Read transcripts of this page in different languages:

Comic Transcripts

RUTE 1

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

HVA SÅ, FØLER DU DEG LITT…OND, NÅ?

(cont.)

VEIER TING LITT TUNGT PÅ SKULDRENE DINE?

RUTE 2

ANNIHILATOR

JEG ER MANGE TING, MEN JA, JEG LIKER Å TRO AT JEG IKKE ER EN OND MANN…

RUTE 3

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

KJÆRE DEG, SELVFØLGELIG ER DU IKKE DET!

(cont.)

SELVE DEFINISJONEN AV “OND” HAR ALDRI VÆRT MER ENN PROPAGANDA, “MARKEDSFØRING” VILLE DU KANSKJE SAGT, SKAPT AV SMÅ MENN MED MAKT FOR Å HOLDE STYR PÅ DE IGNORANTE MASSENE.

RUTE 4

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

JEG HAR LEVD I OVER 6000 ÅR, OG JEG KAN LOVE DEG AT DET SOM BLE ANSETT FOR Å VÆRE “GODT” DA JEG VAR PÅ DIN UNGE ALDER VILLE HA GJORT DEG MYE MER KVALM ENN DET DU GJØR HER OG NÅ.

RUTE 5

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

HVIS VI GJØR INGENTING, HVIS VI VENTER TIL VEGGENE RIVES OPP, VIL DET VÆRE FOR SENT.

(cont.)

DU VET DETTE.

RUTE 6

ANNIHILATOR

JA, JA. JEG ER ENIG I AT NOE MÅ GJØRES.

(cont.)

MEN DU HAR SAGT SELV AT DÉT UHELDIGE UTFALLET KAN VÆRE FLERE ÅR UNNA!

RUTE 7

ANNIHILATOR

VI BEGYNTE Å GÅ DENNE VEIEN FOR OVER ET HALVT TIÅR SIDEN, DA VI MÅTTE JOBBE ALENE.

(cont.)

MEN KANSKJE TING ER ANNERLEDES NÅ…

Liked it? Take a second to support Froya H on Patreon!

PANEL 1

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

JA UND, WAS, JETZT FÜHLST DU DICH EIN WENIG … BÖSE?

(weiter)

DRÜCKT DER SCHWARZE HUT EIN WENIG SCHWER AUF DEIN HAUPT?

PANEL 2

ANNIHILATOR

ICH MAG VIELE DINGE SEIN, ABER, JA, ICH HALTE MICH NICHT FÜR EINEN BÖSEN MENSCHEN…

PANEL 3

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

OH, LIEBLING, NATÜRLICH BIST DU DAS NICHT!

(weiter)

DIE DEFINITION VON “BÖSE” ALLEIN WAR SCHON IMMER WENIG MEHR ALS REINE PROPAGANDA, “MARKETING”, WIE DU ES NENNEN WÜRDEST, GESCHAFFEN VON NIEDEREN MENSCHEN IN MACHTPOSITIONEN, UM DIE UNWISSENDEN MASSEN UNTER IHRER KONTROLLE ZU HALTEN.

PANEL 4

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

ICH LEBE SEIT MEHR ALS 6000 JAHREN UND ICH GARANTIERE DIR DASS DAS, WAS ALS „GUT“ GALT, ALS ICH IN DEINEM ZARTEN ALTER WAR, DIR DEN MAGEN WEIT SCHLIMMER UMDREHEN WÜRDE ALS DAS, WAS DU HIER UND HEUTE TUST.

PANEL 5

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

WENN WIR NICHTS TUN, WENN WIR WARTEN, BIS DIE MAUERN AUFGERISSEN WERDEN, WIRD ES ZU SPÄT SEIN.

(weiter)

DU WEIßT DAS.

PANEL 6

ANNIHILATOR

JA, JA. ICH STIMME DIR ZU, ETWAS MUSS GETAN WERDEN.

(weiter)

ABER DU HAST SELBST GESAGT, DASS DIESES UNGLÜCKLICHE ERGEBNIS NOCH JAHRE ENTFERNT SEIN KÖNNTE!

PANEL 7

ANNIHILATOR

WIR HABEN DIESEN WEG VOR ÜBER EINER HALBEN DEKADE EINGESCHLAGEN, ALS WIR ALLEINE AGIEREN MUSSTEN.

(weiter)

ABER JETZT LIEGEN DIE DINGE VIELLEICHT ANDERS…

Liked it? Take a second to support purplefoxglove on Patreon!

PANEL 1

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

AND SO, WHAT, YOU’RE NOW FEELING A BIT … EVIL?

IS THE BLACK HAT SUDDENLY RESTING A BIT HEAVY ON YOUR BROW?

PANEL 2

ANNIHILATOR

I MAY BE A GREAT MANY THINGS, BUT YES, I WOULD LIKE TO THINK I AM NOT AN EVIL MAN…

PANEL 3

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

OH, DARLING, OF COURSE YOU AREN’T!

THE VERY DEFINITION OF “EVIL” HAS ALWAYS BEEN LITTLE MORE THAN PROPAGANDA, “MARKETING” AS YOU MIGHT SAY, CREATED BY SMALL MEN IN POWER TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OVER IGNORANT MASSES.

PANEL 4

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

I HAVE LIVED FOR OVER 6000 YEARS AND I PROMISE YOU THAT WHAT WAS CONSIDERED “GOOD” BACK WHEN I WAS YOUR TENDER AGE WOULD TURN YOUR STOMACH FAR MORE THAN WHAT YOU ARE DOING HERE AND NOW.

PANEL 5

TWO SHOT, FOCUS ON THE PLATINUM PRIESTESS.

PLATINUM PRIESTESS

IF WE DO NOTHING, IF WE WAIT UNTIL THE WALLS ARE TORN OPEN, IT WILL BE TOO LATE.

YOU KNOW THIS.

PANEL 6

ANNIHILATOR

YES, YES. I AGREE, SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

BUT YOU’VE SAID YOURSELF THAT UNHAPPY OUTCOME COULD BE YEARS AWAY!

PANEL 7

ANNIHILATOR

WE STARTED DOWN THIS PATH OVER HALF A DECADE AGO, WHEN WE HAD TO ACT ALONE.

BUT PERHAPS NOW, THINGS MIGHT BE DIFFERENT…

Liked it? Take a second to support Alex Woolfson on Patreon!

You must be logged in to transcribe.

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy Chapter Three—Page 50

August 8, 2014 Alex Woolfson 513 Comments

Something tells me that The Platinum Priestess isn’t all that impressed with the whole “morality” thing…

We had our fifty-sixth bonus page in a row on Wednesday and then y’all tipped the donation bar past its target yet again! That means that thanks to your generous donations, and in addition to our regular Saturday updates, and bonus pages on Wednesday, August 13th (page 51!), Wednesday, August 20th (page 53!), Wednesday, August, 27th (page 55!), Wednesday, September 3rd (page 57!), Wednesday, September 10th (page 59!), and on Wednesday, September 17th (page 61!), there will now be an additional bonus page (page 63!) on Wednesday, September 24th! You all ROCK SO MUCH! 🙂

Special thanks go out to long-time supporter Saxon B. (who makes their 103rd generous donation to The Young Protectors!) for their generous donation over the last few days!

Big hugs go out to long-time friends of The Young Protectors Marc B., & Robert B. for their super-generous $25 donations! And this makes Marc’s fourteenth, & Robert’s seventy-ninth super-generous donations to this comic!

Superhero-strength hugs go out to long-time super-friends Kayleigh H. for their amazingly generous $50 donation and Christopher D. for their amazingly generous $80 donation. And this makes Kayleigh’s eighth & Christopher’s ninety-second amazingly generous donations to this comic!

And finally, ZOMG!, mondo warm hugs and very grateful bows go out to new mega-friend of The Young Protectors cynthia m. for their stunningly generous $100 donation! Thank you so, so much, cynthia! You are a SUPER-HERO! 😀

Thank you all so much for your generous support!

So! We’re back to “Darling”, are we? And we got a bunch of revelations. We just learned that The Platinum Priestess is a total cougar — RAWR. Oh, and also, apparently, the “walls” (whatever those are) are in danger of being “torn open” (whatever that involves) and for some reason that will make The Annihilator “unhappy” (or at least create an “unhappy outcome”, whatever that means. Is that like better than a “bummed out” outcome but not as bad as a “OMG! Lord have mercy!” outcome? Why can’t these two talk like normal people?!) Finally, what’s this about things being “different” so they don’t have to act alone? Has The Annihilator joined a glee club or something? (You know, for “happy” outcomes? Get it? “Glee”? “Happy”? Anyone? Ah… just me then… Gosh darn it, these parentheticals can really leave you out in the cold! Like igloo walls, they are… Hmm. Wait. Could The Platinum Priestess be talking about igloo walls? Can radioactive goats escape from igloo walls? Are the Inuit peoples actually the ones behind all the things?! Is there anything that can’t be included between a set of parentheses?)

Tune in this Wednesday to find out! Hope to see you there! 😀

Liked it? Take a second to support Alex Woolfson on Patreon!

513 Comments

Bad girl! Bad girl! What-cha going to do when the devils come for you?

Uuh.. someone came from behind in a sneaky way 😉

See Danish… @davefragments:disqus was just entering his home-office with a refreshed libation and suddenly tripped on the spare battery for his positron collider. As he grabbed for the nearest chair, it tipped over and hit the desk causing it to shake and his prize model plane (a perfect reproduction of the 1942, Bell P-63 Kingcobra bomber) to tip over with the nose of the model-plane hitting the keyboard JUUUST so… thus the virgin was captured. Actually it was a lot like some your miraculous Virgin captures. Just meant to be, I guess.

Don’t worry, this will give you time to finish your remodel and add that extra room for all your virgins. 🙂

It’s only the second one. . .

Damn you, LOL. You nearly had me choking on my food XD

He doesn’t know how “exciting” my bedroom is with me, lying on my side typing away and the TV being ignored. My “camping” is waiting for a particular thing to happen so I can fall asleep.

Cut a deal with them – they’ve already done that.

Holy Crap >.> .. and oh the irony.

Feeling just a bit evil? Wait, what?

Anddddd I didn’t get the virgin – oh well – NEW PAGE!!!

Away action!

But Mom!!!! Can’t we do this later? I wanna go out and play!!! I promise I will do my homework later!

Oh yay. I was hoping for early and AW doth make it so. Thanks guys… now off to soak up the new goodies. 🙂

6000 years old? Okay then, she just might know what she’s doing.

Pfffffft

Age =/= Having a single clue about anything

Well I think her age has possibly made her a little sloppy

Not to mention – things will have changed a great deal – I mean. She may have been kick-ass two or three thousand years ago – but think about grandparents, technology and the local five year old…

Who needs technology when you have magic! 🙂

Technopagans.

Not to mention -kinda thinking that if we relate magic as the “technology” here and Sircea as the “grandparent” – then you’ve got Spooky being the five year old…

I have a feeling Sircea doesn’t think too highly of any modern magic users.

Highly? No – but pride cometh before the fall.

If you’re under 4,000 then you’re just a punk kid as far as Sircea is concerned. Oh, and when she remarked on Kyle being a young child, before sending them to Hong Kong…

http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/archive/ete-ch1-page-20/

I think she pretty much had perspective on “young.” Wow.

To her Kyle would still be an unhatched egg.

Indeed… but a really cute one.

Of course now I’m seeing a little egg with a tuft of red hair on the top of the shell.

Well, yes and no. I don’t doubt she’s extremely capable, and her general attitude makes a lot more sense now that we know she’s been around for a few millennia, but I agree with AJ that she might be so comfortable in her power and knowledge that she’s not approaching this particular situation as cautiously as she should be.

And I worry that she isn’t going to be thrilled with the idea of working with anyone else to solve this problem now that they’ve gotten this far. I smell incoming conflict.

That sounds pretty ON. I don’t think she “plays well with others.” Hmmmmm…

I don’t get that sense, either. Especially if she’s taken a liking to Duncan, she might resent the implication that someone else could be as useful as she is. If anything is going to drive a wedge between these two, I think that might be it.

I think she might have the credentials, yes. But that only means when she has her downfall, it will be spectacular.

True. Very very true. Fireworks and everything.

noooo 🙁

Oki.. twins, or even siblings, is off the table 😉

Great-great-great-great-great-great-87-different-generations-removed-great-great-aunt?

Unavoidable. If you go back far enough, we are all related.

There is still the mother theory

HA! Nailed it with the breaking dimension walls… but not sure I like that I was right >.>

quote: “But perhaps now things might be different”

Think of what might have changed his mind. . .

Well – who can truly resist a redhead?

Not me, that’s for certain.

So, I think it pretty safe to say that PP is not doing this for immortality.

You really sure about that? She could have found ways to prolong her life by sapping it from others or found a spell that slows down her ageing. There could be something similar to what the Time Lords do that she is using.
And even if she truely would not need immortality from Laampros because she could live indefinitly without it she might be fed up with all the hassle her method of staying alive is giving her.

Wow. Perfect time for me to show up, it seems. It strikes me that Duncan is very unimpressed in the third panel.

Question though. Duncan bargained for eternal youth for both himself and Sircea from Laampros – see http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/archive/ete-ch2-page-40/ – but if Sircea is 6000 years old, why should she require eternal youth? She seems to be immortal already (or very long-lived), and her body, at least, appears to be held at a much younger biological age than her temporal age.

perhaps that’s why Laampros insulted her when Duncan was making the bargain? Perhaps Laampros knows who she is and was expecting Duncan? Perhaps there is a double-cross?

