August 27th, 2010
Page 391
Comics for August 27, 2010 - Page 391
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August 27th, 2010 at 2:04 am
Yikes…poor Mentl, having his world turned topsy-turvy by these revelations. I have a feeling that it’ll all work out, though. Zona seemed to like him before he even sang to her the first time, because he was so kind and gentle to her, something she wasn’t accustomed to at all. My vote is that if he stops singing, she’ll still be true to him. However, I’ve been known to be wrong on occasion…
August 27th, 2010 at 2:05 am
Karna playing devil’s advocate right up to the end…. yesh.
But hey, Mentl’s doing a lot better than we gave him credit for. Chaps got a fair bit of Hutzpah, eh wot?
August 27th, 2010 at 2:06 am
Wow. Just wow. I’m not gonna speculate, just wait for Tuesday.
Yet another great page JED. Keep them coming.
August 27th, 2010 at 2:32 am
Weeell, we come out of this knowing one thing for dead certain: Ipola’s much, *much* more intelligent than Karna. I think we just saw how much she really loves her daughter and exactly how hard this has been, and will be, on her.
August 27th, 2010 at 5:29 am
Karna is still not getting it. Ah well. She is getting to the point where she is beyond disappointing me.
August 27th, 2010 at 5:52 am
Annnd now Mentl’s gotta go break some real bad news to Zona. If he’s lucky she’s already been told and they may be able to just commiserate.
But that’s not how Mentl’s luck has been running today.
August 27th, 2010 at 6:26 am
Ah, JED is treating us to a lot of pages this week. Very nice.
Hmm, I saw a fabric that could work very well for what Ipola is currently wearing… I don’t suppose that any of her girls might have something similar?
I think Karna’s affraid. She has been around for a long time and seen a lot of magic and here comes a kind of magic she has never seen and doens’t know how works. It’s natural to feel affraid and sceptic to unknown things. She simply doen’t know what to do with Mentl and his magic and for her it would be a lot easier if he just went away.
Tula on the other hand is much younger and more open minded, I think. She didn’t start off knowing Mentl, as Mentl the Magician, but Mentl, the mighty fryingpan warrior that has just saved my sister from Urrts. She had the change to get to know him before she knew about his magic; Karna didn’t. I think this has a lot to say about the reactions of Karna and Serrin, whereas Tula doesn’t fear Mentl or his magic, but trust him because she knows he wants to do the right thing and help in anyway he can.
August 27th, 2010 at 7:21 am
Anyone else thinking Mentl is considering just walking out of the valley and going away? The way he stressed the last line about taking enough of their time makes me think he is atleast contimplating it…
August 27th, 2010 at 8:06 am
there’s gotta be away to pull him out of this little breakdown maybe he should sing a song that makes people tell there truths that way he can see if she liked him before he started playing the dang instrument.
August 27th, 2010 at 8:28 am
“Heavy lies the head that wears the crown.” Ipola is showing the costs of having to mix her family life and her authority.
August 27th, 2010 at 8:38 am
Ok, the oddest thing about today’s comic was in the 5th panel, the conjunction of Ipola’s red hair, her white-ish hairpin and the blue-ish panel right above her head. Made me think of the French flag. With that, and Mentl talking about Hebrew school, it felt like we were suddenly back on Earth.
August 27th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Hmm, the last panel is the first time Ipola actually looks her age. I assume that was intentional?
August 27th, 2010 at 10:33 am
I agree with Lebbrin. No idea, just going to wait.
August 27th, 2010 at 10:43 am
I get the feeling that Mentl knows exactly what he’s going to do. It may not be the right thing or work out the way he plans but he knows.
August 27th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Did… did we cover Mentl being Jewish before? I don’t think it was mentioned in the archives, and I’m new to the whole posting comments on comics thing so maybe I missed some discussion on the topic.
Great page. I especially like Mentl’s expression in panel 3 - it’s kind of wistful, and it speaks volumes about the thoughts running through his head at that moment. In fact, the entire exchange of lines between Ippola and Mentl is really great writing, revealing things about both characters and adding a new depth to this little fragment of the story as a whole.
Not such a big fan of panel 2 though, and I’ll explain why. Comics, being a medium which combines both art and writing to form a cohesive narrative, requires double the decision-making during the creative process, and decisions made about the visual aspect combined with the written aspect should work together to make a better whole. “Sum of its parts,” right? The dialogue is a continuation of the previous panels and characters, but the view presented gives the illusion of “caging” the participants, which has absolutely nothing to do with the discussion at hand.
