Yup! It’s called Lucid and is the first legal absinthe made in the US in 95 years. Couldn’t tell you how good it is, ’cause ever since I heard it was made from the herb that makes licorice I swore I’d never drink it.
That would make something transparent come out of you… Generally, not from those parts, however.
BTW: Switching Pabst with anything else is a crime against humanity, requiring the mandatory flogging, hanging, and then keel-hauling. Come to think of it, just having it is worthy of a couple of lashes.
No, the bottle holds “Chateau Cheval Blanc”, which is one of the very few greatest Bordeaux red wine you could have…
And I still wonder why a full time wreck of a demon like Tina can have some in her cellar, while I don’t even dare count the numbers on its price label …
Be that as it may, she’s a good business demon and coffee maker. And she can read her customers like a book. I guess business must be good. Not to mention she rarely buys anything for herself, not even furniure. Imagine how much extra money you would have if you never bought furniture or many of the niceties of life. Probably enough for a few fine wines.
The bus called Tina stops for the night to let the passengers off. What do they do all night anyway? Maybe they practice for parts in “A Christmas Carol.”
Ah, yes. “A Christmas Carol”. But the part they’d be best at is the one they never cast: The ghosts of other Departed Usurers like Marley.
Growing up, it always seemed to me that Scrooge really only had Marley’s word (at first) that he would face the exact same punishment. Why not eternal starvation or isolation, also fir punishments for a miser? That’s because Dickens didn’t write Marley as being so alone: just outside Scrooge’s window there’s a small army of dead misers:
The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free. Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a doorstep. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.
All too late, and a much more class-wide indictment than you ever see on the screen.
I feel as if i’ve seen that scene dramatised somewhere – possibly in animated form.
I don’t think it was in the version with George C Scott – my favourite version ever. But that version did have the starveling feral children, Want and Ignorance, under Christmas Present’s robe, and did do some fairly elaborate stuff with the homeless, as i recall…
Richard Williams did an award-winning version of A Christmas Carol in…. (by the power of Google!!!)…..1971. I haven’t seen all of it but that may be the one you’re thinking of. It’s very good. He is a master after all
Ah yes, Jim Carrey: Must be why I missed that one as well. The man is a walking uncanny valley. I remember an interview with him on Alan Havey’s Night After Night, taped before he had struck it really big, where he cheerfully recounted disturbing an elderly Jimmy Stewart with a handshake, a superfannish smile, and the eyes of the possessed.
Then he imitated Stewart’s voice as he recounted the man looking at him askance from across the room, saying, “Thou shalt not bow down before false gods.”
Carrey, therefore, by his own clueless admission, is best avoided at all times. But I suppose I shall have to see what spin they put on the miser class. Free-per-view, I choose you.
This picture is art for its own sake, and hang the plot. Masterful and evocative. Really superb scene. Poor Tina; her demons aren’t happy when they’re apart, are they?
I’d say Bitterness. She knows about bean overextraction. Pride and Vanity are wonderful interior decorators.
Reminds me of a story of how King Solomon built his temple — seems he used/recruited evil spirits and demons for a lot of work. The demons that snared and hung with ropes of greed wove the tapestries; demons that crushed with rocks (despair?) hauled and dressed stones … allegorical stuff like that.
I agree. It is incredibly expressive as a stand alone work, let alone as a part in this web-comic; looking from it to the number of comments certainly confirmed others thought highly of it too.
I think the cat, being an animal, probably always sees/senses her like that. The demons are such an integral part of Tina, i doubt it’s all that big a deal to the cat.
By the by. @Julie..Thnx for explaining to me the significance of the “poit” in Your avatar in the dreamlandchronicles’ comment-page. Without it, I would never have found this cerebral, evocative treasure-trove of scarieness and brainfood. :thumbs:
Still..would never EVER eat gassy food again if THAT is the result….
Aaand about “bodily functions”? Paul doesn’t exactly shy away from them too (Jin “Poiting Monica’s Poo and pee to speed-up Monica’s morning-ritual? Orrr..the morning-after result of poiting a whole turkey into Monica?)
A couple of them anyway. Perhaps the ones coming from the posterior area are the low demons on the totem pole. The one coming from the head may be the demon doing the steering these days. After all Nudge was knocked out of her head as well.
eh, i just said that because i thought it was funny…
but i kinda hoping someone would take the joke and run with it……..*egh hurm* for example:
Oh so is that what crawled up her ass and died………….
yea, i didn’t say they would be good.
To be honest, never had a gal below 5ft.11″…Netherlands You know? Overheard a Canadian veteran, visiting for our WWII liberation-celebration on May 5Th., muttering: “Damn, those dutch girls would make great basketballplayers.
He happened to be waiting for the bus amidst a bunch of students.. The kids nowadays make me feel short @ 6ft. 3″
Seven, I think – three on each side of the frame, and one above her head. With six, you might get a tie vote, and Tina freezing up at inappropriate moments.
I guess she doesn’t actually have any physical eyes. Did she gouge them out? What people see as eyes must be manifestations of something demonic. She really should tie a bag over head before she shuts down to keep anything from crawling into her eyes or mouth. Yeah they get fried, but still, better to not have them in there in the first place. I mean, what if something gets in there that starts nibbling on her brain (I assume there’s still one in there), or worse yet, lays eggs in it?
well there is nothing much inside the head that is useful.. could here eyes have already been ‘donated’ to some lucky living person??
only thing needed, are the muscles of the face, the demons do all the rest I guess..
Um… wow. I wasn’t expecting something this macabre. It’s an amazing way to end the week and have the readers desperately wish for Monday to roll around, which might be the cruelest thing Paul does to us. Who wants to speed through a weekend normally?
I dunno. I can empathize with this feeling. After a bad week at work, sitting down and relaxing with a glass of vino, letting all the demons of my weeks’ memories and emotions ooze out. It’s like taking a deep breath, exhaling and relaxing. Stress is one bitchin’ demon all by herself.
the bottom left demon comes from a place that often evokes likewise facial expressions from people around me when I let something from there loose. Often it involves an evening of taco’s and too much fried onion-rings before I am able to summon such a demon..
On a serious note: I feel really sad for Tina. The bareness of her surroundings illustrate an incredible loneliness, despite the cornucopia of demons inhabiting her.
I have the vague inkling that there is more to Tina than just the sum of her demons. Much as Shelly already pointed-out to Tina.
Yes..It’s a creepy, but utterly sad&lonely pic.
Fantastic ART-work.
…what’s the low-rent version of ‘faux human life’? Zombi? Seems like a rather dismissive term for something (someone, perhaps?) that’s demonstrated a pretty broad and consistent emotional range.
Her body may be human (and that’s debatable at this point), but “she” is not at all human. She’s just playing at being human. Mimicking the actions of other people and relying on some distant memories of when the demons cohabitated with Tina’s soul. She is Pinocchio right now and the Blue fairy (Nudge) has only made the puppet animate. Not yet a real girl. Tina is still demons at her core. Paraphrase the raven, nothing more.
