Thanks. Years of build-up, YEARS, completely spoiled and ruined by you fans who decide to yell out what rosebud is 3/4 into Citizen Kane. I really appreciate not being able to enjoy seeing how the rest of this turns out. Thank you so much.
Oh, this ain’t over by a long shot. Monica’s Doubt could screw things up. Shelly’s demon could screw things up. Jin blinking when she sees her mom could screw things up.
Ever since the Demon Girls/Calendar Machine arc started, has anything — anything gone in a straight line? To recoginze and say “A-ha! That’s what the sardines were for!” is merely stating 20-20 hindsight. If that affects those who are unfamiliar with the years of plot twists and exposition, my condolences.
OTOH, if you’ve never seen Psycho and somebody blurted out “Anthony Perkins is his own mother!” well, that would be a real spoiler.
So what was revealed? Just the obvious so far. And like any good magician or storyteller, the obvious is NOT where it’s at!
Paul, I notice that you use a generic pattern fill quite a bit. Here’s a little FYI I figured out: In Photoshop, fill a large layer with your pattern, then create a selection that’s, say, the width of Doubt’s arm, and as long, at the scale you want. Next, select Filter | Distort | Spherize…. Set it to 100% and ‘Horizontal Only’, click ‘Okay’, and Voila! Your texture is now rounded and ready to apply. Drop it into a new layer, use Edit | Transform | Warp to fine-tune how it lays, and you will have people convinced that you drew them all by hand.
I appreciate sharing ideas about how to do things in photoshop and all things drawing. I’m no expert and I’m still learning all the time, I just tend to wonder when someone centers on something like that and the first thought is that I settled. Check out Henri Matisse’s “Red Room” to see what I’m talking about.
If my comment seemed as a brush off, I do appologize. I was catching up on a ton of messages and email and such while battling a bad headache. Mostly, I should have waited to do any responding until later. Sorry about that. =(
Eh. No worries, mate. I was a little rushed myself. Instead of just blurting it out, I should have found out first if the effect you were going for called for flat or rounded textures. (Not excusing myself, but I’ve come across quite a few graphics artists who didn’t know how to do that, and just settled for flat ones, as, in truth, it really doesn’t make that big a difference. Now that I, myself, know how to do it, I’ve been passing the info on, like I do with every other like situation I come across in my meanderings around the ‘net.)
Ok, just reexamined the first couple panels. And there’s no way in hell that blade will reach all the way to her heart. It’s too short by at least a couple of cup sizes.
Only difference between a less well endowed person and Monica would be switching from stabbing between the 6th & 7th rib to stabbing with an up angle between the 7th and 8 rib. And that blade is long enough for either. Especially if you have someone strong enough to break said ribs to get the knife in further.
Hmm… so not to think too far ahead or anything, but I wonder at the repercussions of having one’s inner demons forcibly removed. Since they were the metaphysical manifestations of parts of her psyche, right? And what about coffee-shop girl… Tina? I’m not so good with names…
Since Monica is merely a vessel/gateway that actually intent was never to kill her but provoke a demon in perticular to a specific location for a specific reason. who is to say that doubt really isn’t Jins mother. Not everyone seems to be who they really are. Who better to fix the machine than one who helped create it.
I thought it was that she died when her car hit the bus (M’s accident) and, by the time she was revived, her soul was gone, leaving only her demons to take over.
Ah ha! It wasn’t the stabbing — it was the credible threat of a stabbing!
And so Doubt is cast loose upon the machine! Perhaps forever….
Thanks. Years of build-up, YEARS, completely spoiled and ruined by you fans who decide to yell out what rosebud is 3/4 into Citizen Kane. I really appreciate not being able to enjoy seeing how the rest of this turns out. Thank you so much.
Huh? Anyone who’s read all those “years and years of build-up” ought know precisely who that is.
Oh, this ain’t over by a long shot. Monica’s Doubt could screw things up. Shelly’s demon could screw things up. Jin blinking when she sees her mom could screw things up.
And Spider Robinson pointed out the honking giant flaw in that film: that NO-one was in the room when “Rosebud” was said.
Oh, by the way – Rosebud was his sled.
NOOOOO!! Great, I just rented that to find out.
Ooops! Posted to the wrong comment. {sigh}
Do we ever find out who Luke Skywalker’s father is???
??
Ever since the Demon Girls/Calendar Machine arc started, has anything — anything gone in a straight line? To recoginze and say “A-ha! That’s what the sardines were for!” is merely stating 20-20 hindsight. If that affects those who are unfamiliar with the years of plot twists and exposition, my condolences.
OTOH, if you’ve never seen Psycho and somebody blurted out “Anthony Perkins is his own mother!” well, that would be a real spoiler.
So what was revealed? Just the obvious so far. And like any good magician or storyteller, the obvious is NOT where it’s at!
Nothing alive. Doubt (and that’s JIN’s Doubt, BTW), is far from “alive”.
Threat or not, Shelly was really going to stab Mon??
This is a climax all right! But things won’t end (presumably) and the repercussions are going be harsh!
“Anyone dead”, I should say.
The problem wasn’t the machine, but the demons who used it as a doorway.
(Which, of course, we knew all along…)
Oh, and there is only one person in this world that could take a punch like that and survive… and she just took it.
Well. aside from the GGs, Shelly’s the only one.
