Stand Back 2014-11-17

[Thor]

I think the most important question that this strip does not answer is "Tell Kevin what, exactly?

(And personally, I think that Kevin has had it coming to him for a long time, merely for having that awful whisker sculpture on his face. Yeek.)

[Yamara]

I think the most important question that this strip does not answer is "Tell Kevin what, exactly?

(And personally, I think that Kevin has had it coming to him for a long time, merely for having that awful whisker sculpture on his face. Yeek.)

Something about those Manhattans...

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/cookingmesupper/

...yeah... Careful there, Kev. She'll tear your heart out.

[Omrikon]

I can't say I really remember Georgette's story or why she's relevant, but this came out of left field for me. I suppose that's the point, but frankly I can't recall Paul ever putting much focus into romance beyond a handful of strips between major events, especially with potential between these two, so it feels like an attempt to just take Kevin out completely. I don't even remember the last time Kevin was involved either, but at least I REMEMBER him.

I had to read the character list to remember what story Georgette was from and understand why the two would even have this supposed connection between their inner demons. Still, to say Monica hasn't shared herself and her life with Kevin does their history injustice. Didn't she teleport him around, after which he remained fully accepting of her? To have all this challenged out of the blue like this should certainly cause Monica to reflect, and it's a great chance to finally shine some light on Kevin as an actual person and part of Monica's life with potentially his own inner demons, but this has so much potential to develop unsatisfactorily that I'm more upset about the possibilities than curious.

Maybe Georgette should at least meet Kevin too before this whole thing goes down, I don't know. Regardless, I commend him for getting me to be pretty invested in this arc, but will likely adjust my entire view of Paul as a writer afterwards according to how this story develops.

[TazManiac]

The new day's strips has been appearing a 9:30-ish (Pacific Time) ever since Daylight Saving Time ended...

Daylight Saving Time must be rescinded, revoked, and abolished.

Tell your law makers...

There seems to be at least as large a cohort who feel that Standard Time is what should go... that Daylight Savings Time should be in effect year-round.

Noon is when the sun is at Zenith; in the Winter the Days shorten on both ends, lengthening in the Summer, and so on.

Some folks have published Summer Hours and Winter Hours, Pick-n-Pull does it that way...

[Thor]

I don't even remember the last time Kevin was involved either, but at least I REMEMBER him.

The last time Kevin appeared it was for two reasons (1) to prove that him and M were still going out, and that the head fake about them breaking up was just a head fake, and (2) because Monica needed a minion to carry her shopping. And Kevin accomplished all that in one panel, bless his heart.

That was the same story arc where Atsali passes out from binding her bosom in the mall, so it was about a year ago real-time. Before that Kevin appeared...I have no idea when.

Characters that are going away in this strip tend to dwindle, then not appear for a while, then finally appear to formally be put on the bus out of town, like Darren, Owen, Lakshmi, and possibly Kevin.

Alan and Justin better stay attentive; they might be next!

[Warrl]

If it's not demon insider trading, just what did the two golem girls pull out of them?

Demon Rum?

(one bottle of Captain Morgan delivered to pun jar)

[Warrl]

There seems to be at least as large a cohort who feel that Standard Time is what should go... that Daylight Savings Time should be in effect year-round.

That was tried back in the Carter administration.

Pick your preference from these two options:

1) Kids are out standing by the side of the road waiting for the school bus before sunrise, in the dark.

2) Kids get off the school bus after sunset, in the dark, and immediately walk up driveways/across yards/etc - AWAY FROM THE ROAD - to their homes.

The direct effect of the "year-round Daylight Savings Time" in the school district that I was in, was #1.

A few days after a little girl - a 4th-grader if I remember right - was hit by a car, the school board decided it was feasible and desirable for the entire school district to go to option 2. By having school start an hour later. The change took effect the following week.

I don't recall just how long it was before the little girl was able to return to school, but I'm pretty sure it was more than one month and less than six months.

As you might guess, I remain convinced that option 2 is the better choice by far. Which means that extending DST year round is a BAD choice, at least within the latitude range of the US's 48 contiguous states.

