These punches Phix is giving Nudge are probably like the one Bud gave Jin some time ago. Phix/Bud is one of the very few beings capable of a punch this strong (note the sparks), and is using it on one of the very few beings capable of taking it this well (Jin was coherent in the very next panel despite more sparks than there are on this page.)
That’s one of the problems with being a trickster. When the object of your tricks figures it out, you risk getting a pounding. Especially if you gloat about how clever you’ve been to the victim…
I liken it to gambling. I remember reading some gambling addict say to a cop “Aint’ no way I can change. [points to rain streaming down a window] Even now I’ll bet you that left-hand droplet of water is going to be faster than the right-hand droplet of water going down that window.”
Awesomely powerful indeed – and yet Phix says she was “the lowest on the totem pole”, which begs two questions: What is her rank now, and just who is the top dog, errrr, Sphinx, and how powerful is THAT sphinx???
Did you actually know that on a totem pole the lowest one was the most important or powerful so technically Phix is calling herself the boss. And like any good boss she can’t make her employee’s do something she wouldn’t be willing to do.
Yeah, but that’s not full body, just torso and face. No satyr legs, no tail…
The horns were awesome by themselves, but fauns and satyrs are my favorite mythical creatures so the extra features shot her character design rating WAY up there for me.
I read it as, “I was lowest on the totem pole so I was stuck gaurding the library.”
She was lowest then and got the job and as far as we know she’s been gaurding the library throughout the entire comic strip.
But I see your point, and I just thought of something. If Phix says that there must always be a least one Sphinx in the library at any given time, then that means Phix shares the duty with another Sphinx because Phix has frequently LEFT the library to, for example, go spend time with sweet old museum directors.
And all I’m thinking from this realization is, “YEEEEEE!! WE MAY GET TO SEE ANOTHER SPHINX CHARACTER!! CX”
I don’t know about TXmystic, but I have to give a class on Coyote (and what to do when he shows up at your rituals) second Monday in November at my church. let’s just say Coyote shows up at most of my rituals whether I invite him or not, and leave it at that.
“Godlet of Minor {Screwups}” – and remember – it’s the Fifth Millennium, and Shkaira’s people’s culture is basically a renaissance of the Comanche or Cheyenne, descended from survivors of the SAC personnel at Cheyenne Mountain…
I’m thinking Nudge has another trick up her sleeve to allow her to leave the library.
but yeah, this strip was funny. Never mention that you’re smarter than someone who can pound you
I learned that early in grade school…….I pretty much looked like my gravatar from sixth grade onwards, so my celebrating my good grades was done out of earshot of the beefy-but-clueless.
I’m not sure Nudge is gunna try and hop into Monica, I’m thinking Nudge is what makes Tina move on her own.
cuz after Nudge was knocked outta Tina, Tina… didn’t seem all there…
oh well, only time, and possibly next week will tell.
I thought horseshoes brought good luck… not being Phix-punched twice…
Seems like there may be a change of guard at the library now that Nudge has been found again, giving Phix more freedom. Also, Nudge (when she revealed herself) seemed to like Monica (and who knows which times the strip’s focus was on Tina, Nudge was “in control”) so Monica may still visit the library and get to know Nudge.
The best tricksters only tell the truth, just not necessarily the whole truth, only relevant truth, or with correct inflection/phrasing. Nudge seems to be one of the best.
We assume…and even if we can point out specific situations in which she was helpful, we can’t verify motivations. Even tricksters can be helpful if it gets them where they want to be.
Freindly for a trickster. Anwyay, the rogue demons said they had a secret agent. I guess this eliminates Nudge. Who is it, then? A lot of red herrings floating around. Shelly’s little girl? Jin’s haunt? Tina? I vote for Dietzel. 😉
Tricksters are not generally evil, and in some cultures are celebrated as the ones that brought fire and medicine to their culture. Coyote was one of those.
I distinctly remember a strip where there was a convocation of demons all facing toward the camera, and their leader, who looked like Jin’s Doubt, told them that it was not over yet, they had an agent. But, now I can’t find it. Help me out fans; which strip was this?
I’m pretty sure that that’s Monica’s Doubt (certainly the rest seem to be M’s demons) – and i suddenly wonder if the “queen” being referred to might actually be Nudge?
Thanks to some of the links you guys posted in yesterdays discussions, I’m happy to say that I finally understand what’s been going on for the past year. Even though I read it daily, it’s taken recent events and the Calendar Machine episode to pull it all together for me. Specifically, the section beginning Here and ending Here.
PW Sir, I marvel at the depth and layering of your story. I wouldn’t doubt you’ve set up your own Wiki just to keep track of things and have it plotted out for the next year, scripted for the next few months, and buffered for the next several weeks.
For all that’s been going on, I sincerely hope you get a Hugo nomination, or at least a Nebula recommendation.
Salute!
PS — Any hints when the next book compilation will be coming out? 😉
Thanks for those links. It made a lot more sense to me too, reading it after the fact. Also, I stumbled upon this link http://wapsisquare.com/comic/call-me-nudge/
The first appearance of Nudge.
Well, the one where she named herself; she’d been showing herself on and off for sometime before, once you knew about Paul’s trick with the screened text.
I think we have have an interesting partnership forming here. I have a funny feeling that Phix and Nudge will seeing each other a whole lot more then Phix would like. Perhaps Phix becoming the keeper of Nudge? Her being the lowest sphinx on the totempole and all.
For some reason I’m reminded of the dynamic between the big bulldog, Spike, and his smaller “pal” in old Warner Brothers cartoons. “Hey, Spike, you wanna chase cars, huh, Spike? Do ya wanna chase cars? Would you like that, Spike?” (Spike slaps him, sending him flying into a garbage can) “Naw!”
The way Nudge is looking up at Phix kinda reminds me of that. “I got ya good, didn’t I, Phix? Pretty funny, ain’t it? It was pretty funny, huh, Phix?” *POUND* Phix: “Naw!”
Her pose in the first panel as well as her label as a trickster also reminds me of a ferret, of which I’ve had several. “I’ve hidden your keys, dragged your shoes to opposite ends of the house, and pooped in the corner, but look at how adorable I am!”
