Whitechapel - FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Ariana — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:13:25 -0800

It's Friday, it's FREAKANGELS. With a page 7 of fun NEW stuff for your holiday shopping.

G'morning, Whitechapelians. All the Americans: Did you have a good Thanksgiving, or were the inevitable family meltdowns at least amusing? Americans again: You're *not* daft enough to be leaving this house this morning for Black Friday shopping, are you? There's just nothing you need that much. Everyone that's not Americans: ... You guys are so much more sane. Did you have a nice Thursday? Are you planning a lovely weekend?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Kradlum — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:20:46 -0800

Oooh! I hope it's not a skip week next week! I foresee destruction in next week's episode.

Thursday was a normal London Thursday. Tomorrow I plan to go buy a WW2 uniform for a costume party next year and then spend the rest of the weekend playing WoW, although I suspect my wife has higher expectations of me.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

city creed — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:35:53 -0800

heh, the freaky angels of destruction. Mark + Luke get all the best lines. IN THE PAST.
+ nice bag, oh for a bit of the disposable stuff
Am just cresting hour 29 of uninterrupted consciousness here but I beat the deadline and got my last submission before Christmas in on time. Pretty happy with it too, which is always better. My desk is just a seething angry ocean of rumpled notes and crumpled cans of a certain officially sanctioned energy drink.
Now it's just those 3 exams in the next fortnight that I need to worry about.
I have now seen this week's Freakangels, there is nothing further to keep me from - let's face it - a dizzyingly precipitous spiral into sweet sweet oblivion.
Oh it was thanksgiving, right. Excellent news. There must be a "let's talk turkey" feedline somewhere... surely.
Shopping? nope. Lovely weekend? well, let's not rule anything out quite just yet.
oh, and: PUNCH THEM ALREADY DAMMIT, PUNCH THEM ALLLLLLLL

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

manikmoon — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:43:14 -0800

Eek, i was so engrossed, when i got to page 7 I thought- dammit, yer've shortened it and slipped an advert in (well, 'dammit' is a bit milder than what I actually said!)...

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

twitch_ramirez — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:44:23 -0800

I agree, punch them....now!

As I don't eat real food, Thanksgiving was pretty mellow. Just enjoyed the day and was thankful for life.

Ordered a pull over with hood, that looked cool. Thanks guys for the awesome STUFF!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

texture — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:49:31 -0800

Run away! Pages of run away! Totally gripping. I agree with citruscreed. PUNCH IT!

(also, citruscreed, congrats on finishing the Project, whatever it was).

The journey into The Past has been enormously exciting so far. Love where this is all going.

I'm putting the finishing touches to my first ever solo EP. This makes me very, very happy indeed. A low-level weekend of typing stuff up, checking the mastering on all the tracks, and avoiding the confusing beast that is ROMANCE for me, I think.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Dan Kelly — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:56:48 -0800

i am eating a christmas turkey sandwich

Last night was My Life Story playing a stormer. I am a tad peaky.

FreakAngels however has made me smile muchly

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

kahavi — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:57:38 -0800

Evil, evil, evil! Cliffhangers are evil!

Good episode, though.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Cassius — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:59:17 -0800

Trolled hard.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

pinoles — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:04:12 -0800

My Thanksgiving was wonderful; visiting my sister here in the UK, which meant my actual Thanksgiving was spent pub-crawling, for which I am truly thankful.

Also meant I had to wait till past noon my time to see the new episode, which was less fun (: but the waiting was, as always, TOTALLY worth it.

Which reminds me: THANK YOU ARIANNA for being, or getting, up at 4 to publish the new episodes for us poor souls. You're awesome!

Big turkey dinner tonight, will be fun. Been cooking half the day, life is good.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Nicodemus_Cain — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:07:12 -0800

Lovely new episode to read upon returning home from work, and I'm glad I had some spare change to throw at the bag (extra 50% of cost just for shipping Down Under).

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Purple Wyrm — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:10:05 -0800

Talking about my week would violate the anti-lacrimation statute, so I shant.

As for the episode - very cool. Nice explanation of the origin of "FreakAngels", great shadows on page four and interesting that they all seem to have to touch to set up a decent sized shield (just like back in the FreakCave).

