I’m drawing a blank!
Lottie genuinely has no idea who Beate is. But I am sure that all Solver readers know that “I Accuse” is the expansion of Émile Zola’s “J’Accuse” letter by German author Richard Grelling. It might still have been called “J’Accuse” in the German edition but as literary experts you will forgive me the transposition here. You don’t get these kind of references in [cruelly insert name of other comic here but John do remember to punch up not down so you don’t get cancelled].
Even her “I accuse” falls apart quickly, proving to be no match for the real deal.
Wobbly j’ accuse!
You don’t even get these kinds of references in Wikipedia, which has no page for this book, though it has one for Grelling which mostly just says he wrote this book there is no page for.
!
Theatricality and J’Accusation. Powerful agents, to the uninitiated. But we are initiated, aren’t we Beate?
Beate isn’t nearly as initiated as she thinks she is.
I love how Lottie instinctively grabs and redirects the pointing finger like an action hero.
Pointing finger safety is important. Remember, never let your kids point fingers unsupervised!
And never, EVER point your finger at anything you are not willing to j’accuse!
Don’t tit about with pointing fingers.
ESPECIALLY if you are also on a ladder.
Every finger is loaded, even after you just unloaded it.
Never run while pointing a finger.
It’s clear that Evilottie failed to load her finger in the emotional wave of the situation, and Lottie knew this – Lottie’s finger is always loaded before it’s pointed
“I do not point with my finger. He who points with his finger has forgotten the face of his father. I point with my heart.”
Who’s going to clean up all those fallen letters in panel 7, though? Or are the seagulls going to eat them?
Fortunately, they’re Bio-degradable letters. This is a zero-emissions web-comic.
Please no seagulls! Lottie has enough on her plate with one nemesis to deal with.
The comic title for 23 May looks ominous.
If left undisturbed long enough, perhaps some of them will eventually sprout and grow into diagetic captions.
Eventually the grow randomly into the letters:
SAUCE I C
which will confuse future solvers for decades to come
Now I need to find anagrams for WOBBLY HEAD to figure out what dialog that came from originally.
HOWDY BABEL?
Who be lady B.?
In the last panel Lottie seems about to slap Beate with all her strength. GO LOTTIE, SLAP HER!!! I hope Beate will tell something about the murderer of Miyamoto, probably she was a big fan of him too.
There’s a lot to be said about Miyamoto. He has always been a man of mystery.
Haha! Blank blank blank! So take that Fraulein!
Now I’ll bet she’s going Really Crazy!
What does she mean?
“Doesn’t even know who I am?”
(As good as invisible!)
Oh God. They will switch places, won’t they?
Grelling didn’t go with “Ich Beschuldige!”? Doesn’t flow so well, admittedly, but German rarely lends itself to flowing.
I don’t know if he did, but Alexander Gray (or Hodder & Stoughton) didn’t, in the English version
The German edition is called “J’Accuse (By A German)” – that’s the title of the German edition. The English translation of that is what I posted under the comic. So the translation if J’Accuse by a German is literally I accuse. This is like an exam question. I now wish I hadn’t said anything. I’m going to go and lie down in the graveyard. Time will do the rest.
REF:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/305842662870
The title in the original Deutsch version is: “J’accuse! Von einem Deutschen.”
Which means that “I accuse! By a German” is the full title. And not the translator neglecting to put in the name of the original author, as it looked at first glance (though they certainly did.)
The use of J’accuse! is of course a reference to Zola; but while Grelling was similarly accusatory, he wasn’t accusing about the same thing. Specifically he was accusing the German state of being responsible for the Great War that had just started the previous year (it was published in 1915).
The worms will find me soon
Beate’s weak accusation being so weak that the I ACCUSE literally falls apart in the next panel made me laugh. I always get a kick out of the way you play around with SFX and other narration text like this.
I think the secret is Lottie’s mastery of J’ACCUSE lies in the ability to project it so that it releases all guilt and shame rendering the subject powerless to deflect it. Beate fails in that the only thing she’s accusing Lottie of are only crimes in her delusional minds.
Considering Lottie’s relatively humble beginnings and Beate’s priviledged background, Beate’s accusation in panel 6 is nothing but cheek pure and simple.
Also I’ve been noticing a lot of similarities between Beate and Batman: The Animated Series villain, The Clock King.
https://youtu.be/WGhDjv9TS28?si=lrz3_33IANewLBrh
C’mon, Lottie, didn’t you watch the flashback?
She slept right through it.
come on Beate, this is amateur hour accusing, everyone knows you need to full send it with your entire arm
Give it the beans!
Said a similar thing about an earlier page but that last line from panels 7-8 really does sum up Lottie’s character, especially from these past few years of her life, extremely well.
So much emotion is just blaring out of that last panel. Dang.
I just find myself adoring Lottie so much more here. There’s something about her acknowledging that her life has been insanely adventurous makes her feel so real. Life’s insane, hers particularly, and what else are you gonna do but kick ass in order to live it?
Especially when you really can’t think of anything better to do!
I don’t think it’s just that she can’t think of anything better to do. I think she genuinely feels she’s not qualified to do anything else.
Oh John, this is the second time you’ve taken a dig at [cruelly insert name of other comic here but Dan do remember to punch up not down so you don’t get cancelled].
I’m going to start reading it, just to spite you. [Cruelly insert name of other creative here but Dan do remember to punch up not down so you don’t get cancelled] would never act in this way…
Who else was surprised the universe didn’t explode when they touched?
I have this feeling that one of them should be wearing an eyepatch
I was watching these videos about Batman villains who go to seek revenge and the revengee usually says “who the hell are you?”