July 10th, 2020
10 Jul 2020 · page 1003 of 1306
"Sorry Dad, but those guys look like how the artist always draws generic goons, so I should really go check this out..!"
Cast: Kirti Malik, Pemberton Pryce, Rajeev Malik, Sidney Malik
Comments (67)
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Of course they knew, we all knew they knew, I'm sure even Wolfe knew they knew from the moment he had dinner with them!
Sidney you're the only one who doesn't know!
Good first step, Lancelot! (I've gotten fond of that name.)
Glad to know my theory about his parents was correct.
Yeah, but WHICH thing do they know about their son? Some of us think they think he's gay or something, not "flunked out of school and joined a bounty hunter."
Oh, maybe they know everything, because Henry and Isabella aren't idiots and have figured out Harry and Sid's dealio long before either was ready to admit it. One lunchtime chat with the Maliks later, and things get sorted out -- what? Oh, it is the privilege of grandparents to meddle in arrange their grandchildren's affairs, particularly when their own children don't seem interested in shouldering that particular responsibility.
Dad was dropping a major hint several pages back.
EDIT: Methinks Kirti's expression in the last panel here tells all: [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/december-20th-2019 "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/december-20th-2019")
Well I don't really know the monetary situation involved, but IF they were paying his tuition, then I would imagine they noticed when, you know.... there wasn't any tuition to pay anymore.
Every quarter/trimester/semester, he finds a sizable amount of money in his pocket (courtesy of the magpie)?
OK, so you've raised the sort of son who, when he sees a couple of goons with guns up to no good, runs towards them to prevent trouble...
Possibly stupid, but definitely one to be proud of.
Dudes with guns are simple: they're going to try to shoot you.
Telling the truth to you parents is complicated: they might try to you shoot you, or they might try to guilt you to death.
Or...they might already know something
Speaking as a parent, it's this at least six times out of ten.
Yup, got that. As an aunt I was 12 years ahead of my brother about my niece->nephew...
And Sid doesn't even know who Pryce is or that the goons are trying to get hold of Mal; he just sees suspicious-looking people with guns running into the Anchor and goes "Something's wrong, I'd better do something about it!"
Are you sure this isn't set in Barrayar?
oops
...I would read Kate's graphic novel adaptation of "A Civil Campaign." Or "Captain Vorpatril's Alliance." I mean, sure, I would anyway but now I actively want to see either, or both.
Oh, what a great idea. I'd also read her visualizations of Shards of Honor or Barrayar, too.
Also, I would love to see how she handled "Guy, is your building supposed to be...tilted?"
That was the scene that popped into my head.
I'd be down with those books, too.
Why can't I upvote this more than once???
Great, now I have rereading to do AGAIN...
Gotta finish catching up on this, first, though. Now that I finally noticed the RSS feed moved.
Why is there never a policewoman around when you need one?
How about a gaggle of witches and one grouchy, not-ready-to-put -up-with-tomfoolery-today bounty hunter?
Not to mention a couple of flirting investigators.
One of which is a policewoman, and other is definitely not a bounty hunter. ;)
One of which has an... interesting take on the French language.
Hey, anyone else having trouble with the reCAPTCHA?
At first it showed only the right hand side and I couldn'r read the quastion, then only the left and hid half the squares - finally, after a lot of careful resizing I got enough on screen to post...
Currently on 1280x960 but having to use less than 60% of the screen to prove i'm no robot..
Excellent goons comment!
Well, they know.
At least Sidney can completely blindside them by saying "I'm getting married!" when Harry inevitably tells him she loves him.
I somehow doubt Harry is going to make it that easy for everyone.
Oh, no! Gun-toting goons in the Anchor! Sounds like a job... for TRICKSTER AND THE MAGPIE.
The Magpie would be a perfect stage name for Sidney. I love this
Yeah. "HUNTER AND THE MAGPIE" would be a better superhero duo name, anyway.
They know.
OK, but what do they know?
Just because I have been plenty wrong before, I'll bet they believe that their son is the new Widdershins witch.
Eh, sometimes people really are what they look like.
This is starting to look like one of those episodes of Seinfeld where all the plot threads suddenly come together at the end for maximum comedy. It's almost like it got plotted out that way or something...
