hmmm…I thought this had to be happening before Jin got thrown into the pit with them (since she was throwing food down to them), so they’d have to be looking up to see her gutting the guards, but the shadows in the last panel clearly show that Bud is indeed watching, and Jin is inside the pit…so I’m guessing this is Jin ending an attempted sexual assault that was alluded to earlier in the story?
Remember the story of the girls being kept for sacrifice? Jin threw them rats to eat, I believe. Brandi is the one NOT watching Jin’s mercy killings, so I think she’s telling this story.
It’s not often, thankfully, that we see someone who has actually worked their fingers to the bone.
Climbclimbscrambleslideclimbscramblesdigcrambleslidefalljumpscrambleslideslideslide…….
So we are going to hear Brandi’s tale at last. Outstanding! We have very little in the way of first person accounts from her; it will fill in a lot of blanks.
I disagree. Since the image of Jin killing is one we have seen earlier in the comic (and according to Jin, that happened after she’d been thrown into the pit with the others), and based on the shadow on the wall behind Bud & Brandi, the fact that blood is spattered on Bud’s face, and the look on Bud’s face (more like someonoe watching in horror than someone looking away after welcoming someone), I’d say the speaker has to be Brandi.
Bud is watching. Bud is watching, and it looks like every detail is going to be remembered, probably late at night when she’s not distracted. Brandi is the one facing the other way, and the narrator says, “But I would not watch.”
All of Paul’s depictions of the girls in the pit have the side effect of visible goose-flesh on me. These strips really effect me emotionally. Very few descriptions in any media seem to do that the way his illustrations and writing does. I am fascinated by the effect on me, but also, can’t linger too long on them.
One of the many reasons I am a fan of his work here.
I think it’s a case of “what isn’t shown” being as effective if not more so than what is shown. Our imaginations can make much more frightening things than Hollyword or even Paul.
It may just be the feeling of extreme creepiness that Paul imbues these panels with, but does not some of that filth look like human bones? It’s probably nothing, since the story doesn’t imply something like it, but it looks like bud has her hand resting in between someone’s ribs, with an arm/hand in front of Brandi.
I wonder.
Was Jin caught because she was betrayed (like she assumes) or was she caught because she murdered the priests who had been hurting the girls?. Cuz I would have suspected if she had been thrown into the pit at this stage she would have looked a tad roughened?
IIRC, she was dumping scarabs into the pit so they would have something to eat. Her boyfriend found out and turned her in to the priests and was then put into the pit with them. It was then she discovered another way into the pit the priests were using to enter and rape Bud and Brandi.
Brandi and Bud believed for a long time that Jin was pouring the beetles on them as a torture.
In this sequence, it appears Jin is entering the pit from outside, via the secret door. So it must have been before she was thrown into it. And where did she get that outfit, mug a mummy on the way?
RE the outfit: IIRC, Jin passed as male for a long time after Maya left, which is why the priests, looking for Maya’s daughter, couldn’t find her. Those MIGHT be breast bindings/a disguise. They don’t look it, but Brandi’s flashback might not be completely accurate.
Jin might be entering the secret passageway from the pit end. Doesn’t look like it either, but that would fit better.
I’m not sure why I assume she starved herself to death. Maybe the references to dumping beetles into the pit for them to eat and the sunken look of her face in the last panel in ‘shegaveupwedidnt’.
Starving would probably take more time than they had in the pit.
I wondered, too. Jin was passing as a boy, but the sexy bandage wrap is remarkably unconvincing for that. They may be an under-layer, or as you say this is just the impressionist rendition.
After giving it more thought, it may be the first panel does not go directly with the others. It may be a scene from her activities related to feeding the girls. I say this given the wording in the panel. The second panel, on, are realted to after she was thrown in. It’s very confusing in any event. It may be why she went ahead and killed herself, knowing she was in for a REALLY painful punishment for killing the priest. Unlike the movies, her ninja skills would not be nearly enough to overcome many of them when they came for her.
I remembered it as she starved herself to death to put the whammy on the Lanthan Priests control mechanism over the chimera. She let herself die before they could break her. But she wasn’t powerful enough, in the chimera matrix, to calm Brandi and Bud’s lashing out at the anger and pain from their mistreatment.
@Jabberwonky: It’s not really clear how she died. I think this is the only pic of the aftermath of her death: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/shegaveupwedidnt/
It sort of looks like she slit her wrists or perhaps gutted herself. Hard to tell.
