Morning call
We finally get to meet Bill Portas, Cleo’s father.
A near daily morning call with a bit of business talk on the sides xD
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Cleo’s dad face reveal. Yay! First comment!
Hey, you actually showed the rich girl’s daddy! I was half expecting the London Tipton “never see him in person” behaviour to continue.
…He kind of looks like a dork. Robin, you’re making Mr. Portas win a LOT of points.
To be fair, saving money wherever you can (or think you can) is one of the steps to getting rich.
Another step is earning enough money to be able to save like that, but that’s not the focus here.
I remember back in the 90s when I was repairing computer terminals for AT&T at my employer at the time, having to keep REALLY aged terminals with the CRT almost too old to even work anymore with screen burn-in that was so bad it looked like the tube was manufactured with a template built into the screen. They didn’t want to put in the money to properly update things and were spending way more overall to keep the really old terminals useful a little bit longer.
More of a song than a poem this time. Although it ca be both…
Dressing, then down for breakfast;
daddy calling on the screen;
Cleo makes quite an impression;
zooming in on the scene.
Her life is isolation;
her life is all her own;
he’s missing her perfection;
and doesn’t see how she’s grown…
Rich life, full of love;
stealing moments here and there.
Rich life, full of duty
but still showing that you care.
Making time in the desert;
Making cash, hand over fist;
Making moments of perfection;
reminding you that you’re missed.
There’s someone special for you;
out there, awaiting your time.
You can’t be beside them
but ignoring thems’ a crime.
Rich life, full of love;
stealing moments here and there.
Rich life, full of duty
but still showing that you care.
One day you’ll return to them
and find yourself in their arms
This is what you work for;
to lose yourself in their charms.
Rich life, full of love;
stealing moments here and there.
Rich life, full of duty
but still showing that you care.
Showing them that you care…
“‘Zooming’ in on the scene?” Is that referring to Zoom, the video meeting platform that we all know and love from quarantine?
Yup
What’s that laptop brand called? Snakebook?
Micobra? Rattle (snake)? Pythonux? Aspell? Viperware? Constrictintell?
You can’t have a serpent coiled into an S as your logo if your brand doesn’t have an S as the first letter.
Unless the brand name has “software” as a second word. Then the logo can be in the middle of the name
“SerpentSoft”? 🙂
Which is why Apple chose to have an apple as the first letter of their name?
I’m pretty sure any snake-themed brand name would be able to have an ‘S’ as its logo. Also, while it’s certainly not something a normal hobbyist could do, it would be possible to make a custom laptop with an ‘S’ logo without needing to necessarily have a company to back it up. Yes, that’s kind of expensive to do it, but I’ve heard she’s rich.
I was struck by the potential biblical pun – you know, the serpent and the apple?
Nice to finally see Cleo’s dad, even if it’s just a video call. Cleo’s probably going to let him know about her change of a social circle, if he hasn’t already gotten the notice.
How do you think it will go when Cleo’s dad and Marco meet for the first time?
And I just realized we haven’t heard anything about Cleo’s mom? Is she still in the picture? If yes, then I hope we meet her soon, if no, why? Just a quick short summary would probably be better than nothing
I was seriously expecting either a silhouette or an older more distinguished figure. Mr. Portas can’t be much older than 35 going on 40.
Software guru tycoon! Well that and he’s likely dabbled in other things as evidenced by the fleet of food trucks. I would guess he’s done his time too in tech support if he’s making that complaint. Seems like a pretty nice guy too, at least with family. Wonder if Cleo is going to ask if they can host the party at their place?
Her dad looks much friendlier then I expected. I guess I was expecting someone who looked more stern like Raymond Burr in the 80s. I love this comic for breaking troupes like a wealthy business man who is also a good father and a rich heiress who isn’t a selfish brat.
As well as the butler not being an old gray man.
So Cleo’s dad is in the software market too…
I wonder if he funded a few of the games the Gamer Dragons played.
He’s not in the software industry “too”. He’s in the software industry, and sometimes dabbles in other industries too. The cast page describes Bill Portas thus: “Bill is Cleo’s dad. He runs a multi-billion software company.” Consider also that “porta” is Latin for “gate”.
I strongly suspect that Bill’s company also makes laptops like the one seen on this page, and that his daughter inspired its logotype. That’s apparently one thing that Bill has in common with Marco, who named his restaurant and food truck after his children.
Cleo’s hair stripe seems to have disappeared.
I like the page, though – not just the snake-themed laptop, but also Mr. Portas’s slightly goofy look and Cleo’s positive attitude. As someone else mentioned, it’s great that this comic avoids a lot of tropes and clichés.
