Today’s panel isn’t so much of a cliffhanger. It’s a “we have all fallen off of a cliff, and are headed through the air at a very high speed” plunge. Watch that first step off of the curb, Justin… it’s a doozie!
In this case (at least) Justin is probably not likely to end up as a fractured pile of whale meat on the ground. At least, not this evening.
Who knows what he was faced with, the last time or two he went on the “crazy paranormal chick” merry-go-round (as it now seems likely may have happened)?
Fear not for Justin, Dave. The implied whale meat was myself.
I’m cured of my Wapsi gambling itch… but I suspect that there are no bad actors in this scene, and that Justin genuinely and fairly believes that paranormal girls are crazy.
The ones that have crossed his path… must have been a special kind of maniac.
And now excuse me, I have an overpowering desire to cut my own tongue out of my mouth.
Hey, at least it isn’t Plan 9: From Outer Space… we still have the Vimana Cell powered Anti-Dimension Jump Shield up… though i’m not too sure how effective it is against somebody just flying in from outer space via a space ship rather than cross-dimensionally Poiting in…
Justin is in high level denial about the paranormal to the point that he would rather think that Shelly is crazy that accept that the paranormal exists and has been part of his life. It is actually a well documented event for such total denial.
At this point, based on Justin’s remark in panel 3, I don’t think he has been in denial about the existence of the paranormal… and probably not even in denial about the possibility that Shelly is involved in it. He wouldn’t have switched from “refusing to believe” to “outright acceptance” so instantaneously, if he had truly been in a state of denial. He would probably have gone into some sort of paralytic brain-fry when Shelly swooped him up.
Actually, I think he’s been thoroughly convinced of the existence of the paranormal for a long time… probably from well before he met Shelly. He’d simply used the phrase “crazy chicks” in describing his former involvements when he spoke with Shelly… because up until a few minutes ago, he’d honestly thought that Shelly was “normal” and not involved with the paranormal.
As I see it, he realized (and accepted) the fact that Shelly is paranormal in a heartbeat, in the moment she spun-and-slashed (or a few seconds thereafter). The look of horror on his face was not just about having been attacked in an unexpected manner – it was a huge moment of “OH NO, NOT THIS AGAIN – I’M BACK IN IT!”
His whole tantrum of not-believing and cursing and stalking out in high dudgeon wasn’t because he was in denial… it’s not because he didn’t believe her… it’s because he suddenly did believe her, and wants very badly to refuse any further involvement in something which was clearly pretty traumatic to him in the past. He wants out, so thoroughly and firmly that he doesn’t even want to admit to her that he knows she’s telling the truth… because doing so would just open the door to more questions about his earlier experiences. Her reflex attack on him, has just given him an excuse and a way out: call her crazy, refuse to listen, run like hell.
He’s not denying the paranormal… it’s just a topic that he would really lay down and avoid.
He must have one hell of a back-story to tell, if he’s willing to do so.
Yeah, I thought it odd that Justin didn’t react to Shelly’s rather obvious fangs here, http://wapsisquare.com/comic/likin-this/
Or rather he did, but as long as Shelly was going through the charade of being normal and ‘keeping Justin in the dark’, he was willing to play along. The accusation of her being crazy was Justin realizing she didn’t have a handle on her supernatural side, and given what he knew up untill this moment, she might have been any number of dangerous beings who could accidentaly kill him.
I love all the arm-chair psychologists in this forum/comment section… Now where’s that eye roll emote?
Justin in denial? No.. How about trying to escape from things that he’s experienced before, i.e. paranormal dealings, while he can? In the first panel he seems sad that things ended at all, but that may just be relief that he “got away”.
No, if he were that burned out he’d be working in the post office. He’s more of… well, later in the movie, I haven’t seen it in a while and the fanfic was missing the middle and I really expected more from commercial publishing but hey… 😀
OK, all of you who correctly analyzed Justin’s abrupt and absolute rejection of Shelly’s explanation, as evidence that he had “been there, done that, got the hell out” and simply didn’t want to deal with this whole subject again …
… well, I think you all get cookies. If Phix doesn’t show up with a whole boxful, I imagine that Shelly is now authorized to dispense them as required (although they may be feral cookies).
Very old urban legend, about the bumblebees. They can’t fly like a fixed-wing plane, aerodynamically, but insects fly by moving their wings. I wonder what wing movement speed would be needed to get something like a sphinx airborne, though.
Nothing is going to fly oblivious to the laws of aerodynamics (i.e. physics) – without magic – but bumblebees do fly oblivious to the math of aerodynamicists who make incorrect assumptions. As I understand it, the math “proving” bumblebees can’t fly assumed they had rigid wings – flapping but rigid. However, bumblebees have flexible wings and follow different rules.
The small size and weight also help the flying. If you want to be accurate a bumble bee can’t fly ‘if’ it is the size of a Piper Cub airplane. I would also think that the inverse square law would cause a problem as well. The larger it was the more energy it would need to expend to fight the force of gravity. But at it’s present size it is perfect for flying.
I think it was a ‘horizon’ programme (yes, thats the proper spelling for TV!) that showed why bees CAN fly..
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_flight#Flight
– it’s the vortex, not the flap.. READ the link!!!
It is animated films that get it wrong, for simplicity.. :/
Not flexibility, but wing speed. Several aerodynamicists and insect biologists commented in the early 20th century that according to what was known at the time, many insects shouldn’t be able to fly. This wasn’t to say they thought things like bumblebees flying was impossible, just that the math of the time was incomplete. Part of the problem was that estimates of the speed of insect wings were too slow. It turns out their flight muscles work differently than any other kinds of muscle and vibrate rather than contracting. This allows their wings to beat much faster than previously thought. This higher wing-speed combined with a better understanding of the viscosity of air at the sizes involved means that we now understand how wings that small in relation to body mass can so obviously work just fine.
Yes. The bumblebee myth. Well, the original calculation was done on a napkin, and left out several things that weren’t learned until later, such as the vortices off the wing tips. And things like the viscosity of air at that size, so the bumbleebee is more swimming in air than flying.
Yes, by more exact calculations, it has no difficulty.
I don’t remember who called it that Justin had seen the supernatural already and didn’t want to be part of it, but bravo to you. Now the question is, Who freaked him out bad enough for this denial reaction to happen?
I think we’ve — that is, Shelly’s — just scratched the surface of his involvement with the “paranormal”. There’s no talon what we’ll find out if she digs a little deeper…
When I first read this I did a double take, quickly followed by my saying, “HOLD ON A SEC!!” Then I read the title and lolled myself, had to change clothes but funny as shit.
heh, I like where this is going. But this means he wasn’t just a scared, freaked out normal, who’d had his chest clawed and was understandably freaking out. He *knew* something was paranormal, and he deliberately was hateful, telling her she was crazy, get tf away, and storming out. Okay, if somebody I was dating did that to me, I’d be yelling even worse things at them. And y’know what? I’m proud of Shelly. She lost control and accidentally hurt him, but after his flounce-she could have slunk away in tears. She could have got in his face and chewed him out right back. But she got mad, and determined, and is getting him to the hospital. Okay, and proving she was telling the truth at the same time, but still. And yeah, his last comment has me all curious-I’m looking forward to seeing what happens now!