A more appropriate view, I think, would have been a shot of Mentl and Ippola with the window in the backdrop rather than the foreground, framing a serene blue sky that reflects the peace Mentl seems to find in “Tikkum Olam.” Or better yet, separate panel 2 into two panels: one for Ippola and her line about decisions to use the cage visual with, and one for Mentl and his line of “healing the world,” as well as an appropriate shot to pair with it.
I’m sorry if I sound pushy, or bossy, or… well, actually, I do mean to sound critical. And it’s far from appropriate for someone who has not even a single blog to his name to question the process of someone who’s been entertaining the masses for several years now! But it is my opinion that there is always room for growth, and if I think I can nudge you and your work even further along its path to greatness… I gotta try.
But, like I said. Great page. It goes without saying, but keep up the good work. =)
August 27th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
May I suggest the next song should be The Stones’ “As Tears Go By”
August 27th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Mentl is still processing–and he’ll find the mitzvah in this issue, I have no doubt. Ipola is going to get a surprise herself I am sure, somewhat soon.
August 27th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Phelan - Well, yours seems to be the conventional wisdom, but conventional wisdom has also been known to be wrong …
AdamZero - Well, Mentl showed his chutzpah when he gave an Urtt a zetz in the punim with a shissel. Right now, he’s on spilkas because he’s in the middle of tsuris he wasn’t expecting, but he’s a mensch and we hope that just because Karna’s being a balabusta about all this mishegas, he’s still getting some naches from the queen, and he won’t go all meshuga.
Lebbrin - Thank you. Tuesday reveals … something.
Raoul - Ipola is more compassionate than Karna in this instance. Time alone will tell whether this was the intelligent choice to take. As to being smarter, there are a lot of factors here. Depth of knowledge and wisdom, and the ability to be dispassionate or compassionate appropriately are a couple that are heavily in play. And yes, she deeply loves her children, but also has dedicated her life to balancing the ancient cha and creating a better world. Sucks to be her when these two potentially conflict.
The Old Hack - Or perhaps it is the rest of us who don’t “get” it? Just wait until Mentl pulls off his rubber mask and reveals the worst nightmares … okay, that’s *probably* not gonna happen.
The MacNut - “You tell her.” “I’m not gonna tell her, YOU tell her!” “I’M not gonna tell her!” ” I know! Let’s get Mikey!”
Lora - Zona is actually going to show up wearing something similar, but not quite. All I can say is, those of us who appreciate her femininities will not be displeased. Karna is, indeed, reacting protectively. But, even though she gets a vote, she doesn’t have the final say. Tula, naturally, has the benefit of seeing Mentl in action under fire and stress and seeing him step up to the plate, to the point of pressing all his weight on her femoral artery to keep her from bleeding to death. so, yeah, Tula has a different perspective on Mentl.
calisto - I dunno. Show of hands?
lildirty - Well, I think Bogart said it best: “… a comical look on his face because his insides had just been kicked out.” But I will promise this one thing: He survives.
Lictre - Yep. And no way out, as people have found throughout history.
Gabrielli - Wow. Now Zona works as a Roschach test …
tricksterson - No extra age, but I think you’re noticing it more because her smile tends to camouflage the lines in her face, which you’re now noticing aren’t going away when her face is basically fallen. And yes, she’s also feeling it.
Ghost - In the mean time, I have a couple of graphics I was gonna post, one of them as a new vote incentive. We’re getting perilously close to the 40 mark!
Todd - Possibly.
Kosine - Not entirely happy with some of the expressions and visuals on this page myself, but then I can always redo it if I choose when we get to print, sometime in 2015 or whatever.
As to panel two, it was meant to be an exterior view, to break up all the backgrounds of the inside of the tower windows which I felt could be getting visually repetitive. I think the reason it may not work as well is because there’s too much dialogue, and we don’t see the outside of the tower as much as the panes of the windows and the subjects - very little else. I think if I had been able to present it better, it would have worked that way.
