I’ll have a go!
Little Claire’s father is the fire chief. But we might argue that the true chief of fire is Claire herself.
Yesterday I mentioned a festival in the woods near Bristol that I went to. Although I cannot remember how I got home (passim) I do remember that I got the bonfire going. This was a fluke, because in successive years I shamed myself with my dismal firelighting skills, over and over again. It is only in the last year that I have truly gained a command of phlogiston theory.
I misread that as “Her whole family are ON fire.” I’ll read more slowly next time.
As longtime readers will recall, Claire is into fire in the hope that she may increase her ability to prevent her father, a fire chief, from being on fire.
Is this one of those let’s-go-out-in-the-woods-to-celebrate-primitive-ideas-of-masculinity type festivals? They’re off to a shaky start, letting themselves be upstaged by that slip of a girl arsonist.
Real men support the small arsonist girls who crash their festivals. Perhaps they are all open-minded Nick Offerman types?
All of these bourgeois glampers (glorpers, pan. 2) have facial hair. Glenn gets a stray penmark or two to suggest he’s at least trying.
Ooh, this trip and these glampers are proving to be horrible enablers for Claire. It makes me wonder if she and her family are avatars for some ancient fire deity. As for Glenn/Glym/Glorm/ and now Grengle, I’m sure he can win any contest as long as trampolines are involved.
“If any of you can start a bonfire…” This is Claire’s Moment.
Technically, aren’t the rest of Claire’s family (or at least her father) more ANTI-fire? As in, skilled at putting fires OUT, rather than STARTING them? (Though, if memory serves, her father’s job is directly connected to how Claire became a pyrophile in the first place- fire was going to either terrify her, or the opposite, and we know which she chose…)
Not all pyromaniacs are firefighters, but all firefighters are pyromaniacs. But pyromaniac ≠ arsonist (although they **can** be equal).
When I was an Assistant Scoutmaster, we used to say “Scout” and “pyromaniac” are synonymous.
So Tim’s daughter’s a pyromaniac, as well? That… makes a lot of sense, actually.
How did I forget that Grobe is a kiwi
I feel even more connected to him now
But I suspect that Ygln does not appreciate either his secret’s been told or (more likely) he is painted as more formidable than he actually is. Might affect his seeding in the upcoming contest, and not in a good way.
I THINK Lottie’s assuming that the mention of “fighting in the ring” was a joke.
I think Lottie is only thinking about the burgers and not considering the future implications of her words.
“Loving that Gen X irony” pretty strongly suggests she’s assuming the ring fighting is a joke. And I think she’s assuming that her reply will be taken in the same spirit. Now, whether either of those are *good* assumptions is a very different matter…
Exactly.
Claire is descended from an ancient family of fire elementals.
That face in the blaze behind her makes me think that she *summoned* a fire elemental.
If you recall, there was a face in the fire she made for her, Lottie and Ygln. Seems to be a feature of Claire’s firebuilding.
Having grown up with the tradition of setting fires I would have no trouble with this little side quest. It astonishes me that the following generations are so futile at it.
It is November, so if not for the “ASA Fest” banner, and the cryptic mention of fighting, one might think this was just a Guy Fawkes type of gathering. One guesses these fellows aren’t good at fires for that occasion, either.
phlogisting a dead horse burger to a juicy char.
That guy in the lower right corner of panel 1 with the square glasses looks kinda familiar. John, have we seen him before?
That hair and those glasses made me think of Brian at first, but firelighting guy is too skinny.
Maybe he’s just read all the Steeple comics and decided to style himself after his favourite were-person.
I understand the idea of Steeeple existing as a comic in the Tackleford/ Tredegyn universe is potentially reality breaking. So lets hope firelighting guy is only a single panel cameo and Causality can have a nice sit down and a cup of tea while it enjoys the next few pages.
Panel 6 Claire has reached her apotheosis.
One hopes, anyway.
It looks that way. Is that Arthur Brown singing Fire in the background?
How are they cooking those burgers if they can’t start a fire?
Clean cooking propane and propane accessories
Dang it, Bobby!
So they could light a stick or two in the propane flame and use them to light the bonfire. These guys are camping failures.
You still have to construct the tinder, kindling, and fuel properly to get it light and catch on. There’s an art to it.
Love to see Claire so happy, but the dimension or that bonfire it’s kinda scary. Why they need such a huge amount of fire? What they mean with that “fight in the ring “?
It’s The Wicker Man all over again.
