Nun..jetzt wiss’n Sie ‘s. Den’Perseus un’Medusa sind Schuld ‘d’ran.. Mann oh Mann, sieht aus das Den’
Griechen immer schon Problehm-figuren gewesen sind 😆
How Greece already in old times became a problem… Garden-Gnomes, together with plastic flamingo’s are the treason for our civilizations’ demise 😛
Du könntest Dich der französischen Gartenzwergbefreiungsfront anschliessen. Die haben Gartenzwerge aus ihren Vorgärten befreit und im Wald ausgesetzt – ganz echt. Weiss nicht, ob die noch aktiv sind.
There has been that french lawn gnome liberation front in the 2000th. They used to liberate the gnomes from the garden and set them free in the woods. Dont know for they are still activ.
Yeah, I wonder why she does? Insecurity of some sort that doesn’t show otherwise? Pure style? Perhaps she spent years on some fabled Isle of the 12-foot-tall Women and still thinks of herself as a “little thing”?
I love an Amazon in heels. Strong and powerful and confident, yet oh so feminine.
Tricia Heiffer (Caprica 6 from Battlestar Galactica) showed up at the audition for the miniseries in flats because she felt her six foot hieght put her at a considerable disadvantage. Producer Ron Moore loved her and cast her in the role of the most visible villan in the miniseries. Her also put her in six inch heels as often as possible so she towered over most of the rest of the cast.
I’m getting the same vibe of casual power from Eyrale. she’s friendly and a true southern belle, but I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.
What was that movie she made with Samuel Jackson? The one where she was a sleeper spy. THAT Gina Davis would be perfect. Time to set the wayback machine and go fetch her, unless a convenient TARDIS wanders by.
Or, for that matter, Pat Tallman, who’s only five-eight, but doubled for Davis in the cliff fall in that film (and played wosname – the ESPer on Babylon 5).
I read an article about Tallman once – she acts and does stunts; i think the article’s title was something like “Get me that tall redhead that can sword-fight.”
ALL women (who can) should wear heels. It does wonderful things for the look of their legs and butt. I know, it also does terrible things in the long run to their back & posture, but heck, at least they look GOOD 🙂
What Me said. 🙂 I was the person who convinced my 5’10” friend that heels were awesome no matter how tall you are to begin with. Now she only wears flats when she’s in jeans or shorts (or when asked because she’s going to be the tallest bridesmaid even without heels on).
I can’t wear heels too often for the pain they cause, but my love of shoes and what those shoes do to my posture and figure can and will supercede my concerns about pain (for at least one day). 😛
Tall people sometimes subconciously slouch, which looks ‘rumpled’. Tall women have said try to stand taller – pretend a string on the top of your head is pulling you up. Don’t know if this would apply to heels and big hair, though.
Not only is she not slouching, she’s walking the Model Walk, where you cross over your feet rather than swinging them directly forward. Less sway, but more hip swing. She’s an interesting character indeed!
Seems as if she is delibertly trying to look as tall as possible what with the hair and heels. Doesn’t seem at all concerned about blending in. Well, other than hiding the snakes thing.
She appears to be doing the absolute minimum to appear human, and she certainly isn’t trying to fade into the crowd. She’s the kind of woman who will pop into your head out of nowhere decades later and make you smile.
One of the delightful things about the mythology that Paul has constructed is the fact that it is “superior” to — that is, inclusive of — all other mythologies.
We’ve already heard from Phix that Oedipus “padded his story”. There have been enough times in history that what we knew about history turned out to be a half truth or outright lie manufactured by the victors of a conflict.
Or at least history gets “padded” by those who lived it somtimes. I had a great uncle who served as a P47 Thunderbolt mechanic with an Army Air Corps squadron during WW2. He did an honorable service in primitive conditions, keeping fighters flying despite parts shortages, bad weather and the occasional attack by the Luftwaffe. He also had a mechanic’s pilot’s licence which allowed him to fly the fighters short distances to check out the repairs he had preformed. He was NOT cleared to fly combat. All of this was admiriable, and was more than enough to impress me as a boy, but as he aged, my great uncle may have felt his controbutions weren’t enough. His exploits expanded to being pressed into service to fly a T-Bolt in defense of the airfield (with no gunnery training, mind you boy, jest natural talent) to a story late in life about escorting B17’s in his trusty Thunderbolt all the way to Berlin because they were short of pilots. It was well after his death that I learned that the P47 couldn’t make it to Berlin from England, and that his stories of flying combat were fantasies he had half convinced himself were true because he felt simply being a wrench turner in the greatest conflict mankind has has ever know wasn’t good enough. That his great nephew wouldn’t be impressed if he were “merely” a grease monkey. Needless to say, I was.
