GASP!!
this chapter is the silly chapter, in case you hadn't realised yet
BTW- my taxes are kicking my ass this month- if you fancy dropping the comic a tip via Paypal, I'd really appreciate it! The comic also has a Patreon too, with a bunch of extra sketches available for your monthly support!
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Eliza Swift, Gren, Pemberton Pryce
Comments (106)
ThoughtBubble
14 Nov 2026 – 15 Nov 2026
Harrogate Convention Centre
Manchester Megacon
31 Jul 2027 – 1 Aug 2027
Manchester Central
Oh no
Oh, someone called it before!
Love Gren sniffing meat in the panel 3.
At least Gren has her priorities right.
"I thought you were taller", is that an "Escape from Los Angeles" ref ? :D
[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki...](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExpectingSomeoneTaller "https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExpectingSomeoneTaller")
[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki...](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OlderThanTheyThink "https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OlderThanTheyThink")
You've gone too far this time, Ashwin! They're too evil!
What a warm greeting for such a cold reception ^^
Hmm, let me guess: Pryce has an import-ant job he needs the export-ise of a hunter for, and is willing to trade some of their help with it for a nice service fee- Wait, why do I have a feeling this is going to involve Sidney somehow? ^^;;
First we had a thief lord, then a magic hater, then an even bigger magic hater, then a monster hotel, then a jealous, manipulating jerk (& Envy), then one Sin looking to rule the world, then seven Sins looking to rule the world, then a brainwasher. Now Americans.
The Villains just keep getting worse!
Americans...I'll have you know that I resemble that remark....though I honestly can't say your wrong.
In my defense, you do a lot of weird stuff over there.
Tis' true...and this being an election year it will get incredibly weird.
Oh yes... but things here in Germany aren't exactly going well either right now. Good luck with that election.
Just read this comment here in the future. Wanted to just, reflect on this. Incredibly weird indeed.
Hey now, we're talking about nineteenth century Americans! Things were much more reasonable back then! Why, we only had... armed slave revolts and... people beating other people on the floor of the Senate....
OK, point taken. Americans are nuts.
I expect a new wave of physical violence in Congress any day now, tbh. :-/
See also: the music video for DJ Shadow's Nobody Speak. Which I won't link here, because it's full of profanity and violence. Also, though it's redundant, politics.
As an american, I resemble this remark.
...Now I'm wondering if Hamilton was a wizard in the Widdershins verse.
I can accept wizards, and spirits, and witches. But Americans? That is just way too silly and unrealistic for a serious dramatic comic like this one.
(Yes this post is sarcastic).
America isn't that unrealistic. I'm, like... at least 75% sure that America exists.
I'm 76% sure and I live here.
You might be hallucinating yourself.
I hate when that happens.
Ever heard of the Truman-Show? Just a bit bigger...
Just wait until the Australians turn up, then you'll see some trouble!
Watch what you're saying, mate!
In this time period we were still sending prisoners over there, I'm not sure many were coming back yet!
By the 1830's the second generation of Australian born descendents would have been coming of age, exploration and settlement of the continent was well underway, and there was more voluntary than forced migration due to high unemployment in the UK, so quite plausible that the children and grandchildren of the highly successful original convicts would have headed back 'Home'.
Sorry for the history rant.
Ha. The lack of tallness is about the only thing this impersonator has right!
Given the string tie, I'm gonna guess Texan. Maybe Southern, but probably Texan.
Who has an import/export business.
:starts looking for the hidden room filled with early steampunk spy gear. And the prototype steam autokiniton:
Ok, not getting the reference. :-(
"My name is Barber. HARRY Barber."
Bond's cover was that he worked for Universal Exports, an import/export company. That's often referenced or lampooned in other spy fiction stories.
That's not a Texan bolo tie, though. This one was fairly common for the 1830s. [https://ellie-valsin.tumblr...](https://ellie-valsin.tumblr.com/post/116056207781/mens-fashion-ca-1830-cravats "https://ellie-valsin.tumblr.com/post/116056207781/mens-fashion-ca-1830-cravats")
I guess I (probably incorrectly) associate nineteenth century Northerners with the bulkier bow ties, cravats, and ascots. At least, when they don't eschew such things altogether in favor of stocks. So the string/narrow ribbon ones tend to read (to me) as a Southern (eg Georgia, the Carolinas) and/or Southwestern* thing (eg what would become Texas, Oklahoma, etc.)
I also, for what little it's worth, think of the bolo tie as sort of the twentieth century descendant of the kind of thing I'm thinking of, if that makes any sense. Though, again, I could be wrong and it's older than I think.
*(At least among the anglophones in the area.)
i used a tie that'd specifically evoke the bolo, if that helps!
Texas was not part of the United States in the 1830s.
True enough! I'm forgetting my history, apparently.
OTOH, we haven't really seen WHAT'S going on in the Widdershins USA. For all we know, Tecumseh is the US Senator for North Shawnee* and Texas has been American since the Spanish-American War of 1828. Or maybe George III made a deal with the Colonies and that guy's from the Dominion of Columbia. Fun, isn't it? :)
I still don't know how powerful magic is outside of the Anchors, but it works at least a *little. That could conceivably shift American history quite a bit. I mean, not too much because the 20th Century Midwest was producing recognizable Midwestern types, but still.
Remember that this ain't history, though.
It's historical fiction, with events, politics, and culture affected b the presence of magic.
I wonder what kind of spirit keeps ice from melting? :tries not to think too hard about the physics of an explicitly magical thing:
I thought up once an artefact of Indifference, Frozen Heart, that was able to put out magic fire.
Dun - Dun -DUUUUN!
Between this and Doctor Who's idea of Americans, I laughed so hard, but you're not wrong. XD
It's always interesting to see yourself through other people's eyes, isn't it?
