Paul,
Apart from the we/be in Tina’s balloon… In the second panel, Shelly doesn’t answer Monica’s question, yet in the last panel, Monica continues as though she did.
As far as being rushed, I think it’s quite a jump in reasoning that Tina is making about the visions being a “Guard Dog Program”.
In the 2nd panel, M wasn’t really asking Shelly anything, but explaining Bud’s question in more detail. Monica is pretty certain that Shelly didn’t see anything and deduces that maybe the relic didn’t work for Shelly.
I fail to see the problem. M thinks fast: Shelly doesn’t freak=she saw no vision+M only realizes the dumbness of her question while blurting it out+trying to keep hothead and golem from “going at it” and the crew from thinking and acting rash=No need For A “NO”.
Oh..she most certainly does…as she felt her arm breaking too -and discovered it hurt like mad- I surmise she will feel cold as unpleasant, and can get sick from it too. Her body is totally human.
It’s spring in Minneapolis..If I got my weathercharts right, Monica will still have the heating on. Currently it’s about 6C..cold enough to not switch-off the heating.
its more like its ‘learned’ – if she is not expecting it, she will not feel it – AFAIR she had hot coffee thrown in her face, and few seconds later said
“um, yeah… ouch! that’s hot!”
Hey – if there was an absolutely certain one-in-ten chance of being killed on re-entry, i’d still ride the Shuttle to the Space station for a week if they offered me the chance.
i suspect she doesn’t know about THIS artifact but maybe she knows about other ones.
Sure her memorys were wiped but well…maybe scarey crud is so intrenched into our psyche it would take more than a memory wipe to forget 🙂
ooh..good thinking! It opens all sorts of possibilities. “Tina, the walking info-portal”
Nudge and the demons have continuously been helping, even subconsciously by times, so it seems reasonable they have access to knowledge somehow.
It could also be that Nudge silently tries to redeem herself by sometimes “nudging” info through Tina through her former-connection with the demons.
But I keep mixing up Bud and Monica when seen from the back, or when their full faces aren’t visible. A suggestion: Perhaps Monica’s red hair could be rendered in B&W as gray instead of white, or maybe just gray edges. And well we’re on the topic, does everyone in Wapsi square have to be drawn with either white or black hair?
I mean, your artwork is awesome, but sometimes the lack of hair color cues confuses my little brain.
I don’t know, but to me, the choice for only black/white, is clearly one of “the aestetics of minimalism” Any good artist is constantly looking for the way to tell as much possible, with as little as possible. “The art of leaving stuff out”
In the past, Paul has experimented a bit with shades, but it didn’t always work somehow, it made the actors look like colourpics scanned in bl/w. 1 shade per actor seems to be some maximum, before the visuals get muddled.
Wapsisquare is different in it’s image-language from other comics. That’s where it’s visual power lies. Take f.i. the use of flat textures for volume-objects (demons with the pattern of block-print wallpaper, clothing print), or the consistent use of grey line-art in the background.
I am not saying he’s the only one to do it this way, but not many artists have combined the differentiated techniques as used by Paul.
It’s a design-choice of the author, and I appreciate it as such.
It was already established what each character was wearing and that Bud’s hair was in a ponytail. Look for other clues in the image as to who is who. 🙂
So the theory Tina’s tossing out, to make sure I’m getting this right… is that the vision only shows to people who AREN’T supposed to be touching the artifact?
…Yep, Shelly just cemented her need to be with the girls who go to Ireland. Sucks to be her.
Oh, yeah. She’s gonna get to go to Éire without having to deal with the TSA or the flight to and from. You just know she and Bud will hit a pub or two while they’re their too. Poor Shelly, poor Bud. 😉
Oh here’s a coin with ….three sides?! I mean, does ‘working’ here mean showing the scarey vision or not showing it? Is it not functioning with Shelly or it is just fine? Has anyone else of them actually touched it besides the two, because otherwise we can’t be certain of which is more meaningful: Shelly not getting the vision or Monica getting it.
Another way of putting it: from the artifact’s point of view, is Shelly a)friendly/meaningful or b)insignificant (i.e. not worth scaring)?
And there’s no proof that the sub crew saw just what M saw, only that they were scared shitless and went bonkers.
True. There’s a lot we don’t know about what went on in the sub. For instance, did they have both this artifact and what it plugged into? Did what it plugged into become animate or something escape from the other part and broke it’s way right through the hull to flee the sub? So far this part only seems to be the “Danger, stay away” sign/key.
Given the outfits on Tina & Shelly in the last few strips, it would be pretty easy to eliminate the few clothes they are wearing. Especially the ones Shelly was wearing when she made her entrance. Easy to “shop” out the few lines representing clothing on her. The low rider shorts-shorts already look transparent. You can have your wish pretty easily. The only question would be are we talking natural, landing strip, Brazillian, or Hollywood?
