Comic for Monday, September 26th
To most of the IDS CI analysts Peter is a somewhat larger than life character. He used to be one of them, and has been a major aspect of the office rumor mill since even before he became a field agent, let alone a rogue field agent. To most of them his lifestyle likely seems impossibly dashing and exciting, in no small part because their version of it is very likely unrealistic at this point. Still, they’ve seen enough fire to believe most of the smoke.
Poor Arron likely never had the heart to crack down too hard on their notions. This is probably something he regrets. He’s had a bad week. Have the last 6 chapters really been less than a week? Man. Webcomic time.
We have seen both of these analysts before. I wonder if we will get names… than I’ll be behind on cast page updates again… A dangerous road to go down as there are actually a handful more… than just these two…
If you haven’t seen the new vote incentive, check it out! A new one will roll around before the next update sometime; it seems I went a bit out of order as currently up is #2, and next up will be #1 from the voting poll. I don’t know if I’ll get to #3, as October is almost on us, and that requires Halloween based incentives (… yes, that’s mostly just an excuse to play character dress up…). I’m somehow fairly certain #3 (Ila) will make it into the Halloween incentives regardless 😉
There was supposed to be a cover for Chapter 7 up over the weekend, but I couldn’t quite get it right. The problem being that I sort of had an idea of what I wanted, which more or less guarantees that it’s too complicated to draw right for me 😛 Yes… this is Chapter 7 now… how could confuse it with Chapter 6?! It is totally different! The bonus comics (if we do them) will be tricky to write, trying to write actually mostly contained stories. I have some ideas, but it is sort of antithetical to my inclination to ramble on.
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In the panel above the final split panel of the assistant/Peter, Arron has three I’s, though he should only have two I’s like a normal human being. “I see. I should I” should read “I see. I should” or maybe “I see. I”? Everything else seem pretty human, except those three I’s.
I agree – it’s supposed to be scattered, but I think I need more ellipses for that to make sense, but rather I just updated it to remove the third “I”. Lemme know if that looks better to you.
It does. But I see your point… Changing tenses would’ve been better, for that purpose. You could’ve written: “I see. I should’ve… I realize,” like you change tenses in the second bubble from past perfect tense: “have […]* been leaking” to present tense: “does[…]* cross”.
*[…] adverbs that modify the verb: (in order of appearance)
1. probably
2. not even
It indicates that what Arron should have realized, he is realizing, now. He auto-corrects himself as to when he became aware. Just as his underlings have been giving Peter information; and even with Arron in the same room, they do not perceive a conflict of interest between their employer and Peter that would prohibit a “rogue” agent from being “authorized” personnel.
Well, I will settle for now for intelligible… err… properly unintelligible? I will make note of these things for future notations on making convincingly intelligible unintelligible mumbling though 😉
Appreciate the notes 😉 God knows I need all the help I can get on these talky pages 😛
“A complete utter nightmare for anyone who understands the context that is Peter walked in, and he’s hanging around an area he’s probably revered in.”
The next, like, entire page or six is just reserved for Arron’s “Oh shit”, aren’t they? (That’s just the “oh shit” for this page, let alone anything else that happens on the ones reserved for his “oh shit”.)
Maybe I should have titled the comic Arron’s Bad Week Gets Worse 😉
I mean, he was trying to find Peter. Guess you gotta be careful what you wish for sometimes.
Don’t forget, Kally’s call is due in any moment!
Thinking about this scene some more I realized what I really want to know is how does Arron react to hugs? If Naomi doesn’t already know Arron is Peter’s uncle said knowledge mandates a hug, if she already knew she probably hasn’t met him before still hugs.
I have been thinking of the two Analysts as Dorita and Chip since this scene
Arron sort of seems like he’d be freaked out by it.
What’s Aaron trying to say in the first bubble of panel 6? I was going to file a typo report but there’s no single correction that makes it coherent.
His mouth was getting ahead of his actually thinking and he restarted his statement multiple times.
Pretty much this. Coherence is not intentional there 😉
@ PastUtopia
It’s okay to use a bit of alpha transparency on speech bubbles. However, it is weird for Peter to be semi-transparent. We can see the background through Peter’s forehead in panel 3 and through his cheek in the last panel.
Hmm… Maybe Peter isn’t actually there? Maybe he’s a hologram?
Hmmm….. Mmmmmm… 😉
Wait… didn’t Peter request some hard light projectors from Tyler? And whats that device that Naomi seems to be feeding mana into in panel 2? That seems like a likely connection to me.
(Also first comment, love the comic, keep it up PastUtopia)
Thanks! Glad you enjoy it, let me know if you want a character avatar.
As for the other part of the comment, may I repeat:
” Hmmm…. Mmmmm…. 😉 “
Geez, good catch, didn’t even notice that… assuming your conclusion is reasonably accurate (which I expect the next comic or two to elaborate), that’s a REALLY nice subtle clue. Well done.
“…we’re analysts…”, “…it’s Peter…not like an actual criminal or something…” Analysts? And they don’t think Peter is a criminal? Whatever they are using to think with, it isn’t their brains. ^^
There has been quite a bit of humor in the character interactions here, but I found this page to be laugh out loud funny, what with the two hero-worshipping nerds, the beleaguered Department Head, and all (I expect to see Arron’s ulcer eat a hole through his shirt and necktie any time now). ^^
I like the layout flow on this page. It’s dynamic without being distracting.
