Actually, I think we need to talk to a little blue ‘drinking god’.
This no longer reads as a test by Phix to me. This reads as an actual trap for somebody and Shelly/Justin sprang it.
Who could the target be… Phix? …Nudge? …Euryale? …the golem girls? …Monica?
I think the target would be a certain little blue guy who loves to get people drunk.
The antagonist(s)? Aren’t there a few people who survived the calender machine’s first activation and, dispute having to go through the ‘loop’ 57 times, are still alive?
I think Phix and the GG, and possibly Nudge, would have no problems with the dogs. Euryale is probably pretty powerful in her own right. That makes Monica the probable target if this is a trap. But why would anyone target her? As for Tepoz, he seems to me to be mostly a messenger/gofer type, though he does pull some strings.
Interesting thought, though. I agree that this does not feel like Phix to me. It’s too destructive, too uncontrolled.
I can’t remember where, but I think Jin once told Monica that the beneficiaries of the Calendar Machine’s activation could still die by misadventure, and that she and her mother were the only ones left by the time the resetting problem started.
of all the people in the room when the CM started up, only Jin, May and an unknown number of the Immortal Politicians (IP’s) are left, the OTHER CM caretakers /custodians are all dead. some current theories are: we think that the various Caretakers were “taken out” by various factions of the IP’s in their various schemes for world domination in order to hinder their enemy’s actions. either that, or they were killed off by the normal people (us) who rebelled against the IP’s for not dying and they blamed it on the CM custodians in order to give the mobs a scapegoat.
I shouldn’t wonder if Shelly’s morph is variable: large, larger, and still larger yet, as the occasion warrants. She seems larger than when she snatched up Justin to take him to the hospital; the dogs are about the same proportion to her, now, as Justin was to her, then. And I am under the impression that the dogs are much larger than Justin.
The line that started the movie quote madness that grew into a secondary home language when I was growing up… “If we live through this, which is doubtful, remember: ________ you shoot, _________ you throw!”
Oh, man… Poor Justin…
I know he’ll heal, but that can’t feel good…
Then again, we haven’t been told how pain resistant Justin is. He’s talking pretty coherently in the first panel for someone whose skin is being fried off.
I’m think the fact that Justin’s glasses are still in one piece despite him nearly being cremated is either a special effect of his regenerative powers or a gift from an artisan he’s encountered.
My dad once worked on a truck that dug holes for road barriers. Due to someone’s SNAFU, the truck exploded. His glasses were in his lunchbox on the seat at the time. The lunchbox was metal; it ended up about how you’d expect–melty-twisty. The earpieces on the glasses melted together and the lenses fell out and melted onto the bottom of the lunchbox. (My dad got road rash but was otherwise fine, btw.)
So yeah, Justin’s glasses may now be a permanent feature of his face. (Unless he’s like Wolverine and his body rejects foreign objects by expelling them out the path of least resistance.)
Quartz lenses and titanium frames, perhaps? Not everybody goes in for these newfangled plastics, y’know… I think there are still some all-metal frames on the market.
It may be that by now he’s simply learned to think and act while in pain rather than re-act like most of us do.
The pain is still there (while the nerve endings last) but he’s learned to ignore it as much as possible.
Having been burned severely, well – just *shudder* – that looks like exposed bone on his forehead
Shelly, at least, seems fireproof; and the way she has muzzled the hell-hounds flame is beautiful – she could have ripped them to shreds, but didn’t. Incredible restraint, particularly since she knows Justin is hurt.
I Love a Saturday cliff-hanger .. now we only have to suffer through Sunday – before we get the new strip on Monday . Much less PAINFUL ON MY POOR MIND .
Filthy feral fleabags french-fried a feline’s flatfoot, fall facedown from fabulouse fingers and feel foolish, forgetting ‘friend-or-foe’ flagging of female flighted fancy… BAD DOGGIES!!! BAD!!! NO SCOOBY SNACKS!!! WHERE”S MY ROLLED UP AREA RUG?!??(you REALLY think a newspaper is adequate here?)
Do you read the webcomic “Dominic Deegan”? Because you seem to be channeling Spark. Although I guess it’s better than everyone else here. They all seem to share the Deegan’s love of puns.
That really does seem like it would be a problem for any beast capable of exhaling a flammable (self-igniting?) gas or vapor. What do you do, when you have to stop exhaling half-way through a flaming snort? Where does the unused half-dose of volatile nastiness go?
If there are muscular-contraction reflexes involved in fire-snorting, it might not be any easier for them to just stop, than it is for us to stop a sneeze or hiccough half-way through.
if they have a set time they MUST breathe fire, that is a huge disadvantage and (assuming you dodge their blast) would make them easily defeatable. And considering the dogs would most likely only appear as guards for supernatural intruders since it was stated that uninvited humans wouldn’t be affected, they would kinda suck as guard dogs.
Also, the dogs themselves aren’t immune to fire, so event hat can be used against them.
