October 5th, 2018
5 Oct 2018 · page 840 of 1306
Second panel- Someone elsewhere, Ben Thackerey sneezes and isn't sure why.
Cast: Eliza Swift, Vincent Knott
Comments (72)
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...we don't know that dude, do we ?
I mean he's tagged on the cover, but other than that we haven't seen him.
Unless it's Boston economist William Forsyth Sharpe, inventor of the Sharpe ratio, no (one could argue that economics falls within the jurisdiction of magical law).
invisible hand gone amok
I'm going to assume the section that all we can see of is "Amazing" is an advertisement for Sid's newly established stage magician act, helped by his magpie malform familiar.
It seems to me, it's "Amazing?", with a question mark.
Yeah, that sounds like Sid
You're in Widdershins now boy, better learn more about magic, fast!
Okay, that's interesting. Not crimes with magic, crimes AGAINST magic? Now I want to know more about magic law! How are spirits classified, legally? Are there rules about their abuse as well as their use? Hmmm.
"Crimes against magic" feels kinda theocracy-y
Thaumocracy?
But magic is demonstrably real in the world of Widdershins
And look at the problems it causes! Isn’t it time to put a stop to it once and for all and Save the Planet?
Magic Power? No Thanks!
Considering Lei tried to blow up the anchor and didn't appear to be on death row, I'm curious what crime against magic warrants such a harsh sentence for a student. That said, there's a lot we don't know yet.
Sorry if it's been asked before but, am I alone in finding it odd that a society that accepts transgendered people still has the capital punishment? (even for debtors, according to Capt. Barber).
My reading would be that Widdershins has always set up a world that's a lot more relaxed about gender roles, which makes it culturally consistent to then be more accepting of more flexible boundaries on gender! Capital punishment is an outdated means of regulation by our standards for sure, but so are a lot of the classist elements in Widdershins; they're simply rigid in some areas and less so in others. Sort of comes down to how the historical cookie crumbled.
> Widdershins has always set up a world that's a lot more relaxed about gender roles
Yeah, and the reason of this is that (born) magic talent is "gender-independent".
It can be a little tricky to convince the guy who can throw fireballs that he is still a she and really has to answer to her birth name of "Constance Fanny Adams" when he much prefers "Edward William Adams".
Especially when he's finally got the shapeshifting just right, too. ;P
This. It's amazing how polite people can get when they don't know if you can blow their head off.
Normal intelligence has nothing to do with either sex or gender, and it didn't help anything for much of human history in our world. :-/
Unlike magic... or muscles... being smart doesn't make a person dangerous enough to be listened to (even if people ought to.)
Yes, the world as a whole is more relaxed about gender roles... Though we have also been given hints that this is not a unanimous sentiment.
Harry's mother, for instance, seems to be in denial about Nicola. We haven't met her yet, so we don't know if this is a "What will my friends think!" social reaction (that is, she's part of a social group that is not so relaxed about gender), or if she has other reasons.
And in one Q&A, Nicola said that there are other women in the police, but not as many as she'd like.
Well, so long as there are humans breathing, there will not be unanimity. My guess, however, is that the majority accepts it, given that Superbia and Invidia apparently have an open relationship.
Of course, I doubt anyone would want to mess with Superbia, so maybe that's just them.
I tend to think that Nicola either bluffed (as Mal couldn't know what laws in Widdershins are) or referred to some obsolete law which still exists de-jure, but not used anymore de-facto. Given they didn't hang McCavity and all that.
They didn’t hang Ms Feng either, and she was about to blow up the Anchor. If that isn’t a crime against magic, I don’t know what is. This Sharpe character must have done something really bad. But I’m sure all be revealed. Don’t miss the next exciting episode!
Yeah, Lei was "and all that". :) Though, in theory, two months may be not enough for the proper procedure. Still, if she had told Sid "They are going to hang me" in the prison, he could have reacted in different way... I guess.
I was wondering if Ms Feng and Macavity were in the cells waiting for Mr Knott to do his rounds. Sometimes, I wonder what I pay my taxes for.
You pay your taxes to stay out of jail, when it comes down to it. :-/
And for there to be a jail to stay out of.
Or maybe the laws changed after the Deadlies went loose. That would explain why they would need a new hangman "after the sins incident". Remember that in No Rest for the Wicked, there was a lot of people disgrunted with magic gone astray. The Deadlies' attack easily could have turned that grumbling into outright protest, leading to stronger penalties.
I don't think there's been time since the Sins incident to create a whole separate branch of law with many books to study. Perhaps the closest analogue in our world would be ecclesiastical law. Ancient, intricate, very much a separate thing.
Knotty isn't surprised that there's a death penalty in magic law, he's just upset that he doesn't know enough about it to find a loophole.
I'm not saying that there is a whole new separate branch of law; only that the penalties under the current law were greatly increased.
And Knotty would definitely know if there's now a death penalty for crimes against magic, given what he's trying to avoid doing. The newness of said death penalty would explain why he hasn't delved into that branch of law yet; he's been focusing on the areas of law that historically carry the penalty.
Well, we'll see. Two months doesn't seem like enough time for a new death penalty to have been freshly added anywhere, and if it had been, that would be major news that Eliza, at least, would surely know all about, and mention first thing. Instead, she's just puzzled. (Pressure for social change seems to be going the other way, in fact, against all death penalties.)