I don’t like history being changed maliciously for political gain, but a few embellishments along the way to give those who lived through it a little comfort are alright I think.
Of course in the case of Medusa and Perseus, it was nessesary to survive.
And, if the original authors don’t pad the story, others will help out. I recall hearing about some studies of oral tradition, and how in some cases they could check out the story with an original character–and most often found that the story had been changed to fit “what should happen” better–like the guy who fell off a mountain path and lingered three days before dying of injuries became a victim of his rival, and may (or may not) have died during their fight over the female prize. You know, the woman who never did care for the one guy.
National Geographic had a recent issue that gave strong evidence that he had just eaten a large meal and was relaxing when he was shot in the back. He was likely taken by suprise and his valuables were left behind. His copper axe in particular would have been priceless. They speculate that his murder was an assasination and not a mundane robbery.
Basicly, if you claim to be a god, and have the power to back it up, you are. Of course, the title of ‘god’ may have been confered by people who were scared to death of her and didn’t want to tick her off.
Cortez didn’t object when the natives declared him a god.
I have to say I should have expected this twist in the Medusa story. So far every myth that our girls have know has turned out to be a load of poop. But this is just a real reminder that in all history you must be careful what you take as fact and what might just be metaphor or embellishment. Also lets not forget what the translation of an ancient scroll in some long dead and (more or less) recently rediscovered language into a modern tongue can be oh so wrong as well. Hell, sometimes the translation from one living language to another gets all futz up.
myths and legends are based on stories the old folk told people. they maybe have some truth to them but weeding out the truth from the padded fiction might take some doing 😛
And without any back up information it would be impossible to confirm or deny the findings, So if you have anything short of a time traveler with a vidcam you will never know the truth.
Most of the ancient Greco-Roman myths have inconveniently interesting women throwing themselves off of cliffs whenever there isn’t someone credited with killing them off. Including Phix, of course. There may have been cultural reasons for human women to leave society so violently, but a sphinx? Someone is just overcompensating for their own laziness there.
Turning tragedy into a happy ending is what Wapsi is good at; though if Medusa was still as mortal as the myths suggest, Euryale has a unique perspective to aid the gang.
Do we know how Euryale’s name is pronounced? I’ve got it in my head that her name is pronounced “Yooo-REE-ah-lee” Or “You-REally” if you’re saying it fast. Yes? No?
No, not really. The archives are irrelevant in this case.
Even if Paul wanted to, Euryale is a historical figure with an established pronunciation that Paul does not have the freedom to change. For characters or languages that he creates he can define however he wishes but not history.
Besides, Paul (rightly), didn’t espouse a pronunciation. he didn’t have to. I think you are being confused by the speculation of other posters.
I thought they were going on a previous comic where Euryale said her name and then said “just like the little mermaid in that Disney film, only not spelled so funny”. Leaves little to speculation that the intention is to pronounce it as ‘Ariel”.
Besides, Euryale is a mythological figure in history. If Paul can change the ‘facts’ of mythology itself, I see no reason that a simple pronunciation wouldn’t be doable as well.
Well, there are spirits and angels in traditional literature named “Ariel” and “Uriel” – possibly Euryale’s name pronunciation is somewhere between the two?
Also, vowel pronunciation often changes a lot within a given language, over periods of a few centuries… the Great Vowel Shift in English is only one such. Vowel pronunciation, even within e.g. American English, is a lot more subtle and complicated than the simple “A E I O U” division would suggest at first glance.
So, she can pronounce it however she wants, with accenting and tone set by her name’s history and her current Southern Belle accent. Unless/until Paul actually has somebody speak it to his satisfaction, and puts a recording of it up on the site, I don’t think we’ll know for sure.
To find the “established” pronunciation of anything in Ancient Greek, you first have to determine which of four-to-ten dialects you’re talking about. The vowels were infamously up for grabs.
But taking TheSkulker at his word, Paul has to stop drawing comics now, and immediately take up his career in haberdashery. Because by medieval naming conventions, he is a tailor, bound to his family profession, and there’s nothing he can do to change that.
I recall reading about a man who changed his name to get an inheritance–say, from “Smith” to “Jones”–but although he had to use “Jones” to get the inheritance, since the will in question specified it, he was free to pronounce it as he wished, so he chose to say it “Smith”.
That’s scarcely a pun, my friend… there really isn’t all that much of a double meaning, since “python” and “Python” are from the same root word. I don’t think the cash-payment terms kick in, unless you take two words of completely different heritage, and arrange to have them skid into one another on a dark icy road 🙂
I will, however, offer a monetary deposit (*clink*) on behalf of a Euryale-snakes-as-intimate-underwear pun I used a few weeks ago, which (alas) seems to have been a complete miss… nobody reacted to it as far as I could see.