I’m thinking it’s more her first lesson in controlling her sphinx morphing powers — she did just (almost) under control only bring out the fireproof feathers, and then later switch to full sphinx mode for pooch control. Remember in the bar she seemed more in control of her powers when she didn’t think, she just did — this “lesson” was trying to force her into situations where she “just did” what was needed, without having to think about it, and worry things like “what can I do here?”. “should I do something?”, “what if I don’t do anything?”, “what if I do the wrong thing?” — she’s better off not thinking those things.
I’d say it was just the opposite. She planned to do what she did at the bar. She already worked it out right down to the drink catch trick. The slap on the butt lashout was total instinct with no forethought whatsoever. I believe the gym incident was the sort of thing she was afraid she might do when she was talking to Monica about it.
If you read that strip again…Shelly didn’t plan what she did at the bar. She wasn’t in control of herself at all; it was her sphinxy instincts (insphinx?) calling all the shots — that’s why she was so freaked out by it.
The execution may have been largely instinctual, but I seriously doubt her instincts caused her to showboat with the shot glass. She may have freaked out over it, but she was more in control then she believed she was. The Justin slice was pure, out of control, instinct.
Regardless of how she felt about it, she was measured and restrained in the bar. She freaked out then over what might have happened, more than what did happen. That ‘might have happened’ did, to Justin. I believe that was her real fear come to fruition. It is the measured and controlled response she needs to cultivate and make her own as a first step to in controlling her transformations.
Oh dear! Now that would be interesting, that Phix “just happened” to connect the library to a building where the Other Entrance was a portal to…. what????
Poor Justin looks like one of those Nazis @ the end of Raiders OTLA. (The ‘Melting faces’) He should be back in shape by Tuesday. ~~~ And suppose the two are “PUPPIES” and they’re getting burn’t faces? “Mommy and Daddy” can’t be far away so be on gaurd Shell!
If this was a deliberate lesson situation for Shelly, and if both Shelly and Justin had in fact been invited, it does seem to suggest that Phix must have been fully informed somehow about Justin’s healing powers. If all Phix knew was that Shelly was bringing a friend, would she really have set the firedogs on the two of them, knowing that Shelly’s friend could quite easily be killed as a result?
I wonder if Shelly had told Phix about Justin… or whether Phix already knew who/what he is? Or, did Phix actually screw up, or callously risk the life of a civilian?
If a training/test, I’d say Shelly passed with flying colors. Appropriate use of sphinx form change, with minimum necessary application of force. She didn’t even swat the cerberi away… just used the ancient Vulcan “stifle” grip.
Not quite flying colors as a guardian. Had Justin not been who he is, she would have failed to protect him by not going full sphinx right away. She knew a firestorm was coming and a cover of her wings might not be enough. He was depending on Shelly to protect him, despite his healing powers. She failed to do so.
Exactely. After the bar fight, Shelly was afraid of her power because she thought it overwhelmed her. Actually it didn’t. She was quite restrained in reality. She used her power in appropriate measure without realizing it or even why. Now she needs to learn how to make that kind of response her own so whe won’t be afraid of it the next time. In so doing avoid another Justin incident. That will also prevent her from doing something like she did in the bar in the first place.
*chuckle*. Hadn’t noticed that… yeah, that’s a real winner.
Fortunately the Pun Jar has a built-in spacefold capability, which keeps it from busting its sides open when somebody makes a large payment. Otherwise it would have gone boom by now.
As to a Creator’s Exemption… I don’t know whether that’s part of the current legislative basis or not. Like so many things (e.g. the Drazi issue of whether a non-Drazi can be the leader of the Green or Purple faction) the rule change may be stuck in a committee somewhere… political deadlock is a terrible problem these days.
Perhaps it would be best if we take up a reader’s donation to pay the huge fee for a strip-title pun with such epic levels of awesomeness. I’ll contribute a large solid gold candle schtick. Anybody care to match it?
Nope, sorry. Can’t find anything like that using creator or exemption, or even the roots of creator or exemption (creat, exempt) which would give me any version of the words (create, creating, exempting, exemption, etc.). Perhaps some other keywords?
it’s only because he had scanner issues to work out on Thursday… the comic we saw yesterday (Friday) was actually Thursdays comic, and this one (Saturday) is actually Fridays comic… so we only have one day of hanging off of that cliff, until Monday, when we can see what’s up next…
Soooo…. did you want origional recipie or extra crispy? Justin is ready for turning if you are trying to get it even… dogs that breath fire, some of them with multiple heads… I can just imagen the altercations at an AKC meeting… “… Sir your… ‘entry’… just ATE half the competition and cleared the building with a single belch!!! Get that stupid, filthy-”
“NO!! DON’T INSULT BUSTER!! HE’S VERY SENSITIVE ABOUT THAT SORT OF….”
“GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAOOOOOWWWWLLL….” er, too late…
This does not read as a test by Phix to me. I suspect Shelly (and possibly the entire Wapsi crew) has enemies we (the readers) have not yet been exposed to.
One group DOES come to mind…
Weren’t there supposed to be some others (besides May) who have survived the ages? You know, those who were in the room when May tried to destroy the calender machine 80+ thousand years ago.
Yes, the ‘gods’ Jin has been scamming into funding her by pretending she’s a time traveler with future knowledge. We even saw one once, talking to Tepoz.
