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Post by wombat140 on Aug 19, 2015 21:34:03 GMT
Is it just me, or just Mr Siddell changing his mind about what he wanted to do with the character, or is Zimmy's state of mind getting worse? When we first met Zimmy and Gamma, they were just a couple of long-lost members of the Addams family and Zimmy seemed pretty together, tough and smirky and standing up straight, and admittedly being rude and cryptic to everyone, but apparently just in a general I-don't-need-no-education kind of way; and the two of them even made an entry for the science fair. These days, every time you see Zimmy, she's stumbling along with her fists clenched, glaring at nothing. She even looks sicker; in the recent panes you could pick her up with one hand. We know some of the Court's ether experiments have a bad effect on Zimmy. And the Court seems to have some kind of ether experiments running nearly all the flipping time. Is this really the healthiest place for her to be? And if not, in whose interests is it that she's at the Court, exactly? hmm... Incidentally, I've been thinking all this time that Gamma's surname is Dobranoc, it's not, it's Czarnecki. ( www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=191 ) "Dobranoc, Gamma" means "Goodnight, Gamma". What's Zimmy's surname? Does she even know, or was she found on the church steps as a baby during a thunderstorm? ...actually, joking aside, she probably was. |
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Post by matoyak on Aug 19, 2015 21:55:28 GMT
Considering what we know about Zimmy and Gamma's story (ie: that Tom originally wanted to tell their story, but did Gunnerkrigg instead*), I suspect he's keeping their story going exactly as he wants it. I don't think he's changed his mind, really, more just refined how he presents stuff.
*Unless I'm really remembering wrong here...
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Aug 19, 2015 22:43:37 GMT
Zimmy said that she would have died if it wasn't for Gamma, but Zimmy survived for a while before meeting Gamma. So I interpreted that to mean Zimmy is either getting worse over time or her luck would have run out sooner or later, with fatal results in either case.
If Zimmy really is gettng worse, then Gamma's dampening may just delay the inevitable.
In the retrospective for Two Strange Girls, Tom said that it was a mistake to have Zimmy in a large assembly like the Science Fair because it was out of character for her to be in such a large crowd. So I would be careful about including that chapter in a comparison of Zimmy's behavior/condition.
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Post by gunnerwf on Aug 20, 2015 0:37:50 GMT
chapter 5, I chalked it up to more early story weirdness, than her getting worse.
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Post by keef on Aug 20, 2015 8:28:11 GMT
Is it just me, or just Mr Siddell changing his mind about what he wanted to do with the character, or is Zimmy's state of mind getting worse? As matoyak said; Tom created Zimmy and Gamma before Gunnerkrigg. He probably knew what role they were going to play in GC. As far as I remember Tom admitted this was somewhat out of character. You might find some of the answers your seeking on the wikia or in the formspring Q&A. |
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Post by pxc on Aug 20, 2015 14:23:44 GMT
Out of character maybe, but people do out-of-character things all the time. Especially when their character is still being formed, as in the stage of life that Zimmy and Gamma were in back then. I'm surprised Tom admitted that at all, it seems pretty easily explained away to me.
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Post by wombat140 on Aug 24, 2015 12:42:15 GMT
Good point. So possibly Chapter 5 isn't an indication of anything. (It may just have been the right kind of weather.) Random thought: Zimmy isn't a Hybrid, is she? I mean, little things, the name, the black eyes, the greyish skin, the origins in the former USSR (home of all the best alien stories), the lack of inches... the catastrophe-level psychic powers. Doesn't seem very Gunnerkrigg, though. Perhaps Tom took some of his ideas from that but Zimmy is nonetheless something else. Just thinking about the title of "Two Strange Girls". If you met Gamma by herself, would she still be spooky? |
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Post by Per on Aug 24, 2015 13:34:16 GMT
the origins in the former USSR Whatwherehow? Just thinking about the title of "Two Strange Girls". If you met Gamma by herself, would she still be spooky? I think it's meant to be possible to apply to Annie and Kat too. |
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Post by smjjames on Aug 24, 2015 13:45:00 GMT
Good point. So possibly Chapter 5 isn't an indication of anything. (It may just have been the right kind of weather.) Random thought: Zimmy isn't a Hybrid, is she? I mean, little things, the name, the black eyes, the greyish skin, the origins in the former USSR (home of all the best alien stories), the lack of inches... the catastrophe-level psychic powers. Doesn't seem very Gunnerkrigg, though. Perhaps Tom took some of his ideas from that but Zimmy is nonetheless something else. Just thinking about the title of "Two Strange Girls". If you met Gamma by herself, would she still be spooky? Her eyes aren't actually black: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=196The black stuff is just the etheric gunk or whatever it's supposed to be. |
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Post by pxc on Aug 24, 2015 16:45:36 GMT
Good point. So possibly Chapter 5 isn't an indication of anything. (It may just have been the right kind of weather.) Random thought: Zimmy isn't a Hybrid, is she? I mean, little things, the name, the black eyes, the greyish skin, the origins in the former USSR (home of all the best alien stories), the lack of inches... the catastrophe-level psychic powers. Doesn't seem very Gunnerkrigg, though. Perhaps Tom took some of his ideas from that but Zimmy is nonetheless something else. Just thinking about the title of "Two Strange Girls". If you met Gamma by herself, would she still be spooky? Her eyes aren't actually black: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=196The black stuff is just the etheric gunk or whatever it's supposed to be. They're not, but the gunk is ever-present enough. |
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Post by wombat140 on Aug 24, 2015 18:35:20 GMT
the origins in the former USSR Whatwherehow? Just thinking about the title of "Two Strange Girls". If you met Gamma by herself, would she still be spooky? I think it's meant to be possible to apply to Annie and Kat too. 1) I've been kind of assuming that if Gamma is Polish then Zimmy is too (was Poland USSR or am I confused?), what with Gamma speaking no English so it would be odd if they'd met in Britain, and what with the general squareness and crumminess of the city (at least as Zimmy remembers it). 2) hahaha I hadn't thought of that. |
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Post by pxc on Aug 24, 2015 18:47:04 GMT
Whatwherehow? I think it's meant to be possible to apply to Annie and Kat too. 1) I've been kind of assuming that if Gamma is Polish then Zimmy is too (was Poland USSR or am I confused?), what with Gamma speaking no English so it would be odd if they'd met in Britain, and what with the general squareness and crumminess of the city (at least as Zimmy remembers it). 2) hahaha I hadn't thought of that. I thought Zimmy was from Birmingham. |
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Post by wombat140 on Aug 24, 2015 19:16:41 GMT
I thought that was just Tom being silly. Could be though.
