Tony Cliff

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 180-183 (Click through to read)

Last week, an eerie mist rolled into the harbour. It washed over HMS Cordelia and through its hatches, and cruel iron grappling hooks took hold of the gunwales. What is happening in the fair town of Archipoli?

On an entirely unrelated note, happy International Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day to all who observe! I hope I’ve been able to add a little bit of piratey menace to your day.

I can't put the whole thing on Tumblr — all four pages of this week's update are at DelilahDirk.com, which is a cute little relic of the old internet, without tracking or ads. Just comics. Click through!

- - - - -

This is the conclusion of Chapter Three! What does the arrival of this ominous new ship mean for the town of Archipoli? Will Alexandra be able to find her mother? Will she be able to apologize? And what will become of the crew of the Cordelia? These are all questions for Chapter Four, which is (as of this writing) currently being illustrated.

If you’d like to know when Chapter Four is available to read…

Sign up for the infrequent newsletter! Seriously, I send it maybe a handful of times per year, and I don’t do anything else with your email address.

Subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog!

Follow on Mastodon,

or Instagram,

or become a patron! Not only will you see the finished pages first, but you’ll receive weekly updates from every stage of the process and when pirates return to threaten our poor town, you’ll rest assured in knowing you had a hand in making it happen!

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 176-179 (Click through to read)

Alexandra stares into the darkness of a bottomless pit, and something strange is happening in the harbour.

Next week’s instalment will be early because September 19th is International Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day! I wonder how that could possibly be relevant to our interests.

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 172-175 (Click through to read)

Faced with Vignelli’s incomprehensible stupidity and/or ignorance, Alexandra crafts the only plausible explanation for his behaviour.

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 168-171 (Click through to read)

This week: Alexandra doesn’t exactly find her mother, and a competition to see who does not dance the most.

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 164-167 (Click through to read)

This week, Alexandra struggles under competing miseries: the impending dance, and her need to apologize to her mother.

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 160-163 (Click through to read)

This week, sweat among the candlelight as things get heated at Vignelli’s ball.

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 156-159 (Click through to read)

Last week, Alexandra impressed her mother with her carriage and presentation, only to spurn her mother’s affection. This week, she perhaps does not exactly revel in her victory.

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 150-155 (Click through to read)

While Alexandra and Katerina prepare for the ball, Alexandra’s mother is at home, having an absolute blast.

PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY Chapter Three Pages 142-149 (Click through to read)

Chapter Three begins with a double instalment, as Katerina helps Alexandra prepare for the Provveditore’s upcoming ball, where Alexandra believes she will shine so brightly and so independently that her mother will buckle under the strength of her character.

The continuing work of making Practical Defence Against Piracy is only possible because there is a small group of generous individuals who help defray the months’ expenses by being part of the book’s Patreon Campaign. These are those people! (Or click here for a larger view.)

Practical Defence is a project that is taking a long time, not just because I split my time between it and looking after our toddler, but also because it’s simply turning out to be a long book. I do not specifically want it to be a long book; I want it to be exactly as long as it needs to be and no more or less. Thank you, patrons, for helping to offer the security needed to get to that point.

⚔️ PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY ⚔️ CHAPTER THREE begins on Saturday, July 29th, 2023!

The full-colour Eisner-nominated adventure webcomic/graphic novel continues! Want to catch up with previous chapters? There's a website for that.

Will Alexandra have her revenge for the cruel surprises with which her mother has hit her? Will Katerina get to go to a ball? How well are Vignelli and the Venetians living on the other side of the wall? Will there be pirates? Will Alexandra have to… dance?

To follow along with the weekly instalments, simply…

Watch this space! I'll post a link to the week's new pages on Tumblr, which is presumably where you're reading this right now.

Subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog. Put this URL into your RSS reader!

Bookmark DelilahDirk.com and follow along over there. It’s less automatic, but the experience is as close to reading a book as I can make it for you.

Or you can read the entire chapter right now if you join the project’s Patreon campaign.

Not social enough? Point yourself toward…

Mastodon

or Instagram, if you must.

See you this weekend!

This week! It's the final update to CHAPTER TWO of PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY!

…in which special arrangements are made for Alexandra's birthday and she hatches a clever plot.

Read all of this week's extra-large update right here!

Want to read Chapter Three as it's being completed? Join the Patreon! For less than the price of a monthly floppy comic, you get to see all the finished pages first, plus delightful updates every week (email you can look forward to!), and more, including the legitimately heart-warming feeling of helping to make this project possible.

Want to know when Chapter Three is posted publicly? Easy peasy! Pick an option that works best for you…

Sign up for The Delilah Dirk Newsletter

Add the blog to your RSS feed

Keep an eye on Instagram

Follow along on Mastodon

Or just stay tuned here on good ol' Tumblr.

If you've been enjoying this comic, please don't hesitate to share it around. Be shameless about it, jump in with both feet. Annoy your friends. If they're not saying, "shut up about that comic already," then you've still got room to push, or maybe you have more tolerant friends than I do.

Thank you to everyone who's been sending in kind messages, and thank you to the patron readers who help drive this work.

See you in a few months, when we'll discover… What Alexandra has in store for her mother! How Alexandra learns to dance! What is up with her dad's mysterious bejewelled dagger! And how effective, exactly, are the town's defences against pirates.

This week, the penultimate update for CHAPTER TWO of PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY!

Last week, the Provveditore returned and seemed upset about the British ship in this harbour. Will he find a reason to change his tune?

Read all four pages of this week's update right here!

Park yourself in this week's update to PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY!

Alexandra follows the advice she's received and is in the process of consulting with a feathered wisdom-keeper when who should return but the island's foul-mouthed Provveditore. What does his return mean for Alexandra and her family?

Click through to read this week's instalment!

Attend weekly service with PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY!

Still adrift, isolated from her family and friends, Alexandra continues to seek advice from unfamiliar sources.

This week on PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY,

Having pushed away her family and her new friend, Alexandra becomes lonely.