Oh geeze… the lights are on but nobody’s home. This is an interesting follow-up to the little sequence where Tina’s standing in her empty apartment, waiting for the sun to rise. Those demons that inhabit her are downright creepy, but I have to remember that functioning as a collective, they create a very human whole. I would love to see Tina come out of this grand adventure as a stable, unified soul – but that’s just me.
True. The “Collective” is the character “Tina”. All of Paul’s demons have written “allegory” (I believe that’s the word..drawing a blank on other words for what I mean) allover.
With us, humans, they are, usually, fairly integrated in one person/human. In Tina they still are very seperate entities. Especially now Nudge, the self-appointed leader of the troupe, is no longer there.
I also feel that this manifestation of Tina’s seperate demons illustrates something else entirely.
Did anyone notice that ALL demons here have an expression of desperation, maybe even fear???
I firmly belkieve the demons are realizing what happened when they lost control. It seems like the do NOT like, or even WANT that.
Remember that Tina once stated that she likes doing good? That evil things bored the demons?
If they want to be/do good, a propensity for outburst like with Nudge throw a serious wrench in the system. I think the demon-collective is realizing how remorse actually feels.
The question is: what is good for bad? Also what is “bad” other than a different perception of things than “good”. “Bad” laugh at bad things, but unhappy about good. So if Tina’s body is having a good time from the wine .. then perhaps that make the spirits/demons “unhappy”? It does make sense ;D
Dunno. I am referring to some time ago where Tina elaborated on her choice to make people happy by “blowing sunshine up their ass” and the consecutive discussion with the Wapsi-Crew about how that “bad” thing actually led to a good thing: people being happy when leaving the shop.
(I’ll see if I can find the specific page I meant)
Apparently that talk took some of Tina’s anxt away. She’s still deadly afraid of harming a human, though..(Sphinxes threatening to eat You tend to do that)
That’s a good point. I/we may be reading way too much into all this, but this may be the first time the demons have ever felt remorse. A crucial step to having a conscience and being (not just acting) more human. I mean an actual, individual conscience forming in each demon. Not just some strange combining of demons and forming some sort of conscience-like entity as in Shelly.
I do not think we see too much in it. Up to this day, this story has been layer upon layer upon layer of plot-driven characterization. Me thinks Mr Paul plans Looooong ahead for the story. The intertwining of plot and character development sometimes boggles my mind, but it remains utterly logic…
The recurrence of “empty shell Tina” is no coincidence. Even her emptiness at night is a metaphor for our human existence in its most despoerate times.
I remember feeling just as empty, yet still haunted by “demons” of fear, sadness, lonelyness after the cremation of my parents. A time of immense daily activity and mental exhaustion that kept me busy, but at night? There they came out..lonelyness, loss, fear, anger (yes that too) You know? Stuff like that. I think that most people can relate to Tina’s nightly torment.
So, Your assertion that Tina is so happy during the day because she can keep busy, live, and be amongst human company, seems quite apt to me.
It is one of the most consistent web-comics around (at least amongst the meagre 10 /15 I read)
DagNabbit!! Hit “post comment” too soon. Last sentence looks disjointed.
What I meant was that there is a deeper system at work if Paul chooses a splash-page like this. He is bloody consistent in his character development, so there’s a point to Tina’s demons looking so remorseful (I finally decided it was, indeed, remorse that I see)
Tina is apparently taking her first, painful, baby-steps towards becoming human.
OK, I’m creeped out. Stunned by the astonishing art, , too, but definitely creeped.
I wonder how many demons are in the Collective. I count at least six, with maybe a seventh in that odd pattern upper right. But there might be many more…
I also wonder what the one with stag horns is supposed to be. If anything specific.
Hmm. The longer I look at it, the less creepy it becomes, and the sadness and desperation emanating from it takes over for me.
To me, this is not just a bridge-page, but a representation of what Tina is going through after her discussion with -a remarkable lucid- Shelly, and the Nudge-induced, coffee-shop brawl, while slowly, but surely gaining some footing in being human, with all doubts, fear and sadness that comes with it.
In a way. Bud’s llittle lamp was moving, these outpouring demons are more unsettling than moving, despite the sad, lonely undertone of this frame.
While Tina looks even more alone here, Bud felt suddenly “at home” when that little IKEA lamp was set up.
Tina doesn’t look “at home” at all (question remains: what will be her home? I personally believe it lies with the Wapsi-crew, despite her unpredictable wild demon-nature, she may feel more at home as time progresses.)
Very nicely said, Jay-Em. I’m hoping Tina’s demons cohere as one personality, but then, I’m not doing the writing, and the fact that I’m doing any hoping at all for a fictional character just shows how good this strip is
I don’t think Tina will feel at home with anyone or anywhere until there is some sort of sea-change within her. Why is she even running the shop? It doesn’t seem to be for the money. She buys nothing. Seems to want nothing. She could just as well be working for someone else simply to pay the rent. I don’t think even she truly knows why she does it. She wants to be more human, but why? She has no human luxuries or desires even. Perhaps it’s because she/they is/are stuck for now and becoming more human seems like all she can hope for. It seems like she is just marking time.
@SoWhyMe: Originally, I’m pretty sure the shop was opened because someone (Nudge? Phix? Jin? Someone else?) decided that it was the optimal spot to later influence events. As for why Tina’s still running it, why not? She’s already indicated that it’s where she stands out the least, so almost like a home for her. Where else would she go, and why? It’s kinda like Tina’s running the main meeting spot, and she gets to stay in the loop… why would she go?
I like the way you said that–and would add that so often this sort of self-reflection comes after hurting someone the person cares about–or realizing that they are acting like someone they don’t like being.
DAMN–somebody’s got some serious money to spend, here . . . Cheval Blanc goes for somewhere north of $400 per bottle (yes, I typed that right; more than $5,000 the case).
Well, Tina does have her own business, no boyfriend, and what appears to be rather spartan (okay, EXTREMELY spartan) tastes in decorating. I’m guessing she’s got plenty of disposable income. On the other hand, she does seem to have about 10 customers, tops… either that, or you enter a dimensional portal when you walk through the door, so that the shop is always empty and you get your own personal Tina to wait upon you
No, she’s plenty busy. But you don’t go and discuss Atlantis, the Chimera, demons, psychotic demi-gods, and have beatdowns when there is a line of twenty…
I’ve always made the assumption that we see as many demons as Paul wants (or needs) to draw. There dosn’t seem to be a reason to have an upper or lower limit to the number of demons in the collective… making it the veritable Swiss army knife of plot devices.
well *tina* does not sleep, but the demons seem to… ???
