Now I have even more questions! I know I know, if I’m going to get irritated by that kind of thing, I should really read a different comic, but this is one of those arcs where the next comic can’t come soon enough.
A few years ago, there were five of us working in just one area of one floor in our company. If somebody called out “Hey, Dave” it looked like Fun Time in a meerkat colony… heads popping up above cubicle walls all around the place.
The Firesign Theatre did a skit, decades ago, about soldiers at war in Afghanistan. The American soldiers all seemed to be named “Happy” for some reason. The Afghanis were all “Achmed” (possibly “Ahmed” but that’s how they pronounced it). The predictable would happen…
Dave, then there was the Monty Python sketch on the Philosophy Department of the University of Woolloomooloo, where all the profs were named Bruce, except for a new one, Michael Baldwin–since his name might be confusing, they thought they should call him “Bruce.”
really be nice to see more male paranormal in this comic. yes i am all for girl power and the likes. still abit bore of girls geting to have all the fun.
True, such rapid healing marks him as paranormal; but doesn’t such a healing factor also give you ‘perfect senses’, since you can’t ever get ‘damaged hearing’ or ‘blindness’ or the variety of other ‘damaged sensory conditions’?
so, why is Justin wearing glasses?
I can think of only two:
1> the glasses are fake
2> Justin’s “type” has bad eyesight compared to humans (for example, rhinos have terrible eyesight even in perfect health)
Healing capability may not imply physical perfection… just an ability to return quickly to his original (pre-injury) state.
With regards to eyesight – among humans at least, there definitely seem to be some tradeoffs in the ways that our eyes work, and these are at least partially genetically determined. Some families (mine, for instance) have a definite tendency to be near-sighted – it’s easy for us to work on things “close in” but we need glasses for distance vision. Other people (and families) are just the opposite – farsighted, great distance vision, but poorer close-in vision and a need for “reading glasses” even at a young age. Some people have a very tight linking between eye convergence and focus, others do not.
It may very well be that Justin has familial near- or far-sightedness. Regardless of whether his rapid-healing knack is inborn or acquired, it could easily be acting to preserve and restore his in-born eye structure, rather than trying to mold it to some form of “perfection”.
We have no evidence, for example, that he has the sort of extremely acute distance vision that Shelly acquired when her sphinx heritage manifested itself.
It’s even been noted in at least one fantasy setting that someone born with vision problems, who gets laser eye surgery to correct it, would get the vision problems back if subjected to certain forms of magical healing.
An even more cruel example: Jennifer Fallon’s Eternal Virgin became immortal before her first sexual encounter–and so came to every encounter thereafter as a virgin.
Perhaps even worse was when she healed with the fellow still inside. . . .
well, I can see that. My family tends to vary (at least on my mother’s side) when it comes to night or day vision.
some of us have such poor night vision, it’s noted on their driver’s license they aren’t allowed to drive at night and some us (like myself) have night vision so good we sometimes ‘forget’ to turn on lights until 3 or four hours after sundown.
those with poor night vision are hardy bothered by the bright Texas sun even at it’s brightest, while… well, you get the point.
I suspect his ‘secret’ is pretty well known among those in charge at ‘the station’.
after all, he has tended to get the calls to investigate the events related to the Wapsi girls.
Also, I seem to remember Shelly ‘arranged’ with his supervisor so he would respond to a report of an explosion on a particular night at a particular time.
That does not necessarily include such knowledge on his supervisor’s part; but it sure makes it more feasible.
Shelly caught the flu from him. Maybe she got lycanthropy from him too, which lay dormant in the Time Forest, but is manifesting now that she’s mortal again. Thus setting off involuntary sphinx reactions.
… and I can see why he’d be very tired of the crazy stuff… all those people coming up to him and trying to feed him their fingertips… it would become very tiresome.
Unless I miss my guess, Justin is simply the descendent of a normal / mythological cross. Paul implied there were some out there. We know that Medusa and Perseus married, and I suspect there were more couplings, many with creatures that are not even in our mythologies, which produced offspring.
I would conjecture that Justin was born with his talents.
This, at least, can be addressed. Golems don’t have fast regeneration powers, but instead are invulnerable. Had Shelly done that to Brandi, she might well knock a hole in the far wall but couldn’t inflict a ‘visible ribs’ injury.
My Guess? Highlander Type Imortal. Not Lantian related thought but someone with a rare genetic Muation that came across after the entire Callender sheningians.
I disagree. He had molars imo. This has come before, with Monica and others. With mouth opened wide enough and drawing the line of teeth in perspective.
I am guessing werewolf… that would be enough “supernatural” for someone to have to deal with (I lose control and become a monster every full moon because my crazy-b*tch ex gave me lycanthrope) as well as explain the rapid healing; someone in a previous page guessed vampire, but I am pretty sure we’ve seen him during daylight, though I could be wrong…
I believe the incidents with the BBQ grill and crazy lady Bud were in daylight. I kinda doubt werewolf since, thus far, Paul hasn’t allowed himself any of the overdone beasties like werewolves or vampires. I’d guess he would choose something not often done. Offhand, I don’t know what, however. Perhaps a centaur? Yali? Minotaur? Satyr? Dragon? Nephilim? Yeti? Titan? Rakshasa? Incubus? Khalkotauro? The list goes on and on. Some form of manticore might be a good match.
Then again… with how upright, straight laced and Boy Scout like he is, he may be the equivalent to Capt. America… a Boosted Human, rather than a Supernatural Human(oid)… and he’s tired of all the weirdness it attracts, and he just want’s to be left alone from it now. Think about it, once an “ordinary person” gets “Super Powers” how many other ordinary things like vegging out in the house watching TV, or going to the movies? OR going on a normal Date do they get to do anymore? NOT MUCH… they’re always going from one crisis to another and rarely do they get to live their life they way they want to, it’s always “The Gov’mt NEEDS You” or they are walking down the street when Blammo! a Super Villain tries to rob the bank he was walking towards, or the supposed Girlfriend is really an accomplice for a criminals trap, etc… etc…
Worse yet… with the right (or wrong) boosts, you can’t even enjoy the simple pleasures of a nice cold beer on a hot day. Either the alcohol has no effect at all on you, or it just explodes out your nostrils as a self-defensive sneeze-flame.
In a certain online game I like to play, one type of origin for ‘supers’ is ‘the natural origin’.
This means the ‘super powers are simply a ‘standard being of their species’ (not necessarily human) has pushed their ‘natural’ abilities to well beyond what’s considered ‘normal’.
Both Captain America and Batman would qualify for this. I know C.A. was originally a ‘boosted’ human; but for decades both he and Batman have proven to get by on finely honed skills and training then on any reliance on ‘beyond human’ ability.
Admittedly, Cap has his shield and Batman has his technology; but >>shrug<< few heroes or villains from comics' golden age fit neatly into one category… not even the big "S" himself.
No, she was appropriately freaked out by the cuts. she went from combat to contrite in micro seconds, then HE was the one that acted nonchalant about the cuts… as for her suspecting nothing, well there didn’t seem to be that much time between her seeing the cuts, and him turning around to walk out so there wasn’t too much time elapsed for any significant healing to have taken place yet, and with how fast she swooshed in and grabbed him, from behind mind you, she can’t even see them right now to tell otherwise…
Right, he acted very nonchalant about such grave wounds. That should have given her pause to wonder right there. She spent 80K years among supernaturals. Surely she should have learned a thing or two about the “signs” relating to them.
i somewhat agree with you, but you DO realize that emotions took over and logic kinda flew out the window, Right? in an emotion-free zone, or if someone ELSE did the cuts and she was watching. Sure, Shelly would have noticed that, but since SHE was directly involved… her observation skills went POOF!… thus, we have today’s comic.
as for the “signs” well if Phix wouldn’t teach her to transform because it would make her look “weak” to the other Apo’s, then I’m sure that that was also a topic to avoid, as well.
Have you ever had serious trauma? I have. I had broken bones in 5 places and only knew about the broken hip. Not to mention the temporary blindness I had because of the number of times I flipped after the truck hit my bike, and the fact that part of my face was hanging off, the front of one leg was missing because it was hit so hard from the back, or any of the other skin that was peeled off on the road. I knew I had probably broken the upper end of my femur, and that’s all I knew, because of the shock and endorphins. About the time they got me to the hospital the road rash was starting to hurt, and when the ambulance crossed some train tracks a couple blocks before that I DEFINITELY felt that in my leg… But most of my injuries I found out about after I got out of ICU.
That wreck was over 10 years ago, my avatar picture was from 3 years ago, and I’m still riding bikes with the same power I was riding when I was hit. One Human Power. If you click the About Opus link on my blog you can read all about the wreck and recovery.
He broke her trust by letting her feel crushed for injuring him when was actually in no danger. So no, she didn’t make that reassessment. And he played those expectations like a violin stringed with sphinx guts.
But the ditch-digging shovel is in the other hand now.
Actually he acted as if she didn’t harm him. He just started screaming about the craziness and walked away like nothing at all was wrong with him. She reacted instinctively to his wounds on her own, so he did not lead her to feel bad on purpose.
Looking at that in hindsight, it could be he didn’t want her touching or concentrating on the wounds as she might see them healing before her eyes. That could also have been another reason he just left quickly.
He wanted out of the relationship now that he was certain she was not normal and the incident was just what he needed to get out. He played it such that she would think he just wanted out and not because he was also paranormal. His strong desire to be away from the “crazy” world was greater than his desire to stay with Shelly. Though that might have changed once he could think things through more and sort his true feelings. Not entirely unlike Alan did with Jin. Shelly isn’t giving him that opportunity, however.