The thing is, THEY would know better than to mess with the components of the Chimera, or any of their friends. If this is a trap, it’s by someone ignorant of what the GGG can do, or who thinks they’ve got a way to stop them…
I’m not sure that they are the real danger, I’m under the impression that the bad guys here are the descendants(?) of the PRIESTS… the ones that Tepoz and the immortal politicians (the ones you’re talking about) were HIDING the GG’s from with those two entire Witness-Protection-like societies of the Olmec’s and the other one that i can’t remember the name of, both of which, they just appeared on the scene and disappeared just as fast for no good reasons. i think they finally tracked the GG’s to Minneapolis, found out that Monica was their Guardian/ Controller now, and knew that she had access to The Library… so they set a trap for Monica in order to release the hold she has on the GG’s, though it just back-fired on them because the next person to walk thru the trapped doorway was Shelly and Justin, NOT Monica!
Not much of a trap. Monica can poit her way out of danger in an instant. For that matter she could, perhaps, poit the flames around her like she can bullets. Maybe poit the doggies to Bud and Brandi’s place. They might like pets. Play games such as who can breathe fire the farthest or cat chase dogs. Fetch the tree. Catch the fisbee/earth mover truck tire. Good times.
ooh! i just noticed… the Immortal Politician’s were in the room when the Calendar Machine was STARTED, not when she tried to destroy it, only Jin was in there at that time.
I saw boobs. But seriously this was great. How does the author of this comic keep pumping out the hits like this. He’s at GPF caliber now and that’s nearly impossible to do. Well maybe Elfwood caliber.
I like Wapsi Square far better than GPF and Elfwood; imNsho, there are much more character development – and intricate at that, plot twists, subplots, seemingly innocent remarks or incidences from years back that suddenly become extremely important later – Paul is an Artist!
That would be good. All looking off in various directions, pretending to be busy with something. One whistling, another knocking the dust off something. Yet another examining her fingernails, etc.
#1> The crew (minus Monica) obviously posing in their full glory and quite proud of themselves.
#2> Monica walks into view… hands angrily on hips… and glaring at them. Suddenly, the confidence and pride of the first poster has been replaced by a more… humble… emotion.
I like the first poster, not the second. All of them are supporters of Monica, and more powerful than her. I doubt that any of them, let alone all of them, would do a whole lot to anger her. And I cannot imagine Phix ever looking humbled or abashed in front of anyone!
I’ve just realized…
…the creepy face in my nightmares? It’s Justin. I thought it was the guy at the end of Indiana Jones ROTLA and/or LC, but I was wrong. It’s totally Justin.
I wonder why she was calling them Cerberi in the last comic. I only saw one head on each of them in the clearest picture of the hounds. Cerberus was a three-headed hellhound, after all, and his brother Orthus had 2 heads. I would understand it better if they had multiple heads each, but as it is, I think the name “Hellhound” would be more appropriate… Descendants of Cerberus himself, perhaps? Hrm.
Check the unabridged greek dictionary and you would find ‘cerberus’ was also a title often given to guard dogs of the more mundane of us… just as we of the english-speaking persuasion call them simply ‘guard dogs’.
Thus, Shelly may have recognized that these WERE hell hounds (not sure there’s much left of them now); but mentioned their posting as guards.
Also remember, Paul has already taken rather loose guidance from standard mythology and twisted those myths into almost unrecognizable knots.
Actually from everything I’ve seen Paul tends to stick to the more “litteral” versions, or rather what’s in the books, and not glamorized all over television.
Now, I know the library can replace any of the books in its inventory, no matter how that book was damaged; but…
The library of Alexandria (and several others through history) was destroyed by fire. Fire is by far the most destructive force to any library and we’re talking the most comprehensive, most epic library of all.
Would a library truly select any creature which using white-hot magical fire as an area-effect weapon for guardians?
this library has already selected Apo-sphinxes as guardians and I have gotten the impression the apos are very capable and enthusiastic in their duties.
The apos would not be pleased to be replaced in this instance if the library or Phix were behind it.
Oh gawd. another terrible thought which supports the ‘trap’ theory.
What if Phix and the other ‘Apos’ are NOT ‘totally immune’ to magical attacks (particularly fire-based) because they no longer believe in ‘total immunity’ (which is another reason why Shelly’s little companion frightens them).
Shelly was fully immune to these hell hounds because she believed she would be.
So… the possible target(s) for this trap could include…?
What I’m trying to say is (and this matches the Egyptian mythology to a degree) Phix and the Apos have seen enough (and been injured often enough) to have lost some belief in their immunity to magic (and fire in particular).
You can probably thank adventurers for that doubt.
Shelly has not yet met such defeat or injury (she was ALONE for 80+ thousand years in the forest with only the Apos for company).
Her belief in her status as an ‘Apex predator’ has not been shaken. Thus, her belief in her immunity to the hell hounds’ fire was unshakable and proven true.
and yes, anybody who thought the hell hounds’ fire would burn them WOULD be burned (no matter who protected them).
wouldn’t that be a kicker… magic is only as effective as the victim believes?
Effective, but still restrained. Nicely played.