Or, the demons like to ‘emulate’ what happens when you wake up from a deep sleep, because they like to remember, or want to be human …. the ‘morningdialogue’ shows that.. the next few strips are informative too..
Well, physically, she is still human, so her body does need rest, to repair muscle, fight disease and such. Or it could be that she has nothing else to do, so she shuts down to wait for morning (the thing with the spider), kinda like taking a nap because you are bored.
You may be correct about the bodily rejuvenation, but I’m not so sure about the boredom part. After all, the demons ARE Tina and they’re awake regardless, in the body or not. Pehaps it’s getting a bit of alone time for each of them. Who knows.
I guess I’m in the minority of people who are not at all creeped out by this. We knew her as a demon collective, and those demons just had a very challenging day…also, they no longer have Nudge the trickster to temper and lead them.
I think this is truly awesome, and she deserves a really expensive couple glasses of wine after today…they have a lot to think about…
A little drop of wine today,
let the inmates out to play
Have another glass of cheer,
then turn around, face what you fear
Mirror, mirror, the void’s a glass
At least one smile before you pass
Shelly should see this (perhaps others as well) so as to finally dispell all notions that Tina is human just because she looks and acts like one.
Of course, this is also a metaphor for the vast majority of humans. Showing one face to the world all day, then letting their real self out for a while when alone at night.
By the by, the way the demons ‘ faces contort, makes me think of Paul Gustave Doré’s etchings for Dante’s Inferno. I cannot exactly recall which bolgia, though.
but there are 9 demons there…
I would say the 7 deadly sins would be a more logical reason as to why she has 7 demons…but then i don’t think Doubt is a sin, much less a deadly one…
Ah, I see. I was going by the comic in which Doubt apprised Monica of her new found nose flicking permissions. But only her upper portion appeared outside Monica so I take it that shows them as still being linked to their host. Likewise still tied to Tina. No more of this willy-nilly galavanting totally outside their host.
Look at it this way: Your mindscape is an endlessly big world. Your demons have free roam there. Yet, You are Your demons, thusly it is inevitable that You and Your demons meet…..and noseflick.. Yet..it’s all still unbreakable connected to You, the individual. No “You” about, no mindscape.
It also means that Monica has integrated her demons into who she is, and no longer sees/feels them as the seperate, and threatening entities that had such a devastationg effect on her psyche that in the process, it threatened Jin’s/Tochtli’s machinations to prevent armageddon. Monica has accepted them as a part of her decision-making, but realizes when they hold her back. That’s pretty important here. She has them “on a leash”| so to speak.
The fact that dear Tina can actual see the entourage of demons around Monica doesn’t mean that they go about freely. Where she goes, they go. As simple as that.
For Tina it’s even more strict: No demons about, no Tina, just a shell. Individual “Tina” exists by the grace of the demons inside her, the demon-collective on their turn exists by the grace of their co-operation to keep the host-body on the move. That’s part of the reason why the disruptive kibbitzing of Nudge made Tina/the collective so angry.
Nudge constantly disturbed the balance. In a way, Nudge represented a piece of humanity that Tina was not yet ready to embrace.
I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree with some points. The demon realm is a physical place and not just a concept existing in the mind. May was, after all, banished to it and existed there for tens of thousands of years until rescued by Bud. Demons are physical as well, even though they seem wispy here. The rogue “queen” demon socked Shelly pretty hard on her way out during the temple adventure. The nose flicking thing indicates they can come part way out and manifest themselves enough to physically affect their host.
Now, how it is they can still come part way out to nose flick Monica with her “door” locked, I don’t know. Seems like a gray area not fully explained.
Except for being able to see and talk with them, Monica’s demons are like anyone elses. She simply has them under control and is aware of them. I don’t think there is any additional integration with herself. She even has a pretty good repore with her Doubt. As you say, has accepted them as needed for good decision making.
Hmm. I can see Your point, it is valid too.
Have You ever read about the research Freud did in mental repression and suggestion?
I remember a case where a woman really felt a slap in the face when she had “lustful thoughts”. She really flinched as if hit. Same goes for those fancy-fair-hypnotists that make people taste lemon if they drink beer, make’em sick&dizzy on the spot, make’em feel a kick in the behind if the hypnotist uses some key-phrase etc. etc.
The mind is apparently powerful enough to get physical manifestations of mental projections that actually hurt the subject him/herself .
On the other hand, we could also consider other dimensions. The latest (theoretical, mind you) physics-research does explicitly NOT exclude extra dimensions. It even blatantly predicts them. I cannot remember the name, but some egghead (Edward Witten?) in theoretical physics solved the dimensional riddle of branes and strings by adding an 11th dimension. Dimensions appear to be reality, at least in the world of (quantum)physics, and the world of Wapsi-Square.
Now, this is all purely theoretical, and consists of monstrously complex formula’s and such. But , again, actual physical dimensions are explicitly NOT off the books. That opens a whole new can of worms concerning Paul’s construction of the Wapsi-verse.
Or, rather, a whole new realm of possibilities, (although, admittedly, I loathe the ease by which certain writers, mis-use “dimensions” as a deus ex machina, or an easy, lazy way to push the story forward. Wapsi-Square is -thank goodness- much more complex)
Let’s, for the sake of the argument, accept that our “mindsphere” is an actual physical, dimension. And, to go even further, accept that the combined minds of all humans makes another dimension. (The Library is a dead-giveaway that we are talking dimensions here)
Suddenly it is entirely possible that demons hop from that communal dimension, to the personal mindscape-dimension and vice-versa (As their banishment by “the powers that be” proved after the demons mis-used their “portal” in this world, or rather The Wapsi-verse…) Or hop from Monica’s mindscape to someone else. They can no longer, but I, indeed, remember they pulled that nasty trick before, as You already stated, with Shelly
Considering all of the above, we are both right I think.
Aaaand in the end: Paul’s ALWAYS right, it’s HIS universe after all. We can wax theoretical (and quantum-)physics till we see blue, but even Monica had to accept that there, maybe, is no scientifically sound explanation.
Though she didn’t give up that easy..she, flexible as she is, just stated that the books about it weren’t written yet. That’s also a way of looking at it.
Phew! Thanks a bundle Paul..You made me think and recall college here… Juuuust as I was enjoying my complacent, non-scientific life again…grrr
I think we would need to completely forget theoretical physics, and go entirely by observations in trying to describe the goings on in the various Wapsi domains of existence. Base theories as to the why and how on what the comic shows only. Just assume nothing we know (or think we know) has any bearing on things like the demon plane/dimension/world/whatever. Like you say, however, the mind can make you think you were nose flicked, since all sensation actually resides there, regardless of the actual point of injury. But, again from observation of the situation, it appears Doubt did actually partly manifest herself and did, indeed, physically flick the nose. The question is could anyone else see this taking place (other than Tina maybe)?
There are only two things I could say about the demon realm based on observation and dialog among the characters:
1) It exists outside of our flow of time.
