November 29th, 2019
29 Nov 2019 · page 947 of 1306
She's heard of French. Vaguely.
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Eliza Swift
Comments (90)
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Oh I cannot wait for their adventure. Fifi and Barber, solving crimes!
Clouseau and Kato
...not in that order. ;-)
I get the feeling I don't like these people. >.>
Why yes, this cannot possibly go wrong.
5,000 facepalms
This client doesn't even get a tag. Clearly what he thinks or does isn't important.
One looks like a thug here to kidnap 'arry or something
Ben.
Why on earth would you do that?
YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE INTELLIGENT ONE!
What's the use of intelligence if it makes your life boring? :)
Ben strikes me as the kind of person who would much appreciate a boring life every once in a while, like for example right now.
I guess from the very start I thought about Ben's attitude to boring life and adventures as somewhat hobbit-like, if you get what I mean. :)
And I see this moment as one of those when "they can still surprise you at a pinch". I was really surprised, I am still! :)
But well, his reaction at Eliza's claim he can't be a bounty hunter did remind me of Bilbo's reaction at "He looks more like a grocer than a burglar!”
Maybe... : )
Or, maybe due to stress and anxiety he's just extremely irritated with everything and everyone... (this is what I suspect, personally...)
I think it's certainly a factor, but well, there were a few of different ways he can show his irritation. "Just go away and leave me alone!", "No, Harry Barber is a female, what sort of morons you are to not know that?" etc.
But he chose this way.
Well, it's just that his personality type trends toward stress making one over-dramatic... facepalm
I... never made that connection, but yes. Ben is somewhat hobbity.
I think he just got so riled up by Elize, he's all like: "Oh, so I can't be a bounty hunter? I'll SHOW YOU that I can be a bounty hunter!"
And in a few minutes (once it's too late to change things) he will really seriously regret doing that.
I agree, on every point you made. :)
I think he started out completely sarcastically, but then the further the conversation continued the more he just let it roll...
High Intelligence. Low Wisdom.
This is a sensible analysis XD
Ben: someone correctly pointed out i don't have a certain job so now i will commit identity fraud
Eliza: i love drama so now im french
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I am le laugh, trez vous!
My face hurts from laughing...
Well, if they decide to keep up this impersonation for long, Ben should let Eliza do all the fieldwork, and she should let him write up the reports. That might actually stand a chance of working out
Ooh, this have all the signs of a wacky catastrophe in the making XD
... I'm SO gong to make popcorn for the continuation!
Welcome! Pay no attention to Fifi's snarky commentary in Panel 3. ...
What's the matter Ben? Feeling a bit overtired? 😏
Now I’m thinking of the last time he got carried away while overtired: [https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-11th-2017 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-11th-2017")
Yeah but they did this with that: [https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/august-1st-2017 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/august-1st-2017")
All they need right now is for Verity to show up. snickers Wait...I love Verity, but on second thought I don't think Ben has done anything bad enough to warrant being the target of Verity and Eliza at the same time.
What has me in hysterics is that I'm not sure Eliza will entirely object to being "Fifi." XD
Oh, Ben.
Ben, it would have been so easy to say "She's not in right now, so leave the details of your query and she'll contact you when she gets back."
Why?!
Because there is no more O'Malley beside him whom he can pretend to follow (for making sure he wouldn't do anything stupid) so Ben has to make trouble all himself? :)
Because he got more self-assured but still cares about his self-esteem (and Eliza's stance "You absolutely can't be a bounty hunter" harmed it)? :)
Because heck, Sidney Malik can do this job, and Ben isn't worse than him? :)
Bc theres a pretty girl to impress ? 😜
This was my reaction too.
Well for one thing, it would be Sid taking the case, yeah? And it can be hard to transition to that information, particularly when flustered.
Okay. I ship them.
"Fifi" snerk
They're certainly acting like an old married couple. But if even Benjamin Thackerey has more success in affairs of the heart than me, I'm cancelling my Patreon subscription :-)
Well, well, we always will have Jack O'Malley who just doesn't want any of these things... :)
Not helping.
