[707] I'll know about it

Um, Jack? Next time, make your secret spy stuff not announce its presence with lights, m'kay?

I love the big generators in frame 1; I can hear them roar.

Question: if Jack can make these, what are the chances the Court has something like them built in? If so, what was the Guard-bot for?

Actually, that's all part of the plan: whoever notices it will come closer to investigate then it explodes right on their faces and Jack will hear the noise and he would know!

That room looks like the sort of place I'd see Batman swooping down into, silently taking out a guard and disappearing back into the shadows.

Claymore antipersonnel mine, anyone?



Still, I can't help but think that Jack might have more than mild difficulty obtaining actual high explosives while on the run from the authorities. It's possible of course, but I doubt it.

It says under the comic they're homemade. And Court technology is usually pictured with a blue/grey colour scheme, these were more reddish brown.

I think Jack is probably smarter than we think, as smart as or at least almost as smart as Kat, considering they used the same method to surpass the security cameras. It's just that he's insane, and his lack of sleep and food makes him extra ... grumpy. I think all this Jack-hatin' needs to stop, he's just a very confused kid.

Also, I think Annie dealt with the Birmingham-thing better than Jack, because Jack's father despises magic, so Annie is more used to the stuff. Also, we don't know the deal with the spider (though I don't think it's so crucial as everyone wants it to be)

I don't see any explosives. Can it not just be some kind of alarm instead of a bomb?

I think Tom said that Jack was a far better roboticist than Kat. And also that Gamma is far more etherically gifted than Annie.

Which leads me to believe: the main characters Annie, Kat, and Renard, are not near as powerful as the important secondary characters. It is certainly a far more interesting climate than, say superhero comics.

Yeah, I think so too. Kat mostly put stuff together, while Jack makes small alarm(bomb?)s from scratch. And Gamma is much better at calming down Zimmy compared to how Annie did it.

The act of destruction in and of itself isn't really that relevant outside of damage to equipment. What I was referring to is that Jack broke part of a security system, signalling any and all who care to investigate that someone has gotten somewhere they aren't supposed to be. With the instrument of destruction being left at the scene, it will probably be scrutinized for any form of evidence as to whodunnit. I probably should've been more clear in my first post, but it was like three-thirty in the morning where I am when I posted it.

alternate explanation.

"Now what are you doing?"

"Character development."

"Anyone reads this page, they'll know I'm a genius inventor who's downright paranoid about planning stunts like this."

If Jack's theory about the Court tracking the students is correct, he's probably increased his likelihood of being discovered simply by bringing Annie with him. Even if he's shielded himself from being picked up on their monitoring systems by not eating, the monitoring systems would still detect her.

ruh roh.

i'm loving the creepy half smile in the second to last panel.

It is true, a robot is nothing but a machine. ...in the real world, that is.

It is not true that a robot is nothing but a machine in the Gunnerkrigg Court world, however. Tom has clearly and repeatedly established that they are alive: whether or not the staff of the Court want to acknowledge that or treat them as such is irrelevant, and doesn't make it any less true. Whether or not Annie and Kat are the only ones who have bothered to discover this fact also doesn't make it any less true. It is true, they know it, Jack even knew it once, and we the readers are supposed to know it.

Yeah, Hyland Sr. Hates magic. Anyone else think this is going to play an important role when we finally get to know Jack's back story?