It looks like he had plastic lenses that pretty much evaporated leaving behind the partialy melted frames. Or the metal softened enough to let the lenses fall out. So in the few seconds they were being doused with flame, thier clothes were turned completely to ash, Justin lost (and regained) several inches of flesh and his metal framed glasses were softened to the point that they’ve lost thier lenses and a re dangling from his face. I guess those things breathe plasma.
Either plasma, or some extremely corrosive gas or vapor. Plasma does seem more likely… a corrosive wouldn’t tend to give the frames that molten-sagged look.
Yeah, and a corrosive would tend to hand around in the atmosphere I think. Danzier makes a valid point, those wire frames should still be flesh scorchingly hot.
Re: the “Scorching Hot eyeglasses frames” – not really, they don’t have a lot of thermal mass and a whole lotta surface area, so wire cools down quick.
But stuff like this happening on a regular basis would be a reason to go back to Old-School Glass lenses and put up with the weight. Plastic just doesn’t last the same.
well it looks like a clueless teen (with *very* bad observation abilities!), who forgets puppies ‘playful hot breath’ actually incinerates humans!!! :O
Except we really don’t know how much traffic the library and/or annex really gets, especially human traffic. Euryale was the first (and only), patron we’ve seen and Monica and group are the only humans that have been mentioned as using the library.
If none of the other patrons would be harmed by the “puppies” and humans patrons are almost non-existent, then perhaps “college girl” may be excused for letting her pets run loose.
Well, we don’t know where his power comes from. It could be that it doesn’t so much “heal” as return his body to the state it was in when he got the power- if he already had bad eyes, then he’s got them for good. I could be entirely wrong though. Wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last.
If this is the case, though… could his ability counteract the effects of aging? Justin could potentially be immortal.
I think an earlier comment section discussed it being the shape of his eye (and I think Justin himself mentioned astigmatism). His optic nerves are probably perfect, but nothing is capable of altering shape (and therefore the refraction) of his eye. Always thought that was nice take on perfect regeneration.
As for senescence (aging), that has several factors, but telomere regeneration alone would set Justin apart from mortal humanity. If he regenerated damage hyperfast, but otherwise was normal, then his telomarase depletion would have left him a shrivelled old man by now.
His imperfect eyes suggest that either he was not born with an immortal physique capable of allowing youth to mature and then remain constant. Any such maturation cycle would have to be exquisitely timed not to allow the body from melting into a cancerous blob. Astigmatism is a puzzle piece that doesn’t comfortably fit that picture.
So it’s logical to assume that Justin became this way as an adult. Either as a side effect of the CM or other time dilation, from a yet-unspecified blessing or curse, or some other “magic”. But I think he could be very old.
I missed that earlier discussion. Suppose Justin’s body simply regenerates back to his basline genetic state. If he has a natural atigmatism, it would regenerate too. He could get laser surgery and need his glasses again before he got to paying the bill.
As long as his baseline state doesn’t include serious genetic anomalies, his regeneration could well correct against cancer.
If Justin has always had this quirk, his body could well have attempted to assume adult shape on conception…which would make things a little dicey for his mom…unless for some reason, he followed a natural but aggressive growth pattern. In that case, a growth spurt would take a few seconds to occur. Since babies grow at an aggressive rate in utero anyway, mom still might have gotten a big surprise very shortly after his conception. If Justin always had this ability and his mom’s alive, odds are good she has it too.
it is also possible his healing ability (like most of the ‘mutations’ in the marvel universe) was activated when he entered puberty and wasn’t fully developed until he was full grown.
Thus, any faulty condition he had acquired during childhood or adolescence (like his poor vision) is now part of his ‘default’ state when he has to do a massive heal.
Astigmatism is the cause of a defect in the shape of the cornea and/or lens, causing distortion of how light is focused onto the eye. It isn’t normal “damage” that can be fixed, it’s basically a hiccup in your design.
If you build a machine that can repair itself perfectly every time it’s damaged, but has a flaw in the initial design, the machine will keep rebuilding that flaw into itself
Now if he could consciously control the regeneration, he could probably fix his vision.
I do think there’s some unconscious control going on as muscle mass isn’t constant throughout your life, it increases and decreases based on your actions
Basically if his arm was blazed to the bone, just a straight up regen based on his DNA would restore the arm to what the DNA would say it should be. If there’s some unconscious control it seems more likely that the regen would restore the arm to the amount of muscle he had before
why?… for the same reason that Clark Kent wears glasses, when his alter-ego Superman doesn’t need them… as a disguise!
he doesn’t really need them, but he uses them as a buffer against somebody “noticing” things about him that are TOO Perfect… things like: he never gets paper cuts, and doing the required physical exams for the police dept., he never has any problems, and in those rare shoot-outs with the bad guys (as a desk jockey even less often) he ignores things like getting a hit to the chest with no body armor (like Arnold does towards the end of the movie “the Last Action Hero”) you know, little tiny things like that… this way he can say that he’s not PERFECT, “see i got bad eyes!!” and they ignore his little “quirks” like that. 😀
Maybe? My impression is more of a shell shocked disbelief. He just experienced a dangerous encounter higher on the supernatural food chain than he’s used to, his girlfreind is treating it as a minor anoyance and this new girl is is acting as though she dosen’t realize her little pets breathe FIRE.
Poor Justin is the straight man in a supernatural comedy of errors.
I think I agree. Justin’s reaction in the last frame is along the lines of being a compact shorthand for “Frisky?? Ye gods… if that was ‘frisky’ then you must surely realize that ‘mildly irritated’ would have destroyed the better half of Minneapolis!!”
@Yamara – we don’t actually know the phylogenetic tree location of cerberi. Although they look like dogs, they may not actually be canids. They do appear to be members of the order Carnivora, but that includes a lot of sub-groups, generally divided into the dog-like (Caniformia) and cat-like (Feliformia) forms.
It’s conceivable that cerberi might be more closely related to cats than to domestic dogs. That’s true of hyenas (they’re feliforms rather than caniforms) and I recall that a couple of days ago several people’s reaction was that they looked rather like hyenas… to my eye the spotted hyena is the closest in appearance of the four species.