“Talk to the Hand.”
Actually, I think we need to talk to a little blue ‘drinking god’.
This no longer reads as a test by Phix to me. This reads as an actual trap for somebody and Shelly/Justin sprang it.
Who could the target be… Phix? …Nudge? …Euryale? …the golem girls? …Monica?
I think the target would be a certain little blue guy who loves to get people drunk.
The antagonist(s)? Aren’t there a few people who survived the calender machine’s first activation and, dispute having to go through the ‘loop’ 57 times, are still alive?
I think Phix and the GG, and possibly Nudge, would have no problems with the dogs. Euryale is probably pretty powerful in her own right. That makes Monica the probable target if this is a trap. But why would anyone target her? As for Tepoz, he seems to me to be mostly a messenger/gofer type, though he does pull some strings.
Interesting thought, though. I agree that this does not feel like Phix to me. It’s too destructive, too uncontrolled.
I can’t remember where, but I think Jin once told Monica that the beneficiaries of the Calendar Machine’s activation could still die by misadventure, and that she and her mother were the only ones left by the time the resetting problem started.
of all the people in the room when the CM started up, only Jin, May and an unknown number of the Immortal Politicians (IP’s) are left, the OTHER CM caretakers /custodians are all dead. some current theories are: we think that the various Caretakers were “taken out” by various factions of the IP’s in their various schemes for world domination in order to hinder their enemy’s actions. either that, or they were killed off by the normal people (us) who rebelled against the IP’s for not dying and they blamed it on the CM custodians in order to give the mobs a scapegoat.
Technically, that would be, “bark at the hand,” doc.
It’s therapeutic for her to get her hands dirty.
She likes fixing things.
‘phixing’ things in this case may start with a little note saying “Some disassembly may be required.”
>>>looks at statement quizzedly… pun jar?<<<
Okay – I really should have seen that coming…
Now all she needs is a big log for them to fetch…
OK — now the tummy rubs. And a bucket of ice for Justin while he heals.
Given the pups are six feet at the shoulder or so, Shelly is easily past 15 feet hunched over like that.
Somewhere I remember 16 feet standard between floors, so you have 2 feet drop ceiling for ducting, wires, etc, so it all fits nicely.
I shouldn’t wonder if Shelly’s morph is variable: large, larger, and still larger yet, as the occasion warrants. She seems larger than when she snatched up Justin to take him to the hospital; the dogs are about the same proportion to her, now, as Justin was to her, then. And I am under the impression that the dogs are much larger than Justin.
If anything I think Shelly’s even bigger than when she was taking Justin to the hospital.
Also, remember that she semi-morphed yesterday, and didn’t change size much at all–just grew wings and other sphinxy characteristics.
And speaking of low ceilings, you’ll notice that this one now has a hole in it, matching Shelly’s head.
baha men fan???
youtu.be/He82NBjJqf8
*cringes*
Nah, I’m more of a The Black Dog person…
♫
Silly Library – bringing dogs to a sphinx fight…
assuming that the Library intended a fight.
assuming the library sent them.
I can’t remember my joke! It had something to do with this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhr33v_guns-you-shoot-knives-you-throw_shortfilms
The line that started the movie quote madness that grew into a secondary home language when I was growing up… “If we live through this, which is doubtful, remember: ________ you shoot, _________ you throw!”
–Oh, wait–I’ve got it!
2 predators meet even BIGGER predator!
Oh, man… Poor Justin…
I know he’ll heal, but that can’t feel good…
Then again, we haven’t been told how pain resistant Justin is. He’s talking pretty coherently in the first panel for someone whose skin is being fried off.
Those are some incredibly well made glasses. Fires of Mount Doom you say? Well that explains it.
I’m think the fact that Justin’s glasses are still in one piece despite him nearly being cremated is either a special effect of his regenerative powers or a gift from an artisan he’s encountered.
Who knows? :\
My dad once worked on a truck that dug holes for road barriers. Due to someone’s SNAFU, the truck exploded. His glasses were in his lunchbox on the seat at the time. The lunchbox was metal; it ended up about how you’d expect–melty-twisty. The earpieces on the glasses melted together and the lenses fell out and melted onto the bottom of the lunchbox. (My dad got road rash but was otherwise fine, btw.)
So yeah, Justin’s glasses may now be a permanent feature of his face. (Unless he’s like Wolverine and his body rejects foreign objects by expelling them out the path of least resistance.)
Quartz lenses and titanium frames, perhaps? Not everybody goes in for these newfangled plastics, y’know… I think there are still some all-metal frames on the market.
titanium eyeglass frames are not exactly ‘old hat’.
Tungsten frames would be more useful at this point.
He may heal, but his pants probably won’t…
Hopefully, he’s learned to wear asbestos undies justin case.
As the Pun Jar is now to big to move by human effort [taps Pun Jar with LART] tap tap.
I suppose he’s immune to asbestos poisoning?
I get the impression he feels little, if any, pain.
I think you’re right, as I look back on the cuts Shelly put into his chest. Justin’s reaction didn’t really indicate that he was in much pain.
It may be that by now he’s simply learned to think and act while in pain rather than re-act like most of us do.
