A mad idea (WOBBLY HEAD CONCLUDES!)
A Smiffy’s sexy skeleton suit abandoned on the rocks? It could have come from anywhere. Nothing to worry about, I am certain.
This is the end of SOLVER: WOBBLY HEAD, and by association, WICKED THINGS! I did it, I finally tied up something that had been nagging at me for five years. I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I did telling it.
Solver will return in early September with a chapter called “Little Days”. There will be no new pages for the next two weeks, as I am in the process of wrapping up work on SAVAGE SWORD OF SUSAN, which begins here (and will appear in full on my Patreon) on June 23rd. Apologies for the short break but I think you’ll like this next tale. It hits hard. You’ll really feel it in your thews.
This is my shocked, shocked face.
What a wonderful birthday present for me (even if it won’t be my birthday where I am for several hours). A beautiful ending for this story. And we even got to see Lottie quote Isaac Newton.
“No! No, young hiker! Do not pick up that sui – !”
Bless you for your amazing work, forever and ever the end
A bright spot in my life for many years, and the lives of others, I am sure
Also curse you for this mystery ending ????
Heartily seconded !
(Apart from the curses – all the best stories leave a door slightly ajar for a TBC…?)
Not only did nobody die in this story, but the number of people who are dead is now smaller than it was when the story started. (Unless you count Skelottie, who appears to have been destroyed by Beate’s newfound resolve)
“Claire” (with her new haircut) says “death has been the greatest disguise of all” and then looks back at the skeleton suit.
HMMMM.
Beate has a figure that allowed her to pull off a reasonable impersonation of Lottie. I think it would be pretty much impossible for her to disguise herself convincingly as Claire.
Also, I don’t imagine for a second that Lottie could have failed to notice the change of personality once “fake Claire” appeared on stage. And not Glenn either, for that matter.
We have to assume here that Beate Noir found a highly skilled plastic surgeon and a 3D model of Claire’s face at the bottom of the lake.
There’s also the different eye colour. I suppose coloured contact lenses are a thing, though.
And her big bobble. I mean… that has to mean SOMETHING, doesn’t it?
It has been established that Claire likes big bobbles.
While rubbing her hands (gloves) in a villain’s cliché gesture. Curse whoever in this comments gang first floated the idea that “Claire” is now Beate! I can’t stop looking at her that way now!
For years, I’ve been under the impression that Claire’s lisp disappears when she’s at peace with the world OSLT. Like she would APPEAR to be at this moment…
Neither Lottie nor Glenn seem to find it odd that she’s lisping during this noticeably peaceful moment, though, so evidently I was mistaken. Oh well.
Hmm. My impression’s been almost opposite- that Claire’s worked very hard on losing the lisp, but it comes back when she lets her guard down, whether out of excitement or because she’s completely relaxed. Which goes along with what I’ve observed about people in the real world.
I seem to recall John A. saying that the lisp is there, but he only occasionally spells it out in her dialog because otherwise it would get tedious to read.
A Little of both, I think.
So it’s still an open question (that we may or may not ever know the answer to.) She lost the skeleton-suit but kept the pink puffer? Is that a change of heart, or was she just cold after her dip in the water?
I’m interpreting the abandoned skeleton suit as a sign that Beate has now rejected Skelottie for good.
The skeleton suit was (as I interpret it) a symbol of Skelotties’s powerful hold on Beate. That hold ended when Beate refused to refused to murder Claire, and instead pushed Skelottie into the reservoir. The puffer jacket has no such symbolism. It’s just clothing, and probably the only clothing she had on hand at that time. It would have been wet, but she had to wear something.
That WOULD be a change of heart, but even such a rejection might not be forever. The young girl has problems that seek a solution and THAT solution might find her again (but in some modified way, since “she’s learned a lesson” it could just be “a better way?”)
I should ruddy well hope so! We can’t have naked, sodden, half drowned Germans littering the countryside. Think of the poor sheep!
