Book 2 – Page 60

[Dr Pepper]

Ooh, too short. Way way too short!

What scroll is George Harrison holding? I guess amnesia.

Sylvia Scarlett really enjoys her work. But i'm alittle dissapointed that a refreshing chery limeade didn't come with that dragon attack.

Tram's captain ordered the troops to fall back with the unconscious prince, but i think that he himself will try to continue the mission to extract the king-- that being his most recent order.

Yeah-- cue that Benny Hill music!

Hopefully, Maggie will be able to explains things so that Stanley doesn't freak out.

[The Game]

Yknow, the more I think about it, the more I'm sold on the idea that George isn't a part of the defense group, but rather a pawn of Charlie. OH DEAR. But it'd fit- Charlie knows that Parson can enter the MK, he may even know that Parson was going there right now (if you believe the Thinkagram-tapping speculation), and didn't the Thinkamancers turn up in a big group? This guy's (seemingly) alone and hiding riiight behind the GK portal. And for that matter, the group was still on the path when we last saw them, which was mere moments before Parson went through.

/removes hat

I'm with you on this one.

http://www.erfworld.com/2011/03/book-2- ... 3-page-57/
Check out page 57 again, panel 9 and 13. Panel 9 marks the first apprearance of our so-called "Beetle", or should I call him "Bug" since he is clearly bugging GK atm?
Regardless, he might just emerge from that orange portal when we first see him in p.9, and after that he checks out where Sizemore is headed in p. 13.

The great minds arrive at the scene at the page after this one, so I can only conclude that he doesn't belong to that faction..

[mcw0933]

So now you know Stanley's not going to let this go. He's got to be thinking "WTF now?" given the KingWorld surprise from earlier in the turn. And of course he's going to involve himself somehow, and to surprising and comedic effect, but how?

Does he even know Parson's still alive? Does he know his whereabouts? What kind of crazy nonsense could he do to foul up the plan - promote a new warlord, maybe?

[Dr Pepper]

Gah, now the Benny Hill music is stuck in my head in endless loop.

For those who need a refresher, go here.

You're welcome.

[gameboy1234]

He was there before the GMTTA arrived on the scene (see p57) so he isn't likely one of them. He also appeared to be watching Sizemore & Co as they walked by, so it seems like he knew what was up before even Janis did, indicating that isn't a Hippie. Charlie is the only other party, I believe, that could be expecting Parson's arrival.

Wow, nice catch!

Yes, very nice catch by ryanroyce there. I sincerely doubt it's Charlie though. More likely, remembering that Charlie has good relations with the MK, it's a 'mancer hired by Charlie for some purpose. Maybe even to capture Parson and drag him off to Charlescom. We'll have to see if GMtTA can ride to the rescue in time.

[Sygerrik]

I really, really, really hope Tramennis dies.
Why?
Because Slately has the potential to be so much more interesting as a character.

Slately's a guy who had a lot of ideas about the way things were supposed to work. He realized that all of his ideas were wrong and his worldview was toppled. Rather than try to pick up the pieces and go on with life, he wanted to die-- a cowardly escape, in my estimation.
One of the biggest changes he realized was that his son, who he never really respected, was actually a decently competent guy. So he was ready to throw everything into his hands. Losing the son forces Slately to man up and take responsibility. It forces him not to die, but to live, which is much harder. He can't just go out in a blaze of glory, he has to do the much harder (but much more honorable) job of rebuilding his shattered side and living up to the Royal mantle he likes so much. Tramennis proved to him that you don't need Signamancy like Ossomer to be a warlord, you just need to do what has to be done.

Slately's arc could extend for a long way. Tramennis dying forces him along that harder path. It prevents him from taking the coward's way out. For that reason (and maybe just a teensy bit that I don't find Tramennis to be an interesting or compelling character) I really hope he's croaked. I doubt he will be, but I think it would be a very good decision if he was.

[Dr Pepper]

Anyone notice in panel 5, in the panel within a panel the portal door looks like it is turning brown and becoming solid and not portally?