Hey – i’m Bohemian (well, half; and only third-generation-native-USAian-born, at that) – defenestration is by way of being a national sport in old Bohemia…
(Though i admit i first learnt the word when i read “The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch”…)
Nude? *scratches head* Why would You want that??
Sexyness diminishes significantly if everybody is nude. (visit a nude-beach if You do not believe me…some people are NOT meant to be nude…brrr..:P )
Yeah, right. Like you wouldn’t pay good money to get a full color and shaded rendition of this cast nude as done by the master.
Of course you are also right about nudist places. Brrr indeed. Even Monica’s assets can look none too appealing in certain positions and nude: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/so-you-see/
Oh..and WOW.. Tina does think on her feet too.
Her conclusion only leads to step two: Shelly is also a guard-dog, and is meant to carry and/or connect the artifact to the rest of an even better guarded construct.
Really? My first thought was that the artifact might only be defending itself from people who could use it or mess with it. (Scaring away everyone would only attract attention to the piece.) This model raises extra questions about the sub crew, though. Shelly’s immunity may indeed be the exception.
I am endlessly glad to see that I’m not the only one to react that way when something is yoinked out of my hands. “Grabby McGrabbyHands” wouldn’t be the first name on my lips, but the sentiment is the same.
Well, we can reasonably guess that it interacted somehow with at least one crewman. Even if most of the action was because it was plugged in, the captain was holding it by the chain. Some Nazi, somewhere, had a bad experience, or the captain wouldn’t have taken that precaution.
Yeah, what I said above. (True, plenty of Germans have Irish ancestors, and vice versa.) But I don’t think we’re going figure out Shelly’s immunity today.
Um… It’s Paul’s strip and story ( which is the best out there). Perhaps some people should just lay back and read and enjoy, and give themselves time to absorb what’s going on before opening their big mouths! Thank you.
I think it’s pretty safe to assume that webcomics folks who have comments pages like these under each strips are okay with folks making comments on each page as it comes out. Perhaps you (like myself, I’ll admit) wouldn’t like it if we were in Paul’s shoes, but that is probably part of the reason that he is wearing them rather than us. 🙂
And, frankly, I am often impressed by the speculation that goes on in the comments here… I find it well worth the price of ignoring some of the other stuff. Paul’s attracted a nice bunch of folks and I suspect the last thing he’d want is for them to just lay back and read.
Does Tina perhaps mean, “The vision could be like a guard dog program”?
Fixed. Just hit refresh. 🙂
Just a little rushed on the dialogue, Paul?
Why does it seem rushed?
Paul,
Apart from the we/be in Tina’s balloon… In the second panel, Shelly doesn’t answer Monica’s question, yet in the last panel, Monica continues as though she did.
As far as being rushed, I think it’s quite a jump in reasoning that Tina is making about the visions being a “Guard Dog Program”.
We do need a indignant “No!” in response to Monica’s question.
Yo! Fatuncle – get your bad self over to the Comfy Couch!
In the 2nd panel, M wasn’t really asking Shelly anything, but explaining Bud’s question in more detail. Monica is pretty certain that Shelly didn’t see anything and deduces that maybe the relic didn’t work for Shelly.
We haven’t seen it work for anyone other than Monica. Bud and Brandi have each avoided being the first to touch it.
I fail to see the problem. M thinks fast: Shelly doesn’t freak=she saw no vision+M only realizes the dumbness of her question while blurting it out+trying to keep hothead and golem from “going at it” and the crew from thinking and acting rash=No need For A “NO”.
Jus’ some lateral thinking.
“Grabby McGrabby Hands!”
Heheheheh.
I’d have said grabby mcgrabster but shelly sounds funnier 😀
Does Monica not have something for Tina to wear? She must be getting cold in that bikini.
demon-possesed-corpse
she might not ‘feel’ cold similar to the golem girls 🙂
Oh..she most certainly does…as she felt her arm breaking too -and discovered it hurt like mad- I surmise she will feel cold as unpleasant, and can get sick from it too. Her body is totally human.
It’s spring in Minneapolis..If I got my weathercharts right, Monica will still have the heating on. Currently it’s about 6C..cold enough to not switch-off the heating.
its more like its ‘learned’ – if she is not expecting it, she will not feel it – AFAIR she had hot coffee thrown in her face, and few seconds later said
“um, yeah… ouch! that’s hot!”
That was Bud, Tina was freaking out over hurting some one.
I swear – Tina’s top has become, if anything, even skimpier.
Hey, shut up and stop complaining. I’m just hoping the one day Paul will forget to draw it all together!
Are you saying that Paul might forget and draw them in the altogether?
All of them together might be more than my heart could take.
But–you’d be willing to chance it?