Remind me - How long is it till next Friday?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

thud — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:11:32 -0800

page 7 was not page 7 !
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

beautiful episode anyway.
I think its better that there's still time and space for talking about it- before the Big Event happens. So much to find out about everything at this most crucial moment.
-for that matter,
when is somebody going to tell the authorities to shut up and get stuffed?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Yskaya — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:14:37 -0800

The awsomest bag to lambast the ears of evil-doers will be my January the first present to the world. er me.
it'll be used to fight art-crime. or such. I just wanted it. kay? good.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Steviant — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:33:57 -0800

Aaaargh cliffhangers be damned. Weeks don't go quickly enough.

This week I've been recovering from ear surgery, greatly reducing all my musical output (working as an audio engineer is hard when one ear is out of action), so I've been polishing my web-programming and Photoshop skills, ready to launch my new project next year. So, a productive week, capped off with a good chunk of FA action. Good stuff.

I know that the typical English view is to look at Thanksgiving with a certain amount of skepticism and confusion, but I've rather enjoyed all the lists of "Things I'm Thankful For" that have popped up all over the web. While my week's been good, there's a lot of shit going on out there, and it's heartening to see that people can still find things to be happy about in an unhappy world.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Will Ellwood — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:37:53 -0800

@Texture - I can't wait for your EP.

I'm going to spend the weekend in Wales climbing Snowdon. I leave in a few hours and I really really must pack now.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

curb — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:44:16 -0800

Nice to see Luke and Mark in magnificent bastard mode, as opposed to plain old bastard mode. Looking forward to seeing how that punch plays out. Which probably means we'll be back to the present day by next episode.

Planning nothing more than chilling, illing and sitting real still-ing this weekend, payday not falling until Monday and all. Frankly, with the amount of Cool Shit coming my way in December, I think a weekend of quiet repose will be a Good Thing.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Paladine — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:59:49 -0800

Page fucking seven! Argh!

I hope I'll get to finally finish my term paper on Dragnet and the German equivalent "Stahlnetz", as well as begin my final term paper ever on learning competencies. So yeah, fun weekend ahead.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

UrbanAngel — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:20:19 -0800

Purple Wyrm - thanks for pointing out that blindingly obvious origin of the portmanteau "Freakangels". It actually didn't register with me after reading this week's installment that that is where they (probably) got their name from! Duh. Must sleep more.

I'm fine thanks, Ariana! Going out in Shoreditch for a friend's birthday drinks after work, then going home to get changed to go clubbing at 33 Portland Place, that den of evil which was highly criticised by the media a few weeks ago. Tomorrow, back to the pub for another friend's birthday, then home for a spot of World of Warcraft. Trying to save dosh for my next holiday to the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig. Sunday, no plans. Which probably means tidying and watching things.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

SigridEllis — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:31:10 -0800

I'm delightfully well, thank you. Me and the partner and the partner's other partner packed up the kid on Wednesday and drove nine hours to my familial Thanksgiving Event. The kids were angelic in the car on the trip, the visit to my aged grandmother went swimmingly, my family is low-key and sane -- all 19 of them in the house. My niece's birthday (of December 23rd) was celebrated yesterday.

Today we are not shopping at all, not one whit. We're in the car, with seven hours to go until we get home. We pulled off the highway a bit ago, though -- pulled out the netbook, fired up the mobile broadband, and watched shuttle Atlantis land via streaming NASA tv. Five people huddle in a station wagon in a parking lot in a cornfield in north-central Illinois, watching humans return from living in space.

I dearly, dearly love living in the future.

About Freakangels -- I may alone in this, but I am not looking forward to the kids blowing shit up. I mean, I know it happens and all, and I don't want the gang hurt or killed. But . . .. But when I was younger and I read post-apocalyptic fiction, I identified with the survivors. With the victorious few As I've gotten older I have started to comprehend that slippery word, "few." And I look at the soldiers in the panels, the ones with their guns leveled at the freakangels, and I wonder where their families live. I wonder whether their mums and dads die soon. I wonder whether their infant children die from starvation in a few weeks.

I like Freakangels because it is the story of coming through the other side of disaster -- it's the story of determining to protect what's left, to find a way, somehow, to make life better for people again. I understand that this story is only possible if there was a disaster, first. And I don't begrudge the telling of that disaster -- I like it, in fact. But I don't relish watching the disaster unfold. Part of me looks at those kids in their power and fear and hurt anger and pleads with them to find another way.

