July 19th, 2019
July 19th, 2019
19 Jul 2019 · page 914 of 1306

A change of career does sound pretty good right now, actually. 

Psst, the Apothecary pins are back in stock, with some new varieties of poison!

Cast: George Knott, Robert Hackett, Vincent Knott, Will Sharpe

Comments (74)

  • flipwizard 7 years ago archived

    unusual circumstances for meeting the parent but at least saving you from hanging your son is a pretty good first impression

  • Ghostdanser 7 years ago archived

    "I never wanted to be a hangman! I...I always wanted to be...a LUMBERJACK!"


    (With apologies to Monty Python)

    • Hogan 7 years ago archived

      … and now I got that song stuck in my head... you are on the list!!!

      • Sal 7 years ago archived

        breaks into song


        I cut down trees, I wear high heels!

        Suspendies and a bra!

        I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Papa!

        • Christopher Hunt 7 years ago archived

          Oh, Bevis! And I thought you were so butch!

      • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

        He's got a little list!

        • Hogan 7 years ago archived

          And I'll be sure to check it twice!!

    • DataProwler Netizen 7 years ago archived

      Hey, that's ok

  • Yah 7 years ago archived

    ...I wonder if the cops think he's a random anti-hanging protestor causing chaos. I mean it's not like most of the crowd there would know what the real convict looks like, and unless these cops were the ones keeping him when would they have seen him?

  • Hogan 7 years ago archived

    Oh, the horror in George's visage when he yanks the hood off Knotty's head... that poor man really loves his son and I think HE might rethink his career options after realizing he nearly executed him… :-|

    • Rayndel 7 years ago archived

      That expression was -very- well drawn. I feel the heartache/panic just looking at it.

      • Phlebas 7 years ago archived

        Yes.

      • Bieeanshee 7 years ago archived

        Totally agreed.

      • Bobismeisbob 7 years ago archived

        The whiplash between that and Sharp being funny is dizzying.

    • Moe Lane 7 years ago archived

      It's a damned good thing that Wrath isn't still wandering around, because in about thirty seconds there's gonna be a focal point of it generated that even might be visible to non-mages.

      • JoyKillz 7 years ago archived

        Oh yeah.

    • Archangel 7 years ago archived

      Always double-check your subjects.

  • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

    Looks like the fewmets are about to hit the windmill for Bob Hackett and Dr Flack. Is there an Ecuadorian Embassy in Widdershins?

    • Archangel 7 years ago archived

      If there is, I hope there's heavy metal to blast at 3,000db. Though that was the Vatican embassy, wasn't it?

      • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

        Given this story is set in the 1830's, they have rather a long time to wait until there even is such a thing either heavy metal or sound systems like that (though a magical equivalent could certainly be created for the latter).

        • Moe Lane 7 years ago archived

          "I have discovered a new emotion for imbuing!"


          "Excellent! What do you call it?"


          "Well, it's very implacable, and tough, and full of power, so I want to call it... 'Rock'?"

        • WaytoomanyUIDs 7 years ago archived

          Could always build a foundry next door though. Hot, smelly and noisy, just like a metal gig, but far less fun.

          • AxiomaticSystem 7 years ago archived

            Heck yeah, time for industrial

          • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

            I saw Motorhead live once. That's pretty much what they sounded like.

      • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

        Heavy metal? Amateurs. Play “It’s a Small World”. Non-stop. For 17 hours. But make sure your people have noise-cancelling headphones.

        “The Enchanted Tiki Room” is worse, but it is banned by most human rights conventions.

        • Archangel 7 years ago archived

          No need to jump to Weapons of Mass Destruction, bro. We're only after one guy. Sheesh.


          And I don't actually mind the Tiki Room song. At least for two or three repetitions.

          • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

            They all say that. For the first two or three hours.

        • Ghostdanser 7 years ago archived

          How about that infamous elevator muzak...The Girl From Ipanema. (Also known for being overused on call waiting systems.)

          • Archangel 7 years ago archived

            I'm going to report you guys to The Hague... :D

  • Luces 7 years ago archived

    The perfect time to discuss career options and to reconsider one's craft! Seems like the hangmen profession will lose one of its brightest stars...

  • Fairportfan 7 years ago archived

    Did the hood stop him talking?

  • Desu 7 years ago archived

    Vincent, I do believe both you and your dad are going to rethink your employment after this incident


    Man, I think this will haunt them both for quite some time T_T

    • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

      You're going to break my heart and not take up the family business after all I've done for you?! Get your head back in that noose, boy!

  • Amy 7 years ago archived

    Huh, Knotty wasn't gagged? I wonder how the hood muffled him so much, then?


    What a great page, though. Poor George and poor Knotty.

    • Kate A 7 years ago archived

      The panel progression would have worked worse if a gag had been involved, essentially

      • Frankie D. 7 years ago archived

        Just claim that part of the hood had been shoved in his mouth. Thus removing the hood also removed the "gag".

        • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

          Yeah, with the rope (the hood-holding one, not the other one) in the right place, it could double as a gag.

          • BrokenEye 7 years ago archived

            Well I didn't think it was very funny

            • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

              Neither did Vincent, really.

