The irony is that I did an all-nighter on this page!
Cast: Ann Barber, Cassandra Fenton, Catherine Barber, Edmund Barber, Florence De Montfort, Geoff Fenton, Gren, Harriet Barber, Henry Barber, Isabelle Holt, June Barber, Nicola Barber, Nora Fenton, Sidney Malik
Comments (37)
ThoughtBubble
14 Nov 2026 – 15 Nov 2026
Harrogate Convention Centre
Manchester Megacon
31 Jul 2027 – 1 Aug 2027
Manchester Central
"Why'd they wait till now?
Ummm ... Sid?
And O'Malley. It's bound to be his fault somehow.
But Invidia didn't know about O'Malley until Voss was already in Widdershins and the plan was already underway.
It's always his fault. Just ask Ben Thackerey.
(made me laugh!)
A better question, how many Barbers are there now... at least 7....
Presence of a witch near enough Widdershins? Setting it off by letting greed go and greed kick started it again? I'm still trying to figure out what the cell phone will do.
Something must've changed... a house full of Barber kids... they're going to possess the Barbers!? :O
Hmmm that's a point how many Barbers are there? I make it seven women who are direct descendants....that's uh ominous.
Ooooh! I initially counted the men too and got "nine barber descendants", but of course witches are traditionally female, so you're right, there are exactly seven of them.
And they have some strong emotions about them too.
Nicola gets anger, Florrie gets lust, Harrie... pride? Nora seems like the least sinful from the group, I can't really place what her vice would be.
If they do correspond to sins (rather than the virtues) it might be a little difficult to place since we haven't seen a lot of the kids yet. If it is supposed to be a direct sins-parallel then the sins can't be their main feature..... I kind of like the idea that the Barber women might represent the virtues that oppose the sins.
I count eight: Isabelle, Nicola, Nora, Harry, Florrie, June, Annie, Cassandra.
Unless for some reason this evil plan requires Izzy's descendants, excluding Izzy herself.
EDIT: Or Henry's family who matters.... Envy mentioned Barbers, not Holts. But all of the magic and previous conditions seemed to come from Izzy's side?!
We don't know if Izzy has any sisters, so all Izzy's descendants would be Barbers. And I didn't count Izzy herself since she put the binding in place.
This looks like an all-nighter page. Shoutouts to "8 million characters in the same room" comics.
You could pull an all-nighter just TAGGING this page
"everything is so, so fluffy" --someone in that room.
Likely that would be young miss Cassandra Fenton saying that. Sleeping in the puppy pile.
Either Cassie or Gren, she's also in that pile there.
Is the Mark of Thieves from before or after this binding? That sure wasn't near widdershins - if the Mark, being a Very Strong Conduit, had broken /Greed's/ binding, then the rest could follow.
Those kids are the cutest things. Family dinner turned all-nighter-magical-investigation. I love this comic. (Also can I have some of their caffeine? I need caffeine for purposes.)
Hm. Nicola just brought up Wolfe and no one is questioning just who that is. Florrie, Sid, and Harry would know but no one else. Has there been some story-telling going on in the background while the elder Barbers are telling theirs?
Probably. Such stories would be the most obvious thing to elide though, because we readers are already quite familiar with Wolfe et al. :D
Eeee! I got books 1-4 a few days ago and I just finished reading them and eeeeee! They're great, which is no surprise but also! There were some little extras which was a BIG surprise and eeeee! I love them!!!!
Hooray! Glad you like them, I always have fun with the extras. I enjoyed making those recipe cards a lot!
Through stunning good looks and clarity of thought.
Also I made a table plan at the bottom of my thumbnails page. That helped too, I guess.
The kids's table! Fond memories....
A thing I will state that will be clear in the next page- from what they know right now, it should have not been possible for Sid to have released Greed like he did.
I'm suspecting that Sid's innate abilities go a touch beyond being merely a wizard - possibly linked to his magical kleptomania.
Someone check Mr Malik's pockets for several sets of magical chains.
Props for "everyone at the table, the kids asleep, and fond smiles at them from the parents" panel.
Also, I love panel three, with the previously predicted romantic pairing in such a radically unromantic posture. (Sidney looking away from Harry and Harry closed off from him.)
Wasn't the Virtue that Nora embodied in the hotel Courage?
[Yep](Â1Â/ "Â2Â/").
Nonsense. Harry is just making sure that she's...hrmmm..able to talk with her assistant easily. Yes, that's it.
Which, really, makes her Courage the greater - because the others are bombastic or, for want of a better word, loud.
She has the quiet, almost unnoticed, Courage that lets a mother protect and preserve her family in the middle of a war zone ... or makes a Saint Joan.
Here's a good list of the seven heavenly virtues [https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_virtues "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_virtues")
I'd play it as:
Izzy: Chastity. Particularly due to her dedication of self-improvement through education.
Nora: Temperance. Self-denial, delayed gratification. (Not to mention able to defeat Gluttony, the corresponding deadly sin.)
Florrie: Charity.
Nicola: Diligence
Patience: Cassie
Kindness: Cat
Humility: Harry.
I'm guessing at Cassie, but I'd be quite happy with the rest, particularly Harry. She sticks to her work without wanting glory, she tries to give credit where credit is due (think of the end of Vanishing Act, where she really tries to get credit shared instead of taking it herself), she keeps her promises, etc.
Also
Izzy, chastity, competes with lust (Find the Lady)
Nora, temperance, competes with gluttony (Piece of Cake)
Florrie, charity, competes with greed (Sleight of Hand)
Nicola, diligence, competes with sloth (No Rest for the Wicked)
Cassie, patience, would compete with wrath (but Wolfe plus Ben plus Jack took care of it instead)
Cat would contend with envy (Who knows?)
Harry would compete with pride (Vanishing Act)
Now, I'm probably just making this up, but it's a fun intellectual exercise.
Um, I don't think Catherine Moore Barber would count since she is not one of Izzy's blood descendants.
Now I'm trying to remember the virtues.....Kindness, Chasity, Diligence, Humility, Temperance Patience and Charity (had to look up the last three). I'd peg Florrie as Kindness. Harry as Patience may be?