Worst F***ing Nightmare 2013-09-23

[zachariah]

As in, "Monica Villareal, Jaguar Girl, Glyph Reader, Keeper of the Chimera, Goddess of ----- ."

Not sure what her portfolio is. I'm trying to match one up with the power to sense your fears then subject you to them, but also to know your greatest desire and grant it.

I think that's kind of what happened here. Monica's power allowed her to sense Jett's greatest desire and she acted to fullfill that desire whithout fully understanding what she was doing.

I think that along with us, M is still figuring out what she really is.

As always, this is just my $.02.

Let's see what her current powers seem to stack up as.
1. Control of the GGG. Massive destructive power capable of flattening half the earth and turning it to ash.
2. Glyph Reader. Ability to read the symbols carved on the bones of the GGG and other mythic objects and to control them. I bet if Monica ever saw the star gate it would respond to her verbal commands and accept her as it's controller.
3. Ability to Wrangle, or handle, demons.
4. Ability to talk to spirits, alive or dead. She can see them as well.
5. Wield Astral Fire and be reborn.
6. See into a person and read their inner most feelings and maybe thoughts.

You know this sounds a little bit like Kali doesn't it. The Goddess of Rebirth through fire. Of change and empowerment. Transformation from one to another. She is reborn of fire and survives the destruction. Wields forces of time and spirit to bring about change, growth, rebirth, and in some cases death. Those who think Kali is about nothing but death and destruction have read too much of her bad press. lol.

[Nibster]

Awesome page!!

wow... M in last panel...

[meisdadoo]

Interesting that the demon she was talking to remembers a jaguar girl from before this universe, but does not know what Monica is. . .Therefore Monica is something new, a combination of things that is much more powerful than the sum of the parts. She is:
1. Immortal/Phoenix
2. Jaguar Girl/demon Shepard
3. Glyph reader
4.About to make TAR wish it had never been created.

[Mark N]

Let's see what her current powers seem to stack up as.
1. Control of the GGG. Massive destructive power capable of flattening half the earth and turning it to ash.
2. Glyph Reader. Ability to read the symbols carved on the bones of the GGG and other mythic objects and to control them. I bet if Monica ever saw the star gate it would respond to her verbal commands and accept her as it's controller.
3. Ability to Wrangle, or handle, demons.
4. Ability to talk to spirits, alive or dead. She can see them as well.
5. Wield Astral Fire and be reborn.
6. See into a person and read their inner most feelings and maybe thoughts.

You know this sounds a little bit like Kali doesn't it. The Goddess of Rebirth through fire. Of change and empowerment. Transformation from one to another. She is reborn of fire and survives the destruction. Wields forces of time and spirit to bring about change, growth, rebirth, and in some cases death. Those who think Kali is about nothing but death and destruction have read too much of her bad press. lol.

When you have a character in modern media falsely proclaiming Kali as simply "The Goddess of Death"(Mina Harker in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) you spread the error to so many people since so they tend to follow a script writer as using actual fact (what a joke that is) and not just spreading common error. As to what Monica is ... well lets see, she is a Glyph Reader (which includes Chimera handler and most likely user of Lanthian Tech), Demon Wrangler, Speaker for the dead (please do not sue me Orson Scott Card love that book by the way), teleporter, Sub Titan (ie Greco-Roman style GODDESS), and a holder of Phoenix blood with astral fire and all of its known and unknown properties and the fact that it has been declared by Phix that she could take on all the Earth's armies and win. Put this all together and you get someone you do not want to PISS OFF. And a death wish will not save you from her because she can find you in whichever hell you end up in.

[DilyV]

...I still have trouble figuring out exactly why Tina (i.e. blackWing) felt that Monica would thank her later for this...I have to assume she had no idea Monica would be attacked right off the bat.

Monica is getting a crash course in who and what she's become and what she can do.

I'd call it an awakening... I get the feeling that the Tar is going to get the crash course....

[Opus the Poet]

4.About to make TAR wish it had never been created.

Can I just say I giggled out loud when I read the quoted line?

[zachariah]

Put this all together and you get someone you do not want to PISS OFF. And a death wish will not save you from her because she can find in the whichever hell you end up in.

That is true. You wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance in escaping her.

Drops a gallon of ectoplasm into the jar.

[Fairportfan]

AIEEE! A Balrog is upon us!

Looks pretty good, don't it?

[kingklash]

Tar is going to discover if poiting can affect a non-daemon invasive entity.

[Yamara]

Yamara, I think the more commonly accepted term for "sub-titan" is "god."

As in, "Monica Villareal, Jaguar Girl, Glyph Reader, Keeper of the Chimera, Goddess of ----- ."

Not sure what her portfolio is. I'm trying to match one up with the power to sense your fears then subject you to them, but also to know your greatest desire and grant it.

I've often wondered if gods with the same portfolio always had to duke it out (Apollo vs Pan, etc) or acquiesce (Kratos to Heracles), and whether they could just team up or otherwise spread their resources more effectively by cooperating.

Of course, what makes Monica more rare is that she's human on top of all those other powers and offices. Like the Sorbo Hercules, she's going to give a right damn about humanity... and about cleaning up their messes.