Like reverse culture shock: interesting and probably healthy. :-)
Then there was an episode of Preacher, where they were in Australia...they put on suits and sunglasses and packed guns at their hips, walked into a police station and said, "We're the Americans! Who's in charge here?" So even we make fun of us.
We are pretty low hanging fruit sometimes. :-D
Says the apple.
Actually, Mr. Pryce, if this was the real Harry Barber she'd be even shorter!
And much more intimidating.
Looks like the Pork Futures warehouse in Ankh-Morpork.
I was... thinking the same.
Yeah, you're screwed, Ben. Every time Brits go up against Americans, we win. <3
(I kid, I kid. Not every time.)
I can't hear your accent so "we" was momentarily ambiguous...
No no, it's perfect this way. Every time Brits go up against Americans, "we" win!
Just associate yourself with the winners.
this may be my favourite page in the entire comic
Not just Americans, 19th century Americans. So he'll be polite to get you off guard then wrestle a pig, shoot a neighbor he's having a feud with, go listen to some fire and brimstone spouting minister and being sternly prudish about anything and everything, and then disparage the tea and drink garbage coffee.
Oh and not drink. Or claim he doesn't drink but does so in secret.
I know you said "19th century" but I don't see the difference. I mean I guess there's also the determination to shackle ourselves to corporate power in a Gilded Age, and... no, wait, still not seeing a difference.
Less access to literal pigs for wrestling nowadays?
Ah, but there are figurative pigs aplenty
The pigs upgraded to feral hogs, so we had to switch to just shooting them dead.
Which turns out is a more American activity than wrestling, so it works.
There are quite a few differences:
The coffee is better.
Tea is mainstream here.
The drinking nonsense has heavily gone away.
Pig wrestling has declined due to media.
Blood feuds are almost nonexistent in this country.
The rest...not so much.
Could be worse. Could be French.
Don't even joke about that.
on the other hand, Russians wouldn't be too bad (given that this doesn't take place during the 1960s)
Quiz time! Close your penny dreadfuls....
gasps in American
"And we were like, 'we know but HEY.'"
gasps in American
It just doesn't have the same effect, British gasps are much more refined.
More of a gawsp!
(I read it in a Richie Rich comic, so you know it's legit.)
I was wondering how you'd topple the supernatural evil of the last arc's villains.
Americans, should've known.
Pemberton, eh? Anything to do with a certain adventure path I recall you're playing through? ;-)
mmmmaybe :3 we're halfway through act 2, no spoilers!
Oh, I know better than to steal a DM's thunder.
LOL!
I got so distracted trying to think of what spirits could be used to keep ice from melting quickly (resilience maybe?) and then that punchline just came out of left field and got me right in the gut. I love it.
They had ice warehouses back in the 19th century in our world, no spirits needed. Just a lot of insulation!
But that ice has magic circles around it, so it has something being done to it.
some form of heat transmission magic perhaps? keeping the ice stable by taking the heat and venting it somewhere else? like a sauna or smoke house?
Eliza: le gasp!
GASP
Of course, Americans! They weren't threatening Ben with a gun, they were performing the traditional American greeting of the armed handshake. They were very offended when "Mr Barber" didn't respond in kind.
Funny! In my head, all of these characters (except Wolfe) have American accents.
Especially Rosy -- She's from Wisconsin, just like me!
New Zealand: Oh, the English.
England: Oh, the Americans!
Americans:
Furriners
Americans: Oh, the Canadians!
oh god its americans. everyone take cover there will be a shootout!
I started reading Pryce's lines in an American accent immediately and didn't know why until I got to the end of the page. I'm just gonna assume you did that on purpose.
If he was expecting someone taller... he was still going to be disappointed with the real thing (the right amount of compact)
“Yessiree, I am a bonafide American. To you, we’re entrepreneurial brigands who’d sell our mothers for profit. To us, you are nambypamby tea-sippin’ assholes too aloof to adopt democracy. Glad we had this talk. Now onto business...”
This was a missed opportunity to have her say 'LE GASP!' out loud
I'm just going to leave this here as the natural and inevitable accompaniment to Ben's exclamation: [https://www.youtube.com/wat...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cphNpqKpKc4 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cphNpqKpKc4")
Honestly, fair.
as a naturally born American, I take offence to this
As a Naturalized Australian, I applaud this.
I'm conflicted
Americans of the nineteenth century, seen with European eyes, were regarded quite weird and entertaining, but somewhat absurd. See Charles Dickens' "American Notes", and the chapters concerning America in Jules Verne's "Around the world in eighty days". Mind you, the book, not the films!
Americans?
Mr Pryce knows Ms Barber is a lady so will he assume Ms Swift is her? Or will Mr Thackerey claim to be trans? And will Ms Swift remember she's supposed to be French?
well the good news is we've exponentially increased our chances of seeing a cowboy. the bad news is that the cowboy might be terrible
it is important at all times to conduct yourself in a manner that increases your chances of seeing a cowboy
This is such a dead-on impression of the way American characters are portrayed in Victorian literature basically always (cf. any Sherlock Holmes story with an American character), and already I love it
So Pryce may be a distant cousin of Neil Gibson, the "once Senator of some Western state"?
Those pesky 19th century Americans, always looking for a quick buck or some kind of hootin tootin good reputation.
First off, Eliza ought to get on well with these guys since she's already demonstrated a very American approach to problem solving. Need a hole through a globe? shoot it with a handgun. A Colt revolver no less.
Second off, properly stereotypical wacky 19th Century American names all come with a middle initial, preferably "Q".
I’m afraid of Americans
I’m afraid of the world
I’m afraid of Americans
I’m afraid I can’t help it...