September 5th, 2017
5 Sept 2017 · page 729 of 1306
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Cast: Harriet Barber, Jack O'Malley
Comments (53)
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Flashbacks?
That would be neat :D
Memories, sour memories...
Ow... Now we'll know, at last!
oooh, trippy dream sequences brought on by mysterious supernatural drugs. Sign me up.
Mal flashback starts is literally already crying
Oh my gosh, I know. Seems like we've been waiting so long for this and now my heart is broken in anticpatory sorrow.
Yeah, when you think about it, Mal's background can be nothing short of heartbreakingly tragic. Treatment for people with mental issues in city usually consisted on locking them in a cell and basically torturing them. Splice that a bit with how people are likely to react to a kid who can read emotional states (fearful and angry for most, no one likes having their private thoughts public).
At last the long sought after history of Mal...'s scarf!
Witness the heart wrenching tragedy as it was chewed nearly to death by a baby goat in its early days.
So: Both groups are wandering around in the cloudy depths of Mal's mind.
Do they meet?
This could be very useful as a planning aid, or even as a quick way to order in a takeaway meal. After all they never did get to eat those sandwiches.
Why would the outside group also be in Mal's mind, though?
Why? I expect we'll find out soon.
Why do I think this?
Similar swirly atmosphere, came on at the same time, both seem to be connected with tiredness/sloth (NOT the same thing but one might be linked, perhaps causitively, to the other) key location was site of production of key fluid, Mal is known to be in the required state - at an amplifying anchor ... I could go on.
Now I suppose the outdoor party might coincidentally have wandered into the mind of a dozing kitten but; with an added dash of narrative causality, do you really believe that?
Cheerio,
Could be, although it could also be that the outside gang has walked into the field of Sloth's influence and will eventually start to have their own dreams. Either way, it'll be an interesting experience.
Maybe, this party would go in the mind of the one of them who fall asleep first. :)
Ooo, maybe it'll follow up on the problems Ben's having? Though I admit my first thought was they were just in a weird surreal fog still basically based in the real world, or some realm of Sloth's rather than a dream. But since Harry's in Mal's memory, who knows at this point?
I assumed that the outside party was still in the real world, just surrounded by an impenetrable fog as a result of the witch having fallen under Sloth's influence. It seems plausible that if something like that happens in the in-between space, it affects the outside world.
And I'm assuming it reaches into the outside world.
Whereas I was thinking the reason Harry is able to see into Mal's dream is because she is inside the Anchor spirit-portal with him, possibly also because she is physically holding onto him. Well, we'll see.
The swirls are not just similar, they are blue in both places. Blue is Mal's color. A witch falling sleep in the between-worlds place could very well amplify whatever is in his mind's dream-state to the outside world.
Yes, I think you are on to something. Our intrepid four may have bigger problems than Sloth!
Especially for Mal.
It might hurt, but I think it'll be good.
I too dream a dream, that dreamers often lie!
...In bed asleep, where they do dream things true.
Oh... OH! Is this the flashback showing Mal's first time in Widdershins (speculated about previously here: [http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-9th-2016/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-9th-2016/") ) or are we going even further back in his life?
Also, nice touch having the flashback scene be all in grayscale. It emphasizes that adult Mal and Harry (in color) aren't really physically there, as well as making the point that all this is shown through Mal's eyes and memory.
My reactions today were pretty funny to me... First look at comic "AW CRAP IT'S FLASHBACK TIME, YESSSSSS" (Said out loud lol) Second look at comic Why is the flashback in grayscale? Third look at comic Oh duh because it's Mal's memories facepalm
I'm betting this is a time when The O'Malley was about twelve or thirteen (or younger) and they're outside an orphanage.
I just love how Harry's reaction to just about everything is "Hrm."
Since I started reading Widdershins, I've picked up "Hrm" from Harry and "Th' hell-?" from Mal. (I don't usually swear much, so Mal's been something of a bad influence on me!) You know you're a hardcore fan of something when the characters' speech patterns start affecting your own...
HOLY SHIT A HECKINGFECKING MAL FLASHBACK HMMMMMMY GOD
[Theoden]So it begins[/Theoden]
[Rhino] Let it begin; let it begin; let it be-gi-hi-hiiiin! [/Rhino]
I'm betting that Harry will be looking into this: [http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-9th-2016/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-9th-2016/")
This is going to be so embarrassing for everyone. Except possibly us.
By coincidence - don't know if any of you lot read Sombulus, but it so happens that in today's comic we also have one of the characters walking around inside the childhood memories of another.
[http://www.sombulus.com/](http://www.sombulus.com/ "http://www.sombulus.com/")
You're all about the cross-references. ;)
I think Ms Barber and Ms Treuno are more puzzled than cross. :-)
Eheh. Eheh. Heh.
Oh if we're talking cross-references, my first reaction was to wonder if we're going to run into Zimmy and Gamma. This feels like Zimmy's Birmingham.
Oooooh, it does....
Oh great, another several days lost to an archive dive! (Thank you!)
Or, you know, [grab some popcorn](http://www.paranatural.net/comic/chapter-4-page-112 "http://www.paranatural.net/comic/chapter-4-page-112").
It's time for a flashback....
.... and I can already tell it isn't going to be a happy one. :(
Just noticed: in the first panel, it looks like Harry has one finger on the side of Mal's neck. Is she feeling his pulse?
I dreamed a dream of times gone by,
Where I was young, by chance was seeing,
I dreamed that love would never die,
I dreamed my friends would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid,
And saw and spoke and spoiled and wasted,
Then was my folly well repaid,
I was despised and sorrow tasted.
Speculation: The streets in the flashback look a lot like the ones near Acedia's flat. She's had it for a while (she says she had a cleaner two decades ago in http://www.widdershinscomic... "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/may-10th-2016/)"). And Mal recognized the place (and was terrified of it) And why is Mal having a flashback NOW? True, Sloth was the first deadly he interacted with in the comic's story line, but...
I think Acedia's involved in whatever traumatized him in Widdeshins.
That's my guess too. On this page ( [http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/may-24th-2016/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/may-24th-2016/") ) she says something about a previous attempt at freeing the Deadlies where she "had the witch" - and I'd be willing to bet quite a lot that that witch was a small, frightened Irish boy...
Woah good catch! I'd totally missed Acedia's first line in that comic!
Good catch... The Lamplight situation was not the only thing linked with Sloth. So was Acedia. Yeah, she had the witch, two decades ago.
Oh man, that all makes so much sense! Guess we'll find out soon!
Orphanage?
I've only heard two sentences from this person, and I haven't even seen what they look like yet, but I already want to punch them in the face.
Very hard. nods
oh nice it's time for lore
This chapter is giving me all sorts of payoffs I never even knew I was waiting for!
Hopefully he can't tell that there's anyone else inside his head with him - in the last two panels it doesn't look like he's aware of Harry at all. Unless she says something about it when the flashback's over (which doesn't seem too likely, this being Harry, who doesn't discuss emotions if she can help it) he may never even know.
"Ye don't know me, lady!" as Mal said to Harry... in this early morning. Well, it seems there is her chance for getting to, in that regard he meant.
Ooh that's gonna be painful.