Mentl’s never made a big deal about his Jewishness - first off, in Erogenia it’s all but meaningless - but I think it’s there in a couple of places, as well as his use of a couple of phrases, such as “oy vey” or calling Yatta-Ta “boychik.” I mentioned it specifically a couple of times in the comments sections. His real name is Michael Levy. If anyone wants to look up what his actual tribe is by his ancestry, he would be a Levite, which after I made the choice ( in honor of my adopted, 95 year-old Jewish grandmother who pinches my cheek and calls me “her little sheygets …”) I found out how appropriate that actually is.
Possum - We’ll take it on advisement.
Karyl - Definitely still processing. But who will be surprised and by what?
ell …. I’ll let ya all know on Tuesday. This will take a few pages. meheheheheh…
August 27th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
@JED - gevalt with all the yiddischkeit, you oysshteler! Now that Karna’s done kvetching, let’s see about making things a little less farklempt! I come from a kohane line myself, lovely choice.
But, foolishly folks; Karna has not seen Michael’s heart as deeply as Tula, Zona or Ipola and it can’t be a good thing being the only person in an entire kingdom whose csuperstructure has heard of G*m1*m2/d squared. Finishing up the judaica discussion on Karna: “What business is a Yenta in?”, “Yours!”
August 27th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
@ICWT - I just got back from Schul and tonight the Women’s League has made my continuing bachelor status an item on their agenda. Oy gevalt.
I read your last bit about the yenta and pulled my first spit-take in years!
Thanks.
August 27th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
What a wonderful concept, to bring forward a bit of Mentl’s Yiddishkite! As odd as it may sound, that is a firm grounding for a lot of what he has seen and experienced. It casts a lot of his attitudes and ideals in a cultural perspective.
As we approach Yom Tov, it gives a new way of looking at Mentl. Thanks!
August 27th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Yeah, in fact even the name “Mentl” sounds kinda Yiddish. Intentional, JED?
August 28th, 2010 at 12:17 am
@JED, I’m as Gentile as they come, so “oy vey” or “boychik” (and a few other Yiddishisms) wouldn’t alert me to Jewishness. Of course, I did have some Jewish friends from middle school through college and it was “convenient” to use some Yiddish instead of getting in trouble for using the usual Anglo-Saxon monosyllables. Also, even though Levy does fit as a potentially Jewish surname, way too many people with “Jewish” surnames whose families haven’t been Jewish for centuries (or more).
August 28th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Gevalt! Now that was a kick in the tuchas… =D I suspected that Michael might been one of the tribe (when Vito called him by his name), but then again it could have just been the yiddish that has been assimilated into common American English usage…So basically he is especially sensitive to self torturing guilt…
August 28th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Iiiiiinteresting.
We never had Mentl’s Jewishness spelled out for us before. As a religious Jew myself, that’s highly interesting. How appropriate to find this out as we head into the High Holidays here in the real world.
The use of the phrase “tikkun olam” here is highly interesting here for a number of additional reasons. It shows up in the Aleinu, a prayer that religious Jews say multiple times a day, as it closes each of the three daily prayers. There, it has to do with bringing the whole world to pray to the same deity instead of practicing idolatry etc. Very interesting in this story, in the context of Shuach versus the moon goddess. Note also the importance of the moon in the Jewish world (we use a lunar calendar, for example).
Furthermore, the origins of the phrase Tikkun Olam lie in laws regarding marriage and sex outside of marriage–the legitimacy of children being of extreme importance. Very very interesting in this context with the relations between Mentl and Zona.
I don’t know how much of this JED was thinking of when he wrote this amazing page. It’s one of the fascinating things about writing that our brains make deep connections on levels we aren’t even aware of.
Moox
August 29th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
moox , its not blat gemara you know. but those are some good insights.
yeah JED, awesomeness as usual.
August 29th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
“There, it has to do with bringing the whole world to pray to the same deity instead of practicing idolatry etc. Very interesting in this story, in the context of Shuach versus the moon goddess.”
Since this is Judaism, there are a number of different ways the prayer “and on that day the Lord will be one, and his name one” is seen.
What’s widely agreed among Jews (but you’ll never get 100% on, well, much of anything) is that this does *not* say everyone will be Jewish. Or, as is much more frequently cited, Christianity, since it’s generally an added interpretation by Christian theologians.
I’ll add that while the context of the Jewish Aleinu prayer implies universal prayer, it doesn’t state it. There’s a strong school of thought that says this phrase is more about the simple recognition of that which already is: that G-d is G-d, and that the various attributes people honor are all part of One Thing (in the full Zen One Taste sense).
