Wapsi Square

Slice of supernatural life YA comic PG-13 to R
  • Home
  • About
  • Book Store
  • Bluesky
  • Twitch
  • Forum
  • Archive
DeviantART pinterest YouTube RSS
"Now Focus"
<< First < Prev 91Comments Next > Last >>
Now Focus
<< FIrst < Prev Random 91Comments Next > Last >>

Friends

  • Dumbing of Age
  • OGLAF (NSFW)
  • Something Positive
Buy Me A Coffee

Mastodon

Latest Medusa Comic

Now Focus

by Paul Taylor on June 17, 2010 at 12:00 am
Story: Wapsi-Archive
Comments RSS

Discussion (91) ¬

  1. txmystic
    June 17, 2010, 12:01 am | # | Reply

    Dude, she’s Captain Picard!

  2. gus3
    June 17, 2010, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    Wow, I actually feel kinda sorry for our sinister barista.

    • SonicThunder
      June 17, 2010, 7:38 pm | # | Reply

      You wouldn’t be the only one.

      Man I hope Phix’s last statement comes back to bite her.

      • Stryker
        March 23, 2012, 12:39 pm | #

        Just realized it’s been a while since we saw Dar(r)en

  3. txmystic
    June 17, 2010, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    I wonder if this is going to be one of the back stories that would become the basis for a Wapsi Square book?

  4. Fairportfan
    June 17, 2010, 12:03 am | # | Reply

    Tina’s eyes are … almost … back to “normal”.

    And i like Phix’s parting shot.

    • SoWhyMe
      June 17, 2010, 12:49 am | # | Reply

      That may be advise for the future. Tina may need to learn to keep better control of her gut reactions as she may face something like Phix, but much more sinister. An encounter in which her quick paranormal reading skill will be crucial.

      • Yamara
        June 17, 2010, 7:21 am | #

        That, and giving the wrong answer to a sphinx tends to have consequences.

        Phix has been working on her mellow, but there is still such a thing as reputation.

    • eschmenk
      June 17, 2010, 8:12 am | # | Reply

      “And i like Phix’s parting shot”

      Is it Phix’s parting anything? Her body language suggests that she’s about to walk out the door, but if she’s ordering tea, she would stay to be served. She didn’t say, “…what I would have ordered.”

      You don’t need to read auras to know Tina’s answer to “Understand?” is “No.”

      • jwhouk
        June 17, 2010, 8:25 am | #

        She said, “So, were you going to predict my order?” – as in, “You silly demon, you were going to try to read my ‘aura’ and guess what I wanted to have to drink, but you didn’t realize just who I was, did you?”

      • eschmenk
        June 17, 2010, 11:06 am | #

        I interpreted yesterday’s page as saying that Tina understood her place relative to Phix instinctively. That’s what I inferred from Friday’s page, too. I think Phix wanted Tina to be able to read her aura and in apparently wants Tina to be able to do the same in a similar circumstance in the future. That’s why the coaching and the “excellent” when Tina succeeds.

        I interpreted the “So, were you going to predict my order” as a reminder. “Go ahead, then.” Also, it was a signal that Phix was satisfied with the way Tina responded in yesterday’s strip, so that matter was closed.

        I think the whole thing was similar to the way Monica and Shelly were treated when they visited the library. First Phix tried to scare the heck out of them, then she evaluated how they reacted, and finally she was helpful (often cryptically.)

      • W.
        June 17, 2010, 8:52 pm | #

        So Phix likes to scare then riddle. Does asking Tina to predict her order count as asking a riddle? If it does, is it on par with Bilbo asking Gollum to guess what is in his pocket?

      • Sitnalta
        June 17, 2010, 8:54 pm | #

        The way I interpreted it, Phix was once something like a top-level predator in the demon world. Which would explain why Tina is instinctually terrified of her (they have no memories before the car crash after all.)

        However, since Phix doesn’t want to be seen as a killer anymore, she instead helps Tina overcome her fears.

