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"How Long Was I Gone"
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How Long Was I Gone
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Latest Medusa Comic

How Long Was I Gone

by Paul Taylor on January 18, 2010 at 12:00 am
Story: Wapsi-Archive
Characters: Bud, Mayahuel, Monica, Shelly

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Discussion (67) ¬

  1. frankwolftown
    January 18, 2010, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    OH snap! Get ready for some crazy ass introductions!

  2. Zogh
    January 18, 2010, 12:04 am | # | Reply

    When did the smell of dirt come up before? I don’t remember.

    • jwhouk
      January 18, 2010, 3:02 am | # | Reply

      I don’t think it has.

    • BMonk
      December 5, 2024, 12:21 pm | # | Reply

      I think it’s more that she back where there is dirt to smell. I.e., no longer in the demonscape.

  3. Puck
    January 18, 2010, 12:04 am | # | Reply

    I think living without the scent of soil would be a harsh price, indeed.

    • Michaela.
      January 20, 2010, 3:28 pm | # | Reply

      Love the Kukuburi avatar. =]

      • Puck
        January 31, 2010, 8:57 pm | #

        Ah – thanks 🙂

    • BMonk
      December 5, 2024, 12:22 pm | # | Reply

      I’d include petrichor – the smell after a rain.

  4. TlalocW
    January 18, 2010, 12:06 am | # | Reply

    Judging from the way our mystery lady and Bud came out of Shelly in last week’s strip, she probably landed face first on the ground and probably couldn’t smell anything else but dirt at this point.

    • Senok13
      February 15, 2025, 5:23 am | # | Reply

      That’s not Bud. Based on the hair color, I would put my bet on Jin’s mother.

  5. T.S.Millar
    January 18, 2010, 12:07 am | # | Reply

    Shelly should keep that shirt. It’d be a crazy design and it would remind her what getting a tattoo removed feels like.

  6. jwhouk
    January 18, 2010, 12:07 am | # | Reply

    “I can smell dirt again.” That’s got to be the most unique first words in the history of comics.

  7. RKSAustin
    January 18, 2010, 12:09 am | # | Reply

    Bud kick butt! And now who’s expecting one heck of a family reunion?

    Maybe the lady Bud rescued (Jin’s mom seems the popular choice) is just noticing the scent of the real world which she hasn’t smelled in, what – how many centuries?

    • fatuncle
      January 18, 2010, 12:24 am | # | Reply

      80,000 years and change, if I remember correctly. Roughly 1450 years for each loop, times 50-odd resets of the calendar machine. A long time to spend “ripped out of place and time”.

  8. ziggy78eog
    January 18, 2010, 12:17 am | # | Reply

    You see Shelly? The “this will not hurt one bit” line is ALWAYS a lie. Man, that looks like the mother of all pen explosions; consider that shirt a complete loss.

    • bmonk
      May 24, 2011, 4:14 pm | # | Reply

      But at least she saved the bra…

  9. fairportfan
    January 18, 2010, 12:35 am | # | Reply

    That’s what happened to the boots!

    I said they were ass-kicking boots – Bud had a few more asses to kick than she expected or planned on and wore ’em out.

    • Quasar Mogul
      January 18, 2010, 2:16 am | # | Reply

      She kicked some demons in their asses and they got stuck there I’d bet.

  10. throopw
    January 18, 2010, 12:52 am | # | Reply

    …, painlessly poiting the pigment from my pelt …

    • Aidan
      January 18, 2010, 1:11 am | # | Reply

      alliteration is always awesome!

    • jwhouk
      January 18, 2010, 3:01 am | # | Reply

      Discerning the odeur of dark, dingy dirt delightfully…

    • Atomic
      January 18, 2010, 8:48 am | # | Reply

      Poisoning pigeons in the park…

      • TlalocW
        January 18, 2010, 11:54 am | #

        Lehrer lyrics leave me LOL’ing.

    • JustaPhilosopher
      June 8, 2011, 3:20 pm | # | Reply

      combo’ed comments should keep coming

      Hopefully, Jin’s mom isn’t jilted after just being jerked from a perilous parallel dimensional (?) prison of epic proportions.

      Bud’s brashness and bravery will hopefully not go unnoticed by Jin, but Brandi may balefully brandish a bad omen for or bicker with bud for not including her in the plan. Or just bop her on the brain-case.

      (?) = Can anyone confirm if the dimensions (demon, real, other) are parallel or some other form of perhaps intersecting dimensions?

      • BMonk
        December 5, 2024, 12:25 pm | #

        Everyone’s efforts encourage excessively elaborate elocutions.

  11. hewolf
    January 18, 2010, 1:25 am | # | Reply

    I was actually expecting Shelly to say “Sunova bitch my boobs hurt!” … or something similar….

    But deep fried? Yowch.

    • jwhouk
      January 18, 2010, 2:51 am | # | Reply

      The new Meso-American Sensation: Deep Fried Tattoo Removal!