Well by the look on Justin in the first panel, the adrenalin was wearing off and he was about to be face down on the ground, so Shelly getting him to the hospital is the most logical thing she could do
I have to agree with this. Not wanting to be pulled in to something paranormal is understandable. Making Shelly feel like it’s all her fault and that she is the bad guy, not so understandable, especially since he had some reason to understand what just happened.
Maybe Jason hasn’t just been exposed to the paranormal before.
Maybe he’s paranormal himself. He’s known all along what Shelly was, and was perfectly able to defend himself to some degree — and still walked away from Shelly because he’s just not into chicks who slash him open, for whatever reason.
Yamara called attention, up above, to the fact that the drawing of Justin in the last frame… is showing him with noticeable incisors a.k.a. fangs! If this means what it usually means, Justin may indeed be a paranormal player!
I don’t think so, refugee. What Jay-Em is talking about is Justin’s molars being visible because he’s tilting his head back, giving us a partial shot of the back of the roof of his mouth. Paul always puts effort into clearly defining a character’s fangs, and giving them both upper and lower fangs. This is not that.
I truly like the first pic. You can really see that his “tantrum” was more of a deliberate act, and he is pondering if he actually did the right thing…
Okay Justin, I get that you don’t want to be Roped Back In, but would you care to explain the fangs? Did you come with them or were they ‘gifted’ to you by a previous ‘crazy’ girlfriend? Or is there some other reason?
The reason for the appearance of his fangs (or are they molars) is pretty obvious.
He and Shelly have decided to stop deceiving one another (well, they’ve actually been forced to, by events neither of them saw coming). They now have to deal with each other as they really are.
Whatever he is, he may be in the same boat as the GGs and Tina. Just trying to live a normal life in the human world. I’m still waiting on the big reveal concerning Dietzel.
Interesting to note who has control over their fangs. Shelly does (theoretically)… the GGs can’t change their bodies, Nudge can, Tina can’t (although hers may be dental implants, but I doubt it), Phix can’t or doesn’t bother in all situations… and if Justin does indeed have fangs (I’m holding out for more info) he totally can.
Nah, those aren’t fangs, those are his molars. Notice the angle of his head? Paul always puts good effort into outlining fangs if a character has them, and they’re always both uppers and lowers; this is just a great shot of the roof of Justin’s mouth as he shouts in panic. 🙂
I read it recently, but I was just saying it seems like a “convenient” explanation. I have my doubts about how true that story is, now that we know Tina is… not quite human.
I can’t find the comic but Tina’s fangs were the result of a mixup at the dental lan when they made the implants to repair her jaw after the wreck that “killed” her.
e. He remembers the last go-round. And the screw-up in the calendar was that he dated the wrong girl – Alan ended up with Shel, and he ended up with Jin.
Square root of e.: involved with a number of paranormamours who all had something in common; he probably began and may remain human– but with so much attention, he may have picked up something (my jury’s out on the “fangs”)
Maybe she could put on Justin’s tee shirt backwards. Of course, clothes are everywhere. Easy to get if one is in sphinx form too:
“You! I need your coat for a while!”
“Y-Y-Yes mam. Here.”
“I’ll return it later if you’ll wait inside.”
“Th-That’s okay. Keep it … Taxi!”
Oh … and I just had a naughty thought where she could have stored her clothes.
Remember when Captain Jack was caught in the buff by two robot clothier/Killers and he produced a small laser weapon. “Where did you hide that?” they asked Answer: “You don’t want to know.” *BANG!
It took me a week and a half to catch up with this storyline, one of the more imagenative premises I have ever encountered. These girls are quite REAL, not two dimentional ditzy bimbos or overwhelmingly (and unbelivably) superminded fonts of wisdom- and now, this poor cop is squallering about getting “roped back into the paranormal”? what… was he dating Jin at some point? Or maybe one of my my ex-wives (there’s three to choose from, but the third one was a REAL traipse through the looking glass)? Hmmmm… OK, when will this be animated?
the Old Sgt.
Cheer up, Justin, you’re not in some butcher’s fever dream– you’re in Wapsi Square! The world almost exactly like the one you want to believe you live in!
In the arms of your three-ton 80,000 year old girlfriend.
Huh. So, what, he’s had his own little adventures in the past? Sheesh. I’m starting to think that everyone in this town has had a supernatural encounter, and they all just assume that everyone else is “normal” because no one talks about their crazy times.
I will say, though, that his actually having experience with paranormal activity makes his earlier reaction slightly less sympathetic in my view. I mean, if he knows that strange stuff exists in this world, shouldn’t he be a little more open to the idea of Shelly being something unearthly? He can still be upset, but geez… he flat out called her a crazy bitch. Seems a bit hypocritical. It’s like…
“Screw you, Shelly! You’re crazy and I don’t want to get wrapped up in your drama! Keep your crazy delusional ravings off of my plate, lady! The aliens warned me about this when they gave me a soul made of lazers! ‘Watch out for crazy bitches,’ they said! I tell you, after they sent me to the land of Zakro-Blangg and I rescued the Princess of Feathers from the Nth-Headed Dragon of Narct, I thought I could look forward to having a stable relationship outside of the Shadow Conspiracy with a nice, honest woman. But if you’re going to start spouting crazy talk, Shelly, then that’s where I draw the freaking line! ‘Sphinx,’ indeed. I don’t know about you, sweetheart, but I prefer to live in reality! Now stand back, I produce sulfur when I teleport.”
See what I mean?
Justin could never win. Princess rescuing on your CV can only get you a job at Disney World.
And those aren’t costumes at Disney. Once you know that, you move to the most distant part of a continent that you can find, get a job as a cop so no one questions you, and date a girl that hates the paranormal as much as you do.
And then the god in charge pulls a dimensional time travel thing on your lady, and all his fans are all laughing and hating on you. You’d be angry too.
Well, as far as everyone in town having some sort of supernatural connection… yeah, it’s Minneapolis after all, and Shelly’s in a rock band. It only makes sense that she’s been gigging with Eddi McCandry (of “Eddi and the Fey”) occasionally.
(This is a reference to Emma Bull’s superlative novel “War for the Oaks”).
Eddi is not a sphinx, by the way. She doesn’t need to be.
They weren’t. But it would be an interesting fan-fic. (I don’t think Paul wants to deal with legal headaches from including copyrighted characters after all.)