      • Paul Taylor
        June 17, 2010, 9:00 pm | #

        @Sitnalta – Here’s a cookie. 🙂

      • DJenser
        November 15, 2011, 11:35 am | #

        ,I interpreted that last scene as Phix understanding the true value of Tina’s situation.
        Not everyone gets a “do-over”. She has a fresh start to do something good for a change & if she doesn’t screw it up by falling back into old habits she won’t have to worry about running afoul of someone like Phix.

  5. ziggy78eog
    June 17, 2010, 12:04 am | # | Reply

    Inside, Tina is going, “I’m alive?! I’m a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!”

    • NOTDilbert
      June 17, 2010, 12:58 am | # | Reply

      But she’s not……………..

      • SoWhyMe
        June 17, 2010, 1:07 am | #

        Which makes me wonder, what would it take to kill her? I guess a gunshot would only disfigure her. Would even decapitation work?

      • NOTDilbert
        June 17, 2010, 1:16 am | #

        Unless it’s an anti-decapitation choker.:)

      • Fairportfan
        June 17, 2010, 10:44 am | #

        Cut off head.

        Stuff mouth with garlic, wolfbane, mistletoe and salt.

        Bury head at one crossroads.

        Bury body (with stake through heart) at another.

        Pre-interment mark holy symbols (cross, Star of Davis, Solomon’s Seal) on both parts with consecrated oil.

        Pray a lot.

      • SoWhyMe
        June 17, 2010, 4:24 pm | #

        Or strap a a few sticks of dynamite to her. I doubt she could come back from a near vaporized state.

        Though she is dedicated to the shop. We might see her there the next day with a huge tube of glue, still putting back pieces of the jigsaw puzzel that was Tina-exploded. Puts me in mind of “Death Becomes Her.”

  6. Atomic
    June 17, 2010, 12:11 am | # | Reply

    Wow — 6 foot 6 and three inch heels? Sheesh!

    I wonder what Tina will be asking Monica the next time M stops by for a cup!

  7. Jim
    June 17, 2010, 12:11 am | # | Reply

    Phix . Such a brick-hoooooouse .

    Looks like my girl Tina still has it .

  8. NicolasA
    June 17, 2010, 12:14 am | # | Reply

    Well done Paul!
    …but I still don’t like that grin from Phix…

    • Dr. Jeff
      June 17, 2010, 12:35 am | # | Reply

      Her smile says, “I let you live this time. This time…” 😉

      • Azrael_Rose
        June 17, 2010, 4:51 am | #

        She’s a Sphinx. That’s the only smile she knows.

      • Fatuncle
        June 17, 2010, 12:03 pm | #

        LOL

  9. Marshall
    June 17, 2010, 12:29 am | # | Reply

    Someone should tell Phix that sneering isn’t attractive.

    • SoWhyMe
      June 17, 2010, 12:38 am | # | Reply

      OK, you tell her. I’ll be watching from a safe distance. Through a telescope.

    • Biker Matt
      June 17, 2010, 12:46 am | # | Reply

      That’s not really sneering, so much as talking through a confident, somewhat parental/boss’ smile at an odd angle.

      I think it would have been better carried off with Phix’s mouth closed, but that’s just me.

      • nevermind
        June 17, 2010, 12:48 am | #

        some would suggest that the awkwardness of the sneer as well as phix’s posture embodies the interaction between them both.. haha.

  10. NOTDilbert
    June 17, 2010, 12:57 am | # | Reply

    I think – yes, that’s the jangle of rattling nerves I hear in the last panel….

    • Dusty668
      June 17, 2010, 4:50 am | # | Reply

      Rattling? Her nerves are three symphonies worth of percussionists and diamondbacks on the San Andreas fault. And a windchime.

      • Atomic
        June 17, 2010, 8:50 am | #

        You win the Overextended Metaphor of the Day award!

        Overextended? That poor metaphor is herniated, I tell you!