I think the “huge amount of fire” is just the result of Claire’s skill with and love of fire, and has nothing to do with what they need. At least, I hope not.
Surtur gazes upon his priestess…
Am I remembering incorrectly, or did the “Claire the Firebug” storyline end with Ryan pinning the blame for the fires on Marx, a student whom Ryan knew perfectly well did NOT set the fires?
Um. No?
Lottie falsely accused Colm because he accidentally set a tree at her house on fire. After the boys proved that he wasn’t responsible for the barn fires, suspicion reverted to the troll (who I’ve always thought was more of an ogre). Colm, trying to prove that the troll was the firebug, got caught, along with the troll and his fox, in one of the fires that Claire started. The troll went back in to save his fox, Colm went back in to save the troll, but then the troll saved both him and the fox. Claire then falsely accused some unspecified hoodlums from Wendlefield, and the troll, having proven his hatred of fire, joined Chief Little’s department. Colm then figured out that Claire was the firebug, but forgave her because she’s so cute, and kept the secret until “Missing Piece”, where I think him letting that bit of information out got lost in all the other drama. Sonny also figured out that Claire was the firebug, but he had no proof, and no one else believed him.
Ryan was only tangentially involved, and neither Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, nor Karl were involved at all.
Eh, folkloricly, terms like “troll” and “ogre” aren’t nearly as well-defined or mutually exclusive as people nowadays tend to think of them as being.
But I’ll bet that Gummo was behind the whole thing!
So I am indeed remembering incorrectly. Okay. Thank you.
I was just going through the old Bad Machinery looking for something else, and I think I figured out what you weren’t quite remembering. In “The Case of the Good Boy”, which was the one before “Simple Soul” where Claire’s arsonist streak came out, there was a kid named Benny Marks who’d been bullying Jack. At the end of the case, Ryan busted him for it, after Jessica’s friend Sian informed on him, and it came out that Benny was also responsible for the cricket pavilion burning down, because he hadn’t put out his cigarette before tossing it when Ryan and Miss Perks had busted him for smoking earlier in the case.
That’s first-rate detective work.
Claire is in her (Hellenistic) element!
If that’s a nod to the Man from Burning Man in the last panel it is very cool (never been there but understand the allure – I’m so old I’m from the Wicker Man generation).
“Fight in the ring”? That doesn’t sound sinister at all. I wouldn’t worry about that.
Also, that face in the fire with Claire raising her arms in front. It reminds me of that scene in Fantasia, Night on Bald Mountain, where that huge, evil, bat like figure calls up fire from the mountain.
As an Antipodean, Gnarl has a natural advantage at brawling against the pallid, rickety English. Just tell him that he’s on a rugby pitch and watch him go!
If only he was an All-Christchurch Dead Leg Champion instead…
Glenn may well be more fit than most of these guys. All that trampolining!
What does ASA stand for, so many choices, I like:
Alandica Shippung Academy
and
Australian Space Agency
best
Can we vote which abbreviation we like best and John Allison will change the story accordingly?
We *can* vote on *our* favorite. Whether John bends to our will is strictly his call.
I’m proposing Abalone Shucking Association.
I actually looked up ASA on Wikipedia. All sorts of possibilities there. I’m guessing “Association of Social Anthropologists”- organized one-on-one combat seems like the sort of thing they’d study and/or engage in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASA
After reading the article on the Association of Social Anthropologists, I’m even more sure it’s them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Social_Anthropologists
I’m betting we find on or about July 17.
Find out. I left out a word. Curse you, lack of an edit function!
Aw, maaan!
So, bets on whether Clair:
1. Restacked the wood in a way that it caught fire easily.
2. Used her skills and made it work anyway
She’s Claire. That’s the only answer we need.
That she could conjure up a roaring conflagration — with a face in it — in seconds is all you need to know.
3. Is pyrokinetic.
I’m torn between “tossed on the contents of her purse, that being about a gallon of accelerants and a road flare” and “just ignited it with her mind, à la Charlie McGee”.
I’m having trouble deciphering the fiery sound effect. My first guess was FWOOOF, but that last character (or two?) after the third O is eluding me. Is it an F? A P? An e? Some sort of animal or gremlin face with a large ear?
I believe it is “FWOOMF”. With an “M”.
10Q
Pardon me – I dropped an “O”: “FWOOOMF”.
FWOOMF yes
Always love the callbacks to Claire’s days as an arsonist. May her flames of passion never die.
“Phlogiston” does sound better than boring old “carbon-rich”.