July 11th, 2014
12 Jul 2014 · page 388 of 1306
Efficient, if creepy.
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Dominik Voss, Jack O'Malley
Comments (33)
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Awww.
Poor li'l feller.
A moment of respectful silence for the beloved little malform.
I hope he gets his own character page and back story soon.
Well the rug is a time saver.
Next thing you know, they'll be putting tiny summoning circles on their gloves or something.
Damn these newfangled technowizards!
Oh, you mean like this:
So...the men in cloaks are malforms themselves?
I guess not, Mal doesn't see any emotions around them. They are utterly blank. I guess they could be improved versions of the clockwork men.
Now, there's a thought. Only panels 4 and 6 are in Mal-vision*, but that spooky aura-less silhouette is pretty damning.
*the one non-spirit-ey thing that appears in colour from Mal's point of view is Mal himself, which is why Panel 4 works. I'm probably over-thinking this stuff.
The little guy is also visible in Panel Five.
I believe that is due to the powder. But yes, very interesting that they don't have an aura... Summons of Envy?
No, panel five is from the mook's point of view. And to the mook, possibly because of Powder Three but maybe not, "civilian" Mal looks just like a malform. Which makes me wonder about Mal's name.
I'm not sure panel 6 is in Mal-vision. Could just be that the mook is colored dark to separate him visually from Mal, or because of the powder? I guess?
Oooooh, that sneaky jerk, I see what he's up to! Starting a 'business' that will put Wolfe out of his. Yes, it makes perfect sense. Also NOOOOOO DON'T TAKE THE ADORABLE PANIC GUY AWAY WE LIKE HIM WHYYYYY
Also also, whatever spirit delegation voted who gets to pass the message along to The One Who Sees really should have rethought their options - namely if there were ANY candidates eligible who could actually articulate the problem without having a complete spaz attack. But it's okay, colorful malform buddy, we still love you.
Yes, the Panic Lizard could have become the company mascot!
I'd love to see the lizard come back to be a sidekick :P
No one expects the 19th century Ghostbusters!
Voss, or somebody, put a lot of thought into this plan. Not just buying the brewery and starting a malform-busting business, but the prepared spell rug, the powder gun and whatever other tricks they have up their sleeve. For example, I'm assuming there are at least two other kinds of powder. They make Ben and crew look like the Keystone-Ghostbusters. I hope Ben or Heinrich are taking notes.
Also, look at the rug mook's backpack. There are at least three other, presumably different rugs in there.
And what of mook number three, the broad-shouldered one carrying neither a sprayer nor rugs? What's in his bag?
Clever. Okay, Voss actually put some good thought into this plan. Of course, it looks like Mal saw something in panel one, so he's not completely out of the woods. Still good plan on Voss's part, I didn't even think he'd try something like this.
I have to give points to Voss. This gives him revenge points against two people he hates and to clears up the whole other spirits see envy and try to warn someone part. Just because most spirits are a little wacky it doesn't mean there is a smart one or a "good" version of the envy spirit that may try to stop them or warn someone. Money really is an effective superpower as his henchmen(or women) will follow him for more cash!
Maybe Mal noticed Voss doesn't have an aura at all since the green fox is hiding. Maybe making a pact with any spirit you summon from your own emotions cause your aura to become unlinked from you. I would say Mal remembers Voss and his spirit form changed, but I doubt Mal has that kind of memory... or rather care.
Steampunk Nazi ghostbusters... yes, I know the Nazis won't be a thing historically for quite some time at this point in the setting, but that's the vibe I'm getting.
Really? I was getting more of a Darth Vader vibe from them. Darth Vader with a hat.
"This can only end in tears!" And hilarity. And possibly a city threatening supernatural convergence. And ice cream, once all is said and done. It definitely has to end in ice cream.
Dude's fast I'll give him that. He showed up like what, yesterday? Looks like that spirit of Envy was a good deal to have helped him wrangle up an entire team in that amount of time.
'Efficient if creepy' isn't a bad corporate image for malform removals. I can't see Mr O'Malley wearing the outfit though.
Nah, not very well, at least.
This makes so much more sense than their way.
In our gangs defense, these new malform removal guys didn't do much. Besides spraying Mal with powder while he had the spirit and waltzing in with a premade rug, these guys didn't have to do much.
No. But the new guys have efficiency, expediency and No Breakage like the original Mal-form busters. As a business owner, who would I choose?
So instead of stealing their abilities, he's stealing their business? EEEEEVUL!
No, revenge is sweet. He wants to strut in front of Wolfe how wealthy and powerful he has become. Once he's done strutting, he will turn the corkscrew and make Wolfe suffer, envy him, etc...
Two years late and you still don't get the joke.