Good news for people who care about planets: the IAU officially declared that there are only eight planets in the Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Some of you may feel that this invalidates strip #17. I don't think it does, and that brings me to an important point about webcomics. One that is brought up in a large percentage of the fan mail I get for this comic.

You see, for a humor-based comic such as Terror Island, the joke is the most important aspect of the strip. It's possible, often even necessary, to abandon all scientific accuracy for the sake of a slightly improved punchline. In our next strip, perhaps Stephen will be a dracula, or Sid's skin will change color for no reason. Does that sound crazy to you? Perhaps so. But if it allows us to make even one pun about blood, or about "feeling blue," then it's worth it. In fact, I would say it's the point of this journey we're on. Won't you join us on that journey?

Ben tries to confuse/appease nitpickers by saying that we abandon scientific accuracy. I however, take pride in ensuring the accuracy of what transpires in Terror Island. So, I painstakingly ensured that there was no potential problem with a Pluto/planet joke (science-wise) before we made it.

I know what you're thinking. "But Lewis, how can you claim you take such care to avoid errors? Your webcomic takes place hundreds of years in the past, long before the discovery of Pluto, doesn't it?" And the answer is, "No, why the hell would you think that?"

Also, those things Ben said might happen won't be happening. (1) Draculas don't exist in the TI-verse outside of fictional stories within the TI-verse, and (2) everyone in the strip is both literally and figuratively color blind, and so, neither racism nor skin-tone based puns exist in the continuity.