April 2nd, 2019
2 Apr 2019 · page 887 of 1306
I guess you could say they... cleaned up. Eh? Eh???
Cast: Dr Esther Flack, Eliza Swift, Vincent Knott, Will Sharpe
Comments (76)
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Will's tiny pink blush as Knotty grabs his arm.............
Will: blushes
Me: zooms in on the page
I definitely noticed that and wondered if blushing is a thing I've been missing in this comic or if shipper feelings are indeed over-coming the lesser magical influence on Sharpe <.<
I'm pretty sure Knotty has a thing for Eliza. As for Sharpe, I have no idea.
I don't see Knotty x Eliza since they're old friends. Knotty gets nervous around her, but it's because she tries to talk about his issue with hanging/his father.
But that's just my take! I'm not sure Knotty is attracted to Sharpe either (just that Sharpe seems to like Knotty).
It might be just that, but introverted guys often react that way to beautiful women. We shall see what we shall see. :)
I think the Knotty x Sharpe feeling is mutual. Knotty's prime motivation for doing all this stopped being just about not wanting to hang anyone, a good long time ago.
I also ship it, but he also has the motivation of "there's something fishy about this whole situation" and, empathy aside, I suspect it offends him that anybody would conspire to sentence someone to death under false pretenses. Like, that's just DOUBLE BAD
Knotty gets nervous around everyone
To me, Knotty and Eliza seem to act much more like older sister / younger brother. She bosses him around, teases him, scolds him, tells him he's being a total idiot -- and there was never any chance she wouldn't help him. He listens to her, admires her judgement, teases her back in a gentle way, evades her probing questions, thinks she's the smartest person he knows... would always do what she advises... except for when he just can't.
There's a lot of affection between them, but none of it seems even remotely romantic.
It could be due to embarrassment, or it could be that the reason that he's so defensive of Dr. Flack is that she enhanced his attraction to / infatuation with her.
I notice that Will's "voice" is influenced just before he gets dragged down.
Makes her look like a good suspect since his influence towards her seems to heighten positive emotions or at least defend her.
Not just "cleaned up" - I'd say our protagonists wiped the floor with them!
>:=)>
Definitely a clean sweep.
Done and dusted!
you're terrible, the lot of you :P
Tip us all into the bin!
There's no need to get all bristly on us!
Eliza's sidekick:
Third panel is so full of hidden action. Marvellous!
ohoho. look at that panel one wink and last panel blush. ohhhhhhh look at him what a good boy. what a good, good boy
Good thing wizards are, universally, awful at physical combat.
Except, apparently, for Will, who seems to be quite effective at fisticuffs.
Well, he has to have been doing something with his time while he was purposely disappointing family expectations. If he'd been spending all his time in the kitchen I'd expect him to be rounder and less athletic. The "rich wastrel" role in fiction set in this era often did include hanging out in an illegal boxing scene.
Unless they're bad at magic, in which case their physical prowess may or may not be higher to compensate.
It HAS been established that Will had rubbish marks.
"What happened here?" Well, considering the likely circumstances, Doctor Flack... you. You happened.
"But my scapegoat is firmly in prison, so this scenario is highly unlikely!"
Precisely. Nothing can go wrong.
If she is guilty and she was counting on that, she wouldn't have programmed everybody to react to him.
I don't know, but what it is isn't exactly clear
Obviously they got swept up in the moment, had too much of the punch, and brought the roof down with their partying ^^
Also Kate, that pun.... 2x thumbs up
Will gets his reward for coming back in the look on Knotty's face in the first panel. : )
Before all you shippers start squealing, I just want to point out that all the reactions I see people discussing can easily be attributed to platonic sources.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying there's insufficient evidence to draw any conclusions.
“Maybe if we sit here and wait she’ll reveal her evil plan by talking to herself, that’s what villains do isn’t it?”
Heck, you gotta practice monologuing sometime....
...is that fan a magical artefact ?
I'm convinced that fan is the magic item she's using to Sharpen everyone. Then again I was convinced that striking clock was behind everything in 'Piece of Cake'.
People only remember the predictions you get right, Sturz. ;)
I don't remember ever being right.
Keep trying; even a stopped clock is right twice a day. :D
Eliza is obviously a disciple of [Lu-Tze](Â0Â/ "Â1Â/")
Why of course, how else could she have such spot-on timing?
We’ve had Chekhov’s gun, Chekhov’s bucket and Chekhov’s broom. Now we’ve got Chekhov’s fan.
But it's a really nice detail.
I like Will's left hook :)
At least in fighting he's skilled enough.
that's a BLUSH WILL IS BLUSHING IN THAT LAST PANEL!!!!
Can't we have an exciting adventure without people shipping all over it???
We can't, alas. We can only endure it :)
Romance is sometimes (often!) an aspect of adventure :)
With all due respect, m'lady, more of my "adventures" end up with a broken arm or leg than a broken heart. It's YOUR call, however, no-one else's. My money is on Flack's 'magic', not a gallows romance, but we shall see...
There's a difference between shipping (people making up unsupported romantic relationships for fun just because they personally like the idea of a pair of characters in a story being romantically involved), and literary appreciation, that is, noticing when the adventure as written is strongly hinting that two characters are headed towards being romantically involved with each other.
Talking about Sid x Harry: literary appreciation.
Talking about Ben x (anybody): shipping.
There's ample in-story evidence for Knotty x Sharpe, so it's not shipping. Knotty x Eliza? Shipping.
This!