I think the rules of probability mentioned in Sea of Insanity apply here:
In that webcomic it’s hinted strongly that once you encounter one supernatural being then the laws of probability for you are altered so that other supernatural beings are more likely to encounter you than other people.
It works out quite well because that explains why most people don’t encounter the supernatural but, for those that do, their experience keeps getting richer.
Sigh… Really? “Back into the paranormal?” Since when? Wat? huh? And here I was hoping that we could be finally rid of Mr. “I can has pussy now plz?” Police Officer. Man I have no sympathy for, for ‘putting it in the crazy,’ meets references to events never mentioned prior in the comic. Do we have to keep this ‘character’ around? srsly?
Really, really good. We have some twisty minds here, trying to foresee coming plot lines, and Paul almost always goes off in a direction no one has expected. Boy!
So its a twist, when you throw curveballs that the audience never had a chance to expect or acknowledge? You can’t always Deus ex machina the entire plot line people. Why do all the guys always work out for the ladies now? Hey remember the the first couple of chapters, and men came and went? You know, like normal people? Remember when things didn’t always work out? At least Gin’s relationship is sorta believable. Heck I’d even buy Monica’s relationship in isolation. But when EVERYONE works out? Not a chance.
Justin clearly realized, even before Shelly could get one word out, that she was something supernatural. His immediate reaction? Get the hell out of that relationship as quickly as possible and burn the bridge behind him.
His pretense of blind disbelief was probably meant to hide any common ground they might have in order to encourage Shelly to give up on him. But it was a pretense that required him to rip into her as savagely as he could, knowing all the while that she in no way deserved it.
If he was willing to go that far to avoid getting “roped back in,” how likely is it that he’ll change his mind just because…oh Ghod, I just realized what I’m about to say…just because the cat’s out of the bag?
He’s not being roped, he’s being either keel-hauled or dragged kicking and screaming or some combination of both–but there is no rope in this picture. 😉
Also, I used to sell shoes. Pumas are a good inch-and-a-half narrower with thinner soles near the toe, and short, thin tongues. They’re a flatter shoe; Justin’s are practically skaters. 😉
Nope. I can absolutely, positively guarantee you there was never anywhere near 900 posts for one comic. 565 is the most. You must be thinking of another comic series.
Mind you, I’m a firm believer in the old phrase which says:
“Always remember, you can get more using magic and a database with every Wapsi comic section comment ever posted, than you can with magic alone.“
Don’t worry, I’m not so dedicated/manical that I copied and pasted it all. I wrote a program that automatically went page by page and gathered the data. Then another program that put it all into a database of 3 tables. Just started it on the first page and let it do all the work over the next few hours. Over 61,000 posts, the largest of which was 7193 characters.
Now, if I could just find a free OCR program that would read that odd font Paul uses in the comics themselves.
I can’t name you one off the top of my head, but a search criteria for you: look for one that allows you to add your own custom font to the scan matrix.
Then either hope Paul is benevolent enough to send you the font file, or do some image scraping and built it yourself. Upload and voila … WS is then OCR-friendly. 😉
Well fiddle faddle! I was sure that this was some sort of self esteem test for Shelly, to get her to face her relationship fears. Glad I didn’t bet the rent money on it.
Actually, it looks like it’s snowing heavily. That means if anybody looks up they can’t be sure what they are seeing because snow would obscure the image.
Slight revision of the old little song/poem:
Birdie, birdie in the sky why’d you do that in my eye?
I am a big girl I don’t cry … but, oh my gosh now sphinxes fly!
I don’t recall seeing as many posts bagging on Amanda when Monica tried to bring her in, and she’s known Monica a LOT longer than Justin’s known Shelly. Plus Amanda wasn’t facing a life-threatening event … until Monica dunked her in the lake.
Looks like I got close with my prediction last Thursday, but I figured she would use a car.
How she is going to handle the arrival at the entrance to the Emergency Room. Back wing down into the parking lot? Don’t think she wants to take the time to land out of sight, change back to human, and then carry Justin in.
Wonder where the Minneapolis MIB has the big neuralyzer located, Capella Tower maybe?
Wait, i’ve got it. THE HELICOPTER LANDING PAD ON THE ROOF. Then take the elevator.
If the staff asks them how they ended up on the elevator just act panicked, tell them you arrived at the wrong entrance and got lost. Probably happens a couple times a day.
“LifeFlight Dispatch this is Hospital Security. Do you have any Incomeing Flights?”
“Security from Dispatch thats negative.”
“Dispatch you’ve got….’SOMETHING’ comeing in FAST to the helipad!”
I’m fairly certain she could just drop him off at the emergency entrance in sphinx form. If she didn’t doddle, she could be gone before they thought to ask questions and they would be too busy questioning whether they actually saw anything in the first place.
I totally did not see back to the paranormal coming. On the other hand, it’s really the only way they could have a working relationship. Awesome twist. 😀
Those aren’t fangs, those are his molars. Notice the angle of his head? Paul always puts good effort into outlining fangs if a character has them, and they’re always both uppers and lowers; this is just a great shot of the roof of Justin’s mouth as he shouts in panic. 🙂
Looking again, I can see it both ways. Still looks like fangs, though – and from reading the comments, I’m not the only one who thought so. But I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll happily be wrong again.
I’m pretty sure Shelly will let Justin walk out of their relationship if he wants.
And maybe that’s really what Justin wants to know, that he has a choice.
What a way to lose a bet.
Yeah… “Roped BACK INTO the paranormal”?!? REEEEALLY didn’t see THAT one coming!
Paul must be a bit behind on his work cause that response from OTB should have been a Friday cliff-hanger.
Oh, I dunno. The snort was a nice cliffhanger.
Today’s panel isn’t so much of a cliffhanger. It’s a “we have all fallen off of a cliff, and are headed through the air at a very high speed” plunge. Watch that first step off of the curb, Justin… it’s a doozie!
*facepalm*
oh no. not again, magrathea.
Of course. And I of all people should have seen it.
Justin is telling the truth. He’s really a paranormal chick magnet, and he doesn’t know why.
He has every right to be so damn angry. But for entirely unique reasons.
And… I can’t…. SAYANYMOREbecauseifI’mrightthisistoocool
8X
or maybe he’s a sparkly vampire. sure, why the hell not
That is to say, Dave, that this is not his first step off the curb. Though he is clearly saying as much.
But his previous experiences have been… just weird.
In this case (at least) Justin is probably not likely to end up as a fractured pile of whale meat on the ground. At least, not this evening.
Who knows what he was faced with, the last time or two he went on the “crazy paranormal chick” merry-go-round (as it now seems likely may have happened)?
Only Paul knows. Is he going to tell? 🙂
Fear not for Justin, Dave. The implied whale meat was myself.
I’m cured of my Wapsi gambling itch… but I suspect that there are no bad actors in this scene, and that Justin genuinely and fairly believes that paranormal girls are crazy.