Do you have any idea how much time that would add to the modern woman’s “prep time”? 😛 Besides, we’d have to have help putting wrappings on if they were going to fit that tight…and not many women would volunteer to do that for another woman…and while men might volunteer, they would be less likely to complete the job they started…
Totchtli was fairly high placed in Lanthan society. Being Mayahuel’s daughter and a very good practitioner of glyph magic. I’m sure she the equivalent of ladies in waiting.
And, I believe anyway, wrapping a present can be as much fun as unwrapping….
Wow. Is Bud realying this story to Shelly, or is it just a monologue?
I think the monologue is from Brandi.
I think it’s Brandi too.
‘T is about time that we hear the viewpoint of the more “sensitive” character of the Chimera..
bugger! Wrong E-Mail
hmmm…I thought this had to be happening before Jin got thrown into the pit with them (since she was throwing food down to them), so they’d have to be looking up to see her gutting the guards, but the shadows in the last panel clearly show that Bud is indeed watching, and Jin is inside the pit…so I’m guessing this is Jin ending an attempted sexual assault that was alluded to earlier in the story?
OK so a new arc that takes us back to the creation of the GGG? This should be interesting.
The Pit Sequence starts Here,
and the inset of Jin is from Here.
Also, what is Bud describing as “food” such that it scurries away??
Remember the story of the girls being kept for sacrifice? Jin threw them rats to eat, I believe. Brandi is the one NOT watching Jin’s mercy killings, so I think she’s telling this story.
I agree with it being Brandi.
And Jin was throwing Scarab beetles to them.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/tepozmeettochtli/
Indeed, I was mistaken. It is Brandi.
I don’t think those are mercy killings – more likely some nosey guards. It WAS probably mercifully swift, tho.
Even more likely it was the guards that were raping Bud and Brandi in order to break their spirit. Jin has previously told of what happened.
Priests, as I recall. Who were doing less-than-benign things to the girls.
Yes, it was the priests. I stand corrected 🙂
The scarabs.
It was scarab beetles that Jin was throwing down to them.
Yes, I’m confused as to who is narrating.
…aaand Jabberwonky ninja’d my response by 60 seconds or so. 😐
Yeah – i think it’s Brandi narrating, since Bud is clearly watching.
Sort of in the “can’t take your eyes off the horror” mood…
It’s not often, thankfully, that we see someone who has actually worked their fingers to the bone.
Climbclimbscrambleslideclimbscramblesdigcrambleslidefalljumpscrambleslideslideslide…….
I don’t think that’s bone sticking out in panel 3, I think that’s just the nails showing over the ends of the fingers.
There’s a country-ish song to that effect….
“Work your fingers to the bone and what do you get?
Boney fingers!
Boney fingers!”
Hoyt Axton.
I love how there was all that comedy last week and now, BAM, drama. X3
Indeed. Slam! Bam! In the middle of it…
So we are going to hear Brandi’s tale at last. Outstanding! We have very little in the way of first person accounts from her; it will fill in a lot of blanks.
I agree! I’m super excited to hear what Brandi has to say…
I think Bud’s talking. Jin is at the top of the pit killing and it’s where Brandi is watching so I say it’s Bud talking.
I disagree. Since the image of Jin killing is one we have seen earlier in the comic (and according to Jin, that happened after she’d been thrown into the pit with the others), and based on the shadow on the wall behind Bud & Brandi, the fact that blood is spattered on Bud’s face, and the look on Bud’s face (more like someonoe watching in horror than someone looking away after welcoming someone), I’d say the speaker has to be Brandi.
Bud is watching. Bud is watching, and it looks like every detail is going to be remembered, probably late at night when she’s not distracted. Brandi is the one facing the other way, and the narrator says, “But I would not watch.”
At last we find out more about Brandi.
The last pic is really heartwrenching with all the filth and dirt…
Those priests really deserved getting their brains ripped-out via their lower jaws….(Yes, it was the priests that Jin eviscerated)
All of Paul’s depictions of the girls in the pit have the side effect of visible goose-flesh on me. These strips really effect me emotionally. Very few descriptions in any media seem to do that the way his illustrations and writing does. I am fascinated by the effect on me, but also, can’t linger too long on them.
One of the many reasons I am a fan of his work here.
Agreed…It’s amazing, but I can’t linger on these images either…and I can handle loads of gore.