All this means Phix was not in the library for some self punishment kind of thing. At least not in sorrow for all those she killed. She was forced there by her kind.
Making PHIX an outright liar, as opposed to Nudge, who, claiming to be a demon, is automatically assumed to be deceptive (all of which might well be true.)
I gotta wonder, though. Just how many Sphinxes are roaming around these days? (A ballpark figure would be nice)
Well, what Phix said was vague, but it’s consistent with what everyone else was saying. It implies that she had been restricting herself to the library because of bad beliefs about herself.
I like Nudge (despite her being female). She doesn’t take squat from anyone. Not even those who can knock her into the next epoch. She takes her lumps and keeps coming back. Gotta admire that, even if it is a bit loopy.
Good question, but those were quick trips and probably not a problem. The visit to the museum, however, was a long absence. I guess she just took a chance no intruder would invade while she was gone. Maybe she has an inflatable sphinx she pumps up to scare away someone during those times.
I think she got another Sphinx to cover for her. Phix has a lion’s body, not a leopard’s body (no spots). Lions are social. I bet she has a few older sisters that would help her out.
I think the first time we saw her away from the library was on her first visit to Monica at the museum, shortly after the destruction of the calendar machine. with the portal shut, it was only a matter of time before all rogue demons were rounded up, so Phix probably got permission to venture out at long last.
No, that wasn’t Phix’s first time away from the Library. It was just her first time in human form out of the Library (I think). 🙂
I was browsing old strips last night and found a series where Monica came home from some event quite inebriated, and Dietzel was staring nervously at something. Turns out Phix had come to visit (in sphinx form) to deliver Jin’s book to Monica. Phix verifies that she’s left the Library, too, so there can be no postulation that she’d poited Monica there. 🙂
Sorry for not providing the link…I just don’t have the time to dig for it again right now. 🙂
The Library being outside the time flow of our tired old planet, it strikes me as possible that Phix can leave the Library, spend a while on Earth, and return to the Library, with no time having elapsed in the Library.
Ah, but that’s the quandry. Can events occur in a sequential form without some sort of time flow? Even within the library, things progress from event to event. Everything doesn’t happen all at once. So, it must have to do with the nature of the time in the library vs. the nature of time on earth. Some sort of time passes in the library, just that it’s not like the time we normally experience. On earth, instead of flowing with time, we may be standing still with regards to the flow, caught in a perpetual “now” as the river of time flows all through us and around us, wearing us (and everything else) down like a river wears down rocks. Perhaps those within the library flow with time so no “weathering” takes place. If you are in the flow, you should be able to still move about, upstream or down, even sideways, allowing events to occur, but those events are not swept away by the flow, instead they are swept along with you.
I remember the approximate date, for now, anyway. Actually, it’s easy to remember that Monica was drunk because of a holiday party. The problem is remember the year.
I wonder what Nudge did to trick the sphinxes?
“Ah … Phix … I’m just popping out for a pack of smokes.”
“Ok, I’ll be here, hurry back”
“K, thanks.” *snicker*
A thousand years later … “Doh!”
It’s interesting that they sought to contain her, rather than destroy her. Though, I can’t really recall any trickster gods that were, indeed, destroyed.
On a similar note, how WAS she contained? Was it as simple as tossing her in the library? Or was there some other mechanism to keep her from leaving?
Trickster gods are Powerful. Reference Loki and Coyote for example; i.e. they probably can’t destroy her.To keep Nudge there, the Powers probably made it sort of a challenge. “You’re stuck here for all of eternity, unless you can figure your way out. These are the parameters. If you violate them, you’re admitting you’re not smart enough to get out.” No Trickster would admit that. And Nudge got out!
Sometimes Loki is a god, sometimes a giant and sometimes both. In any event he’s no slouch and can contend with gods; fathered the wolf Fenrir which is destined to eat Odin, and is also the father of the ruler of the underworld, Hel.
Raven and Coyote (Native American) were spirits, close enough to gods. Not all are: Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck come to mind, or (more traditional) Br’er Rabbit or Reynard the Fox. Or Leprechauns.
If Nudge is a Trickster on the same level of Power as Coyote or Loki this “beat-down” is insignificant to Nudge. More of a feel good for Phix than anything.
Why is Phix not in her sphynx form now that they’re in the library? Did I miss some explanation for why she doesn’t or can’t change forms as she pleases? I had presumed the human form was a disguise she undertook for appearances among regular people, but that she would remove the disguise on her home turf.
Maybe there is no explanation and that’s just what Taylor wanted to draw but the sphynx design is what makes Phix unique and I personally prefer that look over her human form.
I get the impression that she does and can change forms as she pleases. She just doesn’t choose to be in full Sphinxy-awesome mode at this precise moment. Besides, you have to respect a woman who kicks ass and takes names…and does it in a cute black dress.
Hmmm…maybe she’s got a date with Museum Boss later (can’t remember his name) and doesn’t want to have to re-cute-ify herself.
My conjecture is that Phix didn’t want to frighten Tina and Monica anymore than was absolutely necessary. Also, this was not to be a lethal confrontation so she didn’t take a deadly Aspect.
I guess that horseshoe wasn’t so lucky for her! haw haw haw!
I also like the fact that Nudge is stupid enough to keep on annoying the entity who laid her out like a tile floor, and then scrambled her brains yet again.
I’m not happy with this. It seems to contract what Brandi, Bud and Phix had said about the restrictions Phix put on herself. It also doesn’t make a lot of sense. If it was so important that someone guard the library, why would they trust the task to a trickster?
The only thing I can think of is that guarding the library from inside wasn’t really necessary, but Nudge somehow convinced the sphinxes that it was. Perhaps destroying the calendar machine or taking care of the rogue demons made Phix realize that they had been tricked, so she started leaving the library then, but that’s still not consistent with what Brandi and Bud said. It also doesn’t explain why Phix said that she had been hunting for Nudge for a long time. What was Nudge’s deception?