[FuzzyBridge]

Ok, I know this is my first post, I might have missed someone else's post on a previous, and the reader has no right to comment on an author's work. But this feels wrong. Others have pointed out that both Jet and Monica have had MAJOR issues in their pasts with sex, specifically rape. And when someone looses control in that way they can manifest all manner of ways. Monica's dominance of Kevin in the bedroom does NOT in anyway shape or form mean he's wrong for her. I know many well adjusted people who like a dominant/submissive role in sex, without trauma in their past. If that's what she likes, and Kevin has no problem [or heaven forbid enjoys it], then sex is only a PART of the relationship. As for the other parts, we've seen so little of Kevin, in the last year that we can't make any judgement, except to say that what the author puts into the story is important and what he leaves out isn't. What he has shown is a full, loving, healthy relationship with no indications that there is something rotten in Denmark other than Monica's subtle increased blushes and touchy-feely around Georgette. And yes Kevin has been almost a saint, and Monica can be selfish, but from what the author has deemed important enough to show of their relationship, I've been expecting a ring to subtly appear on Monica's finger for a while. Monica's blushes and overall flintiness has increased over time, but this just feels...wrong. I'm sorry, I've no other way to put it.

Though, BIG Kudos to Paul for setting this up way back at the introduction of Bud with Brandy even telling Bud to cool it with "He belongs to Monica".

[Catawampus]

Incidentally, I'm surprised I managed to start two daily threads in a row... Where are the usual suspects? Asleep at the computer?

It's all part of the ancient prophesy: "And lo, when the LW hath created the new Wapsi page three times without interruption, then the [REDACTED] shall [REDACTED] to the [REDACTED] with mustard and silly hats."

Now is it just me or did Tina get a boob job?

Well, I don't really know whether or not you did, but I think that in Tina's case it's more that she's wearing a very flattering dress.

... and Jin's look of... disgust? in the last frame.

I took it more as a look of, "Uh oh. . .did you hear that, Bud? That doesn't sound good!"

[AnotherFairportfan]

As i said, i think it's more like "Everybody who's not going to go tell Kevin take one step backward - not so fast, Bud!"

[Akeche]

I agree with FuzzyBridge and Omrikon, this doesn't feel right at all. While I've liked Jet being developed somewhat as a character, I feel this is happening far too quickly. It feels like lazy writing, if I'm perfectly honest. Kevin's not been seen in so long aside from that one visit to the mall and even then it was very brief. We've seen... so little of their relationship, but what we have seen has seemed to be nothing but a very healthy and loving relationship. This is not how things generally work in reality, which I know is a silly thing to say but...

Monica needs to have reasons to even have the thought of cheating on Kevin, which is what she admitted she might do in her current state, or calling it quits with him. Has their relationship become rocky? Have they had some very intense arguments or fights? Even something as shallow and fixable as the love life becoming dull would be better than... 'Boop! Skinny model's back in the picture, this is now M's soulmate.' People really don't wake up one day and just decide to dump their SO of several years without an actual reason.

While it's been obvious for a while, and said via the Word of God that Atsali and her friends are the new stars of the comic. I feel that this is... Spitting in the face of old fans. Did anyone actually hate Kevin? He was always a nice counter balance to the paranormal of the comic, as was Justin before we learned that he was a demi-god with his memory wiped.

Sorry if all of this seems a little much, but I feel the comic is losing that critical grounding to reality. Mixing something akin to a normal life with the supernatural has always been the big draw for me.

[jwhouk]

Incidentally, I'm surprised I managed to start two daily threads in a row... Where are the usual suspects? Asleep at the computer?

No, I'm nowhere near a computer. That's why.

And on topic: Oh boy. Paul just did a bootlegger's reverse-reverse on us.

[jwhouk]

...And then he caught up on the comments.



The connection between Monica and Georgette is, believe it or not, only about a year or so old. It happened when Jet ran into Tina.

Tina "drew out" Georgette's demons - no surprise, as that seems to be one of Tina's talents. Tina panicked, because the procedure damaged Jet to the point where she was concerned for her well-being. So she called Monica.

Monica, it appears, had somehow "touched" Jet in the interactions over her restaurant, and (ever so briefly) with her sister Jill.

(Side note: I somehow suspect that Jill mentioned to Jet about the encounter at the elf house, and something just clicked. Jet, however, just kept getting busier and busier, and only managed that one time - right after, surprise surprise, the Calendar Machine was finally fixed - to get a hold of Monica.)

(Side note to the side note: You'd think Jet would have remembered Tina's place after the first time she was there, but she was apparently so wrapped up in trying to "find" Monica that she didn't even notice the barista.)

Anyways, Tina realized that Jet's common thread was Monica - but wasn't sure of anything, short of what appeared to be a longing.