How about we split the difference on Ariel/Euryale this way. She has a well established drawl, says her name sounds like the Little Mermaid name, so I’m taking it to be the “Eur-” is coming out as “Yair-“.
So: Yair-ee-uhll
Slightly off from Air-ee-ull, but sounds good enough to my ear.
Wasn’t there a particularly silly “makes your musical sensibilities bleed” pop song back in the 1970s which used almost exactly that pronunciation as a chorus?
“Even if Paul wanted to, Euryale is a historical figure with an established pronunciation that Paul does not have the freedom to change.”
That depends on your perspective of who’s account is official.
People have misspelled and mispronounced my name (both first and last) my entire life. My last name, specifically, is an easy one (just 6 friggin letters!) but only a handful of times in my life did someone spell it correctly … and only ONCE have I ever heard someone pronounce it correctly on the first try.
Not because it’s a hard spelling, but because there are actually a hlaf dozen different common ways to spell it and a much more common pronunciation of the one my family uses. A common problem with names with German derivations, I am coming to find.
But notice how I say they all spell/pronounce it wrong? Because it’s MY name. I get to decide how it is spelled, how it is pronounced. The only one with an override vote on that is the government, for legal reasons … if I don’t like how it’s spelled on my birth certificate, then I’ve got some paperwork to file.
So regardless of how many historians who guessed at how to say it, if I were to meet the actual person and they tell me its spelled or pronounced a certain way, then by golly it’s their name and that’s how I will use it.
In this case, it’s Paul’s characters (yes they are derivations of known characters but these instances exist in his custom version of the multiverse) and Euryale has made it clear what the answer is.
*looks at the stone-squirrel on his window ledge* No f**king way!
Hmmm i wonder what kind of stone people are turned into and from there the extra mass gets drawn. For lawn ornaments you would normaly use either a pretty stone like marble or a rather sturdy stone like Granit.
Also did perseus cheat on medusa with the venus of milo?
[disclaimer:] the linked pictures might not be suitable for you and may be considered as Pornographic (especially if you are in the USA )
Where else would a couple of zaftig chicks go? THE MALL. In Euryales case, The Big and TALL store.
I would LOVE to see Monica take Euryale out for drinks to meet the rest of the girls. At Darrens perhaps?
Stone lawn/garden ornaments does not just mean gnomes. It can also include full sized statues of people. They are usually in classic Greek or Roman garb and poses, but people nonetheless. Makes me wonder if the sister turned to her old (horrific) tricks to make ends meet. She may not have been the nice girl Euryale seems too be or is trying to paint Medusa as be.
Also, why is Shelly walking off with Euryale? Just leaving the rif-raf belind?
These two ancients probably have a lot in common. Despite thier experiences, the GGs have been stuck as eighteen yearolds for eaons. Shelly is still Monica’s best friend, but there are things she has experienced and done that Monica simply couldn’t relate to. To quote Spock,
“It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of refrence.”
The sphinxes, even Phix, are all a little too intense for Shelly. Eyrale likes her ,wants to talk and is downright differential toward her. And Shelly knows that a gorgon would have had similar experiences to a Sphinx. Eyrale’s reaction to Monica in the library was probably a reflex from a very long life of dealing with people who wanted to add a gorgon to thier trophy case. And if there was rumor of treasure in the time forrest, I’m sure Shelly had to fight off a few adventurers. That wall of skulls looked like a lot more than 56.
I’m guessing polite goodbyes were made before the two set out together.
As to Medusa, maybe she didn’t go out looking for trouble, maybe trouble came to her. It’s amazing how many mythic monsters just sat at home while glory seekers and treasure hunters lined up to be slaughtered. Basicly, what every D&D campain is based around.
If some moron shows up trying to kill you and you can turn him to stone, well, why not make an extra buck? ; )
Oh: on the “revised” pre-history. If only Medusa and Poseidon had been in Aphrodite’s temple, a whole lotta fuss and bother could be avoided by not ticking off Athena. (Worshiping another goddess in her sanctuary and all that, you know.)
Or else the pair could have, I dunno, gotten together to read learned books and discuss wisdom.
Nah, I think it was a deliberate act on the part of Poseidon.
He and Athena have never been on the best of terms.
It was probably no accident that Odysseus and Polyphemus had a run-in either.
Working with G.I.M.P.
I cut out the eyes and used a Drop Shadow filter.
Then I used the Sphere Designer under the Render menu to make an uncolored sphere with a back light based on her dress color, sized and placed it in a layer between the skin tones and the drop shadow.