Yup. I was thinking along the same lines.

Perhaps; Laampros doesn’t seem like the type to fret over insulting others, particularly humans. And we already suspect that Duncan and Sircea will double cross Laampros – is that what you mean?

One of the possibilities of all those “perhaps” is that Sircea and Laampros double-cross Duncan.

I understand you now. I can definitely see that, and her pulling a fast one on Duncan with Laampros’ prior knowledge might cause Laampros to call her a witch as a sort of backhanded compliment. But I can also see Sircea double crossing (or attempting to double cross) everyone involved.

It’s all speculation about what is going to happen.

True. But speculation is half the fun. 🙂

He was expecting Duncan. Or at least Duncan expected to be expected. That is one of the first things he says to Laampros.

Maybe being immortal would be less work than constantly staving off your mortality.

That’s a good point – how much effort on her part does it require for her to maintain a youthful body?

He does look unimpressed, oh man — I’m laughing now. His expression is just, “…Can you not with the things you’re saying and the touching.”

His face and your comment both cracked me up. xD

There is always a catch to longer life / eternal youth and perhaps the source of that power is running out… or this is just an easier way of continuing to live longer than whatever the cost is 😉

Hmm. I can definitely see Sircea as the sort to sacrifice whatever necessary in order to hold onto her power… I suspect that she would find it preferable to be mortal and powerful to immortal and powerless.

Over 6000 what now? Some of you predicted it, but I audibly gasped! No wonder she considers immortality a “fringe benefit,” although I wonder if she’s just aged extremely gradually or if something happened to fix her appearance at its current (lovely, lovely) state.

Huh! I’m glad I was on the right track with the disintegrating barriers thing. I’m going to have to walk around for a while and process this. Thank you so much for the page, guys!

(Also: could Sircea be any hotter in that first panel? I kind of doubt it. I can’t help it, I love the sass. I love her. This page makes me so happy in a variety of ways, ahh! And I haven’t even gotten to the last panel yet — best case scenario could still be in play, wherein they team up with the Protectors to do whatever needs to be done.)

I thought you might enjoy this The Platinum Priestess moment…

More to come… 😀

I don’t know what you’re plotting for later on, but right now you’re an angel. ♥

Oh, she’s just getting warmed up.

I made a guess that maybe Kyle saves her from being roast in a blast of fire from Laampros in the comments on page 49. IT would be an interesting plot device.

Somehow I’m predicting…a very diminished sense of empathy after seeing many generations of people live and die, civilizations fall, etc, and an even more diminished sense of morality. But I said I liked ruthlessness — I wasn’t lying.

I had a moment where I was wondering what would happen, if Sircea gets sucked back with Laampros… you know if he gets sent home… you know just desserts and all that.

But then, I thought they might make a very compatible and scary couple (which ((of course)) would provide ((Alex)) with a wonderful sequel opportunity, when Sircea and Laampros invite The Young Protectors to their wedding.)

*alex is right… this whole parenthetical thing is complicated.*

*eye twitch* Laampros needs to keep his big grody claws off, is all I’m sayin’.

I would prefer his claws on me ^_^

All yours! *tries to push Laampros toward Doki, but this asshole is too heavy* Whatever, take him.

Sorry Silibub, never intended to traumatise you with my musings. You are correct, of course, Sircea would never lower her standards. Consider my post retracted. 🙂

Bonus points for using “grody” in a sentence in this decade! Brava!

He might make a good fit.

With that age and that suit. She had been an absolutely wonderful history professor!

Thank you Alex, Adam and Veronica!

*stumbles*…..she’s HOW old!!??
Well….ok…heh heh…I knew she wasn’t young but….^_^’
I admit Anni isn’t evil, though I’m still not totally convinced about PP…
Oh? *sits at attention*…what’re you thinking Ducan…? Curious now…

The cruelest thing about this now – is that it’s making it really HARD for me to still hate Duncan for what he did to Kyle. I mean – I HATE him – yeah – but I’m now sympathizing with Duncan again….
AGH! THIS IS Soooo screwing with my head!

Mwa ha ha. 🙂

I shall have my revenge Alex! I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE….

… some how… maybe fan art or fan fiction… Do you DO fan fiction or is it jus’ a fan art thing?

I don’t post fan fiction on the site, but I do post fan art.

For more info, take a peek at the FAQ. 🙂

Well you guys! I am sneaking of to bed again. Dreaming of foxy lady here 🙂

Well at 6000 years old, her morality would definitely be different than ours as a modern society.

Heh, she’s older than most religions. She’s more than likely really really a priestess. I wonder to which deity.

Maybe she is a deity but without her “juice.”

That’s possible. It’s possible that she’s immortal in a sense, but can still die. Maybe she wants to remove the possibility of death and be truly immortal.

Older women often have that problem. It helps to pick at the scabs.

That’s a fun idea!

try all of the ones still here

Was just thinking this too. She would have witnessed the real story of Christ / Jesus and knows all the true sources of holy text that came to be (perhaps she influenced some/all of them).

Also brings up the question of why/how this may have influenced control over the masses by the text and teachings that were created *starts thinking way too hard on this topic*

My immediate thought was that she may have known Solomon personally rather than just by reputation, relating back to when she made the comment about only Solomon truly understanding the old rules of magic.

I think that’s a good theory. Give or take historians seem to think the temple of Solomon was built sometime between 850 and 1000 BCE. About halfway through her lifespan. Was she the Queen of Sheba then? Or a tutor or student of Solomon’s?

True. Who knows how often she had been there in the shadows (or not) when historical events were taking place.

Working on the assumption that a “seeming spell” to change her appearance wouldn’t be difficult for her she could be almost anywhere in history and have influenced any number of critical points from the “shadows of the throne”.

Yup. And if she couldn’t change her looks you might see her in old photographs etc just peeking out of the crowd.

Ooooooooh! Someone is actually considering asking “the good guys” for help!
And, um, Sircea looks fantastic for her age. Whatever face cream she uses, I want me some.

fresh babys for face cream

I thought her face cream would have been made from a mixture of honey and virginal menstrual blood.

Now I wish I had watched all of American Horror Story: Coven, because I’m pretty sure one of the witches there has pulled off a similar seemingly immortal/permanent youthful appearance gambit, but I don’t know how she did it.

Is Duncan thinking specifically of Kyle when he talks about things being different now? Over half a decade ago they didn’t know they had a compassionate hell prince on earth, but if they’re aware of Kyle’s connection to Laampros in particular, Duncan might be thinking of a way to use Kyle against Big Red.

Your comment also sparked something for me: wouldn’t approximately half a decade ago correspond with the appearance of Kyle’s powers?

Edit: I might have just rephrased what you said. Oops. I blame the sleep deprivation.

Exactly right! It was also when Spooky crossed over into hell…however that happened. Something went down that year, for sure.

Very good point. Odd how everything seemed to have begun at almost exactly the same time…

Perhaps Kyle’s manifestation of power (there may be a pun in there somewhere) had something to do with Spooky being sent to Hell? Not that Kyle purposefully sent him there, but that his powers may have set off a random chain reaction and fueled Spooky’s voyage.

Spooky returned from “hell” six years ago, he was sent there 7 years ago.

Oh, right! Good catch. Math + late hours clearly isn’t the combination for me.

Did they tell us WHEN the “grey working” was?

No, but it would be interesting if it coincided with these other events.

HA… see the good thing is that OUR sleep deprivation means we are unlikely to notice yours… erm… What rephrasing? 🙂

Yay for shared sleep deprivation! I believe I rephrased what @silibub:disqus said above, in a way. Silibub commented on the existence of Kyle with a connection to Laampros, and I remarked on the fact that his powers became known 5 years ago. I guess I inferred that silibub was also commenting on a link between the appearance of Kyle’s powers and the knowledge that he was linked to Laampros both occurring/beginning at the start of the “Evil Plan” coming to fruition now. I hope that I am making sense and not coming across as excessively pedantic…

Not a bit. It’s fun to try to make connections.

Full agreement here. And it seems that Alex never wastes a detail, so eventually, once he has completed the full tapestry of story, every end that appeared loose before will have been woven back into it in an important way, answering many (if not all) of our questions.

Yeahhhhhh… see that’s the problem with really wicked, emotionally damaging betrayals. Most of us are less inclined to throw in and clean up our betrayer’s mess.

Now, that said, I really wouldn’t mind seeing that conversation.. where Duncan tries to convince Kyle (oh and Spooky & Paul) and team that he’s changed his mind (ooops) and it’s really in everyone’s best interest for Kyle help his old pal Duncan out.

That would be a really juicy conflicted scene. Heeeeeee…

It would be an interesting conversation at that. And keeping in mind that it’s not “just Duncan’s mess” if the walls between worlds are thinning I can just hear the conversation now; “Kyle, it’s not just about you and your feelings. It’s about the safety of billions of people across the planet.” .
Any bets that this conversation is just around the corner?

I would hope that Kyle would at least give Duncan some attitude before getting all selfless and heroic. Let us remember that Kyle could decide to throw in with Papa Laampros and rule 3/4 of the world?

Then… he could spend the next few hundred years trying to lure Duncan out of North America so he and Daddy could GET HIM!

*ring ring ring…*

Duncan: Hello? Yes?

Salesman(?): WHY HELLO!!! We are very excited to inform you that YOU have won a two week, all expense paid, vacation at the Four Season Hotel in EXOTIC BORA BORA!

Duncan: OMG! OMG! Really that is just the… heyyyyyyy… wait a minute. Is this Kyle??

Kyle: Damn…

Duncan: Ha! I knew it. Wow, you almost got me there. Pretty sly.

Kyle: Thanks. Damn… I thought for sure I had you that time. I mean I’ve got like a million demons just waiting at the border to nosh on your butt. Argggg…

Duncan: Don’t feel bad. That was a good one. Maybe next time. Immortal remember?

Kyle: Yeah, I guess. Okay. Hey, how’s immortality going with Sircea.

Duncan: Humph. Good bye young Kyle.

Kyle: That good huh? Heh heh heh. Good Bye ANNIHHHIIIILATOR… (chuckles).

*click*

Duncan: Punk!

A ‘compassionate hell prince’ is one obvious explanation, especially if Spooky’s contention that Red Hot’s presence will be a deciding factor, and most especially if fan theories that the thing that worse than the Crisis relates directly to inter-dimensional incursions.

However, I will also put forth the theory that *possibly* it might include the presence of organised groups of superheores. I base this on the comment that Annihilator made about comic books just before they went into the warehouse: classic superheroes written before people like himself and Red Hot made them real. If taken literally that comment suggests that – nothwithstanding the existence of millennia old superhumanly powerful mages like the Priestess – that costumed superheroes is a relatively recent social phenomenon. So Annihilator may be thinking of a team-up.

But on second thoughts, if the presence of superheroes would be useful, Annihilator could have anonymously forwarded the details of the ‘dire threat’ to whoever the most competent of the super-scientists was. Hmm. No, it’s looking like the ‘hell prince’ theory fits better.

So she’s been alive for 6000 years.

I kinda think it’s sure to make the bet that Platinum Priestess isn’t the first name she’s used.

Since the time of Adam and Eve?

‘Platinum’, the word, hasn’t been know for more than a few centuries or something like that at the most.

Right, she would have been the Bronze Priestess or something!

Hmmm, maybe it means she has at least a million followers?

…I think she has been known by many different names over the years, possibly after a time putting what was considered the most valuable thing at the time and in that place in front of “Priestess”. Wood, water, rock, iron, copper, ruby, gold, diamond, bronze, silver, opal, sapphire, spice, silk, velvet, fire, wheat …..LOL omg….pig, cow…..maybe that is why Laampros referred to her as a sow….

The word “platinum” is less than half a millenium old.

An interesting thought. And it also begs the question of her birthplace and mother tongue. “English” is not recognizably 6000 years old. Greek? Sanskrit? Egyptian? A Celtic precursor? Chinese? Too many choices really.

“Evil. What is evil?”

We’re getting pretty philosophical here, Sircea darling.
Although you sound more like a sophist and less like a philosopher…

Yeah, it sounds like she’s spinning a sales pitch of her own. Marketing, indeed.

And she’s good at it, too. She knows how to work it and get exactly what she wants.

Yeahhhh, work it — oh. Right, she’s very crafty! Although Duncan’s sharp, too, and I’m sure he knows when he’s being manipulated. I think it’s whether he lets himself be convinced that’s important.

He’s probably heard it all before and a little bit immune to it by now, which for her might not be a good thing that he’s now thinking his own thoughts.

Yeah, I think how she reacts to the idea of bringing in outside “help” is going to be a pretty good indicator of whether she and Duncan will maintain their alliance here. I’m really more curious than ever how they met and started working together in the first place!

Oh indeed. He might have been easy to manipulate in the beginning. She would have stepped in when he was maybe feeling alone, or a newbie to the whole criminal scene. At 6000 years, he would have believed her experience infallible.

He might, but I find it more likely that she picked him as a partner after he had established himself as the most powerful villain.

I don’t know how manipulatable he would be once he was established. It could also be that she saw the potential in him, as he was working up the ranks.

6,000 years of practice! I’ll bet she can sell a used car to just about anyone. 🙂

Clearly she missed her true calling. It’s never too late though, babe!

HA! Trying new things to stay young at heart… well I’ll bet she’s never been responsible for hell on earth before… that should be novel.

