January 19th, 2017
19 Jan 2018 · page 765 of 1306
Got a kickstarter running til the end of January for some neat little enamel pins, please come and check it out!
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Heinrich Wolfe, Lei Feng, Sidney Malik, Thomas Macavity, Verity Cunningham
Comments (121)
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Lancelot?!
[His parents wanted a really English name.](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/november-16th-2011/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/november-16th-2011/")
But both names..? No wonder the inner turmoil and magical mischief that plagues him!
They tried too hard. It's like making a villain and calling them something like Torturelover von Murderstein, or Darkdeath Evilman.
I prefer "Stormageddon the Dark Lord of All"...
Imagine how weird it would sound when an upset parent is trying to send that kid to their room...
"Alfie Owens, go to your room this instant"?
Of course that is what it would sound like. Although that probably sounds like an odd non sequitur to anyone who has not seen the particular episode of Dr. Who being referenced.
And Arthur.
And Oliver was also an English hero. Not sure why they chose Sidney though. Perhaps a hero who only existed in this alternative timeline?
Actually Oliver is from the Matter of France (i.e. Charlemagne) not the Matter of Britain (i.e. Arthur) . They were (at least according to some versions) contemporary, so why not invoke both?
I was thinking that Mr Malik was named after Oliver Cromwell. OK, so I know there are people out there who think he was a villain, but perhaps in this almost-Utopian AU he didn't do the bad things he did in our history.
Doubt it. Naming a kid for Cromwell would only really happen in Orange circles. And Sid isn't Irish.
Oliver Cromwell has been... divisive... for rather a long time. <_<
That's a nice way to put it.
@euodiachlorisxurina:disqus
Orange --> Irish (like Republic of Ireland)?
I'm just a clueless Yank but my impression was Irish (or at least Irish Americans) hate Cromwell. (This impression comes mostly from the 1632 book series.)
From wikipedia on Cromwell: "However, his measures against Catholics in Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal,[8] and in Ireland his record is harshly criticised.[9]"
Not trying to stir the pot on British history, just curious what you meant about Orange circles.
Loyalist = Orange (Northern Ireland, mainly Ulster... it's complicated). Technically, anybody highly jingoistic and imperialistic could be considered pro-Cromwell in the C19th, for all he technically was a republican-turned-dictator.
It's complicated. -_-
The Song of Roland was a blockbuster in England, too. Not so much in Scotland. Kind of for Wales. shrugs
Just as Hector was seen as a hero over Achilles in England from the Early Middle Ages. "English" and "hero" doesn't necessarily mean an Englishman or woman who is heroic, but a hero popular in England.
What about Oliver Cromwell?
I assumed that it was after Sir Philip Sidney, who was a rather iconic Elizabethan poet and courtier. Clearly Sid's parents are Romantics.
:pause:
Oh, dear. Sid's family is probably loaded. Possibly approaching landed gentry levels, although it almost certainly was all gained via trade.
Given my abject failure to identify the correct Francis in 'Find the Lady', I'm not the person to ask about Olivers and Sidneys.
Nabobs, and their darling only child runs around with street kids?
I do wonder how the British Empire's getting along, in this timeline.
Isn't Sid effectively disowned?
Not yet. His parents still think he is at University.
Right.
I thought he was effectively in limbo, disowned upon the discovery that he has failed? Schrodinger's Outcast Son.
Hello Fairportfan Comfy Couch is down. Sorry, but this is only way I know to contact anyone from Couch
I sent Jim a PM at the Wapsi Square forum earlier - much earlier - today.
Apparently there's some sort of malware attack.
Thank you. I will await results.
Oh definitely. I'm pretty sure it's been mentioned somewhere that his folks are really wealthy.
In one of the character Q&As Sidney said his dad emigrated from India and was a sailor before he met Sidney's mom and settle in England. So my interpretation is that Sidney's dad is just really into the culture of his adopted country.
Like, imagine how Sidney would name his kid if he wanted to show appreciation for British culture... it really fits!
EDIT: Found the Q&A [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-questions-1/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-questions-1/")
Or maybe they just liked the name?
(Okay, where's the fun in that.)
This is not going to turn out the way you think.
Between Sid and his thieving magpie, it seems very likely that you are correct.
This may not turn out the way any of the characters think, for those who even think they know what is going on.
Yes. Just Yes.
He is still calling Lei girlie.
