October 15th, 2019
15 Oct 2019 · page 936 of 1306
Curiouser and curiouser.
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Gren, Heinrich Wolfe, Sidney Malik
Comments (53)
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I know it's been generations since the last witch but I do wonder if there's any old ass laws regarding witches sitting on the books.
There probably are, and they're probably stupid.
Such as the one where the town council pays the witch a stipend of 500 guineas a year in return for not ripping out anyone's soul.
So... better luck with that stipend next year then, Mal.
(Too soon?)
If you put them back quickly, no-one notices!
Unless you [put them back all wrong](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/qa-3 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/qa-3"), of course.
My hope and prayer is for one where in official events The Witch must identify themselves with a traditional ridiculous hat.
As long as it's blue!
I mean, if barristers have to, it's only fair.
Now I'm picturing Knotty in one of those wigs...
I mean, he's already basically got that haircut.
Given the last witch pursued Luxuria "for the rest of her days", witches hadn't to remain nearby their Anchors, at least.
just means they aren't physically constrained. i could see a law saying they aren't supposed to leave the town though
"Ye witches fhall not be permitted to sit on ye bookes, fave on ye last Tuesday of ye monthe."
Or is that not what you had in mind?
I mean, there are still old ass laws banning witches on the books. And will be until 1951
Malforms know how to write? That throws up all sorts of questions and possibilities.
My first thought was Florrie, but now that I think about it... it's got to be the PHoH.
The Purple Hippo of Happiness would probably use heart shaped O's...and heart shaped dots...and pretty much just hearts in general, assuming that they know how to write of course.
We saw they do in the bonus story to ch. 2.
Oh my goodness, you're right! I had never noticed. It came as quite a shock to me to see today's update and realize that the PHOH was able to act as O'Malley's scribe.
wait whaaat
could you link the page it shows up in, please? I can't find it.
It's extra pdf-only materal, you can buy pdf e-books in Kate's shop or by making a donation to her Patreon.
PDF now available for a very reasonable £2.50.
[https://gumroad.com/katedra...](https://gumroad.com/katedrawscomics "https://gumroad.com/katedrawscomics")
I should be on commission.
I love how calm Gren is now that Wolfe's petting her <3
Wouldn't you be calm if you had a gorgeous German person petting you?
It is Mal's writing, he just did it like that to throw them off
I love as even routine investigating (missing person? did he leave a note? is it his handwriting?) in Mal's case isn't so routine! :)
"He is allowed to make his own choices": now why does it seem to me that Wolfe says not only about Mal's role of the witch? :(
I was thinking about this last night! He said in the Pride section of chapter 7 that selfish as it may be he wasn't looking forward to Mal not depending on him anymore. Maybe he was reluctant to look for Mal because he's trying to see the running away as Mal's own decision?
On the hearts, maybe he was in a rare happy mood when he wrote it? :3
My money's absolutely on the PHOH writing that for him
Apropos of nothing, I wonder what kind of spell went wrong and produced the PHOH. A happy, helpful, literate malform. (Almost used "buggerup" but that seemed inappropriate when talking about the PHOH. He or she doesn't deserve the term,.)
Assuming it was summoned to influence customers or clients (like the bakery and theater malforms from No Rest for the Wicked), my headcanon is that the PHoH was supposed to be imbuing a toy store (ie, it's something like Innocent Delight). Or possibly Affection for a pet shop/shelter (improve the pets' dispositions, make visitors more prone to like the animals).
If I lived in a world where I could imbue things with any emotion I want, I would imbue the heck out of everything with Happiness. So it may just literally have been Happiness.
Come to think of it "Malform" may even be inappropriate. The term implies that the spirit badly formed. And if course the PHOH is perfect in every way.
Actually, now that I think about it, I bet he was talking to the HPOH on the chapter's opening page.
That fourth panel with Ben and Sid facing each other is just precious
I wonder if Ben thinks Mal has been kidnapped? While Wolfe, optimistic, trusting soul that he is, is willing to assume the note is genuine, even if it was dictated rather than written by Mal.
I think if Ben truly believed Mal has been kidnapped he wouldn't have waited for two weeks...
It's possible that he only recently came to believe that.
But it's since occurred to me that his indignation probably means he's mad that Mal ditched them with no explanation.
I mean, what kind of kidnappers would forge a note "from Mal" with anatomically incorrect hearts for 'O's?
Based on Ben's expression in the fourth panel, and what one imagines is the tone of his reply, he's definitely not retained any fondness for Sid since the end of the crisis with the Deadlies, if he had developed any in the first place. Or perhaps what little he had has evaporated with the state of Harry's front room and the presence of the, as he might put it, "wretched animal".
Also, I also at first imagined Florrie writing the note for Mal, but the Purple Hippo of Happiness makes a good deal more sense.
I think Ben's worries about Mal are also making him snappish. Panels 5-6 have the look of a debate that he and Wolfe have had once too often over the last two weeks.
Remember kids, always get consent.
Would Ben like anatomically-correct heart renderings any better?
It would be a step in the right direction.
The pictures on the wall behind Sid in panel 6 must be left over from when this was Henry's office. The one on the left looks like Izzy with her hair up, and the one on the right is the family portrait of the Barber siblings that Kate did for a Kickstarter reward once!
God, I hate custody disputes
Ben, I’m sure you meant well, but when has telling Mal he “must” do something ever worked?!
...Hhhhmm lemme th- never. Never has that worked.
Hand guided by the magical hippo
I may not be able to read, but something's off 'bout that. You best not be doing some buggery to me.
I now picture Mal correcting whoever he got to write the letter:
"no,I rec'gnise that one, that's an 'o'... if 'fer' 'ad an 'o' innit, y'd 'ear it. It'd be pr'nounced foooooore. Get it right."