I guess hang gliding didn’t cut it.

Heh… pllllllllt… oh please. Unless a few mil die, it’s not worth her time of day. 😛

Selling a used car is nothing compared to selling a used donkey as a prize race horse

You know, after posting my comment above, I thought “Wuv. Twu wuv”.

*sighs dreamily* I know. …Or wait, what do you mean? LOL

I mean I imagined Sircea giving her speech in the Impressive Clergyman’s voice:

“Ewil. Twu ewil iz a wie”.

Ohhh, Princess Bride! Duh!

She does indeed seem to hold little to be absolutely right or wrong. Perhaps she only sees in three shades: useful to her, useless to her, and dangerous to her.

Friedrich Nietzsche, call your office!

(Should Inuits be revealed to be part of the conspiracy?)
Doesn’t matter to me. Yupik.

Wokka wokka wokka!

On the bright side, magic is good for keeping your 6000-year-old body supple and firm. 😉

I, too, found myself eager to comment on P.P fine looks, but you used the words supple and my vocabulary can’t match that

Haha! Yes it can. I BELIEVE IN YOUUUU

I already liked Sircea but this makes me like her better. Simply for the fact that her age does make her moral stance much more understandable.

Gotta say, the case for my pet theory that Sircea will end up being the Big Bad of the piece is a bit stronger with this new information. Like I said downthread, someone who’s been around as long as she has will probably be more or less amoral, and as much as she seems to care for Duncan, I really doubt she sees most people as equals or even consequential at all. No wonder she seems so cavalier about the idea of turning billions of lives and souls over to Laampros. What we know about her age now makes it easier to understand her mentality and behavior, but I think it also means she’s a lot more dangerous than we thought.

She certainly seems to fit the bill for the Big Bad. It’s crazy just thinking about what sort of knowledge and resources someone of that age could have-I wanna see what she can bring to bear. After living this long, it should be impressive.

Of course, jut because someone is immortal, it doesn’t mean they’ve done everything right down the path. I imagine that even immortals can look back at their lives and realize they may have wasted centuries or millennia chasing the wrong lead.

I mean, imagine if Rincewind were immortal!

That is why Rincewind will never be immortal. At least not by his own efforts. If you have achieved immortality, you have done something right. Something few dare even try.

And yet, the way luck works for him… I could see it happening to him, undesired and unasked!

PP does not strike me as the type to stumble into immortality or extreme longevity. I have a much easier time seing her as hell-bent on living forever if it is the last thing she ever does.

It’s very true. I’ve read a lot of immortality stories and there is always a huge challenge in remembering what it means to be human. As the character ages they grow further and further away from humanity. Anyone close to you ages and dies, so in most stories they stop pursuing relationships, become isolated, etc…

I think that makes your comment make a great deal of sense.

The isolation/loneliness aspect of living as long as she has makes me feel bad for her — although she seems to have been keeping her hands full, I wonder if she’s really connected with anyone in a long time. I’m curious how she sees Duncan, like if she genuinely likes him and wants to see him become immortal, or if he’s been an amusing tool for a longer scheme?

I was wondering about her relationship with Annihilator myself. If she needed an ally, did she pick him because he’s one of the most competent and intelligent (which might be indicative of how he got the ‘most dangerous supervillain in the world’ title).

Here’s another question. Why did they have to act alone half a decade ago? And what may have changed now?

Duncan has met this guy who could help.

Nice hair, great smile, hell prince…

Yeah, now all he has to do is rebuild the bridges he’s burned. Though, really, they both got burned in the end.

O.K. – I guess that Anni and P.P. aren’t brother and sister, unless their parents are also immortal and they had Sircea 5,942 (Is my math correct?) years before they had Duncan. But why is she asking for immortality when it seems she’s already got it?

As much as I’m enjoying learning all this, I can’t help but laugh at panel 5. The look and pose she’s taking reminds me exactly of this campaign staffer I used to work with in ’08 who was probably high most of the time.

6000 years? Watch out Duncan! There is no way she considers you an equal. You are just a means to an end.

Yeah, I wonder how she feels about Duncan, and why she’s chosen to work with him to this end — which again raises the question of who came up with the current plan. If she expects Duncan to attain immortality, maybe she’s anticipating finally having an equal and a lasting companion after all this time — prolonged life like hers strikes me as lonely above all else — but if she’s really just using him, then maybe she doesn’t expect that end of the contract to be held up at all, and maybe even deliberately left loopholes for Laampros to exploit. Couldn’t say for sure.

As I said, looks like she actually really doesn’t need what the contract bargained for – at least not immortality – she would appear to already have that, unless she got to the age she is now through previous dealings and agreements with various “spiritual” personalities, and the most recent one is about to expire.

Right, I’d like to know how she extended her life this far — it seems like if she made an immortality pact she would have already secured eternal youth as well (unless that was a mistake she made (way, way) back in her younger days and she’s looking to correct it now). I figure she’s lived this long through some other means, but wouldn’t mind the added security of actual immortality and a younger appearance.

Yeah – f***ing all those demon-lords throughout the aeons in order to curry favor with them to extend her life has gotten a bit bothersome and tedious after all that time one might imagine.

Well, hopefully not those means…. It’s assuming a lot.

One WOULD hope not, I agree.

Unless her own particular way of staying immortal is becoming less effective?

It need not be either or. Another possibility is that she does care for him, and would like a powerful flunky (never an equal) who is more lasting than ordinary mortals. But if she can gain something more important, she will sacrifice him. And if she should loose control of him, she will destroy him.

She’s a platinum cat playing with her meal, definitely!

I’ve probably been wondering a bit too much about the design of PP’s ..’crown'(?).. and this new info has just added to it.

At the first page of the chapter, my first thought was that it depicted a white stag surrounded by unicorns. Then I thought white stag or horned lord until others talked about it being a bull. Then I started to wonder if it was really about the basis of one deity and/or religion or it was a mix of varioys religions and myths. Now I’m completely thrown for a loop to wether there’s actually any big significance in the head piece or it’s ‘just’ a pretty thing she wears sometimes.

The reason I thought of the white stag is because it’s of OLD culture and worship and PP (as she is now at least) is kinda the human description of its appearence (loss of color pigmentations makes the hair white, but eyes are normal color and not red since it’s not albino). The stag also has various symbolism according to religions, but for the old mythology it was a messenger and connected to the god and goddess and something other-world. Magical, just as unicorns later have become the symbol of along with innocence.

The Horned Lord in old mythology (before Christianity turned the meaning somewhat into a devil) was the male god and a sign of the masculine side, where as the sign for the feminine goddess was a full moon in the middle of two half moons – basically like the animal on the head piece is surrounded my two unicorns almost looking like half circles.
Then came the mention of it being a bull, and I came to the conclussion that I was over thinking the head piece design waay too much – but it was fun doing anyway 😉

PP is worshipped as a priestess, but is she old enough, and powerfull, enough to maybe having been seen as a deity of the old beliefs? She’s certainly of a time where the lines of what is good and what is evil is blurred if it’s of what she sees as benefit of the greater advantage.
She’s fascinating in a scary way, and I want to know more about her 🙂

The crown could be for impressing the minions.

See! It could be something as simple as that – and to be dressed up for the ‘party’. It’s not every day you have a devil as the VIP guest 😉

Hey, maybe it’s a magic thing? Spooky has his cap to impress the team… Sircea has her tiara for impressing the minions. Ahhhhhhh… it’s all so clear to me now.

I and a few others here have been referring to it as a “tiara”.

A forehead guard?

Hmmmm….something else just occurred to me – at 6K, maybe she actually IS the original Circe – the one who’s account has come down to us in our Classical epic literature- the one Odysseus got tangled up with for awhile – just with a new modern spelling (you know, like how some people like to find more unique contemporary spellings for their names – e.g., “Arych” instead of “Eric”, etc.).

There’s that Tallulah Bankhead voice in my head again.

Looking at the theories in previous comments and the new information above… I’m getting the sneaking suspicion THEY had something to do with sending Spooky to hell.

Well, bah, I have to sleep. Lots to mull over until the next page, though, so I’m more than satisfied. Goodnight!

Good night. Great fun ideas. Thanks.

Over 6000 years old?! I swear she doesn’t look a day over 4500!

All the way back in chapter 1, I thought she sounded as if she had known Solomon personally. Of course we still do not know for certain that she did, but I think it is a safe bet. She would have been 3000 years old at the time. And she freely admits that she did not then, and still does not, have as great an understanding of magic as he had.

I was wondering about that, too. If she is 6000 years old how old had the magic… no, the old rules… only Salomon truly understood had to be for her to call them so. Or where they new at the time Salomon lived *thinking hard*.

I knew it.. I knew it i knew it i knew it lol….. “Evil” is in the eye of the beholder… perhaps if they IDK clued the supers in on what they were doing they might have been able to been a joint force which is what i think Anni is getting at…….

But that wouldn’t be convenient for Sircea- I’m quite sure she wants to be the sole beneficiary of this. I know evil when I see it… though it seldom can pull off such a costume this well!

oh im sure that Sircea is planning a big time double cross…. and she will try to do something to Kyle and thru that Duncan will shed the veil of evil super villian and dawn the mantel of a true anti-hero 😀

And if a hero and an anti-hero annihilates, the explotion is going to be huge beyond anything seen on earth so far.

The deal is sealed. The big event is tonight. It is not going to be easy to convince Kyle and friends. It is farf rom given that it is even possible. A change of plans at this point sounds like an extremely bad idea.

true… but lets not forget they have the best tool for the job…. Amanda’s powers she could read Duncans mind to see if he truely is on the up and up wit ha Spooky chaser to make sure the memorys and thoughts are not magically tampered with

it be their only hope of convincing the Super Scoobies lol

“Over 6000 years”. According to the archbishop of Armagh, the world is 6017 years old. Coincidence? I think so.

I suddenly have this picture in my head, of a young Duncan, bullied, laughed at and rejected by everyone, angry at the world, meeting Sircea, the first person to accept him for what he is (and maybe even give him his powers?)

And then the picture turns into a spider catching a victim in her web…

I never thought that Duncan was evil; I feared it for the first chapter or so, but mid-chapter two I had already decided he wasn’t. I never knew where Sircea stood, but her whole “evil is a construct made by idiots in power” speech makes me very, very weary. I will agree with @silibub:disqus that she could turn out to be the real villain here. Which makes me want to hug Duncan, because I do think he cares for her. Ouch.

So in a way Sircea was the Nega-Dumbledore for his Harry Potter!

… I just butchered that, didn’t I?

More like a Voledrewhore

With Sircea and Duncan working for 50+ years and possibly knowing each other longer I see some parralels between Duncan and Kyle. Both where approched by powerful individuals at a young age. the only thing missing is a revelation of Sircea using Duncan all this time for her own purposes. If that happens I feel it would be somehow a twisted kind of justice for what Duncan did to Kyle.

It also made me thinking: What if Sircea and Duncan did not meet as they did? What traits did Duncan aquire because of the influance Sircea had on him both direct and indirect? What kind of criminal would he ave been or would he have made it over to the light side? I can imagen that Sircea would have kept Duncan as far away from the light side as possible if it suited her cause or kept him in line with talk of the collapsing walls and that they where the only ones who could stop them. Who knows maybe Duncan teamed up with Sircea because he wanted to be a hero for once because as Sircea said they where the only onec to stop the collaps. He may have become disillusioned about being a hero on the way but still wished to stop the catastrophe.
If this wall thing is thought to be a great enough threat to the whole of humanity/the universe/this dimension it makes what he did more understandable even if it doesn’t make it right.

He says half a decade. 5 years, not 50.

Yeah I realised that shortly after posting. I put a preface on my post now.

Bah, Alex, bah! Why you have to do this?

Duncan.. it’s been known that he wasn’t a good guy; that he’s dangerous, but up until we personally saw his violate Kyle it was more of an abstract knowledge.
I suspected Duncan’s motices all the way, but him being so appealing at the same time made him easy to like until *wham* ..him doing bad things were no longer just an abstract thing.
We saw Kyle get violated, suffering and fighting his guilt, his self understanding and his coming out all in once – and nothing can take that away.

Now you go and more or less in-/directly ask us the philosophical question: Does a bad deed done sometimes justify the means to a better end?

I guess that’s a question someone must ask themself often during example a time of war, or any other huge crisis going on – both on an over all level and on a personal level.
Does a bad deed sometimes justify the greater good? I think the over all answer for some/many will be a yes, if it really is necessary, but the more personal and close to you that bad deed comes, the more the answer will be a god damn no.

This is where it’s hard to be conflicted – should you go with the long term over all answer, or the short termed answer when both is a factor for you?

*Sigh*.. Why do you make me think about such deep thoughts just before I go back to bed?

Somebody made a study of morality by asking a large number of people a series of questions, where they are presented with a situation and asked if a certain act is immoral. From the answers they deduced a number of rules. Five, AFAIR. One was the rule of nearness. A child is drowning in a pond. You don’t wade in to save it, becayuse that would ruin your new shoes. This is immoral. You are asked to contribute to a vaccination campaign. Your contribution would save the lives of 10 children on the other side of the earth. You refuse. You will rather use those money for at pair of shoes. This is OK.

So interesting. For myself, I like to take any philosophical hypothetical and substitute people who are important TO ME and emotionally close to me for the unnamed “victims” and see if I still feel the same way. It’s very interesting.