That led to the encounter in the coffee shop. And Jaguar Girl discovering her powers - and getting attacked, and then touching another "damaged soul."

Problem is, the two damaged souls happen to be surrounded by a demon entourage. One is uber-powerful, because they're the personal demons of THE Demon Shepherd; the other has an entourage that is equally as damaged as the soul they are assigned.

There is a very, very huge difference in the balance of power here, and the weaker one (Jet) is at a huge disadvantage. People could get hurt, and we're not just talking Kevin, Monica, and Georgette.

Now. Y'all can say "this doesn't feel right" right now, but then please do me a favor and return to the archives sometime back in, oh, about 2009. Read only ONE strip a day for the rest of the year. I will bet you dimes to dollars you'll have the exact same feeling, because... (drum roll) ...we're only seeing one page of the story at a time.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: how'd you like read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone one page per day - no peeking ahead - if you'd never read the story before, or seen the movie or anything? You'd be confused when the first owl showed up at the Dursley's place.

It's the beginning of a week, kids. Pablo has done a deke on us, making us think he was going to take the story in one way, then feinted to make it look like he was going to go another way... and then barreled head on in the same direction he had us go.

Wapsi Square Transmissions Service has a lifetime warranty on the storytelling, trust me. He could very well reverse gears on us again.

[starkruzr]

Is Jin looking at Bud as Tina talks about telling Kevin? Have Bud and Jin had girl talk sessions?

Safe to assume yes, I think.

Kevin has been such a nonentity in this strip that this kind of development doesn't surprise me at all, btw.

Also: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/wasthatyou/ Click through the next couple of strips. Ooooh MAN, Bud has ALLLLWAYS had a thing for Kev.

[Dave]

People really don't wake up one day and just decide to dump their SO of several years without an actual reason.

While it's been obvious for a while, and said via the Word of God that Atsali and her friends are the new stars of the comic. I feel that this is... Spitting in the face of old fans. Did anyone actually hate Kevin? He was always a nice counter balance to the paranormal of the comic, as was Justin before we learned that he was a demi-god with his memory wiped.

Sorry if all of this seems a little much, but I feel the comic is losing that critical grounding to reality. Mixing something akin to a normal life with the supernatural has always been the big draw for me.

Please do remember, though... Monica hasn't dumped Kevin.

Lots of people are assuming that she is going to do so, based on today's revelations. Maybe that's what Paul is planning... and maybe not. He has surprised us by doing the non-obvious once or, oh, maybe twice before!

Let me suggest another interpretation, on several levels:

(1) Paul is doing exactly what a bunch of people were loudly asking for in the past month or two... taking the authorial spotlight off of Atsali and the new school-aged gang for a while, putting it back on Monica and the established character-team, and working on some of the dangling ploticiples for a while. Be careful what you ask for!

(2) What we're seeing here isn't really sudden, or out of the blue, and I suspect that it may not go to the straightforward "Monica dumps Kevin and moves in with Georgette in a flurry of lesbian fanservice" people seem to be fearing/anticipating. It's actually a pretty direct extension of what Paul has already shown us... there's a deep connection between Monica and Georgette... they were both brutally raped, both chose to remain silent about it and conceal it from their friends and loved ones, and neither has ever really dealt with what the experience did to her.

The scene where Monica finally broke her silence to help Georgette realize that she isn't alone in this... and thus perhaps give both Georgette and Monica a chance to start really healing... well, it's the first comic in maybe ever that has made me weep the moment I read it. A moment of compassion, caring, and sheer courage... wow.

They're both "walking wounded". As far as we know, even up until today, neither of them has disclosed any of this to any of their loved ones. Each of them could be the only person in the world that the other feels safe in talking to about her experience.

So, I can see the truth here of what Tina is saying... these two souls are badly messed up, each desperately wants to be together, and maybe they can heal each other. Tina doesn't seem at all surprised by what she's seeing... which suggests it's consistent with what she saw during the Tar incident, when she knew that Georgette desperately needed Monica's help.

For now, and under the influence of alcohol, this bond-and-need has presented in a sexualized fashion. That's probably not surprising... as others have noted, children who have been sexually abused sometimes react by sexualizing their relationships with others as adults. A booze-fueled come-on may have been the only way Georgette was able to express her need for true intimacy. That may be how this works out between Monica and Georgette, with M kicking Kevin to the curb in the process ...

