Book 2 – Page 94

[cloudbreaker]

Man, talk about a cliffhanger...

My guess is that Jojo is going with Parson. Then he'll be able to "keep an eye on Parson." Plus, then he'll get to see Sylvia again. I have a feeling that will matter.

Can't wait for the next one in two weeks.

[0beron]

Just to follow-up with an earlier comment, Jack is DEFINITELY gone. We see every possible angle, and he never shows up on this page. And I seriously doubt that it is artist error haha, given he's a main character, and he is mentioned (indirectly) by Issac. I know Xin isn't feeling her best, but Rob would have caught that if she forgot Jack.

[Whispri]

Veiled? Retreated? Could be either really. If the drained of juice thing wasn't a lie, would he have a reason to stay?

Well like I said, [Wanda] has her orders and if things get as chaotic as they look to be getting, punching through [the portal, against Thinkamancer orders] is better than doubling back.

Agreed, it just would make things worse on the diplomacy/MK-relations side of things. And Marie's confidence that Parson will be ok if he waits just a moment suggest to me that things won't get chaotic enough for Wanda to go through of her own accord.

How can Magick Kingdom relations get any worse than they already are? As for Parson being all right, that just means he won't get shot to death. Point is, she's stacked with Parson, is a Caster of Gobwin Knob, is wielding an Arkentool and is a Croakamancer. It's suicide for her not to go through that portal. What other choice does she have? Leg it over land? Dodge those Casters in the tunnel and hope no one blasts her at the the other end?

[zuche]

I can see why it would be a difficult page to produce. There's a lot of tension that has to be carried for so long. It tempts me to ask for a hitatus of a dozen strips that could be dedicated to a pie fight between mathemancers. The dragging minutes might frustrate readers, but I'd rather be the reader than the illustrator.

Loved that first line from Parson. Love that we don't know exactly what was said to JoJo. And "No spoilahs," fascinates me, because it's a usually a considerate thing to say. Here, it just makes me wish Marie could suffer (literally and figuratively) through a long bout of uncertainty.

This is the kind of thing that a DM would say to preserve their story, that would make a reasonable person just quit that gaming group and go find a DM who makes sense.

Don't equate reason with taste.

[cheeseaholic]

Just to follow-up with an earlier comment, Jack is DEFINITELY gone. We see every possible angle, and he never shows up on this page. And I seriously doubt that it is artist error haha, given he's a main character, and he is mentioned (indirectly) by Issac. I know Xin isn't feeling her best, but Rob would have caught that if she forgot Jack.

I wonder if that's him standing between Marie and Parson.

>_>

[0beron]

It's suicide for [Wanda] not to go through that portal. What other choice does she have? Leg it over land? Dodge those Casters in the tunnel and hope no one blasts her at the the other end?

1) There are no enemy casters in the tunnel
2) Who ever said she's gonna be blasted anyway!? I think that it's a substantial jump to go from "preventing a side form using portals offensively" to "killing a caster associated with the side who broke that rule." We pretty clearly see that the Great Minds functionally OWN the MK. If they say this is going to be the deal, nobody besides the carnies are going to defy it. They may object and argue about it, but they're not going to take action as big as killing Wanda.

[0beron]

I wonder if that's [Jack] standing between Marie and Parson.

[whops, misread Marie as Maggie. Either way, nobody is between them either]
The old granny Predictamancer, Wanda, Marie, and the groundhog Predictamancer are standing in front of Parson, in that order from one side to the other.

[Sojiko]

Hehe, the Airbender in the background ...


Also I'm pretty sure our favorite carnimancer is receiving orders from Charlie to allow Parson to cross the portal.

[gameboy1234]

I wonder if the chief Thinkamancer of Great Minds is under the influence of Charile. That declaration that only Parson could pass through is a little too convenient.

[teratorn]

Without Wanda Parson is booped, even if he manages to win the fight, he can't defend the place from Charlie, he's to heavy to fly back, and on the ground he'll be an easy pick. The predictamancers don't seem worried though, so I guess Jack will make his thing.

[cheeseaholic]

I wonder if that's [Jack] standing between Marie and Parson.

[whops, misread Marie as Maggie. Either way, nobody is between them either]
The old granny Predictamancer, Wanda, Marie, and the groundhog Predictamancer are standing in front of Parson, in that order from one side to the other.

Just because Jack said that he's out of juice doesn't mean that he's out of juice.

[0beron]

....not sure why you quoted me haha, cus it sounds like ur agreeing with me haha (I'm used to people quoting ebcause they are arguing against something.