I have done a lot of experimenting with Tina’s eyes…
The uncanny-valley interpretation of Tina’s eyes is an effective course out from the Judge Doom spirals. And the other color choices really bring out the vaudeville blocking & timing of that page! Kudos!
Oddly enough, this is similar to a de-mythication of the Medusa myth I once had in mind. Since the story was in part apparently a demonization of a matriarchal religion that may have included Athena and Metis as the other two parts of a trinity with Medusa. I had this idea of Perseus getting blackmailed with his mother’s safety to handle the monster Medusa who were some remnants of the Medusa religion wearing masks. Both sides get a bit fanatical, Andromeda is actually one of the priestesses and in the end both sets of fanatics get killed and Perseus and Andromeda go off somewhere and establish a new city….which would someday get swallowed up by the patriarchal Greeks anyway.
Stone lawn ornaments eh? Steady work for the past few millenia, it seems.
Gnomes!…. Oh, god! THE GNOMES!!! Run!
Gnarly!
Gno gno, gnot gnasty gnomes! Gnice gnomes with gneato gneckties and gnifty gnoses!
The Pun Jar is imploding in a mini black hole! Oh the humanity!
If the gnomes roam, does that make them gnomads?
Ich hab’ mich immer gefragt, woher kommen all diese verdammte Vorgartenzwerge… 😛
Nun..jetzt wiss’n Sie ‘s. Den’Perseus un’Medusa sind Schuld ‘d’ran.. Mann oh Mann, sieht aus das Den’
Griechen immer schon Problehm-figuren gewesen sind 😆
How Greece already in old times became a problem… Garden-Gnomes, together with plastic flamingo’s are the treason for our civilizations’ demise 😛
Boah!! *reason* , not “treason”
You have to admit though, Treason oddly does fit the context in some twisted way.
Jetzt müsste man nur noch wissen wo diese Fabrik steht und wie man sie endgültig stilllegen kann – ich kann diese Gartenzwergpest nicht ausstehen… 😀
Du könntest Dich der französischen Gartenzwergbefreiungsfront anschliessen. Die haben Gartenzwerge aus ihren Vorgärten befreit und im Wald ausgesetzt – ganz echt. Weiss nicht, ob die noch aktiv sind.
There has been that french lawn gnome liberation front in the 2000th. They used to liberate the gnomes from the garden and set them free in the woods. Dont know for they are still activ.
If ever there were a woman who didn’t need to wear heels…
#chuckle#
Yeah, I wonder why she does? Insecurity of some sort that doesn’t show otherwise? Pure style? Perhaps she spent years on some fabled Isle of the 12-foot-tall Women and still thinks of herself as a “little thing”?
And there are a multitude of looks you just can’t pull off in tennis shoes, flats, or low heels.
I love an Amazon in heels. Strong and powerful and confident, yet oh so feminine.
Tricia Heiffer (Caprica 6 from Battlestar Galactica) showed up at the audition for the miniseries in flats because she felt her six foot hieght put her at a considerable disadvantage. Producer Ron Moore loved her and cast her in the role of the most visible villan in the miniseries. Her also put her in six inch heels as often as possible so she towered over most of the rest of the cast.
I’m getting the same vibe of casual power from Eyrale. she’s friendly and a true southern belle, but I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.
Geena Davis a few years ago would be wonderfully suited to play Eurayle – she’s six feet tall.
What was that movie she made with Samuel Jackson? The one where she was a sleeper spy. THAT Gina Davis would be perfect. Time to set the wayback machine and go fetch her, unless a convenient TARDIS wanders by.
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Or, for that matter, Pat Tallman, who’s only five-eight, but doubled for Davis in the cliff fall in that film (and played wosname – the ESPer on Babylon 5).
I read an article about Tallman once – she acts and does stunts; i think the article’s title was something like “Get me that tall redhead that can sword-fight.”
The again, if Shelly converted to Shelnix, Euryale would only be shoulder high by comparison!
Guess it all evens out in the long run.
ALL women (who can) should wear heels. It does wonderful things for the look of their legs and butt. I know, it also does terrible things in the long run to their back & posture, but heck, at least they look GOOD 🙂
Heels can really mess up your feet, fk up your tendons/legs and your ability to walk or run correctly.
But so can eating a Death by Chocolate Cake. X3
To each their own.
What Me said. 🙂 I was the person who convinced my 5’10” friend that heels were awesome no matter how tall you are to begin with. Now she only wears flats when she’s in jeans or shorts (or when asked because she’s going to be the tallest bridesmaid even without heels on).