Has anyone pointed out that "Tar" is the reverse of "Rat"? That may be a wee clew: Human manipulation taking over demonspace instead of demons taking conscious command of a mortal body.


In any case, it seems the chances that The Tar is going to get off easy are trivial to non-existent. So it follows that Jet's genuine love for Monica may be that of a divinity's devotee... and who better to teach M how to handle that than someone who has endured the burn of limelight since she was twelve?

[scantrontb]

Let's see what her current powers seem to stack up as.
1. Control of the GGG. Massive destructive power capable of flattening half the earth and turning it to ash.
2. Glyph Reader. Ability to read the symbols carved on the bones of the GGG and other mythic objects and to control them. I bet if Monica ever saw the star gate it would respond to her verbal commands and accept her as it's controller.
3. Ability to Wrangle, or handle, demons.
4. Ability to talk to spirits, alive or dead. She can see them as well.
5. Wield Astral Fire and be reborn.
6. See into a person and read their inner most feelings and maybe thoughts.

1... um, change that to "flatten the SUN" and we'd be OK...
2. they don't have "bones" per se' they are clay models with very good cloaking mechanisms programmed in. as for the Star Gate, she already has access to them via her Jaguar Girl/Sub-Titanship as stated by The Library itself...
4. Demons: Check... Supernaturals (Bia, Tsillah, etc.): Check. DEAD people: um, unknown actually... we're under a lack-of-info blackout on this one for the moment as we haven't ACTUALLY seen her talk to anyone of that classification yet, though from the JG references it is implied she can, we just haven't SEEN it yet...
5 OK.
6. hmm, i think you're going a bit far for this yet... i agree that while the Nudge incident was reading her "fear" we really have no clue as to what is currently going on here with Jet, as the manifestation of this power is vastly different from when she read Nudge (the whole "she didn't even touch you" thing). I propose that this is a DIFFERENT power rather than just a boosted ability from what we saw earlier with Nudge.

[Yamara]

7. Reiterating here: She is also Human-born, and therefore capable of Evil.

Monica could make something like The Tar.


Maybe she already has.

[scantrontb]

I've often wondered if gods with the same portfolio always had to duke it out (Apollo vs Pan, etc) or acquiesce (Kratos to Heracles), and whether they could just team up or otherwise spread their resources more effectively by cooperating.

i was a backer for the Kickstarter campaign for "City of the Gods". and that deals with EXACTLY that question... it's a place where all the pantheons of Gods dwell, and they have their differences, and have created a government of themselves / for themselves, and such... i've got the books on my To Do list, but haven't yet gotten to them, so i'm not too sure as to exactly how it plays out, but they have an awesome cover-blurb and it should be good...

[Timotheus]

Should we add Gecko Girl and Scarlet Mantis to Monica's list of titles? Or Leash Holder of Dietzel?

[KnightDelight]

Tar burns, doesn't it? You know it looks a lot like Monica is turning into burning, molten tar/lava. Could Tar be what's left of the previous Jaguar Girl?

I thought there was also a reference to evil not existing in the demon world either. Maybe not. If not, is there a concept of evil in the demon realm? These episodes seem to say there is. This nice-helpful demon thing seems like a reboot of the concepts previously presented about the demons and their space. They have rules, but only thanks to the sphinxes and whoever controls them. Left to their own devices they are quite malevolent towards their hosts. Not that they consider themselves malevolent or evil or even bad as such. Do demons consider rape to be evil? Why? Considering it was said before they tear souls apart for their own amusement. Why would they consider rape bad if the other things they would normally do (without sphinx control) to people are just as bad. It all seems so contradictory.

[shadowinthelight]

They have rules, but only thanks to the sphinxes and whoever controls them. Left to their own devices they are quite malevolent towards their hosts.

My understanding was that is their natural inclination, not a guaranteed outcome. I could be wrong but I believe Tina spoke of some demons coming to enjoy the company of humans.

[Timotheus]

It's also context, whether they consider it wrong if done to humans, how do they feel about it being done to them? "Some demons were raped into submission." By themselves they'd know of it but never consider it, but as an outside concept it has been introduced into their world and is now effecting them.

[Mark N]

As to what Monica would be considered the goddess of, it would be the Goddess of Archeology and Truth with an addition of Goddess of Frozen Confections and Unwieldy Breasts.

[My2Cents]

"And what happened that day?
Well the demons all say,
that Monica's astral flame intensity went out of the visual range."

People often forget that things can get so hot that they appear black because they no longer are releasing waste energy in the visual spectra.

Actually, when emissions are only due to the temperature there is a long tail from the peak going all the way back through the radio spectrum, and the intensity of all parts increases with temperature, so the hotter it is the brighter it glows. For an object to appear black it has to have a temperature that peaks in the infrared or lower.

Or it is a quiescent black hole.

[jwhouk]

7. Reiterating here: She is also Human-born, and therefore capable of Evil.

Monica could make something like The Tar.

Maybe she already has.

Ooh! Oooh! Maybe that's what happens when someone with multiple demons has a Near-Death experience! One of them actually dies with the person, and becomes gooey and Tar-like? That may have been what happened with Doubt - she got whatever demon was killed splattered on her.