I remember a good while ago having a really interesting discussion with Sonny about this “greater good” idea. I do think some of it simply comes down to who we are. For example, I’ll never end up being “ruthless”. The minute I start substituting family members or my partner in the “victim” grouping I completely fold and “the plan” is just not acceptable to me any more.

So, I’ll never be a good military type… and that’s quite fine with me. I’m glad others have different kinds of fortitude and can pick up those jobs. Again interesting, but challenging, discussion for sure.

Because I love you.

And I like that “Bah” has become a thing now. 🙂

*lol* I have saids it a few times before, but guess we needed a priestess to make it the new black 😉

“Bah” is one of the most common exclamations in the Greek language. But it usually denotes boredom or indifference, not annoyance 🙂

[Useless piece of information of the day]

It had a heyday as a short-hand way to undermine another citizens argument (I use the old greek words here).

This practice was taken up by the Romans in their turn.

We use it instead of “no” often. We also tend to drag the “a”, making it long. Just one word can give you a whole sentence:
“Hey, wanna go to the party tonight?”
“Baaah.” (= “nah, I’m bored”)

One of my Classics professors was Greek, and she dropped “bah” a lot — I was never sure if it was a personal quirk or a cultural thing, so I’m glad to have the clarification!

Glad to have been of service!
“Bah” comes naturally to me when I speak my mother tongue but I never use it in English. Interesting that your professor did. Maybe it was a personal quirk?

Muh.

Meh! 😉

The trick here is there is no objective answer to that. At what point do you preserve the ‘means’? Sure, dropping an Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was bad (evil is up to you), but so was killing them in the first place.

But they started it.

Is that a valid argument? Legally it is. Morally? Up to you. So the bomb was just an extension of that.

the difference in both cases, though, is the collateral damage. I would argue that sacrificing the majority of the human race to preserve one continent constitutes too large an amount of collateral, and thus evil.

I use parenthetical remarks all the time (seems to be an integral [and organically occurring] part of my personal writing style).

I have some difficulty imagining what was considered “good” back then. Much worse than feeding 4.000.000.000 humans to the demons?

The viewing of ‘lessers’ as inferior, mere livestock, was quite prevelant 6,000 odd years ago. I can’t help buy sympathise with her point here. While I agree what she is doing is wrong, what we have done to each other in the past is often nearly as bad, and usually cloaked in pious cast-offs.

Our society would seem absolutely evil to many even from not so long ago. The idea of legalizing pornography would have been shocking 100 years ago, gay marriage unthinkable.

Depends on which cultures you are talking about. While I grant you that for many (even most) cultures this would be true, sex has not always been a taboo subject in every culture. When you are living in Viking long houses, Iroquois lodges, a small one room cottage in the forest, etc.. as a community, sex becomes a “semi public” kind of event. I guess it would depend upon what your interpretation of “pornographic” was.
However, your point about perspective of other cultures is very sound. Look how often we describe a culture as “barbaric” when a suitable term might be “foreign”.

So Spooky’s timely “escape” was just the seemingly innocent beginning to the walls between mortal and immortal planes ultimately collapsing… Kyle’s very birth was the initial catalyst for the weakening…. and this “Deal with the devil” was a bargain made to ensure the human race endured? While the first and second points seem pretty accurate it’s the last part that strikes me as odd…

Duncan knows very well that Lampros won’t keep his deal and if he doesn’t he’s not very good at being a “bad guy,” meanwhile Sercie has had generations to know the fickle nature of demons… This reassurance that everything will be fine seems like an over-zealous ego trip on the part of her powers and her ability to survive the full force of a demonic incursion/invasion.

So this all seems to have started around 18/19 or so years ago…. around Kyle’s birth, and my be connected to when spooky was initially taken…

Spooky escapes as the walls begin to show signs of weakening and it’s about the same time as Duncan and Sercie begin to plan this “deal” to shave-er save humanity.

Sircea says that he can not break the deal, and she knows what she is talking about. It is part of the nature of demons that they can not break a deal if it is properply made.

They cannot break it, but if you give them too much wiggle room….

That is a classic. But Sircea has spent months hammering out this deal. She knows what she is doing. Or so she thinks.

I think she thinks she knows what she is doing…but I withhold judgement on that until we have further information that doesn’t stem from her own mouth.

It just really bugs me that she says she has put all this effort into this, and yet the actual implementation of her efforts appear to be insanely sloppy. It bugs me and doesn’t sit right.

And that’s the ego I mentioned… of everyone here Sircea should be the one puttering over exactly what Duncan said the most…. making sure everything was exactly as intended to negate any loophole

I can’t help but wonder if Anni or Kyle have made a promise to the other that will supersede Anni’s deal with the King of Hell. That would be a good loophole.

And now I’m tempted to go back through it all and look for one…

That is not the way it works. You must fulfill all your promises. If two are incompatible, you are in deep trouble.

The walls are not going to last much longer. In a few years, the demons will come through. Now the silver duo has got one of the kings of hell to agree to leaving the Amaricas alone. I fail to see how this solves anything. Laampros may be one of the most powerful kings, but this just goes to show that 1) there are more than just a few (you cannot be “one of the most powerful” of a set of three) and 2) a few of the others are as powerful as he.

I have not read the previous comments so if I repeat somebody else, I apologize.
The walls are being torn down. If we wait we can’t control (limit or contain) the damage done. So LETS TEAR THEM DOWN OURSELVES! Make our own Utopia amidst the death and destruction!
Not ‘What can we do to reinforce the walls’. Not ‘Can we tear them down in a different direction to save ourselves’. Not ‘Can we move our peoples to a safer place (higher ground)?’
Nope, the plan is ‘Let’s make ourselves lower Lords of the new Hell that Earth becomes’. Save ourselves and enough breeding stock for our slave/livestock pens.
Nope, nothing EVIL here. Nothing IMMORAL. Nothing to question at all.
Nothing to PRAISE, either.

I feel like the idea is, “The walls are going to come apart, so rather than let them burst open from the pressure and destroy everything, let’s just make a small, controlled incision that we may be able to fix or survive.” How that’s a better plan than, “Let’s find a way to stop the walls from breaking,” or even just, “Let’s move everyone to a location where they won’t be killed when this all goes down,” I don’t know, but it could have to do with feasibility.

Or it could have to do with PP doing to Anni what Anni just did to Kyle. Totally also plausible.

I think that it’s a way of relieving the pressure on the walls and making sure that the damage is in an environment that can be ‘controlled’. It’s like lifting the floodgates on a river to let the build-up flow through; it eases the pressure on a gate and makes sure that the damage is less than it would have been if the gates had just burst. Fixing the walls may not relieve the pressure on them; only buying time until they break again sometime in the future; and we don’t know for sure if people are currently being moved to somewhere safe or is Lamparos is being summoned out to the middle of nowhere.

Also, we can guess that Anni and PP are planning a sort of double-cross on the demon; given their “evil” nature and their planning. Getting a King of Hell to leave the Americas alone might mean that humanity has a sort of safe zone to develop new weaponry and train to force the him back if the silver foxes fail.

That’s what I meant by the, “small, controlled incision” thing.

And yeah, it would make sense that supervillains would be planning to double-cross a demon, because they typically try to double-cross everybody. The question is more how they’ll attempt it and if it will work, I think. PP’s not the type to agree to a deal that isn’t explicitly in her favor, so I have to wonder what kind of fine print was involved in the magic here.

Sorry, I was commenting on why it would be a better plan than just blocking off the walls. And magic is a lot like the law; open to interpretations and prone to damaging loop-holes if one knows where to look. If she really is 6000 years old, she probably has a lot of experience dealing with loop-holes.

Oh, loopholes. Gotta love those loopholes. I had a friend in high school that we nicknamed “the Lord of Loopholes” because he could (and would) find a way out of anything that he didn’t feel like doing…. He really should have been a lawyer. I think he’s intending to be a cop instead. I dunno, maybe it’ll help him in that occupation, too?

Duncan, you sexy fool.

Listen to your heart~

Damn, PP is looking pretty good for 6000 years.

She might have shaved off a few thousands to make herself look younger. 😉

The three point program to staying young:
1) lots of excersice
2) a healthy diet
3) lie about your age

Don’t forget the magic make-up made from the blood of beautiful virgin girls. It takes centuries off your wrinkles!

Do we have any reason to trust Sircea? We only have her word that she is 6000 years old.

So they can’t wait for the walls to be torn down…

On whose authority are the walls being assaulted? PP?

Like many, this page is ringing alarm bells for me. I didn’t think, for a second, that theirs was an equal partnership but too much of what PP is saying seems to be taken as read by Anni…

Wow, it’s been way too long since I commented.

The revelation that the Platinum Priestess is 6000+ years old ties into one of my favourite things about this comic and that is the fact that it isn’t just a superhero, or even just a gay superhero comic. It has magic. It has demons. It has aliens (maybe? I seem to recall mention of some alien race or other a while back). It has a glorious sorceress who was apparently already ancient before the year 0001.

When I started reading this, I had no idea just how expansive the would of the comic would end up being, and it’s turned out really great. I can’t wait to see how things turn out – especially the consequences of the upcoming conflict, because something tells me that regardless of whether or not the Annihilator and Platinum Priestess succeed, things are going to change in a very big way.

This makes me wonder if perhaps after this particular with Kyle and Anni if there might be more stories with this group or even in this universe, There’s a lot being hinted at here and I’m really curious to see more of this world. While I was a huge fan of Artifice, it feels like this universe is a lot more fleshed out (I mean I could just be reading into this but I really hope I’m not) So I’m SUPER curious if Alex has any further ideas or plans for these guys

When I expressed doubts that there would be anything left of this world to tell stories about after the current storyline, Alex assured us that there would, and the might tell more. No definite promise, though.

If there is interest, there will be future arcs after “Engaging the Enemy.” 🙂

“If the sun rises tomorrow…”

*keeps wondering why Alex keeps saying if there is interest…..does he doubt our love that much?* 😛 ^_^

I will never take our readers’s support for granted.

^_^

For granted Alex? No. I don’t think your behavior would ever lead one of your readers to feel they were being taken for granted. You’re far too involved and responsive for anyone to suppose that.
But I think I take your meaning to be more that you and Adam and Veronica are constantly working to make the reader experience something special. I suspect that the three of you are far more motivated to generate this experience that could easily be explained by the phrase “making a living”.
The quality of the tapestry you create gives you away you see. The three of you couldn’t create something like this if you didn’t love it. If the act of creation didn’t stir both your heart and your soul. If that were the case the story and the imagery wouldn’t have the “life of its own” that it does.
I can only speak for myself (though I think that I can see in the discussions here echoes of my own feelings and thoughts among the readers) but I find myself completely enthralled by the story, the artwork and the community you have created here. And all three are components of the living tapestry of this story. To watch the story line unfold step by step in Alex’s writing. To see it brought to visual life in Adam’s drawings and have the blood pumped into it by Veronica’s coloring and all the while discussing the hows and whys and wherefores as well as possible story branches with such a wonderful collection of characters as exists in these posts. Heaven.
I hope Alex that you are actually aware of how much so many of us are in fact, “caught up” in your work. As Sofia suggests, I don’t have to see the sun rise to know that it will. Nor do I need to see the interest in an expanded tapestry to know that it too, is there.
For myself I can only say that I look forward to years and years of the TYP Tapestry being expanded and expanded (I have not, as a matter of fact, forgotten that I want to know the backstory on Flyboy and his leather jacket).
So it only remains for me to say thank you to Team TYP again for such a continuously engaging and entertaining world. Thank you all again, so very much! 🙂

It is hard to make predictions, especially when they concern the future. Even so I dare say this: there will be interest.

It is an exceptionally broad tapestry, no doubt. And Alex and Team TYP keep expanding it, thank heavens. 🙂
**As you were describing all of the elements the story has I couldn’t help but hear a Peter Falk voice saying,
“It’s got fencing, fighting, Giants…”
But maybe that’s just me.**

Of course, while PP CLAIMS to be 6000+, how do we know she is not lying? I know, the very thought of a supervillan being untruthful is difficult to grok, but what if?

She totally *would* lie, but on the other hand it would explain how she’s got the demon hookup in a way that seems to be unique. (So far.)

Also, I love the idea that to her, Duncan is a precious silly little baby, only pushing sixty or whatever his age is, I’m too lazy to check back.

58. We only have his word for it, though.

Should’ve just gone with my first thought. God, I don’t know my blood type but I remember the Annihiliator’s age, fuck.

At least you got your priorities in order 😉

Ha! And now I suddenly have the image of Fluke – having pronounced the Annihilator to be, like, a million years old – freaking at the idea that by comparison the Annihilator is nothing but a baby. Or maybe he wouldn’t, because they’d both fall under the ‘Don’t trust anyone over thirty’ catchphrase and everything just blurs together after that.

Hmmm… if she genuinely is that old, it does rather beg the question of why Duncan felt the necessity to request youth/immortality for her also….

The method she has been using for staying young and alive may require much effort, or exepending other ressources that could be used for something else. And it may not last forever. Who knows how many methods she has exhausted until now?

Actually, she’s got the immortality part (or at least close to it,) but she’s not young. She seems to have discovered the secret to eternal life in her 50’s or 60’s, and as great as she still looks, she’s probably had arthritis for 6000 years.

Nah, she seems like one of those ‘take care of yourself’ types. Swimming laps when it was still a sign of witchcraft, that kind of thing.

Y’know, I kinda wondered if Sircea was Circe. This info makes that idea somewhat more likely.