2) Each demon is a physical being occupying their own space within the group (not some writhing mass of bodies, joined in some supernatural ways).
There are several more things to say about demons themselves, but I’ll forego that here. Though it would be interesting to come up with a list of all known facts about demons to this point.
It’s quite simple, you guys. They can only interact with Monica, sure they can present themselves in front of her and behind her, but they can only interact with her. Period. Tina can’t see them anymore and they can’t affect anyone else other than their host now. Tina is the only exception for this. Shelly’s conscience is permanently cut off from the demon world and will die when Shelly dies.
Ohkay *shrugs* It’s at least much shorter and an explanation than my endless blabbering.
Yeah..my “pondering demon” tends to take ove every now&then. *pulls back demon with large forehead into body*
I could use some “tame the demon”-lessons from Monica….
Ok, I get that. I just want to know one thing. When Doubt flicked Monica’s nose, was it real? That is to say, did she manifest in physical form (to Monica anyway) and literally flick her nose, or was that all going on in Monica’s mind and it only seemed like she physically got it flicked?
ALLLLLLLLL righty then! Well don’t that upset my little apple cart. If it’s all in her head, then anything is possible and speculation becomes moot. Ah well, shuffling off to watch “Moon.”
My question is (and I know I’m late to the party asking this), do they have individual names? For example, I’m thinking that’s Shame in the upper left, and perhaps Fear in the lower left.
I see fear, despair, pain, confusion, lonliness and regret. This comic is pretty important. Tina needs help to protect herself as much as Jin needs help protect everyone from her “self.”
Havin’ some spirits, I see.
We appreciate your pun.
We do?
We do.
We do, and as a reward, we will rip You apart limb by limb…slowly.
Signed: The Demon collective a.k.a. Tina.
That pun didn’t stand a ghost of a chance.
you win the internet
…or something
The Internet can only be awarded by its creator, Al Gore.
I bet if we got some monsters to duel it could hold up….
… In America.
No, no, dueling monsters is Japan’s thing.
I was going to go with “soul-searching” but I like yours better. Much better.
She’d do better with some good spirits…
Thank you. Thank you. I do weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs.
I bet it’s a demon of a hangover later, though.
Pun-o-meter says: 0.0001 groans.
Really – you could have gone with “That’ll be one hell of a hangover” there.
Nah… Tina is just venting some bad vibes, is all
This could lead to some spirited discussion.
She’s going out of her mind! So is she! Her too! Wait…we’re all mad here!
Except for the ones coming out of her bum…I got nothing. Total brain fart. <.<
O_O. . .
Well… That’s pleasant.
Was the title supposed to be “At the end of the day?”
Whatever it is, it doesn’t look good. The demons don’t appear to be at all happy.
Worse than that, they look tortured.
…Chateau Cheval Blanc should not produce this kind of effects…
I
….but absinthe would
I thought Absinthe made the heart grow fonder?
*groan*
grrrrrrrrrrr!
Heheh.
Can you get that stuff in the US?
You can get anything here. Fortunately/unfortunately.
The active ingredient in Absyinth is illegal in the States. So while you can get it here, it’s not the same as the “good stuff” you’d get overseas.
Yup! It’s called Lucid and is the first legal absinthe made in the US in 95 years. Couldn’t tell you how good it is, ’cause ever since I heard it was made from the herb that makes licorice I swore I’d never drink it.
I have tried it, and was very dissappointed that it tasted like black licorice. Eew.
Perhaps someone snuck Pabst into the bottle
That’d do it!
HEY now.
That would make something transparent come out of you… Generally, not from those parts, however.
BTW: Switching Pabst with anything else is a crime against humanity, requiring the mandatory flogging, hanging, and then keel-hauling. Come to think of it, just having it is worthy of a couple of lashes.
Woulkdn’t know..don’t drink. Aaand .. if that (the demon-bit) is the result of drinking, I am not about to start now…
No siree..
Maybe this is the effects of Demon Rum…
Otherwise known as Ron Rico.
No, the bottle holds “Chateau Cheval Blanc”, which is one of the very few greatest Bordeaux red wine you could have…
And I still wonder why a full time wreck of a demon like Tina can have some in her cellar, while I don’t even dare count the numbers on its price label …
Be that as it may, she’s a good business demon and coffee maker. And she can read her customers like a book. I guess business must be good. Not to mention she rarely buys anything for herself, not even furniure. Imagine how much extra money you would have if you never bought furniture or many of the niceties of life. Probably enough for a few fine wines.
I can read the label. Ron Rico is the devil, just sayin’.
Ah…. It’s not that Tina lets her hair down — she lets her demons out! Or rather, the demons get out to stretch their legs, so to speak.
The bus called Tina stops for the night to let the passengers off. What do they do all night anyway? Maybe they practice for parts in “A Christmas Carol.”
Either that, or they are the sole reason things go “bump” in the night.
Ah, yes. “A Christmas Carol”. But the part they’d be best at is the one they never cast: The ghosts of other Departed Usurers like Marley.
Growing up, it always seemed to me that Scrooge really only had Marley’s word (at first) that he would face the exact same punishment. Why not eternal starvation or isolation, also fir punishments for a miser? That’s because Dickens didn’t write Marley as being so alone: just outside Scrooge’s window there’s a small army of dead misers:
All too late, and a much more class-wide indictment than you ever see on the screen.
Paul’s work here is very reminiscent of John Leech’s original illustration of this scene.
(applauds insights)
Also, NICE link…
I feel as if i’ve seen that scene dramatised somewhere – possibly in animated form.
I don’t think it was in the version with George C Scott – my favourite version ever. But that version did have the starveling feral children, Want and Ignorance, under Christmas Present’s robe, and did do some fairly elaborate stuff with the homeless, as i recall…
The new one with jim carey(spellcheck?) is CGI and has the horde of damned misers and feral children under present’s robes.
And it has Jim Carey and that lousy mocap “animation” that puts it square in the deepest, creepiest part of the “uncanny valley“.
So i wouldn’t watch it for any reason.
Richard Williams did an award-winning version of A Christmas Carol in…. (by the power of Google!!!)…..1971. I haven’t seen all of it but that may be the one you’re thinking of. It’s very good. He is a master after all
Ah yes, Jim Carrey: Must be why I missed that one as well. The man is a walking uncanny valley. I remember an interview with him on Alan Havey’s Night After Night, taped before he had struck it really big, where he cheerfully recounted disturbing an elderly Jimmy Stewart with a handshake, a superfannish smile, and the eyes of the possessed.
Then he imitated Stewart’s voice as he recounted the man looking at him askance from across the room, saying, “Thou shalt not bow down before false gods.”
Carrey, therefore, by his own clueless admission, is best avoided at all times. But I suppose I shall have to see what spin they put on the miser class. Free-per-view, I choose you.
