West of Bathurst, by Kari Maaren
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Monday, August 26, 2013

West of Bathurst 1345

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...So yeah...I'm a bit behind.  Sorry about that.  I'll try to get Tuesday's comic up later today, though no promises.  When you're visiting your parents, there are time considerations.  Right now, I'm by myself mostly because it's 5:45 a.m. here.

I actually finished the comic last night, but I was too tired to deal with the contests, so I delayed posting anything.  We had a few entries for Summer Contest #9, the objective of which was to guess 1) to which major WoB character the protagonist of the new comic would be connected, 2) what kind of connection it would be, 3) how old the protagonist would be, and 4) where the new protagonist has appeared in the WoB archive.  The guesses:

Erwaro:

1) Barbara. 2) Niece (more specifically, Barbara's oldest niece, whom Erwaro calls "Squirt"). 3) 15 / 24. 4) Initially this and this, then also this (well...he mentioned it, but someone else linked it because Erwaro wanted it to be a surprise or something) once I clarified how many nieces Barbara actually had.

Tuxgeo:

1) Marie. 2) The Hostess in the taxidermist's shop, who is connected to Marie because the Hostess has used one of Casey's favourite and most maddening lines and thus may be one of Casey's kind-of-sort-of-victims.  3)  Mid-to-late-30s. 4)  This and this.

Nobilis:

1)  Barbara.  2)  Elder sister.  3)  Currently 44, but the comic will begin two years in the past, making her 42.  4)  This.

Tobias:


1)  Casey.  2)  Mom.  3)  Simultaneously mid-40s and extremely old.  4)  No links, but mention of Casey's phone conversations.

Fan:

1)  Rahim.  2)  College friend.  3)  About 25?  4)  ???

Emily:

1)  Fred.  2)  Girlfriend.  3)  Mid-to-late-20s, but the comic will involve a lot of flashbacks.  4)  This and this.

Quasihumanist:

1) Marie.  2) Evil Baby Evil Baby Marie:  the hallucination of a hallucination of a hallucination. 3) Ageless.

Laura:

3)  14 billion years.

Nobilis also ventures to suggest that the new character might be Weird Beard's identical twin brother, who has turned up twice without anybody noticing, and who is 4.5 billion years old.

All these guesses are diverting, but you guys should really pay more attention to Erwaro, who has basically nailed it.  What I can reveal is as follows:

The protagonist of the new comic will be Rose, Barbara's eldest niece (whom I am now tempted to give the unshakeable childhood nickname "Squirt").  She is 15, but the issue is more complicated than that, in a way I am not yet prepared to reveal.  Kudos to those of you who noticed my vague hint that the age thing would not be entirely simple.  The Christmas comic to which Erwaro linked contains Rose's first ever appearance.  He has thus earned five points (two for the link).  Everybody else who guessed gets one point for creativity (yes, I'm being generous with the points, as the contests are winding down), and Nobilis gets two because she got the first question right.  And look at that:  Erwaro has taken the lead away from Nobilis for the first time all summer.

***

Summer Contest #10

This is the last summer contest, so there will be a fair number of points available, though not, again, in a Quidditch sort of way.  It's true that Erwaro and Nobilis are way out in front of everybody else, but perhaps I shall award some second- and third-place prizes (theoretically speaking, as the entire prize structure is dependent on me actually creating a WoB collection).

It seems unfair for the final contest to be a subjective one, as many of the former contests have been, so I'll make it a straight numbers game:

Provide links to every WoB comic you can find that mentions badgers.  DON'T post them in the comments section; send them to me at kmaaren(at)gmail(dot)com.   You will earn one point per comic found.

I actually have no idea how many comics I've posted with badgers in them, but I'm suspecting rather a lot (hint:  there are even some quite recent ones).  I...like badgers, I guess.

The deadline is Sunday at midnight.  I'll also accept mentions of badgers in the alt-text.  I have no idea whether or not any of these exist.


Monday, August 26, 2013
Panel 1: In Marie's apartment, Marie is reading what looks like a letter. Casey approaches her, holding a cup of coffee.

Casey: What's that?

Marie: Nothing.

Panel 2: Marie puts the letter in her pocket.

Marie: You're meeting Basil today, aren't you?

Casey: Basil? The fish from Brussels?

Panel 3:

Marie: Casey, this is getting out of hand.

Casey: No, I'm fine. Everything's fine.

Panel 4:

Marie:
That's not what you said in July.

Casey
[shrugs]: Well, but now the denial has set in again.


Alt-Text: Sometimes, Casey frustrates even me.  I can't seem to make him be NOT in denial.

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