page 120 - the end!
And so we arrive at the last page of Birthday Suits... woo! As is the tendency with my larger stories there's no special last minute twist (so, sorry if you were expecting something more spectacular).

The last few pages in particular have been all about wrapping things up and giving the various plot/characters some sort of closure. Of course it's not possible (nor desirable) to dot every single i and cross every single t but I think I managed to tie up most loose ends. In the true spirit of leaving-them-wanting-more I haven't really resolved 100% a whole heap of things - like Loxie's mother and sister (in fact, her whole family!) but I prefer to leave that somewhat unresolved. I know some people were hoping/expecting to see something specific about the friendship between Sally/Zinni & Famke/Chrystel but you know how friendships are with kids & teens - best pals one day, worst of enemies the next!

There were a few characters I never developed fully and some other things I never got a chance to do in this story - had I tackled them all then the whole thing would have taken at least another 100 pages (and another year!). But these unexplored issues (including those I started down the road to but ultimately removed and rewrote, most notably the "religion & nudity" thread) will provide fodder for future stories I hope.

Despite the bumps and delays and occasional complaining (by me) I did have a great time working on this story. I can honestly say I never expected Birthday Suits to become what it did - and probably just as well or I would have been more hesitant about starting it. The fact I expected a story with so many interesting new characters would resolve itself in 30 pages just shows I was temporarily insane!

So where to now? I'm going to take a short break from the noodtooning. This time I'm going to use the break to develop the next story and plot it out properly. I'll still be around the LJ though and might post some teaser art from the next story before it kicks off on 1 July.

Many thanks to everyone on the LJ, the forum and the emailers for your support, patience, feedback and input throughout the last 14 and a bit months - and thanks to everyone for reading!!