Nope, that's just his cape.

[Waltz]

Well, googling Jeftichew (a carnymancer) yields:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedor_Jeftichew

Look at that first picture on the right! Not the full Sgt. Pepper outfit, but still martial...

[Atomic]

I realize this has not been a good week for the writer, but this update was weak. WEAK! Rather than resolve anything, they just cliffhanged every part of the plot. I would have rather focused on what was happening at Spacerock OR Hamster's 50ft yd dash in the MK. This left me disappointed and knowing that it may be two weeks before this is resolved, (if there is another text update instead of comic) unsatisfied. I kind of want to forget about erfworld for a month or two and then read them back to back for continuity. But every other day, I check back "just in case". Is there any way to speed up the updates? Or maybe a double size update like OOTS does from time to time.

According to a post Rob made a couple of weeks ago (either on Facebook or in the site-news or wherever), the script has already been written up for the next few updates. If you find the tying together of lose-ends to be weak? It's not because Rob's had a bad week; it's because you don't seem to know about literary techniques. Whoops.

The reason everything seemed to be 'cliffhanded' is because Rob wants the story to make sense. When all the (main) characters meet up in a few weeks, would you prefer Parson to say "Okay, we're finally in the big battle...but first, lemme recap everything I had to go through. FLASHBACK."? Of course not. That'd just be silly and would break the flow Rob has been working to create in the comic.

I'm quite positive that if there was a way to speed up the updates, Rob/Xin would be taking every step available to them to do so. Not trying to be rude, but if you're unhappy with the speed of the updates, then maybe coming back in a few months is a good idea. Of course, you still won't be reading 'back-to-back'...the issue definitely won't be in print by August, so there's no judging how much longer we have to go before it wraps up.

P.S. George R.R. Martin is not your bitch....and neither is Rob Balder. Just sayin'.

[Chit Rule Railroad]

Epilectic tree: Jeftichew craves the Arkenhammer (a carnymancy artifact) and is crazy enough to infiltrate GK in an attempt to get it, and he sees this as a fortuitous precedent ("turnabout is fair play"). He's not going to stop Parson; he's going to go through the GK portal veiled, incapacitate Stanley, and become the new Tool in town. Wanda will then see no reason not to found a new side, and Royals vs. Tools adds a layer of Warlords vs. Casters as Rulers.

[TheMutant]

I'm with you on this one.

http://www.erfworld.com/2011/03/book-2- ... 3-page-57/
Check out page 57 again, panel 9 and 13. Panel 9 marks the first apprearance of our so-called "Beetle", or should I call him "Bug" since he is clearly bugging GK atm?
Regardless, he might just emerge from that orange portal when we first see him in p.9, and after that he checks out where Sizemore is headed in p. 13.

The great minds arrive at the scene at the page after this one, so I can only conclude that he doesn't belong to that faction..

Whoa, nice catch on 57, I didn't notice that! But yeah, that's clearly him. Could be he was waiting in Portal Park for the GK portal to appear and then headed over to hide behind it and wait on Parson. If he's working for Charlie, that scroll's likely there to help incapacitate or even capture Parson- let's see if the Great Minds can prevent that, if the Charlie theory is right.

[Balance]

Is it just me, or does George/Jeftichew/whomever seem to be responding to Hamster's comment about the Benny Hill music? It's hard to tell, but he almost looks like he's smirking.

I wondered about that. There's definitely a twitch of the mustache there. Of course, he might just be amused by whatever he's planning to do with that scroll.