What I like most about today’s comic is that it’s not at all disturbing.
I still think Tina and the spider was waaaay creepier.
Creepier? Yes. Waaaaaay creepier? No.
This is pretty darn creepy.
Nope, not a bit. It’s simply coincidence I’ll be sleeping with the light on tonight.
Plus I keep grandad’s 12 gauge close at hand..Not that I am at all disturbed or even scared sh..less by this image…
Yikes… Just what I wanted to see before going to bed… *shudder*
Luckily, on this side of the pond, it’s already morning…. Still..my afternoon-nap got a totally new dimension to it after seeing this.
This picture is art for its own sake, and hang the plot. Masterful and evocative. Really superb scene. Poor Tina; her demons aren’t happy when they’re apart, are they?
Remember each demon is a particular aspect of a personality, like guilt, pride, and doubt.
So which ones do you think these 4 represent?
I’m counting 6, and second from top on the left strikes me as despair.
…or shame, with bottom left despair?
Which one represents her perky personality and which one knows how to make coffee?
I’d say Bitterness. She knows about bean overextraction. Pride and Vanity are wonderful interior decorators.
Reminds me of a story of how King Solomon built his temple — seems he used/recruited evil spirits and demons for a lot of work. The demons that snared and hung with ropes of greed wove the tapestries; demons that crushed with rocks (despair?) hauled and dressed stones … allegorical stuff like that.
I agree. It is incredibly expressive as a stand alone work, let alone as a part in this web-comic; looking from it to the number of comments certainly confirmed others thought highly of it too.
Eeeeeeeeeeeee…….
And what, may I ask, does the cat think of this?
I think the cat, being an animal, probably always sees/senses her like that. The demons are such an integral part of Tina, i doubt it’s all that big a deal to the cat.
But Fatuncle, don’t you know that cat’s don’t care?
My god, I can’t believe I put an apostrophe in cats.
Cats knoe when you’re hurting.
They don’t care, but they know. http://tinyurl.com/2g39qv3
I think the cat’s hiding under the bed. Like I would be…
^^ That..allthewhile mumbling :”Imnot here Imnot here Imnot here”
Or “Find a happy place. Find a happy place. Find a happy place!”
^ Would do too….
By the by. @Julie..Thnx for explaining to me the significance of the “poit” in Your avatar in the dreamlandchronicles’ comment-page. Without it, I would never have found this cerebral, evocative treasure-trove of scarieness and brainfood. :thumbs:
First there was Pie…. Now Spooky Wine Tasting???
Maybe that’s it. The wine was really, really bad and that’s the demon’s reactions.
It would, at least, explain he lower left demon’s origin……..
…Dr. Seuss?
You know if I wasn’t all ready in love with Tina before….
This is so much like my dreams that is scary!
@Paul
You sure know how to draw a way into my heart <3
You dream of women that have demons hovering about at night, while they sit with emptied eye-sockets???? :eep:
Tina’s a sweety, but that hollow eye-thing and those swirly demons would surely put a damper on my libido….
YES!
Yes I do!
lol is she farting them out? cause thats what it looks like….XD
Only to someone preoccupied with bodily functions.
As I am..seeing that too..
Still..would never EVER eat gassy food again if THAT is the result….
Aaand about “bodily functions”? Paul doesn’t exactly shy away from them too (Jin “Poiting Monica’s Poo and pee to speed-up Monica’s morning-ritual? Orrr..the morning-after result of poiting a whole turkey into Monica?)
A couple of them anyway. Perhaps the ones coming from the posterior area are the low demons on the totem pole. The one coming from the head may be the demon doing the steering these days. After all Nudge was knocked out of her head as well.
eh, i just said that because i thought it was funny…
but i kinda hoping someone would take the joke and run with it……..*egh hurm* for example:
Oh so is that what crawled up her ass and died………….
yea, i didn’t say they would be good.
The “up crawling” isn’t the problem here. It’s the “being dead and crawling out of her hiney” that’s unsettling..
Yeah, I like to relax like that at the end of the day, too.
Sitting on the floor, letting your demons ooze out of your body?
You’re trying to tell me that’s not a regular way to relax?
Ay.. Might explain why my relations are always so damn short.
No, that’s genetics.
Most of my relations are tall…
To be honest, never had a gal below 5ft.11″…Netherlands You know? Overheard a Canadian veteran, visiting for our WWII liberation-celebration on May 5Th., muttering: “Damn, those dutch girls would make great basketballplayers.
He happened to be waiting for the bus amidst a bunch of students.. The kids nowadays make me feel short @ 6ft. 3″
Hmm, must be Group Encounter night. I count six ghosts in the shell (I know, demons, but hey).
Seven, I think – three on each side of the frame, and one above her head. With six, you might get a tie vote, and Tina freezing up at inappropriate moments.
But, she DOES freeze-up
which leads to this
Ah, but Nudge was in residence then, and that made a quorum of eight — total silence while everyone counted votes for and against anchovies ….
Er, sorry, uncle, but I still only count six. I hope that doesn’t mean I have one hiding under my couch now….
The smear all the way up on the right has a face, if you look hard enough … though I might be doing a Rorschach there.
What really intrigues me is the rose on the forehead of the middle head on the right, bracketed by a half-dozen little flowers. That’s just strange.
To me, it’s evocative of ‘Dia de las Muertas’ imagery…
The demon with the blaack flowers? That’s the demon of ‘Unable to grow houseplants, a garden, or even keep plastic plants green’. I got mine.
All fear the Houseplant Reaper. Well, all possessing chloroplasts anyway.
I recant an earlier comment, because this would be an awesome poster.
I guess she doesn’t actually have any physical eyes. Did she gouge them out? What people see as eyes must be manifestations of something demonic. She really should tie a bag over head before she shuts down to keep anything from crawling into her eyes or mouth. Yeah they get fried, but still, better to not have them in there in the first place. I mean, what if something gets in there that starts nibbling on her brain (I assume there’s still one in there), or worse yet, lays eggs in it?
If I remember one of the older strips correctly, Tina’s eyes appear silver to the characters in the strip, spirals to us.
Founf it! it is; Perhaps Tina’s eyes appear different to every observer?
Found it! http://wapsisquare.com/comic/silvereyes/
The description of her eyes that always stuck with me…
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/knotholes/
well there is nothing much inside the head that is useful.. could here eyes have already been ‘donated’ to some lucky living person??
only thing needed, are the muscles of the face, the demons do all the rest I guess..
Um… wow. I wasn’t expecting something this macabre. It’s an amazing way to end the week and have the readers desperately wish for Monday to roll around, which might be the cruelest thing Paul does to us. Who wants to speed through a weekend normally?
I don’t think this is going anywhere. I believe it’s just a one shot thing to be enjoyed on it’s own merits, like the spider cook-off.