So, a preference for Meow Mix over Friskies (or Fwo-Uppy Puppy Food, per Little Abner) might be quite natural for them.
Judging from how long it took her to notice his clothes were missing, I’d say (1) she is used to seeing naked men, or (2) she has seen Justin naked quite a bit.
The second option seems more likely (since he also seems to know her). THAT means she is either a former ‘crazy’ he is trying to avoid or she is a family member. If she’s a family member, that means Justin’s healing is inherited, not induced by some outside force.
LOL. In any case, I can imagine the ‘dressing down’ Justin’s about to give her.
I doubt the Cerberus still walking around would act favorably toward that.
Shelly shouldn’t have any problems reminding the pup further attempts at violence could be detrimental to his health.
My guess from yesterday was Justin’s mother. I didn’t post it yesterday but I suspected his father didn’t stay with her because of the danger she brings.
However, whilst I’m not totally ruling out that theory, she seems too ditzy to be that old (then again time is different if you’re immortal).
I forgot who said it but I like the theory that she’s Nudge’s kid sister.
Immortals in a lot of fantasy tend to be fixed in personality and unchanging. It seems to be thier nature. One of Shelly’s advantages as a half immortal could be that she can change and grow. Emotionaly, I mean. In the main cast, the Golem Girls might be an example of being fixed in a particular state of being. Bud and Brandi have been eighteen for over ten thousand years, where as Jin has recently been modified to be mortal again.
So, yeah, HBG could be as old as time and still be a ditz.
And I wonder if our resident Librarian is Phixed in her personality?
*tosses a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am with T tops and leather seats into the pun vault*
What?!!! If he had tossed in a Saab or Volvo or Gremlin or Pacer, I could see tossing it back, but the ’79 wasn’t ugly unless you’re prejudiced about the screaming chicken on the hood.
Hèck, they attached the blade of a caterpillar to the front, cut some square holes, and glued square KC’s in it, and went on to paste the remains of a half squashed mako to it….
😀 yup, i detèst it, like i vehemently detest the camaro’s of the 70’s
Well some series do use several epsiodes per show(2 or more 10-15 minutes episodes in a half hour to hour show) so you can do that.
(Hides in his corner)
Oh, I don’t know… they might get away with that kind of outfit in L.A., too… but the place difference makes it more likely that she’s a college kid and not Laliari.
“Spot,” actually. Fun fact: Spot was originally a Somali cat, but in later episodes appeared as a common house cat. Shape-shifter? Transporter malfunction? Nobody knows.
actually, the original “Spot” died (the cat, not the character).
I forget the exact episode, but Riker and Deanna actually discussed in ’10 forward’ getting another pet for Data after Spot disappeared.
Guiana (Whoopi Goldberg) convinced them not to get another pet for data; but interestingly the new cat shows up at the end of the episode and Guiana is there to watch Data ‘discover’ the little one.
If we can figure that out, i’d be very interesting in seeing that episode again. It’s not in the Wikipedia page about Data, altho it mentions a deleted scene in ST: Nemesis that Worf now cares for Spot after Data’s death. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_%28Star_Trek%29)
On top of it all the ‘Phix’ was in. This seems to be proof that Phix set this one up to test the both of them. That would seem to mean that she has, at least, an idea of what Justin is.
If Phix knew when Shelly and Justin were coming, and she told HBG to be there at the same time, then this definitely was a test of some sort. If she didn’t know, then it could be a coincidence. But as someone has said, there are no coincidences in the Wapsiverse.
Dreadlocks, were my second thought too.
“Ratted braids”? .. Feeling seriously old now, not having heard that terminology.. seen it though.. looks a bit groce.
Or, possibly, as several people have suggested, she’s a younger relative of Nudge, and in their species (or whatever term is appropriate) the horns are analogous to a secondary sexual characteristic in humans. They may not grow out to their final configuration until full adulthood, and might go through intermediate forms on the way.
Personally I think they are a fashion statement just like the clothes and not an intrinsic characteristic.
In other words the horns are a manifestation of bad taste.
fwiw My sister wore her hair in dreads for a year to prove to everyone at school that a hairstyle didn’t define a lifestyle. It didn’t quite work, but everyone was happy to see the dreads go.
Her question sort of implies that she (whoever she is) doesn’t know that Justin is a quick-healer. She doesn’t yet realize that her pets just gave him a flaming that would have incinerated a normal mortal, and burned his clothes to ash in the process.
But wouldn’t her clothes still be subject to incineration even if she’s flame-retardant? If so, she should be familiar with the nudity that follows interactions with her puppies. 🙂
I think she DOES know he is a quick healer. She is also very familiar with seeing naked men (or maybe just seeing HIM naked).
She knows him, but not Shelly. That’s why she comes to him first with her questions.
I also think he knows her… all too well for his own peace of mind.
I think he saw her just before she was revealed to the readers. That’s why he complained so loudly about his ‘crazy detector’ going off (he saw her approaching).
I’m nit picking, but I think Justin was in civvies. He’s wearing a tweed jacket before they enter the building. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/a-gateway/
It would also explain why he’s not still wearing the remains of his duty belt. Assuming a Glock or some other poly framed gun is his duty piece, that would have gotten into some serious money.
She reminds me of so many dog owners who are absolutely convinced that thier 200lb Rottweiler is harmless and wouldn’t hurt a fly and are shocked when told the beast bit someone.
“But Rufus wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
“Well, Mam, technicaly he didn’t. He took a chunk out of my leg.”
And the protrutions from her skull do look like horns here.
I know I may get flak for this, but if you raise your animals right, then yes, even a 200 pound beast will be gentle and loving. It’s not breeds, weight, age, or gender that can make a vicious dog (Or an undersocialized dog) it’s people.
If you socialize the animal enough, they’ll love strangers. Until a stranger breaks in in the middle of the night and reeks of fear.
My mom has two Lab/Weimerainer mixes that have been socialized and well trained. They won’t attack anyone unless it’s someone that goes into their fence or the house without being invited. Which is just as well. If My mom or stepdad aren’t home and there’s a stranger in the house it’s likely a thief or something.