Be honest. How drunk were you when you wrote the caption?

Surprisingly, stone cold sober. I actually don’t drink.

Based on your reaction, apparently, I don’t need to… 🙂

Heh… well they say that people who deal with magic and hell start going insane. We’ll be watching you AW… just in case. 🙂

Hmm….watching with what intent? Intervention? Alarm? Escape? A shoulder to cry/go crazy on?
We wonders…aye, we wonders…

Listen, there’s a lot of stress in this writing, directing, publishing gig.

If AW ‘loses’ his marbles because he doesn’t drink and a he’s a really decent guy without enough vices to handle the pressure… Well, then there’s nothing for it but to send in a competent Incubus to help him unwind.

Right Elrohir? Right everyone? Right? What? No, it’s not that bad. It’s just good interdimensional therapy. Really!

(gosh, who knew everyone was so old fashioned?)

huh, he might be having second thoughts to using kyle instead of just being forthright with him. *Peels back the layers like so much yellow wallpaper*

Sircea (takes a pose): “Darling, I invented Cougar.”

She ought to find somebody her own age.

She might be part demon herself.

Agreed.

There might not be many to choose from, though.

Hmmmm me thinks Duncan may be hinting at utilizing a certain someone’s help, in addition to that certain someone’s team of do-gooders. Of course, it would take a LOT of groveling and explanations. And of course, I think that the radioactive goat breeders thinned the veil between the human and demonic worlds, so it is going to open up soon regardless of what they’re doing here. So, why not take advantage and make a deal with the devil so that it can happen a tiny bit sooner and they can be immortal. At least this way the demons are relatively happy with the situation. Also, I don’t think the demons really know about the thinning of the veil. Otherwise Laampros might not’ve agreed.

But if they know this, wouldn’t Laampros know this as well? Why would he make a bargain with them if all he has to do is wait and cross over when the barriers collapse?

My guess? He gets something out of it. At least the satisfaction of tricking those silly weak mortals. Or maybe he’s just impatient. Who knows how demons think besides Spooky?

Something tells me Sircea knows.

Oh… That’s a scary thought…

I suspect Laampros made the deal to get a jump on the competition. He’s not the only King of Hell. A nice new chunk of real estate is about to be made Hell-adjacent. The one who gets there first stakes the best claim.

Would using a team of do-gooders count as what they were talking about before (way before), about harming underage people, though?

Maybe we should try to get a deal too. Laampros seems to be in a good mood, since he saw his ‘beloved son’. So, he may allows to keep the radioactie goats breeding and the igloos walls to keep them happy. What do you think?! lol

Is that a sunset or a sunrise behind Duncan in panels 3, 6 and 7? His “tonight” on the previous page makes me think it is a sunset. I find it unlikely that we would skip most of the day. If the early morning scene is in the westernmost USA, the sunset will be in eastern Europe, eastern Africa or a bit further east in the very westernmost Asia.

Or we may have taken a jump back in time and this is sunrise in the USA, shortly before the YP-plane takes off.

Didn’t Spooky say that it would take place somewhere in the Southwest United States?

Ah yes he did. Page 32. I still think it is very odd to let the Demons into America if the plan is to keep them out.

The scene of the YP boarding that jet was at 6.37am, or as Alex put it in a comment, just after dawn. Their fight couldn’t have taken more than 10mins. And this scene unfolds “meanwhile”, as per the caption on p.47.
So, I’d say sunrise.

Oh how I love all the gears turning in Duncan’s head. I am quite excited to see what will happen next.

I love alex’s little bit of sass in the description every single page.

It brings me as much joy as the fact that Duncan’s batlle suit is nothing more than a elaborate collant. Life is beautiful.

🙂

😉

😀

Agreed!! Totally! About both things! XD

am I the only one who looks at the priestess’ crown and thinks of aluminum foil?

It’s to prevent the aliens and heros in space discovering her plans and reading her mind. xD

Oh – same here, though I kinda hated to say it, since obviously some time has been taken in crafting its depiction. I keep thinking she’s got this tin-foil gear on her head to keep out alien influences – just like Keneu supposed below.

Oh, thanks, now I’ve got the Weird Al parody of “Royals” stuck in my head.

I love how expressionate Sircea is. Facial language, body language… it’s just plain fun.

I agree! She’s always very expressive. It makes her an extra fun character to see being interacted with.

Hey alex do you think Duncan still misses Kyle

Hmm. That’s a good question…

He does! (Who wouldn’t?! That kid was adorable all the time they spent together.)
I know! I do! I’m your worse and more annoying reader so,YES! I’m still on it! (Sorry! I just can’t help it! XD)

No, there’s nothing that has to be excluded from parentheses (:))

Yes, yes, something must be done, but does it have to be loosing demons on the world? Maybe we could loose kittens or puppies. Hey, I know, maybe we could loose chinchillas. They’re cute and fuzzy. Or ponies. We could release ponies. All the young children would be so happy because they would have their own ponies to play with.

Sold. Next time, it will be ponies.

Yay Ponies!!

Could Kyle get one ‘Fire Ponei’?! I think he would be happy about it! 😉

AW…

You need to consult with the Adorable Creature Experts (ACE) BEFORE SETTING YOUR SCRIPT ON SLIMY DEMONS.

See, if you had consulted with the Admiral we’d have Laampros at the head of an endless legion of Hamster Demons. Big… fluffy… Tyranosaurus Rex-sized hamsters of diabolically adorable cuteness.

MFX: DUM DE DUMMM!

They would cuddle the world to death. So cute that people would be lured out of the safe confines of North America, to warm and fuzzy deaths. A wave of fuzzy huggable death.

Whenever you need help with HORROR, we are always here for you! 🙂

Such an ‘adorable’ HORROR story, Chris!
I don’t know why, but your Tyranosaurus Rex-sized hamsters demons, for some reason made me think about Majin Boo – that huge pink guy in Dragon Ball Z cartoon. XD

Alex, you do know that SOMEwhere around here is lurking a vote for PFUDOR being the thing that should be released on the world. I’m not naming names…but I’m fairly certain she has a multi-hour recording of it…just sayin’…
**And yes, for the record, I AM slightly frightened by the fact that I have mentioned “Ping Fluffy Unicorns Dancing On Rainbows” and what the potential consequences may be. **

I am behind you one this!

AJ, you ALWAYS rock! Don’t you?! 🙂
I’m not a kid anymore,(not even close! XD), but I do like the ponies option! Nicely thought!

Thanks Denise! Who can resist a pony?

Nice to see you here!

Thanks. There’s SOO much time since the last comment I’ve made. I’ve missed you, guys, although… Now I’m back. Even started translating it again. ^v^

I know! It’s been so long. But yay for being back! 🙂

Thanks, AJ!! <3 Almost 06 months… I had a lot of health issues to handle with. Now I'm improving. ^v^ Hey! Do you know why the site posted my comment as a 'Guest' comment, up there?! (It was right, yesterday. Jakk even answered it with my name in. Now…)

Sorry to hear about your health problems, Denise! Hope you’re ok now. *hugs*

A comment shows as written by “guest” when it has been deleted. But none of the admins has deleted it, maybe you did so by mistake?

HI, Sofia!! Thanks. Yes. I’m better now! ^v^
I don’t really remember to have deleted my post… Maybe I did without even notice it. It’s ok. It’s not a problem. I only asked ’cause it was right before. Thank you. 🙂

Glad to hear you’re on the mend now!

Discus is weird sometimes. Yeah, it only shows up as guest if you tried to delete it. Rotten Disqus gremlins.

OMG, Duncan, SHUT UP before she decides you’re more trouble than you’re worth.

She’s probably already decided that. Totally planning to screw him over.

She’s just using him. That damn bitch! And he’s going to pay for have trusted her so much. I think so.

I think she probably sees him as a child and thinks she can manipulate him as easily as Duncan manipulated Kyle. Whether that’s true or not…we’ll see. But hopefully there will be some stabby action at some point.

I hope he realizes it BEFORE the stabby action…
I’m even start believing that the last agreement she made with Laampros was to give him a son and he’d give her more 100 or 1000 years to live. So… Kyle! ‘Cause, come on! If she was able to live trough 6000 years only with spells, she wouldn’t be doing all these things she is. And wouldn’t need Duncan or Kyle, after all..

She can’t do it alone. I wonder how many dumb-asses she already betrayed to be living untill now…

“I’m even start believing that the last agreement she made with Laampros
was to give him a son and he’d give her more 100 or 1000 years to live.
So… Kyle!”

In that case, I’m even more disgusted at Duncan’s suggestion that, had Kyle been straight, Sircea would have been the one to seduce him!

I suppose she didn’t tell him that. OR she’d have to tell him the reason why she had a child with Laampros and this would spoil her plans. Once he’d discovered that both of them had already made ‘arrangements’ before and she hadn’t mentioned it before. (weird stab action – different of the first one I’d imagined, but…)

Now there’s some poetic justice.

I’m having trouble figuring out what the Priestess’s bottom…underwear…things are made out of. Are they stretchy? Wedgieville. Are they stiff? Wow chafing.

At first I wondered if it was some sort of chastity garment, because she was a Priestess of some sort and so would need to remain untouched. But if what Duncan said was true, that had Kyle been into women, Sircea would have done the seducing…

Well, I can only believe such a thing wouldn’t apply to her and so would laugh at the very idea of a chastity belt. That is a woman who controls ever aspect of her life.

If she has invulnerability, then the top could have been hammered into place over her breasts.

My theory is that she is actually naked and her outfit is just a magical illusion/glamour.

Also, wouldn’t it have been helpful to think of asking for help from the “good guys” earlier? Like, maybe, even before he screwed over Kyle?

Yes. Definately.
For someone who’s supposed to be smart, Annihilator made a major tactical error there. You’d almost think that his hormones got the better of him, and he wasn’t thinking straight…

XDD Radioactive goats escaping from igloo walls, Alex?! Really?! XDDDD (Laughing as if there’s no tomorrow)
About Sircea… I don’t think she’s a cougar… over 6000 years?! 0.0 She’s more like a freaking zombie! (a zombie wearing makeup! XD)

She’s more like a dinosaur, Denise. 😛

XDD I’ll have to agree with you Jakk!! XD

Re-reading the page again made me have a OMFG moment: what if… PP is Duncan’s mom?! Or Grandma? Or grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grandma? o.0 that could explain why she’s calling Darling and the fact they seem to have a deep relationship

That’s a very interesting proposition. Surprising, upon thinking about it, that no one has (as far as I know) posited that one before. Until this page, I thought that they were perhaps siblings, which is a lot less likely now, but what you propose could still be more possible.

Why does Alex’s next time message suddenly sound like the ending of an episode of Batman?

Poor sexy duncan, this is not a good time for second thoughts, specially with a 6000 years old “ally” and a Hell Lord.

Another pesky random thought. About a year ago in the most recent run of Mighty Avengers there was a somewhat similar situation to this, and Kaluu the sorcerer made comments about leaving for “a less doomed plane of existence”. Considering that the YP setting seems to operate like a ‘standard’ superhero setting with all the kitchen-sink decorations (we know of both extraterrestrial planets and other planes of existence) I find myself wondering why our wonderfully amoral Platinum Priestess doesn’t just leave. Considering her age, it’s not as though she hasn’t had to deal with one or the other or both of moving between civilisations and having to deal with the resulting culture shock, or simply going it alone when the (lack of) local civilisation doesn’t meet her minimum standards.

She may not care about saving the Earth at all, perhaps she sees this as an opportunity to gain something that she wants from Laampros.

Hmm. Yes. Or several somethings. We know that the deal she worked out includes immortality and rulership of the Americas. I wonder which is vital from her point of view, and which is gravy, and which is smoke-and-mirrors?

There may be peope or places in America that she is attatched to. Either affection or long time plans. Individual people are ephemeral, but she may have a relationship with a bloodline. Or it jus may be that building a new organisation of croonies is so much work.

She’s visibly older, so her magic is not helping her to stay young anymore. If she can age, then she can die. Eternal youth and health might be the main reason behind her deal with Laampros.

Duncan tells Kyle on page 47 about becoming weaker and facing his own death, and that was what allowed him to betray him, but it may be Sircea the one who feels that way and has projected that fear into Duncan to get him to go along.

For Sircea the “fringe” benefits are probably the main benefits and the saving of the world just the right opportunity. She may even have had a hand in weakening the walls between the two realities to create such an opportunity.

No, no, Alex, darling, you got it all wrong. The Inuit peoples are not the ones behind all this, it’s the radioactive goats who are manipulating the Inuit peoples! Or rather, Anni and the PP are the radioactive goats from the previous page, and the people that are getting flashed there are the robe-wearing minions that are playing with boxes in this scene. See the similarity? In case you’re wondering, Anni is the goat with the goatee and the PP is the one further back, who has her neck thrown back so elegantly. So the grey eminence are shape-shifting, nearly immortal, radioactive goats. Bah!

I foresee Duncan’s second thoughts making him vacillate at a key moment–probably involving Kyle, whom he may see as the embodiment of everyone who’s going to get hurt in this transaction. This may lead Sircea to consider him… expendable.
BTW, I’m currently breaking in a new laptop, and “The Young Protectors” was the first webcomic I pulled up, out of the several I’m following these days. That and a buck-twenty-five will get you a Coke out of the corner vending machine, but maybe you’ll consider it some kind of honor.

Erm… coke with the real sugar or the fake coke with evil sweeteners… ? What? I want to know? 🙂

The regular one. Maybe it’ll have your name on the bottle or something, I dunno.