I can’t wear heels too often for the pain they cause, but my love of shoes and what those shoes do to my posture and figure can and will supercede my concerns about pain (for at least one day). 😛
Tall people sometimes subconciously slouch, which looks ‘rumpled’. Tall women have said try to stand taller – pretend a string on the top of your head is pulling you up. Don’t know if this would apply to heels and big hair, though.
Tall women should always stand as if they are three inches taller than they really are.
Not only is she not slouching, she’s walking the Model Walk, where you cross over your feet rather than swinging them directly forward. Less sway, but more hip swing. She’s an interesting character indeed!
This posture–with the string pulling up your head–also helps you sing well, with good breath support.
Seems as if she is delibertly trying to look as tall as possible what with the hair and heels. Doesn’t seem at all concerned about blending in. Well, other than hiding the snakes thing.
She appears to be doing the absolute minimum to appear human, and she certainly isn’t trying to fade into the crowd. She’s the kind of woman who will pop into your head out of nowhere decades later and make you smile.
And now we know what really happened. Seems mythology has been wrong all these years. Anyone going to go edit wikipedia?
seems a lot like ‘dallas’ ta me…. 🙂
Not exactly STAT but here it is. (I don’t get to the site until around noon CWT[Central Wapsi Time})
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9206/oneofthesages.png
And the wallpaper…
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6748/oneofthesages1024.png
WOW! That is looking GREAT!
One of the delightful things about the mythology that Paul has constructed is the fact that it is “superior” to — that is, inclusive of — all other mythologies.
Heck–all those mythologies were third- and fourth-hand. This is straight from the medusan mouth.
Scamming a goddess? Successfully?! A really good trick if you can pull it off!
I imagine isolating your universe behind a dimensional shield of vimana cells doesn’t hurt, either.
Though maybe Athena cooled off in the interim. Or was impressed by Perseus’ solution to her demand. Or both.
We’ve already heard from Phix that Oedipus “padded his story”. There have been enough times in history that what we knew about history turned out to be a half truth or outright lie manufactured by the victors of a conflict.
Or at least history gets “padded” by those who lived it somtimes. I had a great uncle who served as a P47 Thunderbolt mechanic with an Army Air Corps squadron during WW2. He did an honorable service in primitive conditions, keeping fighters flying despite parts shortages, bad weather and the occasional attack by the Luftwaffe. He also had a mechanic’s pilot’s licence which allowed him to fly the fighters short distances to check out the repairs he had preformed. He was NOT cleared to fly combat. All of this was admiriable, and was more than enough to impress me as a boy, but as he aged, my great uncle may have felt his controbutions weren’t enough. His exploits expanded to being pressed into service to fly a T-Bolt in defense of the airfield (with no gunnery training, mind you boy, jest natural talent) to a story late in life about escorting B17’s in his trusty Thunderbolt all the way to Berlin because they were short of pilots. It was well after his death that I learned that the P47 couldn’t make it to Berlin from England, and that his stories of flying combat were fantasies he had half convinced himself were true because he felt simply being a wrench turner in the greatest conflict mankind has has ever know wasn’t good enough. That his great nephew wouldn’t be impressed if he were “merely” a grease monkey. Needless to say, I was.
I don’t like history being changed maliciously for political gain, but a few embellishments along the way to give those who lived through it a little comfort are alright I think.
Of course in the case of Medusa and Perseus, it was nessesary to survive.
And, if the original authors don’t pad the story, others will help out. I recall hearing about some studies of oral tradition, and how in some cases they could check out the story with an original character–and most often found that the story had been changed to fit “what should happen” better–like the guy who fell off a mountain path and lingered three days before dying of injuries became a victim of his rival, and may (or may not) have died during their fight over the female prize. You know, the woman who never did care for the one guy.
I wonder if that’s what happened when the Ice Man didn’t come home?
Quite possibly–although forensic science has determined that he was shot in the back. And very likely it was murder.
No suspects named at this point, or motives identified.
National Geographic had a recent issue that gave strong evidence that he had just eaten a large meal and was relaxing when he was shot in the back. He was likely taken by suprise and his valuables were left behind. His copper axe in particular would have been priceless. They speculate that his murder was an assasination and not a mundane robbery.
interdimentional traveller.
not goddess..
least i think not goddess.
nothing would surprise me 😛
it’s relative… on the planet of gods, its just ‘normal’…
I wouldn’t be surprised to find Athena visiting the Parthenon in Tennessee.
Oh, she has. They got the nose wrong, is what I’ve heard.
One internet-shaped trophy for you, sir.
Clarke’s Law applies here, with a vengance (drops plugged nickel in Pun Jar).
Athena’s Variation to Clarke’s Law – “Any sufficiently advanced interdimensional traveler is indistinguishable from a jealous god[dess].”