Indeed. Despite hearing her name used a few seconds previously.
That's not going to hurt the chances of her deciding to change sides.
Yep, treating a woman with less respect than the man who literally put her in jail is a sure way to lose points.
I am not convinced that Lei will change sides since both Voss and the Butler did, but I agree that it is more likely now than it was last comic. Ad there is at least a chance that she will consider it while Macavity definitely will not.
I seriously doubt that McCavity being a jerk is going to have much effect on Lei, who doesn't really care about McCavity (outside of being irritated by his motormouth to the point she finally put him down to shut him up); to her, he's a non-entity who has his uses. Lei is a character with goals, and she uses people to obtain those goals.
Except Sid. Sid she always liked, and this puts her in an uncomfortable place. That's a similar dilemma that Voss faced, in which his budding friendship with Wolfe--after years of envy--finally butted against his own fear and self-absorption.
In Voss' case, there were shreds of morals remained in him, even in ch 5 they made him feel uneasy about a mass murder of strangers. So Wolfe's good influence outside "cooperated" with something inside Voss.
Whether Lei kept enough of her good side, there is the question.
Eh, she did try to kill him the last time she saw him. Whatever conscience she has, it's always been effortlessly crushed under the tank treads of her ambition.
[https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/april-17th-2013/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/april-17th-2013/")
Yeah, but that was her snap decision after this: [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/april-15th-2013/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/april-15th-2013/")
Like there, her emotions about Sid put her in an uncomfortable place. It just was a different place.
The uncomfortable place was "I have fond memories of you, so maybe I won't kill you, but I'll still kill your friends", though. A snap decision to kill her friend because he's interfering with her selfish terrorism attempt makes her worse in my estimation, not more understandable.
She could maybe come back from it, but unlike Voss, she hasn't shown any real remorse or reckoning with what she did thus far.
Well, she did say in the jail, "I know I did some things I perhaps shouldn't have" ( [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-28th-2016/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-28th-2016/") ), but that was... not entirely convincing.
Lol yeah. Some part of that might have been genuine! But she was also using it to get something she wanted, and finding a very roundabout way of saying "perhaps I shouldn't have tried to murder you and your friends".
>>>>"A snap decision to kill her friend because he's interfering with her
selfish terrorism attempt makes her worse in my estimation, not more
understandable.:
Actually, I read it as Sid rejecting her. Not because he's interfering. See Panel 4 and 5.
Lei, like Voss, is self-centered. Everything revolves around her. She values Sid, and lets down her guard (even taking off her control for the clockwork men) to ask him if he could come with her. Sid says no. Lei doesn't take it well, especially when Sid says no by, from her point of view, essentially blaming her: "...You shot Harry, Lei."
For someone like Lei, that's a big blow. And to be blunt, that's a pretty passive way of trying to kill someone. She could have easily had the clockwork men break their necks with a simple command if she honestly wanted to kill them. Shooting Harry wasn't emotional; she viewed it as necessary, while still leaving Verity and Sid alive held by the clockwork men. Yet, when she's truly angry, she...simply shuts Sid up and shuts down. Then Harry shows back up.
I'm with you. Especially considering the way she's looking at him. She was willing to hurt him for her pride, for the integrity of her worth and work. But I don't think she has her pride invested as deeply in this venture.
I think she could be swayed.
She doesn't need to change sides - she could just turn against MaCavity.
Could be she's always been planning to keep the loot for herself, since
Greed would be encouraging that, and his behaviour is doing nothing to change her mind...
But from the direction of Sid's worried eyes, I think something completely different might be about to happen.
And you're surprised? It's reflexive for McCavity, who isn't exactly the most aware villain in the rogue's gallery.
And, with that, her name is so short in comparison with the full name of Sid :D So thoughtlessly of Macky, oi.
Poor Verity...she's trying so hard not to break into hysterical laughter, if it weren't for Victorian principles she'd probably pee herself.
Nah, that comes later. We're still closer to the end of the Regency era than the High Victorian, and I have it on excellent authority (Harry Flashman) that this time period was still a bit earthy. :)
And...on another random thought...I wonder how effective the revolver is once he finds out the bullets are missing...
Not bad. Considering the reliability of firearms at the time, they were probably more effective when used as blunt instruments anyway. Also I'm not sure if bullets have been invented yet (I know, AU and all that).