Which is a really long-winded way of saying thank you, Warren and Paul, for making a story about which I care. :)

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Lani — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:33:14 -0800

GODDAMMIT. *hunkers down and waits for next week*

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tpete — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:16:37 -0800

Page 6

ME: Oh wow, this is going to be . . .

Page 7

ME: [shaking fist] Nooooo!

Spending all day post-Thanksgiving sitting around the house. This is my favorite holiday of the year. The best, most relaxing holiday we have in the States, assuming you ignore all that shopping nonsense.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

keighter — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:22:13 -0800

I'm alive and my boyfriend is alive. And freakangels was really amazing. I am off for a bath to soak my sore bones with gallons of tea.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Gekko — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:35:05 -0800

I guess you all at Whitechapel must have laughed when you decided to upload page 7.
Well, I first gagged and then, yes, I laughed too.
I'm going to die if we don't see the end of this flashback soon.
I love you so much for doing this book.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Noogies — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:23:28 -0800

I got goosebumps... they won´t go away....

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

johnjones — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:32:25 -0800

I'm going to die if we don't see the end of this flashback soon.

Then you're probably going to die soon. I think this whole volume (24 weeks + skips) will be devoted to telling the story of how the Freakangels "destroyed" their world. That's a big story and will have it's own rhythm, so cutting back and forth between the Past and the Present probably wouldn't work very well. But once it's done then we'll go back to modern times. Just hold on an enjoy the gift we're being given without complaining about the timetable.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Indigo Rose — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:59:23 -0800

@ Gekko and johnjones - The timetable is part of what makes me love this story. With Warren releasing them every week, we get so much more detail. Think about it, with a "regular" comic, we'd be waiting just as long to get to the same dramatic moments, as the physical comic was printed and shipped, but without all the detail and developement in between.

@ Warren, Paul, and Ariana - Thank you, yet again.

I, sadly, work in retail in the U.S. , selling books I love to people who don't yet realise they need to read them, which means I work today. Oh, Black Friday, how we dread the day, yet love the outcome! I love what I'm selling, which makes it easier, but we'll see how many manic people come in today. Wish me luck!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Doctor_Six — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:09:23 -0800

@johnjones - I think you're right (again), but aren't you also angsting about poor old Kait?

I think in future, an advert page should be listed as "6 + 1" or "6a" rather than "7". I nearly had a coronary thinking that the extra page meant that we would see the end of the world today.

Have a great weekend - I will (Jabba is six tomorrow)

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Indigo Rose — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:15:05 -0800

Didn't Mark say "practise"... Do we really think this moment is going to beTHE actual event? Granted, a stand-off would be perfect, allowing us to blame them less, but we aren't near the end of this volume yet.. So, unless Warren plans to have this volume be partial flashback, then back to present plot, we may be seeing a "demo" next week, not the event itself. Don't hold your breath yet.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

steevo — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:49:46 -0800

Oh Freakangels, how I love you. I too thought there would be an extra page and was excited, only to find cool sweatshirts and bags that I can't afford right now because I've just spent the equivalent (to me anyway) of a kajillion dollars on Christmas presents...online of course, while at work. Why, oh why is my office open today?

Thanksgiving was good, but tiring, now I am zombified and I should be at home still sleeping on into the afternoon or playing video games or learning how to make a magazine or something, but I'm stuck here...listening to those around me babble on about how there's nothing to do and feeling myself getting sucked in because I want to complain about that too dammit. Well, off to slack more.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

razrangel — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:52:02 -0800

When I had money I used to do a chunk of my generic shopping online on Black Friday. By generic I mean shopping for people for whom I don't feel particularly inspired to find something really tailored. Now I'm waysuperbroke so it hardly matters. My sister had to work today (she manages a shoe store) and I both envy and feel sorry for her. Yesterday was ok. Nothing broke, no one screamed and we all stuffed ourselves to oblivion and either passed out or watched TV which is basically the same thing. Then my Middle Brother called home to say hi and love you and we told him we missed him. He still has another two months, minimum. I discovered I like cornbread a lot more when I add spices that actually make them tasty - in this case allspice and vanilla extract. My cuvee fell a little short of expectation but it was well enough.