It’s a valid rant. I’m talking about the folks who don’t properly train and socalize thier dogs and still believe that thier dog won’t bite. And the little ankle biters can just as bad as a large dog. You could lose a sock or something.
My wife has a 30 pound Puggle that just loves people but let him near a bigger dog and he wants to fight. I think he’s defective anyway, he wont bark to go out either…probably why they left him at the pound.
My nightmare dog would be a Chiuaua’s brain in something like an Irish Wolfhound. When Dobermans got popular and suffered from inbreeding in the 80s, they came awfully close.
People who treat their small dogs like babies and think is “so cute” when they growl or bit piss me off. They need to be trained just like any other dog.
Is it just me, or did his body frame just go from ‘slim and trim’ to ‘Ahhm gonna buff… YOU aaahp’ when his clothes were burned off of him? Secret and subtle form of transformation, or just an author’s indulgence of beefcake? See the answer on page 9 of the Global Tattler!
Also, his melted frames are a site for sore eyes… *makes a cash transfer to the Pun Jar fund, since carrying around THAT much money is dangerous*
I see it like the hypertrophy of bone mass after a break. The fracture always acquires a thick aggregation of bone that is trimmed back to the normal profile over time.
IOW, he swells up while he heals and then thins down to normal.
How come she’s independent of Shelly? How come Shelly didn’t recognise her? How did she get hold of Baxter and Boo? How is she going to look after them? etc?
I think it was clear they were in the Annex when the puppies showed up. If they had just been in an old building, there would be no reason for the pup-dogs to be there, and Phis wouldn’t have told HBG to leave them there.
There are as many entrances to the main library, and it many annexes, as the guardians of the library wish there to be, and since the library can protect itself there are probably hundreds or even multi-thousands of doors connecting them throughout all space and time since there really is no need to close them after establishing them. The uninvited can never use them so why inconvenience everyone else that uses those doors?
I couldn’t have said it better myself. You know Wapsi would fit in quite well in the WHOniverse and vica-versa. Well, It would be interesting to find out wouldn’t it, Hmmm?
Well, we don’t know that “Loki” isn’t some variation of “Shove” from Old Germanic. And as that was a serious remark with no pun intended I shan’t feed the Pun Jar.
So Justin and Shelly explored
the annex thru a new strange door
and both were exited
’cause both were invited
and he’d never been there before
but once there they were quite dismayed
for two hellhounds their anger displayed
confronting the pair
they lit up the air
and Justin wound up flambe’d
but Shelly would not this accept
and tried with her wings to protect
as this wasn’t enough
she got sphinx-up tough
and muzzeled these obnoxious pets
then appeared in the room an odd view
(as if the hellhounds don’t scare you)
of a hippy dressed troll
with warpaint so droll
saying “OH! did my fleabags hurt you?”
Now exactly where all this is going
is hard to fortell as I’m showing
that Justin’s nude form
is certanly not norm
and the rest? There is no way of knowing
… much more of that and I will require anesthesia- I’m pretty sure I herniated a pre-frontal lobe, but it doesn’t seem too critical at the moment. Y’know, if she washed her hair, it wouldn’t grow fruit like that… I bet that those pups might make good pelts… and I have recipies for dog…
the way I’m reading it, is that New-Girl brought the two hounds into the Library proper, and was told to leave them “outside” meaning in the Annex, beforen she could get into the Library, so she came into the Annex via another doorway, to drop off the dogs and go do her research, via another one inside the boiler room for the physical building here in Minneapolis, and saw the “frisky” aftermath, but NOT what CAUSED it, I’m sure she’s seen Sphinx’s all over the place prior to this so she’s ignoring Shelly probably because she doesn’t want to interact with her assuming she’s an Apotropaic Sphinx and not like the “potted Daisy” that PHIX is… and going to the human standing there instead, THEN she notices that he’s nude… again only because she didn’t SEE that plasma. she probably means “frisky” in the “HUGE FRIENDLY dog likes to jump in the lap of strangers” way, not really registering the fact that doing so could hurt people unintentionally. and Shelly seems to think it was them being startled that caused the whole plasma release as a fight or flight reaction, like a skunk does.
Might be a dumb question, but why isn’t Justin casting a shadow?? Admittedly, it’d be barely showing at the right edge of the frame, but in relation to his and HBG’s relative positions, shouldn’t there at least be a hint of one?
If the light bulb generating HBG’s shadow is located quite close to the two of them, Justin’s shadow would be thrown off towards the right, and could be out of view even in the third panel. The two characters’ shades would diverge, rather than being nearly parallel.
If he was a true police officer, he would always keep a spare set of glasses with him incase something like this ever happened. Where would he keep those glasses you say?
Well, have you ever seen Christopher Walkin in Pulp Fiction?
‘Something like this’? I agree he would keep spare glasses handy in case a pair gets damage; but in case he get flame-broiled like a Bar-B-Q sausage?
Now, come on! Only if he was constantly dealing with flaming (or some other area-effect blasting) would he put that spare set anyplace other than a pocket.
He now HAS NO POCKETS, so his spare glasses are gone.
I have to say it but I will bet that when this ‘new girl’ takes human – form she looks like a “Stereotypical BLONDE”. I’m talking the Original “My Freind Irma”
Eye luv the gal ten’d bar t’nite and ey’l tell you wye! Teh furst dringk wash red whine, cherie brandish and wodka. Tha secondish waz i don’t rememberra. 3rdish was rumdy, tackiya ana limy shoda. Next upa wish, Iwish coffee and a peece of sake. The Lasht ting I emembr wus Cello sh0otz of peech snapz. I reely luvs thet gal!!!!!!
The glasses and constant female descriptions of “adorable” and “cute” are rather misleading. Justin seems to gain 40-50 lbs of muscle mass whenever his clothes fall off. 😛
Justin: “I thought I’d give he guys a pop quiz in police codes! Where do you think my clothes are?”
Yeah I’m quite certain his glasses have melted into his face and he’s not quite healed yet. 🙂
It looks like he had plastic lenses that pretty much evaporated leaving behind the partialy melted frames. Or the metal softened enough to let the lenses fall out. So in the few seconds they were being doused with flame, thier clothes were turned completely to ash, Justin lost (and regained) several inches of flesh and his metal framed glasses were softened to the point that they’ve lost thier lenses and a re dangling from his face. I guess those things breathe plasma.