        • billydaking 7 years ago archived

          Or simply assume that Will pulled the gag off between the last two panels.

      • Daa of Night 7 years ago archived

        Go with a silence spell imbued in the hood.

      • Amy 7 years ago archived

        Gotcha, makes sense. Thanks!

      • Ghostdanser 7 years ago archived

        Muffled his voice with plot armor...works for me. :)

      • Norman Perrin 7 years ago archived

        There could be a big plug of cloth attached to the inside of the hood, inserted into the mouth when the hood is put on.

        Prevents cursing, swearing and the making of baleful maledictions that could offend delicate ears.


        Of course it can't be seen, as it comes out when the hood is removed.

        Works for me.

      • wilddeath 7 years ago archived

        what about the hood being imbued with silence?

  • Archangel 7 years ago archived

    This whole sequence is absolutely magnificent. J'adore!


    (Probably bad French, but whatever. 'Murica.)

    • Ouri Maler 7 years ago archived

      Nah, your French was actually correct.

  • Emily 7 years ago archived

    I'm very impressed that after everything Knotty's just been through, he still has enough self-possession left to make that wry remark in the last panel!

    • friendlymosquito 7 years ago archived

      Are you kidding? If anything this adventure has INCREASED his witty-remark-saying capacity. (Sharpe's influence no doubt ;) )

  • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

    I bet you feel even stupider for shoving him off a cliff now, Mayor Hackett, don't you?

    • BrokenEye 7 years ago archived

      But the experiment was a success, because now they know what's down there.

      • AxiomaticSystem 7 years ago archived

        No, Eliza and Will do.

  • Emily 7 years ago archived

    Much earlier in the chapter:

    Vincent: Eliza, it’s... a-after Mum died, all he’s got left is his business, and me.

    Eliza: Pretty sure he puts those in the correct order, though.


    Yes. Yes, he definitely does.

    • Bobismeisbob 7 years ago archived

      OK reading that put me on an archive binge of this chapter and oh wow are there a lot of foreshadowing jokes.


      My favourite so far is Sharpe saying "Then I'll have a date with the hangman and non of us seem to want that do we?" and now everyone is shipping the two of them and he wants a date with the hangman in the metaphorical sense too.

  • awhorl 7 years ago archived

    Gotta love that this is happening in the rain. Since Professor Flack hasn't melted yet, she'l have to face her sentence.

    Gee, I wonder if perjury is a capital offense . . . leaving aside the fact that the contents of the paper are a summary of her research. I wonder who supports capital punishment now?

    • JoyKillz 7 years ago archived

      Not them!

  • BCB 7 years ago archived

    Okay, Vincent is safe(r), now time to save Rana!

  • pingo1387 7 years ago archived

    I'm sure Sharpe will get off the hook with Vincent and Eliza backing him up, and they'll probably bring Hackett on trial once they un-Sharpen (inaccurate now, but Flacken doesn't have the same ring to it) Councilwoman Rana, but by the time they get to all that, Flack will probably have made her escape. She's probably in the midst of that now with the confusion on the stand.

    • Ganurath 7 years ago archived

      Flack doesn't know that Sharpe wasn't the only survivor, so she might gun it for Rana to release the influence to destroy evidence of Sharpe's argument for his defense... only to find that Rana has been fully informed as to the state of her condition.

  • JoyKillz 7 years ago archived

    Well sharpe, you seem awefully cheery and well dressed for your Execution, Ready to face death from the looks of it.

    • Norman Perrin 7 years ago archived

      Dressed to die.

  • friendlymosquito 7 years ago archived

    "Let's get your hand away from that lever, how do you do sir, have a handshake."

  • John 7 years ago archived

    Just noticed Vincent's "mission accomplished" face in panel 4.

    • Emily 7 years ago archived

      *Will's

    • Percabeth_trash 7 years ago archived

      Looks more like an “Oh thank god, we did it, I did it, he’s okay” face to me; but yes, I agree, it’s A+

  • Dud 7 years ago archived

    The comdemned man is now in the appointed place at the appointed time and has freeley confirmed his identitiy. Everything is ready and all personnel are present and correct.


    So: we can simply resume the procedure at this point having resolved a trifling administarive hiccough...

    • wilddeath 7 years ago archived

      one question though.... who was responsible for the hiccup. and also don't they traditionally get last words? I mean knotty's dad knows flack was in the cell and put the hood on the "prisoner" herself. that means she knew who was under there.

      • Dud 7 years ago archived

        Fair question. However we can go ahead and get the job done as specified now and enquire into the administrative issue in due course.


        There is no problem in letting the prisoner have a few last words at this point (not always a right) as they are considered a sentiment have no legal value.

  • DataProwler Netizen 7 years ago archived

    May Robert Hackett be charged with being a co-conspirator in the attempted murder of two individuals, the tampering of an execution, unlawful political campaign discourse, and *causing a disturbance*.

  • Brendon 7 years ago archived

    looks at gay couple so which one of you is the one whose sent to be hanged and which one of you is the hangman?

  • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

    I've just realised what incredibly good white shiny teeth everyone has.

    • (Fig.2) Ocean Burning 7 years ago archived

      So do you, good sir, so do you!

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