I'd point out to Voss, but I'm afraid it is not going to help either? XD
So we can add to the list of mashups I want "Dominik Voss in the style of Charlie Brown."
No. Not in the least. :-)
In fairness, Ben acts like an old married couple with everyone.
Who do we reckon the goons are working for? Bailiffs come to repossess police property? Enforcers from the Royal Society enquiring about licence irregularities? Associates of Maccavity? Illuminati thugs? Journalists from the Daily Mail?
Page Six enforcers.
Probably reptilian following Eliza because she has a lead onto their hidden city.
Ben and Eliza's arc in this chapter is turning into a cross between a buddy cop film and School of Rock.
Cue face melting solo in 3, 2, 1 . . . . .
Well, it's not her fault that most of her French lessons come from old cartoons mocking Napoleon, the Revolution & Charles X.
this is gonna end so badly it's fantastic!
I like how Ben bristles at Sid being referred to as “kind of a foreigny type”.
Of course Mr Malik is a foreigny type. He’s from Surrey. Bloody Southerners, coming up ‘ere, mutter, mutter.
Well it's very offensive.
I thought Ben was just offended at how nosy this guy is XD
Mm. If ever a client deserved to be taken for a ride by a bogus contractor...
The angle of Ben's head as he looks up in panel 4 just kills me. :)
I look forward to seeing more of Eliza's flawless French.
She's channeling the French knight from Monty Python.
i love these two
They're about to get kidnapped or something, aren't they?
It's well known having two people bluffing together brings twice the success!
... but more likely twice the failure.
Fifi xD
I would absolutely love it if, by Alexa's or Ethan's era, there are rival fandoms and flame wars about whether Fifi is canonical to the Barber novels.
And occasional articles and videos from the likes of Today I Found Out or Mental Floss about where the heck the male version of the Harry Barber character came from.
someone needs to make this happen
That is an amazing idea and you should feel amazing.
dear God
Yes. Good idea. This can only go well for both of you idiots, keep that wonderful bad impersonation up.
Also "yes, the dog is over there" just cracked me up for some reason.
how has no one mentioned 'par les vous', a terrible attempt at parlez-vous eliza really, which means "do you speak" - where she was definitely going for s'il vous plait, "if you please", because eliza is terrible at french
this needs addressing and documentation and framing and it belongs in a museum because it is art
No habla
She's just hoping they'll have pity on a poor parley-voo, d'ye see?
Ah! That’s what she’s doing. I figured it was par les vos, like by your leave, or something. That makes much more sense.
This...is everything I never knew I needed.
I am DYING. Take a bow! This is going to be fantastic. I need so much popcorn.....
This kind of prank usually ends in a warrant or locked in some mad person's basement.
"If you never end up in front of the magistrate, then you're not doing it right." Henry Barber.
That's it. Now I just want a comic about the shenanigans of Ben and Eliza, investigators extraordinaire, ie; a couple of ambitious hacks who ask questions first, commit fraud second.
Sure you've got those the right way around?
"Ben, the customer seems suspicious of your claim. Roll Persuasion."
"Um, 11?"
"He's still not buying it. Eliza what are you do-"
"I interject and speak French!!"
"...roll Performance."
"18!"
"Does your character even knows French?"
I didn't think I could love Eliza any more than I already did.
If this comic ever gets adapted to screen or stage, I will beg for an audition for Eliza.
I really like the way these two very smart and meticulous characters' combined energy somehow makes both of them far more impulsive and chaotic.
Is that a poster of Henry and Isabelle?
It does appear to be so, yes.
Part of me can't believe it took us this long to get to a point in the story where Harry's nickname is used for a sort of mistaken gender identity. Or in this case flat out identity theft. What are you doing Ben?!
Darling it wouldn't have killed you to say, "Sorry she's out."
“A-HA! I’ve got you! It’s well known that leaping about and waving your hands makes you Italian, not French!”
Eliza rn probably
>:]
Mr. Barbersatz.
I've been thinking this for the past, uh, every page of this comic, but here's as good a place to say it as any:
I love them