The pain is still there (while the nerve endings last) but he’s learned to ignore it as much as possible.
Well, once the skin is gone, there is no more pain for him to feel. So it would be a ton of pain at first and then none at all.
*shudder*
Having been burned severely, well – just *shudder* – that looks like exposed bone on his forehead
Shelly, at least, seems fireproof; and the way she has muzzled the hell-hounds flame is beautiful – she could have ripped them to shreds, but didn’t. Incredible restraint, particularly since she knows Justin is hurt.
ss. Hope you’re okay, man.
As for Shelly, that is restraint, but in keeping with instinct. You can only get limited information from someone who’s dead.
And if there’s one thing sphinxes are incredibly good at, and take a special pleasure in, it’s in posing questions.
The Cerberi might be breathing hellfire or some such that may not effect inorganic materials so his glasses may not be affected .
Looks to me like it affected his clothes…
I Love a Saturday cliff-hanger .. now we only have to suffer through Sunday – before we get the new strip on Monday . Much less PAINFUL ON MY POOR MIND .
You know what they say, “Of all the thing you loose, You miss your mind the most”
Poor pyro puppies,sphinx paw to the face >_<
Poor pyro pooches perplexed per pissed powerful prime predator protecting partner.
*leans back with smug smile, savouring superior savvy*
Someone shouldn’t say such seemingly sage, surely screed, simple, self-serving, self-satisfying soliloquies, since someone shall suffer sudden shame soon, shattering said silly, supercilious, sanguine, smug smile.
See?
*jerks-out of smug flow, jumps up, falls on knees*
“oh evil master, i’ll do thy bidding”
(still a bit smug, because i am not a native speaker..)
“Silly Jay-Em, bringing Ps to an S fight”
Thanks, folks, that’s the most grin-making word exchange I’ve woken up to in quite a while.
Thank you Jay-Em, kind sir, that was fun.
I commend your competent command of conversation in a collateral language. (happily handicapping his honorable hyperbolist cohort…)
Filthy feral fleabags french-fried a feline’s flatfoot, fall facedown from fabulouse fingers and feel foolish, forgetting ‘friend-or-foe’ flagging of female flighted fancy… BAD DOGGIES!!! BAD!!! NO SCOOBY SNACKS!!! WHERE”S MY ROLLED UP AREA RUG?!??(you REALLY think a newspaper is adequate here?)
Frankly, I feel flammables may fail.
My internal alliteration alarm is going off too loudly to continue. Sorry.
Do you read the webcomic “Dominic Deegan”? Because you seem to be channeling Spark. Although I guess it’s better than everyone else here. They all seem to share the Deegan’s love of puns.
Silly puppies. This should teach them you can’t barbacue sphinx wings like chicken wings.
Sphinxes are fireproof! Who knew?
And as a Carolina boy, born and bred, Ah can tell ya’ll: it’s spelled Bar-B-Q.
Are sphinx wings more like buffalo wings, then?
Slips $2.45 in bar gift coupons in the Pun Vault.
I feel a strange need to make a joke about whether the sphynx wings are from Poughkeepsie and I don’t know why…
Luxor wings??
Wow, viciously adorable.
You know, I do the same thing to calm down my cat…although…she doesn’t breathe fire….still she’s pretty vicious.
Wait your cat does not breath fire? Is she defective somehow?
Our cat doesn’t too. She farts fire though. We just count our blessings that she doesn’t go around moaning “dooooooomm”
Yes, and Shelly is without her slingshot.
its called sprinkles then???
yipe yipe yipe yipe!
Nicely Played. I was going to go with the original, but your version fitts better.
Ayayay..poor Justin. He looks a tad….crispy….
By the by. What a nice start of a Saturday morning, a latte, a comfy chair, no work to be done, an iPad and Wapsisquare.
Life’s good.
Don’t make Shellinx angry. You wouldn’t like her when she’s ANGRY!!!
The dogs might be in less pain if they’d just STOP breathing fire.
And yep, I was rights. Dogs to a sphinx fight.
That really does seem like it would be a problem for any beast capable of exhaling a flammable (self-igniting?) gas or vapor. What do you do, when you have to stop exhaling half-way through a flaming snort? Where does the unused half-dose of volatile nastiness go?
If there are muscular-contraction reflexes involved in fire-snorting, it might not be any easier for them to just stop, than it is for us to stop a sneeze or hiccough half-way through.
if they have a set time they MUST breathe fire, that is a huge disadvantage and (assuming you dodge their blast) would make them easily defeatable. And considering the dogs would most likely only appear as guards for supernatural intruders since it was stated that uninvited humans wouldn’t be affected, they would kinda suck as guard dogs.
Also, the dogs themselves aren’t immune to fire, so event hat can be used against them.
To what event does one wear an event hat?
It would hurt–as the Rodents Of Unusual Size (Princess Bride) discovered. Not that THEY could breathe fire.
Do not mess with a guardian sphinx!
Who put the dogs out? Yipe! Yipe! Yipe! Very Catchy.