Why would people pissed off at a trickster provide the trickster with so much information that could be used against them? A library would be a great place for Nudge to come up with ideas.
Also, why did Phix and Bud and Brandi say that her restrictions were self-restrictions if the decision to guard the library was a group decision or made by higher-ups? How could Phix unilaterally override that decision? Is she the only one left? If not, it seems that Phix should be at least as angry at the other sphinxes for not relieving her as she is with Nudge.
The good thing about today’s strip is that it makes Phix look less viscous. Apparently Nudge can take sphinx abuse without harm and doesn’t seem to mind it much.
We had one question answered. This library contains all of the information for the universe, not just the Earth or the solar system.
Well… the Genesis story says that Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Perhaps the “trick” was that Nudge convinced one human to buy into something (evil, sin, whatever you wanna call it), thus causing the guardian Sphinxes to have to watch the library in their stead.
Sin still exists and Phix couldn’t stop guarding now unless she recently realized that she didn’t need to do it anymore or that she could guard just as well from outside. Perhaps it was the rogue demons specifically, instead of sin. The ones that were using Monica were destroyed recently. Were they the last of the rogues?
I don’t think that Nudge introduced sin or rogue demons to humans, though. According to Nudge, rogue demons were running amok among the humans before the library became aware of humanity. Perhaps the trick was merely to make the sphinxes aware of what the humans were doing under their influence, thus causing the sphinxes to kill humans and demons (offense) while guarding the library (defense)? What Nudge would have done in that case wouldn’t be a trick, unless she did it in a misleading way. (I’m assuming that a “trickster” always tells the truth, but misleads people.) Perhaps Nudge messed up the sphinxes’ ability to hunt the rogues by giving the rogues access to the library, which would have had answers to the riddles, thereby forcing a sphinx to guard it?
Yesterday, Phix said, “Nudge is the original librarian.” Why would you have a librarian that would guide researchers to misleading information? That seems very inconsistent with the function of a library. But Phix indicated that there would be no one to trick, which would mean no visitors. Why have a library that no one would visit? I’m beginning to wonder if Phix or Nudge are the most trustworthy.
Perhaps the powerful people who locked Nudge up in the library thought that having no one to trick and all of the “knowledge of the universe” would cause Nudge to reform. Didn’t they realize how many crackpot and Get Rich Quick and so on books would be collected, not to mention schemes thought up by fiction writers and real ones documented by non-fiction writers there would be?
Nudge looks really cute in a shaggy dog sort of way. So that’s apparently a dog’s tail, not a horse’s.
Why didn’t Nudge seem to ever try to trick Monica? The only things that we know that Nudge tried to get Monica to do was to get out of her rut and possibly to allow Amanda to accompany her one day. (IIRC, Tina was talking with black text in front of Monica and Amanda, so it was the collective speaking, but Nudge might have convinced them to go along with it.) Getting Monica out of her rut was a good idea. Having Amanda hanging around hasn’t seemed to have caused harm yet. It lead to Monica telling Amanda about her abilities. Is that going to be a problem?
@eschmenk: Who said anything about guiding to the wrong information? As any psychologist/con artist/salesman knows, the best way to trick someone is to tell enough of the truth, and let them draw their own conclusions.
More, I think that there is a lot of people making the assumption that the Library is like our modern libraries, a service to help people. The first libraries were not to help people, but to store, protect, and possibly even prevent the people from getting to their materials.
I didn’t. I said, “misleading,” meaning whatever would be appropriate for the individual. I assumed that Nudge would be able to figure what that would be. 🙂 The wrong stuff that I listed in the second paragraph was about giving Nudge ideas to duplicate; I didn’t mean that Nudge would make other people read them.
The library looks like relatively modern library with books on the shelves and the portal annexes were created to allow access. Perhaps the purpose changed over time, but I think libraries have always allowed some access, even if it was restricted to certain people.
Perhaps the “restricted access” was granted to those powers who put Nudge there?
There are a lot of things implied and as a result assumed based on what we’ve heard so far. Monica may very well turn around and ask Phix how that’s true when she’d been told that Phix’s exile as the Librarian was self-imposed punishment.
Also, there was one image of the Library (I linked it in a comment on another strip from this week) where the walls were made of skulls, and Phix references her violent years. We’ve been assuming that the role of Librarian was the hell. Perhaps that was incidental. Perhaps her self-imposed punishment was to surround herself with reminders of the mistakes she’d made.
Paul has said, repeatedly, that characters can be simply wrong about what they believe, or lie to other characters. For the moment, I will go with Phix telling the truth, and Brandi and Bud simply being wrong about the reasons she was ‘confined to the Library.
And besides, most of what we thought we knew has just been tilted sideways, at the least — best to just take a deep breath, release it slowly, and see what tomorrow brings. Paul hasn’t dropped any stitches yet.
I realize that the characters can be wrong or misleading. That’s especially an issue now with Nudge. I would prefer to have more solid knowledge right now. I like having things being complex and obvious, but at the moment things are a little to messy for my tastes. For example, did Phix actually kill any humans? We assumed so, but Nudge only implied it. If Nudge is the trickster, we can’t trust that. She called the sphinxes murderous bitches, but would killing demons be enough to say that?
@Julie:
That’s a good point. It never seemed right to equate a library with hell. They aren’t that bad! Phix may have even been building a memorial for those killed, assuming they were killed. I didn’t take the wall of skulls literally, though. I think I may have seen Paul use the same pattern somewhere else. I assumed it was something like the cracks that suddenly appear in walls in ominous scenes.
You also asked, “Perhaps the ‘restricted access’ was granted to those powers who put Nudge there?” I was assuming them and maybe a few others. But if so, then there would still be someone for Nudge to trick, despite what Phix said.
I think the thing that is frustrating me the most about today’s strip is that Phix acted as if she explained why the locked Nudge in the library, but her explanation didn’t make any sense. If Nudge had been tricking people, you would lock her out of the library, not in it.
I realize that Monica can still ask more questions and I’m hoping she does. I wouldn’t mind seeing a wall-of-text response.