Justin is not the “bad guy” here. He got slashed, recognized Shelly as a paranormal, recognized the craziness that goes with it and walked because it’s a life he has clearly stated that he does not want.
He may have tried to conceal the depth of his injuries, but that’s not unambiguously “bad guy” territory.
The relationship is looking to be in the 65% – 75% lost cause percentile bracket. Sorry Shelly but thank you for playing. We have some lovely parting gifts.
I am guessing that he is part paranormal. He is trying to get away from the fact that he is different because his mother is also like Nudge. Maybe she is Euryale. This might also explain why he keeps attracting the paranormal.
This idea would also explain his using the term “the crazy” when talking about the paranormal. It would have been something that as he was growing up he would have been called whenever the truth about his family life slipped out.
Could he be a bit like Callahan’s character Ernie, the “Lucky Duck”? Ernie’s mother was a pooka, his father a Fir Darrag. His paranormal quirk is that the laws of probability go all wonky around him… weird craziness just naturally follows him around.
Justin may be paranormal but he has always acted and behaved as a “normal”. As far as we have seen, he has his paranormal abilities (whatever they are besides quick healing), totally under control. He may just be impatient and/or critical of other paranormals who can’t or won’t control themselves. Very similar to how some people judge alcoholics, for example.
Wayyy too early for finger pointing time. For all we know, he may have started up as normal then “something”, like a previous crazy chick, happened to him which left him with a parting regenerating gift and a broken heart. And, unless he’s a complete liar, he had more than one encounter of the weird-chick-kind.
It’s very unlikely someone who is a paranormal creature would pick something as mundane as your basic street cop as a daily job. Whose of you who will mention Tina will note she was involved in Mon’s life from early on; Justin tried his best to avoid “Ze crazy”.
I don’t know Chef. There was a series called Forever Knight about a vampire that joined the Toronto PD in an effort to redeem himself and lead a ‘normal’ life. Execution was a bit spotty, but the concept was valid
One of the overarching plot points was the efforts of the other vamps in Torronto trying to pull Detective Knight (and, no, he didn’t drive a black Trans Am) back into their world. It may be what justin is afraid of. He may have been involved with a completly different group than Monica’s circle.
I Agree 100% with SoWhyMe on this: Justin is not a vampire/were-whatever/construct. Paul will hit us with something further far from west than that. The styx ref someone mentioned before could be a good one.. like say.. A gorgon who wants to impress her boy-toy by romancing in Charon’s driven gondola (that would freak me out) then take a skinny dip in; some Babylonian mythos can fit too. Celtic, it’s being a while since we saw Cu-Chulain (sp) after all. What we do know is that Bud saw him once and she didn’t know him.
I’m with you on the vampire/werewolf thing. I was just bringing up an an example of a supernatural doing something as mundane as being a cop. After all, Bud’s a dance instructor, Brandi is an office manager and Tina is a barista. Some of the most powerful beings in the series are just doing ordinary, mundane jobs. With the calander machine and Jin’s problem fixed, they mostly seem to be settling into normal lives. That’s why I think Justin was involved with a different circle of the supernatural. He’s looking to be normal and is afraid Shelly will pull him back into the crazy. The irony is Shelly is just trying to get a handle on her Sphinx side so she can just be normal too.
Don’t even have to stick with mythology or legends.
Most of Samuel Clemens and H. P. Lovecraft’s writings are now public domain.
On second thought, let’s forget we mentioned Lovecraft. I still have nightmares thirty years after reading one of his ‘milder’ stories (and I didn’t finish it).
It just gets better and better… “I’ll see your sphixism and raise you one autohealing- I think you’re bluffing,”… this is gonna be one HUMDINGER “Honey, let me explain,” when THIS one hits the fan!
So, he’s “paranormal” (of course, that doesn’t make sense in the Wapsiverse, as there, even giant squid called “Stinky” (miss the big cutie!) are normal :D, but I digress)
So, he’s not a normal human being. But he doesn’t want to get roped back in? Wha… ah, of course! Like Monica when Tepoz first showed up (him showing up was the start, wasn’t it?). She didn’t want to have to deal with the “crazy” either. Maybe we have similar stories here.
If we wander out of Greek mytholgy it opens up all sorts of possibilities. We’ve seen Greek, and MesoAmerican. I’d love to see something from Irish myth. Or maybe Artherian legend. Whatever Justin is, it ain’t standard human model v1.0.
Oooh… interesting idea! That would explain why he wasn’t actually all that horrified by having his inner working bits clawed into visibility by a ferocious feline… he’s been there, done that (repeatedly), didn’t even get scars out of the experience let alone a neat T-shirt. He probably would be pretty tired of the experience by now, though.
Prometheus would be another character in a similar “Hi, buddy… time to chew on my innards again, is it?” situation for a prolonged period. Amirani (Georgian), likewise. Loki (Norse) was in a somewhat similar situation, although it was venom-drip rather than claws or jaws.
I was referring to the fact that, when he left, he immediately cooled down… he was walking away, looking sad, but wasn’t exhibiting anywhere near the sort of reaction (at that time) which would be normal to a person who had been slashed to the bone.
Yes, he was really horrified during and immediately after Shelly’s slash-attack on him. However, I don’t think (now) that this was about the injuries per se… because he knew they weren’t dangerous to him and would be healed up shortly.
He was horrified because he’d been attacked unexpectedly by someone he trusted, and horrified because the Paranormal had just jumped back into his life in a big way. The latter, I think… his “I can’t handle the crazy”… was what pushed his buttons and triggered his rage.
I guess I’m making a distinction between “Horrified due to injuries received” vs “Horrified due to the sudden re-activation of a really severe set of PTSD emotional turmoil”.
My guess (and I’m quite willing to be wrong) is that he would have been almost exactly as horrified, if Shelly’s slash had actually missed his skin and just shredded his shirt. The “sudden attack” and “paranormal PTSD” issues would still have been there.
Ah, right. Yes, I agree that seems to be resignation at the end. Didn’t mean to jump up your butt about it.
I suspect that “the crazy” are his paranormal fangirls. Longinus or not, he’s regenerative– and you can imagine the kind of sexual interest THAT would attract.
But assuming Longinus, note here: “you’re crazy AND delusional“. Seems redundant. He plainly knows what a sphinx is, since he’s not really startled by Shelly’s form above.
So his describing a gryphon is a test to see if she really meant to insult him with the thought that claiming to be a sphinx would keep them together.
So she’s “crazy” for trying brutal-sex-without-consequences like the rest, but she’s “delusional” to think that having a lioness in his arms is something that could bring him joy. But she doesn’t know he’s Longinus (which the Sage of the Time Forest would suspect if she knew he was regenerating) so she doubles down with “sphinx classes”.
Creepy said he was a Boy Scout. She’s not wrong about these things. Whether Longinus or some equivalent figure, I think he’s a good man placed in an insulting position, and Shelly has unwittingly pressed all his wrong buttons.
No worries, Yamara. Yeah, having quick regenerative powers could have certain advantages in interpersonal relationships… and Shelly did mention that he’d “frisked her” four times on one occasion 🙂
In general I think I agree with you… what we have here could well be two basically-good people, each with a heavy weight of “weird former experiences” and secrecy, who managed to each inadvertently trigger the other’s hot-buttons. Basically a “failure to communicate” – neither dared tell the other the truth, until (perhaps) too late. The spank/slash/shout-fest brought out the worst possible aspects of each of them, suddenly and without warning to either.
The way Justin is behaving, I sorta wonder whether his problem might be two-fold: he’s had some pretty traumatic experiences involving the paranormal, and maybe he’s never had anyone with whom he could really talk them out and process them emotionally and come to terms with them. He’s acting like a man who has “buried” his earlier traumas as well as he could… and this works for some people, but causes serious backlash for others. He’s “walking wounded”, emotionally.
If he can conquer his urge to flee, and talk things over with Shelly honestly… who knows? The two of them might be able to heal one another.
Something I’ve been firmly advised, in my training as a volunteer emergency responder: if you’re ever offered “post-incident counseling” after being involved in any sort of accident or disaster response, say “Yes”. Simply talking through what you’ve experienced, with someone trained in how people react to trauma, can save you all sorts of difficulties down the road.
Dave–you make an interesting point. Would someone with instant healing still get PTSD from the experience of injury?
I’m thinking that it could be yes, from the pain, the stress of healing, wondering if it’s gonna work this time, how long the injury will last, and so on.
Did anyone else notice that Shelly was holding onto him at first, and then in the last panel let go and spoke in a soft (dangerously so) voice (check out the font size change!) so that Justin is dangling in great panic? LOL. Paul, you’re a master at these subtle little changes between panels!
*hands over cuppa’joe, and joins in counting dustspecks that dance in a streak of cold winter-light.
The light subtely caresses the pictures of deities hanging on the wall at Mucho-mocha. Almost like a slight giggle of higher powers, revelling in the poor souls stuck in confusion-corner.
Luckily Tina’s happy smile makes the utter confusion somewhat more bearable.
Softly I mutter : “what more is mister Taylor going to launch at us.”
Tina flashes her silver eyes at me, leans over, bridging her fingers: “what is it with You readers? You engage in a comic of which You know that it’s comprised of oddness, weirdness and peculiar mythology cross-overs, and yet, You immediately become recluses in Your confusion-corner when the crazy hits the fan.”
I look at her, a slight tired smile creeping up in the corners of my mouth :” well..You’re right, as always. Doesn’t mean I cannot enjoy being slapped around in a figurative sense… Keeps the mind flexible and fresh.”