Either plasma, or some extremely corrosive gas or vapor. Plasma does seem more likely… a corrosive wouldn’t tend to give the frames that molten-sagged look.
Yeah, and a corrosive would tend to hand around in the atmosphere I think. Danzier makes a valid point, those wire frames should still be flesh scorchingly hot.
“Hang around”. I need to go to bed.
Re: the “Scorching Hot eyeglasses frames” – not really, they don’t have a lot of thermal mass and a whole lotta surface area, so wire cools down quick.
But stuff like this happening on a regular basis would be a reason to go back to Old-School Glass lenses and put up with the weight. Plastic just doesn’t last the same.
well it looks like a clueless teen (with *very* bad observation abilities!), who forgets puppies ‘playful hot breath’ actually incinerates humans!!! :O
Except we really don’t know how much traffic the library and/or annex really gets, especially human traffic. Euryale was the first (and only), patron we’ve seen and Monica and group are the only humans that have been mentioned as using the library.
If none of the other patrons would be harmed by the “puppies” and humans patrons are almost non-existent, then perhaps “college girl” may be excused for letting her pets run loose.
Wait! If Justin has supernatural healing mojo…why does he wear glasses?! Are corneas his kyrptonite?
Well, we don’t know where his power comes from. It could be that it doesn’t so much “heal” as return his body to the state it was in when he got the power- if he already had bad eyes, then he’s got them for good. I could be entirely wrong though. Wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last.
If this is the case, though… could his ability counteract the effects of aging? Justin could potentially be immortal.
I think an earlier comment section discussed it being the shape of his eye (and I think Justin himself mentioned astigmatism). His optic nerves are probably perfect, but nothing is capable of altering shape (and therefore the refraction) of his eye. Always thought that was nice take on perfect regeneration.
As for senescence (aging), that has several factors, but telomere regeneration alone would set Justin apart from mortal humanity. If he regenerated damage hyperfast, but otherwise was normal, then his telomarase depletion would have left him a shrivelled old man by now.
His imperfect eyes suggest that either he was not born with an immortal physique capable of allowing youth to mature and then remain constant. Any such maturation cycle would have to be exquisitely timed not to allow the body from melting into a cancerous blob. Astigmatism is a puzzle piece that doesn’t comfortably fit that picture.
So it’s logical to assume that Justin became this way as an adult. Either as a side effect of the CM or other time dilation, from a yet-unspecified blessing or curse, or some other “magic”. But I think he could be very old.
[strike “either” from paragraph 3]
I missed that earlier discussion. Suppose Justin’s body simply regenerates back to his basline genetic state. If he has a natural atigmatism, it would regenerate too. He could get laser surgery and need his glasses again before he got to paying the bill.
As long as his baseline state doesn’t include serious genetic anomalies, his regeneration could well correct against cancer.
If Justin has always had this quirk, his body could well have attempted to assume adult shape on conception…which would make things a little dicey for his mom…unless for some reason, he followed a natural but aggressive growth pattern. In that case, a growth spurt would take a few seconds to occur. Since babies grow at an aggressive rate in utero anyway, mom still might have gotten a big surprise very shortly after his conception. If Justin always had this ability and his mom’s alive, odds are good she has it too.
it is also possible his healing ability (like most of the ‘mutations’ in the marvel universe) was activated when he entered puberty and wasn’t fully developed until he was full grown.
Thus, any faulty condition he had acquired during childhood or adolescence (like his poor vision) is now part of his ‘default’ state when he has to do a massive heal.
You guys got it all wrong. Justin is an interdimensional time traveller and loaded up with 4U City nanites (with the rebooting problem fixed). 🙂
Astigmatism is the cause of a defect in the shape of the cornea and/or lens, causing distortion of how light is focused onto the eye. It isn’t normal “damage” that can be fixed, it’s basically a hiccup in your design.
If you build a machine that can repair itself perfectly every time it’s damaged, but has a flaw in the initial design, the machine will keep rebuilding that flaw into itself
Now if he could consciously control the regeneration, he could probably fix his vision.
I do think there’s some unconscious control going on as muscle mass isn’t constant throughout your life, it increases and decreases based on your actions
Basically if his arm was blazed to the bone, just a straight up regen based on his DNA would restore the arm to what the DNA would say it should be. If there’s some unconscious control it seems more likely that the regen would restore the arm to the amount of muscle he had before
That was my take.
It would explain the restoration of the hair.
He has displayed stubble, which suggests hair growth at normal speed otherwise.
why?… for the same reason that Clark Kent wears glasses, when his alter-ego Superman doesn’t need them… as a disguise!
he doesn’t really need them, but he uses them as a buffer against somebody “noticing” things about him that are TOO Perfect… things like: he never gets paper cuts, and doing the required physical exams for the police dept., he never has any problems, and in those rare shoot-outs with the bad guys (as a desk jockey even less often) he ignores things like getting a hit to the chest with no body armor (like Arnold does towards the end of the movie “the Last Action Hero”) you know, little tiny things like that… this way he can say that he’s not PERFECT, “see i got bad eyes!!” and they ignore his little “quirks” like that. 😀
Just because his body can fix the damage doesn’t mean it can’t be defective in the first place
Justin seems to have a history with this one.
Even despite recent events; he should have been somewhat bashful being nude when meeting a new female.
I know I was when it happened to me (the meeting, not being flame-broiled).
-?!-
Does she know him?
Yeah.. same question here. Justin acts a bit like confronted with his annoying kid-sister (Hmm. I am projecting here.. 😛 )
Maybe? My impression is more of a shell shocked disbelief. He just experienced a dangerous encounter higher on the supernatural food chain than he’s used to, his girlfreind is treating it as a minor anoyance and this new girl is is acting as though she dosen’t realize her little pets breathe FIRE.
Poor Justin is the straight man in a supernatural comedy of errors.
