Out Of Sight 2012-12-13

[donoho]

I make it point not to miss 'How the Grinch Fucked Up Christmas' for the scene where all the Whos in Whoville get together and hold hands to sing "Happy Fuckingest Time of the Whole Fucking Year".


(gonna have to write lyrics for that one )

And w the phrase "Happy Fuckingest Time of the Whole Fucking Year!", I am officially smitten w Suzie. Fuckingest. How have I Never used that before? Seriously.

[Mark N]

^ we've played with bad MOJO before in this comic, remember the only thing that made the golem girls go berserk was that they were raped and tortured before being turned into golems, and indeed the only thing that allowed them to be contained was someone dying outside of that and being involved in the golem process.

I'm sure that jin's mom didn't go on a rampage that glassed half of the planet when she was first turned into a golem.

Actually the Golem process was not at fault, it was the fact that the golem they were creating was a leviathan and Jin, by sacrificing herself first tossed out the controls on them. Then the anger and pain of the girls did the rest of the damage.
The rape and torture was being used to give the priests control. Presumable the concept that raping and torturing of a person will break their will and make them mailable to your wishes.

[Bathorys Daughter]

Heh! Called it correctly for once, here and then a few posts further down in my response to Nimrod.

Definitely an interesting variation on the myth, and a rather sad one at that. In the Wapsiverse, Mina Harker would have been one of the least likely people to become a vampire... instead, the risk would be to the sort of people whom the author would never mention

The sadness continues even after death, it seems... the rejected-and-forgotten ones can become vampires, but even then the paranormal community considers them "bottom feeders" and "shitty mosquitos". No respect in life, no respect in death.

Definitely in line with the "morality play" aspects of Wapsi Square that somebody alluded to a few days ago. The message here seems to be, that we really must care about one another while alive, as those for whom we do not care may become deadly monsters. Not a bad moral at all!

If that's all it takes, there must be a whole lot of baby and child vampires in the world. Newborns and children are cast off and forgotten every day. Poor nations must be overrun with them. The Untouchables of India, especially in the past, would be great candidates. The ones not burned that is. Since they live forever after they transform, it would seem the Wapsi-world would be chock-a-block full of vampires. Of course, it may be. The sheer numbers of them being the reason they are considered vermin. Plus there would, likewise, be numerous victims of these vampires. No organization could cover it up. Everyone would know (not just suspect) there actually are vampires.

[Mark N]

I find it a bright idea going back to the far older Oriental mythos of the Vampire being a haunted corpse (kinda like Tina if you think about it). By a person being forgotten and discarded (what I have called a thrown away child) they are full of nothing but fear and loathing without any love to keep the soul sane, that makes it so they cannot move on and in doing so, they haunt themselves. The concept of a ghost being a person who could not move on after death is an old one just coming back into fashion in recent years as well.

[Mark N]

If that's all it takes, there must be a whole lot of baby and child vampires in the world. Newborns and children are cast off and forgotten every day. Poor nations must be overrun with them. The Untouchables of India, especially in the past, would be great candidates. The ones not burned that is. Since they live forever after they transform, it would seem the Wapsi-world would be chock-a-block full of vampires. Of course, it may be. The sheer numbers of them being the reason they are considered vermin. Plus there would, likewise, be numerous victims of these vampires. No organization could cover it up. Everyone would know (not just suspect) there actually are vampires.

There could be an age limit, something about mental maturity or a locked in sense of self that is needed for the process. The baby and young child may not have been at that point when they die or there is another mechanism in the realm of the dead for the younger ones to prevent this from happening, Our lost girl here is 17 and in that she is mature enough in life to have that sense of self. But then again it may be a cutoff in the system for when Death will or won't come for them. (Of course I could be off my several miles again)

[alj_ws]

I find it a bright idea going back to the far older Oriental mythos of the Vampire being a haunted corpse (kinda like Tina if you think about it). By a person being forgotten and discarded (what I have called a thrown away child) they are full of nothing but fear and loathing without any love to keep the soul sane, that makes it so they cannot move on and in doing so, they haunt themselves. The concept of a ghost being a person who could not move on after death is an old one just coming back into fashion in recent years as well.

If you take the confucian or some tibetan myths, that is exactly what happens with the ghosts of the unremembered. Of course in this mythology, it is a rare event that such a ghost can possess either its own corpse or a living person, but the first step is always that the hun (the part of the soul that stay after death) did not receive ancestor worship rites. And there is a set period before possession can occur. Suzy monologue would be coherent with that version.

[Boxilar]

I'm betting McBride and Pratt are fairly unique among vampires. McBride is still haunted by being abandoned and forgotten, but she has channeled it into trying to do something good. She's trying to make sure no one is forgotten so they don't have to go what she is going through. The care she's showing Jane Doe's corpse is the sort of thing a loving family member would do, or want done, for a loved one. Suzi is doing for Jane what no one did for her. I presume Lily is doing police work for similar reasons.