Looks like we’re done with the coffee shop brawl too, so next Monday should start a new vignette. I hope Nudge is still around, but probably won’t be.
Last one out – turn off the lights, please.
Best. Prom. Date. Ever.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGHHHHHHhhhhhhh…!
I think my brain just melted… ;P
I dunno. I can empathize with this feeling. After a bad week at work, sitting down and relaxing with a glass of vino, letting all the demons of my weeks’ memories and emotions ooze out. It’s like taking a deep breath, exhaling and relaxing. Stress is one bitchin’ demon all by herself.
Amazing art!!!
In Vino Veritas.
Konfiscēt Demon!
Oops, were we doing Latin or Latvian? I always confuse the two…
For some reason the one with the flower on it’s forehead makes me think of Rageguy and Uboa having a kid: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rage-guy-fffuuuu + http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/uboa
On a serious note: I feel really sad for Tina. The bareness of her surroundings illustrate an incredible loneliness, despite the cornucopia of demons inhabiting her.
I have the vague inkling that there is more to Tina than just the sum of her demons. Much as Shelly already pointed-out to Tina.
Yes..It’s a creepy, but utterly sad&lonely pic.
Fantastic ART-work.
This is why she is so happy when morning comes. She gets to live her faux human life for another day.
…what’s the low-rent version of ‘faux human life’? Zombi? Seems like a rather dismissive term for something (someone, perhaps?) that’s demonstrated a pretty broad and consistent emotional range.
Her body may be human (and that’s debatable at this point), but “she” is not at all human. She’s just playing at being human. Mimicking the actions of other people and relying on some distant memories of when the demons cohabitated with Tina’s soul. She is Pinocchio right now and the Blue fairy (Nudge) has only made the puppet animate. Not yet a real girl. Tina is still demons at her core. Paraphrase the raven, nothing more.
Oh geeze… the lights are on but nobody’s home. This is an interesting follow-up to the little sequence where Tina’s standing in her empty apartment, waiting for the sun to rise. Those demons that inhabit her are downright creepy, but I have to remember that functioning as a collective, they create a very human whole. I would love to see Tina come out of this grand adventure as a stable, unified soul – but that’s just me.
Wonderful work, Paul, however it turns out!
True. The “Collective” is the character “Tina”. All of Paul’s demons have written “allegory” (I believe that’s the word..drawing a blank on other words for what I mean) allover.
With us, humans, they are, usually, fairly integrated in one person/human. In Tina they still are very seperate entities. Especially now Nudge, the self-appointed leader of the troupe, is no longer there.
I also feel that this manifestation of Tina’s seperate demons illustrates something else entirely.
Did anyone notice that ALL demons here have an expression of desperation, maybe even fear???
I firmly belkieve the demons are realizing what happened when they lost control. It seems like the do NOT like, or even WANT that.
Remember that Tina once stated that she likes doing good? That evil things bored the demons?
If they want to be/do good, a propensity for outburst like with Nudge throw a serious wrench in the system. I think the demon-collective is realizing how remorse actually feels.
The question is: what is good for bad? Also what is “bad” other than a different perception of things than “good”. “Bad” laugh at bad things, but unhappy about good. So if Tina’s body is having a good time from the wine .. then perhaps that make the spirits/demons “unhappy”? It does make sense ;D
Dunno. I am referring to some time ago where Tina elaborated on her choice to make people happy by “blowing sunshine up their ass” and the consecutive discussion with the Wapsi-Crew about how that “bad” thing actually led to a good thing: people being happy when leaving the shop.
(I’ll see if I can find the specific page I meant)
Apparently that talk took some of Tina’s anxt away. She’s still deadly afraid of harming a human, though..(Sphinxes threatening to eat You tend to do that)
That’s a good point. I/we may be reading way too much into all this, but this may be the first time the demons have ever felt remorse. A crucial step to having a conscience and being (not just acting) more human. I mean an actual, individual conscience forming in each demon. Not just some strange combining of demons and forming some sort of conscience-like entity as in Shelly.
I do not think we see too much in it. Up to this day, this story has been layer upon layer upon layer of plot-driven characterization. Me thinks Mr Paul plans Looooong ahead for the story. The intertwining of plot and character development sometimes boggles my mind, but it remains utterly logic…
The recurrence of “empty shell Tina” is no coincidence. Even her emptiness at night is a metaphor for our human existence in its most despoerate times.
I remember feeling just as empty, yet still haunted by “demons” of fear, sadness, lonelyness after the cremation of my parents. A time of immense daily activity and mental exhaustion that kept me busy, but at night? There they came out..lonelyness, loss, fear, anger (yes that too) You know? Stuff like that. I think that most people can relate to Tina’s nightly torment.
So, Your assertion that Tina is so happy during the day because she can keep busy, live, and be amongst human company, seems quite apt to me.
It is one of the most consistent web-comics around (at least amongst the meagre 10 /15 I read)
DagNabbit!! Hit “post comment” too soon. Last sentence looks disjointed.
What I meant was that there is a deeper system at work if Paul chooses a splash-page like this. He is bloody consistent in his character development, so there’s a point to Tina’s demons looking so remorseful (I finally decided it was, indeed, remorse that I see)
Tina is apparently taking her first, painful, baby-steps towards becoming human.
OK, I’m creeped out. Stunned by the astonishing art, , too, but definitely creeped.
I wonder how many demons are in the Collective. I count at least six, with maybe a seventh in that odd pattern upper right. But there might be many more…
I also wonder what the one with stag horns is supposed to be. If anything specific.
Hmm. The longer I look at it, the less creepy it becomes, and the sadness and desperation emanating from it takes over for me.
To me, this is not just a bridge-page, but a representation of what Tina is going through after her discussion with -a remarkable lucid- Shelly, and the Nudge-induced, coffee-shop brawl, while slowly, but surely gaining some footing in being human, with all doubts, fear and sadness that comes with it.
Sort of the equivalent of Bud’s little lamp…
In a way. Bud’s llittle lamp was moving, these outpouring demons are more unsettling than moving, despite the sad, lonely undertone of this frame.
While Tina looks even more alone here, Bud felt suddenly “at home” when that little IKEA lamp was set up.
Tina doesn’t look “at home” at all (question remains: what will be her home? I personally believe it lies with the Wapsi-crew, despite her unpredictable wild demon-nature, she may feel more at home as time progresses.)
All in all..complex character this “Tina..”.
Very nicely said, Jay-Em. I’m hoping Tina’s demons cohere as one personality, but then, I’m not doing the writing, and the fact that I’m doing any hoping at all for a fictional character just shows how good this strip is
I don’t think Tina will feel at home with anyone or anywhere until there is some sort of sea-change within her. Why is she even running the shop? It doesn’t seem to be for the money. She buys nothing. Seems to want nothing. She could just as well be working for someone else simply to pay the rent. I don’t think even she truly knows why she does it. She wants to be more human, but why? She has no human luxuries or desires even. Perhaps it’s because she/they is/are stuck for now and becoming more human seems like all she can hope for. It seems like she is just marking time.