Hey – if there was an absolutely certain one-in-ten chance of being killed on re-entry, i’d still ride the Shuttle to the Space station for a week if they offered me the chance.
What do you think?
Hey EASY grammer Nazi’s, I swear I have my papers here… somewhere.
Bucc-I, we weren’t being Grammar Nazis–we were just playing on words. (At least I know I was, and I’m pretty sure about Fairportfan…)
Also, why do I get the feeling that Tina knows more than she is letting on. She has been giving subtle hints as to its properties since she showed up.
i suspect she doesn’t know about THIS artifact but maybe she knows about other ones.
Sure her memorys were wiped but well…maybe scarey crud is so intrenched into our psyche it would take more than a memory wipe to forget 🙂
Tina shared that body with the Librarian, Nudge. Perhaps the information flow wasn’t just one way.
ooh..good thinking! It opens all sorts of possibilities. “Tina, the walking info-portal”
Nudge and the demons have continuously been helping, even subconsciously by times, so it seems reasonable they have access to knowledge somehow.
It could also be that Nudge silently tries to redeem herself by sometimes “nudging” info through Tina through her former-connection with the demons.
Ya know, if Bud keeps jerking that artifact’s chain, it’s liable to get cranky… 😛
Crankier.
Hey, Paul! Cool cookies!
But I keep mixing up Bud and Monica when seen from the back, or when their full faces aren’t visible. A suggestion: Perhaps Monica’s red hair could be rendered in B&W as gray instead of white, or maybe just gray edges. And well we’re on the topic, does everyone in Wapsi square have to be drawn with either white or black hair?
I mean, your artwork is awesome, but sometimes the lack of hair color cues confuses my little brain.
I have to agree a little, here. For the longest time, until I saw a color pic of Monica, I thought she was blonde.
(Of course, when I worked out for a short time in the ’90s, my personal trainer was short, busty, and blonde)
From what I have noticed , women’s hair color is not static.
That’s good – otherwise it would stand on end.
And tend to be short.
Ditto. I thought she was blonde for the longest.
I don’t know, but to me, the choice for only black/white, is clearly one of “the aestetics of minimalism” Any good artist is constantly looking for the way to tell as much possible, with as little as possible. “The art of leaving stuff out”
In the past, Paul has experimented a bit with shades, but it didn’t always work somehow, it made the actors look like colourpics scanned in bl/w. 1 shade per actor seems to be some maximum, before the visuals get muddled.
Wapsisquare is different in it’s image-language from other comics. That’s where it’s visual power lies. Take f.i. the use of flat textures for volume-objects (demons with the pattern of block-print wallpaper, clothing print), or the consistent use of grey line-art in the background.
I am not saying he’s the only one to do it this way, but not many artists have combined the differentiated techniques as used by Paul.
It’s a design-choice of the author, and I appreciate it as such.
/art critic
Jus’ my $0.02 :shrug:
It was already established what each character was wearing and that Bud’s hair was in a ponytail. Look for other clues in the image as to who is who. 🙂
Monica has (proportionally) broader shoulders that Bud. Also her hair is (currently) shorter.
Aggggh. “…than Bud …”
If you can’t tell Monica from Bud from the front, you’re missing a couple of very big clues.
I’ve had my moments of confusion between Tina and Shelly, but the height and width clues help me out there.
So the theory Tina’s tossing out, to make sure I’m getting this right… is that the vision only shows to people who AREN’T supposed to be touching the artifact?
…Yep, Shelly just cemented her need to be with the girls who go to Ireland. Sucks to be her.
thank heavens for comments.
hadn’t a clue what the ‘guard dog’ thing ment but your explination fits 🙂
thanks 😀
Oh, yeah. She’s gonna get to go to Éire without having to deal with the TSA or the flight to and from. You just know she and Bud will hit a pub or two while they’re their too. Poor Shelly, poor Bud. 😉
theirthere. ugh.Thou art forgiven ,for the “there/their” sin is forced upon even virtuous souls by the satan called “Typingwhiletalkinginyourmind”
Ihavenoideawhatyourtalkingabout.
That and a serious lack of sleep …
Oh here’s a coin with ….three sides?! I mean, does ‘working’ here mean showing the scarey vision or not showing it? Is it not functioning with Shelly or it is just fine? Has anyone else of them actually touched it besides the two, because otherwise we can’t be certain of which is more meaningful: Shelly not getting the vision or Monica getting it.
Another way of putting it: from the artifact’s point of view, is Shelly a)friendly/meaningful or b)insignificant (i.e. not worth scaring)?
And there’s no proof that the sub crew saw just what M saw, only that they were scared shitless and went bonkers.
True. There’s a lot we don’t know about what went on in the sub. For instance, did they have both this artifact and what it plugged into? Did what it plugged into become animate or something escape from the other part and broke it’s way right through the hull to flee the sub? So far this part only seems to be the “Danger, stay away” sign/key.