But for every McBride or Pratt who have managed to channel tragedy into positive actions, there have to hundreds of vampires who are consumed with bitterness and rage at being abandoned and are trying to inflict a similar fate on others. The "infectious bite" myth may have come about because so many forgotten souls died at the fangs of a vampire, and because they were unloved and forgotten, rose as vampires themselves. After all, the forgotten would be prime prey for a supernatural predator on the fringes of society. These newly minted vamps may have assumed that the bite was what turned them, when in reality, the cause of death was incidental to the circumstances of their creation.

[Dave]

If that's all it takes, there must be a whole lot of baby and child vampires in the world. Newborns and children are cast off and forgotten every day. Poor nations must be overrun with them. The Untouchables of India, especially in the past, would be great candidates. The ones not burned that is.

Presumably, that's not all that is required... it may be a "necessary but not sufficient" condition. As others have suggested, babies and young children may not yet be sufficiently mature (physically and as egos) to support the transition to an undead form. And, there may be other special conditions which Paul has not yet described. Even then, some cultures do have traditions of "demon" children (sometimes the victims of infanticide) who have a distinctly vampiric nature.

As to the "Untouchables" of India (the Dalits) and similar outcast subcultures elsewhere (Burakumin, Cagots, etc.) I'm not sure the situations are comparable. "Untouchables" are shunned or excluded by the majority population as a group... they have their own family structures, professions, sometimes a distinct subculture, and social continuity. Within their own group, their family and interpersonal dynamics don't seem to be greatly different from those of the majority cultures. They may be at somewhat greater risk of being "alone and lost" than a higher-caste individual, but I would guess this to be a difference in degree rather than being anything fundamental.

Being a member of a functional (if stressed) family, part of a "low" caste that the nose-in-the-air Hoity-Toities won't allow into the school or church, isn't quite the same as being an individual out on the cold streets who knows that s/he has no family, no friends, no person who gives a damn about you, nowhere to turn, and no hope at all.

[Dave]

But for every McBride or Pratt who have managed to channel tragedy into positive actions, there have to hundreds of vampires who are consumed with bitterness and rage at being abandoned and are trying to inflict a similar fate on others. The "infectious bite" myth may have come about because so many forgotten souls died at the fangs of a vampire, and because they were unloved and forgotten, rose as vampires themselves. After all, the forgotten would be prime prey for a supernatural predator on the fringes of society. These newly minted vamps may have assumed that the bite was what turned them, when in reality, the cause of death was incidental to the circumstances of their creation.

That's very nicely reasoned, and seems quite consistent and plausible in this context.

[Mark N]

I am guessing that part of the transition is a tortured life, being told all the time by others that you are stupid and useless before you disappear and no one gives a crap to find you.

[My2Cents]

If that's all it takes, there must be a whole lot of baby and child vampires in the world. Newborns and children are cast off and forgotten every day. Poor nations must be overrun with them. The Untouchables of India, especially in the past, would be great candidates. The ones not burned that is. Since they live forever after they transform, it would seem the Wapsi-world would be chock-a-block full of vampires. Of course, it may be. The sheer numbers of them being the reason they are considered vermin. Plus there would, likewise, be numerous victims of these vampires. No organization could cover it up. Everyone would know (not just suspect) there actually are vampires.

You would have to be more than just an untouchable, they are still recognized and remembered. And it probably requires a certain amount of time and awareness, because it look like you have to give up on yourself too.

As for the buildup in numbers because they live forever, consider that they are classified as 'shitty mosquitoes'. Mosquitoes that get noticed tend to get swatted. I suspect that whenever the vampire population starts to get large enough to be notice the predators higher up the food chain organize a cull,

[Fairportfan]

I am guessing that part of the transition is a tortured life, being told all the time by others that you are stupid and useless before you disappear and no one gives a crap to find you.

Remember the invisible girl in Buffy?

[Jabberwonky]

I am guessing that part of the transition is a tortured life, being told all the time by others that you are stupid and useless before you disappear and no one gives a crap to find you.

Remember the invisible girl in Buffy?

I didn't see her...

[Fairportfan]

hsssss

[Dave]

Remember the invisible girl in Buffy?

I didn't see her...

She was visible in the credits, at least, as "Faye d'Aut".

[Fairportfan]

hsss

[bmonk]

If certain people are not careful, an invisible pun jar will soon be chewing on their ankles.

[Jabberwonky]

Me and the Pun Jar have an understanding (we talk often enough) and she knows I'm good for it. I'm tracking down an album for her, even as I speak. Uh, type...

[davids4250]

Does anyone else notice a disturbing resemblance between Jane Doe here, http://wapsisquare.com/comic/out-of-sight/ and Monica, here http://wapsisquare.com/comic/together/ ?

[jwhouk]

Does anyone else notice a disturbing resemblance between Jane Doe here, http://wapsisquare.com/comic/out-of-sight/ and Monica, here http://wapsisquare.com/comic/together/ ?

Way too tall and not "curvy" enough.