Comics Collection Melissa N. Collection [2025-09-19] [Melissa N.]

[misseva88]

Haha, yay, we're a ASoIaF discussion thread now!

Unfortunately I'm not really qualified to argue with you. You sound like an expert. I only started the books after the show started and I only finished the first 3. AFFC was super boring and I didn't make it far into it.

But even though I hate the GoT showrunners now, I can understand making changes, and especially cuts, to the adaptation. Yeah, the Dorne stuff was bullshit. But I think they realized that it would take 800,000 years to resolve all the dangling plot lines that are in the books, which is how long it will take GRRM to finish writing them. Or he realized that the task is impossible, which is why he's not even trying.

And of course, the show also failed to resolve anything in a satisfying way. It almost feels like they tanked on purpose. It seems like any other half-decent writer could have ended things better following season 6 with two full-length seasons (20 episodes).

The showrunners insisted on the show needing to be done in seven series. They figured it'd be symbolic, with George planning seven books, Seven Kingdoms and such. But George insisted they'd need more like 11 seasons, HBO wanted to give them the budget for 11 seasons as well. I don't think was impossible to adapt the story faithfully. The showrunners initially wanted out after the Red Wedding and it's like they didn't really plan ahead of it. That's why they never bothered setting up Dorne properly. And Dorne was very much influential in poisoning Tywin and luring away or otherwise occupying all the King's Guard, The Mountain is the only choice to fight Gregor Clegane (not that Cersei would have considered anyone else, really). Oberyn gave his life to poison Gregor to a point Qyburn could mold him into Ser Robert Strong, who will ultimately make a liar out of Cersei. Exposing Cersei will make way for a new ruler: Myrcella, who will introduce Dornish Law. That's at least the plan. Feast has a lot of the Dornish stuff in it and I've heard many people say it's boring. I like it, because I think it's very interesting.
Anyway, all this is is from a story that probably won't be finished because the author thinks producing an Elden Ring film is more important than finishing his magnum opus.

Melissa has a poll running on her Patreon, asking what kind of story people prefer she'll do next. The choices are:
short panel stories (8 to 16 pages each story),
long panel stories (150 to 200 pages each story) and
a new illustrated book (similar to Tug of War and Job for a MILF)

Currently, long panel stories is winning the poll.

 

[Thalantyr]

Melissa has a poll running on her Patreon, asking what kind of story people prefer she'll do next. The choices are:
short panel stories (8 to 16 pages each story),
long panel stories (150 to 200 pages each story) and
a new illustrated book (similar to Tug of War and Job for a MILF)

Currently, long panel stories is winning the poll.

I voted long panel stories. I might have voted illustrated book, but that's in a very distant third place and I wanted to ensure that long panel beats short panel. I don't particularly care for the short stories.

 

[misseva88]

I voted long panel stories. I might have voted illustrated book, but that's in a very distant third place and I wanted to ensure that long panel beats short panel. I don't particularly care for the short stories.

I voted illustrated book. I think Mirror would have worked a lot better as an illustrated book as well, for what it's worth.

But now that it's losing I'm picking up a way to AI generate my own pictures to stories I like. It's a fun little hobby and I find a lot more fun in written text with supplemental pictures than the other way around. The subtlety of gradual transformations work well in written text.

I hoped Melissa used the short 8-16 panel stories as test runs to see which are most beloved. Those could be elaborated upon in longer stories. But that doesn't appear to be how she uses them. I can see her being burned out with coming up with fresh and interesting premises for those short stories every couple of weeks real quick. So it's probably for the best the 150-200 page option is beating the 8-16 option.

 

[rebirth095]

I voted long panel stories. I might have voted illustrated book, but that's in a very distant third place and I wanted to ensure that long panel beats short panel. I don't particularly care for the short stories.