[No one in particular]

Bwa ha ha ha! Okay, hear me out:

Jojo: We need to pass the potato like he's hot! Let him through!
Parson: WTF? You changed your mind. IT'S A TRAP!
Other casters: Grrr!
Parson: Forget it, I'm going home. *goes back through GK's portal*
Charlie/Jojo: Well... boop.
Predictamancer: See?! The thinkamancers reached a deal, and Parson went through the portal! I didn't say WHICH portal, did I? HA! Called it.

Hilarious.

[cheeseaholic]

I'm thinking that Wanda is Jack here so that she can try to sneak into the portal with Parson. Don't know who Wanda would be, but it would be someone who nobody else would mind going near the portal.

[pendell]

Parson: "Keep digging. There's a but in there somewhere."

BRILLIANT!

Also ... I saw the note about production problems. Please accept prayers for Xin . It's never fun to go through this sort of thing.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[elynne]

Broom Hilda, a comic strip witch. Last panel contains Aang the avatar, the person with the bunny ears and the weird face in panel 3 needs identification...

http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/characters/ Saturday, from Cucumber Quest (slightly more than halfway down the page).

... yes I registered here just to say that.

[Chadim]

Last time I could see Jack was on page 90, right behind parson in front of sizemore. He is definitely no longer there, although sizemore,
Ianis and the guy with the big red hat are, exactly as in 90. So, I would say he is, indeed, up to something. Note that the first shot were
we should be able to see him is after the announcement that no other caster will be allowed through.

My bet is still on Wanda and Jack going through the portal with parson.

[kefkakrazy]

...I guess that means you don't read Girl Genius.

To be fair, while Girl Genius does really crawl at times (especially back during the arc inside the castle!), they also manage to keep to a rock-solid three-per-week update schedule. I think Erfworld's historically rocky update schedule has worked to really compound a lot of frustration here, even though Rob and Xin have been *really* good about the two-per-week schedule.

Note that I'm not saying the delays are not understandable. The stuff that Xin is going through is unbelievably crappy and she's the comic's sole artist; GG has a professional colorist, while attempts to procure such for Erfworld fell through, and both of the Foglios are long-time professional artists to boot.

As much as I hate to say it, it feels like Book 0 has also contributed a lot to the feel of crawling storyline. Book 0 is really fun to read, though, so most of us are willing to forgive that, I imagine.

This comic is really fairly interesting. I'm waiting for something really decisive to happen; either Jojo just received a bombshell in the form of surprise orders from Charlie (such as "let them all through") or we're going to see some other really interesting stuff.

Maybe Jojo just got word that Sylvia is in Jetstone? If he has a thing for her, that may well be enough for him to back off and hose Charlie on this deal in order to keep her from getting dusted.

[Shai_hulud]

We pretty clearly see that the Great Minds functionally OWN the MK. If they say this is going to be the deal, nobody besides the carnies are going to defy it. They may object and argue about it, but they're not going to take action as big as killing Wanda.

It's like you're not even reading the same comic as the one that is up.

Attempting that is an act of war. We don't need an enforcement council; we will answer in kind!

Seriously, are you secretly a troll?

[Whispri]

It's suicide for [Wanda] not to go through that portal. What other choice does she have? Leg it over land? Dodge those Casters in the tunnel and hope no one blasts her at the the other end?

1) There are no enemy casters in the tunnel
2) Who ever said she's gonna be blasted anyway!? I think that it's a substantial jump to go from "preventing a side form using portals offensively" to "killing a caster associated with the side who broke that rule." We pretty clearly see that the Great Minds functionally OWN the MK. If they say this is going to be the deal, nobody besides the carnies are going to defy it. They may object and argue about it, but they're not going to take action as big as killing Wanda.

1) Even if you're right (and she'd be doomed if you're wrong), they can follow her down. Or enter the tunnel from the Gobwin Knob end. Or as I noted, pick her off at the other end.
2) Well Jack did for a start, he was taunting her about it back in part 2, it was when she was talking agbout how they'd won 'cause they held the portal chamber iirc. Sizemore's been beaten up just for being part of Gobwin Knob as mentioned in an early LIAB text update. And to repeat myself: 'Point is, she's stacked with Parson, is a Caster of Gobwin Knob, is wielding an Arkentool and is a Croakamancer.' Any one of those reasons would be an excuse for the Casters to murder her once the shooting's started, the Arkentool thing could easily be enough even without Parson being on the scene. As for the idea that the Thinkamancers rule the Magick Kingdom, I just don't see how you can possibly reach that conclusion from this update, or any of the others dedicated to the portal stand off.