That depends on how waterproof the puffer was. If it wasn’t fully waterproof, then the puffer fluff inside it would have become soaked with water, making it heavy and cumbersome and a hindrance to swimming. A drowning apparatus instead of a warming apparel. So it’d be the very first thing to discard and it’s likely still at the bottom of the reservoir.
Now if it is made of fully waterproof textile, like Lottie’s was (she did comment on its buoyancy back in “ploop” — note that there are sprays you can use to waterproof things) then on the other hand it can serve as some sort of makeshift flotation device.
The abandoned suit, presumably, simply means that Beate is alive. Removing the suit could simply be because it wasn’t a wet-suit, meaning wearing it wet is a good way to acquire a very quick health issue.
It’s placed well away from the water and quite high up on the rocks. She must have been not only alive but mobile enough to carry it there and dump it.
Unless seagulls carried it up there after they’d finished with her.
…or the water level in the reservoir has gone down since the showdown
I hope Beate had a change of clothes stashed nearby. It looks pretty cold around that reservoir!
I have a very strong mental image of Beate walking away drenched and naked, confused and unable to remember what happened since she went on that fateful skiiing trip
No, no! Forget about the puffer coat and common sense underwear, NAKED I say!
(It’s a much more dramatic image that represents her being left with nothing from this episode)
I have a vision of a sheep writing a very angry letter to the Tackleford Cormorant.
I’m sure Mildred would prefer if Lottie left the heels off when standing on the shoulders of giants.
I am very excited for SAVAGE SWORD OF SUSAN.
By Crom, it already sounds like an EPIC Adventure!
Populated by Original Characters NOT owned by… a certain licensing company, who really didn’t have a legal foot to stand on, but lots of lawyers who get paid no matter what.
By Crumb!
I must confess to be rather excited in anticipation of the Savage Sword of Susan. Epics such as these are thew and far between.
John’s version of R. Crumb characters will be amazing
By Crumb? As in Robert?
No, Rye. The tale of an abandoned sandwich, slowly falling apart in the dry desert air…
This was a great story, John! Thanks for doing it, and expanding on/wrapping up Wicked Things.
Also, my thews greatly anticipate the next story.
If they ever cross swords again, at least Beate has Lottie to thank for effectively killing the Skelelottie persona. If Beate is to ever be a worthy foe, she must do so as herself.
Or more accurately Lottie provided the distraction needed for Beate’s persona to regain control.
Thanks John for giving us Lottie and Co’s most epic adventure thus far! I look forward to their next adventure after a long well deserved break. Until then I’m thoroughly looking forward to SAVAGE SWORD OF SUSAN!
Wait- “Little Days”. A bit of wordplay involving Giant Days and Claire, perhaps? Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to it.
Lottie isn’t any taller. So there’s that.
Chibbi Vampirella!
I was thinking of Claire’s last name, not her height.
Isn’t Claire’s last name why the kids in school called her “Little Claire,” in the first place, instead of “Short Claire” or “Elfin Claire” or any number of other alternatives? 🙂
I always though it was because the coincidence of her being rather small and having the surname “Little” was just too good an opportunity for a nickname to pass up.
Also, it’s really heartening to see Lottie expressing gratitude to her friends.
Maybe she’ll start calling Glenn by his actual name next?
(Probably not.)
Is it bad that I’m hoping icy cold waters and possible trip through the dam beat half of skellotie’s face back into Beate and now we can have a proper two face situation. Just slowly introduce Tackleford knockoffs of all of Batman’s rouges.
You can clear those up with cold cream.
Custard is better, you can get a good skin on custard.
I’d have thought that any makeup remover would do the job.
(It makes a pleasant change to see this issue crop up somewhere other than an RPG discussion forum, I must say.)
Roll playing, you say? Does it involve cheeses?
Perhaps the League of Enemies — Archie Stanwyck, Dr. Petrescu, mayoral candidate Bentley Quorn, and evil intern Moon Gibbous (and yes, OF COURSE I had to look that up) — are standing by to fill the villain void.
