This was part of a storyline where Marten was thinking about what he'd actually like to do with his life, rather than just cruise along working at the library and doing whatever. I was honestly intending to have him go this route in the long term, but then I had the idea for the whole Cubetown thing and it all went out the window, lol. I think the idea of him trying to run a coffee shop is much funnier anyway!
One thing I have learned in my 22+ years of doing this comic is that if I have an idea that makes me stop short and think "wait...is this too ridiculous?" I should absolutely do that idea. Whether it's always successful is largely subjective, but I've never looked back and thought "ah yeah, shouldn't have done that one" in all this time.