I guess Shelly can sort of see the future.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/bare-with-me/
I think I agree. Justin’s reaction in the last frame is along the lines of being a compact shorthand for “Frisky?? Ye gods… if that was ‘frisky’ then you must surely realize that ‘mildly irritated’ would have destroyed the better half of Minneapolis!!”
Also: “”Frisky?” If you call it that, then I’m “slightly surprised” by their friskiness and the “unexpected departure” of my clothes….”
Baxter doesn’t want Friskies, Baxter wants Meow Mix!
(Poor. Confused. Dog.)
@Yamara – we don’t actually know the phylogenetic tree location of cerberi. Although they look like dogs, they may not actually be canids. They do appear to be members of the order Carnivora, but that includes a lot of sub-groups, generally divided into the dog-like (Caniformia) and cat-like (Feliformia) forms.
It’s conceivable that cerberi might be more closely related to cats than to domestic dogs. That’s true of hyenas (they’re feliforms rather than caniforms) and I recall that a couple of days ago several people’s reaction was that they looked rather like hyenas… to my eye the spotted hyena is the closest in appearance of the four species.
So, a preference for Meow Mix over Friskies (or Fwo-Uppy Puppy Food, per Little Abner) might be quite natural for them.
Pretty much my read too. And the straight man role clicks so well now that you mention it.
Good gosh, could this be one of Justin’s former paramours?
Considering the reference to his “crazy meter,” I’d say she’s one of his exes.
I’m pretty sure that was in reference to his skin burning off.
I now expect Justin to blow up and give her a royal dressing down about her lack of responsibility.
During that dressing down, he’ll say some weird ‘pet-name’.
After the verbal barrage, she’s gonna meekly look down and say: “you know I hate that name”.
Judging from how long it took her to notice his clothes were missing, I’d say (1) she is used to seeing naked men, or (2) she has seen Justin naked quite a bit.
The second option seems more likely (since he also seems to know her). THAT means she is either a former ‘crazy’ he is trying to avoid or she is a family member. If she’s a family member, that means Justin’s healing is inherited, not induced by some outside force.
LOL. In any case, I can imagine the ‘dressing down’ Justin’s about to give her.
I doubt the Cerberus still walking around would act favorably toward that.
Shelly shouldn’t have any problems reminding the pup further attempts at violence could be detrimental to his health.
Someone finally noticed they are both naked 🙂
Thanks for the set-up.
I am surprised it took her so long. After all she looks horny.
I know
.clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink into the pun jar. I have money today.
Who is she? Any guesses?
How about his long-lost little sister? She’s talking like she knows him…
My guess from yesterday was Justin’s mother. I didn’t post it yesterday but I suspected his father didn’t stay with her because of the danger she brings.
However, whilst I’m not totally ruling out that theory, she seems too ditzy to be that old (then again time is different if you’re immortal).
I forgot who said it but I like the theory that she’s Nudge’s kid sister.
Immortals in a lot of fantasy tend to be fixed in personality and unchanging. It seems to be thier nature. One of Shelly’s advantages as a half immortal could be that she can change and grow. Emotionaly, I mean. In the main cast, the Golem Girls might be an example of being fixed in a particular state of being. Bud and Brandi have been eighteen for over ten thousand years, where as Jin has recently been modified to be mortal again.
So, yeah, HBG could be as old as time and still be a ditz.
And I wonder if our resident Librarian is Phixed in her personality?
*tosses a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am with T tops and leather seats into the pun vault*
*Throws back the eye-searing ugliness of the ’79* Nope. won’t do!
Pun-Garage demands a Yenko Camaro ’69, original wheels et all!
What?!!! If he had tossed in a Saab or Volvo or Gremlin or Pacer, I could see tossing it back, but the ’79 wasn’t ugly unless you’re prejudiced about the screaming chicken on the hood.
Camaro? Ewww. Make mine a 66 Corvair Yenko Stinger. please!
Not ugly???
Hèck, they attached the blade of a caterpillar to the front, cut some square holes, and glued square KC’s in it, and went on to paste the remains of a half squashed mako to it….
😀 yup, i detèst it, like i vehemently detest the camaro’s of the 70’s
I’ll take either a 70 Cutlass convertable or a 67-68 Cougar (car, not woman).
Already have a ’69 Cougar’, if ya know what I mean. Although technically I’m older than her so does that still work?
Phix may not be ‘fixed’ into one state of being. Look back in the archives and see when she was alone in her ‘humble abode’ in the library.
Phix herself has mentioned she has changed quite a bit (if only to herself).
She may not be ‘fixed’; but I bet she doesn’t change rapidly.
A complete and utter dingbat.
Better than being a partial and incomplete dingbat. At least we know she’s not an underachiever.
hmm, never try to out-stupid them, they will beat you with experience!! 🙂
Is a partial dingbat something like a “partially new episode” on a TV series?
Well some series do use several epsiodes per show(2 or more 10-15 minutes episodes in a half hour to hour show) so you can do that.
(Hides in his corner)
So based on her choice of pets, she probably has some association with the Greek underworld. Related to the Furies perhaps?
That is a possibility.
Maybe she’s coming back from a Fury convention. You know how those folks like to dress up. 9_9
Pay the Pun-Vault.
*clatter*
One thing I note. though everybody else seems consider her college level or at least ‘upper-teen’; look at her profile in this strip.
Notice anything missing in the chest area?
Either her specie’s females doesn’t develop mammaries in the chest or this gal hasn’t reached puberty.
this kind of contridicts the last strip’s frontal view, does it not?
I think it’s just a trick of the artwork. She’s definitely got assets, although yesterday’s strip certainly pronounced them more.
Only a college student could wear an outfit quite like that. Trust me. I’m a college student myself. I know such things.
Oh, I don’t know… they might get away with that kind of outfit in L.A., too… but the place difference makes it more likely that she’s a college kid and not Laliari.
From the way she’s talking about them, it would seem the dogs are hers.
Baxter and Boo ???
Definitely on a par with “Fluffy” as pet names chosen mostly to lull the unwary so that they may become someone’s lunch.
If you’re comparing those two to Hagrid’s pet then remember that Hagrid didn’t have a nefarious — he just saw the good in the animals in his care.