    • Dr. Jeff
      January 18, 2010, 2:12 pm | # | Reply

      What boobs? They aren’t discernible in the second panel at all! How sad. Perhaps Bud pulled out more than ink… Ow.

      Deep-fried boobs. Nah… I’ll pass. ;^)

      • BMonk
        December 5, 2024, 12:28 pm | #

        Someone should serve deep fried Cassatella di sant’Agata on a stick at county or state fairs.

  12. SoWhyMe
    January 18, 2010, 2:28 am | # | Reply

    Considering Jin’s mother was a murdering bitch with little or no regard for human life, just why did she deserve rescuing from what seems to be a fitting punishment for her horrific crimes?

    • jwhouk
      January 18, 2010, 2:56 am | # | Reply

      This is a good question. And, it could very well be the theme of the strip from here on out.

      The idea is, apparently, that Mayahuel took the role of “wizard” to the evil prince in the strip that led off The Timekeeper’s Daughter so as to advance the plans to get the time machine back working. Why, we don’t know.

      By the way: I sense that her “real” name is actually Mae or May, since Jin’s “full” Aztec name would be Centontochtli, which could be reduced to “Cen” or, more accurately, “Jin”.

    • fatuncle
      January 18, 2010, 3:41 am | # | Reply

      A number of possible reasons.

      First thing that comes to mind is Bud’s loyalty to Jin and Brandi. Jin wanted to grow old and die – but wasn’t that predicated on the calendar machine being fixed? It’s not fixed — it’s gone. Mayahuel was the only person there when the machine went off the rails, who had a hand in creating it. Does she know something that Bud feels is going to be needed? Remember, this is not the repair foreseen — the whole time track just went sideways on us.

      More — Mayahuel is, after all, the one who created the technology to create golems. She is herself a golem – did Bud hope to have her reverse the process? Or give up keys to let her, and Brandi, and Jin, live more normal lives?

      The calendar machine was the stop in the time loop, and has now been removed. In theory, time will now run unimpeded. But will this solve all problems, and let all become sweetness and light? I don’t think so. Removing the calendar machine might have just pulled the cork out of the genie’s bottle, and all sorts of nasty things that have been hanging fire are now free to escape …

    • M
      January 18, 2010, 4:29 am | # | Reply

      If you wouldn’t mind, please remind me why her mum is a murdering bitch? I forget the strips where that was established.

      • SoWhyMe
        January 18, 2010, 1:14 pm | #

        Right here: . The point being she was so powerful she didn’t have to kill anyone to get in to see the king, she just took those lives so as to impress him.

      • jwhouk
        January 18, 2010, 4:40 pm | #

        Mentioned previously back in December of 2006 (You Need Better Protection). That was initially believed to be Jin in a past incarnation, but it has been hinted that her mom has actually “made appearances” at times during the calendar machine’s run. How, why, when and where, we don’t know (except for the teaching Monica how to speak glyph).

      • SoWhyMe
        January 18, 2010, 11:25 pm | #

        Darn! I guess I screwed up the link formating in my post. Anyway, jwhouk has it in his.

      • M
        January 19, 2010, 4:13 am | #

        Ah, ok thanks… yes, I was definitely under the impression that that was Jin, not her mother (since in the strip before that one Brandi says Jin mentioned her “last interview”). But it sounds like you guys have probably already debated this at length!

    • BMonk
      December 5, 2024, 12:30 pm | # | Reply

      Well, even if she deserved a life sentence for what she did, serving 80,000 years should allow a reprieve or parole at least. And, besides, Jin (and maybe the other GGs) seem to need her.

  13. Zespara
    January 18, 2010, 2:47 am | # | Reply

    Here’s a shot in the dark. What if the mystery woman is the real Tina?

  14. gus3
    January 18, 2010, 2:48 am | # | Reply

    Monica still hasn’t drawn Chekov’s gun, let alone fire it.

    • jwhouk
      January 18, 2010, 2:57 am | # | Reply

      Oh, don’t go saying that NOW…

    • fairportfan
      January 18, 2010, 6:56 am | # | Reply

      No – Pablo drew it.

      See?

      Right there in Panel 1.

      • bmonk
        May 24, 2011, 4:16 pm | #

        I wish I could draw and fire it for that last pun…

  15. Brian Witt
    January 18, 2010, 3:24 am | # | Reply

    Everybody seems to be assuming that this is Jin’s mom. While I do think that makes an awful lot of sense I had another interesting theory. From the back that would be any number of people, including Tina, the girl from the coffee shop. Bud and her did have an encounter the one time where Bud was obviously not pleased with Demon-Tina’s presence. Perhaps when Tina died she was sent to the demon world because of her demons staying behind and possessing her body..

    • TlalocW
      January 18, 2010, 12:00 pm | # | Reply

      If it is Tina, does that mean the demons that make up the current Tina go back to her, or does she get a whole new set, or will she just be demonless? I’m still sticking with it being Amelia Earhart.