My own feeling, based on the reactions of both characters here, is that it's more likely this is a somewhat obscure branch of the law. It has always included hanging offences, but Knotty hasn't gotten around to studying them yet because they are rarely invoked in modern-day Widdershins.
nicola was 100% bluffing, yes
Bet she reads the Daily Mail.
Nah, the Times. From then.
Reminds me of that old Yes, Minister bit.
Link please?
[https://www.youtube.com/wat...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGscoaUWW2M "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGscoaUWW2M") (the punchline is a touch risque).
Some real-life countries are like that (e.g. Thailand; I realize transgender/kathoey people are not living in a paradise there either, but at least there's a considerable level of acceptance)
Heck, even here in the US, I think we're farther along in terms of accepting transfolk than we are with abolishing the death penalty. (Obviously, it varies wildly on a state-by-state basis. We're kinda nutty like that.) [https://deathpenalty.procon...](https://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=001172 "https://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=001172")
Until very, very recently (historically speaking) there was no such thing as long-term imprisonment, unless you count torture-chamber sorts of things to scare the hell out of people. Broadly speaking, there was only death, flogging/whatever, and fines. Oh, and exile.
So when flogging won't cut it, you break out the killamajig. :-/
Well, there was always transportation. And, actually, imprisonment for life was not all that uncommon.
I do wonder whether there's a penal colony in Australia in this timeline.
We don't know if England's original penal colonies are independent in this timeline, either. King George may not have managed to piss the Americans off in this time line. (Australia was definitely not the preferred target for minor lawbreakers prior to the Treaty of Ghent. The British colonies which would eventually become the US were.)
I assume a high amount of historical inertia because Rosie is recognizably Midwestern and that implies quite a lot, but it's Kate's world and I'm just reading along. :)
Also, assuming that stances about fundamentally unrelated political issues automatically go together is silly. :)
And I hate to say it, we really don't know the overall social attitude towards trans people in this world. Although the fact that Eliza owns her own shop is definitely encouraging :)
Is Eliza trans? Missed that....
She is. And IIRC Knotty last saw her before she transitioned. So in addition to everything else he's likely a bit out of sorts from worrying he'll be rude somehow... and possibly the fact that she's very pretty is a factor as well. :P
I'm curious about Eliza's backstory. Swift's Apothecary is clearly a family business, but does she run it herself (in between conspiracy theorist meetings), or is there an older relative in charge? If so, how do they feel about their daughter/niece/granddaughter keeping a detailed filing system in the back of the shop?
Top Web Comics says the "apprentice drugstore conspiracy theorists" are among those who abound, so either Eliza is still a chemist's apprentice who also happens to be a conspiracy theorist or she's about to take Knotty on as her apprentice conspiracy theories.
Which one is it? Why don't we know yet? Is the knowledge being withheld? Is Kate Not Telling Us Something?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Wait just a minute now. How often do people actually sneeze and know the precise reason for it?
When they open an old, dusty book, for example. :) I do it often as I work.
Now I wonder how Ben reacts at that kind of books. :) And how he would get along with Elisa, too. :)
Well, yeah, sometimes we definitely know the source of a sneeze, but sometimes it just comes out of nowhere. Maybe we all have a weird sneeze sixth sense we were unaware of, which explains otherwise inexplicable sneezes.
Like all true tales of heroism, this one begins with a clarion call of "TO THE LIBRARY!"
[https://youtu.be/oyAD87_zfek](https://youtu.be/oyAD87_zfek "https://youtu.be/oyAD87_zfek")
Lo! Do I hear the challenge: "My filing system is better than yours!" in the wings?
I bet I do.
It's finally time for me to pitch my idea for a new TV show- The Great British File Off
Factotums and actuaries finally getting some limelight. ;P
I really really want to see them meet and become friends now.
I'd like to see Ben and Vincent together too - they're both short, studious guys with longish hair who tend to get worked up about things (although not quite in the same way).
What could also be adorable would be watching Sid give Vincent the pep talk Harry gave him during their first adventure together about living your life as you want to.
I'm curious as to what these "crimes against magic" are. Actions that might severely disrupt or stop the general use of magic, à la Lei? Breaking laws regulating how/when/why/on what magic is to be used? All we really know about magical law is that there is some kind of restrictions on what spirits you are allowed to summon, and there is some kind of license involved in the practice.
If William Sharpe is a student wizard, I wonder if Sid knows him from the University...
Seconding, especially as I took one look at William's smirk on the cover and started headcanoning him as having a personality similar to Verity's.
So is he just really bad at card tricks or summat?
My books arrived!
Now to go outside in the sunshine and not spend all day reading...
Still waiting for Eliza to light up a cigar.
“Man wearing paisley and argyle. Fashion designer. Clothes sentenced to being burned at stake.”
“Oh, fashion law is worse. The laws change all the time.”
I simply love Eliza in the third panel! Kinda reminds me of the druid Panoramix from the Asterix cartoon. Especially in "Astérix et le Coup du menhir" were he was hit by the rock and went totally bonkers but still tried to brew. I think the english title was "Asterix and the Big Fight".
Indeed! And Panoramix is actually Getafix in English IIRC :)