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Woo. This is one of those pages that, without context, would make absolutely no sense to a new reader. Or even to a usual reader who's lost the thread.
So, let's review! The local monsters are having it out. Jack the wizard just blasted Mike the vampire out of the picture with a sort of magic overload. Zandra just rescued Jack along with Crystal, and is now rescuing Tomie the Book Woman from the attic of the Pointed House where she had been trapped thanks to its tendency to close itself up after crash landings (because she had tussled with a vampire herself and happened to bust through the window, which was bad because she has a phobia about this place). Meanwhile, Wally the werewolf has excised the claw which belonged to his dead pack-mate which had possessed the body of this poor woman who found it in the woods years and years ago. She's a vampire too, I guess. Somehow. It's complicated. The claw is really upset. It can talk because magic and stuff. Ask Mike Mignola. Monster body parts talk all the time.
Now we're all on the same page. Yes?
Puts "Talk to the hand" in a whole new light; They should put it on a plaque and sell it to the Mystery Spot.
She's got some serious wing-strength if she can carry that many people.
Demon flight isn't based on physics. Or our physics, anyway.
If it were, Zandra would be stuck walking, even without passengers.
Well, since Tomie is probably literally made out of paper and ink, she probably only weighs about as much as a few heavy books anyway.
A pile of books with the volume of a person is pretty hefty.
Feels like things are wrapping up a bit. Now we just need Boo to drop in and ruin everything again.
I mean it would almost have been better if she wasn't.
Imagine being trapped in your own body, fully aware that someone else is in full control.
It sounds like a horrible torture to me.
Hopefully she was in some sort of unconscious state, unaware of anything, and her question is more of an almost automatic "and you" reply instead of an "are you really sure you're okay with these wounds I put on you" type of question.
oh wow for a second i thought wally had repeated the question since the lady seemed so out of it
Good thought. Would be bad to start celebrating, only to find out the bad guys got our favorite rabbit.
Oh dear! If Bloofer has Joe England, I wouldn't know what to do!
I love how you replied to that using a name so close to "Betty"
Didn't Wally used to not be able to shift back to human form until day?
Nah, he can't change during the day, human or otherwise.
Ah, thanks!
Knew there was a restriction about daytime of some sort, but didn't want to dig through the archives to find it.
I really appreciate the fact that the severed paw used the phrase "tricks up my sleeve." It's just one of those type of silly ironies that get me every time.
I kind of like to think of the severed werewolf paw talking via the usual hand-puppet sort of gesture (you know the one--four fingers pressed together, thumb beneath them, opening and closing sort of like like a duck's beak.) (Though on second thought, that would probably be WAY too silly to fit the tone of this scene.)
In any case, I'm glad the poor Berserk-possessed woman is free of him now, albeit disarmed. (Maybe she can grow her arm back, somehow? Or at least get a really cool prosthetic!)
I wonder what he'll do with that paw. Have Zandra immolate it? Bury it so deep no one could ever get to it? Put it behind glass as a conversation piece that also converses? A mystery.
The spirit within the paw has already shown itself malevolent. Simple immolation might just set it free to possess at will, rather than as opportunity allows (its previous state).
"Up my sleeve"
*trombone*
proud of yourself for that one? :P
Ahh, good ol' Mignola. I love the way he has the strangest things casually talk to each other, including body parts.
A nice homage for sure!
Although I'm slightly confused, I'd thought the paw had driven out the woman's spirit completely?
I think she undestands that Wally will not give her a hand.
Idle question that has nothing to do with this page, but came about because I was going through the archives - was Sandra's human hair color retconned in the Subfusc arc or was she always meant to have darker hair that simply wasn't colored in during earlier depictions of her?
She was always brunette. In the old days, y'know, I just kind of took it for granted that hair color didn't actually need to be emphasized. My impression of the medium was simpler back then.
Go fig, I guess. I always assumed she was sandy blonde in contrast to a more strawberry shade for Crystal.
Just curious, chronologically how long has it been since she first got the hand?
But more importantly, the improvement on the art style is just so much more pronounced when looking at the detail of the characters then and now. Have you essentially drawn her how you would have drawn her then?
Well, from what I recall, she and Mike went looking through the woods shortly after the werewolves left, so I'd guess at least a few years by this point.
Oh, I suppose. It's hard to say when comparing how I drew characters years ago with how I draw them now. My work has become more detailed (and, I hope, more sophisticated), so it's a little like elaborating on a stick figure. I draw more into their faces, so when taking on a character I haven't drawn in that long I have to invent parts of them from the ground up.
I really hope Mr. Chalk makes an appearance before the strip finishes.
Seems like everything's starting to wrap up. I wonder, once everyone has a chance to catch their breath, how readily Sandra's former friends are going to really accept her. She's doing a lot of good for them right now, but that came after literally putting them through hell. This might be more like a final penance, a way to make amends before she flies off into the sunset, so to speak.
Also, apropos of almost all the main characters appearing on the same page, I wonder how Sam is doing. Generally speaking, he's the character I worry about the least, so I expect when the group finds him again, he'll be surrounded by a pile of ass-kicked vampires. Ending up as a drained dry rabbit by the vamps would be a little too dark at this point.
This was my first page.
Was sent here ages ago by Black Shirt Boy and didn't have time to read then. Opened up to this page and spent a good bit of the weekend trying to read through till I could make sense of this page. Had gotten so deep that I didn't even recognize the page when I got back to it.
Twisted bit of space you've put together here, thanks for sharing it with us.
You're welcome, Phaineofcatz! Glad to have you with us!
I had a similar experience with CRFH, back in the day. Good times.
Now boarding Air Zandra. Please store your emotional baggage in the overhead compartment.
Please fasten your pages. And also make sure your magic and all mcguffins are in properly controlled and pointed away from the craft.
Hey Joe, what are the chances you'd go back over your early work and make it more in line with your style today (along with links to "this is what it looked like when I first started out")?
Doubtful, I'm afraid. The idea intrigues me, but I've always felt that the work should stand as is.
Yeah don't do that, it never works out well. Do new stuff, do more with the old stuff, but don't retread the path you already trod.
That was the first thought I had. Please don't ask me why. You wouldn't like me when I'm telling why.
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