Somewhere, out in the Ether, there is a place where all the Tricksters convene. Coyote, Loki, Kokopelli, Anansi, Fox, Saynday, and many others. Right now, somebody won a bet on how long it would take for Nudge to get her lumps after getting found out.
Just occured to me, whenever the current age is over, will the Joker become the Trickster for our society/culture?
If the Library contains every book ever written…
Does that include the homework that countless dogs have eaten for their childish masters? Radio/TV/Movie scripts? The BIG Book of Extremely Bad Poetry, Vol. 7?
Every -book- would probably not include every horrid piece of tripe, bad poetry or inept report ever written. It would, unfortunately for those who have to enter, include the Twilight series. 🙁
I think the “trick” was that the Sphinxes were in the Library seeking an answer to a riddle. Nudge answered their riddle, but they didn’t believe her and tasked Phix to search the Library for the right answer. That was probably when Nudge escaped from the Library and stayed on the run until now.
This very interesting. I know a lot of trickster spirits tend to also be the best teachers as well(Coyote, Anansi, Fox, Kitsune) so in that it kina makes sense that one would be gaurding knowledge.
*sigh* Only one more comic and we wait another entire weekend. At least the major, immediate questions concening the confrontation and Nudge, herself, have been answered (in Paul’s usual wonderfuly witty way). The major thing left now is how is Tina doing? Something she says or does tomorrow may very well be the next cliffhanger.
I like trickster gods. Why? Because unlike the typical other members of any given pantheon they seem to be the only ones that use their brain. The rest seem to preoccupy their time having sex, drinking booze, and smiting/cursing mortals. Athena was probably the only god that used her brain and was treated with any kind of respect. I imagine that if you were the only person in town that used your brain you would tend to get annoyed with your peers and would look for a way to spar with them, but your method of sparing would be too alien to everyone else in town because it doesn’t involve sex, booze, or smiting.
This is probably a similar situation because the Library currently being mismanaged in that it’s being dumped onto the “god” that is lowest on the totem pole. That also indicates that learning isn’t very high on anyone’s priority list. That seams to include Sphix at this moment.
Phix is a magical being that can shift non-mass-fixed forms at will. If she can add lions legs or wings at will without needing to conserve her overall mass then shifting to an appropriate size for what ever task is at hand should not be a problem.. Though I do wonder if there is an upper limit.. 50ft Phix anyone?
ROTFL
Ditto!
Love the horseshoe flying up.
Very True.
Me too! I am SO very glad I had already swallowed my coffee and put the cup down!
Aren’t paybacks an eight foot tall bitch in a black dress? THAT was a golden moment.
Eight foot tall sexy bitch please. This is Phix we’re talking about!
Spent the whole morning thinking about this strip and bursting out laughing at inappropriate moments.
You know, if Nudge is coherent after the punch she took yesterday, I am impressed. I wouldn’t expect her to be conscious.
Sorry, forgot to turn off italics.
“I am impressed. I wouldn’t expect her to be conscious.“
These punches Phix is giving Nudge are probably like the one Bud gave Jin some time ago. Phix/Bud is one of the very few beings capable of a punch this strong (note the sparks), and is using it on one of the very few beings capable of taking it this well (Jin was coherent in the very next panel despite more sparks than there are on this page.)
That’s right Trickster. Just keep ticking off the awesomely powerful entity that screwed.
Some paranormal entities just never learn.
That’s one of the problems with being a trickster. When the object of your tricks figures it out, you risk getting a pounding. Especially if you gloat about how clever you’ve been to the victim…
But tricksters gotta trick. ^_^
Worse: more than one trickster has tricked him- or herself out of all manner of benefits.
I liken it to gambling. I remember reading some gambling addict say to a cop “Aint’ no way I can change. [points to rain streaming down a window] Even now I’ll bet you that left-hand droplet of water is going to be faster than the right-hand droplet of water going down that window.”
Awesomely powerful indeed – and yet Phix says she was “the lowest on the totem pole”, which begs two questions: What is her rank now, and just who is the top dog, errrr, Sphinx, and how powerful is THAT sphinx???
*Gulp*
Did you actually know that on a totem pole the lowest one was the most important or powerful so technically Phix is calling herself the boss. And like any good boss she can’t make her employee’s do something she wouldn’t be willing to do.
I love full-body Nudge. What an awesome character design.
But that’s really interesting. Glad we’re getting more of the story.
But if PHIX is lowest on the totem pole I would love to see who’s the HIGHEST… *pokes Paul*
And, of course, Monica first met Nudge here.
Interesting character and character design!
Yeah, but that’s not full body, just torso and face. No satyr legs, no tail…
The horns were awesome by themselves, but fauns and satyrs are my favorite mythical creatures so the extra features shot her character design rating WAY up there for me.
I wonder if she wags her tail when she’s happy? Her current pose makes her look a horned dog (no pun intended). Would she fetch chew toys?
Huh, she might!! Sounds like nice comic relief fodder.
Note that Phix is speaking in the past tense in regards to her seniority…
I read it as, “I was lowest on the totem pole so I was stuck gaurding the library.”
She was lowest then and got the job and as far as we know she’s been gaurding the library throughout the entire comic strip.
But I see your point, and I just thought of something. If Phix says that there must always be a least one Sphinx in the library at any given time, then that means Phix shares the duty with another Sphinx because Phix has frequently LEFT the library to, for example, go spend time with sweet old museum directors.
And all I’m thinking from this realization is, “YEEEEEE!! WE MAY GET TO SEE ANOTHER SPHINX CHARACTER!! CX”
See? it’s a horseshoe…she’s a Centaur/Satyr hybrid of sorts…
…that’s just been clocked twice by a very pugilistic Sphinx…
Paul does know that satyrs/goats don’t have the same hooves as horses and goats don’t have shoes, right?
Yep. =)
Just checking. I got 4 goats (possibly 8 in a few days) in my field, and some city people get pretty silly when it comes to animal anatomy.
Even though it’s been almost eleven years, i felt the need to reply here:
Actually, as originally portrayed {it changed over time} satyrs were horselike; the conflation with the Panisci came later in Greek myth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyr#In_archaic_and_classical_Greece
Whoops, lost a shoe there Nudge! That’s gotta hurt!