[Anias]

Hmm, looks like the dwagons are between the JS troops and the staircase up to the tower...and like all the troops who WERE going to go get Slately are down or pushed back, since they're either by Tramennis or off-panel (plus, there's no one on the staircase, so it looks like no one got past to go drag Slately away). So maybe they retreat with Tram, in order to protect him, maybe they try to fight past Sylvia and her dwagons to get to Slately. My money is on the previously-mentioned option: they retreat with Tram, Slately attacks the air force, croaks (maybe captures?) Ossomer, promotes Tram, Tram escapes and JS keeps on living, Slately croaks (probably due to Sylvia, but possibly Ossomer). I could see an Ossomer-Slately conflict going down, in which Slately tries to capture Ossomer after killing all the archons (somehow), Ossomer near-kills him, but gets dusted (somehow), Slately promotes Tram with dying breath, maybe makes some last comment about his lost sons and how Tram is his best hope for nobility to live on.

[atalex]

I think Stanley's lunch break is now officially over, and Maggie's got some 'splainin' to do! This ought to be interesting (he's in dere base, pwnin dere dudz . . .)

Prediction: That single inset panel with Stanley going "Parson?" is the most important thing that happened in this update. It will cause Stanley to break the suggestion spell Maggie cast on him, and since Duty will prevent her from shoving any backlash onto him, she will take it all and suffer for it. Perhaps fatally.

[Akkristor]

What if this caster, hiding behind GK's portal, is there to go through the portal?

Parson is about to break the "No going through portals you don't own" rule, and it didn't seem that GK's portal room was all that well guarded.

[Akkristor]

Also, i dont think he is one of the GMTTA. He was already on the scene when Sizemore was talking to Janice and Marie. You can see him fairly clearly on page 57, panel 9, and again in the last panel, in which he seems to be watching sizemore.

[wrecan]

I agree with Billiam and Walt (and Ansan) that
A: it's George Harrison (no epaulettes on that cover, wrecan)

There are absolutely epaulettes on Barry Gibb's costume and they look just like the epaulettes in the comic.

I think it's pretty likely that's Jeftichew the Carnymancer.

He's not quite as hairy, but the costuming is eerily similar.

Jeftichew is a congolomeration of the dog-faced boy and Barry Gibbs' portrayal. I don't think he's going to help Parson get by with a little help from his friends. He's more likely to be "Fixing a Hole".

[Zeku]

The funny thing about panel 8, is that very often in those Benny Hill sketches, Benny would see something particularly good happening, (involving a woman) then break the 4th wall with a big grin, which is exactly what this new character is doing. Since it's not Parson himself who is grinning, it seems very likely that this is a bad guy who is about to mess things up.

It's still not clear to me why it matters whether Parson arrives at Jetstone. He'll probably arrive and some plot will happen, but what is he expecting to happen?

[wrecan]

It's still not clear to me why it matters whether Parson arrives at Jetstone. He'll probably arrive and some plot will happen, but what is he expecting to happen?

"I'm not gonna send people into battles I wouldn't fight myself."
He is expecting to risk his lives with his troops. I think it would be deliciously ironic if his Side wins before he gets a chance to arrive only because he is held up in the Magic Kingdom by a little old civil war.

[Roketter]

Parson had no true reason to go into the battle and did so without orders from Stanley. He's a very important unit and it costed a ton of schmuckers to summon him, wich makes risking him now against the whole MK a choice Stanley would definitely not use. Gotti knows perfetly way they aren't down the river of boop anymore and that they can just bombard the tower for maximun damage without even requiring aditional bonuses, wich means they could start decrypting the surviving tower units (Since the tower won't be a zone anymore once it's obliterated) right away wich would cause a full retreat of Jetstone.

I'd say Stanley thinks of Parson as a shameful last resort weapon wich he reserves for when his other plans boop up. If he had the choice, he'd have his way and name wichever warlord he wanted naming Parson only if he felt treathened himself.

Now loosing that weapon into the MK (Did Stanley even knew that Parson could go there without croaking ? Perhaps he thinks he just comitted suicide!) is totally a downer.

If Parson comes out alive from this, there'll be hell to pay.
I predict Stanley will want to keep him in the dungeons from now on, in the interior of a cell only to be talked to when in need of strategic advice.

I'd wager Parson's not gonna be going back into Gobwin Knob anytime soon...