Oh Freakangels. I wonder if this is what a coke fiend feels like when she feels like she needs to start mainlining because otherwise the hit isn't doing it anymore. I love it so much I want it MORE. Argh. Goddammit Ellis, if I meet you I don't know if I'll kiss you slap you - one line per ep to explain their backstory?!?!? REALLY?!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

James Puckett — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:16:48 -0800

I think he’s dragging this out to Christmas.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

WaxPoetic — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:51:58 -0800

Gah! Wonderful! and I would have the wants, but it's evil shopping day here and I deliberately put my wants on hold between now and Christmas. It's a thing I have against, well, the assholes who populate my city.

I have a cold. It is evil and must be stopped.

However, I am writing and going home to leftover everything and the typewriter (as the library lab closes in just over an hour) so things will be super swimmy happy that way. Until the coughing starts. I hate the coughing. So. Much.

Hope all have a great weekend!

Thanks, Ariana, Paul, Warren and all the other woodland creatures who work to get this up every week and give us lots of pretties to drool over!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

PPJJ — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:33:28 -0800

I should have known that we weren't getting another page of story at random this week.
What have we learned today Children? Always be suspicious of page 7.

Thanksgiving was fairly docile. I brought my long time girlfriend and my brother brought his boyfriend and we had a nice meal. No one condemned him and no one asked me when I am going to settle down...it went a little too well, I think I am getting paranoid.

Great job this week, like the merch!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

city creed — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:23:49 -0800

@texture - thanks man. It was a 12 page HTML+CSS thing - generate all the content and then make it both functional and pretty. All accompanied by about 3500 words of supporting documentation. I went out and had a few drinks (and a few smokes) last night, came back just after midnight and started on it - finished tweaking at about 11am for a noon deadline. I don't know why I was so worried about it really. I know, I know, I need to learn to plan my time better.

Also: I've crowbarred the expression "let's face it" into about 9 sentences today where - let's face it - it didn't really have any business being. I blame fatigue.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Spiraltwist — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:29:24 -0800

All the Americans: Did you have a good Thanksgiving, or were the inevitable family meltdowns at least amusing?
Avoided family shit and dinner was pleasant.

Americans again: You're *not* daft enough to be leaving this house this morning for Black Friday shopping, are you?
Two items, for the husband. I didn't *need* it, but he wanted them. So I went.

Working this Saturday, and maybe catching up with an old friend. She's on break from grad school.

As always, thanks for the hard work and the story. :)

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Adam Lucas — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:42:17 -0800

PUNCH!!! Is it me or do they look like they're walking really fast instead of running?

Good episode.

but really...about me...My thanksgiving consisted of writing and drawin...family is in florida and just got back from visiting them for a week...now it's work time...and freak angels time

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

SteadyUP — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:46:14 -0800

One great thing I realize about FA only from reading this thread - usually, solicits would mean that we'd know exactly when the flashback was ending. And we'd have known it was coming, too, for that matter. It's refreshing to be completely in the dark about a story for once.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

ZJVavrek — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:50:45 -0800

re: Thanksgiving
It was great! Thanks for asking. In a choice to avoid sleeping on a couch which I dislike, I stayed in town and joined a friend's family's Thanksgiving dinner.

re: Black Friday
I just bought a Christmas gift for my father, 50% off... through the internet! Isn't the internet wonderful?

re: Freakangels
My preference for the Bad Guy continues to grow. Maybe this is similar to the old claim that women like "bad boys"? I mean, "or we drop the shield, and, let's face it, get fucking shot." I love that line.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Purple Wyrm — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:23:55 -0800

@ Indigo Rose - Didn't Mark say "practise"... Do we really think this moment is going to be THE actual event?

I concurr. While arguing about the refugees back in book two someone (Miki I think?) said something about "standing in the middle of a street in the middle of the night, pissed off at everyone". Not "standing in the middle of a car park surrounded by cops and soldiers". I expect them to blast the crap out of the soldiers and police, and only get around to destroying the world later on.

Of course I could be completely wrong :D

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

stsparky — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:22:12 -0800

It's one of those moments when the idea becomes acted on because there is no other choice. Practice goes live ...

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Dotcommunist — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:26:00 -0800

I'm coming to love Mark. The clear, sane voice of destruction. Reasoning them into breaking the world.

A reminder that sometimes chaos wears a a calm face and works logically. I think we have reached tipping point here, the aggression of the forces trying to contain them has forced the freak angels hand. Never back a dangerous animal into a corner eh?