Hmmm...point...then magpie would just steal his balls...or ummm slugs.
And just like that, my 12 year old self came to the forefront, giggling like an idiot.
There definitely was a bullet in that "gun trick" in ch 3.
Good point. I think I'm confusing 'bullets' and 'rounds'. Of course Mr Malik can steal the lump of lead rammed down the barrel, even if there aren't the brass rounds that you'd get in a modern revolver.
Sidney is so adorable!
There are so many ways this could go. They don't know Ben is also a wizard. The Magpie can still play an important factor. Lei's fondness for Sidney might cause her to turn against Macavity. Vee could shoot Macavity with a dart (personally, I like that possibility, but goon-man probably wouldn't let it happen).
Oh, this look Ben gives to the guy who grabs his shoulder! Though Wolfe and Verity aren't touched. Maybe, because they did put your hands in the air in the first panel and Ben didn't.
I am way too amused by the idea of anyone looking at this group and deciding that Ben is the most dangerous.
Naw, they looked at Ben and decided he'd be the easiest to take out. Macavity's henchmen aren't very good, remember?
Macavity: You needed a wizard, girlie? Here he is!
Lei: No he isn't.
Macavity: Yes he is!
Lei: Trust me on this - no he isn't.
Macavity: You can't afford to be picky, girlie! Yes he is!
Lei: I can - I've been around him before, Macavity. And that was without Avaritia being in the same building. So, no he isn't! In fact, I think we need to get rid of him.
Macavity: ...Whatever you say. squeezes trigger
Staircase: vanishes, reappearing immediately with one corner in Sid's trouser pocket
Sid & Macavity & Lei: !
[...]
Sid: Well, I have to say, we're all lucky to have come out of that alive and uninjured.
Lei: More than lucky... the way we all paused in the air like that before falling... it was like a different law of physics was applying for a moment.
Vee: Especially the way that Macavity ended up in that recess in the floor shaped like himself. He should have just been crushed.
Macavity: Oh yes, I'm so very grateful... struggles against bonds
Small, long-legged, blue avian malform: inspects Macavity with amused expression Meep meep! exits with great rapidity, percussive sound effect and small cloud of dust
>:=)>
Do the nogoodniks even know the Seven Deadlies were in play?
Well, Lei might suspect Pride to be around. But the others?
Nogoodnik - is it a real English neologism or a calque from Russian "негодник" ("bad boy") you've invented just now?!
I like this word! :)
I'd like to point out wasn't invented just now. Though not too common it's been in use in English for quite a while.
[https://en.wiktionary.org/w...](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nogoodnik "https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nogoodnik")
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-nik "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-nik")
I can't remember if I've heard that specific term before, but "beatnik" and "peacenik" are also well-established English slang terms.
"Beatnik" came "back" to Russia in sixties, I knew this word from my childhood :)
But nogoodnik and peacenik - it's great :)
Best part of the page? Verity hearing Sidney's actual first name.
Particularly given Sid's reaction to her pet name for Benji...I mean, Ben
I don't remember Sid reacting particularly to Ben's pet name. Mal and Wolfe, on the other hand... [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/august-19th-2016/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/august-19th-2016/")
And part of their reaction was that while saying said nickname she picked him off the ground in a hug and ruffled his hair like he was a little kid.
Her expression is so glorious.
No wonder Macavity was demanding introductions on the last page - he hadn't recognized Sid yet. And panels 3-4 ("You?!"..."What?!") make me wonder if Lei and Macavity actually hadn't realized till now that they both know Sid, in which case Macavity really wasn't paying attention back in the prison.
Vee's reaction to hearing Sid's full name makes me think of Mal hearing "Benji" for the first time. She's going to start calling him Lancelot now, just you wait...
Although at least if Vee tries to blackmail him by threating to tell Harry his name he can ignore that since Harry's already heard it in the first chapter.
Yeah, I think that answers that question. I think Macavity really isn't very good at paying attention to things...
How do you get to be the king of thieves without paying attention to things??
Don't tell me his rich thief parents bought him the title or something. :P
He has very selective attention XD
Well, to be fair, before Sid showed up and made everything chaos one got to be the king of thieves by murdering the previous one and stealing their jewelry. So Macavity needed more bloodlust and less perception to get that title than one might have expected....
As seen here: [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-13th-2012/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-13th-2012/")
You steal it, of course.
King of Thieves - PAY?