They’re all a bit tied up at the moment.
And now the comment of “community theater” makes sense, doesn’t it?
OR DID SHE?
Never thought I would be saying this, but, hooray for doubt! Maybe the demons have a better plan for fixing the calendar machine?
No, they ARE the plan.
See… they’re the reason it’s broke in the first place.
In that case there’s a recap at the end of this, because I have been totally confused about this whole thing since about a year ago.
Yes! Doubt had to believe that Monica (and hence herself) was in real danger… so now that she’s free, what next? Coolness unchained…
The only logical thing – the machine falls on Doubt.
Who then becomes the missing cog in the machine.
Problem solved! Let’s go hit the Cerberus Club for drinks, Brandi’s buying!
A paisley demon… Shades of 1964! 😀
The portal tattoo has to come into it somewhere, i suspect.
That demon would make a nice tablecloth.
Looking forward to the thrilling conclusion….
if any!
Stab Doubt! Always stab the demon first. If it doesn’t work the first time around, repeat. You kill enough demons, things get better.
I like the cut of your jib Unc! And by that I don’t mean you have a nice canvas design, just I like your thinking!
Now that’s how you start the comic in the new year
0_0
how strange, this is the first RSS update that I’ve gotten since September.
Am I gonna be the first one to beatch about the fact that this is gonna be a hellish long weekend?
I thought demons couldn’t hurt anyone
Oh, they can – but they have to pay when they do. Like Tina’s demons, IIRC.
Paul, I notice that you use a generic pattern fill quite a bit. Here’s a little FYI I figured out: In Photoshop, fill a large layer with your pattern, then create a selection that’s, say, the width of Doubt’s arm, and as long, at the scale you want. Next, select Filter | Distort | Spherize…. Set it to 100% and ‘Horizontal Only’, click ‘Okay’, and Voila! Your texture is now rounded and ready to apply. Drop it into a new layer, use Edit | Transform | Warp to fine-tune how it lays, and you will have people convinced that you drew them all by hand.
I want it to look the way it is on the demons.
Fair enough. I wasn’t sure what effect you were going for, and I used it for some of my own work, so I thought that I should share it.
I appreciate sharing ideas about how to do things in photoshop and all things drawing. I’m no expert and I’m still learning all the time, I just tend to wonder when someone centers on something like that and the first thought is that I settled. Check out Henri Matisse’s “Red Room” to see what I’m talking about.
If my comment seemed as a brush off, I do appologize. I was catching up on a ton of messages and email and such while battling a bad headache. Mostly, I should have waited to do any responding until later. Sorry about that. =(
Eh. No worries, mate. I was a little rushed myself. Instead of just blurting it out, I should have found out first if the effect you were going for called for flat or rounded textures. (Not excusing myself, but I’ve come across quite a few graphics artists who didn’t know how to do that, and just settled for flat ones, as, in truth, it really doesn’t make that big a difference. Now that I, myself, know how to do it, I’ve been passing the info on, like I do with every other like situation I come across in my meanderings around the ‘net.)
Is the texture flat because the demons are from another “plane” of existence? 😛
Nyuk nyuk nyuk! ^_^ XP
Might be true–as long as the plane is not curved itself…
In a word….”Oh crap!”
Sweet, kicked in the face by the ham fist of doubt! I was going to say that’s what was going to happen but din’t want to ruin it for anyone.
Yeah. Sure I was. Right.
Ok, just reexamined the first couple panels. And there’s no way in hell that blade will reach all the way to her heart. It’s too short by at least a couple of cup sizes.
Wasn’t that why she was supposed to stab in the back?
Only difference between a less well endowed person and Monica would be switching from stabbing between the 6th & 7th rib to stabbing with an up angle between the 7th and 8 rib. And that blade is long enough for either. Especially if you have someone strong enough to break said ribs to get the knife in further.
Dag nabbit good stuff you whpiperspnaeprs!
this is really beautiful!!
Hmm… so not to think too far ahead or anything, but I wonder at the repercussions of having one’s inner demons forcibly removed. Since they were the metaphysical manifestations of parts of her psyche, right? And what about coffee-shop girl… Tina? I’m not so good with names…
Actually, it might be to the good – since this is Jin’s Doubt.
Perhaps Jin will wind up sane.
Well, perhaps “sane” is a bit much to hope for.
Maybe, in fact, the finale of this will be that all of the GG’s become Real Girls…
Well, wasn’t a huge part of the plan to fix the calendar machine was so that Jin could be fixed?
Just don’t cross the streams, that’s all I’m asking.
Bud: “Looks like we need to cross the streams.”
Brandi: “Cross the streams…”
Shelly: “Uh, ‘scuse me!? You said crossing the streams was bad!”
That’s ghosts and ectoplasm, not demons and ichor or whatever their powery-currenty flowy stuff is.
Since Monica is merely a vessel/gateway that actually intent was never to kill her but provoke a demon in perticular to a specific location for a specific reason. who is to say that doubt really isn’t Jins mother. Not everyone seems to be who they really are. Who better to fix the machine than one who helped create it.
Just a thought: I think I have a guess as to what happened to Tina one of the last times around… She was in either M’s situation, or in Shelly’s.
I thought it was that she died when her car hit the bus (M’s accident) and, by the time she was revived, her soul was gone, leaving only her demons to take over.