January 13th, 2015
14 Jan 2015 · page 454 of 1306
no gurlz aloud
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Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Florence De Montfort, Heinrich Wolfe, Jack O'Malley
Comments (45)
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I sense a meeting of the main protagonists!
That's the best possible point he could have made. XD "We'll all die, and that'll sure make you feel DUMB, won't it!" Also Mal's excuse for getting FLorrie to leave it brilliant, because even she won't argue with her sister on something like that!
So basically this is a great page of everyone making really smart arguments! Yaaaay! But let's not celebrate now because Wrath has been taking a surprisingly long time to malform already and I doubt he'll wait that much longer.
Getting Florrie to leave because she's a Barber would also be valid, but might have led to time-consuming speculation on why Barbers are so important to the Deadlies. Best to leave that to us, who clearly have nothing but time.
Something tells me we're going to get some exposition in the future on what's the deal with the Deadlies and the Barbers... Invidia's remarks like he fully knew their Grandparents is...intriguing and disconcerting at the same time.
"I like my kneecaps" is a pretty valid reason.
Very very smart man. Well acquainted with Captain Barber.
He likes his kneecaps, yes. What about his femurs?
I don't think Mal has to worry about Nicola actually killing him; the Bible was kind of a big deal back then, and I'm sure Captain Barber respects the fact that it has some pretty specific things to say about killing. It is, however, a mite fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.
Oh. Is Ben going to summon something using Wolfe? That should be interesting
Oooh... kindness ?
I say, make the Hippo of Happiness huge, so they have a Huge Hippo of Happiness, and you just can't stay angry at that, so Wrath gets banished again. It'll be all, "TIME FOR HUGS! YAAAAY!" "AARGH I AM WRATH INCARNATE YOU PUNY awwwww, you're too cute, I just can't be mad at you." poof
Hahaha, make it so, make it so XD
There are seven Deadlies, but fewer Cardinal Virtues - four, i think.
Quick trip to Wikipedia
Right:
Prudence, Courage, Temperance and Justice.
Justice or Courage might fit Wolfe ... didn't the maid, the ur-Barber in the hotel storyline represent Courage?
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I hate auto-correct. It turned "Deadlies" into "Deadlines".
I'm going to forego a long theological and philosophical discussion and say this: Since the Cardinal Virtues and the Deadly Sins have vastly different roots (Plato and Solomon, if you're curious) I'm okay with Ms. Ashwin using whatever kind of mythological schema to contrast her Deadlies.
Utter agreement with your last sentence. I was just talking about the conventional view; an author is free to do whatever she wants in her own worlds.
I do get cranky when an author does something that violates their own setup - which this comic is completely innocent of.
If we're talking about conventions, the most common group of virtues I hear about is "Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control." That's nine, and now I'm distracted imagining the uses of a spirit of Self-control...
That would be Temperance
Ah. I suppose.
Hope, Faith and Charity.
Those are the Theological Virtues.
And? The Cardinals and Theologicals have been joined together for ages. :) Just look at the Mantegna tarrochi some time (more a teaching tool the various tarots probably borrowed inspiration from rather than the other way around -- see also marches and triumphs in the post-Roman world). <shrugs> And, that's just one of the common areas you'll find them lumped together. Heck, the tarot decks and many a church decoration has them together in some form, too.
I don't see the point of not doing the bundle deal when it's been a common theme... certainly from the C12th onwards. :)
Edit: slaps head How did I forget psalmsters and day-books?
I'm sure he's going to summon a Virtue through him. Wolfe's the epitome of MOST of them out of box.
Oh, which one? Is Charity one? Wolfe's got that in spades.
Charity is one, but if you go by opposing forces, Charity is meant to oppose Avaritia. OTOH, Kindness is Invidia's bane, and Wolfe's also got that in plenty. Patience, too, which is Ira's opposite number.
I love the haunted look on Mal's face in panel three.
Wolfe's emotion aura took the form of a wolf with big puppy dog eyes because he was pleading with Mal, and Mal knew that if he looked directly he couldn't resist helping.
And now it's going to turn out that Wolfe is actually the spirit of calmness and of keeping your cool in disguise, and is therefore the only one who can defeat Rage. His true form resembles a pill.
Mrs de Montfort looks really cute when she is angry, but I'm not going to say that in her earshot as I too am very attached to my kneecaps.
Sending her away also removes a major source of anger. But I'm seeing something else in the drawings. I'm just not sure whether it's bad to guess what might be considered a spoiler.
TELL US. DEAR GOD TELL US!
I don't know what you're seeing. But in panel three, snarling Wrath is struggling to get free. Its chains are breaking and falling away. In panel six, it is quieter. The three remaining chain loops don't seem to be so strained that they're about to pop.
"I can't help anyone!" Suuuure, O'Malley, sure, not like you've helped with catching Malforms or fighting another deadly (Sloth) when- or whatsoever. And really, what did you think the alternative was to helping Ben? Hide under a rock?
But you know, the way Mal looks away from Wolfe in panel 3 makes me suspect that he saw something in Wolfe's spirit that made him really uncomfortable. And Wolfe always manages to bring out the best in Mal.
Of course you can help Mr O'Malley. You can be the ablative point man.
"I'll do it because I want to, but not because you told me to": sounds like someone needs to visit Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!
Oh we might see some major magic (mess up?) made by O'Malley, or them all being somehow sucked in the the spirit world, or both? Just hoping/guessing/enabling thinkers.
Fun Fact: Wolfe makes his charisma checks with loaded dice
Frankly, I'm surprised he even bothers with dice... ;P
Ah this is great! Their expressions and body language! They're particularly good at showing Mal's awkward struggles with his conscience and his lack of confidence in his ability to help! And that panel of Wolfe looking at Mal and doing his job as Mal's large German conscience- perfect expressions! I look forward to their teamwork against the wrath Malform, especially if it's going to involve summoning Wolfe's virtues! On a more trivial note, I like Ben's waistcoat.
Thanks! And yeah, I like the waistcoat too, I'm kicking myself for not coming up with a reason for him to take off his jacket sooner.
Noooooo!!!! I've caught up to the comic!! I have to wait for new pages now!!! The horror, the TRAGEDY!!! sobs
Also, awesome comic.
I feel your pain, we need to summon some Patience.
Everything's copacetic with Wolfe, so spirit of Kindness to counter Wrath? But he's also foil to Dominik's spirit, an angry, unloved, attention-seeking mangy (okay that's mean) dog, so spirit of Gren? Me love more Gren.
Anyway, I read through the entire thing on my bed and now must attend to my bed sores and the hole in my stomach. Can't wait for the next page!!!
I'm noticing something: In all the panels, including those clearly from Mal's PoV, there is color. It would seem that Mal now has the best of both worlds, his spirit vision and loss of his color-blindness. Or I could be wrong about whose PoV is being represented.
Other than that I agree with all the other commenters that this has been a marvelous development.
I love Wolfe's expression in the 4th panel sooo much! :-)
The ultimate line of Ben bada@@ery. "Look, I'm going to try, whether you do or not! So . . . that's that. And if we all get killed, you'll - well, you'll feel rather stupid, won't you?!"