I actually think it’s very flattering. You’ve put a big smile on my face. Thank you, Dark_Otter. 🙂

Ooookayyy. The party is really getting started. I can almost see Alex gleefully rubbing his hands together, like Mr. Burns, as we all get worked up with these new, world-shaking, revelations. Heeeeee. Honestly, this is the really fun stuff as we add it to what we already know and what we just imagine and start to stack up the rules of this complex and fascinating world. Just really good cool stuff (the geek in me does a little happy dance… ok, it’s predictably NOT a cool dance).

P#1 — Okay I think we have a flippy Sorceress. I think it was @Silibub who introduced me to the phrase “personality whiplash.” I think we’re seeing some variation on that as Sircea effortlessly pops back into super sexy ‘Glinda The Good’ mode. In addition, her dialog is really wonderfully witty and sassy. Love it.

Sircea: “…feeling a bit EVIL? Is that black hat suddenly resting a bit heavy on your brow?”

Now ladies and germs, THAT is first class, deluxe, sarcasm. Still, I can’t disagree with her. I said it a page or two ago, as did others, NOW is a little late for second thoughts! After years of prep? NOW? So, I imagine Sircea’s POV is probably pragmatically tired of it, but she does what she needs to. She clearly knows how to “handle” Duncan’s needs.

Ironically, watching Sircea ‘manage’ Duncan was the first of many moments that made me think of how deftly Duncan ‘managed’ Kyle and how similar those two dynamics seem to be.

It may be all the good commenting and analysis, that has sat on my head… but I really like Duncan’s expression and his earnestness in Panel#2. Sircea is radiating ‘glib’, super sexy, but glib. However, in P#2 Duncan looks like an earnest young boy. This issue of “evil” is important to him. I really wanted to think he wasn’t concerned, but it’s clear here that, that isn’t at all the case.

It’s as if he’s saying, “I’m not a bad person am I?” So, judge him as we will, there is no doubt that this is clearly important to him (even with his complicated set of ethics). He needs to believe that he is NOT actually evil. I’ve never felt it was clear enough before, but here with Sircea he has to reason to say such a line at all. Previously I would not have thought that he actually cared. Here, I think he absolutely does care. He may be mightily confused about what the defintion of “evil” is and we all know that people are the heroes of THEIR own stories. This was the first time, I suspected that Duncan still has a NEED to be the hero of his.

(I can’t believe I’m writing this) On this page it seems clear that his moral soul may be hugely confused, but it’s definitely not gone!

So again, in this Panel, I felt Duncan vs. her 6,000 years of experience at work and their unequal relationship shows. It’s a wonderfully subtle revealing panel. Beautiful work.

Again, all reminding me of Kyle’s need to be understood, reassured, loved and supported. Here is a super Villain, sure, but one with his own version of the same human needs.

Panel#3: This was tricky because I was starting to want to yell at the screen… DON’T BELIVE HER DUNCAN… DON’T GO INTO THE DARK ROOM WITH THE WICKED WITCH… NOOO SKINNY DIPPING AT NIGHT IN THE LAKE, DUNCAN! ETC…

Panel #4: So now, due to our discussion, I’m imagining Duncan as having been with her for most of his life. Admittedly, that’s a total guess, but it feels more right than not, so I’m living with it until I learn otherwise. So, a 6,000 year old sorceress was ‘given’ a very powerful, emotionally scarred youth and has been molding his ethical and moral world-view for most of his life.

(I know, when I say it like THAT, it sounds BAD!).

I do love Duncan’s face again, as he listens to her. So guarded. Yet, she’s laid the groundwork and I’d guess they’ve had variants of this conversation for 40+ years. Looking at her expression, (DON’T GO UPSTAIRS ALONE!!!) it reminds me of some of the expressions on Duncan’s face during the date, pre-hell. So calculating and sly.

She is orchestrating. Again, IMHO, only the fact that he’s so very used to her would make him accept this crafty manipulative dialog from her as ‘normal’. That, and he’s preparing himself to talk about bringing in help, and I’d imagine worrying about her reaction. If they’ve been together as long as I imagine, he knows it won’t go over easy.

Do you remember when you prepared yourself to ask a parent for something you KNOW they were going to respond with “NO!” on? So, you’d get yourself ready with all your arguments.

P#5: Seems the same. She’s still operating and he’s preparing to bring up the tough subject.

P#6&7: So he dives in. What’s most intriguing to me is wondering if he would have brought this up prior to his exposure to Kyle (see I was going to write “abuse of Kyle, but to Duncan it wasn’t… so for this post at least, ‘exposure’).

So, is Duncan’s conscience always a ‘problem’ that Sircea has to manage (and manipulate)? Or is this current moment of introspection, solely because of his exposure to Kyle’s sweet, very attractive, decency? OR… maybe a bit of both?

Adam and Veronica the body language throughout the page is so expressive and fun, the expressions are spot on, and the backgrounds are fantastic. Always interesting and some of the graded skies are just beautiful blends of color. Such wonderful work. Thank you.

(Sorry seriousness for a moment)

As most of you who have read comments know, I had a huge emotional reaction regarding how vulnerable Kyle was when he got abused by Duncan. Gay, before coming out, can be such a very vulnerable, scary and isolating time. It’s often such an insecure and very needy time with oceans of self-doubt, that it’s easy to lose any ability to judge what’s best and one often just throws themselves out on to the water hoping all will be well.

In addition to the typical things, Kyle had exaggerated concerns about “being a hero” and also his responsibility regarding what happened to his foster family. Then, as everyone knows, instead of love, he got a harsh kick in the teeth and the weight of a stunning failure to carry. A situation that would stagger anyone let alone a needy 18 year old gay boy.

bSo, you may not have noticed, but I was a tad pissed at Duncan. (No really! I was! Just a smidge.)

The thing for ME about this page was the POV the page and the comments suggested for Duncan. One that made me relate to him emotionally much more personally than I had before. Ironically, much more like I had with Kyle.

If, by finding a place in the ‘family’ that is TYP, Kyle got exceptionally lucky (at least with the humanity part)… then…

It’s pretty clear Duncan did not.

So, 40-something years before Kyle was a closeted teen, Duncan was gay, closeted, bullied, unsupported and very very alone. No inner-scaffolding of a group, like Amanda and TYP, to help him learn to empathize with the human condition. NO ONE to help him learn to process his anger at those who abused him when he was powerlessness… hard and sad.

We all know that ‘ANGER’ is often ‘FEAR’ with another coat on.

Then, most important, Duncan got the oh so questionable guidance of a 6,000 year old witch with PLANS. Sircea is such a formidable creature. I can only imagine how easy Duncan was for her to shape to her needs. I think, after 6,000 years, the question of her humanity as we might recognize it… is an open question. Someone said it well. In relation to ages… Duncan would be to Sircea, as Kyle was to Duncan.

That is a lot to think about.

So, watching the dialog on the last two pages, and thinking of Duncan having a life time of Sircea’s world-view… well, no wonder he see’s “The end as justifying the means.” He’s been taught that lesson repeatedly for most of his life. We all learn from our abusers. It makes it much harder not to see him through more sympathetic eyes.

I hope it’s clear that I’m NOT excusing Duncan’s actions to Kyle in ANY way. As unfair as it is, we are all responsible for our own actions, regardless of what was done to us. It always comes down to who WE want to be in life.

However, that said, this is one of the toughest ethical questions I can imagine. If we assume a lifetime of Duncan being shaped by Sircea, then I can’t help but truly feel for him in some of the very same ways I felt so deeply for Kyle.

It all comes down to what Spooky said to Kyle… “Heroes don’t let the monsters win.”

My hat is fully off to Alex for creating this really complex, layered, nuanced piece of generational gay fiction. It’s an amazing dynamic to layer into a (Marvel-like) piece of super-hero fiction. I’m proud that it’s going to exist on a ‘shelf’ to be purchased by the future gay-geek me’s of the world. Even when hard, these are important issues to ponder when any of us are debating what kind of person we wish to be when we grow up. I’ll let you know about me in 30 or 40 years. 🙂

Hey, even if I’m only right about small bits and pieces of all this supposition, it’s still amazing and one of a kind work. I feel lucky to be seeing it unfold a page at a time.

(AHEM) By the way, if you had ever told me I’d be worried about Duncan — heh — well you can imagine what I’d have said (bad words, very bad).

Maybe Alex will have mercy on me and get Adam and Veronica to draw in a big black mustache on D. One for him to twirl, while making the Snidely noises, all so I can stop being all gay and emo-conflicted and remember that he’s a bad naughty guy.

*Ding*

Oh, Doctor? Is our time up for today? Ta… 🙂

Thank you TYP team-three, for such wonderful work. Please excuse me while I check my mailbox in case the graphic novel arrived due to an unexpected worm-hole or time-warp… HEY? It COULD happen. Excellent fun! 🙂

——————

Addendum#1: How many of us think that Sircea has a sneaky way of trying to steal Laampros’ power to make herself the kind of world-power you know she wants to be?

Addendum#2: Glass box. ‘Bah’. Goats? Box? Where are they? I think it may just be a glass box full of maguffins! 🙂

Addendum#3: Doesn’t Duncan need to change into another uniform for the big ho-down? (I mean NO ONE has been naked for pages and pages and pages. Withdrawals happening here.) *snort*

You know I love your thoughtful play-by-plays, Christopher, but this one especially has me grinning. Very gratifying and fun for me to read. Thank you. 😀

Beautiful comment, Chris! I wish I could respond to it as eloquently as I want, but I’m still processing the implications of the reveal here… Anyway, mainly I want to say that I completely agree that Alex has set up a wonderful parallel between Duncan and Kyle — two people who started from similar places, but whose circumstances led them down very different paths. It’s no wonder Duncan’s time with Kyle resonated with him so much, as he’s essentially seeing a version of what could have been if he had made different choices. It must be brutal to realize that he’s always had the capacity for goodness, and then look around at the culmination of his actual efforts and see that he’s created something pretty evil instead. And instead of a (mostly) supportive team of friends to fall back on, he’s got “evil is just propaganda, sweetheart, now hush while I adjust my tiara” Sircea. I love her dearly, but I wouldn’t go weeping into her decolletage in times of moral crisis, you know?

Of course, it’s not too late for Duncan yet — whatever happens in the rest of this chapter is probably going to involve some critical development for him. Whether Sircea will go along with him is a mystery for now. I mean, I hope she does and their entire relationship hasn’t been based solely on lies and betrayal, but “secret ultimate villain theory” and all that. I guess it would be a poetic sort of justice if Duncan wound up betrayed by a trusted mentor figure as well, but it makes me sad to think about that so I’m not going to dwell on it just now!

Thanks for writing out all those excellent thoughts, and maybe I’ll have something more coherent for you later. ♥

Thank you. My Duncan thinking was really stirred up by your, Sophia’s and others really interesting analysis on his relationship with Sircea. Something I really hadn’t thought deeply about. It kept looping around my head about the last three pages. I don’t always like reading the comments first but, about this section, it’s been the best thing I could have done. All, much appreciated. 🙂

Apologies for taking so long to reply. Mondays are always long, and today was especially so for a couple of reasons – including this being the second consecutive Monday where the building had to be evacuated for several hours because of a bomb scare.

While I always look forward to your regular analyses, this one was particularly poignant because of your comparison and contrast between the lives of Kyle and Duncan. While I have always hoped for Annihilator’s redemption, this post (plus the recent comment by Saikkusukka, above) have for the first time made me worry that it will take the form of ‘redemption = death’.

However I’d just like to make one extrapolation on your idea that Sircea has been manipulating Duncan and shaping his world view for a large part of his life. Even if that is true, it’s also the case that she has him on a long leash. Consider: she could have taken him as an apprentice and steeped him in the dogma and worldview of whatever the specifics of her style of magic/theurgy are. She didn’t. He made his own identity as the Annihilator, rather than as the Acolyte. Possibly this is because he already had superpowers and didn’t need to be taught magic in order to be a powerful ally and pawn for her. Possibly her own self-confidence/arrogance (delete as you see fit) to be able to keep control of him is part of that decision. And maybe that self-confidence is misplaced. But if your hypothesis is correct, and if the Priestess is keeping Annihilator on a long leash, then it means that the she sees him as fundamentally vulnerable enough that she can afford to give him that latitude.

…she could have also given him the illusion that he has freedom. Let him choose his own name, let him do his “own” thing, all while steering him down a path she chose for him. This fosters an illusion of choice, when she has really been behind everything from the get go.

Regarding DEATH, I’ve always hoped Duncan learns to “feel” what he’s done to Kyle but, I agree, his death would be hugely emotionally affecting and I’m sure that Alex would make the most of it.

Buttttt… I’m hoping that is NOT in the cards. Here’s my total guessing theory: Alex love his villains. He spent a lot of time on this one. Look he found a way to save Clarice Maven of all people because (his GN end-notes said) paraphrase — “she was too cool to kill.”

Now Military super android who leaves the most powerful enemy behind him to come after him? Really? That’s classic bond. Eight million cannon fodder people die, but Blofeld and Mr. Kitty always escape in some outrageous way and live to make another film. (Okay Dr. No got boiled, but he WAS creepy).

So I think Alex will have some smart way to save Duncan’s life. I do hope that Big D. gets some hard lessons, but I do think he deserves some life in which to live with his choices. (I mean dude had a shot at virgin Kyle and BLEW it. OUCH.)

