September 14th, 2016
14 Sept 2016 · page 635 of 1306
Smooth, Sid
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Harriet Barber, Jack O'Malley, Sidney Malik
Comments (50)
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So smooth, Sid :)
Nope. No wizards beyond the fourth wall. Only ducks and malicious animators.
And the occasional Jade Giantess.
1) Haha. Door-blocked.
2) Harry's FACES in the last two panels!
3) Hopefully muggles other than Harry can pass through into spiritsville because I feel like Ben will spontaneously combust if he has to rely on Harriet "two words when twenty would have been pretty useful actually" Barber and Jack "I dunno" O'Malley as his sole eye-witnesses to the blue beyond. Wolfe at least takes notes.
Ben: So what can you tell me of the spirit world topology?
Mal: What's topol'gy?
Ben: Ummm, right, perhaps you aren't the best to ask, Ms. Barber?
Harry: Magical.
Ben: ... that's it?
Harry: Not good enough for you?
Ben: what! Of course not!
Harry: Too bad.
Ben: ...what.
Harry: you heard me. Anyway, day's saved, I'm off to visit grandad in the hospital.
Ben: nrrgh.
Sid: Mr. Thackery, please do calm down-
Mal: Why should 'e?
Sid: Because we're still too close to the anchor and- Massive spirit of Frustration appears
Sid: Oh dear...
Haha! Ben absolutely losing it is always inexplicably entertaining to me.
You and Mal both
Honestly though, I can understand his frustration. He's learned more about Mal's power than anyone (most of which was learned the hard way), helped him to learn to do actual witch things in ch. 5 beyond cheating at cards and ordering malforms around, fainted in a pub, fell into a hedge, and lost his hair.
And now Mal is revealed to be a witch and walks out of reality through a mysterious door without him, and he gets to go ghostbusting with Verity. No fair, mommy. No freaking fair at all.
If I could, I would have upvoted all three of these observations <3
Split the party. Nothing can go wrong with that. (Not that it looks like they have any choice, but still...)
It'll give Verity a chance to boss everyone around--until Benji takes control, that is. (Or Nicola returns...)
That is not a small thing when you've been given charge of someone's dog should anything happen to them. That's the ultimate show of trust!
And then in response, trusting someone can take care of themselves and come back from their adventures.
Especially considering the fact that while Gren is widely acknowledged as Harry's dog the character question pages indicate she's still technically police property and so it would probably be Nicola who came to claim her in that case.
Gren has taken in a lot of stubborn lessons since leaving the force, though... Nicola would find herself trying to drag an anchor. xD
"I trust you to raise [the living beings who have been entrusted to me to care for] if I cannot, in perpetuity."
That's a huge thing wrapped in a tiny sentence.
In a sense, Gren is Harry's child: dependent upon her, but also company. Although said with a half smile, it's a pretty big deal.
...KISS, DAMMIT.
AAand a one,
and a two,
anaWUNtwothree AWWWWWWWW.
Dawww
just for god's sake: kiss the girl!
sha la la la la la my oh my
I wonder what explanation can there be to the apparent "witches yes, muggles yes, wizards no" rule. This is extremely intriguing.
Seems like wizards are restricted on both directions -- they must be linked to the spirit world, but they can't be really connected to it, they have to rely on the ritualistic mediation of circles and incantations. Feels like their ability comes not from having something muggles don't, but from lacking something muggles have. Like in "Night Watch".
...Which actually chimes well with their lack of a spirit that would be visible to O'Malley.
OK, this is pretty cool.
I don't think it is wizards that are blocked from going through the door; it is only Mr Thackerey. The Universe has a personal vendetta against him.
...This just happen to fit another theory I have. I heartily approve.
It wouldn't happen to be, "Mal's bias sets the rules, consciously or not." would it?
Hmmm... No, I don't think Mal would actually want to bar Ben from going in. At least no more than he'd like to bar anyone else from going in.