Doesn’t even have to be interdimensional… interstellar will do… cf Star Trek TOS “Who Mourns For Adonis?”
Basicly, if you claim to be a god, and have the power to back it up, you are. Of course, the title of ‘god’ may have been confered by people who were scared to death of her and didn’t want to tick her off.
Cortez didn’t object when the natives declared him a god.
“Ray, when some asks you if you are a god, SAY YES!“
I’m wondering if Athena was/is actually a goddess, or one of the Lathian immortals…
The Greek Pantheon were not (for the most part, at least) omniscient.
They got scammed enough times to prove that.
I had a feeling that Medusa and Perseus wound up hooking up together.
I love these kinds of takes on mythology. For example, Gunnerkrigg Court took the minotaur myth and came up with this.
I have to say I should have expected this twist in the Medusa story. So far every myth that our girls have know has turned out to be a load of poop. But this is just a real reminder that in all history you must be careful what you take as fact and what might just be metaphor or embellishment. Also lets not forget what the translation of an ancient scroll in some long dead and (more or less) recently rediscovered language into a modern tongue can be oh so wrong as well. Hell, sometimes the translation from one living language to another gets all futz up.
And also the fact that history is always written by the winners.
myths and legends are based on stories the old folk told people. they maybe have some truth to them but weeding out the truth from the padded fiction might take some doing 😛
And without any back up information it would be impossible to confirm or deny the findings, So if you have anything short of a time traveler with a vidcam you will never know the truth.
Most of the ancient Greco-Roman myths have inconveniently interesting women throwing themselves off of cliffs whenever there isn’t someone credited with killing them off. Including Phix, of course. There may have been cultural reasons for human women to leave society so violently, but a sphinx? Someone is just overcompensating for their own laziness there.
Turning tragedy into a happy ending is what Wapsi is good at; though if Medusa was still as mortal as the myths suggest, Euryale has a unique perspective to aid the gang.
Wonder if she looked anything like Rider from F/SN.
Wanna know the funny thing?
I’m about to have to do an essay on that subject 😛
That’s an essay I’d enjoy reading. 🙂
Oh My… these “lawn Ornaments” made me LOL pretty hard.. What an original “interpretation”of established legends…
I really love these more barmy moments in between all the anxt.
I *love* the idea of Medusa and Perseus being secret lovers!
Please Pablo, you have to do an EBAY picture of them! Pretty please??
LOL!! NICE take on a classic myth. Man I love this comic.
Do we know how Euryale’s name is pronounced? I’ve got it in my head that her name is pronounced “Yooo-REE-ah-lee” Or “You-REally” if you’re saying it fast. Yes? No?
ive been caling her eurydale in my head for some reason 🙂
Paul said it’s pronounced like the Little Mermaid – Ariel.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/good-as-new/
According to TheFreeDictionary it is pronounced “Eu·ry·a·le” which works for me.
For those that grok pronunciation codes, dictionary.com says it is pronounced “jʊˈraɪəlɪ”
looks like you need to check out the archive… 🙂
No, not really. The archives are irrelevant in this case.
Even if Paul wanted to, Euryale is a historical figure with an established pronunciation that Paul does not have the freedom to change. For characters or languages that he creates he can define however he wishes but not history.
Besides, Paul (rightly), didn’t espouse a pronunciation. he didn’t have to. I think you are being confused by the speculation of other posters.
I thought they were going on a previous comic where Euryale said her name and then said “just like the little mermaid in that Disney film, only not spelled so funny”. Leaves little to speculation that the intention is to pronounce it as ‘Ariel”.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/good-as-new/
Besides, Euryale is a mythological figure in history. If Paul can change the ‘facts’ of mythology itself, I see no reason that a simple pronunciation wouldn’t be doable as well.
Well, there are spirits and angels in traditional literature named “Ariel” and “Uriel” – possibly Euryale’s name pronunciation is somewhere between the two?
Also, vowel pronunciation often changes a lot within a given language, over periods of a few centuries… the Great Vowel Shift in English is only one such. Vowel pronunciation, even within e.g. American English, is a lot more subtle and complicated than the simple “A E I O U” division would suggest at first glance.
So, she can pronounce it however she wants, with accenting and tone set by her name’s history and her current Southern Belle accent. Unless/until Paul actually has somebody speak it to his satisfaction, and puts a recording of it up on the site, I don’t think we’ll know for sure.
To find the “established” pronunciation of anything in Ancient Greek, you first have to determine which of four-to-ten dialects you’re talking about. The vowels were infamously up for grabs.
But taking TheSkulker at his word, Paul has to stop drawing comics now, and immediately take up his career in haberdashery. Because by medieval naming conventions, he is a tailor, bound to his family profession, and there’s nothing he can do to change that.
