Dresden Codak: As beautiful as it is slow to update

[datalaughing]

And bi-weekly updates end for the next month. To be fair, he lasted far longer than I expected. Back in March, on page 2 of this thread, I said

If he's committed it's not much of a stretch, but Aaron has a history of promising something and then not following through. It starts out fine, then it falters, with all sorts of reasonable excuses so you can't really blame him, and then before long he's forgotten that he ever promised anything at all. It's an awesome comic, and I have no problem with waiting for updates, but I'm not getting my hopes up for bi-weekly updates until we get to like June or July and he's still doing it.

He outlasted my prediction by 2 months. It's been awesome. He needs a break for a month to come back at things fresh. Can't blame a man for that, right? I certainly can't blame a guy for needing a break. I need one myself now and again. Then again, I also predicted that when he started to falter in his guarantees, there'd be all sorts of reasonable excuses so that you couldn't really blame him. Maybe having followed this guy and his work for as long as I have, I'm not being good enough about giving him the benefit of the doubt. I guess we'll find out.

[HandofShadows]

New page.

And some wardrobe changes.

[eschmenk]

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...and her early childhood home.

I can't tell if it's also Balthazar's, "sort of safehouse in the woods," or not.

[HandofShadows]

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...and her early childhood home.

I can't tell if it's also Balthazar's, "sort of safehouse in the woods," or not.

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You should get a cookie for spotting that.

[HandofShadows]

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OoooKAY, THAT was totally unexpected.

[John Campbell]

Caspar's face goes from "weird" to "What." when viewed from angles other than the front.

[HandofShadows]

Caspar's face goes from "weird" to "What." when viewed from angles other than the front.

She's a bit of a stand in for Ayn Rand (and resembles her some) or was when she first started. At this point she is very far away from that though in how she acts.

[Ilorin Lorati]

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So... what is she after? If it's just to get Kimiko out of the picture, then she's really bad at her job. My guess is some sort of knowledge or technology Kimiko has or can lead her to.

[HandofShadows]

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Of course we have to ask who she works for. Here is an idea, maybe though the real one is with Kim and she put a fake in her place. After all she IS Head of the Department of Distractions. A fake makes one heck of a good distraction.

[eschmenk]

In case people forgot, they might want to check out the newspaper and see how it matches what Amon said. (Not surprising since he seemed to be the source.) And I love the way the "photograph" was photoshopped.

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So... what is she after? If it's just to get Kimiko out of the picture, then she's really bad at her job. My guess is some sort of knowledge or technology Kimiko has or can lead her to.

Assuming you mean Casper, I didn't get the impression that she's after anything in particular. She seems mostly to just be playing the game. If she gets anything she can use, she'll take advantage of it, no matter where it came from.

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Of course we have to ask who she works for. Here is an idea, maybe though the real one is with Kim and she put a fake in her place. After all she IS Head of the Department of Distractions. A fake makes one heck of a good distraction.

That's the way I read the comic. I think the fake Asmodea already existed, though, since sne remained home and didn't even leave to go to the party. Also, at the party, Asmodea seemed to have shorter hair already. That way the real Asmodea could have adventures while the fake Asmodea did the boring stuff. I wouldn't rule out even a third of fourth Asmodea, actually. (You seem to have assumed that Ilorin Lorati was talking about Asmodea, while I assumed he/she meant Caspar, since the previous comments were about Caspar, not Asmodea.)

I don't know why you said, "Of course we have to ask who she works for," though. Why is that in doubt? I don't think it is. I think the real Asmodea is just someone who has rebellious inclinations and is frustrated with the current situation. There is a reason Amon told Father Abaddon to keep an eye on her.

She's a bit of a stand in for Ayn Rand (and resembles her some) or was when she first started. At this point she is very far away from that though in how she acts.

I think she still acts like Ayn Rand in many ways. One way that's different is that Caspar honors someone other than herself, but if you think of Kusanagi as an ideal, rather than a person, then she becomes even more like Ayn Rand.

[HandofShadows]

New page and something very odd is going on here.

[eschmenk]

The flashback was to the center-bottom panel on this page. And the pattern Kim drew was here.

[Fralex]

Working theory: The symbol is more than just a calling card of whoever steals information. And they don't just steal documents. They've erased entire people from memory.

[Mobius Twist]

The symbol where we last saw it.

Results are unclear.

[lurkmeister]

The construction of the symbol in that strip reminds me of the creation of alchemic circles in Fullmetal Alchemist. And FMA itself was based off of historic alchemical practices.

Hm.

Working theory: Dark Science is a development of alchemy.

[HandofShadows]

Woot another new page.

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Memories being played with.

[Lethologica]

And another.

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what does Belphegor want her to doooooooooo

[Domochevsky]

So... who's that officer person? Talks like she's familiar with Ross in some manner, and the thing about "influence points" sounds familiar.

[Lethologica]

So... who's that officer person? Talks like she's familiar with Ross in some manner, and the thing about "influence points" sounds familiar.

It's Vonnie, after accepting the job offer at the Department of Secrets from Belphegor.

[HandofShadows]

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Glad she isn't mad at Kim. Sad she thinks Kim might be mad at her though. Vonnie isn't a bad person.

[eschmenk]

It's Vonnie, after accepting the job offer at the Department of Secrets from Belphegor.

Right. Links: Belphegor recruiting Vonnie and the interview for the job.

[HandofShadows]

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Yvonne seems to have made a bit of a mistake.

[Lethologica]

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I, um. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

[-D-]

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Huh? Who is that guy Yvonne freed?

[HandofShadows]

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Huh? Who is that guy Yvonne freed?

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Thomas Caspar. He's the one that tried to kill Kim by turning into a big monster.

[eschmenk]

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Thomas Caspar. He's the one that tried to kill Kim by turning into a big monster.

He also lost his arm thanks to grabbing Kim. Notice that he says the same thing to disappear. Also, he's Alisa Caspar's "idiot" son and Yovonne's predecessor in her new roles.

And another.

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what does Belphegor want her to doooooooooo

I would guess that he wanted her to kill Thomas. She was reluctant so she stalled, I think. I'm not sure if she was really going to kill him or what was the point of cutting off the lock of hair.

[HandofShadows]

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Ok Board games named "Blood Farm", "Who Killed Marx" (Karl?), "Pointless Pastime" and "Hamilton’s Revenge" (I think)? Ooooookay.

[eschmenk]

New comic

LOL What?

[Mobius Twist]

LOL What?

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The ultimate in Impostor Syndrome is what. Some of his earliest appearances in this ark imply that he embraced the role fairly well, though possibly not without help.

And at the end of his life he certainly had some misgivings about the role he took on. It's not congruous with his statements here about arriving at the beginning, though.

Interestingly, while she's taken for granted as Kusanagi's daughter in some conversations, Melchior was not so convinced. Worth noting that he's considered her "so-called father" by Thomas Caspar/Leviathan as well.

Kim/Kaito apparently made his "greatest mistake" which is being repeated by Kim - showing up in the city? Searching for Dark Science? Breaking some sort of treaty?

Yeah, I still have no idea what's really happening. There's theories and now a bit of a timeline, but nothing conclusive.

[HandofShadows]

The writer of DC knows how to play with our heads. That's what it is.

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Nice post Mobius Twist. Kim's world or maybe WOLRDS are different than ours. The original world being closer that the world that the city exists in. Or it could be that parts of this story is told by a unreliable narrator (who does not know they are unreliable).