Gunnerkrigg Court

[386] Seems to be a sore point for Parley.

If her full name really is George Parley, Jr, then I can see why she would insist on being called by her last name.

Apparently Smith can give just as good as he receives. Where Parley favors a verbal Death of a Thousand Cuts, Smith prefers to wait and strike once, with surgical precision.

I didn't write any of that.

[387] Violence always works. Every mediator knows that.

One of the forumites pointed out that Eugene Gould (mentioned in yesterday's comic in connection with the Psychic Challenge) was also the first person to make contact with the Rogat Orjaks. Dude must have lived an epic life.

I didn't write any of that.

Why is Jones nodding? To say "Yeah, it was hilarious - Smitty has the story right, all right."

That, or "Yes, they're always like this," or "Yes, they're totally into each other."

I trawled the archives this evening, and I noticed a few things:

1. There is a circle/labyrinth motif associated with the Donlans. There's the ch 2 title page, there's the Instant Runes that appear when Anja or Donald start throwing magic around, and there's a spiral seal associated with their house. The last one is interesting because the three circles are reminiscent of symbol over the entrance to Robot Research.

2. Annie has only blushed once the entire comic. In all other possibly embarrassing situations, she either puts the offending party in their place, or shuts up, without blushing.

Also, I was wondering a bit about where Annie would fit in Character Alignment, and I think she may be True Neutral.

I didn't write any of that.

[388] Ahh, more info about the events of chapter 14. This could be good.

I didn't write any of that.

The Court could be overconfident. If it started as a tiny bit in the middle of the forest, they must think fate is on their side. They meet with representatives from the forest out of tradition, but don't consider them a true threat any longer.

stm177 wrote:

Either that, or the Court and the Woods have been at odds for so long that the headmaster expected it to be a time-wasting formality that only had to be done for form's sake.

Or maybe the dude was intentionally trying to tick Y and Coyote off, to trick them into revealing something or making some mistake.

I bet Annie was watching everyone in the room (where Parley and Smith were just watching the Forest delegates) because she doesn't trust anyone in the Court. (Except Kat.) That and she knew she'd be catching flak from both sides if it came out that she had sent Robot across the bridge.

I didn't write any of that.

[389] A familiar face.

This ought to impress Jones. Unless Mort pretends he doesn't know her, and he doesn't really strike me as the type to do that.

I didn't write any of that.

Ha, it's Mort! I hope Annie says "Would you like to meet someone really scary?" and introduces them to the insect psychopomp. Also, Annie gets the best field trips ever.

Jones would seem rather hard to impress... Parley, though.

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

Mort does look unhappy... maybe he will perk up when he sees Annie is there.

Jones seems to have addressed both Parley's and Annie's points regarding each side's rudeness. But she didn't say anything about Smith's speculation. Hmm...

Tangent128 wrote:

Yeah, if Parley thought a card trick was cool, she'll really flip out when she finds out Annie and Mort know each other.

stm177 wrote:

"What am I doing here? I'm supposed to be scaring people!"

I didn't write any of that.

[390] That's right, Parley, ghosts have bad hearing so you must speak to them loudly and slowly.

I didn't write any of that.

Mort is a friendly ghost, Parley. Like Casper?

[391] Funny contrast between Jones and Parley. Mort looks very happy to hear Annie call him a friend. Mort does impressions. Annie, ever the diplomat, decides to not share Parley's first name. And that last panel is great.

I didn't write any of that.

Greetings Human Person!

Greetings!

(I've also got the book ordered now.)

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

I'm going to try ordering it through the bookstore or through a comic book store, and see how it goes. I'll read it, then pass it on to my pre-teen relatives.

I... I pre-ordered the book through my local comic shop back in late February.

I didn't write any of that.

I've come to the conclusion that this comic is best read by deleting your bookmark to it for the first two weeks or so of every chapter. Once things get rolling, it works great checking back three times a week, but the beginning of chapters is slow and leaves you feeling that one page at a time is not enough. I've come to this conclusion empirically. First I archive binged everything there. I finished when it was chapter 15, I think near the beginning. That chapter was a load of fun. Then 16 started, and I read it as it went, and it was annoyingly slow for the first half but picked up near the end. This chapter started, and I wasn't having any fun with it, so I stopped reading. I caught up last week and it was a lot of fun, and it looks like reading the rest of the chapter a page at a time's gonna be a blast too. Might just be coincidence, since the parts I listed as fun to read as they were written just happened to be funny, lighthearted parts, as opposed to serious ones. Oh well, time will tell.

Anyways: Unknown Troper wrote:

I read it as the nod signifying that yes, I am intentionally letting him egg her on. After all, earlier in the chapter (and thus maybe ten minutes ago of in-story time) she told Annie point-blank that she was trying to get her angry to help judge her character.

And I, personally, like Jones. I can't really figure out why some of you guys don't—is it just because she's got an authority and knowledge advantage above Annie, and is not being upfront about everything? Is she being condescending to the main character (oh the horror!)? Certainly it can't be that she's a mysterious and reserved character who clearly has motives beyond those she admits (which Annie spotted dead-on) who does not fall squarely on either side, with a touch of trickster mentor, and is already super-deep despite having only had one chapter of screentime, could it?

Your funny quote here! (Maybe)

What? Who doesn't like Jones? She blocked a sword with her frickin' face! (Plus all the good stuff you mentioned.)

Unknown Troper wrote:

Some of the people on the GC forum distrust Eglamore for exactly that reason. Eglamore! It boggles the mind.

I didn't write any of that.

[392] Mort's getting better.

Also Friday's comic will be a timeskip. I bet it'll either be Jones dismissing the class, or Annie returning to the end of the physics lab.

I didn't write any of that.

Meta4 wrote:

That's not Gunnerkrigg Court, Meta4.

SHIKI is dead.

Link fixed.

Smith seems to be handling the situation quite well.

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?