The ones that have crossed his path… must have been a special kind of maniac.
And now excuse me, I have an overpowering desire to cut my own tongue out of my mouth.
Only Paul knows. Is he going to tell?
Yes, Dave.
Eventually.
Yes, it does look like “back into”.
Notice the fangs in OTB’s mouth!
They might just be his molars, given the perspective Paul drew him at.
“BACK into…?” Those two words MAKE the entire page, and imply so much more. Hooray, Paul!
I kind of guessed it on Thursday. Said something about it on Friday.
Oooo! Now THIS sounds like a good story.
Good. I didn’t want to lose Justin so soon, either.
Bud might have some ‘splainin’ to do…
I didn’t see it (“back”) coming, but I sure saw it now.
I’m thinking it has to do with his affinity for psycho girls?
Yeah, here I was thinking it was just another guy who’s had his share of “crazy ex’s”
And now the question becomes, “Which crazy paranormal chicks was he dating?” My money’s on Nudge, but I wouldn’t rule out Euryale.
Anybody notice that those are certain brand of shoes in panel two? Kinda goes with the sound effect.
Shhhh, you don’t want any lawyers to find out!
Oh, sure, YOU notice it.
(points to the observation post below)
Just do it.
Didn’t mean to steal your thunder. To be fair, I did post my comment about the shoes before reading yours.
Then again, there’s always Plan B!
I think we’re deep in the realm of plan jsooewf by now.
No it doesn’t stand for anything, I just hit the keyboard.
There’s always room for… birth control?
Is Shelinx expecting kittens?
Hey, at least it isn’t Plan 9: From Outer Space… we still have the Vimana Cell powered Anti-Dimension Jump Shield up… though i’m not too sure how effective it is against somebody just flying in from outer space via a space ship rather than cross-dimensionally Poiting in…
This is gonna cause headaches for the MIB! And an interesting scene at the ER.
Captain Shellinx is fast,
Also she is from the past.
Not just fast but from the past.
You are channeling some serious Dr Seuss there.
This is gonna be a blast.
Is there such a thing?
That’s not Doctor Seuss, that’s Futurama. It also appears that Clobberella’s part of the song works for her as well.
Wait… “Back into?”
That’s a hell of a “back into.”
!!!!!
At least his reaction makes more sense now. He knew where things were going.
Did Justin suspect all along what Shelly was?
If so, he gets huge, huge props from me for even trying to hang with Shelly.
Now, see, Justin? If you had just said that before, instead of spouting all that “you’re crazy!” stuff, things might have gone easier for both of you.
Well, believing in the supernatural and believing Shelly is crazy are not mutually exclusive.
Justin is in high level denial about the paranormal to the point that he would rather think that Shelly is crazy that accept that the paranormal exists and has been part of his life. It is actually a well documented event for such total denial.
At this point, based on Justin’s remark in panel 3, I don’t think he has been in denial about the existence of the paranormal… and probably not even in denial about the possibility that Shelly is involved in it. He wouldn’t have switched from “refusing to believe” to “outright acceptance” so instantaneously, if he had truly been in a state of denial. He would probably have gone into some sort of paralytic brain-fry when Shelly swooped him up.
Actually, I think he’s been thoroughly convinced of the existence of the paranormal for a long time… probably from well before he met Shelly. He’d simply used the phrase “crazy chicks” in describing his former involvements when he spoke with Shelly… because up until a few minutes ago, he’d honestly thought that Shelly was “normal” and not involved with the paranormal.
As I see it, he realized (and accepted) the fact that Shelly is paranormal in a heartbeat, in the moment she spun-and-slashed (or a few seconds thereafter). The look of horror on his face was not just about having been attacked in an unexpected manner – it was a huge moment of “OH NO, NOT THIS AGAIN – I’M BACK IN IT!”
His whole tantrum of not-believing and cursing and stalking out in high dudgeon wasn’t because he was in denial… it’s not because he didn’t believe her… it’s because he suddenly did believe her, and wants very badly to refuse any further involvement in something which was clearly pretty traumatic to him in the past. He wants out, so thoroughly and firmly that he doesn’t even want to admit to her that he knows she’s telling the truth… because doing so would just open the door to more questions about his earlier experiences. Her reflex attack on him, has just given him an excuse and a way out: call her crazy, refuse to listen, run like hell.
He’s not denying the paranormal… it’s just a topic that he would really lay down and avoid.
He must have one hell of a back-story to tell, if he’s willing to do so.
And it’s repeated trauma. It’s like they’re seeking Justin out.
For some reason.
He must be a very special boyfriend to get all that attention when he doesn’t want it.
Yeah, I thought it odd that Justin didn’t react to Shelly’s rather obvious fangs here,
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/likin-this/
Or rather he did, but as long as Shelly was going through the charade of being normal and ‘keeping Justin in the dark’, he was willing to play along. The accusation of her being crazy was Justin realizing she didn’t have a handle on her supernatural side, and given what he knew up untill this moment, she might have been any number of dangerous beings who could accidentaly kill him.
I love all the arm-chair psychologists in this forum/comment section… Now where’s that eye roll emote?
Justin in denial? No.. How about trying to escape from things that he’s experienced before, i.e. paranormal dealings, while he can? In the first panel he seems sad that things ended at all, but that may just be relief that he “got away”.
“roped back”
.
.
.
O_0 lemme guess: Former MIB. Burnt-out on the madness and crazy shit?
Wait… what?! 0_o
Sounds about right. Explains those other “crazy” girlfriends. Some of them anyway. Wonder if he ever dated Euryale?
Could be.. 3>
Comment for Jay..
Oooh, I like your guess as Monica’s new Gorgon friend has mentioned MIBs trying to keep track of her.
No, if he were that burned out he’d be working in the post office. He’s more of… well, later in the movie, I haven’t seen it in a while and the fanfic was missing the middle and I really expected more from commercial publishing but hey… 😀
I still need to see the second one.
K comes back via the post office, where he tells a machine “No. Smoking.”
And no, not a spoiler. Not really any spoil at all. Right guys?
Oh, and rumor has it they’re working on a MI3 which maybe will be out for my birthday.
OH, it’s NOT a rumor… they have the trailer out already… it look good.
Looking at his comment, this statement actually makes a lot of sense.
Huh, never saw that coming…
Some answers, more questions. I feel like I’m surprised without actually being surprised.
GODDAMIT! I just wanted him gone. Was it so much to ask? Now Paul’s gonna find a way to bring him around and…..GRAH!
Although the art in this one is awesome.
Well, you know, you are never going to like all your friend’s friends. Let’s see where this goes.
OK, all of you who correctly analyzed Justin’s abrupt and absolute rejection of Shelly’s explanation, as evidence that he had “been there, done that, got the hell out” and simply didn’t want to deal with this whole subject again …
… well, I think you all get cookies. If Phix doesn’t show up with a whole boxful, I imagine that Shelly is now authorized to dispense them as required (although they may be feral cookies).
