What's this whole thing about, anyway? It seems kind of weird, to say the least...

It's about a rather unique concept wherein Dr. Ardra Renelsior, a brilliant scientist, decides to raise twins as a sort of lifelong science experiment. The humor comes from the fact that Ardra tends to think along logical, scientific lines (her many quirks aside) and is extremely clueless when it comes to actually raising children. Eileen and Lenore, while both super-intelligent and rather sarcastic, otherwise couldn't be more different from one another. Read the Character Bios to see what I mean. Ardra is much more than a comic about a single mom and her bizarre "experiments", though. Ardra also has a strange love for objects she finds nostalgic (pay phones, in particular) and a tendency to lean towards obscure or offbeat things when making decisions. She also hates coffee, SUVs, cell phones, credit cards...or anything else she deems "Yuppie" accoutrements. A lot of this actually has to do with her SERIOUS issues with her mother, and will all be revealed as the comic goes on. Ardra and the girls all seem to suffer from a sort of "fish out of water" thing when they leave the house and meet "normal" people. Ardra wears a lab coat everywhere, and the girls are just too freakish, albeit in vastly different ways, for the average person on the street. Their reactions to non-geniuses, and other people's reaction to them, make up alot of the humor. Ardra found a suitable "paternal donor" and surrogate mother because, in Ardra's completely scientific view, "Childbirth is really sort of disgusting!" Ardra then conducted the appropriate genetic manipulations to create two super geniuses. These two would, hopefully, lead the world into a new Age of Reason, a new Renaissance.... And so, Lenore and Eileen were born. After the girls spent about a year with their surrogate (to handle all the "messy baby stuff"), Ardra became a full fledged "maternal care-giver". The grand experiment continues today, seven years later. But the question is: Can Ardra overcome maternal instincts to raise the girls in a completely logical, unbiased scientific manner? Stay tuned, as our favorite "Iron Chef" loving, cell-phone hating, Libertarian Woman of Science tries her hand at motherhood.

What's the deal with squid ink?

Ah, yes, squid ink. Comedy gold! It's actually an "Iron Chef" reference. One of the challengers once made squid ink ice cream, and Chen responded with squid ink in rice. I thought it was hilarious, and had Lenore order squid ink ice cream at an ice cream shop. (This was in one of the pre-internet sample comics I did, so nobody outside my household has seen it yet). After that, it sort of took on a life of its own...squid ink on popcorn, squid ink on General Tso's chicken, etc. Lenore uses it as her favorite condiment. She probably thinks every picnic and restaurant table needs a black squid ink bottle to go along with the red ketchup and yellow mustard ones.

Why doesn't Ardra carry a purse? Where does she keep all her stuff?

Hmm, good question. I imagine she carries a wallet, and just keeps it in the pocket of her lab coat. She probably pays cash for nearly everything, and just goes to the ATM when she needs more money. As for makeup, other than a little lipstick, she doesn't tend to wear any, so that's no problem. Anything else she needs, she probably just stuffs in the glove compartment in her car. So, she probably considers a purse illogical. Yes, she's a strange woman, but that's why we all love her, right?

Ardra's not very, um, womany, is she? I mean, she doesn't seem to focus on her appearance, doesn't shop much, and doesn't date. Is she "the L word"?

No, only if the "L" is for Libertarian. She's just got a strangely logical, scientific mind, and simply doesn't find all that "Cathy" stuff very appealing. No trying on shoes or swimsuits in this comic! Ardra likes men, but only if they have high IQs. They just get scared off by her mind and/or her strangeness. Or her kids, or as she calls them, her "experiments". Secretly, she's probably kicking herself for letting the high IQed Gordie get away. But she'll find her "prince" someday. Maybe not in this country, though....(nice and cryptic, huh?)

So what is with the artist changes?

I had originally drawn the comic myself, as one can see in the Ardchives. I had the word out for awhile that I needed a artist. My work had gotten to the point where it wasn't COMPLETELY wretched, but I simply don't have the time, and can't afford the equipment it takes to do the job well. So, one day out of the blue, Trevor Adams (who originally had done work for 'Least I could Do') sent me an e-mail, saying he really liked my comic, and wanted to work on it. His character designs totally blew me away, and I begged him to work for me. He really "gets" the concept and characters, and has a real ability to bring my ideas to life much better than I ever could. Trevor disappeared sometime in October of 2006. Since then Ardra has been relying on guest artists doing one-off strips once in a while. In December of 2006, word got well around that Ardra needed a new artist, if not on an interim basis for the very least. I meet Fesworks on The Webcomic List forums, and after a few e-mails and sketches, we were on board to re-launch the site and comic. Fesworks did his best to adapt Trevor's style for the sake of familiarity for the readers. UPDATE: Feb 2008 Fesworks burned out under a number of other projects. Trevor has come back as the artist. Fesworks still works on some things on the site and sometimes other aspects of Ardra.

Please further explain who draws Ardra.

Strips 1-32 were drawn by Jason Dunstan. (However, some have been redrawn by others) Strips 33-47, 53-56 were drawn by Trevor Adams. Strips 48-52 are guest artist strips. Strips 57-78 are being drawn by Fesworks. (79-83 have yet to be drawn) Strips 84+ are being drawn by Trevor There was a renumbering of the strips, taking in account missing strips from the "Experiment 1.0" site. Guest artist strips, in which Jason was the writer, have also been numbered as apart of the main strips since they are apart of the Ardra stories. This renumbering is reflected in some of Trevor's later strips in which he had numbered them. These may be edited in the future to reflect the "correct" number, but may just be preserved as they are. The guest artist strips really came after Trevor had left. For the sake of the Ardchives, they were moved to keep from breaking up the Game Show story arch. While Jason has drawn the earlier strips, They sometimes get redrawn by guests. A few have been redrawn by Fesworks and incorporated into later arcs.