Again Tina flashes her hallmark toothy smile -ever so slightly unnerving, yet the only solid thing we can hold-on to: “lookatyou. You’ve been coming here for..like.. 10 years? It proves that You are way more flexible than You give Yourself credit for…. Here, a latte, both of you. ‘s on the house, for being confused, but tenacious enough to keep coming back”
I smile back, sigh deeply and resume counting dustspecks.. She’s right… We’re allsuckers for punishment…..
I believe it was Moe Howard who, being annoyed with an overly enthusiastic clairvoyant, said something to the effect that it was the first time he wanted to strike a happy medium … or maybe Groucho Marx … or both.
It seems there are a few questions to answer. Everyone seems to be paying the most attention to the first one: What is Justin? However, there are still a few others. For starters, why does he want to avoid the paranormal? It probably has to do with a particularly unpleasant experience in the past. Maybe his introduction to the supernatural was of the rubber room inducing variety. Finally, “I don’t want to be drawn back into the paranormal,” implies that he knew other supernaturals. Who are they and what are their goals and motives?
All good questions. I’ll throw in another one or two: is being a Minneapolis policeman his real job, or does (did?) he have another, paranormal-related duty? If he did, once, but is now “out of the game”, just what happened? Is this the fabled MIB, or something else entirely?
The answers to all of these questions are probably intertwined in very interesting ways. The one thing that seems certain, is that Justin is not just the simple straight-arrow mundanely-TB’ed cop that Shelly (and Bud) had thought up until now.
Well, we know he’s not a sparklevire werewolf. They just stand around shirtless moping after self absorbed highschool girls that date the sparklevires.
… or maybe he was one of the immortals who rule the world behind the scenes, who got tired of the crazy and dropped out of the game. Took a low key job helping ordinary people, only dealing with ordinary crazy, but at least making it better. Until he started bumping into Shelly and Bud …
Immortality has many facets, some of which the ancients contemplated.
Tithonus and the Cumaean Sibyl were cursed with eternal life without eternal youth.
In Wapsi, the Calendar Machine immortals have (had?) eternal youth, but not invulnerability.
Justin is a self-healer; that may imply immortality, but he may be “cursed” like Tithonus, which may mean old age could still take him.
If he’s a (relatively) impervious immortal, he would always avoid commitment with mortals, since they would always wither and die on him (a la Highlander). But his commitment problem is with paranormals, i.e. immortals in the mix. So something else has been affecting his attitude.
It could be that he was of a faction or group that caused something horrid to happen. And because of that he became sort of a monastic protector of humans, that is why he is a cop. And ‘the crazy’ is what he sees as part of what led up to the defining moment that made him go “screw this, I am outta here” and leave his group to be on his own. He could be running away in avoidance, just wanting to mind his own business & live out his remaining time under the radar as a human.
The don’t touch thing was most likely avoidance of being discovered by her and ruining his ‘cover’
OR, he is in a karmic type of witness protection for other beings, and is afraid that once discovered some big bad ugly will come looking for him.
So far all I have seen is suggestions that Justin is a were creature, a mythological being or an enhanced human. I suspect that Pablo is much more creative than that. Justin is certainly not a vampire as we have seen him out in the daylight. He is probably not a were creature either as he would long ago been outed by being called to duty while in his “were” state. We’ve already had a plethora of mythological beings, golems and “committees” so they would not be anything new. An enhanced human, an android, an alien, even an alternate universe or time traveler are possibilities but I think we will be very surprised. There are people here who are far more creative than me. I urge to expand your speculations.
Earlier, I was contemplating what Friday’s cliffhanger was going to be as I was expecting some “flybys” until then. However, Paul I was selling Pablo short. He has started Friday early!
I want to speculate, but at the same time, I’m rarely right about what Paul has planned, so if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll sit back and enjoy the ride.
I’m wondering what he will think of Monica and gang. He’s probably a werewolf and has been hanging out with low power supernatural types (other weres, vamps, etc) … while Monica and Shelly hang out with ageless godlike beings and save the world …
I have great issue with anyone who projects their trauma/issues on to others, rips the other person to emotional shreds and runs off (Shelly also had this phase, and she’s just growing past it).
I empathize that he’s been hurt and it was a knee jerked/panicked self defense action- but that is no go.
Shelly ain’t an abusive ex, she’s an equally confused and scared “don’t want to be paranormal but it keeps happening anyway” who most likely one of few people who can understand his feelings on the issue.
While she would not be wrong in that action, and before her ‘growth spurt’ that could be argued as the more healthy action for her – it would only keep the guy in the same destructive loop that he is in. Shelly, while still untrained in her knew found knowledge and skill, should be able to handle him a bit better seeing as he’s ‘outted’ himself in being part of the paranormal. I’m hoping she sees a bit of her old self in his actions and remembers what others have done to kick her head out of her ass when she needed it.
If he’s got some kinda super powers then that makes his reaction even more unacceptable. How dare he make her feel so freakish?! And calling her crazy…?! Drop him Shelly. Not like dump him. I mean drop him from a thousand feet up. Let’s see him recover from that.
That’s what he wanted. That’s precisely the reason he did that. He knew her well enough to know she’d bounce back and write him off as not worth the effort. He probably didn’t realize how bad his injury looked, though, or he’d have known she wouldn’t leave him to die in the snow no matter how pissed off she got.
No. He wanted her to break up with him… “drop him” in common slang. He wanted her out of his life, and was apparently willing to be deliberately harsh with her in order to make that happen.
People are suggesting that she should perhaps “drop him” in a more literal sense. Given that this is Minneapolis we’re talking about, she could drop him in a littoral sense… there are plenty of lakes and at least one river nearby, shore ’nuff!
I actually think there may be some hope for this couple.
Justin was attracted to Shelly because, by his measures, she’s not crazy, at least in the sense that a paranormal usually acts abnormally, and frankly that is still the case. Shelly’s just a little more dangerous than most “normal” girls.
In fact Shelly’s even afraid of herself.
And LO! She finds out that her boyfriend isn’t a delicate piece of cut crystal but can actually stand up to a little roughhousing!
These two were made for each other.
I don’t know, there may be more then we think. Owen could have epic cuteness, Alan may have near-infinite patience/understanding and Kevin has a healthy dose of Mr. Lucky or Mr. Right. 😛
Dietzel is a perfectly normal talking dog, except for being mute. And yes, when we’re using Dietzel as our yardstick for ‘normal’ the claim to normality is definitely lost.
In retrospect, some level of fast healing would be necessary to date Shelly. Combine her massive strength, accident prone nature, and the throws of passion…
Great, so let’s see here:
* she’s not making it up and he doesn’t care,
* he doesn’t want her around BECAUSE she’s superhuman,
* he’s superhuman too so she’s about as impressive as a 2 dollar coin in Canada, and
* she’s STILL too crazy for him?
At this point, I really don’t care what cop man has been through, imho, he’s an top notch asshole and she’s better off without him (in spite of the “perfect match” factor). And this is coming from someone who’s dated crazy people.
I’m getting to feel the same way. I hope they can work through their issues, but this is just….. argh. It’s like telling someone with PTSD thast you don’t want to deal with crazy when you have OCD or something.
Uh huh. Not a Time Lord (face didn’t change), fast regen, familiarity with the paranormal – I’m guessing
a) either boosted or fast healing mutant, and
b) either former MIB or deep-cover and doesn’t want to go back to the nest.
Something odd about that last panel. If he is “extra-human” it seems that it is fairly limited. He is asking to be taken back to his car. So, it sounds like he can’t fly or otherwise magically transport himself. Also, if he is asking to be taken back, not set down where he is, is he prolonging the experience? Maybe subconsciously he doesn’t want it to end?
Either like Capt. Jack, or the father in Marvel’s Clan Destine. A normal human “gifted” with resistance to harm. Not as much a healing factor, more like bounce-back in Justin’s case.
Of course Justin isn’t a time lord. Shelly’s the time lord. I mean she’s much older than she looks, and couldn’t have become what she is without time travel.
The revelation, whate’er it is, promises to be most interesting. Are there any Chekhov’s guns laying around that haven’t been used yet, that might give us a hint as to who or what Justin really is?
I can’t think of any specific clues left lying around which would seem to point directly to Justin, other than (as Yamara pointed out) Justin’s lack of concern about catching Shelly’s flu.
On the other hand, there are plenty of broad supporting elements which have been introduced in the last year, or older ones not mentioned recently… I expect that Justin’s true nature will turn out to be something which isn’t as much out of left field as it appears initially.
The Lakhenaten-tech survivors of the chimera apocalypse, the MIB, the roles that the gorgons may have played, possibly other figures from Greek mythology, Brandi’s “deal”, Shiva and Amun and perhaps other “gods” being extradimensional visitors… all elements which have been introduced since Jin’s healing, and not really brought into full play yet. And, after a decade of plotting, there are plenty of other things mentioned years ago but not fully explained, as well. Justin’s secret identity may well fit into one of these plot elements. Or, perhaps not 🙂
Paul hasn’t just left us one potential Chekhov’s gun to look for. He’s put a whole National Guard armory of possibilities on the table.
I think Shelly’s line in the first panel is beautiful. It truly shows how much she’s grown as a character.
“I love you and you mean a lot to me, so I’m going to make sure you’re okay and then I’m going to walk out of your life because you don’t want me in it.”
That is so gorgeous in the fact that it means she truly cares about him. She doesn’t care about what he can provide for him, she doesn’t care about the security anymore, she cares honestly about his happiness and that’s all kinds of gorgeous. And she’s willing to sacrifice her own happiness in order to do it.