Well done.
I made a joke about “Not another sphinx!” but I wasn’t serious. My coy guess was wrong, and good on Shelly. This may be Love.
No I can’t elaborate, Paul may still do something similar.
But Justin didn’t talk about Sphinxes, but about paranormal things. So he might have had a fling with Nudge. Or Golems.
For the record, Cherish Blossom spotted this one.
Wheeeeeee!
I mean…
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
“swept off his feet” literally….
* shakes pun jar at you *
*drops-in sestertius*
grmmbl..
+1 for proper Latin.
She really knocked his socks off didn’t she XD … Nope, just the shoes.
Reminds me of Charlie Brown on the pitcher’s mound.
This leaves the plot in the air.
Ahem!
bmonk- Belatedly drops two new english pence into the jar, listens for the burp and the dials good one lady!
By the by. So, Spinxes can fly, despite their odd aerodynamics. And pretty fast too.
Those shoes made me snicker for a bit…
Well we have seen Phix airborne in the library before.
Yeah, but I surmised that the library had it’s own laws afa physics go.
The fact that they can fly damn fast too, makes Sphinxes even more scary though..
Good point.
Well, Bumble-Bees are also not supposed to fly due their flaky aerodynamics, and they still do, completely oblivious to things like aerodynamics 😉
Very old urban legend, about the bumblebees. They can’t fly like a fixed-wing plane, aerodynamically, but insects fly by moving their wings. I wonder what wing movement speed would be needed to get something like a sphinx airborne, though.
Magic, remember? Trumps physics.
Didn’t see this one coming.
Um … does Shelly arrive at the hospital starkers?
Actually, it is a bit more subtle than that.
Nothing is going to fly oblivious to the laws of aerodynamics (i.e. physics) – without magic – but bumblebees do fly oblivious to the math of aerodynamicists who make incorrect assumptions. As I understand it, the math “proving” bumblebees can’t fly assumed they had rigid wings – flapping but rigid. However, bumblebees have flexible wings and follow different rules.
Let’s see if an extra close bold or two will stop the rampant dark letters.
Nope, they just don’t get sent.
The small size and weight also help the flying. If you want to be accurate a bumble bee can’t fly ‘if’ it is the size of a Piper Cub airplane. I would also think that the inverse square law would cause a problem as well. The larger it was the more energy it would need to expend to fight the force of gravity. But at it’s present size it is perfect for flying.
I think it was a ‘horizon’ programme (yes, thats the proper spelling for TV!) that showed why bees CAN fly..
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_flight#Flight
– it’s the vortex, not the flap.. READ the link!!!
It is animated films that get it wrong, for simplicity.. :/
Not flexibility, but wing speed. Several aerodynamicists and insect biologists commented in the early 20th century that according to what was known at the time, many insects shouldn’t be able to fly. This wasn’t to say they thought things like bumblebees flying was impossible, just that the math of the time was incomplete. Part of the problem was that estimates of the speed of insect wings were too slow. It turns out their flight muscles work differently than any other kinds of muscle and vibrate rather than contracting. This allows their wings to beat much faster than previously thought. This higher wing-speed combined with a better understanding of the viscosity of air at the sizes involved means that we now understand how wings that small in relation to body mass can so obviously work just fine.
Yes. The bumblebee myth. Well, the original calculation was done on a napkin, and left out several things that weren’t learned until later, such as the vortices off the wing tips. And things like the viscosity of air at that size, so the bumbleebee is more swimming in air than flying.
Yes, by more exact calculations, it has no difficulty.
Scotty: You cannae break th’laws o’ physics!
Shelly/Phix: wanna bet?
::snickers::
Shellinx: I’m touching you, am I bothering you?
LOLJustin: Yesh.
…
LOLJustin haz kute fangz.
More like: I am pressing you to my chest, does that bother you?
Justin: nmwff..mwt rwlly…..
Oh yeah. He does seem to have fangs. Look more like vampire teeth.
And check out the extended “finger-nails” – and the size of his hands – velly strange ..
Hands=Shellinx’
Justin is just holding on to Shellinx’ neck.
Flying Shellinx has a great super-hero vibe going on…
Look again. You may see into Justin’s mouth, but I doubt they are fangs. The only hands I see belong to Shelly.
It’s a toss-up, either vampire-like fangs or the bottoms of his upper jaw dentition.
Good catch, you guys! Maybe his experience with the paranormal is not via girlfriends, but personal??
I don’t remember who called it that Justin had seen the supernatural already and didn’t want to be part of it, but bravo to you. Now the question is, Who freaked him out bad enough for this denial reaction to happen?
It also looks like she did a fair bit of flying during her 80,000 year hiatus.
I think we’ve — that is, Shelly’s — just scratched the surface of his involvement with the “paranormal”. There’s no talon what we’ll find out if she digs a little deeper…
<– Turns head away from Dafydd and holds out the tip jar.
When I first read this I did a double take, quickly followed by my saying, “HOLD ON A SEC!!” Then I read the title and lolled myself, had to change clothes but funny as shit.
I have to confess, Shelly’s reaction is not the “Love me or else” I feared, and that’s all to the good.
I’ll let this play out a bit before getting back on my soapbox.
A lot depends on how much Jason knew, and when.
heh, I like where this is going. But this means he wasn’t just a scared, freaked out normal, who’d had his chest clawed and was understandably freaking out. He *knew* something was paranormal, and he deliberately was hateful, telling her she was crazy, get tf away, and storming out. Okay, if somebody I was dating did that to me, I’d be yelling even worse things at them. And y’know what? I’m proud of Shelly. She lost control and accidentally hurt him, but after his flounce-she could have slunk away in tears. She could have got in his face and chewed him out right back. But she got mad, and determined, and is getting him to the hospital. Okay, and proving she was telling the truth at the same time, but still. And yeah, his last comment has me all curious-I’m looking forward to seeing what happens now!
Well by the look on Justin in the first panel, the adrenalin was wearing off and he was about to be face down on the ground, so Shelly getting him to the hospital is the most logical thing she could do
What would be funny as all get out would be – he doesn’t HAVE any injuries.
“Self healing power. Got it last time I was involved in the SCU of the MPD.”
“SCU?”
“Special Creatures Unit. It’s very hush-hush.”
I have to agree with this. Not wanting to be pulled in to something paranormal is understandable. Making Shelly feel like it’s all her fault and that she is the bad guy, not so understandable, especially since he had some reason to understand what just happened.
Just when I thought I was out… they rope me back in.
So you want a young Al Pachino to play Justin in the movie then????
NO!! Michael Weatherly, impersonating Al. Sheesh. 😉
Plus he’s also already played someone having to handle a girl with cat DNA in the mix… 🙂
Good point.
It is too bad that Dark Angel came too soon for the networks to handle it well, It deserved more than two seasons.
