Alone In A Crowd

Page 11 - Feb 26, 2008 - “You’d Do the Same Thing”

Page 10 - Feb 22, 2008 - “Kitty Ears”

And here we go, what “Alone in a Crowd” was probably most known for.

Faith was designed to be an unfortunate outsider with no friends, despite her kind and caring nature. While I truly don’t believe kids NEED a reason to shun another kid, I felt it was important Faith had a reason for being bullied and ostracized. I also was/ am a huge anime fan, so I’m obviously familiar with cat-girls. When conceptualizing AIAC I thought about how cat-girls were always these over the top fantasy characters, or to be blunt just there for fetish sake, or whatever you want to call it. I thought, what if there was a cat girl in a real world setting instead? How would people react to this? How would they feel about their ears/ live their life? That’s where Faith came from.

Page 9 - Feb 19, 2008 - “Faith’s Hat”

Gee, she’s very protective of that hat. I wonder why?

Page 8 - Feb 15, 2008 - “The Cardinal Rule of Friendship”

Page 7 - Feb 12, 2008 - Gotta Have Faith

Page 6 - Feb 08, 2008 - “Hi”

When Hope met Faith.

Page 5 - Feb 06, 2008

Page 4 - Feb 04, 2008 - “Same Time Tomorrow”

My big plan for these first three strips were to trick the readers into thinking Hope and this random boy were the main characters, only to have the twist be what you see above. At the time, I felt like I was being quite clever. I’m not entirely sure it’s THAT clever, but instead it works more to set up the kind of person Hope is.

I should also explain these first so many strips were drawn and inked entirely on paper, then scanned and posted as is. That’s why the quality is...what it is. Eventually I learned how to take my inked scans and clean them up in Photoshop so everything looked crisp and solid. Frankly though, any “Alone in a Crowd” strip before I started inking in Photoshop makes me cringe a little bit.

Page 3 - Feb 01, 2008 - Stuffed Animal Feelings

I remember feeling this emotion quite strongly as a kid.

...who am I kidding, I feel that way now.

The name “Mo-Bunny” came from Momiji Sohma from the anime/manga “Fruits Basket,” who turned into a bunny when hugged by a member of the opposite sex. I’m kinda amazed I remember that’s what that reference is, haha.

Annnnd here it is, the very fist official “Alone in a Crowd” comic, originally posted to the net back in January of 2008, granted it was drawn many months prior back in 2007. So I’m looking back a decade on this labor of love or mine.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been fond of this first strip. It just doesn’t really flow with the strips that follow it. I believe at the time, I felt since the first good chunk of comics focused on Hope and Faith, it was important to have Sara there from the beginning, and to set the tone. However, I think in retrospect it would have been better to have Sara’s introduction be the next time you see her in the comics. Actually, in a lot of my initial planning, the strip that follows this one was the very first.

Hi everyone! I’m Tom. You may remember me from such Tumblrs as http://tom-aiac.tumblr.com/, and such comics as...well, THIS ONE!

“Alone in a Crowd” is a comic I published to the internet from January of 2008 until March of 2013, when it went on an indefinite hiatus. Since then, the original website these comics were posted to has become woefully out of date, and in the grand scheme of things somewhat unnecessary. So, I’m beginning the process of giving the archive of the AIAC comics new homes, like here on Tumblr, on deviantART, and maybe elsewhere. I feel like it gives these comics a chance to find a new audience, and gives the rest of us a chance to walk down memory lane. With the posting of these old pages, I intend to add some new commentary as well.

So for newcomers, WELCOME! I hope you enjoy “Alone in a Crowd.” The comic and the characters hold an incredibly special place in my heart. Comics wont have a regular posting schedule, since this is just for archiving purposes and such. So expect them in chunks here and there, plus other fun AIAC-related stuff as well. And for readers of AIAC from back in the day, it’s so great to see you again!

Keep Hope alive and have Faith again!