Somehow, this does not quite match with putting them ‘out cold’.
somehow…
well almost…
youtu.be/He82NBjJqf8
Putting the dogs out with a fire extinguisher…
If they were both invited, as she says, then I do not understand this “welcome” at all.
Well, it’s either a test, or an “oopsie”
I’m thinking it’s more her first lesson in controlling her sphinx morphing powers — she did just (almost) under control only bring out the fireproof feathers, and then later switch to full sphinx mode for pooch control. Remember in the bar she seemed more in control of her powers when she didn’t think, she just did — this “lesson” was trying to force her into situations where she “just did” what was needed, without having to think about it, and worry things like “what can I do here?”. “should I do something?”, “what if I don’t do anything?”, “what if I do the wrong thing?” — she’s better off not thinking those things.
I’d say it was just the opposite. She planned to do what she did at the bar. She already worked it out right down to the drink catch trick. The slap on the butt lashout was total instinct with no forethought whatsoever. I believe the gym incident was the sort of thing she was afraid she might do when she was talking to Monica about it.
If you read that strip again…Shelly didn’t plan what she did at the bar. She wasn’t in control of herself at all; it was her sphinxy instincts (insphinx?) calling all the shots — that’s why she was so freaked out by it.
Prester Fred: [Ahem!]
Sounds like some one is throwing her into the deep end.
For a sink or swim result.
The execution may have been largely instinctual, but I seriously doubt her instincts caused her to showboat with the shot glass. She may have freaked out over it, but she was more in control then she believed she was. The Justin slice was pure, out of control, instinct.
Regardless of how she felt about it, she was measured and restrained in the bar. She freaked out then over what might have happened, more than what did happen. That ‘might have happened’ did, to Justin. I believe that was her real fear come to fruition. It is the measured and controlled response she needs to cultivate and make her own as a first step to in controlling her transformations.
bmonk: Oh, right. Excuse me. (drops 214 Gil and a Phoenix Down in the pun jar).
I still think they went in the wrong doorway, and this is the real reason the building is “still” abandoned.
Oh dear! Now that would be interesting, that Phix “just happened” to connect the library to a building where the Other Entrance was a portal to…. what????
Wait and see………….
Poor Justin looks like one of those Nazis @ the end of Raiders OTLA. (The ‘Melting faces’) He should be back in shape by Tuesday. ~~~ And suppose the two are “PUPPIES” and they’re getting burn’t faces? “Mommy and Daddy” can’t be far away so be on gaurd Shell!
If this was a deliberate lesson situation for Shelly, and if both Shelly and Justin had in fact been invited, it does seem to suggest that Phix must have been fully informed somehow about Justin’s healing powers. If all Phix knew was that Shelly was bringing a friend, would she really have set the firedogs on the two of them, knowing that Shelly’s friend could quite easily be killed as a result?
I wonder if Shelly had told Phix about Justin… or whether Phix already knew who/what he is? Or, did Phix actually screw up, or callously risk the life of a civilian?
If a training/test, I’d say Shelly passed with flying colors. Appropriate use of sphinx form change, with minimum necessary application of force. She didn’t even swat the cerberi away… just used the ancient Vulcan “stifle” grip.
Not quite flying colors as a guardian. Had Justin not been who he is, she would have failed to protect him by not going full sphinx right away. She knew a firestorm was coming and a cover of her wings might not be enough. He was depending on Shelly to protect him, despite his healing powers. She failed to do so.
I think you’re right. Not only that but I have a suspicion of what Phix would say in the feedback. I think it will be something to the effect of:
Exactely. After the bar fight, Shelly was afraid of her power because she thought it overwhelmed her. Actually it didn’t. She was quite restrained in reality. She used her power in appropriate measure without realizing it or even why. Now she needs to learn how to make that kind of response her own so whe won’t be afraid of it the next time. In so doing avoid another Justin incident. That will also prevent her from doing something like she did in the bar in the first place.
“Who put the dogs out”? I think Paul just set a new bar for strip titles.
But unless he gets a Creator’s Exemption from the pun jar, we’re gonna’ need a bigger one….
*chuckle*. Hadn’t noticed that… yeah, that’s a real winner.
Fortunately the Pun Jar has a built-in spacefold capability, which keeps it from busting its sides open when somebody makes a large payment. Otherwise it would have gone boom by now.
As to a Creator’s Exemption… I don’t know whether that’s part of the current legislative basis or not. Like so many things (e.g. the Drazi issue of whether a non-Drazi can be the leader of the Green or Purple faction) the rule change may be stuck in a committee somewhere… political deadlock is a terrible problem these days.
Perhaps it would be best if we take up a reader’s donation to pay the huge fee for a strip-title pun with such epic levels of awesomeness. I’ll contribute a large solid gold candle schtick. Anybody care to match it?
Ok, I’ve got a “clue” Here’s a lead pipe cinch.
I seem to recall giving Paul a Creator’s Exemption sometime around… maybe Christmas? SoWhyMe, you have the master archive, could you check?
Nope, sorry. Can’t find anything like that using creator or exemption, or even the roots of creator or exemption (creat, exempt) which would give me any version of the words (create, creating, exempting, exemption, etc.). Perhaps some other keywords?
Artist?