Nudge and Brandy must go to same shoe store.
I see what you did there.
Maybe she’s part Coyote, that’d match up well with the Native American mythology…
Wile E. Coyote?
And the Roadrunner was a messenger spirit, IIRC. Txmystic probably has more lore like that than I have (very little).
I don’t know about TXmystic, but I have to give a class on Coyote (and what to do when he shows up at your rituals) second Monday in November at my church. let’s just say Coyote shows up at most of my rituals whether I invite him or not, and leave it at that.
In a fantasy series I like, Coyote is reincarnated as Glitch, Godlet of F***ups who you make sacrifice to in order to bribe him to *ignore* you.
“Godlet of Minor {Screwups}” – and remember – it’s the Fifth Millennium, and Shkaira’s people’s culture is basically a renaissance of the Comanche or Cheyenne, descended from survivors of the SAC personnel at Cheyenne Mountain…
I’m thinking Nudge has another trick up her sleeve to allow her to leave the library.
but yeah, this strip was funny. Never mention that you’re smarter than someone who can pound you
I learned that early in grade school…….I pretty much looked like my gravatar from sixth grade onwards, so my celebrating my good grades was done out of earshot of the beefy-but-clueless.
One word to your observation: Monica.
(That is, to MAKattack.
I’m not sure Nudge is gunna try and hop into Monica, I’m thinking Nudge is what makes Tina move on her own.
cuz after Nudge was knocked outta Tina, Tina… didn’t seem all there…
oh well, only time, and possibly next week will tell.
I thought horseshoes brought good luck… not being Phix-punched twice…
Seems like there may be a change of guard at the library now that Nudge has been found again, giving Phix more freedom. Also, Nudge (when she revealed herself) seemed to like Monica (and who knows which times the strip’s focus was on Tina, Nudge was “in control”) so Monica may still visit the library and get to know Nudge.
Luck is a relative thing. She is still lucky to be alive.
And maybe she put the horseshoe on upside down, and all the good luck leaked out?
Lowest on the totem pole , hmmm ?
I wonder if it’s going to be pointed out that in general Nudge has been every bit as helpful as Phix has been.
Assuming she was being truthful.
The best tricksters only tell the truth, just not necessarily the whole truth, only relevant truth, or with correct inflection/phrasing. Nudge seems to be one of the best.
We assume…and even if we can point out specific situations in which she was helpful, we can’t verify motivations. Even tricksters can be helpful if it gets them where they want to be.
…and where tricksters want to be is in a position to irritate somebody…
Freindly for a trickster. Anwyay, the rogue demons said they had a secret agent. I guess this eliminates Nudge. Who is it, then? A lot of red herrings floating around. Shelly’s little girl? Jin’s haunt? Tina? I vote for Dietzel. 😉
Whoa! I completely missed the secret agent bit. Where? When? What strip? Link?
Tricksters are not generally evil, and in some cultures are celebrated as the ones that brought fire and medicine to their culture. Coyote was one of those.
I distinctly remember a strip where there was a convocation of demons all facing toward the camera, and their leader, who looked like Jin’s Doubt, told them that it was not over yet, they had an agent. But, now I can’t find it. Help me out fans; which strip was this?
This is the only such strip I remember, but there was nothing in it about an agent.
I’m pretty sure that that’s Monica’s Doubt (certainly the rest seem to be M’s demons) – and i suddenly wonder if the “queen” being referred to might actually be Nudge?
No…they had been referring to Jin’s Doubt.
Thanks to some of the links you guys posted in yesterdays discussions, I’m happy to say that I finally understand what’s been going on for the past year. Even though I read it daily, it’s taken recent events and the Calendar Machine episode to pull it all together for me. Specifically, the section beginning Here and ending Here.
PW Sir, I marvel at the depth and layering of your story. I wouldn’t doubt you’ve set up your own Wiki just to keep track of things and have it plotted out for the next year, scripted for the next few months, and buffered for the next several weeks.
For all that’s been going on, I sincerely hope you get a Hugo nomination, or at least a Nebula recommendation.
Salute!
PS — Any hints when the next book compilation will be coming out? 😉
Thanks for those links. It made a lot more sense to me too, reading it after the fact. Also, I stumbled upon this link
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/call-me-nudge/
The first appearance of Nudge.
Well, the one where she named herself; she’d been showing herself on and off for sometime before, once you knew about Paul’s trick with the screened text.
I think we have have an interesting partnership forming here. I have a funny feeling that Phix and Nudge will seeing each other a whole lot more then Phix would like. Perhaps Phix becoming the keeper of Nudge? Her being the lowest sphinx on the totempole and all.
They would make a great comedy duo.
I am in favor of this plan. 🙂
Phix and Nudge, LIVE at the Annex!
The Annex. Put one (nudge, locked in) in charge of the main Library, and one at the branch location.
That way Phix and Monica’s boss could continue their … acquaintance.
For some reason I’m reminded of the dynamic between the big bulldog, Spike, and his smaller “pal” in old Warner Brothers cartoons. “Hey, Spike, you wanna chase cars, huh, Spike? Do ya wanna chase cars? Would you like that, Spike?” (Spike slaps him, sending him flying into a garbage can) “Naw!”
The way Nudge is looking up at Phix kinda reminds me of that. “I got ya good, didn’t I, Phix? Pretty funny, ain’t it? It was pretty funny, huh, Phix?” *POUND* Phix: “Naw!”
That’s it. It was those two I was trying to remember. Thanks for the reminder.
I was thinking more along the lines of Pinky and the Brain.
Her pose in the first panel as well as her label as a trickster also reminds me of a ferret, of which I’ve had several. “I’ve hidden your keys, dragged your shoes to opposite ends of the house, and pooped in the corner, but look at how adorable I am!”
Holy crap! You’re totally right! I always loved those cartoons, too…
All this means Phix was not in the library for some self punishment kind of thing. At least not in sorrow for all those she killed. She was forced there by her kind.