... but that's not by any means how it has to go. What both Georgette and Monica really need, goes a lot deeper than just a boffing (to quote Susan Ivonova's tear-filled term). They need to help each other finish healing. With Demon Rum out of the way, and drunken Dutch courage no longer playing a part, it's possible that even Georgette will realize that just jumping Monica's bones would be a distraction from the really important things they need to do together.

And that may be the hard part about informing Kevin. Kevin really needs to know that the woman he loves, has been carrying around a powder-keg full of sexual trauma that she's never trusted him to know about, and now she's about to be dealing with it... with somebody else.

And the person who should tell him this... is Monica herself. No one else has the right to make that disclosure. Yes, that's going to be hard for her.

M and K's relationship may very well survive... in fact it could grow even deeper once she's willing to trust him more... but the road may be bumpy.

[Warrl]

And the person who should tell him this... is Monica herself. No one else has the right to make that disclosure.

Let alone a duty.

But I agree with suggestions above that this isn't necessarily what it sounds like and what Georgette thinks it is. So what Monica needs to tell Kevin is not yet determined. Which is one more reason why everyone but Monica should not tell him anything at this time.

[DinkyInky]

The new day's strips has been appearing a 9:30-ish (Pacific Time) ever since Daylight Saving Time ended...

Daylight Saving Time must be rescinded, revoked, and abolished.

Tell your law makers...

There seems to be at least as large a cohort who feel that Standard Time is what should go... that Daylight Savings Time should be in effect year-round.

The big benefit, either way, would be getting rid of the spring-forward/fall-back transient. I heard a news article recently which asserted that there's a surge in deaths each time... concentrated among the older folks among us. Apparently, with age it becomes harder to reset your circadian rhythms, leading to an increase in drowsiness and inattention after a clock upset... more slips-and-falls, more auto accidents, etc.

I suppose it's just Fudd's First Law Of Opposition in effect... "If you push something hard enough, it will fall over." Excuse me while I go fall into bed.

I had more trouble adjusting when they tried to set the entire state on EST(though at the time, 80% of the state was naturally on CST. I'm glad it changed back, that they kept DST, and will personally fight to keep time as it has been my whole life, and my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents...
I had a hard time as a kid adjusting(until I was about 10), but as I got older, I adjusted just fine, and I've never encountered anyone older that has a hard time adjusting to it(and I've volunteered at Nursing Homes).

Just my 2cp on the subject.

[Yamara]

And that may be the hard part about informing Kevin. Kevin really needs to know that the woman he loves, has been carrying around a powder-keg full of sexual trauma that she's never trusted him to know about, and now she's about to be dealing with it... with somebody else.

This.

In fact, considering the nature of everyone else's relationships and responsibilities toward raising the Jaguar, Kevin may be the last to know the truth. (Powderkeg indeed.) And he's agonized over why M has been so driven since the beginning.

If he's asked to give M time to work it through, the question of asking him to wait for her comes to the front. And Jet seems to be ahead of her on that score, too.

---

I was writing something snarky about "Kevin has been an elite assassin the entire time, and his current assignment is Georgette--but it will all make perfect sense, and work out happily for everyone" for the new posters, but Dave's sobered me up. (Thanks.)

What it comes down to is that M has made perhaps the deepest bond possible with Jet, and kept Kevin expressly outside of that. And we've all watched this happen.

[Opus the Poet]

I had to read the character list to remember what story Georgette was from and understand why the two would even have this supposed connection between their inner demons. Still, to say Monica hasn't shared herself and her life with Kevin does their history injustice. Didn't she teleport him around, after which he remained fully accepting of her? To have all this challenged out of the blue like this should certainly cause Monica to reflect, and it's a great chance to finally shine some light on Kevin as an actual person and part of Monica's life with potentially his own inner demons, but this has so much potential to develop unsatisfactorily that I'm more upset about the possibilities than curious.

I don't think anyone except Jet has been clued into the rapes in the funny farm that M revealed to Jet during the Tar Incident, not even Kevin. That might cause a little upset in their relationship right there.

And I don't think that anyone has considered that M might be homoromantic while still being strongly heterosexual. She might not Love Kevin, but she would still love him as a monogamous sex partner. I knew women in my church who were like that.

[kingklash]

But is it what it looks like? Just because they need each other, doesn't mean they NEED each other. Kind of a tough way to weed out Kevin, it seems.