Girl Genius XXII: Paris Needs Pants

[stsasser]

Anybody know if the office number, 400A, means anything...other than a detective that has his office in a 4th floor walkup is hurting for business?

[Dexam]

Is the photo on the wall of him and Bill and Barry? And a Royal Pardon, the thanks of the Empire, but can anyone figure out what the big award says? Something 'the city'...

My guess is "Gratitude of the City" - that looks like a Heterodyne Trilobite seal in the corner, so "the City" is probably Mechanicsburg.

[Rodin]

The City Council thanks you for burning down only half the city while pursuing Baron Von Klanktoffen and his Murderous Monkeys.

[HandofShadows]

The "Empire" one had the Wulfenbach emblem and signature on it.

[Ellen]

You can hire him but you can't fire him. I wonder how that works?

Other than badly (assuming your definition of "bad" involves lots of collateral damage and explosions. Not everyone's in GG does).

[Douglas]

You can hire him but you can't fire him. I wonder how that works?

Other than badly (assuming your definition of "bad" involves lots of collateral damage and explosions. Not everyone's in GG does).

Payment up front, and he keeps going until the mystery is solved even if he uncovers some of your dirty secrets in the process?

[Kantaki]

Sure they can fire you Ivo.
Out of a cannon.
Into the sun.

I would tread very carefully if I were you.

[keybounce]

Getting all the way to the sun is kinda expensive. You'll just send him into a long period elliptical orbit, and when he returns, he'll finish the job.

... And look up what's left of you.

[Darth Tom]

I always enjoy these random interludes, they tend to foreshadow the actual plot rather neatly.

A couple of things have been nagging at me since the end of the Paris arc:

1) Of the three major players talked about so far (Klaus, Voltaire and Albia), only Albia remains. Setting up a new generation of leaders or breaking down the world's defences?
2) The Storm King was driven mad due to "new friends" who were able to animate / control the dead. Seems a lot like revenants?
3) "Going against Albia's merest whim is literally unthinkable", says Gil. Sounds like even more complete mind control than that exerted by slaver wasps...

Anyone else get the feeling Agatha's going to be busy when she reaches England?

[eee]

You can hire him but you can't fire him. I wonder how that works?

Other than badly (assuming your definition of "bad" involves lots of collateral damage and explosions. Not everyone's in GG does).

It's sort of the noir private detective manifesto. "Once I get hold of a mystery I can't stop. I gotta keep going, I gotta find out the answers, no matter how tough it is, no matter how rotten, no matter who tries to stop me. 'Cause that's the only way you can show the truth. And the truth is all that matters."

Think of Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade saying that.

(I wonder if Ivo sounds like Bogart.)

Agatha keeps doing the poses that noir detective femme fatales do in the movies, but they don't really suit her. Especially not with that snail crown on her head.

The crack pattern in panel four suggests somebody with bad aim has taken shots at Ivo in the past...

[HandofShadows]

The crack pattern in panel four suggests somebody with bad aim has taken shots at Ivo in the past...

Or they hit. He IS a Jaeger and a few bullet holes would proably only make him annoyed. Where is his hat though?

[stsasser]

It's sort of the noir private detective manifesto. "Once I get hold of a mystery I can't stop. I gotta keep going, I gotta find out the answers, no matter how tough it is, no matter how rotten, no matter who tries to stop me. 'Cause that's the only way you can show the truth. And the truth is all that matters."

Think of Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade saying that.

(I wonder if Ivo sounds like Bogart.)

It is very much Marlowe looking for Regan in The Big Sleep or Continental Op in Red Harvest - although how is Ivo going to exceed a stack of dead bodies, a gang war and Poisonville on fire as a 'bad thing'?

Note on office location, Marlowe's office is the seventh floor, so a 4th floor office is practically luxurious.

[Kantaki]

Getting all the way to the sun is kinda expensive. You'll just send him into a long period elliptical orbit, and when he returns, he'll finish the job.

... And look up what's left of you.

Eh, it was a rubbish plan anyway.
I doubt hard vacuum would survive contact with a Jäger.

Or they hit. He IS a Jaeger and a few bullet holes would proably only make him annoyed. Where is his hat though?

Might have lost it.
Would be telling regarding his planning skills though.

[Lethologica]

The hat is probably on his coat rack. Whose existence I conjecture from the placement of what looks like a big red coat in the last panel of the previous comic.

[Divayth Fyr]

Isn't the coat and hat visible in panel 2 behind Van?

[Lethologica]

Isn't the coat and hat visible in panel 2 behind Van?

Ah, yes. Same coat.

[JavaScribe]

The latest.

He's right. I've never seen a Jager fight like that.

[Rockphed]

I propose "Girl Genius XXIII: Look! A Monkey" as the next thread title.

[factotum]

Yeah, that is definitely a manoeuvre you don't often see Jaegers doing.

[Porthos]

Oh, I like him.

[Kantaki]

He's a smart one...

[eee]

Oh he is GOOD. I'm liking him more and more each episode.

It is very much Marlowe looking for Regan in The Big Sleep or Continental Op in Red Harvest - although how is Ivo going to exceed a stack of dead bodies, a gang war and Poisonville on fire as a 'bad thing'?

Note on office location, Marlowe's office is the seventh floor, so a 4th floor office is practically luxurious.

This is Girl Genius: I'm sure the destruction in Red Harvest can be topped with ease.

(It all started out with a simple murder. But the Op was so bent out of shape by the cesspool that was Poisonville he maneuvered things so as to clean it up. These noir private detectives / white knights are DANGEROUS once they get going...)

[Rogar Demonblud]

He's a smart one...

I think you mean "Shmart vun".

[keybounce]

The best use of a monkey in combat is to get you to pay attention to the monkey :)

[Kantaki]

I think you mean "Shmart vun".

Schmot und schneaky.

[Hurkyl]

Anybody know if the office number, 400A, means anything...other than a detective that has his office in a 4th floor walkup is hurting for business?

It's not as catchy as 221B, is it?

[smuchmuch]

Running away from a fight ? I'm starting to see why he isn't hanging with other Jaegers.

[The Glyphstone]

Most Jaegers are Cunningly Brutal. Ivo appears to be Brutally Cunning.

[Rogar Demonblud]

He also appears to be one of those Jagers who've gotten old enough to dislike fighting for the sake of fighting.

[Lethologica]

Missing general confirmed.