The original cast of "By the Tail" included the current cast members, plus a large group of human characters.  The comic would originally vary between adventures in the human cast and adventures in the animal cast.

  The human characters have been removed.   There's actually a very good reason for this.  In its original format, "By the Tail" was perhaps rated PG-13, with hints of sexual activity, but never showing anything (not even partial nudity).  One of the human characters was an eight-year old kid named Tommy.  Since the new format features sexual material, any underaged characters were instantly removed.  Since Tommy was a key character in the original format (and it was decided that the comic wouldn't be the same without him), I decided to just remove all the humans from the cast.  This makes it a bit easier for the current characters to do whatever they want to.

  Also, the comic has a new artist.  My original designs of the characters were far from stellar, and that's probably because I just plain suck at drawing toons.  My partner-in-crime, however, is very good at drawing toons (enough so that I often envy her abilities).  Using the pseudonym of "Desiree Lee", she has been drawing toon erotica since 1995, but would often complain that she had no flagship characters of her own.  I realized that she could handle a comic like "By the Tail" without any problems.  After much discussion, and some character redesigning, we are now proud to unveil the new "By the Tail".

  All of the original animal characters are back, albeit with new looks.  There's Ocher Pendragon, that desperate dragon who is forever trying to score with the ladies.  There's the object of his affections, Violet, who often has no idea Ocher even exists.  Also present are the ladies of Melody's, a high-class call-girl operation.  Melody Rosa the raccoon, vixen sisters Dixie and Trixie Grant, blond bunny bombshell Ivory Monroe, and Ebony Cole, the demure skunk babe that plays to the beat of a different drummer.  There's Sugar and Spice Ming, the owners of "The Cathouse", a toy, lingerie and sex shop that competes with Melody's.   Also on tap are Boomer and his wife Belle, a bruin couple from the Old South.   There's Trigger Malone, handy-horse extraordinaire, and Worthington the third, the town treasurer.  Spooky bat-girl Eko Zmevrabstimanetii (or Echo, for short)  is known to drop in every now and then, too.   Let's not forget Viper, the dashing and charismatic alligator who owns his own trendy night club.  And a whole bunch of new characters have just joined the roster as well.  Check out their profiles on the "Characters" page!

  Also, the focus of the story has changed somewhat.  Originally, the main characters were Tommy, his older brother Reed, and Ocher.  But since the human element has been removed from the series, the angle has changed.  There are about fifteen main characters now, but the focus is more on the girls of Melody's than on Ocher.  Des made the comment that it seems to make more sense, since "By the Tail" seems to have more meaning when it's attached to the females.

  I am both pleased and proud to finally release these characters into the world.  They were my very first anthro characters, and, in a way, helped guide me to where I am now.  I wasn't about to let them die in an old filing cabinet.  I am also very glad that Des has decided to take on this merry bandwagon of characters, and I hope she continues to have as much fun drawing the comics, as I do reading them.

  This is the comic's second incarnation, after a one-year hiatus.  A lot of changes have occurred to the site, including the addition of new art, new features, and new comics.

  So sit back, and enjoy the show.  I know I will.  Des's sense of humor is even more twisted than my own...

---James M. Hardiman, creator and original artist
---Desiree Lee, artist and writer of the new format