Okay. After trying some word combinations of Paul, pun, and artist, I found this post by you, actually:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/hold-on-3/#comment-75422
After that I tried immune as well, but no new results.
Yep, that was the one I was thinking of. Thanks!
I think the creator just put a massive carrot on a stick…..
or he’s just been waiting to do that pun!
Revenge for our multitudinous efforts?
A Saturday comic? One could get used to this.
it’s only because he had scanner issues to work out on Thursday… the comic we saw yesterday (Friday) was actually Thursdays comic, and this one (Saturday) is actually Fridays comic… so we only have one day of hanging off of that cliff, until Monday, when we can see what’s up next…
Having actually burnt the left side of my face off once upon a time I feel I’m qualified to respond on Justin’s behalf: OW!
Soooo…. did you want origional recipie or extra crispy? Justin is ready for turning if you are trying to get it even… dogs that breath fire, some of them with multiple heads… I can just imagen the altercations at an AKC meeting… “… Sir your… ‘entry’… just ATE half the competition and cleared the building with a single belch!!! Get that stupid, filthy-”
“NO!! DON’T INSULT BUSTER!! HE’S VERY SENSITIVE ABOUT THAT SORT OF….”
“GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAOOOOOWWWWLLL….” er, too late…
I wonder how Monica and Shelly feel now that Shelly has the bigger breasts (sometimes) in the Wapsi universe.
She may have the bigger breasts in absolute terms, but when you put them in relation to her overall increased size they’re not much bigger…
I suspect Monica would LOVE if her breasts had the same proportion to her body Shelly’s seem to in this form.
The same proportion on Monica would probably rate a “A” or even a “AA”.
Last I read, Monica had “J-cups” and she complained later about her bra getting small… again.
http://acidcow.com/pics/8038-epic-boobs-girl-found-18-pics.html
The IRL Monica ???
From someone not quite there yet… my condolences.
Well, there was this one strip where Monica hulked out – if said hulking-out didn’t include her boobs it’d probably work out…
Then again this is Wapsi Square, not She-Hulk.
This does not read as a test by Phix to me. I suspect Shelly (and possibly the entire Wapsi crew) has enemies we (the readers) have not yet been exposed to.
One group DOES come to mind…
Weren’t there supposed to be some others (besides May) who have survived the ages? You know, those who were in the room when May tried to destroy the calender machine 80+ thousand years ago.
Yes, the ‘gods’ Jin has been scamming into funding her by pretending she’s a time traveler with future knowledge. We even saw one once, talking to Tepoz.
The thing is, THEY would know better than to mess with the components of the Chimera, or any of their friends. If this is a trap, it’s by someone ignorant of what the GGG can do, or who thinks they’ve got a way to stop them…
I’m not sure that they are the real danger, I’m under the impression that the bad guys here are the descendants(?) of the PRIESTS… the ones that Tepoz and the immortal politicians (the ones you’re talking about) were HIDING the GG’s from with those two entire Witness-Protection-like societies of the Olmec’s and the other one that i can’t remember the name of, both of which, they just appeared on the scene and disappeared just as fast for no good reasons. i think they finally tracked the GG’s to Minneapolis, found out that Monica was their Guardian/ Controller now, and knew that she had access to The Library… so they set a trap for Monica in order to release the hold she has on the GG’s, though it just back-fired on them because the next person to walk thru the trapped doorway was Shelly and Justin, NOT Monica!
Not much of a trap. Monica can poit her way out of danger in an instant. For that matter she could, perhaps, poit the flames around her like she can bullets. Maybe poit the doggies to Bud and Brandi’s place. They might like pets. Play games such as who can breathe fire the farthest or cat chase dogs. Fetch the tree. Catch the fisbee/earth mover truck tire. Good times.
maybe it wouldn’t be a very effective trap because the ‘trappers’ think Monica is a ‘standard’ human; but it could still have been set for her.
ooh! i just noticed… the Immortal Politician’s were in the room when the Calendar Machine was STARTED, not when she tried to destroy it, only Jin was in there at that time.
I saw boobs. But seriously this was great. How does the author of this comic keep pumping out the hits like this. He’s at GPF caliber now and that’s nearly impossible to do. Well maybe Elfwood caliber.
I like Wapsi Square far better than GPF and Elfwood; imNsho, there are much more character development – and intricate at that, plot twists, subplots, seemingly innocent remarks or incidences from years back that suddenly become extremely important later – Paul is an Artist!
On another note: Will Paul ever grace us with some pinups of Shelly in her full Sphinx form? She’s quickly becoming my favorite character.
I would LOVE a pinup of the full Wapsi crew in their ‘full-power’ forms.
Shelly and Phix as full-sized Sphinxes, The GGG girls in full Chimera form… Tina at ‘full demon’… geeze.
AGREED!
with Monica in front GLARING at them (and they all shrinking from her gaze)
Dang, you’re absolutely right!
Paul, what would it take from all of us’ns to get that?
(beg, plead, grovel, while, huge soft Puss-in-Boots eyes)
Dadgummed un-caffeinated brain! *whine”, not “while”
That’s ok, my un-caffinated brain read “while” as “whine” and was then confused about why you corrected yourself.