Long panel stories are fine for me if they don't overstay their welcome. That said, and I'll keep harping about this, I really think Melissa should consider moving away from single panel pages and explore multi panel pages. She does a LOT of time decompression, which in a multipanel comic form is fine, but when each panel is a page, that means we can spend 10 some pages (half an update) on just minor facial reactions or gestures. It would really help with the pacing without having to sacrifice nuance and detail.

Generally, I think books are her best fit, stylistically. She tends to go into a lot of exposition and her instincts are to write out inner thoughts rather than left the artwork imply and sell it.

Overall, I'd love a bit of experimentation from her. If not trying a multi-panel comic format, maybe try a captioned images format? The short comic started feeling samey to me because it was always relying on dialogue to explain what was happening or inner thought bubbles. But having a narrator POV give a caption over a really hot render would be a nice change of pace.

 

[misseva88]

A K-Pop Idol Chapter 15, Part 1 is included in the OP and can also be found

You must be registered to see the links

. Since this is the start of a new chapter, I'll combine the several parts of the previous chapters in one download for each chapter. So if you need individual parts, be sure to get them before I do this in a few days time.

 

[matuidiblaze]

aphrodite's mirror chapter 26 mediafire link doesn't work in the op

 

[misseva88]

aphrodite's mirror chapter 26 mediafire link doesn't work in the op

I'm not sure what changed, it has been downloaded a couple of times and the link hasn't changed. So maybe it's back up soon. Until then, here's a mirror for chapter 26:

You must be registered to see the links

 

[misseva88]

As a result of the poll mentioned above, Melissa has uploaded a new long panel story. It's called A Bestie in the Making, which will be updated with five pictures a week to not delay other projects, at least until Mirror is finished. The first part is included in the OP and can also be found

You must be registered to see the links

.

PS, it appears like the Mediafire link for chapter 26 of Mirror is working again.

 

[Stevedore100]

I've been reading the updates but have stayed rather quiet about them. The new information has been difficult for me to process. I feel like Melissa has been trying to clarify some details but has done so via characters that I'm lacking trust in. I guess I'm just in a keep-my-mouth-shut-and-wait-and-see mood.

I'll just quickly add this little spoiler of a theory just for fun.

Spoiler: Spoilers

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I haven't had much to say either of late due to the infrequency of updates and the emphasis on backfilling information that may it may not be accurate.
I had the same idea about the spoiler you mentioned - that name seems to close to just be chance. The latest (6/18) piece makes that even more so- the accountant certainly has a lavish house for an accountant. Also his dumping on Nikos is rather lame - no one questions that the Elena scheme was Nikos' idea - we saw it happen in chapter 1! And getting involved with Toska seems irrelevant to whatever financial issues Nikos has.
Has the accountant stealing from Nikos as part of the revenge scheme? Angeliki has apparently been undercover for a few years in the household, was she part of that plan, and it seems Nikos' financial problems go back awhile.
Maybe the accountant is the old guy that Joel is supposed to seduce? (I have a hard time believing Toska would be the target).

 

[chalana.56]

New part of mirror is up on

You must be registered to see the links

 

[misseva88]

As per usual, it's also included in the OP and can be found

You must be registered to see the links

.

 

[rebirth095]

Mostly confirming what we either knew or suspected. We knew Nikos initiated Andrew pretending to be Elena. Unless this was just early installment weirdness, we also already know that Nikos didn't go into dinner with that intent.

So, assuming you believe the accountant here, how this story kicked off is that:

-Nikos was going to have a pretend wife to appeal to Toska.
-He apparently altered his plans very last minute to have Andrew be the fake wife instead.

In terms of speculation, what's unclear still is why he thought having Andrew be the fake wife would be a better choice. Maybe he does have a feminization fetish. Maybe he figured family would be more useful if they needed to extend or alter the charade.

To expand on my thoughts from before:

So I think what Marina gets wrong in her theory and what the investigator is correct about is that she assumes the drugging was being done by Seferi. I've theorized before that Joel realized Elena wasn't Elena and then quickly called in Joanna to drug Andrew. But if both sides have part of the truth in this back and forth, then the major hole in Marina's theory is just how quickly Andrew gets drugged. So maybe she's right about the overall revenge plot, but the inspector is correct that she's underestimating Nikos, and that Nikos is the one behind the feminization.