  16. fatuncle
    January 18, 2010, 3:46 am | # | Reply

    That’s weird. Submitted a reply to SoWhyMe, and it never posted.

    gus3, who are you, and why do you have my avatar? :p

    • jwhouk
      January 18, 2010, 3:57 am | # | Reply

      If you don’t get an avatar from Gravatar, it posts random ones that happen to be site-related.

      • fatuncle
        January 18, 2010, 6:04 am | #

        Ah, so. Perhaps I should get a “gravatar”, then.

  17. Pat
    January 18, 2010, 6:08 am | # | Reply

    Sister and I agree – this page is quite a good example of how your art has evolved. It has the right dynamic for a different story, now.

    Do not worry, Shelly – now you have your very own custom tie dye tshirt. Put it under black light, see what it does.

  18. Xenos66
    January 18, 2010, 11:31 am | # | Reply

    Aside from Tina, there is another long-haired brunette who died in mysterious circumstances, with some sort of connection to the calendar machine.

    • jwhouk
      January 18, 2010, 1:23 pm | # | Reply

      Tina would be about the only one… unless you’re talking about someone else’s mom?…

      • Xenos66
        January 18, 2010, 5:08 pm | #

        Exactly. Someone else. How did she get those dolls in the first place? Maybe this is not a mystery and I missed a spot of exposition.

    • SoWhyMe
      January 18, 2010, 5:12 pm | # | Reply

      Where in the series does it show Tina’s death? Or is this only revealed through dialog at some point?

      • fairportfan
        January 18, 2010, 7:13 pm | #

        It’s shown indirectly in the flashback sequence when Monica runs away from Doubt and runs in front of a bus in Mexico City. Tina is killed when her car runs into the back of the bus when it stops very suddenly (assisted by Jin).

        The consensus is that Monica, age fourteen (as i recall) was attempting suicide and she winds up in a retreat for the very very bewildered for a couple years.

      • JustaPhilosopher
        June 8, 2011, 3:31 pm | #

        “very very bewildered” well… That’s one way to put it. I like the euphemism. And quite bewildered she was. I am morbidly curious in how many ways she tried suicide. At least two are known of, but the bus incident may not EXACTLY have been a suicide attempt given that she was running from DEMONS (Tina’s to be exact, if I remember correctly from comics and comments, and hence why her demons (Tina’s) now have forgotten all things previous to being ‘Tina’, etc.). But stabbing a sharpened pencil into an artery… that is a very VERY “hardcore” suicide attempt (not to say that being “hardcore” is a good thing [Please Insert Usual “DON’T FUCKING TRY THIS AT HOME” disclaimer here]). Which it does make me wonder at times with the people who attempt suicide on their state of lucidity. They are lucid enough to attempt it and sometimes succeed, but they are somewhat “bewildered” to be driven to it in the first place…

  19. Paula
    January 18, 2010, 12:26 pm | # | Reply

    the stranger looks like doubt. she hid behind monica remember and she was the main one orchestraiting everything in monicas past.

    • Bucky Katt
      January 18, 2010, 4:11 pm | # | Reply

      and who was last seen coolly exiting the scene after Shelly broke off the blade in Monica’s skull, thereby “locking” her? I don’t think so.

      I think it’s Jin’s mom – and the reason she’s commenting on smelling dirt is she’s going to accuse them all of living like pigs the last 80,000 years and clean the place up. Moms do that when they visit.

      • Bucky Katt
        January 18, 2010, 4:12 pm | #

        I meant “make them clean the place up.”

  20. sco3tt
    January 18, 2010, 2:31 pm | # | Reply

    Out of the loop demons, HA! Sounds like a band. Or that’s just me.

    You know you’ve been gone a long time when you start to miss the little things like the smell of dirt. In fiery pits or other traditionally demon infested planes you don’t get any breaks to stop and smell the roses (or in this case, dirt) cause there aren’t any. And there’s demons after you. Both compelling reasons.

    And painless tattoo removal via poit? Sounds like this could turn into a business!

  21. DeadlyDad
    January 18, 2010, 2:37 pm | # | Reply

    Am I the only one who looks at her t-shirt and sees a zombie chipmunk?

    • DeadlyDad
      January 18, 2010, 2:37 pm | # | Reply

      …or possibly an undead squirrel?

      • jwhouk
        January 18, 2010, 4:32 pm | #

        Well, Mr. Rorschach, would you also perhaps see a howling coyote?

      • Paula
        January 19, 2010, 1:14 am | #

        oh yea. its in the middle 🙂

  22. Dusty668
    January 18, 2010, 4:49 pm | # | Reply

    I think it’s Jin, that’s the only way she would be able to age as a GGG.

  23. kingklash
    January 19, 2010, 11:21 am | # | Reply

    Shelly will be all right. At least she didn’t get it lasered off all at once. Her entire front would be all tender and ashy, and she might end up with a killer moisterizing lotion bill.

  24. ShadowCat
    July 20, 2021, 2:59 pm | # | Reply

    May should be in a catatonic sensory overload since she has been without typical “senses” for as long as the loop has lasted

  25. J-Earl
    November 27, 2022, 1:35 am | # | Reply

    Man, what a ride.

    Just sayin’.

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