@SoWhyMe: Originally, I’m pretty sure the shop was opened because someone (Nudge? Phix? Jin? Someone else?) decided that it was the optimal spot to later influence events. As for why Tina’s still running it, why not? She’s already indicated that it’s where she stands out the least, so almost like a home for her. Where else would she go, and why? It’s kinda like Tina’s running the main meeting spot, and she gets to stay in the loop… why would she go?
is what I was referring to.
Good points, ProleBoi.
Right. I meant that it’s an image that gives us an insight, as Bud’s lamp did.
I like the way you said that–and would add that so often this sort of self-reflection comes after hurting someone the person cares about–or realizing that they are acting like someone they don’t like being.
DAMN–somebody’s got some serious money to spend, here . . . Cheval Blanc goes for somewhere north of $400 per bottle (yes, I typed that right; more than $5,000 the case).
Well, Tina does have her own business, no boyfriend, and what appears to be rather spartan (okay, EXTREMELY spartan) tastes in decorating. I’m guessing she’s got plenty of disposable income. On the other hand, she does seem to have about 10 customers, tops… either that, or you enter a dimensional portal when you walk through the door, so that the shop is always empty and you get your own personal Tina to wait upon you
damn now i really want to find tina’s shop…XD
No, she’s plenty busy. But you don’t go and discuss Atlantis, the Chimera, demons, psychotic demi-gods, and have beatdowns when there is a line of twenty…
*snerk* Okay, I actually did laugh out loud imagining that very thing… (“did you hear what that chick at the counter said…?” “LOOK OUT!”)
Okay, I have to ask this. Is anybody else seeing this or it just me?
seeing what? the image is broken for me, i can’t see the comic. >.>
Is that all of Tina’s demons? I thought there would be more for some reason, a lot more. I always saw a collective as something in double digits.
Tina said a few pages ago that she was host to “several” demons. Meaning… well.. seven. Minus Nudge that makes six.
I’ve always made the assumption that we see as many demons as Paul wants (or needs) to draw. There dosn’t seem to be a reason to have an upper or lower limit to the number of demons in the collective… making it the veritable Swiss army knife of plot devices.
Very good point. That hadn’t occurred to me; I assumed they had all come out, and that all were in view.
Odd as it may seem… despite the intense creepy factor of this image, it only evokes in me an overwhelming feeling of pity for Tina…
Ditto! She looks sad&lonely. The contrast to her daily “happy-face” makes this all the more painful, poignant even..
I felt the same when Paul for the first time showed Tina’s form of “nightrest”
But we have seen Tina sleep. Or a near approximation.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/moreimportant/
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/morningdialogue/
The ‘freeze-ups’ seem more like intense, interior debates, IMHO.
Paul says Tina doesn’t sleep.
Paul says so.
Really. He does…
well *tina* does not sleep, but the demons seem to… ???
Or, the demons like to ‘emulate’ what happens when you wake up from a deep sleep, because they like to remember, or want to be human …. the ‘morningdialogue’ shows that.. the next few strips are informative too..
Tina does not “sleep”.
Which raises the question, why does she even “shut down?”
Well, physically, she is still human, so her body does need rest, to repair muscle, fight disease and such. Or it could be that she has nothing else to do, so she shuts down to wait for morning (the thing with the spider), kinda like taking a nap because you are bored.
You may be correct about the bodily rejuvenation, but I’m not so sure about the boredom part. After all, the demons ARE Tina and they’re awake regardless, in the body or not. Pehaps it’s getting a bit of alone time for each of them. Who knows.
I guess I’m in the minority of people who are not at all creeped out by this. We knew her as a demon collective, and those demons just had a very challenging day…also, they no longer have Nudge the trickster to temper and lead them.
I think this is truly awesome, and she deserves a really expensive couple glasses of wine after today…they have a lot to think about…
…wow.
Oh, fun.
Nicely done.
All I could think was, “Poor Tina.”
A little drop of wine today,
let the inmates out to play
Have another glass of cheer,
then turn around, face what you fear
Mirror, mirror, the void’s a glass
At least one smile before you pass
out. (courtesy from my Demon Doggerel)
Neat! And how utterly appropriate.
(claps with delight)
Very cool. Other than Paul’s picture, I visualise something from Addams (of the original Addams Family cartoons) with this poem as the caption.
Shelly should see this (perhaps others as well) so as to finally dispell all notions that Tina is human just because she looks and acts like one.
Of course, this is also a metaphor for the vast majority of humans. Showing one face to the world all day, then letting their real self out for a while when alone at night.
Even worse: At night most of our own demons tend to come out to haunt us….
And.. thnx : “metaphor!!!” THAT was the word I was looking for. Wapsi square demons are a metaphor for our own doubts and existential fear…
By the by, the way the demons ‘ faces contort, makes me think of Paul Gustave Doré’s etchings for Dante’s Inferno. I cannot exactly recall which bolgia, though.
Very good puns all around; and yet, when it comes to spirits…what GHOST around comes around!
Ah! A peaceful meditation.
Seems like 7 might be about the right number given this:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/we-will-break-her/
but there are 9 demons there…
I would say the 7 deadly sins would be a more logical reason as to why she has 7 demons…but then i don’t think Doubt is a sin, much less a deadly one…
I only see 8, if you count the snake-like thing wrapped around Doubt’s leg.
Does this mean Tina’s demons can exit the demon realm into our world at will, like Monica’s can?
Nope, and neither can M’s anymore. Even though Monica can still be seen conversing with her demons, they can’t really exit, they’re still tied to her.
Ah, I see. I was going by the comic in which Doubt apprised Monica of her new found nose flicking permissions. But only her upper portion appeared outside Monica so I take it that shows them as still being linked to their host. Likewise still tied to Tina. No more of this willy-nilly galavanting totally outside their host.
It’s that’s so, how did Monica’s Doubt do a, now legal, nose thumb to Monica after the rogue demons where dealt with?
Look at it this way: Your mindscape is an endlessly big world. Your demons have free roam there. Yet, You are Your demons, thusly it is inevitable that You and Your demons meet…..and noseflick.. Yet..it’s all still unbreakable connected to You, the individual. No “You” about, no mindscape.
It also means that Monica has integrated her demons into who she is, and no longer sees/feels them as the seperate, and threatening entities that had such a devastationg effect on her psyche that in the process, it threatened Jin’s/Tochtli’s machinations to prevent armageddon. Monica has accepted them as a part of her decision-making, but realizes when they hold her back. That’s pretty important here. She has them “on a leash”| so to speak.
The fact that dear Tina can actual see the entourage of demons around Monica doesn’t mean that they go about freely. Where she goes, they go. As simple as that.