I’m waiting for Peter to learn that Kally VOLUNTEERED to scout him. 🙂
And both the “analysts” are just adorable. ^^
Haha, I reckon they have a bit of an abstracted view. Criminals aren’t really people to them, but little data points they track. The concept of meeting one would be somewhat baffling. Peter, on the other hand, well, that’s Peter.
Some of Peter’s own oddities come from previously being one of these people.
I think it’s a race between ulcers and his brain simply exploding at this point. It came close in panel 6 I think… 😉
” …And they don’t think Peter is a criminal? ”
Is Peter a criminal? In whose eyes? What is Peter actually guilty of, besides deserting his position at the IDS?
To be fair, Peter did give the Malsan government (Tyler, actually) a dimensional gate detector and showed him how to use it. That must break IDS law. Heck, Central (IDS’ world) would likely brand him a traitor.
However, as far as us readers know, the IDS can not be certain that Peter did this. I’m sure they suspect him, but they have no actual evidence. Indeed, IDS only noticed how Malsa has a dimensional gate detector because the MSB started to intercept illegal gate activity – activity that seems to be part of skullduggery that IDS is involved in. That is, the MSB started doing IDS’s job – the job that IDS promised to do as part of PACT.
If Peter is a criminal and a traitor, what does that make the IDS brass who is secretly, intentionally breaking their PACT treaty in so many ways? What does that make the IDS staff involved in plots to steal Avon tech, kidnap Avon employees, frame Peter for kidnapping, or undertake illegal black-market dimensional trade?
In some circles, I think that’d make Peter a hero. It’s a matter of POV, is it not?
Oh dear, he really did bring Naomi into the IDS office. This may not be a 100% peaceful negotiation. Does make me wonder how he got in. Naomi would sort of stand out there.
I like the new IDS Analyst girl. She is clearly a bit of a Peter fangirl, but is cute.
We will see how much patience Arron has. Being lectured by his own nephew, especially when that nephew is Peter, is probably hard to take.
She’s a very well behaved bull. Sometimes. Say, is that fine china you have on the shelf?
I think Arron has a lot patience. An enormous of amount of patience. Though, sometimes a department head’s got to do what a department head’s got to do.
I think his supply of patience just ran out there though. Or maybe his tolerance for bad news.
” Does make me wonder how he got in. ”
This is Peter we’re talking about – the genius hacker. And he used to work here. He could make their security system look elsewhere. Or, maybe he has some way to teleport into the building?
“…he really did bring Naomi into the IDS office.”
If you think about it, Peter bringing Naomi along could be a form insurance. You know: If his uncle or someone else decided to object to Peter leaving after this little meeting, Naomi would “file an objection” of her own… I mean, Peter is not stupid.
Arron I feel your pain. This is why I won’t take a supervisory position, Peter isn’t a threat but he is a criminal and I couldn’t bash the analysts either. Still it will be interesting to see how Arron comes up with a way to let Peter leave again. I predict more wrinkles and grey hair and many, many exasperated sighs.
Unless Peter says something to change his mind, I do not think Arron will let Peter go. That said, I suspect Peter came with an exit plan to negotiate his exit (or an escape route).
Peter might not be a physical threat, but he may be a quite serious threat to the IDS. If Arron is right and Peter does have why to cross dimension, he basically defies everything the IDS is trying to control. Not to mention that it seems like he might be involved in the whole Bridgepoint thing.
Peter absolutely has a way to dimension-hop; the I.D.S. is breaking their own rules, which is part of why Peter is doing what he’s doing; and if Peter wasn’t the one who corrupted the data on bridgepoints, he knows a lot about the what, why, and who concerning them. He probably isn’t malevolent, but he IS dangerous. 🙂
” …I do not think Arron will let Peter go.”
Peter’s partial political immunity was already established at the beginning of this comic. He’s enrolled in Malsa’s magic academy, which sort of makes him a citizen.
Unless he breaks laws – Malsa’s laws – or IDS manages to convince the Malsan government to turn him over, he’s more or less untouchable. And considering recent events and the increasing friction between IDS and Malsa, the latter is definitely not going to happen.
Moreover, Peter has given Tyler Weber a dimensional tracking device and valuable intelligence. To him, he is increasingly looking like a useful asset. If the IDS did grab him or try to detain him without a darned good reason, you know Tyler and the Malsan government would not stand idly by. (Heck, with that fiasco at Avon still underway, Malsa may yet kick IDS facilities like this one out of their country.)
Granted, if Peter had kidnapped or harmed agent Summers – or any IDS agent – that would change things. It’d give IDS reason to detain him or pretty much do want they want with him. But while being a rogue agent is serious business for the IDS, I get the feeling that Malsa really doesn’t care. In fact, at this point, I think Malsa would make a point of protecting Peter just to stress the point that IDS can’t do whatever it wants in their country.
The way countries tend to operate, I would suspect Peter being a rogue agent who chose their country for asylum and then followed through with actions to support their country – like the aforementioned detector – is actually something that the Malsa government very much appreciates. The enemy of my enemy is at least useful, after all.
Poor Arron, I doubt that he’ll be leaving this meeting with the same amount of wrinkles as he came here with.
Pretty soon he’s going to run out of face at the rate of +wrinkle we are going…