Sorry, that should read “didn’t have a nefarious reason”.
actually, I think that should read ‘Hagrid doesn’t have a nefarious bone in his slightly oversized body’.
I can’t think of a pet named Boo without thinking of Minsc.
“Boo” reminds me of the little girl in “Monster Inc.”
Yeah, I’m thinking Meow Mix and Baldur’s Gate.
Whooz a li’l hellhound? Whooz a li’l hellhound? Yesh YOO. Yesh YOOO.
or why Data calls his cat ‘rover’ ??
“Spot,” actually. Fun fact: Spot was originally a Somali cat, but in later episodes appeared as a common house cat. Shape-shifter? Transporter malfunction? Nobody knows.
We never speak of this…
actually, the original “Spot” died (the cat, not the character).
I forget the exact episode, but Riker and Deanna actually discussed in ’10 forward’ getting another pet for Data after Spot disappeared.
Guiana (Whoopi Goldberg) convinced them not to get another pet for data; but interestingly the new cat shows up at the end of the episode and Guiana is there to watch Data ‘discover’ the little one.
If we can figure that out, i’d be very interesting in seeing that episode again. It’s not in the Wikipedia page about Data, altho it mentions a deleted scene in ST: Nemesis that Worf now cares for Spot after Data’s death. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_%28Star_Trek%29)
On top of it all the ‘Phix’ was in. This seems to be proof that Phix set this one up to test the both of them. That would seem to mean that she has, at least, an idea of what Justin is.
That’s not necessarily true. It could have simply been a coincidence that both parties arrived at the same time.
If Phix knew when Shelly and Justin were coming, and she told HBG to be there at the same time, then this definitely was a test of some sort. If she didn’t know, then it could be a coincidence. But as someone has said, there are no coincidences in the Wapsiverse.
And very few leprechauns.
That we know of.
Then it’s just a coincidence that I saw a coincidental leprechaun when they were in Ireland to visit recently?
And what about perverted purvayors of perilous pleasures – there should be a few of those in the mix.
Or maybe Phix set it up to test Shelly without knowing about Justin. In which case the conversation to follow will probably start with an apology.
Those are certainly not feathers! If horns, they are the weirdest ones I have ever seen. (But they are consistent with her outfit!)
They look , indeed, like some VERY crooked horns. Either that, or she is half Spriggan.
Hmm.. come to think of it… though the face-markings to me, still point to a relative of Nudge.
They could also be part of her headband, like the pointy cloth thingies on a jester’s hat.
Was that too technical for anybody? 😉
I think you went a bit to technical with ‘thingie’.
Possibly the demonic-horn equivalent to dreadlocks, or ratted braids?
Dreadlocks, were my second thought too.
“Ratted braids”? .. Feeling seriously old now, not having heard that terminology.. seen it though.. looks a bit groce.
Or, possibly, as several people have suggested, she’s a younger relative of Nudge, and in their species (or whatever term is appropriate) the horns are analogous to a secondary sexual characteristic in humans. They may not grow out to their final configuration until full adulthood, and might go through intermediate forms on the way.
Personally I think they are a fashion statement just like the clothes and not an intrinsic characteristic.
In other words the horns are a manifestation of bad taste.
fwiw My sister wore her hair in dreads for a year to prove to everyone at school that a hairstyle didn’t define a lifestyle. It didn’t quite work, but everyone was happy to see the dreads go.
-New undies : $25.-
-New Uniform : $160.- (at least, it was in my days as a Military Policeman)
-New prescription glasses : $250.-
“Where are your clothes?”: Priceless.
Her question sort of implies that she (whoever she is) doesn’t know that Justin is a quick-healer. She doesn’t yet realize that her pets just gave him a flaming that would have incinerated a normal mortal, and burned his clothes to ash in the process.
She may have only acquired them recently.
.. or she thinks its just ‘hot breath’ since it did not affect her, not knowing humans tend to get get incinerated!! 🙂
But wouldn’t her clothes still be subject to incineration even if she’s flame-retardant? If so, she should be familiar with the nudity that follows interactions with her puppies. 🙂
what? wear awfully flimsy *human* clothes????
I think she DOES know he is a quick healer. She is also very familiar with seeing naked men (or maybe just seeing HIM naked).
She knows him, but not Shelly. That’s why she comes to him first with her questions.
I also think he knows her… all too well for his own peace of mind.
I think he saw her just before she was revealed to the readers. That’s why he complained so loudly about his ‘crazy detector’ going off (he saw her approaching).
At least the pair don’t have to clean their undies. Fire is very good at removing stains. Permanently.
I’m nit picking, but I think Justin was in civvies. He’s wearing a tweed jacket before they enter the building.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/a-gateway/
It would also explain why he’s not still wearing the remains of his duty belt. Assuming a Glock or some other poly framed gun is his duty piece, that would have gotten into some serious money.
She reminds me of so many dog owners who are absolutely convinced that thier 200lb Rottweiler is harmless and wouldn’t hurt a fly and are shocked when told the beast bit someone.
“But Rufus wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
“Well, Mam, technicaly he didn’t. He took a chunk out of my leg.”
And the protrutions from her skull do look like horns here.
I know I may get flak for this, but if you raise your animals right, then yes, even a 200 pound beast will be gentle and loving. It’s not breeds, weight, age, or gender that can make a vicious dog (Or an undersocialized dog) it’s people.
If you socialize the animal enough, they’ll love strangers. Until a stranger breaks in in the middle of the night and reeks of fear.
My mom has two Lab/Weimerainer mixes that have been socialized and well trained. They won’t attack anyone unless it’s someone that goes into their fence or the house without being invited. Which is just as well. If My mom or stepdad aren’t home and there’s a stranger in the house it’s likely a thief or something.
Anyway. That’s my rant of the day. Sorry.
It’s a valid rant. I’m talking about the folks who don’t properly train and socalize thier dogs and still believe that thier dog won’t bite. And the little ankle biters can just as bad as a large dog. You could lose a sock or something.
And the default mode for the smaller dogs seems to be aggression–terriers, in particular, were bred to be aggressive, so they made good ratters.
same reasoning for rat-dogs… er, chihuahuas.