  11. NOTDilbert
    June 17, 2010, 1:10 am | # | Reply

    The other day someone posted a link to a spot in the archive showing Tina reclining at home. In the background were some newspaper clippings on the bulletin board. Among them was ‘young girl to testify against drug kingpin’ or something very similar. I have thought since first reading that way back when, that it might be thecause of Tina’s ‘condition’ (i.e., death). #*cked-up brakes, courtesy of a drug boss, folllowing a bus too closely in traffic, etc., etc. Possibly she was entirely normal before that (in this loop) and the only ones who would have memory (in this loop, and previous ones) would be the demons – who might have interacted with Phix in some of the prior loops. but apparently demon memory doesn’t carry over, ’cause they don’t – dirrectly – remember Phix.
    In short, I’m stumped. Need more data.

    • eschmenk
      June 17, 2010, 7:47 am | # | Reply

      Tina’s demons had their memories wiped for hurting someone who was not a host. The person she hurt was Monica. As far as we know, Tina was perfectly normal, but her demons helped drive Monica in front of the bus and helped crash Tina into it.

      • Atomic
        June 17, 2010, 8:54 am | #

        Thank you, thank you, thank you for clearing up that pivot point in the plot in one go! I’d been aware of the interactions but not clear on some of the details.

  12. MerchManDan
    June 17, 2010, 1:16 am | # | Reply

    I get the feeling that Tina’s life (er, “existence” may be more accurate) has just finished flashing before her eyes.

  13. Musicalbee2003
    June 17, 2010, 1:17 am | # | Reply

    Does the Earl Grey have anything to do with Captain Picard Day?

    • SoWhyMe
      June 17, 2010, 7:07 pm | # | Reply

      And here we see the crew enjoying Captain Picard Day.

      • Prester Fred
        February 11, 2012, 3:21 am | #

        Glerph!

        Pffff….

        BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

  14. CrashFu
    June 17, 2010, 1:35 am | # | Reply

    See, this is why Phix is one of my top three favorites out of all the Wapsi girls (my other two being Tina and Bud, in no particular order! … Okay, Tina’s first). As powerful as she is, and as much as she knows, she never treats anyone condescendingly. She’s got that whole matron/teacher thing going, and it’s just so endearing.

  15. ProfessorTomoe
    June 17, 2010, 1:41 am | # | Reply

    Phix’s calves should be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

    In other news, will the upcoming adventure turn out to be a Phix arc? One can only hope…

    • Copyright Theft
      June 17, 2010, 1:49 am | # | Reply

      “Phix’s calves should be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.”

      Because they’re intoxicating, addictive and deadly?

      • ProfessorTomoe
        June 17, 2010, 6:53 am | #

        Pretty much. They might even qualify as a Weapon of Mass Distraction.

      • Jim
        June 17, 2010, 7:06 am | #

        Yep .

  16. Paula
    June 17, 2010, 1:56 am | # | Reply

    i hope tomorrow we get a pic of what tina saw!
    tho that was interesting.
    I know the golem girls were the most powerful til we met phix.
    Seems like that sentence opened it out for more – WAY more powerful beings who will be showing up. Least…if there weren’t why would Phix warn tina that?

    And yea i class it as a warning as the more powerful critters might get offended at someone freaking out at them.

    • Fatuncle
      June 17, 2010, 8:32 am | # | Reply

      We really don’t need to see Phix in TinaVision™; Tina’s reaction says everything we need to know. Besides, if left on our own devices, our fevered imaginations are likely to come up with some serious fan art.

      Anybody wanna get a contest going?
      Subject: Phix in TinaVison™.
      Maybe we can get Paul to judge!

    • SoWhyMe
      June 17, 2010, 7:14 pm | # | Reply

      I’m not at all sure Phix is more powerful than the GGs Or even nearly as powerful. She’s awesome to behold and can strangle you, but, so far, that’s about all we know.

