Actually no, don’t worry
Dead Hugo with his taped on wig falling off is quite a visceral image in my catalogue though obviously it is not grisly in the sense that, say, the film “Re-Animator” is grisly. But tonally this is a bit of an outlier. It’s incredibly cartoony but I don’t really like violence – ever more so as I get older – which sometimes blunts the things that might make my comics punchier. That aside I still think this page is very funny and I love Lottie’s opprobrium. Her belief in her authority was my attempt to recreate the black and white way many young people see the world. Very clear rights and wrongs.
It was Michael Flatley, in the bedroom, with a shillelagh.
I dunno. Maybe it was probably this guy…
https://youtu.be/ajEOZ4tBqjQ?si=n8nCDrgwAsGoVmbi
With that setup I thought the link would me more like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzjN4tCnF3g
Unfortunately Hugo had kind of had it coming with all those off-color jokes about the Irish at the last publication gala.
Lottie is a child detective, and everyone else in the room is an adult. By all genre rules and regulations, she is the only competent person present.
By all appearances, too.
Indeed, at her age, she takes seeing a naked gorey corpse surprisingly well.
The old “worst day in the world out of the way early” strikes again. It’s not that she’s impervious to trauma, more that the bar has already been set pretty high.
IIRC, she addresses that later in the story,
Drugs on floor?
There do seem to be some capsules there, yes. Maybe they were just taking fish oil.
Maybe they were eating peanuts and he died from his allergies?
The blood is just accidentally spilt red herring…
Bits of wig tape on the floor. Drugs? Never!
There are even worse ways to be found dead. I expect to be found dead on the toilet. I am already deeply ashamed ahead of time.
Same.
Murdered by Riverdance is definitely one of my all-time favorite Lottie lines.
I have long advocated for my death to be riding a motorcycle off a cliff and detonating a crown of dynamite sticks around my head in mid air.
However the older I get the less appeal this has for me.
I know a Vespa that might arrange that for you…
If I have to die, I’ve always wanted the method to be something that requires the IAU to name the resulting crater.
I think that’s reasonable. How you’re going to get there may be an issue.
Oh, the wig… It certainly adds to the dramatics.
Panel 4 and the extreme closeup is a preview of adult Lottie. Very much a look in character for her later self.
Also hoodie drawstrings are minor detail that John has an incredible talent for. Not just the width, you can see the flat oval cross section. Most cartoonists would only give us enough of a line to suggest it.
Mmh – Glen (on the ferry in Hull Or High Water) and Blossom (Christmas Special) had Hoodies without drawstrings, though the eyelets were deliberately shown. 🤔
Glen just pulled it right through and lost it. Blossom removed it to make a statement.
You can really feel that wig flopping about. It makes ol’ corpsy very human and sad, perhaps more naked then if he was completely in the buff, even.
This page would have be 7000% gorier if the blood on Minty’s hands made it to her face, so I’m lowkey fine without it
The blood on Minty’s hands (panel 2 and preceding strip) seems to have completely disappeared by panel 5. She had no time to lick it off.
Lottie’s hoodie is very clear about that, too.
The heart surgery scar is a nice touch. too much indulgence in every way
Perhaps Hugo is actually a stuffed toy.
That would be advantageous for a children’s author.
In panel 5, is that an another wig modestly hidden under the white sheet bottom left?
Why is my GRAVATAR blank?
OK now it is not.
I always knew those dancers looked sinister.
Fishnet hosiery seems to be part of Judy’s… nightwear.
Snap – mine too!
It rose-tints her world, keeps her safe from the trouble and pain.
I just realized, while there’s bits and pieces of this story that I remember, like Shelley’s admonition not to wink at any boy pandas, Lottie’s murder board and her explanation of why she’s unfazed by a bloody naked corpse, I don’t remember who the killer is.
I recall this page from the first time around. Echoes of Marat in his bathtub.
Lottie in the final panel is a nice mirror to the Des “Support my comics on Patreon” right below her (on my display, at least)