Actually you missed one little point. A person can pronounce their name however they want to.
And would you try to tell a Gorgon Sister that she is wrong about that????
I recall reading about a man who changed his name to get an inheritance–say, from “Smith” to “Jones”–but although he had to use “Jones” to get the inheritance, since the will in question specified it, he was free to pronounce it as he wished, so he chose to say it “Smith”.
Yeah. Just like the guy whose name is spelled Raymond Luxury-Yacht, but it’s pronounced ‘Throat Warbler Mangrove’.
@Nebulous – from the example you’re using, I infer that you believe that at least one of Euryale’s snakes is a Python?
[Ahem] I believe the pun jar is that-a-way.
That’s scarcely a pun, my friend… there really isn’t all that much of a double meaning, since “python” and “Python” are from the same root word. I don’t think the cash-payment terms kick in, unless you take two words of completely different heritage, and arrange to have them skid into one another on a dark icy road 🙂
I will, however, offer a monetary deposit (*clink*) on behalf of a Euryale-snakes-as-intimate-underwear pun I used a few weeks ago, which (alas) seems to have been a complete miss… nobody reacted to it as far as I could see.
But–if Euryale had a head python, that would be different from a Monty Python, wouldn’t it?
Not necessarily different. In terms of American slang, Euryale’s first display of her snakes to Monica was performed in a state of “full Monty”.
And for that one, I will pay (in more ways than one, I don’t doubt).
(tosses a strip of precious metal into the Pun Jar)
How about we split the difference on Ariel/Euryale this way. She has a well established drawl, says her name sounds like the Little Mermaid name, so I’m taking it to be the “Eur-” is coming out as “Yair-“.
So: Yair-ee-uhll
Slightly off from Air-ee-ull, but sounds good enough to my ear.
YMMV!
Oh I like that! 🙂
Wasn’t there a particularly silly “makes your musical sensibilities bleed” pop song back in the 1970s which used almost exactly that pronunciation as a chorus?
“Even if Paul wanted to, Euryale is a historical figure with an established pronunciation that Paul does not have the freedom to change.”
That depends on your perspective of who’s account is official.
People have misspelled and mispronounced my name (both first and last) my entire life. My last name, specifically, is an easy one (just 6 friggin letters!) but only a handful of times in my life did someone spell it correctly … and only ONCE have I ever heard someone pronounce it correctly on the first try.
Not because it’s a hard spelling, but because there are actually a hlaf dozen different common ways to spell it and a much more common pronunciation of the one my family uses. A common problem with names with German derivations, I am coming to find.
But notice how I say they all spell/pronounce it wrong? Because it’s MY name. I get to decide how it is spelled, how it is pronounced. The only one with an override vote on that is the government, for legal reasons … if I don’t like how it’s spelled on my birth certificate, then I’ve got some paperwork to file.
So regardless of how many historians who guessed at how to say it, if I were to meet the actual person and they tell me its spelled or pronounced a certain way, then by golly it’s their name and that’s how I will use it.
In this case, it’s Paul’s characters (yes they are derivations of known characters but these instances exist in his custom version of the multiverse) and Euryale has made it clear what the answer is.
Why’s that so hard to accept, for some?
And oh yeah … as you can see by the dates, almost caught up with the archives! w00+!
hmm
tepoz would have looked like a lawn ornament..
You thought of that as well eh? 🙂
The little blue runt is the right height for a lawn ornament.
Oh lord, now I can imagine Tepoz as the father of all lawn gnomes. (my cranial eyes bleed)
wasnt tepoz stone when we first met him….
Covered in baked clay.
But he’s the god of alcohol, not pot–he’s drunk, not stoned.
drops a small, sparkly “rock” in the jar.
*looks at the stone-squirrel on his window ledge* No f**king way!
Hmmm i wonder what kind of stone people are turned into and from there the extra mass gets drawn. For lawn ornaments you would normaly use either a pretty stone like marble or a rather sturdy stone like Granit.
Also did perseus cheat on medusa with the venus of milo?
[disclaimer:] the linked pictures might not be suitable for you and may be considered as Pornographic (especially if you are in the USA )
Here in the USA nudity is allowed as long as its considered art. Venus de Milo is safe.
It’s safe to depict her. Especially because she’s not armed.
Hold out the pun jar.
Sorry. [drops in two lady fingers, an arm and a leg]
I look at the Travelocity gnome and all those little lawn jockeys in a whole new, horrifying, light now.
Yeah, but what if it were the lawn ornaments from the comic “Oglaf”… i won’t post a link here, it’s VERY NSFW.