Drat. I was hoping Sidney would get further than this and mention that Henry got shot. Then they would insist on seeing the famous Henry Barber in the hospital, and I could see which of them Henry hits on first! (Also, confirmation that Henry is still alive would be nice)
Why ManMan, fancy seeing you here!
Yeah I would also like to know that Henry is okay.
You know, before this chapter I wouldn't have described Sid as an anxious person. Excitable, absolutely, but not anxious in the way that, say, Knotty is. Harry's disappearance seems to have really done a number on his state of mind.
Trying to tell your parents the truth will do that to a young adult, haha!
True, although he was a mess before his parents even showed up: [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-22nd-2019 "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-22nd-2019")
I mean, he was kind of a mess back at the beginning of the comic too. [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/page-2 "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/page-2")
Working with Harry seems to have helped him deal with that. Or at least press it down under regular helpings of money.
He was a mess, but a generally pretty lighthearted person
OK, I just reread [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/march-27th-2020 "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/march-27th-2020") and panel 2 reads quite differently now. Nicely done.
"I'll be right back, I just need to steal some guns from some goons. Goon Guns, for short."
I love how we've seen, like, five or six panels by this point of Sid trying to explain the situation to his parents, and it was apparently ALL preamble. I don't even know why I'm surprised.
They know.
So close, but the plot does not have time for you to stammer!
ohthankgod they already know
OK. Sidney did actually get the words "I've been lying to you" out before running off. I'm not saying the rest is going to be easy, but he managed to get far enough that he's committed now.
Kirti and Rajeev really are the best parents ever, though. Except possibly in their naming choices.
It occurs to me that we've seen a confession interrupted at just that point once before: [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-22nd-2019 "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-22nd-2019")
In defense of his name... whether we give kids English-sounding names is a Thing for immigrants of color even now. It's not just aesthetic; they probably named him to give him better chances in life.
Edit: I mean they might have judged that poorly but that may have been what they were going for?
My parents went the other way, and I paid for it all the way through (British) school. Still do in various ways, though as an adult I choose to & am glad they went the way they did.
Okay this makes more sense, they seemed like smart people.
to be fair to sid, with harry off in witch land he is kinda the de facto hunter in the area, so he could be thinking of harry and how she would act to that threat instead of just running cause oh look a distraction
heya, this is probably going to end up as a one-update kinda week for health reasons, my apologies for the wait!
next update will be on friday.
Malik needs time to catch those bad guys extra hard. We get it. :-)
(In all seriousness, here's hoping for a recovery that is thorough first and foremost. Speedy is a secondary concern.)
oh no! hope you're not feeling too poorly ... all the best to you! stay safe & thrive.
Please take care of yourself, doubly so now that we're in Backstreet Boys Reunion Tour times!
Not a problem whatsoever - take care!
Wishing rest, recovery and good health to you Kate!
Is it just me, or does the guy in the hat go from goon in the middle to goon at the back suddenly?
Be well, take all the time you need.
I really hope the parents just thought Sid was coming out to them.. because what absolute crap parents they would be if they had known about Sid dropping out of uni and decided 'Hey, considering you're an anxious wreck with your 'condition', we still wanted YOU to tell us the truth'.
So, I was rereading this comic as I do periodically, and yet again I was amazed at the huge cast of characters that Ms. Ashwin has managed to juggle. In this chapter we've had even more introduced, and yet she still keeps all of them interesting and developing in new ways. All of the main cast has had deeply emotional moments that make me so happy, and I'm hard pressed to find another story that has so many characters that I love. On top of that, she has to ability to drop an entirely new cast in front of us that has nothing to do with the previous one and make them loveable by the end of one chapter. Long story short, Kate, you are an amazing writer and artist. Keep doing what you do! (Also, I wish you a speedy recovery! Rest up)
ah, thank you, very kind words!
You know, it just occurred to me:
Yes, Sid's parents know because it's a common trope (probably with strong basis in reality) that parents know their kids better than the kids give them credit for (and vice versa), but there's a much more straightforward reason Mr. and Mrs. Malik already know: they stopped getting tuition bills.