"strongly hinting" - That's a load of nonsense. You're just dressing up "shipping" with a glorified term to make yourselves feel more sophisticated. That's disingenuous. If the author/artist wants to write a relationship, they can and will; until such time as the artist/author makes this "relationship" definable, this is just fanboy imagination run amok.
The simple reddening of the cheeks could quite possibly be from exertion; most likely, it's "strongly hinted" that Sharpe's blush has been caused by Doctor Flack (who charmed him in the first place, as you might recall) entering the room.
Sheesh.
This isn’t just about the blush. There have been a couple of panels that read strongly (to me, at least) as Will making a flirty remark to Knotty: panel 4 on this page [https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-8th-2019 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-8th-2019") as well as panel 4 here [https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-5th-2019 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-5th-2019") . I’m not sure how Knotty feels about Will, but I’d be willing to bet that Will is attracted to Knotty.
"(to me, at least)"
...
i rest my case.
My money is on Flack's 'magic', not a gallows romance, but it's the artist/author's call, however, no-one else's.
Yes. I’m entitled to my opinion about what’s going on, and you’re entitled to yours. Now let’s leave it at that.
But interpretation is the reader's call, especially when the author and artist isn't playing with obvious cards of cliche.
I'm as anti-ship as anyone, and if you don't believe me, you could go back and read my response to somebody who saw a possible relationship between Wolfe and Voss during Curtain Call. I didn't see one at all, and argued why I thought it'd be bad to go down that route.
You'll notice I haven't chimed in this until now. That's because it isn't as clear cut as you're making it out. While your interpretation obviously views the clues one way, they can be interpreted another way, and it is Kate who has created that gray area for.commentary, discussion, and debate to come into play. And keep people reading.....
Agreed. I think Knotty himself is not sure how he feels about Will. I see him as one of those late developers who had barely even thought about a romantic relationship in his life until today. So far, he isn't quite ready to open a can of worms that big, not right this minute, not even in his head, with all the rest that's going on. But that could change.
Ever since your first cite, he's for sure been aware that Will is flirting with him. He does like Will... panel 3 here:
[https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-22nd-2019 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-22nd-2019")
We'll have to wait and see how this unfolds!
Huh, I hadn't noticed the "You're very forgivable" line before. I think maybe I glossed over it quickly, saw the word fragment "forgive" and instead made up a line more like "You're lucky I'm very forgiving," in keeping with Will's... robust sense of self-esteem.
Admittedly, I [tend to agree with Mal](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-questions-3 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-questions-3") on this sort of thing, but that line, in particular definitely seems rather like Will flirting.
(As a side note, the only time I really get annoyed with shipping is when people take what I've been reading as a they're-like-a-sibling-to-me relationship and declare it a romance. But half the time, canon ends up proving the shippers correct in such matters. Non-romantic family-of-choice members are so terribly underutilized in fiction, I think.)
>Non-romantic family-of-choice members are so terribly underutilized in fiction, I think.
That’s one of the things I love most about the relationship between Mal, Wolfe, and Ben. There isn’t anything romantic going on, but Mal and Wolfe are inseparably bonded, and they’ve (reluctantly, in Mal’s case) added Ben as a member of their family.
you need to cool your jets, my dude. i'm not going to have people talking down to others here. speculation is extremely common (and encouraged) in this comments section and it's usually not met with such hostility- let's stick to that.
Well, that was humiliating. I am sincerely sorry that i came across as talking down to others in our group; that was not my intention at all. Having been repeatedly crushed romantically has led to a certain "romo-sexual apathy"- an allergy, or aversion to romantic stuff, as it were, and i guess it shows... but i AM really sorry (and embarrassed). I don't like bullies, and certainly didn't (don't) want to be antagonistic to anyone. Please accept a real sincere "i'm sorry" and i'll go quietly.
no worries- thanks for listening and responding thoughtfully.
Personal advice: if you think of romance as a wonderful thing that happens to other people, you can appreciate it in fiction again. Works for me, at least. :)
I agree with you entirely from a personal perspective - I love a good romance between chracters I feel deserve each other - but I can sympathise with those for whom romanctic themes are salt in an open wound.
The sense of personal failure that comes from having failed to find a partner (before time and and biology catches up with them) can be immensely crushing, and it's perfectly normal to feel Envy towards those who have had a better roll of the dice.
I suppose I've always felt envy to be the most forgivable sin?
This is the Internet, so... no. No we cannot. :-/
A- aurora borealis?
...
It occurs to me that if Knotty does decide to go into law, that stutter of his might become a problem. It may not be severe enough to really hamper his speech, but it does make him sound less authoritative, especially since it gets worse when he's under stress.
Or it could buy him sympathy points with a jury. You never know.
In any case, public speaking is merely a skill to be learned and practiced, and stutters can be cured. I can personally attest to both, as I used to have a massive stutter as a kid, and I now essentially make my living as a public speaker/presenter.
I like the detail in panel 5 of a tiny Knotty hand, his right, grabbing Sharpe. In panel 6, Sharpe is to Knotty's right. Nice consistency!
Her hand fan is about the same colour as the Sharpened individuals' text- I wonder if that has any importance...
It's funny how everyone is calling it "Sharpening" even though we're pretty sure he's not the one responsible for that now. It's a good name though so I can see why we won't give it up.
Nice perspective on Sharpe’s punch!
"You came back!"
"Mate, I never left, I was literally stuck in the broken end of an air vent."
Knotty is so desperate to see the best in Sharpe, it's actually cute.