[730] Let's go and look for your friend!

Gamma's such a sweet girl.

Gamma still could be an illusion. Annie's seen her in Zimmingham before, so perhaps Annie isn't expecting her to be a nobody.

Or, well. Maybe both of them are actually in Zimmingham, but they are just very confused due to the unusual circumstances.

Oh! Wait, has someone mentioned that this could be actually Jack's doing? Gamma sounds rather persistent on convincing Annie that she's actually Zimmy and looks surprised when Annie pushes on looking for Jack instead of thinking that she's Zimmy. Perhaps Jack has gained some sort of reality-bending powers in this Zimmingham (Birmingjack?) and is trying to isolate Annie, so he can meet Zimmy without disturbance.

Clearly Gamma is actually Jeanne.

And Annie is the robot king.

Also, another thing. THere is more than one shot of Gamma being seen from behind. One panel has her hair covering up the white collar, while in the last panel, her hair is short enough that you can see the white collar.

Okay, I'm strongly in the "it's a holodeck simulation" camp by now. I think this is simulator-Gamma that Jack programmed to bring Zimmy to him. It thinks Annie is Zimmy because he didn't think anyone else would come in.

Me too, although this being GKC, Tom may well have (several) different ideas. I really like this storyline though.

Signed up just to say - it's pretty clear to me we're not seeing Annie now
1)no scar
2)complete lack of surprise at being spoken to telepathically.
3) Gamma see through the fake stuff, so it's probably Zimmy.
4)Annie says there is "a boy with grey hair and a green coat" - Annie would know his name was Jack, Zimmy probably doesn't.
5) Annie says "No Gamma, it's me, a-annie". Notice the hyphen and small letter. Also I suspect Annie normally introduces herself as Antimony.

And I've just noticed, middle two panels of 729. First panel, Annie calls out "Zimmy, wait", Zimmy runs round the corner. Next panel, we see Annie appear from round the corner. Switcheroo.

Um but I figure everyone has already picked up these details, but I like listing things.

About (4), I suspect Gamma doesn't know who Jack is either, so Annie telling her that she's looking for Jack is of no use.

But welcome, Mooooojo Jojo! (I miss Powerpuff Girls.)

I don't see why this can't be taken as-is. It may not make sense, but assuming that this isn't Gamma and/or she's wrong/lying, is to make it even more complicated. I'm just taking Gamma's word for it, for now. "It's Zimmy" is the least unessecarily convoluted way to take the scene, and not only that but it's the way most suggested on the page...



Indeed, that's what I assumed was happening when I read it.

Gamma always makes me smile. Though the fact that they might be running towards Jack is seriously worrying me.

You're making assumptions about what's going to happen though. The scene may not unfold the way you are expecting. They may not even find Jack. This might just be about Zimmy, for now.

I think it's important to sometimes just let things not make sense, because you know Tom will have a good reason for it all in the end.

I'm not sure if anyone has pointed it out yet(could have missed it when I was reading the thread), but I think the weirdest thing going on in these pages is that Annie isn't talking polish, and Gamma can understand what she is saying.

I don't know whats going on, but something is definitely up.

I'm tickled by the notion that the "simplest and most straightforward explanation" apparently involves a complete point-of view shift, a personality swap, a disappearing protagonist, and complete amnesia of a minor character.

I think the strongest evidence that Annie is Annie and Gamma is not Gamma, is the fact that Annie is speaking out loud, not telepathically, in English, and Gamma understands her.

I think the whole scene is either an etheric or holographic simulation (more likely etheric, since Annie can feel "Gamma" touching her without a haptic suit) created by Jack and/or his stowaway from Zimmy's mind, in order to lure in the real Zimmy, which he's become convinced Annie is.

As convoluted as that might sound to someone who wants to believe a different scenario, I believe that objectively speaking, it's a lot less convoluted and involves a lot fewer violations of storytelling logic than the idea that Annie is actually Zimmy, that the real Annie magically disappeared in a puff of smoke, and that we have an entire protagonist-shift all of a sudden.

On the other hand though I still have to give a big thumbs-up to the storytelling, in that any explanation we can come up with requires at least a portion of convolution, which means Tom's keeping us all on our toes.