I was wondering why he was remarkably coherent for a guy who has lot a lot of blood. So… we’re not dealing with a guy denying the existence of ‘crazy’ but a guy denying himself.
Yeah, Justin’s backstory is greatly anticipated by the readers.
I can see why he chose a career in law enforcement though.
First of all he may have recently discovered that that he is very nearly immortal and so needs to understand humanity and what it’s capable of. Being a cop gives you a ringside seat there.
Second, he may actually empathize with his fellow man enough to think that his place in the thin blue line is better filled by him than some poor schmuck who will actually get killed during that Domestic Dispute call.
Call it nitpicky, but that revelation in Panel#2 (that Officer TB’s muscles and bones were exposed by the cut, not just his skin torn) is kind of a big deal, and not at all conveyed when he was first slashed, primarily due to limitations presented by Wapsi’s art style.
Wondering if maybe that should have been more clear back last week than just revealed now.
I am guessing that Paul made it so vague art wise to keep us from jumping to this conclusion. Part of the art of suspense is knowing when to leave out visual details at the correct moment after all.
Justin’s actual type (if you can call it that) has so many possibilities.
Think about myths and legends alone (let’s forget folklore for the moment).
There are so many possible mythical or legendary abilities which could be explained by a ‘rapid healing’ factor (stretching easily into the hundreds).
Not saying Justin is one, but he could easily be descended from a being who had one of those ‘powers’.
as somebody who has a… abnormal healing ability… I know it can cover a lot of ‘unrelated’ mythical or legendary abilities.
No, I wouldn’t heal that mauling in just minutes (and I would definitely carry the scars for the rest of my life); but I have had doctors shaking their heads in confusion.
The latest… I totaled my rig when I fell sleep. My right femur was pushed through my pelvis (yes it hurt). Doctors expected me to be bedridden 3 months and using a can (or even a walker) the rest of my life.
I carried the crutches into their office 3 weeks later. they thought I was just ‘toughing it out’.
Two weeks later, They gave me a clean bill of health and sent me home.
I have had several instances where the docs SWORE I should be in the grave or worse.
One, I was working above my head at a construction site and stepped into open air…
I landed upside down so hard my knee was sprained from impact on the concrete beside my ear.
Three fractured vertebra (C2,3,4) and a concussion.
three months later, the docs thought they had the wrong medical files because they couldn’t find any evidence of the fractures on x-rays.
I was working in a junk yard and was hit by a pole so hard it shattered my hard hat.
Cracked skull and hyper-extended neck muscles.
a month later, again no evidence on x-rays.
like I said, I don’t know what the guy upstairs is saving me for, but I’m thankful.
Someone called it! He’s paranormal too!
Darn, I wanted to see the scene at the ER when she came flying in.
Either paranormal, or a technolohically-modified human.
It does explain why he wasn’t even more freaked out about his injuries than he was.
Now I have even more questions! I know I know, if I’m going to get irritated by that kind of thing, I should really read a different comic, but this is one of those arcs where the next comic can’t come soon enough.
It’s in the first line there. He’s still gonna struggle with “the crazy”.
He can struggle with “the crazy” all he wants. But at this point of time, she’s a lot bigger than him, and has quite a secure hold.
Sure. I’ll take you to 1500 feet above your car and drop you off.
Since that’s obviously not a problem.
The healing isn’t a problem.
Hammering the dents out of the car roof is a problem. Or, at least, a real bother. You can only do that so many times before metal fatigue sets in.
Unless you know a good mechanic…
Heh, I see what you did there…
Hakuna matata, Justin.
I think that was me; I don’t remember seeing anyone else tag that idea so explicitly.
So he’s not defenseless, good. Shelly didn’t know that, though.
The crazy he’s talking about is the crazy that goes with the paranormal life. Interesting.
When attacked, he didn’t fight back, although he may well be capable of that. Good on him.
And Shelly, bless her, isn’t insisting the he love her or else. There’s hope for the girl yet.
Ze plot, it thickens…
Oatmeal-ish…
gotta love a guy who can take the lumps.
plink. plink.
Oatmeal? Are you crazy!?
“Thicken”, hell, a whole bag of plot flour just got dumped in the mixer.
On another note, we have too many Daves! I think I’ll change my nick to Dave11 (year I started reading Wapsi).
You’ll forgive me if I appropriate that line for use at some later date 🙂
If your spoon won’t stand up in the oatmeal or the plot, it’s too damn thin anyway.
A few years ago, there were five of us working in just one area of one floor in our company. If somebody called out “Hey, Dave” it looked like Fun Time in a meerkat colony… heads popping up above cubicle walls all around the place.
😀 Works the same with “Chris” also!
I had an experience like that on a family vacation one year–Dad, me, two brothers-in-law all responding to “Bob”.
The Firesign Theatre did a skit, decades ago, about soldiers at war in Afghanistan. The American soldiers all seemed to be named “Happy” for some reason. The Afghanis were all “Achmed” (possibly “Ahmed” but that’s how they pronounced it). The predictable would happen…
Hey, Achmed!
WHAT?
Dave, then there was the Monty Python sketch on the Philosophy Department of the University of Woolloomooloo, where all the profs were named Bruce, except for a new one, Michael Baldwin–since his name might be confusing, they thought they should call him “Bruce.”
Is your name not Bruce?
really be nice to see more male paranormal in this comic. yes i am all for girl power and the likes. still abit bore of girls geting to have all the fun.
I am slightly confused, here.
True, such rapid healing marks him as paranormal; but doesn’t such a healing factor also give you ‘perfect senses’, since you can’t ever get ‘damaged hearing’ or ‘blindness’ or the variety of other ‘damaged sensory conditions’?
so, why is Justin wearing glasses?
I can think of only two:
1> the glasses are fake
2> Justin’s “type” has bad eyesight compared to humans (for example, rhinos have terrible eyesight even in perfect health)
Healing capability may not imply physical perfection… just an ability to return quickly to his original (pre-injury) state.
With regards to eyesight – among humans at least, there definitely seem to be some tradeoffs in the ways that our eyes work, and these are at least partially genetically determined. Some families (mine, for instance) have a definite tendency to be near-sighted – it’s easy for us to work on things “close in” but we need glasses for distance vision. Other people (and families) are just the opposite – farsighted, great distance vision, but poorer close-in vision and a need for “reading glasses” even at a young age. Some people have a very tight linking between eye convergence and focus, others do not.
It may very well be that Justin has familial near- or far-sightedness. Regardless of whether his rapid-healing knack is inborn or acquired, it could easily be acting to preserve and restore his in-born eye structure, rather than trying to mold it to some form of “perfection”.
We have no evidence, for example, that he has the sort of extremely acute distance vision that Shelly acquired when her sphinx heritage manifested itself.
It’s even been noted in at least one fantasy setting that someone born with vision problems, who gets laser eye surgery to correct it, would get the vision problems back if subjected to certain forms of magical healing.
An even more cruel example: Jennifer Fallon’s Eternal Virgin became immortal before her first sexual encounter–and so came to every encounter thereafter as a virgin.
Perhaps even worse was when she healed with the fellow still inside. . . .
well, I can see that. My family tends to vary (at least on my mother’s side) when it comes to night or day vision.
some of us have such poor night vision, it’s noted on their driver’s license they aren’t allowed to drive at night and some us (like myself) have night vision so good we sometimes ‘forget’ to turn on lights until 3 or four hours after sundown.
those with poor night vision are hardy bothered by the bright Texas sun even at it’s brightest, while… well, you get the point.
The glasses are very important; they keep his coworkers from connecting his mundane and superhero identities.
Just thought I should link to this just because. It’s funny and it goes with your comment.
I suspect his ‘secret’ is pretty well known among those in charge at ‘the station’.
after all, he has tended to get the calls to investigate the events related to the Wapsi girls.
Also, I seem to remember Shelly ‘arranged’ with his supervisor so he would respond to a report of an explosion on a particular night at a particular time.
That does not necessarily include such knowledge on his supervisor’s part; but it sure makes it more feasible.
Whoa…what the heck is he???
I got two oatmeal creme pies says he’s a Werecritter of some type.
I don’t think he’s a were. But then, I haven’t been right in my guesses yet.
Maybe he was contagious.
Shelly caught the flu from him. Maybe she got lycanthropy from him too, which lay dormant in the Time Forest, but is manifesting now that she’s mortal again. Thus setting off involuntary sphinx reactions.
Nah. I’m just spinning hay. He’s Wolverine.
… and I can see why he’d be very tired of the crazy stuff… all those people coming up to him and trying to feed him their fingertips… it would become very tiresome.
I’m not sure he smokes enough to be Wolver–
–wait… *tsss*
…nevermind. >:D
God I hope so! That would be freaking excellent!
Unless I miss my guess, Justin is simply the descendent of a normal / mythological cross. Paul implied there were some out there. We know that Medusa and Perseus married, and I suspect there were more couplings, many with creatures that are not even in our mythologies, which produced offspring.
I would conjecture that Justin was born with his talents.
or maybe he’s a golem/jar thing like the three drunk college girls?
Of course, I’d rather he be a Jedi. Jedis are great in bed.
This, at least, can be addressed. Golems don’t have fast regeneration powers, but instead are invulnerable. Had Shelly done that to Brandi, she might well knock a hole in the far wall but couldn’t inflict a ‘visible ribs’ injury.
Hmmm. This leads to interesting possibilities.
Hey, Brandi… could you come over here and hold out your arm?