I dunno.... Mal is incredibly private. And he views Ben as a meddler, even if he does respect him. I would say, if he had a secret, special door, that the thought of Ben getting into it and mucking all around in it with his wizardly know-how and trampling on the sacredness of it....
Plus wizards give him headaches.
It's hard to assess how Mal feels about anything now that the abilities he'd always experienced as crippling are starting to make sense and feel like they're his own. E.g., Ben questioning him about his apparent lack of spirit (http://www.widdershinscomic... "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-6th-2014/)") was intrusive and set off Mal's insecurities quite a bit, but who even knows whether he'd still be insecure about it now?
We can theorize with equal ease that this change would make him more secretive, or more open. Further research needed is what I'm saying.
I suppose character growth could change things... I guess I didn't account for it.
It's Ben, after all.
Hmmm, perhaps wizards resonate with spirits in a manner akin to the anchors.
After all, it hurts Mal to look at wizards, and the anchor at first seemed to bother him.
The auras of wizards are visibly distinct from those of regular people, even ones who have worked magic . (Ms. Fairbairn for instance, was able to cut deals with Sloth but needed Ben to summon it and didn't show up as a wizard in Mal'ovision. Voss managed to summon Envy while right on top of the anchor in Nepal, but never would have succeeded otherwise and did not show signs of wizardry in Mal's sight which implies that wizarding abilities cannot simply be taught.)
The wizards are stronger when close to the anchor
So the wizards cannot enter the anchor because two anchors cannot exist inside each other perhaps?
Though I wonder what that would mean for witches and everyone else.
I'd kind of pegged it as a "portable hole in a bag of holding" sort of thing. Wizards have the ability to anchor things from the beyond to the mundane world - that sort of talent doesn't translate well into going INTO the beyond (or whatever we're calling it.)
Oh my goodness, someone hug that poor boy.
Also. Ben. Oh Ben. You'd probably hate it in there anyway.
I wonder if muggles turn into their spirits whilst inside
...I love how the comments section is calling them muggles now
"I need your help" is such a big thing coming from Harry. Great character development.
Now's the chance! Sweep her off her feet, give her a big old smooch, and make your exit. You can do it! Probably.
Wolfe might try something like that (although not with Harry). Sid seems unlikely to work up the nerve to kiss her before the opportunity is gone. And I doubt his first kiss with Harry will be a "sweep her off her feet" thing because that sounds like it requires a little more self-confidence than he has.
Not to mention the fact that not everyone wants to be swept off their feet.
I feel like Sid would be ok with Harry sweeping him off his feet.
Honestly, I always pictured Harry sweeping Sid off his feet if it came down to it.
That does seem more likely. And he'd probably be more accepting of being swept off his feet than Harry would.
Harry's shorter than Sid but very solid. I appreciate that she's actually drawn with the broad shoulders you'd expect from someone who spends so much time swinging from ropes and whatnot.
Honestly, Sid looks a little frail for that. He's more of the tall and skinny type. Now, I could imagine Harry surprising him by falling off a giraffe's back onto a chair and then falling off towards Sid, grabbing his neck for support, and winding up in a thrilling lip lock with him.
Well, OK, I can't imagine it, but it makes a great story, doesn't it? And it is the only way we'll ever actually see them kiss.
...you can pick your teeth up off the floor after she's gone...
Sooooo...idle thought, but I have been thinking that a gun against a spirit is probably, mostly wishful thinking. But...if said gun crosses over that boundary into a different realm, one wonders whether or not it might become somewhat more effective.
Everyone is awesome! I have breathed in too much chloroform! There is no sensible words and constructive commenting ness. Only love. Everyone is awesome!
Now kiss!
Sid wants to go in to help with the magic. Yup, that's definitely why he wants to go.
(loving the amount of unspoken stuff being said in this one)
Mal's face in panel 2 and all his stature in other panels with him at the anchor - are amazing! He has lost suddenly all his defensive aggression, he's so shaken... His face seems to be a face of a little boy now...