Actually... I just thought about one more reason why I think it HAS to be Nikos who does the drugging via Joanna (and is possibly the leader of the black petal?) If Seferi/Joel had access to this super mind control drug, then there's no need to drug Elena that night. You just drug Toska and Nikos right there. Brainwash them and win. Right there. Back when we just thought the drugging was a sedative/roofie that was one thing. But if actual mind control is on the table... then using that drug to "improvise" makes very little sense.

Also helps explain the Filip brainwashing. It really only helps further Elena's feminization. And there's really only one person that seems to be actively pursuing that as the end goal.

Joanna being hired by Nikos to drug Elena would fall in line with what we got confirmed now. There's a chance that Joanna was originally hired to play Nikos' wife, but I'd have to really think about this. Joanna seems to have a lot of connections to Elena's social circle. That might make it hard to slip her in as Nikos' wife. Or, all those connections were supposed to help make the marriage seem more real, and we just didn't get the timeline where Nikos' is marrying Joanna, rather than Elena.

 

[misseva88]

Mostly confirming what we either knew or suspected. We knew Nikos initiated Andrew pretending to be Elena. Unless this was just early installment weirdness, we also already know that Nikos didn't go into dinner with that intent.

So, assuming you believe the accountant here, how this story kicked off is that:

-Nikos was going to have a pretend wife to appeal to Toska.
-He apparently altered his plans very last minute to have Andrew be the fake wife instead.

In terms of speculation, what's unclear still is why he thought having Andrew be the fake wife would be a better choice. Maybe he does have a feminization fetish. Maybe he figured family would be more useful if they needed to extend or alter the charade.

Or maybe Nikos was desperate to make a deal because he was broke and accepted the first person to be able to present as his wife, so he could please the traditional family man he wanted to make a deal with.

 

[rebirth095]

Or maybe Nikos was desperate to make a deal because he was broke and accepted the first person to be able to present as his wife, so he could please the traditional family man he wanted to make a deal with.

So the only reason I'm leaning towards Andrew being a "Plan B" is Nikos already had Toska lined up to show up. Now, maybe this was really just a impulsive last resort, but it does feel a bit strange to me that he'd wait until such a last second if he really was this desperate.

Hell, with their makeup skills, would it really have been that out of the question to convince one of the daughter's to pretend to be Nikos' wife? I mean, Nikos doesn't even have to reveal his being broke. He could have easily explained it away as it being a lucrative deal and taken advantage of how much his daughters seem to trust him.

That said, I don't disagree that there's a possibility it was an impulsive decision. Maybe that's more characterization of his reckless personality?

 

[misseva88]

So the only reason I'm leaning towards Andrew being a "Plan B" is Nikos already had Toska lined up to show up. Now, maybe this was really just a impulsive last resort, but it does feel a bit strange to me that he'd wait until such a last second if he really was this desperate.

Hell, with their makeup skills, would it really have been that out of the question to convince one of the daughter's to pretend to be Nikos' wife? I mean, Nikos doesn't even have to reveal his being broke. He could have easily explained it away as it being a lucrative deal and taken advantage of how much his daughters seem to trust him.

That said, I don't disagree that there's a possibility it was an impulsive decision. Maybe that's more characterization of his reckless personality?

Whether it's a last-minute desperation attempt or not, Nikos being broke opens the opportunity for it being one. And since his dire financial situation, him going for and accepting Andrew to masquerade as his wife may not mean it truly was based in a feminisation kink. He may not have had the luxury to pick and choose. So maybe rather than calling it reckless, I'd call it possibly desperate. Desperate to impress the business man who could help him regain some wealth.

 

[Thalantyr]

*Whew*, I finally got caught up on the last 3 updates I'd been putting off. Sorry I'm late to the party.