Sure, Shelly… but why?
Oh, my talons need sharpening, and I forgot my emery board.
SCRAAAAAPE</b
Or perhaps that’s asking too much, even of a friend?
Oo! Perhaps it’s a whole new pantheon that’s dabbled…Justin looks like he might just be Nordic…
If he can give birth, we’ll know he’s Loki’s. 😛
Justin: “O thit! I’m Thor!”
[drops a slightly used, short-handled war hammer in the pun jar.]
My Guess? Highlander Type Imortal. Not Lantian related thought but someone with a rare genetic Muation that came across after the entire Callender sheningians.
Nahh, He’s just probably from Duluth.
Christopher Lambert from the original Highlander has horrible eyesight so maybe it is a Highlander thing…
Self Help?
I don’t think he’s a werewolf, just immortal.
Are there any Demi Gods named “Justin”?
Justin(Irish)=Judicious
What is officer “Tightbuns” last name?
His full name, I believe, is Justin Case….
The Pun Jar is getting too heavy to rattle any more. {taps Pun Jar with Mega-LART}
No, I mean that’s really his name…..
What? Hes gonna sell her Car Insurance now?
I hated that commercial. Reminded me of grade school.
Allow me to be the first….
Dun dun DUNNNNNN!!!!
Okayyyy… kudos to anyone who called it that Justin has some paranormal abilities. This is getting interesting…
The author gave us a hint. A strip or two back, he had fangs.
I disagree. He had molars imo. This has come before, with Monica and others. With mouth opened wide enough and drawing the line of teeth in perspective.
Very interesting!
Justin is Wolverine?!?!
I am guessing werewolf… that would be enough “supernatural” for someone to have to deal with (I lose control and become a monster every full moon because my crazy-b*tch ex gave me lycanthrope) as well as explain the rapid healing; someone in a previous page guessed vampire, but I am pretty sure we’ve seen him during daylight, though I could be wrong…
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand, walking through the streets of Soho in the rain.
This ain’t London, but who knows. Maybe a game of lawn darts is in his future?
He was lookin’ for the place called Lee Ho Fooks
Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein
Al Woo, the Werewolf of London!
At least he’s staying off the moors.
@Dave: If you haven’t yet, check out the webcomic Spinnerette, and meet the Werewolf of London, Ontario!
Not familiar with it, I’ll check it out – thanks!
Spinnerette is pretty awesome. Have fun!
All together now:
“That’s not Winston!”
I believe the incidents with the BBQ grill and crazy lady Bud were in daylight. I kinda doubt werewolf since, thus far, Paul hasn’t allowed himself any of the overdone beasties like werewolves or vampires. I’d guess he would choose something not often done. Offhand, I don’t know what, however. Perhaps a centaur? Yali? Minotaur? Satyr? Dragon? Nephilim? Yeti? Titan? Rakshasa? Incubus? Khalkotauro? The list goes on and on. Some form of manticore might be a good match.
OR… Those WEREN’T Molars!…
Then again… with how upright, straight laced and Boy Scout like he is, he may be the equivalent to Capt. America… a Boosted Human, rather than a Supernatural Human(oid)… and he’s tired of all the weirdness it attracts, and he just want’s to be left alone from it now. Think about it, once an “ordinary person” gets “Super Powers” how many other ordinary things like vegging out in the house watching TV, or going to the movies? OR going on a normal Date do they get to do anymore? NOT MUCH… they’re always going from one crisis to another and rarely do they get to live their life they way they want to, it’s always “The Gov’mt NEEDS You” or they are walking down the street when Blammo! a Super Villain tries to rob the bank he was walking towards, or the supposed Girlfriend is really an accomplice for a criminals trap, etc… etc…
Worse yet… with the right (or wrong) boosts, you can’t even enjoy the simple pleasures of a nice cold beer on a hot day. Either the alcohol has no effect at all on you, or it just explodes out your nostrils as a self-defensive sneeze-flame.
In a certain online game I like to play, one type of origin for ‘supers’ is ‘the natural origin’.
This means the ‘super powers are simply a ‘standard being of their species’ (not necessarily human) has pushed their ‘natural’ abilities to well beyond what’s considered ‘normal’.
Both Captain America and Batman would qualify for this. I know C.A. was originally a ‘boosted’ human; but for decades both he and Batman have proven to get by on finely honed skills and training then on any reliance on ‘beyond human’ ability.
Admittedly, Cap has his shield and Batman has his technology; but >>shrug<< few heroes or villains from comics' golden age fit neatly into one category… not even the big "S" himself.
Dammit. I was hoping no-one had said that yet so I could get in first with it.
If Paul has been watching “Lost Girl”, maybe Justin’s an Incubus? Fae maybe, faegele no. (drops shekels in pun jar)
jwhouk called this very thing (rapid healing) on Monday. Kudos!
I did?
Oh, yeah, guess I did.
That’s the obvious answer, then. He’s not lycantropic or anything; he’s just an Altered Being who’s a retired member of the MIB.
Geesh! She had slashed him deep enough to see his rib bones through the cuts? Ewww!
And she suspected nothing until now considering how casually he acted toward his really bad wounds? Just sees what she wants to see indeed.
No, she was appropriately freaked out by the cuts. she went from combat to contrite in micro seconds, then HE was the one that acted nonchalant about the cuts… as for her suspecting nothing, well there didn’t seem to be that much time between her seeing the cuts, and him turning around to walk out so there wasn’t too much time elapsed for any significant healing to have taken place yet, and with how fast she swooshed in and grabbed him, from behind mind you, she can’t even see them right now to tell otherwise…
Right, he acted very nonchalant about such grave wounds. That should have given her pause to wonder right there. She spent 80K years among supernaturals. Surely she should have learned a thing or two about the “signs” relating to them.
i somewhat agree with you, but you DO realize that emotions took over and logic kinda flew out the window, Right? in an emotion-free zone, or if someone ELSE did the cuts and she was watching. Sure, Shelly would have noticed that, but since SHE was directly involved… her observation skills went POOF!… thus, we have today’s comic.
as for the “signs” well if Phix wouldn’t teach her to transform because it would make her look “weak” to the other Apo’s, then I’m sure that that was also a topic to avoid, as well.
Have you ever had serious trauma? I have. I had broken bones in 5 places and only knew about the broken hip. Not to mention the temporary blindness I had because of the number of times I flipped after the truck hit my bike, and the fact that part of my face was hanging off, the front of one leg was missing because it was hit so hard from the back, or any of the other skin that was peeled off on the road. I knew I had probably broken the upper end of my femur, and that’s all I knew, because of the shock and endorphins. About the time they got me to the hospital the road rash was starting to hurt, and when the ambulance crossed some train tracks a couple blocks before that I DEFINITELY felt that in my leg… But most of my injuries I found out about after I got out of ICU.
Tah is that you?
Yet you’re still riding bikes?
well if your avatar is any indication, only the slow ones, huh??
A good story to tell to any ‘kid’ who is thinking about getting a high powered bike..
There are those that will ride until they fall and those that will ride until they die (not necessarily because of riding)
Damn Opus, you are one tough SOB. Hope your healing well after all that.
That wreck was over 10 years ago, my avatar picture was from 3 years ago, and I’m still riding bikes with the same power I was riding when I was hit. One Human Power. If you click the About Opus link on my blog you can read all about the wreck and recovery.
@Danzier, not unless your married name is Hallows, in which case you’ve been in Scotland too long…
He broke her trust by letting her feel crushed for injuring him when was actually in no danger. So no, she didn’t make that reassessment. And he played those expectations like a violin stringed with sphinx guts.
But the ditch-digging shovel is in the other hand now.
Actually he acted as if she didn’t harm him. He just started screaming about the craziness and walked away like nothing at all was wrong with him. She reacted instinctively to his wounds on her own, so he did not lead her to feel bad on purpose.
DON’T TOUCH ME
That’s some pretty direct managed expectations, there. Penn and Teller would be proud.
Looking at that in hindsight, it could be he didn’t want her touching or concentrating on the wounds as she might see them healing before her eyes. That could also have been another reason he just left quickly.
He wanted out of the relationship now that he was certain she was not normal and the incident was just what he needed to get out. He played it such that she would think he just wanted out and not because he was also paranormal. His strong desire to be away from the “crazy” world was greater than his desire to stay with Shelly. Though that might have changed once he could think things through more and sort his true feelings. Not entirely unlike Alan did with Jin. Shelly isn’t giving him that opportunity, however.
Justin is not the “bad guy” here. He got slashed, recognized Shelly as a paranormal, recognized the craziness that goes with it and walked because it’s a life he has clearly stated that he does not want.
He may have tried to conceal the depth of his injuries, but that’s not unambiguously “bad guy” territory.
The relationship is looking to be in the 65% – 75% lost cause percentile bracket. Sorry Shelly but thank you for playing. We have some lovely parting gifts.
Good point, I stand corrected.
Indeed
Whilst I did not think his cuts were that bad – fracking OWWWWWW
I am guessing that he is part paranormal. He is trying to get away from the fact that he is different because his mother is also like Nudge. Maybe she is Euryale. This might also explain why he keeps attracting the paranormal.
This idea would also explain his using the term “the crazy” when talking about the paranormal. It would have been something that as he was growing up he would have been called whenever the truth about his family life slipped out.
Could he be a bit like Callahan’s character Ernie, the “Lucky Duck”? Ernie’s mother was a pooka, his father a Fir Darrag. His paranormal quirk is that the laws of probability go all wonky around him… weird craziness just naturally follows him around.
