[1233] Helpful Hetty always gets the job done!

[Deleted]

Hahahaha! This is the best bonus page yet.

Apparently, Hetty cut her skirt in half at some point. Either that, or she was wearing a coffee filter the whole time, which I choose to believe because it amuses me. The strange orange dust, by the way, appears in the background of this page and continues to confuse me.

[Señor Goose]

Interesting. She also used to have gloves too apparently.

So it turns out that she's a hitdoll?

[faythofdragons]

Probably not related too much, but I found this potential connection interesting.

[imaginaryfriend]

I am not a big doll person but I assumed the "cheetos dust" was itty-bitty gold accent beads on invisible plastic thread to highlight the face. I think what's on this page is supposed to be age spots on the package. So the gold stuff was either part of the possession thing (like I assume the red eyes were) or part of an update makeover along with the shortened skirt, I guess.

[Deleted]

Man, I thought Hetty was kind of a bother at first, but with hypodermic needles, she really gets under your skin.

And that umbrella is secretly concealing a huge syringe and a needle, isn't it Hetty?

[boris]

The page has a very Bioshock vibe to it. I wonder if that was the inspiration?

[arf]

Free hypodermic needles?? What silent 'job' are we talking about here?

Also, something of a record: the comic has now been Annie-free for 28 pages.

[Señor Goose]

Shit you're right, I didn't even notice the eyes were different.

On a physics standpoint, if a tree's branch can be easily pushed down by the weight of a little girl, then it is not able to provide the return force to launch a grown man through the air.

[Señor Goose]

Aug 7, 2013 7:32:50 GMT boris said:

The page has a very Bioshock vibe to it. I wonder if that was the inspiration?

I'm pretty sure it was kind of a throw-back to the style of fifties-sixties toy ads.

[melkior]

I found nothing on the internet about this ad, so assuming Tom didn't fake the advertisement (although that's very possible), I'm going to assume that it's from 'way back in the bad old days when you could buy and use narcotic drugs fairly openly, although it may have been viewed as a rather disreputable thing to do, hence the "shhhh" and (probably) disguising the container and the needle as a doll and her umbrella.

Also, were those really sewing needles in the previous chapter or were they actually hypodermic needles?

[Nnelg]

They were sowing needles, I'm sure.

[Deleted]

I'll add that the handbag was apparently not included with the original. This gives weight to the theory that the red button represented the shrimp-spirit's extra eye, if it's safe to assume that the shrimp only came to possess the doll later.

To whom did the doll belong in the first place? The advertisement does indeed look like it fell straight out of the Fifties, but Adam or his sister sure can't be that old.

I read through these »Helpful Hettie« strips linked above and now I'm dead certain I will never so much as chuckle again for the rest of my life.

[noone3]

Aug 7, 2013 7:45:09 GMT Nnelg said:

They were sowing needles, I'm sure.

Well:

Sowing

Sewing

Also:

Luer lock

Which only prooves you can find education in the strangest places.

[philman]

Aug 7, 2013 7:31:34 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

I am not a big doll person but I assumed the "cheetos dust" was itty-bitty gold accent beads on invisible plastic thread to highlight the face. I think what's on this page is supposed to be age spots on the package. So the gold stuff was either part of the possession thing (like I assume the red eyes were) or part of an update makeover along with the shortened skirt, I guess.

Yeah that was always my assumption too, beads or something in her hair, made more sense than magical balls that were never referred to!

And yeah this isn't Bioshock, I'm fairly sure both were just inspired by the same source, i.e. the 50's.

[melkior]

* BOING * Jackpot! I bet the symbol on Hetty's forehead was an obscure symbol for a narcotic drug! Probably opium or one of its derivatives.

[Deleted]

Opium is smoked though, not shot. I really can't picture this comic of all comics making veiled references to drugs.

[aranael]

I suspect the red/orange lights are an alchemical reference. cinnabar or vermilion is derived from mercury and sulphur. (note, of course, quicksilver being another name for mercury.) the symbol on Hetty's forehead may be a variation on one or several of the forms of the symbol for sulphur, alchemical red sulphur being known as the 'Red King':



as such, I suspect her true form of being that of a royal red prawn.

ties up neatly, doesn't it?

[melkior]

Aug 7, 2013 8:29:39 GMT aranael said:

I suspect the red/orange lights are an alchemical reference. cinnabar or vermilion is derived from mercury and sulphur. (note, of course, quicksilver being another name for mercury.) the symbol on Hetty's forehead may be a variation on one or several of the forms of the symbol for sulphur, alchemical red sulphur being known as the 'Red King':

...

ties up neatly, doesn't it?