Hey, hey! Leave Paul alone!
The dialog is fine, and the Wapsi ladies are even finer!
I enjoy watching things “play out”.
The only way the strip could be better is if it went nude.
Just sayin’! 😉
Given the outfits on Tina & Shelly in the last few strips, it would be pretty easy to eliminate the few clothes they are wearing. Especially the ones Shelly was wearing when she made her entrance. Easy to “shop” out the few lines representing clothing on her. The low rider shorts-shorts already look transparent. You can have your wish pretty easily. The only question would be are we talking natural, landing strip, Brazillian, or Hollywood?
Paul, you’ve created monsters……
“Hollywood”?…Would that be a merkin? 😆 😆
I can’t think who it was who recently had to have a merkin because she was doing nudity in a film set in the past…
I can’t think why so many of us have the word ‘merkin’ in our vocabularies. Yet we do. Probably along with defenstrate, insolation, and fewmet.
Hey – i’m Bohemian (well, half; and only third-generation-native-USAian-born, at that) – defenestration is by way of being a national sport in old Bohemia…
(Though i admit i first learnt the word when i read “The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch”…)
Nude? *scratches head* Why would You want that??
Sexyness diminishes significantly if everybody is nude. (visit a nude-beach if You do not believe me…some people are NOT meant to be nude…brrr..:P )
Yeah, right. Like you wouldn’t pay good money to get a full color and shaded rendition of this cast nude as done by the master.
Of course you are also right about nudist places. Brrr indeed. Even Monica’s assets can look none too appealing in certain positions and nude:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/so-you-see/
Have to agree…
You know what the worst thing about nude beaches is? No quality control.
Or possibly that the bashee-vision is no match for Scary Mind Girl. : /
Oh..and WOW.. Tina does think on her feet too.
Her conclusion only leads to step two: Shelly is also a guard-dog, and is meant to carry and/or connect the artifact to the rest of an even better guarded construct.
Would be hard if you cannot touch it…
Really? My first thought was that the artifact might only be defending itself from people who could use it or mess with it. (Scaring away everyone would only attract attention to the piece.) This model raises extra questions about the sub crew, though. Shelly’s immunity may indeed be the exception.
I am endlessly glad to see that I’m not the only one to react that way when something is yoinked out of my hands. “Grabby McGrabbyHands” wouldn’t be the first name on my lips, but the sentiment is the same.
Also: “Studio A, this is the control room. Camera 3 looks a bit off; try panning to the right, then tilt down just a bit…”
if the guard Dog didn’t go off with Shelly Im guessing the message contained within is meant for her?
not surprised… doesn’t she have some irish blood some where along the line?
That’s Monica. I’m pretty sure Shelly is 100% Western hemisphere.
Technically, we have only seen it react to Monica. With her Irish blood Maybe it only responds to her?
Well, we can reasonably guess that it interacted somehow with at least one crewman. Even if most of the action was because it was plugged in, the captain was holding it by the chain. Some Nazi, somewhere, had a bad experience, or the captain wouldn’t have taken that precaution.
Yeah, what I said above. (True, plenty of Germans have Irish ancestors, and vice versa.) But I don’t think we’re going figure out Shelly’s immunity today.
Now, who’ll be the one to think that when there’s a curse on the door, there has to be a big wod of treasure inside?
Yeah, you only lock the doors when have something valuable behind them…
It couldnt possibly be because of the monsters locked away for a thousand years. … Nope definitely treasure
You’re going to need the treasure when you return the monsters to the Bilbioteka. Phix can be quite stern about overdue fees.
😀
Hey – a large hoard of not-getting-eaten-by-a-Great-Old-One seems like a wonderful treasure to me…
So i’m fairly certain that we won’t know what this means until someone else touches it…
Mmm? 2:15 AM Eastern and still no update?
The suspense is killing me….
Me too.
Almost 1:30 here (CDT) and still nothing new to report.
Um… It’s Paul’s strip and story ( which is the best out there). Perhaps some people should just lay back and read and enjoy, and give themselves time to absorb what’s going on before opening their big mouths! Thank you.
I think it’s pretty safe to assume that webcomics folks who have comments pages like these under each strips are okay with folks making comments on each page as it comes out. Perhaps you (like myself, I’ll admit) wouldn’t like it if we were in Paul’s shoes, but that is probably part of the reason that he is wearing them rather than us. 🙂
And, frankly, I am often impressed by the speculation that goes on in the comments here… I find it well worth the price of ignoring some of the other stuff. Paul’s attracted a nice bunch of folks and I suspect the last thing he’d want is for them to just lay back and read.
Probably a delayed reaction-type deal. she’d maybe have to hold it longer… ;3