For Tina it’s even more strict: No demons about, no Tina, just a shell. Individual “Tina” exists by the grace of the demons inside her, the demon-collective on their turn exists by the grace of their co-operation to keep the host-body on the move. That’s part of the reason why the disruptive kibbitzing of Nudge made Tina/the collective so angry.
Nudge constantly disturbed the balance. In a way, Nudge represented a piece of humanity that Tina was not yet ready to embrace.
Baby steps for Tina, baby steps.
I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree with some points. The demon realm is a physical place and not just a concept existing in the mind. May was, after all, banished to it and existed there for tens of thousands of years until rescued by Bud. Demons are physical as well, even though they seem wispy here. The rogue “queen” demon socked Shelly pretty hard on her way out during the temple adventure. The nose flicking thing indicates they can come part way out and manifest themselves enough to physically affect their host.
Now, how it is they can still come part way out to nose flick Monica with her “door” locked, I don’t know. Seems like a gray area not fully explained.
Except for being able to see and talk with them, Monica’s demons are like anyone elses. She simply has them under control and is aware of them. I don’t think there is any additional integration with herself. She even has a pretty good repore with her Doubt. As you say, has accepted them as needed for good decision making.
Hmm. I can see Your point, it is valid too.
Have You ever read about the research Freud did in mental repression and suggestion?
I remember a case where a woman really felt a slap in the face when she had “lustful thoughts”. She really flinched as if hit. Same goes for those fancy-fair-hypnotists that make people taste lemon if they drink beer, make’em sick&dizzy on the spot, make’em feel a kick in the behind if the hypnotist uses some key-phrase etc. etc.
The mind is apparently powerful enough to get physical manifestations of mental projections that actually hurt the subject him/herself .
On the other hand, we could also consider other dimensions. The latest (theoretical, mind you) physics-research does explicitly NOT exclude extra dimensions. It even blatantly predicts them. I cannot remember the name, but some egghead (Edward Witten?) in theoretical physics solved the dimensional riddle of branes and strings by adding an 11th dimension. Dimensions appear to be reality, at least in the world of (quantum)physics, and the world of Wapsi-Square.
Now, this is all purely theoretical, and consists of monstrously complex formula’s and such. But , again, actual physical dimensions are explicitly NOT off the books. That opens a whole new can of worms concerning Paul’s construction of the Wapsi-verse.
Or, rather, a whole new realm of possibilities, (although, admittedly, I loathe the ease by which certain writers, mis-use “dimensions” as a deus ex machina, or an easy, lazy way to push the story forward. Wapsi-Square is -thank goodness- much more complex)
Let’s, for the sake of the argument, accept that our “mindsphere” is an actual physical, dimension. And, to go even further, accept that the combined minds of all humans makes another dimension. (The Library is a dead-giveaway that we are talking dimensions here)
Suddenly it is entirely possible that demons hop from that communal dimension, to the personal mindscape-dimension and vice-versa (As their banishment by “the powers that be” proved after the demons mis-used their “portal” in this world, or rather The Wapsi-verse…) Or hop from Monica’s mindscape to someone else. They can no longer, but I, indeed, remember they pulled that nasty trick before, as You already stated, with Shelly
Considering all of the above, we are both right I think.
Aaaand in the end: Paul’s ALWAYS right, it’s HIS universe after all. We can wax theoretical (and quantum-)physics till we see blue, but even Monica had to accept that there, maybe, is no scientifically sound explanation.
Though she didn’t give up that easy..she, flexible as she is, just stated that the books about it weren’t written yet. That’s also a way of looking at it.
Phew! Thanks a bundle Paul..You made me think and recall college here… Juuuust as I was enjoying my complacent, non-scientific life again…grrr
I think we would need to completely forget theoretical physics, and go entirely by observations in trying to describe the goings on in the various Wapsi domains of existence. Base theories as to the why and how on what the comic shows only. Just assume nothing we know (or think we know) has any bearing on things like the demon plane/dimension/world/whatever. Like you say, however, the mind can make you think you were nose flicked, since all sensation actually resides there, regardless of the actual point of injury. But, again from observation of the situation, it appears Doubt did actually partly manifest herself and did, indeed, physically flick the nose. The question is could anyone else see this taking place (other than Tina maybe)?
There are only two things I could say about the demon realm based on observation and dialog among the characters:
1) It exists outside of our flow of time.
2) Each demon is a physical being occupying their own space within the group (not some writhing mass of bodies, joined in some supernatural ways).
There are several more things to say about demons themselves, but I’ll forego that here. Though it would be interesting to come up with a list of all known facts about demons to this point.
It’s quite simple, you guys. They can only interact with Monica, sure they can present themselves in front of her and behind her, but they can only interact with her. Period. Tina can’t see them anymore and they can’t affect anyone else other than their host now. Tina is the only exception for this. Shelly’s conscience is permanently cut off from the demon world and will die when Shelly dies.
Ohkay *shrugs* It’s at least much shorter and an explanation than my endless blabbering.
Yeah..my “pondering demon” tends to take ove every now&then. *pulls back demon with large forehead into body*
I could use some “tame the demon”-lessons from Monica….
Ok, I get that. I just want to know one thing. When Doubt flicked Monica’s nose, was it real? That is to say, did she manifest in physical form (to Monica anyway) and literally flick her nose, or was that all going on in Monica’s mind and it only seemed like she physically got it flicked?
It was just in Monica’s head.
ALLLLLLLLL righty then! Well don’t that upset my little apple cart. If it’s all in her head, then anything is possible and speculation becomes moot. Ah well, shuffling off to watch “Moon.”
Sorry if I’m belaboring a point already made, but Shelly’s conscience, aka Creepy, is still visible to Tina, right?
To my knowledge, the only time CG was visible to Tina was when she was stuck in the “boiler room” with her and that’s not going to happen again.
There was also the “you can see me” one where Tina got panicky after Shelly walked into the shop, and a couple of others.
I believe the one to which you’re referring was actually a dream Shelly was having:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/see-me (and the next couple).
Me want original print of this.
Just click the “buy print” button bellow it and you can buy an 8.5×11″ print.
Some days, that’s just how I feel.
….So I said to her, I said, “You need to let it all out, babe.” And dang it if she didn’t!
Now see, you start passing on advice from baby boomers and you get demons coming out your butt.
Paul Taylor, especially in instances like this, has undeniably created some of the best artwork I’ve ever seen..
My question is (and I know I’m late to the party asking this), do they have individual names? For example, I’m thinking that’s Shame in the upper left, and perhaps Fear in the lower left.
We know they have names; when Phix was telling her the outcome of the rogues’ trial, she said “your names came up.”
We still don’t know what any of those names are or even how many of them are part of the collective.
I see fear, despair, pain, confusion, lonliness and regret. This comic is pretty important. Tina needs help to protect herself as much as Jin needs help protect everyone from her “self.”