I miss her too. Just when it was getting good. . . .
Well I was thinking of him as Tony in NCIS, but that works too.
Wait wait wait….
Maybe Jason hasn’t just been exposed to the paranormal before.
Maybe he’s paranormal himself. He’s known all along what Shelly was, and was perfectly able to defend himself to some degree — and still walked away from Shelly because he’s just not into chicks who slash him open, for whatever reason.
Just waiting to see.
Yamara called attention, up above, to the fact that the drawing of Justin in the last frame… is showing him with noticeable incisors a.k.a. fangs! If this means what it usually means, Justin may indeed be a paranormal player!
Nah, it looks more like his molars. His upper-lip is kinda pointing down and covering the incisors. That’s all.
Paul draws fangs in a different way.
Molars are the big flat grinders in the back of your jaw.
Your front teeth are incisors; they’re made for cutting.
Your fangs, which is what Justin is showing, are the canines, and are for puncturing and tearing.
His canines are indeed very prominent here, and that is often cartoon shorthand for…not quite human.
We don’t know anything about his family after all.
It’s just the angle his mouth is shown at. There are no actual fangs.
I don’t think so, refugee. What Jay-Em is talking about is Justin’s molars being visible because he’s tilting his head back, giving us a partial shot of the back of the roof of his mouth. Paul always puts effort into clearly defining a character’s fangs, and giving them both upper and lower fangs. This is not that.
Nah – i think those are further back in his mouth, given how wide open it is.
Ah, I see it now. Those could simply be his back teeth rather than fangs.
Yes … YES! Even better than I’d hoped! Well done indeed!
That’ll lean him to tie his shoes better.
…Well! THAT happened!
I truly like the first pic. You can really see that his “tantrum” was more of a deliberate act, and he is pondering if he actually did the right thing…
Yeah… the “angry” is all gone. To me, he mostly looks weary.
It’s nice how Paul can match backgrounds to moods. It’s a neat trick he has.
Spiffy plot turn but I’m mostly just loving the art
To Paul – many thanks for the early post – much appreciated .
Okay Justin, I get that you don’t want to be Roped Back In, but would you care to explain the fangs? Did you come with them or were they ‘gifted’ to you by a previous ‘crazy’ girlfriend? Or is there some other reason?
The reason for the appearance of his fangs (or are they molars) is pretty obvious.
He and Shelly have decided to stop deceiving one another (well, they’ve actually been forced to, by events neither of them saw coming). They now have to deal with each other as they really are.
Yup… it’s Tooth Or Consequences time.
(drops a solid gold filling into the Pun Jar)
I like it
Hmmm…. Poll time!
Justin is:
a. Androsphinx
b. Werewolf
c. Vampire
d. Incubus
e. Not paranormal, but previously involved with someone who was
f. ???
z. Not a friggin clue.
Whatever he is, he may be in the same boat as the GGs and Tina. Just trying to live a normal life in the human world. I’m still waiting on the big reveal concerning Dietzel.
dietzel is in charge of it all…
Naw, I thinque if Dietzel were in charge, it would make more sense and they’d all be playing jacks.
f. Pick any two of the above
I’ll vote for E – he’s a normal human, but he was understating somewhat when he spoke of a propensity for attracting the *strange* girls.
Interesting to note who has control over their fangs. Shelly does (theoretically)… the GGs can’t change their bodies, Nudge can, Tina can’t (although hers may be dental implants, but I doubt it), Phix can’t or doesn’t bother in all situations… and if Justin does indeed have fangs (I’m holding out for more info) he totally can.
Huh. Anyone I’m missing?
Nah, those aren’t fangs, those are his molars. Notice the angle of his head? Paul always puts good effort into outlining fangs if a character has them, and they’re always both uppers and lowers; this is just a great shot of the roof of Justin’s mouth as he shouts in panic. 🙂
Tina did say there was a mix-up at the dentist and they gave her I think a goth chicks teeth by accident.
I can’t find it just yet, and not sure how to link it when I do.
I’m sure some kind soul will post it up when they find it…
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/silvereyes/
I read it recently, but I was just saying it seems like a “convenient” explanation. I have my doubts about how true that story is, now that we know Tina is… not quite human.
I can’t find the comic but Tina’s fangs were the result of a mixup at the dental lan when they made the implants to repair her jaw after the wreck that “killed” her.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/silvereyes/
Opps, sorry M, I didn’t see your post in the RSS feed before posting mine.
e. He remembers the last go-round. And the screw-up in the calendar was that he dated the wrong girl – Alan ended up with Shel, and he ended up with Jin.
That would explain the “crazy” part. And maybe dating Jin convinced him that all paranormal girls were crazy…
I pick (e. because if he was paranormal he couldn’t be drug back into it, he would be it.
a. would be fun.
e. would be too conventional.
I’m hoping for something out of left field.
Square root of e.: involved with a number of paranormamours who all had something in common; he probably began and may remain human– but with so much attention, he may have picked up something (my jury’s out on the “fangs”)
Where did Shelly put her clothes?
Maybe that’s what she’s holding in her fist, or perhaps sphinxes are also part marsupial.
She may have taken time to strip down to the buff, and leave them in a locker or ?? at Punk Yoga.
Or, they may have joined her wrist wraps, as shredded pieces of cloth littering the floor.
if either of these is the case, it’ll make life a bit complicated for her when she wants to take Justin into the ER.
I suppose she might be holding them in her left hand… it might be big enough to be concealing a wadded-up set of workout briefs?
Complicated for sure. Although, Shelly could show up bare naked and it would be much better than her showing up in her current form.
Maybe she could put on Justin’s tee shirt backwards. Of course, clothes are everywhere. Easy to get if one is in sphinx form too:
“You! I need your coat for a while!”
“Y-Y-Yes mam. Here.”
“I’ll return it later if you’ll wait inside.”
“Th-That’s okay. Keep it … Taxi!”
Oh … and I just had a naughty thought where she could have stored her clothes.
Remember when Captain Jack was caught in the buff by two robot clothier/Killers and he produced a small laser weapon. “Where did you hide that?” they asked Answer: “You don’t want to know.” *BANG!
Maybe Phix gave her some tips on shifting her clothing when she transforms.
What an interesting thing to say.
It took me a week and a half to catch up with this storyline, one of the more imagenative premises I have ever encountered. These girls are quite REAL, not two dimentional ditzy bimbos or overwhelmingly (and unbelivably) superminded fonts of wisdom- and now, this poor cop is squallering about getting “roped back into the paranormal”? what… was he dating Jin at some point? Or maybe one of my my ex-wives (there’s three to choose from, but the third one was a REAL traipse through the looking glass)? Hmmmm… OK, when will this be animated?
the Old Sgt.
Back you say?
Great to see ya again!
What? The hospital is paranormal? I don’t get it.