He he he. Hey a guy can hope. Now Sircea? I have NO idea. 😐

So all this talk about glee clubs has to do with rubbing your hands?

A not-so-quick thought about the Priestess. It’s now explicit that she is (or claims to be) over 6,000 years old, from a culture with a very different sense of morality. A number of commenters have wondered what ancient, pre-English speaking culture she came from. But I’d like to pick up and run off on a tangent from a comment from Anonywolf down towards the bottom of the page, that age does not necessarily mean having a clue about anything. So think about this:

The Platinum Priestess has enough grasp of modern popular culture that she was able to make a Disney reference with “Bibbity-bobbity-boo” when she tranformed Kyle’s clothes.

I find the implications of that to be extraordinary. To set the context for this: The widespread concept of rapid cultural change is something that’s only been around since the Victorian era, and is a basic premise underlying modern science fiction. We’re mainly used to it because of the development and implementation of ever more powerful and faster computing technology. The concept of novelty as a commodity goes back a bit further, but for culture-wide impact it cannot begin until there is mass manufacturing to provide the bulk release of new goods into the markets.

Further, it’s a generalisation that people tend to be more comfortable with what they’re familiar with, (and this will be important later) which *usually* means what they grew up with.

So here we have the Priestess, several millennia old and yet not living as a hermit because it’s easier than keeping up to date with all these newfangled social mores that keep changing at the unreasonably fast rate of every few decades. She has either adopted or is at least making the pretence of being upper-class. She has enough grasp of current entertainment values and costs that she can complain that Kyle’s dress sense won’t allow him to get into a restraunt where a meal is $200 a plate. All of this probably indicates someone who by preference seeks out the leaders and high social classes of whatever society she’s in at the time, and fits herself into it in order to manipulate the politcs and/or enjoy the creature comforts of that time period. And while newcomers to a society can pick up bits of information simply by living in it and absorbing knowledge by osmosis, there are always clumsy periods at the start when you have to ask questions and risk making mistakes based on ignorance. I cannot see the Platinum Priestess being willing to *repeatedly* start at the bottom of the social heap and keep having to make all those gauche social faux pas.

Does the Priestess set herself up with a cover identity as a member of an old money family? Probably, but I would think that would only give her access to the movers and shakers of society, not the social graces needed to move among them. Well then, how about a bit of intense training, Eliza Doolite style, to be able to pass as a member of the aristocracy? Yes, that would work, and it would probably allow for the kind of knowledge needed for the small talk that is implied from the Annihilator’s comments before heading off to Hong Kong that he would love to stay and “spar” with her.

(Another obvious possibility is that she uses magic to either copy or steal from someone else’s mind the type of culture relevant information. I recall from a fantasy story the notion of a high level government bureaurcrat using a magical gemstone to temporarily copy the information content of a book into his own memory.)

Either way, the range of cultural knowledge that the Prietess has displayed strongly implies that she has deliberately set out to familiarise herself with this time. I suspect some of it is conscious research, and part of it would be osmosis (which is most likely where the Disney reference came from).

That sort of research takes time (unless she really is using magic to keep herself culturally up-to-date), which in turn has implications on the plot. If the problem caused by the Grey Working – which is causing the dimensional walls to break down – is particularly urgent, would the Priestess be putting so much effort into cultural knowledge skills? Well, maybe, if she needs to win allies from the modern age then she might think that getting the right amount of savoire fair to be worth the effort. [edit: as I finished composing this Chris Dangerfield has just posted an interesting thesis on the Priestess having deliberately molded the Annihilator for the past 40 years or so, and if that’s causally related then that would put the Grey Working as somewhere about half a century to a century ago, rather than many centuries ago.]

It’s amazing what you can extrapolate and waffle about from the fact that a 6,000 year old person uses the phrase “Bibbity-bobbity-boo”.

This is an excellent and very interesting analysis, Saxon. Very nicely done! And also very gratifying for me to read. 😀

Y’all are on fire for these pages… 🙂

I love this! You’ve raised some really fascinating points here. If she’s keeping her actual age a secret, she might go through a pattern of establishing herself in society, and then withdrawing after a certain amount of time to wait out the lifespans of people who remember her until she can reemerge under a new identity — “The Platinum Priestess” is likely just her most recent incarnation, to blend in with the new meta-human phenomenon and the culture surrounding it. She’s had a lot of time to amass wealth, so I assume she has the resources to gain access to elite social circles and to do the research necessary to pass as an ordinary mortal from that time period. I like the notion of her “sparring” with Duncan to keep her cultural references and conversation sharp. (Clearly she’s not lacking in the sarcasm department, so she must be keeping up well.)

Assuming she hasn’t isolated herself up until this point, and has kept in more or less regular contact with people all this time, I wonder how severely warped her sense of humanity really is — not as bad as it would be if she had been cut off for thousands of years, certainly, although I think it would be impossible to keep a normal perspective after you’ve outlived a few generations, no matter how much you socialize in the meanwhile. But if she’s still in a position where she can relate to people — Duncan, in this case — and form bonds with them, that would be a hopeful sign that she hasn’t turned into something completely monstrous. (Of course, that’s still a big “if” — everything she’s saying in this scene seems so carefully manipulative that it’s hard to tell if any of it is rooted in sincerity.)

All things considered, it’s actually weird that she hasn’t gone entirely off the rails. Unless she has and just masks it very well.

@saxon_brenton:disqus what a great comment, both yours and Silibub’s. I had totally forgotten about Bibbity-bobbity-boo and that makes perfect sense.

In my Kyle-Duncan musings. I was thinking that as different as she is, she also believes that she is the hero of her very long story and what she’s doing is perfectly right and essential.

I think you’re so right that she very much as found a way to stay with the cultural time and connected to what’s happening.

Still I imagine that 6,000 is an unavoidable thing. If I think in terms of our world and 6,000 years ago… she would, at some early point, have been one of the god-queens we’ve all read about in the ancient world. Even if she was just a powerful sorceress, to people then that’s deity territory. Particularly back then, she would have been regarded as a goddess, an oracle of delphi type being, one of the ancients in Mesopotamia. There is no way that someone as smart and powerful as she seems to be would have gone unnoticed.

Silibub’s thoughts on how she might want to ‘age’, once society has progressed to a point where she didn’t want to be the undying “witch-queen” (a la Conan) for her own reasons were super interesting.

It makes me wonder if this is what she really looks like and if that changes when she wishes. 6,000 is a long time, with lots of time to collect a lot of different appearances.

You posts also made me wonder… if Duncan’s gay was a plus to her, so she never had to worry if he would approach her as a potential partner. I can imagine that she used her looks over the years, but it’s hard to imagine her wanting normal “husband (or wife)” if she’s already 3,000 years old… etc… OTH, maybe she doesn’t even consider sexual preferences and gender as an issue after all this time. (Big If…) If her appearance is magically malleable, she may have been ‘everything’ over the years (man, woman, gay, straight, infinity). Okay, big if, but that’s a lot of power and a lot of time to explore it.

With 6,000 years, she may even consider HELL-ON-EARTH as just another interesting transitory state for the world to go through. Something to live through and learn something new from.

Okay that’s all big random guessing, but thank you both for these prompts to the cranium. She’s definitely no more mono-dimensional than Duncan is. I do think her line about “what was evil/good 6,000 years ago” was pretty damn sincere. Society has been a pretty iffy thing over the years.

Yep… “Bibbity-bobbity-boo” is it exactly. 🙂

As several people have been speculating, it depends on the exact nature of her relationship with people over time and with Annihilator in particular. There’s no doubt that several millennia of watching the people you know grow old and die would harden someone’s sense of compassion. OTOH, as a powerful god-queen she would have consorts as her lovers, rather than romantic partners; it would all be political arrangements at that level of society, even if it weren’t for the fact that romantic love is something that was invented by the troubadours during the middle ages.

Anyway. I agree with the idea that the Priestess is using Annihilator in some way, and that she would probably sacrifice him in a second if it became necessary. Nevertheless I do wonder if one of the short term (from her point of view at least) benefits of having Annihilator around is simply that she has someone to talk to. This may be primarily advisory. It might be for a bit of company and friendship (even if she’s unlikely to admit it). It may even be that she has enough understanding of social interactions to know that she needs to keep a touchstone with humanity by interacting with other humans occasionally, simply so that she can maintain a proper facade for her current identity and personality.

Unless she’s rather “recently” (like within several decades) been revived or awoken by “worshipers” from some long, dark magical sleep she was placed in by members of good or “white magic” sects or something like that. I’m thinking something very loosely along the lines of Akasha in Anne Rice’s “Vampire Lestat” (though here she is “awakened” by Lestat’s music I think (it’s been awhile – my memory could be a little cloudy). But, in any case, she’s some ancient or elder power that has somehow escaped from bonds placed on her in an earlier age by the forces of good to subdue her – maybe that particular aspect even something along the lines of “The binding of Loki” by the other gods for his “transgressions”.

What will PP’s reaction be when she sees Kyle? “You let thim live?!!!”, or “The final ingredient, just in time.”

Wow, everyboody’s going all out on their theories! Amazing things to read here!

Personally I must admit, I missed Duncan (I know, he was a genuine douchebag to Kyle, but I still did :|) and these pages please me even more since Duncan’s having second thoughts. And that he ultimately, as was mentioned before, wants to be ‘the hero’ of this ordeal. Kyle and his buds have a chance to change his mind, and his knowledge on this ‘deal with the devil’ and The Platinum Priestess and such could be very crucial in putting a halt in these horrible events that are about to happen. Aaaaand I’m fairly certain someone’s gonna die :’|

For those who have speculated that Sircea is Duncan’s mother, or his mentor since he was very young: http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/archive/ete-ch1-page-18/ . He obviously regards himself as her equal (at least).

Wh….6000 years? Damn. She looks fine for being a few millenia old. O_O And here I was thinking she was Duncan’s twin sister. Welp….there goes that.

Don’t feel too bad – that’s what I had been thinking as well.

You know, it occurs to me that if a woman’s going to live for several thousand years, post-menopausal is the way to do it. I understand there are benefits to a youthful body and all that, but talk about walls of blood and pain.

(Am I right ladies?! Ha! Hahaha! …Eh.)

(you post has an almost scary timing….)

i’ve never thought about that, but now that you mention it…

But, she’s going to have “perfect health and youth”, that means menstruations too, since that’s one of the signs of a healthy body of young women.

If there’s some way to magically avoid it in this comic I want to move into its world immediately, who cares if it’s about to merge with hell!

Heh, who doesn’t? No more embarrasing moments, cramps or painkillers. I’d sign it too – as long as I don’t have to offer my firstborn or something. xD

Ah, but eternal youth doesn’t necessarily mean her body will suddenly start to produce eggs. she would have had a finite number of them.

I find it very funny (and egotistical) of Duncan to consider himself an equal to a 6,000-year-old. Especially one as culturally-savvy as she.

Duncan honey, you’re wrapped around her finger.

Well it’s a quiet evening. How is everyone?

Chocolating and cramping ^_^ you?

and Irish cream milkshaking

Boo for cramping. Me, I’m just getting my dogs out, getting ready to feed them, then feed myself. Other than that, I’ m doing good

I had 2 PB&J sandwiched for dinner and Lays kettle cooked Wasabi Ginger chips

Hey – how were those? I saw those in the store along with the bacon mac-n-cheese flavor, the mango salsa flavor, and the cappuccino flavor. I bought and tried the latter two, and can’t say I cared for either of them. 🙁

They weren’t too bad. The Mango has too much mango and not enough of the salsa… I thought

I agree, not enough salsa – and though they are kinda sweet, I don’t even really think they taste much of mango, but just some strange spice hat I can’t place.

Yummy! PB&J

Doggies! Hope you all have a good meal. 🙂

They are all fat and happy now. My girl is making sure all the bowls are perfectly spotless.

I love dogs. 🙂

The best dogs are!

Aw, no fun on the cramping front. 🙁

I hope you feel better soon!

well they have been getting worse and longer, so we shall see. -_-

Oh no! D:

Yup, I showed up about 10mins ago and thought about asking if the comments were dead or I was the one to start the party. Instead I went to the bathroom and then got me some snacks first 🙂

Morning Danish sweet, were you able to get some sleep?

Some.. got a nap earlier tonight and then a shorter one now. I’ll probably be able to seep a little again after the page is up.

Midday rush. Looking forward to getting off-shift in half an hour. Probably get a chocolate fix.

Mmmm, chocolate.

I’m doing pretty well. It’s raining outside and the temperature’s gotten fairly cool.

I want some rain!!

I will try to encourage some your way!

And I thank you too! 😀

*rain dances* there I have put in a contribution. I actually did just practice belly dancing so hopefully it helps 😉

I thank you!

I will refrain from trying a rain dance for you. When I did it here, my part or the country ended up getting the least amount of water at the beginning when it started to rain again xD

I appreciate that. California needs rain

Same here. In the last two days the weather changed a lot because what’s left of a tropical storm is hitting here (we usually get the ‘leftovers’ when it’s cooled down some across the Atlantic).. and the temperature basically dropped 8-10C from one day to the next. A whole week of 16-21C outside with chances of rain.
Heh, 17-21C is actually a temperature I’m usually quite comfortable with, but after a month with 23-32C and mostly sun all day, it feels ..cold xD

Just woke up! Could actually make camp this time ^__^

Yay!