Making PHIX an outright liar, as opposed to Nudge, who, claiming to be a demon, is automatically assumed to be deceptive (all of which might well be true.)
I gotta wonder, though. Just how many Sphinxes are roaming around these days? (A ballpark figure would be nice)
I don’t think Phix ever said why she was in the library before now, did she? Others said something about it, but did she?
Now that you mention it, all of the reasons were second-hand explanations.
*points to jwhouk’s response* What he said.
Well, what Phix said was vague, but it’s consistent with what everyone else was saying. It implies that she had been restricting herself to the library because of bad beliefs about herself.
Before I saw the second panel, I was thinking that Phix should smash the top of Nudge’s head. Rofl
GMTA!
Z
Heh… the horseshoe was funny.
Poor Phix.
I like Nudge (despite her being female). She doesn’t take squat from anyone. Not even those who can knock her into the next epoch. She takes her lumps and keeps coming back. Gotta admire that, even if it is a bit loopy.
Trickster entities never seem to quite completely learn. Or, rather, a few knocks never change what they are, or what they do.
Tricksters don’t have to remain the same gender. Nudge can be male if it is advantageous.
Perhaps, but we’ve yet to see evidence of that ability in this story.
Hey, I was just giving you an out since you’re a misogynist! 😉
hmm
im liking this story.
phix never seemed upset about being stuck in the library – til now.
and nudge seemed trustworthy (for a demon) til now 🙂
im enjoying this 😀
But wait!
If one Sphinx had to be in the Library at all times…
Who was in the Library when Phix appeared at Tina’s coffee shop?!?!
And yes! This is a great installment! Love that last panel!
Good question, but those were quick trips and probably not a problem. The visit to the museum, however, was a long absence. I guess she just took a chance no intruder would invade while she was gone. Maybe she has an inflatable sphinx she pumps up to scare away someone during those times.
Or she finally got a visit from those ADT guys.
Maybe it’ll have had as yet unseen consequences. :3
I think she got another Sphinx to cover for her. Phix has a lion’s body, not a leopard’s body (no spots). Lions are social. I bet she has a few older sisters that would help her out.
Why isn’t the other sphinx saying, “Shhh!” at Phix and Nudge?
I think the first time we saw her away from the library was on her first visit to Monica at the museum, shortly after the destruction of the calendar machine. with the portal shut, it was only a matter of time before all rogue demons were rounded up, so Phix probably got permission to venture out at long last.
No, that wasn’t Phix’s first time away from the Library. It was just her first time in human form out of the Library (I think). 🙂
I was browsing old strips last night and found a series where Monica came home from some event quite inebriated, and Dietzel was staring nervously at something. Turns out Phix had come to visit (in sphinx form) to deliver Jin’s book to Monica. Phix verifies that she’s left the Library, too, so there can be no postulation that she’d poited Monica there. 🙂
Sorry for not providing the link…I just don’t have the time to dig for it again right now. 🙂
The Library being outside the time flow of our tired old planet, it strikes me as possible that Phix can leave the Library, spend a while on Earth, and return to the Library, with no time having elapsed in the Library.
Ah, but that’s the quandry. Can events occur in a sequential form without some sort of time flow? Even within the library, things progress from event to event. Everything doesn’t happen all at once. So, it must have to do with the nature of the time in the library vs. the nature of time on earth. Some sort of time passes in the library, just that it’s not like the time we normally experience. On earth, instead of flowing with time, we may be standing still with regards to the flow, caught in a perpetual “now” as the river of time flows all through us and around us, wearing us (and everything else) down like a river wears down rocks. Perhaps those within the library flow with time so no “weathering” takes place. If you are in the flow, you should be able to still move about, upstream or down, even sideways, allowing events to occur, but those events are not swept away by the flow, instead they are swept along with you.
What Julie was referring to starts here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/freebooze/
I remember the approximate date, for now, anyway. Actually, it’s easy to remember that Monica was drunk because of a holiday party. The problem is remember the year.
Obviously, the Bibliothiki was a Union shop.
I wonder what Nudge did to trick the sphinxes?
“Ah … Phix … I’m just popping out for a pack of smokes.”
“Ok, I’ll be here, hurry back”
“K, thanks.” *snicker*
A thousand years later … “Doh!”
It’s interesting that they sought to contain her, rather than destroy her. Though, I can’t really recall any trickster gods that were, indeed, destroyed.
On a similar note, how WAS she contained? Was it as simple as tossing her in the library? Or was there some other mechanism to keep her from leaving?
Trickster gods are Powerful. Reference Loki and Coyote for example; i.e. they probably can’t destroy her.To keep Nudge there, the Powers probably made it sort of a challenge. “You’re stuck here for all of eternity, unless you can figure your way out. These are the parameters. If you violate them, you’re admitting you’re not smart enough to get out.” No Trickster would admit that. And Nudge got out!
Makes sense, make a game out of it, etc..
Though, what would keep her there now? The same trick usually doesn’t work twice.
I don’t think Nudge is a God. I mean, Loki wasn’t a God, but he was a powerful giant.
uh… can’t speak for Coyote, not that up on his pantheon/culture…
Sometimes Loki is a god, sometimes a giant and sometimes both. In any event he’s no slouch and can contend with gods; fathered the wolf Fenrir which is destined to eat Odin, and is also the father of the ruler of the underworld, Hel.
She isn’t necessarily a god, though. There are other tricksters who aren’t.
Raven and Coyote (Native American) were spirits, close enough to gods. Not all are: Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck come to mind, or (more traditional) Br’er Rabbit or Reynard the Fox. Or Leprechauns.
They represent Chaos which I think is another symbol for Entropy. You can’t get rid of that without removing an intrinsic part of the universe.
Bah, didn’t mean for that last one to be a reply to your post, per say, So…
Gloating during a beatdown is not exactly a sign of intelligence when you’re on the receiving end of the beatdown.
Well, it’s been proven that Nudge has impulse control issues… if she didn’t, Phix would still be looking for her.
She also seems to require an audience, like many other tricksters we’ve seen.
If Nudge is a Trickster on the same level of Power as Coyote or Loki this “beat-down” is insignificant to Nudge. More of a feel good for Phix than anything.