One never knows, and the Crosstime Saloon is sort of like the Library Annex as well.
Too bad it’s closed. But, the gang moved to Key West (?) where nothing they do will be noticed.
Oooh yes I ship that ^^
Or Phix..
what? they both wear glasses 🙂
Quick wound healing? Sounds like mom was Nudge.
Again I say, his going off on her for making “crazy” claims is seeming more and more hypocritical.
And ironic: Shelly is comfortable with who she is. Apparently Justin is not.
That would be a big bingo Yamara.
I’m just going to go ahead and call him Samantha from now on..
then again it was her husband who couldn’t deal with her magic.. she could ^^
um, shelly has had a *bit* longer to get used to it.. and still no *proof* of what justin is… :/
Maybe he is not so hypocritical, Joe.
Justin may be paranormal but he has always acted and behaved as a “normal”. As far as we have seen, he has his paranormal abilities (whatever they are besides quick healing), totally under control. He may just be impatient and/or critical of other paranormals who can’t or won’t control themselves. Very similar to how some people judge alcoholics, for example.
Wayyy too early for finger pointing time. For all we know, he may have started up as normal then “something”, like a previous crazy chick, happened to him which left him with a parting regenerating gift and a broken heart. And, unless he’s a complete liar, he had more than one encounter of the weird-chick-kind.
It’s very unlikely someone who is a paranormal creature would pick something as mundane as your basic street cop as a daily job. Whose of you who will mention Tina will note she was involved in Mon’s life from early on; Justin tried his best to avoid “Ze crazy”.
He still have a lot of explaining to do.
I don’t know Chef. There was a series called Forever Knight about a vampire that joined the Toronto PD in an effort to redeem himself and lead a ‘normal’ life. Execution was a bit spotty, but the concept was valid
Interesting idea of pursuing a honorable path after a life if evil, but I still would be leery of the Vlad Tepes Daycare Center!
One of the overarching plot points was the efforts of the other vamps in Torronto trying to pull Detective Knight (and, no, he didn’t drive a black Trans Am) back into their world. It may be what justin is afraid of. He may have been involved with a completly different group than Monica’s circle.
I Agree 100% with SoWhyMe on this: Justin is not a vampire/were-whatever/construct. Paul will hit us with something further far from west than that. The styx ref someone mentioned before could be a good one.. like say.. A gorgon who wants to impress her boy-toy by romancing in Charon’s driven gondola (that would freak me out) then take a skinny dip in; some Babylonian mythos can fit too. Celtic, it’s being a while since we saw Cu-Chulain (sp) after all. What we do know is that Bud saw him once and she didn’t know him.
In other words, your guess is as good as mine.
I’m with you on the vampire/werewolf thing. I was just bringing up an an example of a supernatural doing something as mundane as being a cop. After all, Bud’s a dance instructor, Brandi is an office manager and Tina is a barista. Some of the most powerful beings in the series are just doing ordinary, mundane jobs. With the calander machine and Jin’s problem fixed, they mostly seem to be settling into normal lives. That’s why I think Justin was involved with a different circle of the supernatural. He’s looking to be normal and is afraid Shelly will pull him back into the crazy. The irony is Shelly is just trying to get a handle on her Sphinx side so she can just be normal too.
Don’t even have to stick with mythology or legends.
Most of Samuel Clemens and H. P. Lovecraft’s writings are now public domain.
On second thought, let’s forget we mentioned Lovecraft. I still have nightmares thirty years after reading one of his ‘milder’ stories (and I didn’t finish it).
◎8 ←Me (ΞO ) ←My brain exploding
That’s the most inventive bit of explodingbrainicon character set manipulation I’ve seen in a long time – nicely done!
::golf clap::
… still looks like two variations of the U.S.S. Enterprise (Star Trek style, not the navy ship).
Enterprise D followed by the original Enterprise still in space dock?
😀 yep.
It just gets better and better… “I’ll see your sphixism and raise you one autohealing- I think you’re bluffing,”… this is gonna be one HUMDINGER “Honey, let me explain,” when THIS one hits the fan!
We’re gonna need a bigger fan.
Sphinx will do that.
Fully healed? Oh, lord WHAT NOW? XD
Does Euryale have any male relatives?
I kind of asked that one myself.
OK I was NOT expecting this. What I WAS expecting was a crazy scene in the ER either this strip or the next.
There you go with expectations….best not to have any or they will just end up unfulfilled. 😉
Now that’s a nice touch: he’s clearly not “fully healed” until the second panel.
So, he’s “paranormal” (of course, that doesn’t make sense in the Wapsiverse, as there, even giant squid called “Stinky” (miss the big cutie!) are normal :D, but I digress)
So, he’s not a normal human being. But he doesn’t want to get roped back in? Wha… ah, of course! Like Monica when Tepoz first showed up (him showing up was the start, wasn’t it?). She didn’t want to have to deal with the “crazy” either. Maybe we have similar stories here.
Oh hey! He might be an MIB!
Either former or current one. They may be augmented to deal with paranormal crazy stuff so that may be it.
I think that’s the square I’d be putting money on if this were a bug “guess the source of Justin’s power(s) roulette wheel.
Seriously, what is he? Because for the last week it seems like he’s been living on another planet and speaking another language.
He was submerged in the river Styx by his mother when he was a child.
That’s not all that unlikely. Greek mythology is starting to play a much bigger role in the plot, and I’m pretty sure that trend will continue.
So, she held him by the heel, eh? It seems Achilles’ death was very much exaggerated! Similar to Perseus and Medusa it seems.
Well, it would make sense for a superb warrior to gravitate toward law enforcement as a career!
In the Wapsiverse, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Justin to be Achilles.
The given name “Justin” seems to mean the obvious thing… just, fair, righteous.
Are there any Greek heroes or demigods whose particular attribute was righteousness?
If we wander out of Greek mytholgy it opens up all sorts of possibilities. We’ve seen Greek, and MesoAmerican. I’d love to see something from Irish myth. Or maybe Artherian legend. Whatever Justin is, it ain’t standard human model v1.0.
Well, under that definition, so is Monica.
Though she’s Model 28.F, though…
(tosses a coin in the pun jar anyways)
@Dave – Ancient heroes’ righteousness? Depends on your POV. As Larry Gonick put it: “Run for the hills, here come the heroes!”
His problem with the supernatural may stem from being torn apart by angry goddesses. So Actaeon or Orion are good choices.
But if Paul really wants to mix it up?
Longinus.
interesting. I thought the centurion’s name was Constantine and he was cursed by Christ on the cross to walk the earth until they meet once again.
as to Mon’s “28” letter… last I read, she referred to it as “J, as in jeeesus!”
by now, it could be “K, as in Krazy”, “L, as in LARGE”, or even “M, as in MASSIVE”
Oooh… interesting idea! That would explain why he wasn’t actually all that horrified by having his inner working bits clawed into visibility by a ferocious feline… he’s been there, done that (repeatedly), didn’t even get scars out of the experience let alone a neat T-shirt. He probably would be pretty tired of the experience by now, though.
Prometheus would be another character in a similar “Hi, buddy… time to chew on my innards again, is it?” situation for a prolonged period. Amirani (Georgian), likewise. Loki (Norse) was in a somewhat similar situation, although it was venom-drip rather than claws or jaws.
@Dave – “not all that horrified” ??
Reread Justin’s reactions to Shelly’s reactions as if he had been tortured in a cave by “lions” for God knows how long.
Now add in the paranormamouros fangirls he must get, and read it again.
I was referring to the fact that, when he left, he immediately cooled down… he was walking away, looking sad, but wasn’t exhibiting anywhere near the sort of reaction (at that time) which would be normal to a person who had been slashed to the bone.
Yes, he was really horrified during and immediately after Shelly’s slash-attack on him. However, I don’t think (now) that this was about the injuries per se… because he knew they weren’t dangerous to him and would be healed up shortly.
He was horrified because he’d been attacked unexpectedly by someone he trusted, and horrified because the Paranormal had just jumped back into his life in a big way. The latter, I think… his “I can’t handle the crazy”… was what pushed his buttons and triggered his rage.
I guess I’m making a distinction between “Horrified due to injuries received” vs “Horrified due to the sudden re-activation of a really severe set of PTSD emotional turmoil”.
My guess (and I’m quite willing to be wrong) is that he would have been almost exactly as horrified, if Shelly’s slash had actually missed his skin and just shredded his shirt. The “sudden attack” and “paranormal PTSD” issues would still have been there.
Ah, right. Yes, I agree that seems to be resignation at the end. Didn’t mean to jump up your butt about it.
I suspect that “the crazy” are his paranormal fangirls. Longinus or not, he’s regenerative– and you can imagine the kind of sexual interest THAT would attract.
But assuming Longinus, note here: “you’re crazy AND delusional“. Seems redundant. He plainly knows what a sphinx is, since he’s not really startled by Shelly’s form above.
So his describing a gryphon is a test to see if she really meant to insult him with the thought that claiming to be a sphinx would keep them together.
So she’s “crazy” for trying brutal-sex-without-consequences like the rest, but she’s “delusional” to think that having a lioness in his arms is something that could bring him joy. But she doesn’t know he’s Longinus (which the Sage of the Time Forest would suspect if she knew he was regenerating) so she doubles down with “sphinx classes”.
Creepy said he was a Boy Scout. She’s not wrong about these things. Whether Longinus or some equivalent figure, I think he’s a good man placed in an insulting position, and Shelly has unwittingly pressed all his wrong buttons.