The full implications of that are unlikely to be comfortable for many people, of all religions. It would break a lot of cherished mental furniture, not least among many people who thought that was what they were already doing.
In healing the world, the truth will set you free, in the end. But first, it’s probably going to piss you off. Ask Ippola.
As for prayer, universal prayer to the One G-d of creation would follow from that recognition - but Judaism is not a “justification by faith alone” religion, and G-d is complete so does not need our prayers. It’s just batting/fielding practice; necessary, but not why the baseball team exists.
Michael “Mentl” Levy may not be very religiously Jewish, but he knows why the baseball team exists. And therein lies the saving grace for many.
Moses was a Levite, Israel’s tribe pledged to divine service (the kohanim priests/ “Cohens” are a subset). And the other part of Michael “Mentl” Levy’s real (true?) name is derived from the archangel Michael, THE warrior angel. Shuach is in big trouble…
And Mentl, if you end up having to part the sea to get an Erogenian army out of trouble, just remember to ask for directions afterward.
August 29th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
@Joe: What’s in a name? Would a claymore by any other designation strike as deeply? (Considering the hands that swing it are the same in either case.
August 29th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
What’s in a name? In magic, sometimes a lot….
August 30th, 2010 at 7:55 am
If memory serves from my studies of Ye Olde Testament, Levis were the priests of Judaism, correct? So it’s appropriate for Mentl to be an enchanter because he’s a Levite? Interesting….
August 30th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Aaaannnd I am slightly lost, lol. Yiddish is not part of my language or what I’ve learnt of english, so it’s all greek to me.
August 30th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Yaaay, zomg, internet access! (Not that Australia doesn’t have it, but this is the first morning I haven’t been dragged all over this beautiful country, down here in the Melbourne area…)
To comment on the previous page, Yonder Priestess hasn’t encountered what Tola has encountered. Remember Tula and the vote incentive regarding the two giants? How they usually show up when Some Major Shhh is about to go down? I see Mentl’s presence in this world as a way to -counter- Shuach’s attempted return. After all, Prince Dumbshhh would still have made his devil’s bargain wi th the Urtts even if Mentl hadn’t shown up…and most likely Zona would’ve died when the Urtts attacked in the frying pan incident, or duing the escape from the underground dungeon…both situations in which Mentl saved their bacon. (pun intended, lol) Without Mentl, Zona would be gone, and Erogenia wouldn’t have its greatest champion. Without the two of them, Tula might’ve fallen into the Urtts’ trap anyway,and their strongest young priestess would also have been lost, paving the way nice and level for Shuach to waltz into town. But the top 3 of the Moon Tribe don’t really know these things, so yeah, they’re going to possibly see Mentl’s presence as a threat or a problem.
Me, I think he’s the solution. Even Shuach is wary of what Mentl represents….muahaha vey.
…They’re dragging me off again in an hour, I’d better read the rest of my favorite webcomics as fast as I can…. >.>
August 30th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Jean, as this is a few days after teh full moon night I think the subjects of Shauch, giants, Mentl’s role in the rescue of Zona, etc have all come up. (Maybe even Maldik if the letter’s gotten there by now. Or maybe that’s the next shoe to drop onto Ipola’s lap.
August 31st, 2010 at 4:50 am
Aww man… love this comic…. so good…
August 31st, 2010 at 3:40 pm
@Joe, Ya Know, I have other boards I do that kind of parsing on….
Yep, you do have to watch the implications of that kind of stuff, but some of the Eastern philosophies do seem to grasp the concepts taught in the Bible (in either Testament). We might quibble about, but the concept of “every knee will bow” could fit in there.
You are absolutely correct on one thing, the Creator doesn’t need us, we need the Creator. Since the relationship is defined more as parent-child (or sovereign-subject), the reason why we are to do as asked is because the One in authority over us told us to.
Disclaimer: Yes, I’m Christian, but I’m trying to be neutral since this isn’t where I do my parsing.
August 31st, 2010 at 7:57 pm
I don’t know why, but I had Mentl pegged as jewish for ages. I think based on his looks - mostly the combo of his nose, hair and BLUE eyes. Blue eyes mix with black hair mostly in the welsh or the jews.
I love bringing his own culture into this picture - helps to really round out his character and influences!