My wife has a 30 pound Puggle that just loves people but let him near a bigger dog and he wants to fight. I think he’s defective anyway, he wont bark to go out either…probably why they left him at the pound.
My nightmare dog would be a Chiuaua’s brain in something like an Irish Wolfhound. When Dobermans got popular and suffered from inbreeding in the 80s, they came awfully close.
People who treat their small dogs like babies and think is “so cute” when they growl or bit piss me off. They need to be trained just like any other dog.
Is it just me, or did his body frame just go from ‘slim and trim’ to ‘Ahhm gonna buff… YOU aaahp’ when his clothes were burned off of him? Secret and subtle form of transformation, or just an author’s indulgence of beefcake? See the answer on page 9 of the Global Tattler!
Also, his melted frames are a site for sore eyes… *makes a cash transfer to the Pun Jar fund, since carrying around THAT much money is dangerous*
Post-regeneration = increased body mass, maybe? Kind of like a less socially awkward full-body scab?
I see it like the hypertrophy of bone mass after a break. The fracture always acquires a thick aggregation of bone that is trimmed back to the normal profile over time.
IOW, he swells up while he heals and then thins down to normal.
Poor Justin. LOL
Boiler. Room. Door. That sounds like a mighty nudge in Shelly’s ribs.
I’m guessing Shelly’s self-restraint test has begun in earnest.
It’s rather hard to mention boiler rooms in this comic without that place coming to mind, isn’t it?
I don’t think that we’ve come across another boiler room, yet. Then again, my memory may be wrong.
Phix: “What? Boiler rooms are common place here in the other realm.”
Bud: “Yeah. I’ve got my own too, though it’s a little more archaic. Just a stone fireplace and a tea kettle.”
Monica: “… Mine just looks like a wine cellar full of skulls…”
Phix: “You didn’t think yours was unique in any way, did you?”
‘Boiler room door’ indeed. You don’t supposed this could be Creepy in disguise?
I was beginning to wonder but that possibility raises way too many questions.
Here are a few of them:
How come she’s independent of Shelly? How come Shelly didn’t recognise her? How did she get hold of Baxter and Boo? How is she going to look after them? etc?
We don’t know if Shelly recognizes her or not yet. Baxter and Boo seem to be meeting Shelly for the first time.
But I didn’t think this was Creepy. I was wondering if this was Nudge herself.
has anyone else noticed EXACTLY what she said in her second word balloon in panel 1?
i CAME BACK TO the ANNEX via the boiler room door”
A) telling us there is ANOTHER DOOR into the Annex /Library from this building; and more importantly…
B) that all of them are ALREADY IN THE ANNEX AT THIS EXACT MOMENT!!!
I think it was clear they were in the Annex when the puppies showed up. If they had just been in an old building, there would be no reason for the pup-dogs to be there, and Phis wouldn’t have told HBG to leave them there.
There are as many entrances to the main library, and it many annexes, as the guardians of the library wish there to be, and since the library can protect itself there are probably hundreds or even multi-thousands of doors connecting them throughout all space and time since there really is no need to close them after establishing them. The uninvited can never use them so why inconvenience everyone else that uses those doors?
I’m seriously expecting the Fourth Doctor and Leela to go walking past in the background any second now.
D: . . …has all sorts of utility corridors. All sorts of utilities. Somewhere past that sphinx is a boiler room.
L: What does a boiler room do?
D: Holds the library, of course. Or, we could go this way.
L: And what lies that way?
D: Minnesota. I think. Oh I’m sorry, you’re not dressed for it.
L: They aren’t dressed at all!
D: They’re from Minnesota. Come along, the Sontarans aren’t going to care if… . .
I snarfed my iced tea on that one. Well done.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. You know Wapsi would fit in quite well in the WHOniverse and vica-versa. Well, It would be interesting to find out wouldn’t it, Hmmm?
Dammit Leela, not the Janus Thorns!
Given how Bud and Brandi were eyeing up OfficerTB, she may not be doing it intentionally.
I think it is interesting that she runs up to the apparently “normal” human and ignores the large sphinx holding her puppy.
In her defense, the Sphinx is pretty obviously Okay. She’s probably well aware that they’re nigh indestructable. Justin? Not so much.
One reading of her dialog is that Baxter and Boo are, indeed, puppies.
Imagine when they grow up, then.
Yup. Nudge’s kid sister…
I like this new chick.
Funny, in the shadows, the chick looks indeed like a “bunny girl”
There just isn’t enough Wapsi in a week. I really need more. More.
Nudge’s dorky kid sister Loki? (Yeah I know, traditionally a male , but look at Jin and remember everyone beleived Tochtli was a male guide.)
“Nudge’s dorky kid sister Loki?”
If this is Nudge’s sister, her name is probably Shove!
Ah, well played, Atomic. 🙂
Well, she does seem a little pushy to me!
Danzier! Paging Danzier — Danzier to the pun jar please…
Sorry, my pager was on silent.
*Reels the blank check back up out of the pun jar and fills in the blanks with large numbers, unhooks it, and tosses it back*
“Shove” or “Poke’
maybe “Stab”
Judging from the ‘do I’d say more like Prod.
Well, we don’t know that “Loki” isn’t some variation of “Shove” from Old Germanic. And as that was a serious remark with no pun intended I shan’t feed the Pun Jar.
Not Shove.
Trip.
Acording to Norse myth, Loki was what ever gender he (or she) wanted to be at the moment.
Not the norse god (goddess) of mischief. Loki was (is?) intelligent and clever.
He is an excellent planner and excels in causing trouble without getting into trouble.
In short, he is the closest thing the norse pantheon has to an evil god or goddess.
“Ditzy” does not come into that.
Unless this is Loki PLAYING the part of a ditz. Wheels within wheels for the Trickster God. But yeah, prolly not.
Remember, Loki was also a mommy – apparently extremely ambi-sexual
Where is his shadow?
Probably taking a tad longer to heal… 😀
Peter Pan grew up to be OTB??
Ooooh, can he hook up the rest of the cast with pixie dust?!
“Me and yoooou and a dog named Boo,
Cookin’ up a little human flan…”
I know, I know: *clink*
Ouch.