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Post by Per on Aug 24, 2015 20:36:07 GMT
1) I've been kind of assuming that if Gamma is Polish then Zimmy is too (was Poland USSR or am I confused?), what with Gamma speaking no English so it would be odd if they'd met in Britain, and what with the general squareness and crumminess of the city (at least as Zimmy remembers it). Relevant Formspring answers: Q: What city is Gamma from? A: A Polish city. Q: Any particular reason why Gamma speaks Polish? Had a friend to translate, or know the language yourself, perhaps? A: There is a large Polish community in the Midlands and I wanted to represent that. So it seems Gamma is intended to have been born in Poland and then moved to England at some point without first picking up the language. Poland was part of the Eastern Bloc but not part of the USSR, and unless the cultural references in the comic are completely anachronistic, Gamma would have grown up in a post-communist Poland anyway. |
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Post by speedwell on Aug 26, 2015 14:01:22 GMT
1) I've been kind of assuming that if Gamma is Polish then Zimmy is too (was Poland USSR or am I confused?), what with Gamma speaking no English so it would be odd if they'd met in Britain, and what with the general squareness and crumminess of the city (at least as Zimmy remembers it). Relevant Formspring answers: Q: What city is Gamma from? A: A Polish city. Q: Any particular reason why Gamma speaks Polish? Had a friend to translate, or know the language yourself, perhaps? A: There is a large Polish community in the Midlands and I wanted to represent that. So it seems Gamma is intended to have been born in Poland and then moved to England at some point without first picking up the language. Poland was part of the Eastern Bloc but not part of the USSR, and unless the cultural references in the comic are completely anachronistic, Gamma would have grown up in a post-communist Poland anyway. Poland was never actually USSR, though the USSR walked all over it from time to time. Actually, Poland has been walked all over a lot. As Chopin, the Polish exile, said when he heard a student playing his Etude in E minor, "Oh! Ma patrie!" The fact that he said it in French should not be lost on the reader. That's Europe for you. Here in Ireland, and I think it's not too different in the UK, the average Polish person who doesn't speak English is likely to be a recent working-class immigrant (regular or, ahem, irregular) imported by local companies to do manual labor, and/or their families who may come with them or arrive later. Think a half-step up from the situation of Mexicans in the US. Not that I mean any disrespect by that. My Polish computer repairman is a thriving small businessman and very competent despite the fact that his English skills sort of hit the wall when he tries to talk about anything but the weather and computers. And as a woman of Hungarian descent, I'd be in hot water trying to cook without resorting to the local Polish grocery stores, haha. |
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Post by wombat140 on Sept 22, 2015 13:28:39 GMT
That's something I like about Gunnerkrigg Court and its forum, I'm always learning things.
hehe Zimmy is from Birmingham! Now what the world needs to know is, does she have the accent? A deadly demon-child with a Brummie accent would be... excellent.
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Post by tortoise on Oct 5, 2015 9:16:00 GMT
Poland was never actually USSR, though the USSR walked all over it from time to time. Actually, Poland has been walked all over a lot. As Chopin, the Polish exile, said when he heard a student playing his Etude in E minor, "Oh! Ma patrie!" The fact that he said it in French should not be lost on the reader. That's Europe for you. Learning to play the etude in e minor is distilled pain and suffering. I only did it because I love Chopin so much. :S I refuse to do the same for Paderewski. It's beautiful music...eventually...but I don't have that kind of work ethic! |
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Post by philman on Oct 5, 2015 11:21:58 GMT
That's something I like about Gunnerkrigg Court and its forum, I'm always learning things. hehe Zimmy is from Birmingham! Now what the world needs to know is, does she have the accent? A deadly demon-child with a Brummie accent would be... excellent. I think sometimes you do see Zimmy's speech spelled with some accent and missed letters etc, and I am sure I read somewhere that it is supposed to be representing Brummie, same as Surma's speech is often accented as yorkshire, and we see Anja speaking the odd word in Romany. But representing accents in writing is difficult so I guess it doesn't come through as obviously as some others. Tom has said in some of his videos that most of the scenes of Zimmingham (The dark world where Zimmy and others go to when she loses control) that we see are also based on real streets and alleys in Birmingham that Tom photographs and draws from. |
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