Oh, he’s referring to Shelly.
Well, maybe he’s referring to that place run by Lars von Trier and Stephen King.
Cheer up, Justin, you’re not in some butcher’s fever dream– you’re in Wapsi Square! The world almost exactly like the one you want to believe you live in!
In the arms of your three-ton 80,000 year old girlfriend.
If Justin gets to the hospital unconscious would it be from fear or blood loss?
uh… yes?
He doesn’t seem too fearful to me. More upset.
not even 15 minutes after midnight (central time) and i find it posted.
I read it and one word jumps involuntarily from my mouth… “BACK !?!”
kudos to Paul and his surprises.
We of the forum had suggested almost every part of the story of this strip; but none of us actually put in together.
From disbelief to complete acceptance that Shelly IS a sphinx in one fell swoop!
Beautiful!
>shakes pun jar<
OH HELL YEAH! Go Shelly!
In case you haven’t noticed… I like fast cats, too.
Huh. So, what, he’s had his own little adventures in the past? Sheesh. I’m starting to think that everyone in this town has had a supernatural encounter, and they all just assume that everyone else is “normal” because no one talks about their crazy times.
I will say, though, that his actually having experience with paranormal activity makes his earlier reaction slightly less sympathetic in my view. I mean, if he knows that strange stuff exists in this world, shouldn’t he be a little more open to the idea of Shelly being something unearthly? He can still be upset, but geez… he flat out called her a crazy bitch. Seems a bit hypocritical. It’s like…
“Screw you, Shelly! You’re crazy and I don’t want to get wrapped up in your drama! Keep your crazy delusional ravings off of my plate, lady! The aliens warned me about this when they gave me a soul made of lazers! ‘Watch out for crazy bitches,’ they said! I tell you, after they sent me to the land of Zakro-Blangg and I rescued the Princess of Feathers from the Nth-Headed Dragon of Narct, I thought I could look forward to having a stable relationship outside of the Shadow Conspiracy with a nice, honest woman. But if you’re going to start spouting crazy talk, Shelly, then that’s where I draw the freaking line! ‘Sphinx,’ indeed. I don’t know about you, sweetheart, but I prefer to live in reality! Now stand back, I produce sulfur when I teleport.”
See what I mean?
Justin could never win. Princess rescuing on your CV can only get you a job at Disney World.
And those aren’t costumes at Disney. Once you know that, you move to the most distant part of a continent that you can find, get a job as a cop so no one questions you, and date a girl that hates the paranormal as much as you do.
And then the god in charge pulls a dimensional time travel thing on your lady, and all his fans are all laughing and hating on you. You’d be angry too.
Well, as far as everyone in town having some sort of supernatural connection… yeah, it’s Minneapolis after all, and Shelly’s in a rock band. It only makes sense that she’s been gigging with Eddi McCandry (of “Eddi and the Fey”) occasionally.
(This is a reference to Emma Bull’s superlative novel “War for the Oaks”).
Eddi is not a sphinx, by the way. She doesn’t need to be.
You mean people don’t talk about Eddi here all the time?
Or Bull’s magical realism novel set in the Minneapolis area, Bone Dance?
Huh.
(A crossover would be fun, though.)
I’ve been reading Wapsi and the comments for nearly a year and can’t remember Eddi or Emma ever being mentioned. Hard to figure…
They weren’t. But it would be an interesting fan-fic. (I don’t think Paul wants to deal with legal headaches from including copyrighted characters after all.)
Confirmed. The only Eddi mentioned in any of the posts ever is Eddi McCandry and the Emma’s mentioned are Emma Frost and Emma Stone.
Except, of course, for the recent mention of Eddi and Emma which brought up their names in the first place.
Oh heck, it’s here:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/noplacelikehome/#comment-65711
Here:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/office-phix/#comment-9644
and here:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/office-phix/#comment-9644
I think the rules of probability mentioned in Sea of Insanity apply here:
In that webcomic it’s hinted strongly that once you encounter one supernatural being then the laws of probability for you are altered so that other supernatural beings are more likely to encounter you than other people.
It works out quite well because that explains why most people don’t encounter the supernatural but, for those that do, their experience keeps getting richer.
There is of course a trope for this. Once the Masquerade starts breaking, it’s all downhill from there.
A related trope, subcategory 3B in particular, also seems to apply.
Sigh… Really? “Back into the paranormal?” Since when? Wat? huh? And here I was hoping that we could be finally rid of Mr. “I can has pussy now plz?” Police Officer. Man I have no sympathy for, for ‘putting it in the crazy,’ meets references to events never mentioned prior in the comic. Do we have to keep this ‘character’ around? srsly?
D we really need you?
That’s called a “twist” honey.
Paul is good at those.
Really good.
Really, really good. We have some twisty minds here, trying to foresee coming plot lines, and Paul almost always goes off in a direction no one has expected. Boy!
So its a twist, when you throw curveballs that the audience never had a chance to expect or acknowledge? You can’t always Deus ex machina the entire plot line people. Why do all the guys always work out for the ladies now? Hey remember the the first couple of chapters, and men came and went? You know, like normal people? Remember when things didn’t always work out? At least Gin’s relationship is sorta believable. Heck I’d even buy Monica’s relationship in isolation. But when EVERYONE works out? Not a chance.
So who says this is gonna work out?
Justin clearly realized, even before Shelly could get one word out, that she was something supernatural. His immediate reaction? Get the hell out of that relationship as quickly as possible and burn the bridge behind him.
His pretense of blind disbelief was probably meant to hide any common ground they might have in order to encourage Shelly to give up on him. But it was a pretense that required him to rip into her as savagely as he could, knowing all the while that she in no way deserved it.
If he was willing to go that far to avoid getting “roped back in,” how likely is it that he’ll change his mind just because…oh Ghod, I just realized what I’m about to say…just because the cat’s out of the bag?
(drops 37 Gil into the Pun Jar).
@semc
It’s called fantasy.
If we want soul-crushing reality, there’s 24-hour news networks for that.
Love it or hit “next” eh?
Shelly could swoop into the emergency entrance as she is, tell the nurses: “He needs med care now!” and fly away. He need never be seen again.
I say Paul is immune to the pun jar for the narrowly implied name brand shoes which coincidentally have the same name as a town in France.
If he wasn’t immune I’d shake the jar in his general direction for that one. 😀
Perhaps he has a product placement deal going.
Oh, sure, NOW you guys realize the product placement.
I wonder if Phil Knight bought a few copies of the WS books or something.
It’s not (just) product placement. It’s much more than that.
The swooshy brand of shoes is named for a Greek goddess… who has wings… and symbolizes speed, strength, and victory.
Look her up.
Paul got in a really good one here, I think.
Dude! If you didn’t want to get roped back into the paranormal then why the hell were you dating a Comanche? -_-
I will, however, shake the pun jar at you.