      • shenron
        February 15, 2018, 1:51 am | #

        GGs way out power phix physically but with all her time to learn and starting intelligence phix is well beyond them on mental-tactical end. jin had closer to the time to learn but had to focus on dealing with the calendar and started broken less capable so she never could catch up.

  17. hewolf
    June 17, 2010, 2:08 am | # | Reply

    Out of everything, I believe Phix still partially enjoys getting those sorts of reactions. I mean… she’s a girl after all. 😛

    • Fairportfan
      June 17, 2010, 8:06 am | # | Reply

      She’s a gril who’s part cat.

      Very big cat.

      • Fairportfan
        June 17, 2010, 10:38 am | #

        “What about us grils?!?”

  18. Shodan
    June 17, 2010, 3:24 am | # | Reply

    “Someone like me…” that means there are other?
    Maybe others that WILL try to mess with Tinas concentration or even with her abillitiy to give advice to M?

    • Eee
      June 17, 2010, 8:32 am | # | Reply

      I agree, this is what came to my mind when I saw this: There are more Sphinxes? Or maybe more beings at Phix’s power level. Still, Tina’s already encountered the GGG, who can tear the Earth apart by sneezing too hard; and while her first meeting with Bud freaked her out (and vice versa), she’s gotten used to them since. As long as she’s not taken by suprise, you’d think Tina would be more unflappable.

      And I’m not quite sure what to make of her expression / stance in the final panel…

      • Fatuncle
        June 17, 2010, 8:50 am | #

        Well, some more powerful entity is implicit in some variations of the Sphinx mythology, in which Phix was bound to the gates of Thebes,and placed under a geas to ask her deadly riddle.

        On the other hand, she’s older now, and wiser by far, and in the Bibliotheki would be copies of every recipe of successful magic, every technique of arcane skill that was committed to paper, and Phix had thousands of years to study.

      • Fairportfan
        June 17, 2010, 10:37 am | #

        Multiple thousands.

        The Library was outside the cycle.

      • Fairportfan
        June 17, 2010, 10:39 am | #

        “Whoo-ha! I survived!”

      • eschmenk
        June 17, 2010, 11:15 am | #

        I think it’s, “What the hell did that mean?”

      • SoWhyMe
        June 17, 2010, 7:20 pm | #

        It strikes me as one of those classic whiping the sweat off your brow things, followed by “Whew! That was close!”

      • Fatuncle
        June 17, 2010, 10:58 pm | #

        That’s how I read it.

      • eschmenk
        June 18, 2010, 4:07 pm | #

        Well, that too. But I think there is some confusion as well. “I’m safe!. But wait! What was that last bit about?

  19. j2p2
    June 17, 2010, 6:26 am | # | Reply

    Shodan, my question exactly–is someone like Phix going to be stopping by?

    • eschmenk
      June 17, 2010, 7:50 am | # | Reply

      That may be Tina’s question, too. Also, how do I not let them rattle my nerves?

      • eschmenk
        June 17, 2010, 8:02 am | #

        I can’t help but think of how panicky Tina got when she saw the little girl inside Jin. I don’t know how that would be like Phix, though.

      • eschmenk
        June 17, 2010, 10:23 am | #

        I remembered that fairly early on Tina kept talking about the GGGs collectively as being similar to a cat. That still doesn’t feel right, though.

      • Fairportfan
        June 17, 2010, 10:36 am | #

        It was an ironic reference to Monica explaining odd noises at her house to cops (not to mention why she yelled “Quit licking my leg!” while talking to the cops in question) as being her “pet cat”.

  20. Sakuramaru
    June 17, 2010, 7:28 am | # | Reply

    I love Phix. And I love Earl Grey. 🙂

    • Fairportfan
      June 17, 2010, 8:07 am | # | Reply

      Patrick Stewart, however, apparently hates it.

      • The Old Wolf
        June 17, 2010, 8:34 am | #

        Sweet irony.

      • Fairportfan
        June 17, 2010, 10:34 am | #

        …and the fanboys and -girls insist on serving it to him at every media convention he attends.