Why is Phix not in her sphynx form now that they’re in the library? Did I miss some explanation for why she doesn’t or can’t change forms as she pleases? I had presumed the human form was a disguise she undertook for appearances among regular people, but that she would remove the disguise on her home turf.
Maybe there is no explanation and that’s just what Taylor wanted to draw but the sphynx design is what makes Phix unique and I personally prefer that look over her human form.
I get the impression that she does and can change forms as she pleases. She just doesn’t choose to be in full Sphinxy-awesome mode at this precise moment. Besides, you have to respect a woman who kicks ass and takes names…and does it in a cute black dress.
Hmmm…maybe she’s got a date with Museum Boss later (can’t remember his name) and doesn’t want to have to re-cute-ify herself.
My conjecture is that Phix didn’t want to frighten Tina and Monica anymore than was absolutely necessary. Also, this was not to be a lethal confrontation so she didn’t take a deadly Aspect.
She doesn’t want to mess up her sexy “little” black dress. She probably had it custom made.
Oooo, that’s gonna leave a mark. Excedrin headache #Big One!
Um… Nudge? I think I’d try to hold my tongue for a while, if I were you…
She probably almost bit</i her tongue off.
I guess that horseshoe wasn’t so lucky for her! haw haw haw!
I also like the fact that Nudge is stupid enough to keep on annoying the entity who laid her out like a tile floor, and then scrambled her brains yet again.
I don’t think she can help it. XD
It might be part of her punishment/imprisonment?
I’m not happy with this. It seems to contract what Brandi, Bud and Phix had said about the restrictions Phix put on herself. It also doesn’t make a lot of sense. If it was so important that someone guard the library, why would they trust the task to a trickster?
The only thing I can think of is that guarding the library from inside wasn’t really necessary, but Nudge somehow convinced the sphinxes that it was. Perhaps destroying the calendar machine or taking care of the rogue demons made Phix realize that they had been tricked, so she started leaving the library then, but that’s still not consistent with what Brandi and Bud said. It also doesn’t explain why Phix said that she had been hunting for Nudge for a long time. What was Nudge’s deception?
Why would people pissed off at a trickster provide the trickster with so much information that could be used against them? A library would be a great place for Nudge to come up with ideas.
Also, why did Phix and Bud and Brandi say that her restrictions were self-restrictions if the decision to guard the library was a group decision or made by higher-ups? How could Phix unilaterally override that decision? Is she the only one left? If not, it seems that Phix should be at least as angry at the other sphinxes for not relieving her as she is with Nudge.
The good thing about today’s strip is that it makes Phix look less viscous. Apparently Nudge can take sphinx abuse without harm and doesn’t seem to mind it much.
We had one question answered. This library contains all of the information for the universe, not just the Earth or the solar system.
Well… the Genesis story says that Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Perhaps the “trick” was that Nudge convinced one human to buy into something (evil, sin, whatever you wanna call it), thus causing the guardian Sphinxes to have to watch the library in their stead.
Sin still exists and Phix couldn’t stop guarding now unless she recently realized that she didn’t need to do it anymore or that she could guard just as well from outside. Perhaps it was the rogue demons specifically, instead of sin. The ones that were using Monica were destroyed recently. Were they the last of the rogues?
I don’t think that Nudge introduced sin or rogue demons to humans, though. According to Nudge, rogue demons were running amok among the humans before the library became aware of humanity. Perhaps the trick was merely to make the sphinxes aware of what the humans were doing under their influence, thus causing the sphinxes to kill humans and demons (offense) while guarding the library (defense)? What Nudge would have done in that case wouldn’t be a trick, unless she did it in a misleading way. (I’m assuming that a “trickster” always tells the truth, but misleads people.) Perhaps Nudge messed up the sphinxes’ ability to hunt the rogues by giving the rogues access to the library, which would have had answers to the riddles, thereby forcing a sphinx to guard it?
Yesterday, Phix said, “Nudge is the original librarian.” Why would you have a librarian that would guide researchers to misleading information? That seems very inconsistent with the function of a library. But Phix indicated that there would be no one to trick, which would mean no visitors. Why have a library that no one would visit? I’m beginning to wonder if Phix or Nudge are the most trustworthy.
Perhaps the powerful people who locked Nudge up in the library thought that having no one to trick and all of the “knowledge of the universe” would cause Nudge to reform. Didn’t they realize how many crackpot and Get Rich Quick and so on books would be collected, not to mention schemes thought up by fiction writers and real ones documented by non-fiction writers there would be?
Nudge looks really cute in a shaggy dog sort of way. So that’s apparently a dog’s tail, not a horse’s.
Why didn’t Nudge seem to ever try to trick Monica? The only things that we know that Nudge tried to get Monica to do was to get out of her rut and possibly to allow Amanda to accompany her one day. (IIRC, Tina was talking with black text in front of Monica and Amanda, so it was the collective speaking, but Nudge might have convinced them to go along with it.) Getting Monica out of her rut was a good idea. Having Amanda hanging around hasn’t seemed to have caused harm yet. It lead to Monica telling Amanda about her abilities. Is that going to be a problem?
Why does she need fur on her breasts?
To keep them warm?
To keep the comic PG-13 😉
@eschmenk: Who said anything about guiding to the wrong information? As any psychologist/con artist/salesman knows, the best way to trick someone is to tell enough of the truth, and let them draw their own conclusions.
More, I think that there is a lot of people making the assumption that the Library is like our modern libraries, a service to help people. The first libraries were not to help people, but to store, protect, and possibly even prevent the people from getting to their materials.
I didn’t. I said, “misleading,” meaning whatever would be appropriate for the individual. I assumed that Nudge would be able to figure what that would be. 🙂 The wrong stuff that I listed in the second paragraph was about giving Nudge ideas to duplicate; I didn’t mean that Nudge would make other people read them.
The library looks like relatively modern library with books on the shelves and the portal annexes were created to allow access. Perhaps the purpose changed over time, but I think libraries have always allowed some access, even if it was restricted to certain people.