No worries, Yamara. Yeah, having quick regenerative powers could have certain advantages in interpersonal relationships… and Shelly did mention that he’d “frisked her” four times on one occasion 🙂
In general I think I agree with you… what we have here could well be two basically-good people, each with a heavy weight of “weird former experiences” and secrecy, who managed to each inadvertently trigger the other’s hot-buttons. Basically a “failure to communicate” – neither dared tell the other the truth, until (perhaps) too late. The spank/slash/shout-fest brought out the worst possible aspects of each of them, suddenly and without warning to either.
The way Justin is behaving, I sorta wonder whether his problem might be two-fold: he’s had some pretty traumatic experiences involving the paranormal, and maybe he’s never had anyone with whom he could really talk them out and process them emotionally and come to terms with them. He’s acting like a man who has “buried” his earlier traumas as well as he could… and this works for some people, but causes serious backlash for others. He’s “walking wounded”, emotionally.
If he can conquer his urge to flee, and talk things over with Shelly honestly… who knows? The two of them might be able to heal one another.
Something I’ve been firmly advised, in my training as a volunteer emergency responder: if you’re ever offered “post-incident counseling” after being involved in any sort of accident or disaster response, say “Yes”. Simply talking through what you’ve experienced, with someone trained in how people react to trauma, can save you all sorts of difficulties down the road.
Dave–you make an interesting point. Would someone with instant healing still get PTSD from the experience of injury?
I’m thinking that it could be yes, from the pain, the stress of healing, wondering if it’s gonna work this time, how long the injury will last, and so on.
Did anyone else notice that Shelly was holding onto him at first, and then in the last panel let go and spoke in a soft (dangerously so) voice (check out the font size change!) so that Justin is dangling in great panic? LOL. Paul, you’re a master at these subtle little changes between panels!
Sits in corner trying to keep busy by counting dust specks while quietly mumbling to himself .
*hands over cuppa’joe, and joins in counting dustspecks that dance in a streak of cold winter-light.
The light subtely caresses the pictures of deities hanging on the wall at Mucho-mocha. Almost like a slight giggle of higher powers, revelling in the poor souls stuck in confusion-corner.
Luckily Tina’s happy smile makes the utter confusion somewhat more bearable.
Softly I mutter : “what more is mister Taylor going to launch at us.”
Tina flashes her silver eyes at me, leans over, bridging her fingers: “what is it with You readers? You engage in a comic of which You know that it’s comprised of oddness, weirdness and peculiar mythology cross-overs, and yet, You immediately become recluses in Your confusion-corner when the crazy hits the fan.”
I look at her, a slight tired smile creeping up in the corners of my mouth :” well..You’re right, as always. Doesn’t mean I cannot enjoy being slapped around in a figurative sense… Keeps the mind flexible and fresh.”
Again Tina flashes her hallmark toothy smile -ever so slightly unnerving, yet the only solid thing we can hold-on to: “lookatyou. You’ve been coming here for..like.. 10 years? It proves that You are way more flexible than You give Yourself credit for…. Here, a latte, both of you. ‘s on the house, for being confused, but tenacious enough to keep coming back”
I smile back, sigh deeply and resume counting dustspecks.. She’s right… We’re allsuckers for punishment…..
One thing we haven’t encountered yet is a character with medium awareness…
I believe it was Moe Howard who, being annoyed with an overly enthusiastic clairvoyant, said something to the effect that it was the first time he wanted to strike a happy medium … or maybe Groucho Marx … or both.
Had the clarivoyant been bipolar, he could have hit a sad-happy medium. Or something to that effect.
And, of course, we need to remember the tale of the dwarven psychic who escaped prison: Small Medium at Large!
>>>shaking pun jar vigorously with both hands<<<
Ok, I’ll add a small medium-value coin to the pot.
It seems there are a few questions to answer. Everyone seems to be paying the most attention to the first one: What is Justin? However, there are still a few others. For starters, why does he want to avoid the paranormal? It probably has to do with a particularly unpleasant experience in the past. Maybe his introduction to the supernatural was of the rubber room inducing variety. Finally, “I don’t want to be drawn back into the paranormal,” implies that he knew other supernaturals. Who are they and what are their goals and motives?
All good questions. I’ll throw in another one or two: is being a Minneapolis policeman his real job, or does (did?) he have another, paranormal-related duty? If he did, once, but is now “out of the game”, just what happened? Is this the fabled MIB, or something else entirely?
The answers to all of these questions are probably intertwined in very interesting ways. The one thing that seems certain, is that Justin is not just the simple straight-arrow mundanely-TB’ed cop that Shelly (and Bud) had thought up until now.
Oh jeez. I’ve figured it out. His last paranormal encounter was a Sparklepire.
No wonder he’s emotionally scarred…
He survived the encounter, though. It takes some mad editorial skilz to survive a sparklepire.
Well, we know he’s not a sparklevire werewolf. They just stand around shirtless moping after self absorbed highschool girls that date the sparklevires.
… or maybe he was one of the immortals who rule the world behind the scenes, who got tired of the crazy and dropped out of the game. Took a low key job helping ordinary people, only dealing with ordinary crazy, but at least making it better. Until he started bumping into Shelly and Bud …
The “Immortals” can be killed. They just don’t get old.
It’s hard to be immortal without advanced healing abilities, otherwise they would all be using walkers and smelling of Ben-Gay.
Immortality has many facets, some of which the ancients contemplated.
Tithonus and the Cumaean Sibyl were cursed with eternal life without eternal youth.
In Wapsi, the Calendar Machine immortals have (had?) eternal youth, but not invulnerability.
Justin is a self-healer; that may imply immortality, but he may be “cursed” like Tithonus, which may mean old age could still take him.
If he’s a (relatively) impervious immortal, he would always avoid commitment with mortals, since they would always wither and die on him (a la Highlander). But his commitment problem is with paranormals, i.e. immortals in the mix. So something else has been affecting his attitude.
There used to be a single trope page on this, but it has since expanded.
It could be that he was of a faction or group that caused something horrid to happen. And because of that he became sort of a monastic protector of humans, that is why he is a cop. And ‘the crazy’ is what he sees as part of what led up to the defining moment that made him go “screw this, I am outta here” and leave his group to be on his own. He could be running away in avoidance, just wanting to mind his own business & live out his remaining time under the radar as a human.
The don’t touch thing was most likely avoidance of being discovered by her and ruining his ‘cover’
OR, he is in a karmic type of witness protection for other beings, and is afraid that once discovered some big bad ugly will come looking for him.
I think no one is speculating expansive enough.
So far all I have seen is suggestions that Justin is a were creature, a mythological being or an enhanced human. I suspect that Pablo is much more creative than that. Justin is certainly not a vampire as we have seen him out in the daylight. He is probably not a were creature either as he would long ago been outed by being called to duty while in his “were” state. We’ve already had a plethora of mythological beings, golems and “committees” so they would not be anything new. An enhanced human, an android, an alien, even an alternate universe or time traveler are possibilities but I think we will be very surprised. There are people here who are far more creative than me. I urge to expand your speculations.
Earlier, I was contemplating what Friday’s cliffhanger was going to be as I was expecting some “flybys” until then. However, Paul I was selling Pablo short. He has started Friday early!
I want to speculate, but at the same time, I’m rarely right about what Paul has planned, so if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll sit back and enjoy the ride.
Could be a were and a cop, he just spends one week a month on K9 cop duty.
OUCH!!!
Now that’s a Baaaad dog.
Been done.
I’m really liking the snow in this scene. I so feels like winter, just looking at it.
Still not sure what sort of being Justin is.
I’m wondering what he will think of Monica and gang. He’s probably a werewolf and has been hanging out with low power supernatural types (other weres, vamps, etc) … while Monica and Shelly hang out with ageless godlike beings and save the world …
You got some explaining to do boy.
I have great issue with anyone who projects their trauma/issues on to others, rips the other person to emotional shreds and runs off (Shelly also had this phase, and she’s just growing past it).
I empathize that he’s been hurt and it was a knee jerked/panicked self defense action- but that is no go.
Shelly ain’t an abusive ex, she’s an equally confused and scared “don’t want to be paranormal but it keeps happening anyway” who most likely one of few people who can understand his feelings on the issue.
OrsonWellesClapping.gif
I’m with you and Ari … he curses at her, calls her names, storms off…. I don’t care what his past experience is, that behavior is not acceptable.
I think Shelly should remain silent, take him back to his car (because it’s the right thing to do), and her final word to him should be “Goodbye.”
While she would not be wrong in that action, and before her ‘growth spurt’ that could be argued as the more healthy action for her – it would only keep the guy in the same destructive loop that he is in. Shelly, while still untrained in her knew found knowledge and skill, should be able to handle him a bit better seeing as he’s ‘outted’ himself in being part of the paranormal. I’m hoping she sees a bit of her old self in his actions and remembers what others have done to kick her head out of her ass when she needed it.
“Luuucyyyy you got some ‘splaining to do”
Its all i could think
And for our next hat trick, THE WIND will return the Russian hat to the Russian-looking guy.
If he’s got some kinda super powers then that makes his reaction even more unacceptable. How dare he make her feel so freakish?! And calling her crazy…?! Drop him Shelly. Not like dump him. I mean drop him from a thousand feet up. Let’s see him recover from that.
That’s what he wanted. That’s precisely the reason he did that. He knew her well enough to know she’d bounce back and write him off as not worth the effort. He probably didn’t realize how bad his injury looked, though, or he’d have known she wouldn’t leave him to die in the snow no matter how pissed off she got.