That pun will definitely mutt the custard.
*clink*
So Justin and Shelly explored
the annex thru a new strange door
and both were exited
’cause both were invited
and he’d never been there before
but once there they were quite dismayed
for two hellhounds their anger displayed
confronting the pair
they lit up the air
and Justin wound up flambe’d
but Shelly would not this accept
and tried with her wings to protect
as this wasn’t enough
she got sphinx-up tough
and muzzeled these obnoxious pets
then appeared in the room an odd view
(as if the hellhounds don’t scare you)
of a hippy dressed troll
with warpaint so droll
saying “OH! did my fleabags hurt you?”
Now exactly where all this is going
is hard to fortell as I’m showing
that Justin’s nude form
is certanly not norm
and the rest? There is no way of knowing
… much more of that and I will require anesthesia- I’m pretty sure I herniated a pre-frontal lobe, but it doesn’t seem too critical at the moment. Y’know, if she washed her hair, it wouldn’t grow fruit like that… I bet that those pups might make good pelts… and I have recipies for dog…
LIKE TIMES 100!!
goodness++;
Rhyme on! Rhyme on, Sargent, soon!
Does this mean that Shelly and Justin came in through the wrong door? And aren’t quite in the Annex yet?
Ditzi Pippi-Armstockings here just said she had to leave the dogs outside…
the way I’m reading it, is that New-Girl brought the two hounds into the Library proper, and was told to leave them “outside” meaning in the Annex, beforen she could get into the Library, so she came into the Annex via another doorway, to drop off the dogs and go do her research, via another one inside the boiler room for the physical building here in Minneapolis, and saw the “frisky” aftermath, but NOT what CAUSED it, I’m sure she’s seen Sphinx’s all over the place prior to this so she’s ignoring Shelly probably because she doesn’t want to interact with her assuming she’s an Apotropaic Sphinx and not like the “potted Daisy” that PHIX is… and going to the human standing there instead, THEN she notices that he’s nude… again only because she didn’t SEE that plasma. she probably means “frisky” in the “HUGE FRIENDLY dog likes to jump in the lap of strangers” way, not really registering the fact that doing so could hurt people unintentionally. and Shelly seems to think it was them being startled that caused the whole plasma release as a fight or flight reaction, like a skunk does.
Sweetie, you have dogs that breath fire, what do you think happened?
I heart right nipple
Partial fan service! WOO! XD
Might be a dumb question, but why isn’t Justin casting a shadow?? Admittedly, it’d be barely showing at the right edge of the frame, but in relation to his and HBG’s relative positions, shouldn’t there at least be a hint of one?
Ooops – sorry, Chance! I just noticed you beat me to the question. Anybody care to offer an answer/opinion?
Foreshadowing?
[drops a bag of black eyed peas in the jar]
Depends on which part of Justin’s anatomy is in the fore.
check HBG’s shadow.. OTB’s shadow will be just outside the frame… 🙂
If the light bulb generating HBG’s shadow is located quite close to the two of them, Justin’s shadow would be thrown off towards the right, and could be out of view even in the third panel. The two characters’ shades would diverge, rather than being nearly parallel.
in some mythos, certain types of magic (usually uncontrollable types like Justin’s healing) do not cast shadows.
Now, have we ever seen Justin cast a shadow? have we seen Justin MISSING a shadow?
When Shelly vaporizes the punching bag and is spinning around, it looks like there is a shadow under Justin there.
looking at the angles in each panel, Justin’s shadow should not be showing in #1 or #2.
In #3, it should be practically filling the space under his outstretched arm and showing some of its head over his shoulder.
I think the light source is the sun or a light post shining through a window. The rays would be parallel, casting his shadow behind him.
Let’s face it, either Paul is being very clever by dictating the shadow be missing or the artist made a mistake of exclusion.
If he was a true police officer, he would always keep a spare set of glasses with him incase something like this ever happened. Where would he keep those glasses you say?
Well, have you ever seen Christopher Walkin in Pulp Fiction?
hey, even Christopher Walkin aint fireproof….
Hey Christopher! Did you just get burned?
Yeah, I’m just Walken it off…
yeah yeah…tink, clink, thud.
‘Something like this’? I agree he would keep spare glasses handy in case a pair gets damage; but in case he get flame-broiled like a Bar-B-Q sausage?
Now, come on! Only if he was constantly dealing with flaming (or some other area-effect blasting) would he put that spare set anyplace other than a pocket.
He now HAS NO POCKETS, so his spare glasses are gone.
considering how long it took her to even notice he was naked… despite his proximity, I think there are some more serious subjects to think about.
I think she’s just one of those people that get fixated on one thing at a time and once that’s taken care of its on to the next.
She’s a teenager or collegiate, approaching a naked man with a full and unabashed view of EVERYTHING, and she doesn’t notice?
Oh, the only reason for that is she sees it too often to be out of the ordinary.
Could she be a medical intern? Or maybe have a more… illicit… background?
I have to say it but I will bet that when this ‘new girl’ takes human – form she looks like a “Stereotypical BLONDE”. I’m talking the Original “My Freind Irma”
So, how long before we get a Wapsi Dictionary?
Eye luv the gal ten’d bar t’nite and ey’l tell you wye! Teh furst dringk wash red whine, cherie brandish and wodka. Tha secondish waz i don’t rememberra. 3rdish was rumdy, tackiya ana limy shoda. Next upa wish, Iwish coffee and a peece of sake. The Lasht ting I emembr wus Cello sh0otz of peech snapz. I reely luvs thet gal!!!!!!
Someone needs an IV of caffeine stat.
Don’ be harsh’n on my buzz bro’
I gotz eight h ourz teh slober up!
Ah, in that case, carry on.
Kerryin’ on, Sir!
Of course, she might suggest that you finish the night in style, with a glass or two of a fine Australian wine such as Château Chunder.
I haz Shiraz. iz dat gud enu8f?
Whazza matter Justin? can’t handle the naked truth?
The glasses and constant female descriptions of “adorable” and “cute” are rather misleading. Justin seems to gain 40-50 lbs of muscle mass whenever his clothes fall off. 😛