Cleo’s full name is “Cleopatra?” I guess that it goes well with her being a snake Hybrid… So this is Mr. Portas, a bit different than what I expected but I do see some family resemblance between them. Apart from the nose. It’s nice to see how close Cleo and her dad are, it looks like Cleo has a pretty good understanding of software as well.
Showing Cleo getting dressed? Why Mr. Robin, you naughty dragon!😁
Benji mentioned that they sometimes call her Cleopatra in chapter 3, and I guess that includes her dad.
It’s not hard to make the leap from “Cleo Portas” to “Cleopatra”.
Cleoportra?
So – does she have venom?
Robin has said he wants Cleo’s hybrid type to be a non venomous snake. My money is on Egyptian sand boa.
“Egyptian sand boa” – When she grows up, she’ll give the bestest hugs. 🙂
Well that does match her skin color. She’s way more attractive than a real sand boa thou. Isn’t that the one that looks like a drawing made by a 4 year old.
Did some checking and it’s the Arabian sand boa that’s the silly looking one.
She’s some sort of constrictor Hybrid, the best way to test this is for her to hug someone as hard as she can or coil her tail around someone/something/Kaya and squeezing them. The real question is if she can open her jaw extra wide, maybe to the point of harmlessly dislocation and relocation at will!
Panel 5: “nickel and diming” should be hyphenated.
Also, whenever I read “Miss Cleo”, I think of the late fortune teller.
I agree about the hyphenation.
So we finally get to see Cleo’s Dad. He looks like a nice fellow at least; not like the stereotypical business goon. I got a laugh at Alex’s statement about putting her Dad on the table.
It is obvious Cleo got her looks from her mother.
She has her father’s eye color and hair color.
I was hoping for more of a daddy warbucks or mr monopoly kind of look. Old rich dude in tuxedo monocle and all that.
In a way I think that’s what we were all expecting. Robin never goes down the expected path, they always keep us guessing. Part of what makes this series such a joy to read every week.
Uncle Pennybags never wore a monocle. You’re thinking of Mr. Peanut.
Please read Neon’s post again, more carefully, and think about it some. 😉 🙂
Daddy Warbucks did quite often.
And so we finally get the face reveal on Cleo’s dad. As stated in my prior response, not quite was I was expecting, but honestly that’s a good thing. It’s always a breath of fresh air when an artist doesn’t just go with the standard trend that everyone uses, but comes up with a unique design instead. You definitely did a good job making them similar enough to seem related while remaining different enough to show Cleo got her main “look” elsewhere. It’s incredibly well done. I am curious now though, since it hasn’t been mentioned in a while and I can’t remember, is Cleo a nickname and Cleopatra her full name, or the other way around? Or are both nicknames based on her being a snake hybrid and her true name is neither? Lastly, because I know this response is long enough already, I just wanted to add that I really like the touch of the little snake logo on the laptop. It’s so cute and seems like exactly the kind of thing Cleo would get. That’s enough rambling for one post though. Great work as always this week Robin. I can’t wait to see the next one. Keep up the good work, and as always, stay awesome!
Nice, Robin! I like Mr. Portas already. 🙂
Ah, it’s a Razer laptop.
“Your father is on the table, Miss Cleo.”
“Hold on, nobody told me he was going in for surgery!”
“It’s a call on the laptop.”
“…Alex, I need some coffee.”
Or a quick sunbathing session. Or at least something warm.
This comic made me think. About how the different parents react to their kids being a hybrid. Most of what we have seen have a pretty normal life, with their parents who loves them as their kid, no matter their appearance. But we also see Benji who’s parents left him, for resasons still unknown. Maybe we get more about that in the future, maybe.
I do wonder, in this world the comic is set in. How do other parts of the world treat hybrids and are some countries better then others in that area. I kinda bet they are.
Same here. I thought of how people from more isolated locations or third World countries would react to suddenly giving birth to half (nonhuman) animal babies of varying species for one in every 1000 births. The Hybrids would likely be treated as either gods/demigods/avatars of gods or demons/monsters. And that’s not counting less superstitious societies and racism to peoples that look too different from other people. No doubt this has turned any existing racism in their world on its head, given how further diversified Humanity has become in this comic.
When you mention superstitious societies, it made me think of a documentary I once saw about children born as a albino in some African countries. Namely small tripe like areas. A mother had to escape with her child else others would see it as something magical to cut into pieces and use for magic. It was scary I tell you. Poor family lives now in Europe and is in constant fear for some to kidnap the child.
In this world the comic is set in. Yes we have one in a 1000 being born a hybrid. But some are even mythical hybrids. Imagen being born as such in a superstitious society. As you said, they might be seen as a god or a demon. Remember how the twins were treated in their old home town?
Remember what unicorn horns are good for!
Back scratchers? Toothpicks? Kabob skewers? Hand drills? Chew toys? Stir sticks? Scalpel? Screwdriver?