        And he’s very polite…

      • eschmenk
        June 17, 2010, 11:12 am | #

        Ohhh!

  21. UncleRice
    June 17, 2010, 8:15 am | # | Reply

    Let’s see, Phix’s library now has a direct link with Tina’s coffee shop. Book reading and coffee drinking together has become all the rage. Consider the probable visitors to Phix’s library…. Yeah, there could be some interest clients coming to Tina’s coffee shop.

    • jwhouk
      June 17, 2010, 8:29 am | # | Reply

      Actually, the entrance that Phix was talking about is (theoretically) in a completely different part of Minneapolis from Mucho Mocha.

      • Eee
        June 17, 2010, 8:47 am | #

        Yes, but consider what would happen if Phix set up a link in Tina’s shop: Access to every book or scroll ever made, even the ones lost to history, AND your beverage of choice, besides!

        I’d never leave…

      • Atomic
        June 17, 2010, 8:58 am | #

        That would probably be worthy of it’s own strip!

        “Demon Barrista” — The adventures of an un-dead demon collective with the world’s knowledge at her fingertips — and mocha latte!

      • eschmenk
        June 17, 2010, 10:11 am | #

        I have visions of people running on caffeine trying to use what they’ve learned from books about arcane magic. I guess it would be better than if Tina served alcohol, though. 😀

  22. The Old Wolf
    June 17, 2010, 8:33 am | # | Reply

    *Whew*!

    Still want more backstory…

  23. Centaur1971
    June 17, 2010, 10:08 am | # | Reply

    Phix may be hawt as HELL but she’s still a deadly entity; BELIEVE IT!!!

    • NikkTemplar
      June 17, 2010, 11:28 am | # | Reply

      I’m perfectly OK with that. I like danger.

      Even Phixy taste in shoes is awesome.

      Damn you, Paul Taylor! I’ve got a crush on a comic character. >_<

      • eschmenk
        June 17, 2010, 1:01 pm | #

        Does a sphinx count as a furry?

        Not that there is anything wrong with that . . . 😉

      • Opus the Poet
        June 17, 2010, 5:51 pm | #

        She doesn’t look very furry to me, at least when she visits M/SP.

        But those are some seriously knobby knees.

      • SteamPoweredSunglasses
        May 31, 2012, 12:55 am | #

        …and some seriously nice calves, if you ask me.

      • SteamPoweredSunglasses
        May 31, 2012, 12:52 am | #

        You are not the only one.

  24. kingklash
    June 17, 2010, 11:27 am | # | Reply

    Implications of more Mythics out and about, aside from Phix, Tepoz, and Kukulcan?

    Or, is Tina getting oracle-ish advice on dealing with Jin?

  25. toraush naull
    June 17, 2010, 11:28 am | # | Reply

    yeah just because she can destroy you with the wink of her eye is no reason to be nervouse

  26. Ertain
    June 17, 2010, 12:14 pm | # | Reply

    That’s an excellent full-body drawing of Phix.

  27. Sio
    June 17, 2010, 9:23 pm | # | Reply

    ohthankyouthankyouthankyou I’M NOT SPHINX FOOD!!!

  28. Barn0wl
    June 18, 2010, 3:43 pm | # | Reply

    I think most of the comments I thought of while reading these past few comics have already been made . . . except one.

    I must say that Phix has fabulous posture; http://wapsisquare.com/comic/a-good-kid/

  29. Cassidy
    October 29, 2011, 1:15 am | # | Reply

    *Clings to Tina, who is clinging to her* We just dodged a HUGE bullet right there, didn’t we?

  30. SteamPoweredSunglasses
    May 31, 2012, 12:51 am | # | Reply

    [whistles in awe…]

Comment ¬ Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Home
  • About
  • Book Store
  • Bluesky
  • Twitch
  • Forum
  • Archive

©2001-2025 Paul Taylor | Powered by WordPress with ComicPress | Subscribe: RSS | Back to Top ↑