[1052] Can't run away from what scares ya

Good advice GammaZimmy. Words to live by.

Dayum, a minute before my thread...

What's the etiquette here, should I delete mine?

Also: Mystery solved!

Yeah.

Such good character development.

The fact Gamma spoke English and it all faded to white suddenly, the title of the chapter, Wednesday's, page, and Zimmy's line say something I have neglected since the very start of this chapter: it is about Kat.

(I just realised the coulour of the speech bubble)

I'm sure Gamma was just trying to tell Kat the headband looked ridiculous.

I think Zimmy said that. Not Gamma.

Next comic we should finally find out if Zims and Gams are/were actually there. I am thinking the headband of +5 straightness will be missing but if it's not and Kat is sitting bedside then they were only dreamwalking.

gamma broke the headband of +5 straightness with that line me thinks

And just when I thought this chapter was starting to make some kind of sense.


Aside: So many people commenting on the "headband of straightness"- where did this reference come from?

Gamma looks so grown-up in the second panel. I always knew she was older than the other girls, but she looks especially older in that panel. Maybe it's just because of how long it's been since last she was seen and the drawing has changed.

Kat's probably never seen Zimmers do anything but be angry or snarky, maybe the honesty here will make the message sink in a bit better.
Also seconding Tierra, Gamma looks both rather tall and somewhat older than the others here. She's always had a pretty round face, but it doesn't make her seem young here.

And oh yeah, awww.

The thing is, though, that this doesn't appear to be new. Zimmy was actively avoiding kat at the start of the chapter, we can now presume. But before that... Zimmy has always antagonised kat, every time they meet. In "dobranoc, gamma" she grudgingly admits it was nice of kat to bring gamma blankets- at the time it seemed like she's just grudging about everything, but now? I think it's possible to interpret it as surprise that kat is capable of niceness. After all, zimmy doesnt have the ame problem with annie. Any other author, I would privately suspect this as being a massive ass-pull development, but with Tom? Well, I think it calls for another retread of the archives. Another look at the power plant incident is interesting- does Zimmy look at nobody kat even once the whole time?

The thing is, Tom is used to internet fans, who pull apart every little thing (like the moon pool incident, for a start). It is much easier to unpick a riddle than to create one. Non-subtle foreshadowing would already have been worked out. Kat being something different to what we thought we knew, had to be a surprise, but also has to make sense in retrospect. I didnt think it did at first, but having gone back... it fits, in that it carefully doesn't contradict what we've seen so far.

I think this represents a massive step forward in our understanding of what the mystery, the question of gunnerkrigg, actually is. Everything has changed, with the smallest amount of drama. In short... Wow, Tom. If this has really been in the cards since the start, or near the start, then wow.

That dragon bird looks good... with those beefy arms... coming out of its back like that....