He…wanted her to drop him from a thousand feet up? Confused…
No. He wanted her to break up with him… “drop him” in common slang. He wanted her out of his life, and was apparently willing to be deliberately harsh with her in order to make that happen.
People are suggesting that she should perhaps “drop him” in a more literal sense. Given that this is Minneapolis we’re talking about, she could drop him in a littoral sense… there are plenty of lakes and at least one river nearby, shore ’nuff!
I actually think there may be some hope for this couple.
Justin was attracted to Shelly because, by his measures, she’s not crazy, at least in the sense that a paranormal usually acts abnormally, and frankly that is still the case. Shelly’s just a little more dangerous than most “normal” girls.
In fact Shelly’s even afraid of herself.
And LO! She finds out that her boyfriend isn’t a delicate piece of cut crystal but can actually stand up to a little roughhousing!
These two were made for each other.
Dang, is ANYBODY human in that town?
Technicaly, of the main cast, Monica is. And Jin is doing a damn realistic simulation of one.
Actually, Justin is the first new paranormal male we’ve met since Kukulcan’s brief cameo.
I don’t know, there may be more then we think. Owen could have epic cuteness, Alan may have near-infinite patience/understanding and Kevin has a healthy dose of Mr. Lucky or Mr. Right. 😛
Yes, THE DOG!
The dog–who can dial out for pizza? You calling HIM normal??
Not at issue. The question wasn’t who is normal in that town… it’s who is human. Dietzel comes quite close.
Dietzel is a perfectly normal talking dog, except for being mute. And yes, when we’re using Dietzel as our yardstick for ‘normal’ the claim to normality is definitely lost.
PIZZA GIRL!
We have no reason to think that Monica’s boss, Phix’s latest boy-toy, is anything other than a friendly everyday museum director. Yet.
Justin is a Time Lord??!!
Could Justin be Irish? If so, then maybe he’s “Justin the Mick of Time”…
(cf. Callahan’s Bar)
(drops a bottle of Bushmiller’s in the jar…)
In retrospect, some level of fast healing would be necessary to date Shelly. Combine her massive strength, accident prone nature, and the throws of passion…
“THROWS” of passion? like with V-8s (not the drink, the motor)?
I think you meant ‘throes of passion’; but somehow you made a baaad pun.
>uses forklift to raise pun jar and shake it.<
Hrmmmm….
“Throws” of passion? Maybe not the word you meant but it might be more appropriate…
Great, so let’s see here:
* she’s not making it up and he doesn’t care,
* he doesn’t want her around BECAUSE she’s superhuman,
* he’s superhuman too so she’s about as impressive as a 2 dollar coin in Canada, and
* she’s STILL too crazy for him?
At this point, I really don’t care what cop man has been through, imho, he’s an top notch asshole and she’s better off without him (in spite of the “perfect match” factor). And this is coming from someone who’s dated crazy people.
I’m getting to feel the same way. I hope they can work through their issues, but this is just….. argh. It’s like telling someone with PTSD thast you don’t want to deal with crazy when you have OCD or something.
GRAH.
THANK YOU!!!!!! I’m really ready for her to drop him and see if he can recover from the fall. He’s a perfect specimen of an asshole.
Uh huh. Not a Time Lord (face didn’t change), fast regen, familiarity with the paranormal – I’m guessing
a) either boosted or fast healing mutant, and
b) either former MIB or deep-cover and doesn’t want to go back to the nest.
Something odd about that last panel. If he is “extra-human” it seems that it is fairly limited. He is asking to be taken back to his car. So, it sounds like he can’t fly or otherwise magically transport himself. Also, if he is asking to be taken back, not set down where he is, is he prolonging the experience? Maybe subconsciously he doesn’t want it to end?
Maybe he wants to move his car before it’s buried in snow.
Or maybe he knows that he is being asked Questions by a Sphinx.
You don’t want to get caught lying to a sphinx. …Which it looks like he knows.
I’m finally starting to understand the whole strangulation angle.
No shoes and no coat. He may be able to quickly recover from frostbite, but it’ll hurt like mad.
Justin is NOT a TimeLord! But I think his last name….. is.
Harkness. (as in Capt. Jack)
Either like Capt. Jack, or the father in Marvel’s Clan Destine. A normal human “gifted” with resistance to harm. Not as much a healing factor, more like bounce-back in Justin’s case.
Of course Justin isn’t a time lord. Shelly’s the time lord. I mean she’s much older than she looks, and couldn’t have become what she is without time travel.
The revelation, whate’er it is, promises to be most interesting. Are there any Chekhov’s guns laying around that haven’t been used yet, that might give us a hint as to who or what Justin really is?
Revelation? You mean like in the Apocalypse?
Cue the Man In Black.
More to the point, Mr. Cure-all looks to be padding his story on the page previous.
I can’t think of any specific clues left lying around which would seem to point directly to Justin, other than (as Yamara pointed out) Justin’s lack of concern about catching Shelly’s flu.
On the other hand, there are plenty of broad supporting elements which have been introduced in the last year, or older ones not mentioned recently… I expect that Justin’s true nature will turn out to be something which isn’t as much out of left field as it appears initially.
The Lakhenaten-tech survivors of the chimera apocalypse, the MIB, the roles that the gorgons may have played, possibly other figures from Greek mythology, Brandi’s “deal”, Shiva and Amun and perhaps other “gods” being extradimensional visitors… all elements which have been introduced since Jin’s healing, and not really brought into full play yet. And, after a decade of plotting, there are plenty of other things mentioned years ago but not fully explained, as well. Justin’s secret identity may well fit into one of these plot elements. Or, perhaps not 🙂
Paul hasn’t just left us one potential Chekhov’s gun to look for. He’s put a whole National Guard armory of possibilities on the table.
He does love his time at the shooting range.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Awesome!
Its been not so subtlety mentioned. but, it makes sense. He is M.I.B
I think Shelly’s line in the first panel is beautiful. It truly shows how much she’s grown as a character.
“I love you and you mean a lot to me, so I’m going to make sure you’re okay and then I’m going to walk out of your life because you don’t want me in it.”
That is so gorgeous in the fact that it means she truly cares about him. She doesn’t care about what he can provide for him, she doesn’t care about the security anymore, she cares honestly about his happiness and that’s all kinds of gorgeous. And she’s willing to sacrifice her own happiness in order to do it.
I’m happy to see she’s grown so much.
Well, she has obviously grown quite a bit… especially if you take in the wingspan.
I was wondering why he was remarkably coherent for a guy who has lot a lot of blood. So… we’re not dealing with a guy denying the existence of ‘crazy’ but a guy denying himself.
Interesting.
Yeah, Justin’s backstory is greatly anticipated by the readers.
I can see why he chose a career in law enforcement though.
First of all he may have recently discovered that that he is very nearly immortal and so needs to understand humanity and what it’s capable of. Being a cop gives you a ringside seat there.
Second, he may actually empathize with his fellow man enough to think that his place in the thin blue line is better filled by him than some poor schmuck who will actually get killed during that Domestic Dispute call.
while that does not explain his abhorrence toward paranormal entities; it very clearly defines his choice of ‘layman occupation’.
I like it. Good job.
He can also see himself like Shelly. a guardian, and so he finds the best place to help people.
Call it nitpicky, but that revelation in Panel#2 (that Officer TB’s muscles and bones were exposed by the cut, not just his skin torn) is kind of a big deal, and not at all conveyed when he was first slashed, primarily due to limitations presented by Wapsi’s art style.
Wondering if maybe that should have been more clear back last week than just revealed now.
agreed.
if the severity of the injuries had been more appearent, we (the readers) would have definitely been down a different path in our speculations.
I am guessing that Paul made it so vague art wise to keep us from jumping to this conclusion. Part of the art of suspense is knowing when to leave out visual details at the correct moment after all.
Justin’s actual type (if you can call it that) has so many possibilities.
Think about myths and legends alone (let’s forget folklore for the moment).
There are so many possible mythical or legendary abilities which could be explained by a ‘rapid healing’ factor (stretching easily into the hundreds).
Not saying Justin is one, but he could easily be descended from a being who had one of those ‘powers’.
as somebody who has a… abnormal healing ability… I know it can cover a lot of ‘unrelated’ mythical or legendary abilities.
No, I wouldn’t heal that mauling in just minutes (and I would definitely carry the scars for the rest of my life); but I have had doctors shaking their heads in confusion.
The latest… I totaled my rig when I fell sleep. My right femur was pushed through my pelvis (yes it hurt). Doctors expected me to be bedridden 3 months and using a can (or even a walker) the rest of my life.
I carried the crutches into their office 3 weeks later. they thought I was just ‘toughing it out’.
Two weeks later, They gave me a clean bill of health and sent me home.
and I am definitely NOT a paranormal.
True, not paranormal. Freakishly lucky, but not paranormal. Thank the maker you are doing so well.
Oh, I do.
I have had several instances where the docs SWORE I should be in the grave or worse.
One, I was working above my head at a construction site and stepped into open air…
I landed upside down so hard my knee was sprained from impact on the concrete beside my ear.
Three fractured vertebra (C2,3,4) and a concussion.
three months later, the docs thought they had the wrong medical files because they couldn’t find any evidence of the fractures on x-rays.
I was working in a junk yard and was hit by a pole so hard it shattered my hard hat.
Cracked skull and hyper-extended neck muscles.
a month later, again no evidence on x-rays.
like I said, I don’t know what the guy upstairs is saving me for, but I’m thankful.
…according to the ultrasound, clear up until the day I was born, I had almost no head.
A head cloak. interesting. Still, seems like a silly supernatural power.