What would it take? Money – zat stuf zat makes ze vorld go around. Commission it. Take up a collection.
No no – not shrinking from her gaze. All of them looking embarrassed, with “Who, me? I wasn’t doing anything….” looks.
That would be good. All looking off in various directions, pretending to be busy with something. One whistling, another knocking the dust off something. Yet another examining her fingernails, etc.
Why not two posters…
#1> The crew (minus Monica) obviously posing in their full glory and quite proud of themselves.
#2> Monica walks into view… hands angrily on hips… and glaring at them. Suddenly, the confidence and pride of the first poster has been replaced by a more… humble… emotion.
That sounds cool!! =D
I like the first poster, not the second. All of them are supporters of Monica, and more powerful than her. I doubt that any of them, let alone all of them, would do a whole lot to anger her. And I cannot imagine Phix ever looking humbled or abashed in front of anyone!
While your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter – why not go all the way and do a Wapsi Square calendar for next year?
With the Calendar Machine as the December pin-up?
I think it would be VERY interesting if this were a trap… to kill Euryale.
or maybe Phix (with the discovery she and the ‘apos’ are NOT fireproof)
you know, I would have liked this more if we got only the first two panels today… just slightly larger…
and the last panel as a full, colorized page tomorrow.
Just hit me – Shelly’s bigger than Brandi now…
Hmmm…
True, but is she more powerful?
Why don’t we ask this pair of cuddly puppies here. I’m told they just met Shelly.
Say, about that last panel…does anyone else notice that Shelly’s putting the emphasis on “we” in that sentence?
Yes, I did.
Wow, that’s even better than whacking them in the nose with a newspaper!
I hope Justin heals without scars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYITD8TMvcM&feature=related
Party in the burn ward? o.0
I’ve just realized…
…the creepy face in my nightmares? It’s Justin. I thought it was the guy at the end of Indiana Jones ROTLA and/or LC, but I was wrong. It’s totally Justin.
Justin’s last coherents thoughts.
“… Hey Boobies!”
I wonder if Justin has magic hair-regenerating powers. He’d look a little funny without eyebrows.
I wonder why she was calling them Cerberi in the last comic. I only saw one head on each of them in the clearest picture of the hounds. Cerberus was a three-headed hellhound, after all, and his brother Orthus had 2 heads. I would understand it better if they had multiple heads each, but as it is, I think the name “Hellhound” would be more appropriate… Descendants of Cerberus himself, perhaps? Hrm.
Check the unabridged greek dictionary and you would find ‘cerberus’ was also a title often given to guard dogs of the more mundane of us… just as we of the english-speaking persuasion call them simply ‘guard dogs’.
Thus, Shelly may have recognized that these WERE hell hounds (not sure there’s much left of them now); but mentioned their posting as guards.
Also remember, Paul has already taken rather loose guidance from standard mythology and twisted those myths into almost unrecognizable knots.
Actually from everything I’ve seen Paul tends to stick to the more “litteral” versions, or rather what’s in the books, and not glamorized all over television.
oooh. Nice one, Paul!
Something just occurred to me.
Now, I know the library can replace any of the books in its inventory, no matter how that book was damaged; but…
The library of Alexandria (and several others through history) was destroyed by fire. Fire is by far the most destructive force to any library and we’re talking the most comprehensive, most epic library of all.
Would a library truly select any creature which using white-hot magical fire as an area-effect weapon for guardians?
this library has already selected Apo-sphinxes as guardians and I have gotten the impression the apos are very capable and enthusiastic in their duties.
The apos would not be pleased to be replaced in this instance if the library or Phix were behind it.
Oh gawd. another terrible thought which supports the ‘trap’ theory.
What if Phix and the other ‘Apos’ are NOT ‘totally immune’ to magical attacks (particularly fire-based) because they no longer believe in ‘total immunity’ (which is another reason why Shelly’s little companion frightens them).
Shelly was fully immune to these hell hounds because she believed she would be.
So… the possible target(s) for this trap could include…?
Anyone who can’t believe their eyes.
What I’m trying to say is (and this matches the Egyptian mythology to a degree) Phix and the Apos have seen enough (and been injured often enough) to have lost some belief in their immunity to magic (and fire in particular).
You can probably thank adventurers for that doubt.
Shelly has not yet met such defeat or injury (she was ALONE for 80+ thousand years in the forest with only the Apos for company).
Her belief in her status as an ‘Apex predator’ has not been shaken. Thus, her belief in her immunity to the hell hounds’ fire was unshakable and proven true.
and yes, anybody who thought the hell hounds’ fire would burn them WOULD be burned (no matter who protected them).
wouldn’t that be a kicker… magic is only as effective as the victim believes?
Paul, I have to thank you and those who work along with you.
You see, I am presently writing four books. some friends have read what I have written and many also read web comics.
They keep insisting I should ‘publish’ my writings (called Nuhome Chronicles) as a web comic.
All i have to do is show them this webcomic (and two others… OOTS and LFG) to convince them my plot lines would not work as a web comic.
Is it me, or is Justin doing a ‘Toht’ impression with the face melting?