A wider strategy
I’m sure that the decision to exclude* Dean from the circle of trust here won’t be a problem down the line. I’m absolutely positive about this.
*I originally typed this as “explude” which I think might be a powerful new word and potentially very appropriate.
Knowing that characters in this world have returned from the dead before, I am perhaps overconfident about the future of my favourite not-quite-a-couple.
But remember they did eventually return from the dead.
Also I don’t think Evilottie is going to kill them. Not yet . Remember she is a sadist and still has Lottie to torment with hope and demands.
exclude + explode = explude. I approve
Don’t forget extrude which is much nicer than exclude or explode, which includes as it doesn’t explode.
This is a valid expludation of that new word.
Sharper than a serpent’s tooth, this gin will be!
Avoid the power-up. AVOID! Evilottie is really enjoying this night of games. Glenn and Claire really don’t have a good option of Dean. Unfortunately Evilottie knew that, this will be the end for them.
Unfortunately, Claire and Glenn appear to be unaware of the source of their refreshments. It seems Dean hasn’t been entirely forthright, either.
Uh, oh. John’s bolding things in his description. I think by now we all know what that means.
It’s like Kit William’s Masquerade pointing to the golden hare.
“Explude” is a powerful new word. But I bet it’s not in SOWPODS.
It’s also not an anagram of a single word
As a fan of fancy typefaces, I really do appreciate a deluxe P.
How would it score?
EXPLUDE: 1+8+3+1+1+2+1=17
So it slightly edges out HAMPERS (which we saw was 14 points on the previous page’s comments)
‘Explude’ seems an obvious and useful addition to the English language, although I don’t know if I am qualified to use it – I am from Texas, and only speak ‘murkin.
I hope they have some tonic on hand.
Plain gin would have already made Claire and Glemph idiots. I can’t believe they are still upright and using opposable thumbs. Have you ever tried to use a civilian zip tie without any fine motor skills? A flowerpot, cricket bat, candlestick, lead pipe is more operational.
The plan is weak without actual Lottie input and there is no Reverend Penrose type to give a beat(e) down to this Lottie doppelganger.
I don’t think their plan, such as it is, includes *killing* Skelottie.
They need her alive to clear Lottie’s name completely
AND to prove they caught her
tbf, the corpse of someone who has surgically altered their appearance to match Lottie’s would, all on its own, go a long way towards clearing her name, especially when combined with other facts already in evidence.
OTOH, the existence of such a corpse might result in them having to clear their own names.
I would entirely support them using a flowerpot, lead pipe, candlestick, and cricket bat on Evilottie
With Colonel Mustard in the Library. Yes, wrong game, I know.
Uh, where is she in the 4th panel? Based on panel 1, she should have been visible from the kitchen. Perhaps she sat on the couch, perhaps she is snooping?
The toilet
Seeing how she drinks it’s not a surprise.
Had to go, before she expluded. Nice to know she’s not superhuman.
It’s a well-known fact that whenever a character is not visible, they are in the toilet.
Fallon Young has been there for decades now
*expludes*
I really hope Dean dosen’t backslide/spiral over all of this when all’s said and done. I mean Glenn is not wrong: Dean would be a NIGHTMARE to plan with. But it’s still being lied to by the first real friend he’s ever had. He kept people at arms length for so long, where both parties were comfortable.. but he GENINELY seems to like Glenn and Lottie. He’s so happy offering drinks, making japes and even respected personal privacy. He’s TRYING. And I hope that even if he backslides he dosen’t stop entirely after whatever awaits him in this tense finale.
PS: All the praise to you john for making me care about a character I genuinely hated first time reading giant day.
To think we are actually hoping that Dean Winchester will NOT die. The mind boggles! Storytelling master, right here.
Somewhere out there, Esther shudders.
This reminded me just how much I like dean’s writing in this series
Perhaps it’s all a red herring, and Dean has been aware of something amiss all along and has swapped bottles with the DoppelGrote
We know SOMETHING’s goign to happen at that scrabble game. https://badmachinery.com/comic/a-marvellous-ruse/
Dean’s struggle against his own cur nature, and the arc his life has taken post-university, is… recognisable. Relatable, even.
I am wondering, now, if we are to see that watchful eye he claimed to possess, far far back in the pre-Nero days. He’s obtuse, but not without intelligence, and bound to catch on sooner or later. Right?
Just to say, John, I read this page last night, and was tense. I have reread it today, and am even more tense. Waiting for the next page will be tough.
The fact that we’ve rewound a bit from where we were before the flashback adds to the tension. We know SOMETHING bad’s going to happen.
As a dedicated tabletop roleplaying gamer lo these last 45 years, I will be borrowing panel #6 as an out-of-context gag.
Not panel #5?
Whoops! Yes, panel #5, sorry. (That’s what I get for posting before the morning coffee had kicked in.)
If this was Dean in Giant Days, his horrific way of living would’ve killed them before Beate ever could
I thought it might just be a trick of the light on the last page, but it’s clear in the first couple panels here: Nottie’s hands don’t match her face. Or her hands don’t match Lottie’s face, rather.
Her hands don’t match her face is right, John, and I am proud to say I managed to remember this every time I coloured her in (I think).
Just missed this one… https://badmachinery.com/comic/little-computer-words/ nice touch tho
‘Explude’ was the word that gave Dean his group stage loss.
It was vev smart of him to use it
I wonder if the Dean has picked up on the fact that Evilottie’s hands and face don’t quite match
It seems to me that Dean himself is at least slightly suspicious of this particular Lottie
Panel 5 seems to show an unopened 12″ zip tie pack. That will be too small to zip around two ankles or 2 wrists,
So the plan is to zip 2 thumbs or 2 big toes or a big toe and a thumb of an athlete while ginning up enough bravado and fine motor skills to fit the tiny end into the teeny slot. Looks like they practiced the process really well with the zip ties.
I just counted, that number is 5 pixels high. At a certain point you may have to recognise that I am human, therefore fallible, and that this is unworthy of comment.
What’s the total number of hampers we collectively owe you now?
I think at some point soon I will just have to stop reading the comments. It’s possible that reading very close scrutiny of one’s work is not a boon to our old friend “mental health”.
I am genuinely surprised that you’ve kept them on.
I thought that this was part of the plot, that without Charlotte the Claire/Glen “plan” would crumble. This is not a nasty comment, I thought you left clues that disaster was coming, even 5 pixel ones.
I just saw the next comic and the Claire/Glen “plan” just doesn’t work out very well at all.
Keeping Dean out of the loop until now has been their smokescreen, but are they planning to continue to keep Dean in the dark about this Lottie being the Doppelgröte? I doubt any plan to thubdue her would work out well if Dean were to interfere. (OTOH, given what we have seen, it is unlikely things will work out well anyway…)