphic mammals that might fit. Something must make her seem like a monkey, even if you can't put your finger on what it is. And it's not just you, either. It can't just be a coincidence that so many people reached the same conclusion. Morbi must have made her seem somewhat like a monkey, even if he won't accept that he did.

[PhantomFox]

No, sorry, but there must be more to it than that. Assuming that she wouldn't be a human and thinking there might be fur wouldn't make you zero in on the idea that she was a monkey. There are plenty of other anthropomorphic mammals that might fit. Something must make her seem like a monkey, even if you can't put your finger on what it is. And it's not just you, either. It can't just be a coincidence that so many people reached the same conclusion. Morbi must have made her seem somewhat like a monkey, even if he won't accept that he did.

Other mammals? Like what? Not many have as flat of a face as primates do. No humans + no snout/muzzle + humanoid style ears + plausible fur color = monkey.

[cobaltstarfire]

The things people are zooming in on with her as appearing like a monkey is likely that she has a flat nose, tan skin, and her barefootedness, in combination with Morbi having said that there are no humans on Flora.

I suspect another thing that may be confusing things is the shading, her hair is the same color as the shadows on her head and face, which can help push the idea that she may have fur.


I'm with Morbi on this one though, after the fact being told she is a human, it's pretty easy to see that she is a human. Sure, before hand it was easy to just see her as an anthropomorphized primate of some sort, such as to fit what we knew about Flora, but really even if she were an anthropomorphic monkey, she's got more of the anthropo in her design than the monkey.

[Sydonai]

The things people are zooming in on with her as appearing like a monkey is likely that she has a flat nose, tan skin, and her barefootedness, in combination with Morbi having said that there are no humans on Flora.

I suspect another thing that may be confusing things is the shading, her hair is the same color as the shadows on her head and face, which can help push the idea that she may have fur.

Spoiler: Plus the fact that she looks slightly similar to the Prime8 recruiter at first.

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