Along with Benny Marx (HIM I actually remembered) who IIRC took the fall for Claire’s arson spree back in their school days.
And Lottie once said that MOST cryptids don’t hold grudges…implying that there may be a few…
😉
As I recall, the League of Enemies were specifically enemies of Tim Jones.
That wouldn’t prevent them from being (as Fred remarked) knockoffs of Batman’s rogues. He didn’t say anything about WHO such rogues would fight. I could go on at length about the asininity of villains fighting the same heroes again and again — okay, you get out of prison, and right away you seek out THE ONE GUY whom you are ONE HUNDRED PERCENT certain is capable of defeating you — but I won’t. You’re welcome. Besides, Tim is reportedly dead, they can’t be HIS enemies any more, so they might as well be Lottie’s enemies as anyone else’s. Fanatics redouble their effort when they have a new aim. OSLT. 🙂
Benny Marks appeared in “The Case of the Good Boy”, the case before “Simple Soul” where Claire was first introduced and went on her arson spree. He’d been bullying Jack, and went down when Jessica’s friend Sian ratted him out to Ryan (as seen here). It turned out that he was also responsible for inadvertently burning down the cricket pavilion earlier in the case through careless disposal of a cigarette to avoid being caught smoking by Ryan and Miss Perks.
Claire pinned the blame for her arson spree on “thome hoodlums”, likely from Wendlefield. No actual persons were harmed, except maybe Wendlefield, and really, who cares about Wendlefield? (Link to that strip in my name, because if I put a second link in the post body, it’ll get kicked to moderation.)
OH NO THOSE ROCKS ARE DISGUISING THEMSELVES AS LOTTIE
The Skelottie suit is giving me Venom vibes.
My thews had better ripple, that’s all I’m saying
Well there’s no thews like good thews.
WILL WE EVER SEE WHICH TATTOO LOTTIE GOT
I’m sure John has a long-term plan for that.
thews = Conan’s return?
Surely Kunan or come other barbaric moniker. No need to use Arthur Doyle’s middle name.
Thews = Susan’s ascension
Maybe there’s hope yet that Skelottie will reunite with her beloved giant seagull
Context:
https://badmachinery.com/comic/gull-luv/
No bitterness over the jail time though, eh?
Her jail time was BEFORE Miyamoto’s apparent death. Presumably, the attack and the coma were real, it was only the death- which occurred right after he cleared Lottie- that was faked. At least, that’s my guess.
My understanding was that the initial attack and coma were real, and that Miyamoto then chose to fake his death and go into hiding, presumably because he feared there might be another attack.
Looks like there are numerous possibilities for a skeleton suit from Smiffy’s that would look like that.
https://www.smiffys.com/products/skeleton-print-bodysuit
https://www.smiffys.com/products/fever-miss-whiplash-skeleton-costume-catsuit
I think this story will become a fans favourite. Not only because is very good or because it close Wivked Things. But because it gave to us Skelottie, Lottie’s evil nemesis and the poor victim of her own mind/some mysterious spirit. Our favourite trio has to be prepared, she will return! But for now my biggest question is about Lottie’s tattoo. What is it?
If I start gushing about everything I love about this page and the previous page and the whole story we’ll be here all day. So I’ll just focus on one thing I haven’t mentioned before: the marvellous sense of place in both the artwork and the story: that lodge in the Alps, the dam and the countryside at Wobbly Head, the bookstore/coffee shop… they all felt so very real, and I finished reading this one suffused in the very pleasant afterglow of having experienced a superb travelogue (plus a cracking good story).
Whoops, late to the party. Congratulations on finishing Wobbly Head! I’m so happy to see everyone is alright, although we’ll see about Beate… :+
Looking forward to the next adventure, as always 🙂
Well worth the wait for the end of the Wicked Things story. Very much looking forward to what’s next!