Things You Never Noticed IV: There's A Comic in the Sidebar?

[Rakoa]

I just noticed that that paladin girl who everyone debates about is named "Miko", not Mike.

[ti'esar]

I just noticed that that paladin girl who everyone debates about is named "Miko", not Mike.

I honestly cannot tell if this is a joke.

[Rakoa]

I was definitely joking.

[Ron Miel]

Well, obviously it's a joke. There's no debate, everyone hates Mike.

[Zyzzyva]

Well, obviously it's a joke. There's no debate, everyone hates Mike.

Next strip: **** you, Gary Mike! +1 to all attack rolls against Mike!

[Rakoa]

Yeah...that Mike is pretty much the worst.

[Emperordaniel]

I dunno, I always kinda liked Mike...

*is pelted with rotten tomatoes*

[KillingAScarab]

In #890: Dream Free, Elan has a some straw in his mouth when he uses the Song of Freedom. It's just along the border for two of the stripes in the background.

[Zyzzyva]

You can see the party, Bandana, and Andi in the third panel of 964.

[Darth Paul]

In panel 6, the Shadowdancer/ Assassin is peeking in the window from outside. (He's upside down, the sneaky devil. Must be why I never spotted him until now.)

And, as an aside, I realized I was right about Nale's goatee- it grew back in badly. It's very smooth in the early strips, then he cuts it off to glue it to Elan. Next time we see him it's ragged. (Then again, this could be due to his being on the run and not having grooming facilities.)

[Gift Jeraff]

And, as an aside, I realized I was right about Nale's goatee- it grew back in badly. It's very smooth in the early strips, then he cuts it off to glue it to Elan. Next time we see him it's ragged. (Then again, this could be due to his being on the run and not having grooming facilities.)

I think that's just an art redesign. Like how Haley's ponytail wasn't just a simple shape when it regrew.

[Darth Paul]

I think that's just an art redesign. Like how Haley's ponytail wasn't just a simple shape when it regrew.

Perhaps. I like my own theory best. (Naturally.)

[Zyzzyva]

In #741, the poster shows the Champion killing Roy.

[KillingAScarab]

I have owned both On the Origin of PCs and Start of Darkness for some time. I just noticed they have the numbers 0 and -1 on their spines, respectively.

[Cicciograna]

Among the many things that Elan has in common with his father there's the fear of having something on his face.

In strip 141 panel 7, as the rest of the party is looking at him in disbelief for the fact that he actually knows something, he says the same exact thing that Tarquin utters in strip 753 panel 5 when Roy and Belkar find out the identity of the General.

Even the pose is the same.

[The Linker]

On one hand, 'do I have something on my face' is an extremely common response to being stared at in amazement. On the other, the dialogue is even paced the same. I'd call that a callback, yeah.

[Rogar Demonblud]

During the parade in Bleedingham, there are a number of references (Rent/Rend, Macy's/Mace-y's, etc). One is Sanguine Avenue, a riff on Sesame Street. Big Bird as Little Roc, Bert and Ernie as Hurt and Burnie, and Oscar the Grouch as Felix the Mensch.

Oscar...Felix...

The main characters of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple.

[Quild]

Among the many things that Elan has in common with his father there's the fear of having something on his face.

In strip 141 panel 7, as the rest of the party is looking at him in disbelief for the fact that he actually knows something, he says the same exact thing that Tarquin utters in strip 753 panel 5 when Roy and Belkar find out the identity of the General.

Even the pose is the same.

wow, nice call.


I somehow never noticed Célia's dismissal in first panel of #672

[SirKazum]

Man, I always get something new when I re-read the comic. Those escaped prisoners used to make the 200-foot-tall flaming letters that say Elan's dad is bad news? Just realized where they came from. Too bad they weren't able to elude their former captors in those mountains. Wonder who might have tipped Tarquin off about them...

[AvatarVecna]

First off, the roaches in the last panel of page 371 are having a lightsaber duel.

Secondly, there's a reference to the Inverse Ninjutsu Theory in panel 16 of page 453.

Screw this! I'm not getting rubbed out by magic-wielding hookers! Must be some obscure Prestige Class...