It does. I do wish Tom had used symbolism which we had a better chance of decyphering, but then the cryptic nature of his story is part of the attraction.

One of the derivatives of opium is, I believe, heroin, which is injected. The symbol may instead refer to cocaine which I believe can also be made injectable although it's not usually used in that form these days.

[lemarc]

Aug 7, 2013 7:32:50 GMT boris said:

The page has a very Bioshock vibe to it. I wonder if that was the inspiration?

You're aware the "Bioshock vibe" is an emulation of real historical aesthetics, aren't you?

[download]

Aug 7, 2013 8:15:38 GMT @korba said:

Opium is smoked though, not shot. I really can't picture this comic of all comics making veiled references to drugs.

You fill a syringe with a lethal dose of opiates and you have the perfect murder weapon

[GK Sierra]

Aug 7, 2013 7:32:15 GMT @pursuitofthelulz said:

Man, I thought Hetty was kind of a bother at first, but with hypodermic needles, she really gets under your skin.

And that umbrella is secretly concealing a huge syringe and a needle, isn't it Hetty?

Either that, or it's secretly a Bulgarian umbrella loaded with ricin.

Aug 7, 2013 9:07:47 GMT download said:

Aug 7, 2013 8:15:38 GMT @korba said:

Opium is smoked though, not shot. I really can't picture this comic of all comics making veiled references to drugs.

You fill a syringe with a lethal dose of opiates and you have the perfect murder weapon

As long as your mark is a junkie, or could be passed off as secretly having a habit. No doubt the rest of the syringes in the kit are for planting evidence.

[Toloc]

"Well, the mind is nothing but a plaything of the body, correct?" p.413

[adnarel]

I've been under the impression that Hetty's symbol was phosphorus. My Google-fu confirms this.

[ctso74]

If Adam's sister was ill, this doll could have been their child-friendly way to present needed medicine. I wish I knew the backstory, though I'm sure it's sad.
How did she pinocchio the itchy witch? She must have done it in secret.

[exdevlin]

If this is the original packaging Hetty's doll form came with, I have to wonder what the hell Adam's sister was doing with it. Perhaps she was diabetic and the doll was supposed to be the "time for your medicine" crutch for young children? I know young children are often given "disguised" implements to make it seem less scary. Annie may have been used to the stark and sterile items and setting at Good Hope, but I think that was more a setting influenced by Anthony's profession, and isn't much of an indication that other children at GC are used to medical instruments.

edit: ctso74 apparently beat me to it, because I got distracted and was reading like four other tabs before I came back to my post. *sigh*

[Ender]

The style that Tom did this ad in, and the way he made the paper purposefully yellowish and old-looking, it is probably from the '50's or something. I doubt that Adam's sister is that old, and got it from the original packaging. I'm guessing she either found it or it was her mom's doll and she gave it to her, who knows. I doubt she even got the hypodermic needles that came with it.

I'm kind of curious, actually, if the shrimp spirit has been in that doll since back then or if it was a more recent thing.

[The Anarch]

Aug 7, 2013 7:59:06 GMT philman said:

And yeah this isn't Bioshock, I'm fairly sure both were just inspired by the same source, i.e. the 50's.

I was very certain of that myself, but then I just started thinking . . . Hetty used to belong to ADAM's Little Sister . . .

[Señor Goose]

I don't think that was supposed to represent the actual ad for the Hetty doll; I suspect it's kind of a nod to how dangerous Hetty was. Even in the fifties you couldn't get away with selling hypodermic needles to little kids.

[melkior]

Aug 7, 2013 15:19:01 GMT Señor Goose said:

I don't think that was supposed to represent the actual ad for the Hetty doll; I suspect it's kind of a nod to how dangerous Hetty was. Even in the fifties you couldn't get away with selling hypodermic needles to little kids.

I think you're missing the point completely.

The doll would not have been a child's toy at all. It would have been an ornament, meant to be kept high on a mantel piece or in a locked glass case to be looked at and not to be played with. Adding secret compartments for (for example) drugs would have made it more "marketable" to a certain clientele who preferred that their visitors not be aware of (or at least not be confronted with) the knowledge that their host was a junkie.

[GK Sierra]

Aug 7, 2013 14:55:00 GMT The Anarch said:

Aug 7, 2013 7:59:06 GMT philman said:

And yeah this isn't Bioshock, I'm fairly sure both were just inspired by the same source, i.e. the 50's.

I was very certain of that myself, but then I just started thinking . . . Hetty used to belong to ADAM's Little Sister . . .

A MAN CHOOSES

A SLAVE OBEYS