"Mccavity really wasn't paying attention"...pretty much par for the course for him, innit?
Hey, "Lance."
vees face though
Yup. Quite the serendipitous gathering, this.
And yay, the Magpie gets to try its beak at a VAULT. @_@
It's going to have conniptions with joy...
"You're meant to be in prison," is a terrible way to make friends and influence people, Sid.
What do you think that the safe is imbued with Greed?
I'm remembering that Sidney has a somewhat... idiosyncratic reaction to being at gunpoint. (It tends to make him talk a lot, very fast! very cheerfully! but with very little tact.)
Well in the case of Harry it worked out in his favor.
Random thoughts:
What is Sidney looking at in the last panel?
Macavity, you may be the king of thieves, but your grammar needs work.
I think he's just rolling his eyes at being called a wizard rather than looking at anything
Good catch, I think he is looking at something.
Whoops guess I should head this one off- He's only looking at Lei, eyelines on stairs are tricky, sorry!
Oh, okay, good to know! Yeah I guess it's a tricky angle
Meanwhile Sid’s jacket is just slowly filling with money.
Suddenly Sid collapses from the weight.
With his luck, right in time to be out of the way of something flying at him.
You remembered his whole name, Macavity? Dang, that must be some heck of a crush you've got there. :P
"Nemesis Mine!" (Kate Beaton)
speaking of crush, her reaction to Sid is kinda ..hmm. There's still something.
Lemme see; That should be Mavaity -EX- King of Thieves, And Sid, either the true King of Thieves or (if possession of the mark matters) last King of Thieves - as aknowledged by Greed. Now who here, apart from the two large henchmen who don't seem to take much on board, knows this? Greed; presumably in the vault, certainly does...
Kate has made plenty of room for a bit of pantomime here.
Vee's personality shine so well in the second to last panel. They're all in danger with no clear way out of it, surrounded by thugs and goons, and yet in all this, the thing that catches her attention the most is how ridiculous her new friends name really is. I'l be honest, I never thought I'd learn to like her this much when we first met her.
I didn't like Verity much either until this chapter, but she's really grown on me. Her obvious affection for Ben and her fierce protectiveness towards him were what initially raised my opinion of her; since then I've come to appreciate her no-nonsense manner and impressive gadgetry/butt-kicking skills as well. She's pretty awesome.
I like how Macavity considers Sid his nemesis from the whole King of Thieves thing. He's such a sexist he can't even give Harry credit for beating him.
I mean, on the page where they escape him the first time, he literally sees her throwing the smoke bomb that let them escape, yet still blames Sid and Harry's escape solely on Sid's wizarding ways.... sigh
Good point. I think Sid is probably more competent at this adventuring stuff now than he was when Macavity met him, but I still would not send him out alone. While Harry has been successfully adventuring on her own for years. Anyone paying any attention would see that Harry is the more competent one, but it is pretty clear that Macavity never pays attention, particularly to women. Which makes me want to see Vee take him out.
At least Lei will not underestimate Harry because she is a woman, although she may have been distracted enough by her prior relationship with Sid to not have realized how much more Harry contributed to her defeat than he did.
Ben's expression in the 6th panel cracks me up. He's so DONE with this crap.
Gee Sidney, how come your mom lets you have FIVE names?
3rd/4th panel set is awesome <3
I mean.
Lei's right behind the... er... "gentleman." It would just take a little kick to send him tumbling, and the staircase seems wide enough that he won't hit Sid if she does it right. :P
Has there been anyone falling down stairs before in Widdershins? I can't remember that there has. That's something that would be a nice addition somewhere in there, for sure.
~snrk!
Pistols, Lei Feng. Sidney.
Are we going to see a malform-assisted version of Master Soo's ancient technique? (https://www.widdershinscomi... "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/november-26th-3-days-left-on-kickstarter/)")
Would Kate actually set up a plot point six years before she used it?
Yes. Yes she would.
Vee's day is officially made no matter how the rest of the adventure goes
Also I have to imagine that his remembering Sydney's name while forgetting hers was VERY deliberate.
chances of sid's magpie stealing the bullet from this guy's gun is basically 100%
Macavity just made Vee's day.
Hell, her YEAR.
I just noticed, Sid is looking up. Something is about to fall down ?
Sid's thoughts: play dumb!
Sid: What's a wizard?
Sid's thoughts: not that dumb!