On a previous re-read, I thought this was a sneaky reference to the "Sacred Prostitute" PrC from BoEF, but the comic was posted in '05, while the book came out in '06. Just thought it was interesting enough to share.

You know, I didn't need to be a wizard...I coulda been a baker, you know.

Interesting dilemma, choosing between wizardry and bakery.

[Zyzzyva]

First off, the roaches in the last panel of page 371 are having a lightsaber duel.

Wow, I never saw that!

Durkon curses with "Thor's achin' bunions"... and at the end of the strip Thor goes off to soak his feet.

[Kish]

A mage dumping INT?

Why not? The mage would need to be specifically a sorcerer or other Charisma-based caster, like Girard, rather than a wizard or other Intelligence-based type, of course, but I see no reason to assume Miron is an Intelligence-based caster.

[ti'esar]

So in SSDT, I did not notice until yesterday that

Spoiler

Show

in "Elan and the Beanstalk", the spell that Vaarsuvius's character needed Milky the cow's droppings to research was "Delayed Blast Firebull".

[KillingAScarab]

Interesting dilemma, choosing between wizardry and bakery.

Nice catch. I must suffer from the same inability to perceive NPCs correctly which Roy demonstrates.

[Rogar Demonblud]

In strip 870 (aka Malack's Big Reveal), you can see his vampiric regeneration kick in when the bruise on his snout disappears between panels 4 and 5.

Also, the soldiers from the Empire of Sweat we see in 945 still have towels wrapped around their hips.

[SirKazum]

Re-reading some comics once again (damn you, this thread!) I just noticed: in the dream sequence in Girard's tower, Mr. Scruffy dies!! Those monsters! (By which I mean Roy, Elan and Haley, who (subconsciously) though it up.) I get Belkar dying, but Mr. Scruffy??

[Lord Torath]

Durkon curses with "Thor's achin' bunions"... and at the end of the strip Thor goes off to soak his feet.

Also, Durkon's Cleric's Featherfall obscures, but does not entirely hide the cracks Elan left in the floor when he landed.

[Peelee]

Re-reading some comics once again (damn you, this thread!) I just noticed: in the dream sequence in Girard's tower, Mr. Scruffy dies!! Those monsters! (By which I mean Roy, Elan and Haley, who (subconsciously) though it up.) I get Belkar dying, but Mr. Scruffy??

Dude, thing's got, like, 2 hp and is hit with a 9th level splash attack. What were you expecting?

[Jasdoif]

Dude, thing's got, like, 2 hp and is hit with a 9th level splash attack. What were you expecting?

Pretty much. With Belkar dead, his Animal Companion class feature ceases functioning and Mr. Scruffy loses all those bonuses, including the extra hit dice and Evasion. Even the first-level spell burning hands would do enough damage to kill him on a successful save.

Roy, Haley and Elan would probably know this; and additionally wouldn't desire a constant reminder of Belkar (though I imagine Elan's reasons for that are quite different than Roy's or Haley's).

[KillingAScarab]

Re-reading some comics once again (damn you, this thread!) I just noticed: in the dream sequence in Girard's tower, Mr. Scruffy dies!! Those monsters! (By which I mean Roy, Elan and Haley, who (subconsciously) though it up.) I get Belkar dying, but Mr. Scruffy??

Dude, thing's got, like, 2 hp and is hit with a 9th level splash attack. What were you expecting?

Pretty much. With Belkar dead, his Animal Companion class feature ceases functioning and Mr. Scruffy loses all those bonuses, including the extra hit dice and Evasion. Even the first-level spell burning hands would do enough damage to kill him on a successful save.

Roy, Haley and Elan would probably know this; and additionally wouldn't desire a constant reminder of Belkar (though I imagine Elan's reasons for that are quite different than Roy's or Haley's).

I knew that Elan stayed behind at the grave for Belkar, but I think his reason for doing so was actually more for Mr. Scruffy, now. Mr. Scruffy appears to be one of the targets of Elan's mass cure light wounds. In panel six of #886, the cat was damaged, but in panel seven it isn't, and in panel eight he's killed by a little bit of fire (which does match with suddenly losing the benefit of being an animal companion).