He’s not being roped, he’s being either keel-hauled or dragged kicking and screaming or some combination of both–but there is no rope in this picture. 😉
Using his own words. But yes, he did set himself up with that.
I just have two words for Justin not wanting to be roped back in … too late.
Yep, it’s all over except for the piggin’ string.
Okay, ultimate observation time.
Without scrolling back up – what brand of shoes did Justin have on?
I’ll bet 99% of all Wapsi Readers won’t know.
I scrolled back up and I still don’t know.
Given the sound effect … gotta be Pumas.
I Are a Bad Man.
I really did laugh at that Fairportfan.
The pun jar is gonna make a bit of money tonight.
…those AREN’T Pumas.
You don’t need to see his identification.
These aren’t the Pumas you’re looking for.
He can go about his business.
That confirms it.
Hint: there was a reason for the sound effect in the second panel (nice touch, by the way, Pablo).
… and there’s a reason behind the reason …
Clues! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice That’s the French city I was talking about.
Also, I used to sell shoes. Pumas are a good inch-and-a-half narrower with thinner soles near the toe, and short, thin tongues. They’re a flatter shoe; Justin’s are practically skaters. 😉
Okay. I gotta be less subtle.
Exchanging the big hammer for a brick in a sock…
First day of school plus not enough sleep = de sottle gots de best off me .
HOLY SHIZ!! How long has this page been up? And hour and a half and already 100 comments? NICE!!
On a different note, “BACK into the paranormal”?
NICE TWIST PAUL!! *salutes*
and that’s why
Doing good, but we have a long way to go to beat the all time record of 565 posts here:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/to-remember/
Even this past weekend we only made it up to 266
Well, that was a Friday, and a high-suspense moment.
Up to 165 in not quite ten hours so far…
I swear to you there was a comic with over 900 comments, and I can’t recall which one it was. ;(
Nope. I can absolutely, positively guarantee you there was never anywhere near 900 posts for one comic. 565 is the most. You must be thinking of another comic series.
hm, I could’ve sworn… Not even with Stinky?
@SoWhyMe: I checked. You win.
Never doubt a man who uses magic.
Mind you, I’m a firm believer in the old phrase which says:
“Always remember, you can get more using magic and a database with every Wapsi comic section comment ever posted, than you can with magic alone.“
Um…
you win, but you also scare me.
Don’t worry, I’m not so dedicated/manical that I copied and pasted it all. I wrote a program that automatically went page by page and gathered the data. Then another program that put it all into a database of 3 tables. Just started it on the first page and let it do all the work over the next few hours. Over 61,000 posts, the largest of which was 7193 characters.
Now, if I could just find a free OCR program that would read that odd font Paul uses in the comics themselves.
@SWM
I can’t name you one off the top of my head, but a search criteria for you: look for one that allows you to add your own custom font to the scan matrix.
Then either hope Paul is benevolent enough to send you the font file, or do some image scraping and built it yourself. Upload and voila … WS is then OCR-friendly. 😉
Pibgorn at Gocomics once hit, IIRC, 1350 or so over a weekend. BUt that was somewhat inflated.
Wow Shelly really does know a good pick up line
I think her hind paws are cute
I think this is one of those “pay the pun jar” situations. I think this is your first, so I’ll cover for you.
-drops a broom into the pun jar-
Well fiddle faddle! I was sure that this was some sort of self esteem test for Shelly, to get her to face her relationship fears. Glad I didn’t bet the rent money on it.
Are those fangs in Justins mouth?
I thinking it’s just the angle of shot.
I would have to agree with you.
Of course the real zinger of today’s strip is Justin’s getting roped back into comment.
Weather forecast: Fair with a chance of sphinx overcast in the afternoon.
…
The hospital helipad area will be a very lively place today
Actually, it looks like it’s snowing heavily. That means if anybody looks up they can’t be sure what they are seeing because snow would obscure the image.
Slight revision of the old little song/poem:
Birdie, birdie in the sky why’d you do that in my eye?
I am a big girl I don’t cry … but, oh my gosh now sphinxes fly!
BTW, you folks bagging on Justin:
Shelly apparently still likes him. Could have left the stupid jerk to bleed, but no, she’s gonna swoop in and “save” him.
So does that mean that she’s got terrible taste in men?
Or does it mean that she’s trying to make up for what she herself means is her mistake?
Whether or not she still is interested, Shelly’s not the type to leave a person to bleed to death, especially not from wounds she inflicted.
This goes double if her claws/talons/etc leave DNA traces that match her own. This comic does not need a murder trial plot.
Heh, enter Bud… she could either poit him away or compress him into a diamond and fire him into orbit… either works. Voila, no DNA!
(morbid!)
Gonna take a fair time to bleed to death from four scratches that don’t even expose the ribs…
Agreed, about those bagging on Justin.
I don’t recall seeing as many posts bagging on Amanda when Monica tried to bring her in, and she’s known Monica a LOT longer than Justin’s known Shelly. Plus Amanda wasn’t facing a life-threatening event … until Monica dunked her in the lake.
Looks like I got close with my prediction last Thursday, but I figured she would use a car.
How she is going to handle the arrival at the entrance to the Emergency Room. Back wing down into the parking lot? Don’t think she wants to take the time to land out of sight, change back to human, and then carry Justin in.
Wonder where the Minneapolis MIB has the big neuralyzer located, Capella Tower maybe?
Wait, i’ve got it. THE HELICOPTER LANDING PAD ON THE ROOF. Then take the elevator.
If the staff asks them how they ended up on the elevator just act panicked, tell them you arrived at the wrong entrance and got lost. Probably happens a couple times a day.
“LifeFlight Dispatch this is Hospital Security. Do you have any Incomeing Flights?”
“Security from Dispatch thats negative.”
“Dispatch you’ve got….’SOMETHING’ comeing in FAST to the helipad!”
I’m fairly certain she could just drop him off at the emergency entrance in sphinx form. If she didn’t doddle, she could be gone before they thought to ask questions and they would be too busy questioning whether they actually saw anything in the first place.
Everyone has already said it. I might a well too.
*clears throat*
WHAT THE HELL DOES HE MEAN ROPED BACK INTO?
Paul, you have some splainin’ to do!
I totally did not see back to the paranormal coming. On the other hand, it’s really the only way they could have a working relationship. Awesome twist. 😀
Nice fangs, too.
Those aren’t fangs, those are his molars. Notice the angle of his head? Paul always puts good effort into outlining fangs if a character has them, and they’re always both uppers and lowers; this is just a great shot of the roof of Justin’s mouth as he shouts in panic. 🙂
Looking again, I can see it both ways. Still looks like fangs, though – and from reading the comments, I’m not the only one who thought so. But I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll happily be wrong again.
I’m pretty sure Shelly will let Justin walk out of their relationship if he wants.
And maybe that’s really what Justin wants to know, that he has a choice.