Perhaps the “restricted access” was granted to those powers who put Nudge there?
There are a lot of things implied and as a result assumed based on what we’ve heard so far. Monica may very well turn around and ask Phix how that’s true when she’d been told that Phix’s exile as the Librarian was self-imposed punishment.
Also, there was one image of the Library (I linked it in a comment on another strip from this week) where the walls were made of skulls, and Phix references her violent years. We’ve been assuming that the role of Librarian was the hell. Perhaps that was incidental. Perhaps her self-imposed punishment was to surround herself with reminders of the mistakes she’d made.
Paul has said, repeatedly, that characters can be simply wrong about what they believe, or lie to other characters. For the moment, I will go with Phix telling the truth, and Brandi and Bud simply being wrong about the reasons she was ‘confined to the Library.
And besides, most of what we thought we knew has just been tilted sideways, at the least — best to just take a deep breath, release it slowly, and see what tomorrow brings. Paul hasn’t dropped any stitches yet.
Dammit! I want to know now! 🙂
I realize that the characters can be wrong or misleading. That’s especially an issue now with Nudge. I would prefer to have more solid knowledge right now. I like having things being complex and obvious, but at the moment things are a little to messy for my tastes. For example, did Phix actually kill any humans? We assumed so, but Nudge only implied it. If Nudge is the trickster, we can’t trust that. She called the sphinxes murderous bitches, but would killing demons be enough to say that?
@Julie:
That’s a good point. It never seemed right to equate a library with hell. They aren’t that bad! Phix may have even been building a memorial for those killed, assuming they were killed. I didn’t take the wall of skulls literally, though. I think I may have seen Paul use the same pattern somewhere else. I assumed it was something like the cracks that suddenly appear in walls in ominous scenes.
You also asked, “Perhaps the ‘restricted access’ was granted to those powers who put Nudge there?” I was assuming them and maybe a few others. But if so, then there would still be someone for Nudge to trick, despite what Phix said.
I think the thing that is frustrating me the most about today’s strip is that Phix acted as if she explained why the locked Nudge in the library, but her explanation didn’t make any sense. If Nudge had been tricking people, you would lock her out of the library, not in it.
I realize that Monica can still ask more questions and I’m hoping she does. I wouldn’t mind seeing a wall-of-text response.
Somewhere, out in the Ether, there is a place where all the Tricksters convene. Coyote, Loki, Kokopelli, Anansi, Fox, Saynday, and many others. Right now, somebody won a bet on how long it would take for Nudge to get her lumps after getting found out.
Just occured to me, whenever the current age is over, will the Joker become the Trickster for our society/culture?
Who said that all those tricksters are different entities? Wouldn’t it be fitting if they were all the same one?
It would be a wonderful trick on everyone!
Hahahaha! The lone horseshoe is a delightful touch! :D))))))))
If the Library contains every book ever written…
Does that include the homework that countless dogs have eaten for their childish masters? Radio/TV/Movie scripts? The BIG Book of Extremely Bad Poetry, Vol. 7?
Yes. Or to paraphrase Phix (as I’m too lazy right now to look it up) “But you don’t have to read them all”
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/everybook/
So it will even have books of Vogon poetry, assuming they ever wrote it down.
Every -book- would probably not include every horrid piece of tripe, bad poetry or inept report ever written. It would, unfortunately for those who have to enter, include the Twilight series. 🙁
I think the “trick” was that the Sphinxes were in the Library seeking an answer to a riddle. Nudge answered their riddle, but they didn’t believe her and tasked Phix to search the Library for the right answer. That was probably when Nudge escaped from the Library and stayed on the run until now.
I just noticed the sparks flying from Phix pounding Nudge in the head, there to the left of the horseshoe. That’s gotta hurt.
This very interesting. I know a lot of trickster spirits tend to also be the best teachers as well(Coyote, Anansi, Fox, Kitsune) so in that it kina makes sense that one would be gaurding knowledge.
KONK!!!
Way to go Phix … even though I know that was reflex.
Well Done.
*sigh* Only one more comic and we wait another entire weekend. At least the major, immediate questions concening the confrontation and Nudge, herself, have been answered (in Paul’s usual wonderfuly witty way). The major thing left now is how is Tina doing? Something she says or does tomorrow may very well be the next cliffhanger.
I like trickster gods. Why? Because unlike the typical other members of any given pantheon they seem to be the only ones that use their brain. The rest seem to preoccupy their time having sex, drinking booze, and smiting/cursing mortals. Athena was probably the only god that used her brain and was treated with any kind of respect. I imagine that if you were the only person in town that used your brain you would tend to get annoyed with your peers and would look for a way to spar with them, but your method of sparing would be too alien to everyone else in town because it doesn’t involve sex, booze, or smiting.
This is probably a similar situation because the Library currently being mismanaged in that it’s being dumped onto the “god” that is lowest on the totem pole. That also indicates that learning isn’t very high on anyone’s priority list. That seams to include Sphix at this moment.
For this reason, sign me up for Nudge’s fan club.
Phix appears to have shruink somewhat – down to her original almost-seven-foot-tall-sexy-librarian size; that fist isn’t bigger than Nudge’s head.
Phix is a magical being that can shift non-mass-fixed forms at will. If she can add lions legs or wings at will without needing to conserve her overall mass then shifting to an appropriate size for what ever task is at hand should not be a problem.. Though I do wonder if there is an upper limit.. 50ft Phix anyone?
Yeah, dug the horseshoe! Can’t help but hear Eric Idle doing his “wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more” routine.
Check the first comment on Tuesday!
I thought ‘nudge nudge, wink wink” was a Pete n Dud sketch?
Nope. Afraid it was Monty Python originally.
*nods* Was to do with vacation snaps, wasn’t it? 😉
All about randy wives… nudge nudge say no more eh?
I think Nudge is kind of cute. Then again, she didn’t trap -me- in a library.
Certainly better looking than most of the other demons.
Apparently being a trickster also means not knowing when to keep your mouth shut.
Ya think?
Nudge is ADORABLE!
I think that last panal is one of my favourite comics ever. Priceless!