You just had to point that one out…
Where’s the brain bleach? (once I finish laughing all over again, that is)
Absolutely a great comic! And absolutely NSFW!
I’m stunned. I’m almost speechless. Mythology, the true story, is like a soap opera!
I’m also wondering where Shelly and Euryale are walking to…
Maybe the Library Annex so they can each transform.
Where else would a couple of zaftig chicks go? THE MALL. In Euryales case, The Big and TALL store.
I would LOVE to see Monica take Euryale out for drinks to meet the rest of the girls. At Darrens perhaps?
What we’ve got written down is a soap opera too, complete with long-lost siblings, secret babies, and amnesia.
All of the myths and fables were the ‘soap operas’ of the ancient world.
Stone lawn/garden ornaments does not just mean gnomes. It can also include full sized statues of people. They are usually in classic Greek or Roman garb and poses, but people nonetheless. Makes me wonder if the sister turned to her old (horrific) tricks to make ends meet. She may not have been the nice girl Euryale seems too be or is trying to paint Medusa as be.
Also, why is Shelly walking off with Euryale? Just leaving the rif-raf belind?
These two ancients probably have a lot in common. Despite thier experiences, the GGs have been stuck as eighteen yearolds for eaons. Shelly is still Monica’s best friend, but there are things she has experienced and done that Monica simply couldn’t relate to. To quote Spock,
“It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of refrence.”
The sphinxes, even Phix, are all a little too intense for Shelly. Eyrale likes her ,wants to talk and is downright differential toward her. And Shelly knows that a gorgon would have had similar experiences to a Sphinx. Eyrale’s reaction to Monica in the library was probably a reflex from a very long life of dealing with people who wanted to add a gorgon to thier trophy case. And if there was rumor of treasure in the time forrest, I’m sure Shelly had to fight off a few adventurers. That wall of skulls looked like a lot more than 56.
I’m guessing polite goodbyes were made before the two set out together.
As to Medusa, maybe she didn’t go out looking for trouble, maybe trouble came to her. It’s amazing how many mythic monsters just sat at home while glory seekers and treasure hunters lined up to be slaughtered. Basicly, what every D&D campain is based around.
If some moron shows up trying to kill you and you can turn him to stone, well, why not make an extra buck? ; )
Heh, takes the expression “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade’ to a whole new level.
Oh: on the “revised” pre-history. If only Medusa and Poseidon had been in Aphrodite’s temple, a whole lotta fuss and bother could be avoided by not ticking off Athena. (Worshiping another goddess in her sanctuary and all that, you know.)
Or else the pair could have, I dunno, gotten together to read learned books and discuss wisdom.
Shucks! Insert “/i” code after “Aphrodite’s“
Ninja.
Nah, I think it was a deliberate act on the part of Poseidon.
He and Athena have never been on the best of terms.
It was probably no accident that Odysseus and Polyphemus had a run-in either.
Could be true. Fellow divinities don’t have to worry about getting their peers upset quite as much as us poor mortals do.
Act two in the Wallpaperpalooza
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3572/gotstheyummies1024copy.png
I just love the color job on this one. It really fleshes the girls out.
BTW what is the effect you used on Tina’s eyes to make them stand out?
Working with G.I.M.P.
I cut out the eyes and used a Drop Shadow filter.
Then I used the Sphere Designer under the Render menu to make an uncolored sphere with a back light based on her dress color, sized and placed it in a layer between the skin tones and the drop shadow.
I have done a lot of experimenting with Tina’s eyes…
The uncanny-valley interpretation of Tina’s eyes is an effective course out from the Judge Doom spirals. And the other color choices really bring out the vaudeville blocking & timing of that page! Kudos!
Becky is adorable!
Nice eyes on Tina too!
Like it a bunch! Thanks for answering how you did it too.
I have to add these…
What “Lawn Orniment” means to me.
And this is dedication to the lawn orniment craft…
Euryale; Tall, slim, stiletto high-heeled, redhead cutie; oh yeah, I’m in LOOOOVE!!
So that explains the family resemblence…
Gnomes! Gah!
Well, gnome gnews is good gnews…
Oddly enough, this is similar to a de-mythication of the Medusa myth I once had in mind. Since the story was in part apparently a demonization of a matriarchal religion that may have included Athena and Metis as the other two parts of a trinity with Medusa. I had this idea of Perseus getting blackmailed with his mother’s safety to handle the monster Medusa who were some remnants of the Medusa religion wearing masks. Both sides get a bit fanatical, Andromeda is actually one of the priestesses and in the end both sets of fanatics get killed and Perseus and Andromeda go off somewhere and establish a new city….which would someday get swallowed up by the patriarchal Greeks anyway.