[632] hmm, there's a lesson in all this.

Bob and Marcia continue to be insanely cute.

Anyone care to make predictions about:

a) What the next chapter will be about,

b) What the bonus page will be about (credit goes to Joiz),

c) Whether or not Tom will reveal to us what the problem he predicted people would have with this chapter was, and whether or not it turned out to be the case?

Well, if those are all the laser cows they can at least start a fire.
That makes it slightly better.

For some reason, Carver looks really cute in that first panel. Perhaps the lack of eyebrows/forehead (covered by hat and laser) make her eyes look uncharacteristically large?

Also, I am curious about what Bob and Marcia do with that huge house when they are not overseeing residentials.

Also, I never really realized how tall James was until the second panel of today's comic.

I love that Tom includes the skyline of the Court behind all of the trees. Now that the fog is gone, the skyline continues to remind us that this is all happening in yet another crazy area of the Court, and not actually in any countryside. True, the laser cows and shenanigans might be a bigger reminder, but I still love the attention to detail and the dedication to creating a whole, complete world. Tom just doesn't drop the ball for a minute.

.....
In a related side note, the labyrinthine nature of the court reminds me more and more of something out of Borges and his infinite libraries. This is probably association, and not a direct reference, but I'll be interested to see how the apparent infinity of the Court and of Gillitie Woods (an infinity which is, however, nonetheless finite and contained by some version of the world we know) eventually plays out.

b) Perhaps, since we started with Annie checking on Reynardine, the bonus page will end with some insight into what he's been up to without Annie there to watch/entertain him.

That is truly a lesson to stand the tet of time.

Nice that Bob and Marcia have a sense of humor about the whole situation.

But then, Marcia probably can take both of them into a tree (or somehow provide reasonable comfort for both of them, courtesy of the fact that she's a dryad).

And Eggy? He can just hop back to the school. I don't see what the big deal is.

It isn't really a big deal, but they DID just get humiliated by a bunch of children. I can see why Eglamore would be a bit sore about it.

The children's trick was carefully planned before they executed it.
Annie, Kat, and Jack all had major roles in executing it.
This means they must have cooperated in planning it, no?

Might have been interesting to see what that conversation was like.

I also love the way Annies "'night!" is a dig at Elgmaore, getting even for is "'night!" back in
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=610

A few possibilities:

1. The situation turned out to be exactly what the children openly suspected it to be: the teachers "kidnapping" the children to make the camping trip more interesting, without any surprise twists. (Well, maybe Marcia turning out to be a dryad and using her species' abilities to carry off the children, but a lot of the readers guessed that she was a dryad from her hair coloring and her concern about the trees, even before it was revealed in the comic.)

2. The confrontation between Annie and Jack, with some readers taking Annie's side and some Jack's side.

3. The suggestion above that the story was just the old "students getting even" idea and nothing more original than that.

4. Or maybe Tom was just joking.

Everyone should carry rope. It's part of the standard adventuring gear. ;D

Nah, he had specified as a clarification that he was talking about the chapter that had just started being posted (i.e. the one we just finished reading)

Idk...that just seems like part of the house in the background. if there was an exclamation mark, it would probably be bolder (and possibly on top of her head as it's done in most comics)