So the only reason I'm leaning towards Andrew being a "Plan B" is Nikos already had Toska lined up to show up. Now, maybe this was really just a impulsive last resort, but it does feel a bit strange to me that he'd wait until such a last second if he really was this desperate.

Going way back to chapter 1, I sort of get the impression that Nikos was only meeting with Toska to humor Moraitis. He doesn't seem overly optimistic:


And the "Umm... Interesting!" internal dialogue makes it seem to me like the feminization is a spur of the moment decision. From what I can tell, without Andrew presenting the opportunity, Nikos was planning to attend the meeting with Toska alone, and he expected to fail. Which could mean that he wasn't as desperate as Inspector Karras and Moraitis are making out. Or he had just given up hope.

So far we only have Karras' and Moraitis' word that Nikos is broke, and I'm not sure I trust either of them. Moraitis is my current prime suspect for Andreadis. Nikos said in chapter 1 that his accountant introduced him to Toska. Why would he lie about that to his family? We also know from Marina's research and confirmed by Seferi's phone call that Seferi and Andreadis are working together to get revenge on Toska and Nikos. It therefore seems way too coincidental that Toska and Nikos would meet on their own. Perhaps Joel made that happen, but that seems unlikely given how little respect Toska has for Joel. It would make much more sense if Andreadis/Moraitis introduced them. And as for Karras, he seemed irrationally angry at Marina for researching the Black Petal. Even if he was skeptical, it seems like he could at least hear her out without getting angry and trying to convince her to stop investigating. Perhaps he's being bribed by Andreadis, or is a fully-fledged member of Black Petal himself. We already know he's got pretty shady morals, having slept with the married niece of someone he's supposedly investigating. Or, if he is innocent, it's entirely possible that he thinks Nikos is broke because Moraitis made it appear that way, or actually stole Nikos' money himself, either of which he had the means to do as Nikos' accountant.

Has the accountant stealing from Nikos as part of the revenge scheme?

Yep, this makes sense if Moraitis is Andreadis. Though given how not desperate Nikos appeared to be in chapter 1, I suspect that the theft occurred later, and coincided with Nikos' disappearance. Either that or he was very good at deceiving his family in chapter 1.

 

[misseva88]

The newest part to A Bestie in the Making (part 2) is included in the OP and can also be found

You must be registered to see the links

.

Has Melissa ever done a lesbian story? I can't remember one, maybe I'm missing one. I hope this story ends up being just that.

 

[rebirth095]

Has Melissa ever done a lesbian story? I can't remember one, maybe I'm missing one. I hope this story ends up being just that.

The closest is All He Wants For Christmas. And honestly, outside of the declarations of love, there's not really anything that indicates its a lesbian story.

I've mentioned before, it's a little bit of a missed opportunity when the female "villain" takes all this time, money, and effort just to toss the feminized man aside. At least keep on a carpet munching maid?

 

[Thalantyr]

The closest is All He Wants For Christmas. And honestly, outside of the declarations of love, there's not really anything that indicates its a lesbian story.

I've mentioned before, it's a little bit of a missed opportunity when the female "villain" takes all this time, money, and effort just to toss the feminized man aside. At least keep on a carpet munching maid?

A K-pop Idol has also flirted a little with a relationship between Nabi and Minji, though it seems highly unlikely they'll end up together. It's pretty clear that this was deception on Minji's part, though her motivations are still kinda ambiguous and some of her actions seem contradictory, so who knows.

But yeah, for the most part, in Melissa's stories the female villain gives the victim away to some random dude in the end.

 

[misseva88]

I've mentioned before, it's a little bit of a missed opportunity when the female "villain" takes all this time, money, and effort just to toss the feminized man aside. At least keep on a carpet munching maid?

It's not just the dominating female I don't understand. But for this story, the story starts with the dominated male agreeing to be feminised essentially as a favour to the woman. Sure, she wins a bet for the first time, but the second time it's out of love for her. I always find it odd that love gets replaced by a curiosity for a dick in similar stories.