Starr! ….I might share my Irish Cream chocolate milkshake with you…

Ooh… then I will share the Cinnamon/Nutmeg/Vanilla french toast I just made *drools*

….. I love you?

With real Canadian maple syrup (not that fake stuff…) 😉

*latches on to Starr*

*hugs tightly* I need sugar in some form as it will be four weeks without any cola this week! *victory dance*

Have some milkshake! *puts cup in Starr’s hand* It is delish, promise!!

I read this originally as pours milkshake into hand and was very confused for a moment XD

*wiggles eyebrows* later when we are alone *wink*

Hehe 😉 Also to the original comment… I am not writing kinky Caibel fic right now… nope…

LOL, OMG I love the titles of these two fics!! LOL

The Highly Contested Account of Shindou Hikaru’s First Kiss

A Thoroughly Reliable Report of Touya Akira’s First Kiss

lol this really says so much about each of their characters!!

Doki probably shouldn’t be drinking and reading kinky HnG fanfic…

Hi! I’m well but sweaty — just got back from a run. How’s it going?

Running can kill you is my motto. Of course that means I probably won’t last in a zombie apocalypse. 😀

Eh, they’ll probably be the slow zombies anyway, right?

Maybe?

They better be. I never said I could run fast.

Ha! As long as you’re faster than someone else, that’s all that matters.

Hahaha, genius!

😀 Or you become really good at tripping the faster ones.

So. What are we going to do for camping? Perhaps speculate on what Alex might do if he chooses to swerve? In the last panel Annihlator says half a decade ago that he and the Priestess had to work alone, but now things are different…

If Annihilator isn’t talking about Red Hot (with or without the rest of the Young Protectors), who is he thinking of? Perhaps he’s thinking of an alliance with the radioactive goats, who are ticked off and wanting revenge?

No! Those goats are baaaaaaad news!

Nah, it’s gotta be Hunter and Killer. They’re the heroes we don’t deserve.

Gee, tonight was a tough crawl into bed. The Bed didn’t want me and kept moving. Then the sheets started screaming.
wink, wink

Sounds like a Poltergeist to me.

Just too much to do and get ready. So I take it out on the furniture by screaming at it.

I thought the Platinum Priestess was doing this at least partly because she was aging, and didn’t want to die of old age. Now she’s thousands of years old? Has she been using temporary methods over and over, until it escalated to “feed most of the Earth to demons?” Or am I missing something.

I don’t think that she is the cause of the weakening of dimensions.

Maybe whatever was keeping her alive is running out? Or maybe she just ages one year per thousand and wants to be younger than 60.

Or 6? Or one year per hundred maybe you meant.

Ah, you’re right. I misread the number in her speech bubble.

We don’t know. Speculation abounds. From her indignation on the last page it seems likely that her age issues have nothing to do with the weakening of the walls between dimensions, but she could have been lying. Heck, for all we know the price of immortality and eternal youth and health that she is charging Laampros may be a distraction for something else. And if she really does need the immortality, well, at this point we also don’t know whether she used a single method to last 6,000 years and now it’s running out, or whether she’s been using a large number of life prolonging methods that each add a small amount of extra life, and this is simply the most recent scheme.

We are awaiting more information.

Many of us have been wondering about such things.

Hmm, disqus isn’t doing that thing to tell me when there are new comments above and below where I am on the page. New comments still show up, though, so at least that’s okay.

disqus has been doing that to me for 4 or 5 pages now.
I don’t know why.

Weird.

OMG. I just got the kickstarter update with the cover of yp vol 1 and it looks amazing!

o_o *Off to check my mail*

Omg! I can only agree on what you said 😀
Alex, it looks gewd!

Thank you so much, Danish! Yay!

I can’t wait to be a beta reader. When I finally got past the cover image, and read that part about getting to see the preview soon, I fangirled LOL

That’s great!!

Thank you, Stick!

Although Anni on the cover looks like he has something else on his mind, rather than the fact that he’s about to give a passionate kiss to our red-hot young and studly hero-boy – or he’s about to fall asleep. Could be a little more directed or focused passion in his eyes.

Well, maybe he’s falling into a romantic swoon and in the process of closing his eyes to experience the fireworks.

That ambiguity of his motives is a deliberate choice on my part for this image, Steven. But I hear that it’s not working for you and you’d like a more clearly romantic focus.

Sorry – I didn’t mean that to sound so critical – in looking at it again, as I mentioned below, it could be that he is starting to close his eyes as people sometimes do in that situation (perhaps the possibility of falling into a bit of a swoon as well). I do understand that, if it was a more clearly romantic focus, as you put it, such might be giving away too much about events in future volumes. We did have a seduction that was perhaps the central event of Volume 1, but I don’t think Kyle had his superhero attire on during any of his and Duncan’s previous interactions – thus some speculation as mentioned above.

God damn, that’s fantastic!

We worked very hard on it. It makes me so happy you like it! (Be sure to leave a comment on the KS update page for your fellow backers, y’all! 🙂 )

The work paid off, you guys did a really wonderful job. (And I’ll say as much on KS page in a moment!)

It is a nice cover, though, regardless of my speculations on what it might signify.

PP looks amazing 😉 .. and that Spooky and the demon image makes me curious about the extras.

That she does, but the fact that I got heart eyes over the rest of the cover too and she didn’t completely dominate my attention is a real point in its favor!

Well, that’s music to my ears. Thank you! 🙂

It suddenly occurs to me: Alex threw us this bone at exactly the right time that we needed another topic to keep us occupied during camping…
[thinking meta thoughts…]

Hmmm – putting Kyle and Anni about to lip-lock on the cover – I wonder what that says or portends. Is there or will there really be more of a significance to their relationship (as putting this on the cover might tend to imply it could be central), rather than just the awful deed and evil seduction and use/abuse and betrayal that Duncan perpetrated on and with Kyle?

I’d say that the seduction of Kyle was a pretty big part of Vol.1. It was the main focus.

That’s true enough.

But….unless the cover image is meant to be purely represenational or indicative of a metaphor or idea about the (whole) story, and not meant to represent an actual event in the story, then I’d say it may be significant that the act or event depicted in the cover did not happen in Vol. 1, and actually has STILL yet to happen – as I don’t believe that Kyle has interacted with Duncan before while attired in his official “Red-Hot” outfit..

I think them being in their suits is just to show who they are. Having a superhero comic without showing them in their costumes on the front.. that would not do well, especially since this is volume 1 and it’s what to catch the (new) readers attention 🙂

Well, that’s what I was getting at – maybe it was more to express an IDEA, rather than depict an actual EVENT in the story.

Remember that the evil deed hasn’t happened yet in Vol.1. It cover the prologue, chapter 1 and the interlude (+ extras).

The fire behind them is a great bit of foreshadowing, then — at first glance it’s like, “Yeah, Kyle has fire powers,” but then later it’s like, “Oh right, the flames of damnation.”

I might need to bugger off soon…stomach is acting up and I am not supposed to take more for another hour… x

I hope you feel better soon, Doki!

feel better!

take care, get well.

It is not so much getting well, but surviving until it is over. -_-

Aw, I hope that clears up soon! Get some rest ♥

*hugs* feel better! (stupid evil stomach!)

It is because you left me for Caibel….:-P I should be getting my haircut this week, maybe, and I was thinking a Deimos look maybe?

Gwah!!! (in Hinata voice) Funny because my Cain wig should be here soon… not cutting my hair that way though XD

lol, well I always cut my hair short, usually between just above and just below chin. I was thinking of something different this time. ^_^

I think this is close? http://www.fobsic.com/best-short-haircuts-for-ladies-with-fine-hair/black-hair-women-short-hairstyle-gallery/

I’m pretty sure I know what they’re trying to do…
1-They’ll cast Laampros on an evil-dimesion earth
2-they let him have it
3-they lock their dimension for it to be uninvadable from alternate realities.
4-Duncan becomes immortal neverthereless.
?-Sircea shows her true collors?
It just sounds weird that he said “…create A hell on earth” as if there was an obvious way to make more than one…

And dimentional magic has pretty much the power to make someone infinetly powerful if the number of dimentions is something that can only just be grasped by imagination(or just infinite).And as Sircea is acting like she can use it with no stress I’m curious to what extend she thinks she can go…

I think Duncan’s comment about “a hell on Earth” is to distinguish it from the hell dimension (or dimensions).

It’s sinking in.. the YP Vol.1 is getting near 😀 I can’t wait to read it in paper form and to see the extras.

*regrets so much missing this KS* oh well… can’t be helped now and I know better for next time XD

I know – same! I found this comic just days after the Kickstarter ended. D:

I originally signed up for KS because I thought I would be able to back it, but didn’t end up working out. We can cry a bit together, but eventually we can get a copy 😉

I’m with ya, Starr!

I have to thank Alex for a lot of things. Without finding Artifice I wouldn’t have found TYP, Teahouse or Starfighter. It was the discovery that started everything and the love of all of them *cuddles to chest*

I still need to read Teahouse one of these days.

I finally was able to buy all of available Teahouse volumes last month and the bonus content is so WORTH it! You really do need to read it :3

Thanks, I definitely will at some point!

*lol* I went a liiittle bit overboard at the time and was so broke afterwards. I basically cleaned out my cupboards for food in the days between the KS ending and getting paid. I was left with about $15 to last for food and transport for a week afterward LOL

Kind of like my SF pledge… I got rid of quite a few things I didn’t need collecting dust anyways. It was good as backing KS and de-cluttering. But yes… I know the feeling! Especially when the stretch goals start coming into play…

*ducks* Don’t emntion the SF KS. I did the same there and probably pledged a level higher than I should have xD

It will be worth it… now just WAITING… food or comics? (comics…)

I’m old fashioned enough to far prefer the printed page.

I’m actually the same way. 🙂

I like both, but I agree that there’s something special about having a physical copy of a story you love.

A technical question for the campers in general:
For your personal tastes of preferring the printed page, does it extend to personally printing out pages and keeping them in a binder until you can get your hands on the commercially printed and purchased tradepaperback? My answer is yes, for a small number of my favourite webcomics – but I’m not sure how much of a fanatical nutbar I am in that regard.

No, I print nothing unless I have to sign it for legal purposes anymore. IT’s all electronics.
Books are paper, though. I don’t care to read electronically when I can buy a printed book.

Not for me, in part because the quality of printouts using my home printer is so vastly different from a professionally printed collection. Also it is a lot more effort than I care to go to. I do, however, tend to bookmark favorite individual pages of webcomics I follow.

I’m really excited, too! I’m particularly looking forward to the trading card extras — those should have some great information (and beautiful artwork of course).

Creating the content for the cards has been a ton of fun for me. 😀

Yes.. the merch 🙂 I wasn’t able to back for any higher pledge, but managed to scrape enough money together for a ‘middle’ pledge (who needed food anyway). I was so happy that the KS went amok that last day so we could get a complete set of trading cards. It would have driven me nuts if there was a card missing!

Saaame, I was so stressed that some characters’ cards would be left out, and hitting the stretch goal for the complete set was the most exciting part of the KS for me besides seeing the initial goal met. (The Spooky cap is a close second, though. I’m not usually one for hats but I might have to wear that around!)

Or actually, my memory’s fuzzy — I know we have every character’s Powers, Romance, and Origin cards, but do we only have some First Time cards? The others were more important to me personally, so I kind of mentally glossed over that last category.

Nope, we got them all that last day. People upped their pledges (me too) and last minute pledgers did it 🙂 As I said, people went amok the last day *lol* It was so fun to watch.

Thaaat’s right, I just checked the numbers. (The stretch goal was grayed out in the list on the KS site so I was like “Wait…”) Laughing at myself now: “That was the most exciting moment for me! …Remind me how it went?”

Page up very soon…

So excited for the new update. I’ll wait all night if I have to for this one =^-^=

Page is up! http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/archive/ete-ch3-page-51/

6000 Yrs Old. Funny, she doesn’t look a day over 4500.

Alex, if I said that I enjoy your commentary almost more than your comic, would you hold it against me? 😀

Nope. I wouldn’t. 🙂

Alex, if I said that I enjoy Spooky almost more than your comic, would you hold him against me? 🙂

Ha!

(And maybe that can be a reward for the next KS project. Spooky Snuggles.)

*chris throws wads of cash at Alex for the next KS project. (makes woogie noises) “mmmmm… spooky snuggles… mmmmmmm”)* 😀

I’m late to the game here, as usual…but I was JUST about to say something along the same lines as Josephine did below. Alex’s commentary almost always gets a grin. Furthermore, I’ll join those who are happy to see our shiny Silver Fox and Magical Cougar on screen and up to their old witty dialogue again. Interesting to see the Platinum Priestess playing the devil’s advocate to our newly uncertain Annihilator. Even more interesting that all of this seems to be a “necessary evil.” I have to ask, though: how is inviting a King of Hell to take over the world and mold it to his whims supposed to fix the problem of the Walls weakening? I’m sure that’s not all there is to it, but really!

Far into future pages we are still asking questions about the “wall” … The Woolfson isn’t talking spoilers (darn). So, if you have a sudden flash of genius and figure out Sircea’s wall plot, do tell.

You’ll win the internet if you do. 🙂

If I have an epiphany I’ll be sure to share it. Right now, though, I’m feeling more like Mr. Woolfson is reading my mind than the other way around, as the pages are answering my questions almost as soon as I really think of them.

Of course, and that’s as good entertainment should be. I was just teasing wistfully, as you are touching on exactly some of the answers we are all seeking…

It’s great fun.

Sure is!