I think it’s a case of “what isn’t shown” being as effective if not more so than what is shown. Our imaginations can make much more frightening things than Hollyword or even Paul.
And that second panel. The raw emotion that Jin is feeling at what has been done. The hatred is something you could reach out and touch.
It may just be the feeling of extreme creepiness that Paul imbues these panels with, but does not some of that filth look like human bones? It’s probably nothing, since the story doesn’t imply something like it, but it looks like bud has her hand resting in between someone’s ribs, with an arm/hand in front of Brandi.
I think that’s just some kind of supernatural black ooze Paul draws from time to time, as here:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/change-things-up
I wonder.
Was Jin caught because she was betrayed (like she assumes) or was she caught because she murdered the priests who had been hurting the girls?. Cuz I would have suspected if she had been thrown into the pit at this stage she would have looked a tad roughened?
IIRC, she was dumping scarabs into the pit so they would have something to eat. Her boyfriend found out and turned her in to the priests and was then put into the pit with them. It was then she discovered another way into the pit the priests were using to enter and rape Bud and Brandi.
Brandi and Bud believed for a long time that Jin was pouring the beetles on them as a torture.
In this sequence, it appears Jin is entering the pit from outside, via the secret door. So it must have been before she was thrown into it. And where did she get that outfit, mug a mummy on the way?
RE the outfit: IIRC, Jin passed as male for a long time after Maya left, which is why the priests, looking for Maya’s daughter, couldn’t find her. Those MIGHT be breast bindings/a disguise. They don’t look it, but Brandi’s flashback might not be completely accurate.
Jin might be entering the secret passageway from the pit end. Doesn’t look like it either, but that would fit better.
I’m not sure why I assume she starved herself to death. Maybe the references to dumping beetles into the pit for them to eat and the sunken look of her face in the last panel in ‘shegaveupwedidnt’.
Starving would probably take more time than they had in the pit.
I wondered, too. Jin was passing as a boy, but the sexy bandage wrap is remarkably unconvincing for that. They may be an under-layer, or as you say this is just the impressionist rendition.
Gawdammit, that reply goes down on the bottom of the sequence below…
After giving it more thought, it may be the first panel does not go directly with the others. It may be a scene from her activities related to feeding the girls. I say this given the wording in the panel. The second panel, on, are realted to after she was thrown in. It’s very confusing in any event. It may be why she went ahead and killed herself, knowing she was in for a REALLY painful punishment for killing the priest. Unlike the movies, her ninja skills would not be nearly enough to overcome many of them when they came for her.
I remembered it as she starved herself to death to put the whammy on the Lanthan Priests control mechanism over the chimera. She let herself die before they could break her. But she wasn’t powerful enough, in the chimera matrix, to calm Brandi and Bud’s lashing out at the anger and pain from their mistreatment.
No, it’s been established that she committed suicide to bork up the priests’ plans.
Wasn’t Panel Four Mayahuel?
@ Fairportfan: It was Jin as indicated in thie episode:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/isnapped
@Jabberwonky: It’s not really clear how she died. I think this is the only pic of the aftermath of her death:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/shegaveupwedidnt/
It sort of looks like she slit her wrists or perhaps gutted herself. Hard to tell.
Sexy Mummy in panel 2.
Why don’t modern women wear wrappings? HOT.
Do you have any idea how much time that would add to the modern woman’s “prep time”? 😛 Besides, we’d have to have help putting wrappings on if they were going to fit that tight…and not many women would volunteer to do that for another woman…and while men might volunteer, they would be less likely to complete the job they started…
Totchtli was fairly high placed in Lanthan society. Being Mayahuel’s daughter and a very good practitioner of glyph magic. I’m sure she the equivalent of ladies in waiting.
And, I believe anyway, wrapping a present can be as much fun as unwrapping….
Gee, I’ve seen this one before. (Especially that one panel on the middle-right.)
Yes, that is a repeat…
You saw it here. Notice panel four’s continuity with today’s strip, five years later.
Now I’m imagining Brandi being interviewed by James Lipton, for some reason. (I’d pay money to see that interview, BTW.)
ROFL- Now that is an image I could thoroughly enjoy – I like Lipton, but to watch him lose his famous cool… bwahaha!
I find the current situation abhorrent, but i am glad that we are getting some insight into Brandi’s world.
I love the way Brandi describes Jin and her emotional state in panel 3…