As for the comment on the last page about wondering if the soldiers have families etc. I had to laugh. I get where you are coming from but it's a comic. Go down that route and you are empathising with the sentries James Bond has to strangle (why won't those bastards just die quietly!) and so forth. I felt far more for the starving wretches the FA community accepted into the fold even after they attacked whitechapel. These were ordinary folks who didn't choose to be caught up in an apocalyptic event. The soldiers at least knew that one day the job would mean trying to gun down an enemy. Even if that enemy is a group of scared teenagers with gifts they haven't had a chance to test.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Twist — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:53:01 -0800

*Flails* Damned cliff hanger type endings >.< Awesome addition this week though.

I am shiny. We don't do thanks giving here but i don't work Friday's anyway so I had a Friday full of failing to comprehend the meaning of holidays. My friend who has just finished uni for the year is studying for next year and full of love for one of her teachers who answers emails from places over seas late at night and I spent the day trying to figure out what I was writing about for my first essay for art history class that begins on Monday. I think I'm getting my head around it but this is pretty much my first formal study in 8 years, I can't remember how to study, take notes properly or write essays (thank god for the aforementioned friend who will look over my drafts for me) and I'm terrified.

Today it rained and I cleaned house and napped. So far the weekend is made of success. Tomorrow is reserved for power tools and doctor sketchy's.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Cat Vincent — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:26:11 -0800

@Dotcommunist:
Why not empathise with the henchmen??
I suggest you read "Dead Man Fall", in The Invisibles. Or for a lighter look, watch the exploits of Number 21 and Number 24 in The Venture Brothers. Might give you another viewpoint.

"But it's a comic" doesn't really cut it, I think. If that's the case, why care about any fictional character at all?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

JP Carpenter — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:56:44 -0800

@Dotcommunist & Cat Vincent - 'Dead Man Fall' sprang to mind for me. You can pay no attention to the antagonists and not give a toss about them, of course, but then aren't you just reading a story in one dimension? Part of the intrigue of Freakangels for me is that I can't work out whose side I'm on. Yes, it's a comic, but if you're jumping up and down saying 'punch' aren't you a bit like a turkey voting for Christmas? Putting myself into the narrative, that's my world/life/family they're about to destroy. Does their persecution give them the right to commit mass murder?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Paul Duffield — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:25:30 -0800

Here's more agreement. We should take a moment to think about the implication behind the phrase "It's a comic". To me, it seems to be: relax, comics are over-the-top, unrealistic, thrill filled adventures and you should be happy when they make you think at all.

I don't mean to sound like a rabid snarling beast here (even though I feel like one), especially when I know that Dotcommunist's comments are often thoughtful and astute, but the mere fact that discussing comics is perceived by an intelligent person as an excuse to lower the bar is disheartening.

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JP Carpenter — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:56:51 -0800

Paul, where I said 'yes, it's a comic', I should perhaps have said 'yes, it's fiction', which is closer to what I meant. I'm kind of taking it as a given round here that people don't merely percieve them as 'over-the-top, unrealistic, thrill filled adventures'. Over the last five years, I've been moved and stimulated far more by comics than by any other medium and it rarely crosses my mind that some people think otherwise...

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

razrangel — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:11:24 -0800

"It's a comic/fiction" is no reason to shove down any feelings of compassion. It's not like when we feel sad that someone bites it in a comic we actually assault the writer and demand justice. It's one thing to sit here on the forum and say "aw... I liked him!" and another to actually equate a story point with murder - which NO ONE here is doing.

Getting to see the police/army officer's eyes gives me just enough time to get the semiotics that this is a real person (as real as any FreakAngel, anyway) that is getting dead. I feel pity and I'm not going to call myself a fool for it. But it's not like I'm mistaking it for real life.

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Dotcommunist — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:21:24 -0800

Why not empathise with the henchmen??
I suggest you read "Dead Man Fall", in The Invisibles

@ cat vincent

I'll look it up. I seem to recall enjoying the Invisibles, was reminiscent of Illuminatus!

The callous disregard of soldiers/henchmen is a source of many good gags in Austin Powers ('he was one day from retirement' being my favourite). In genre fiction and comics I tend to write them off as devices not people unless they are speaking characters or are directly weitten about as anything other than 'soldier no.1.'

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

johnjones — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:23:57 -0800

Go down that route and you are empathizing with the sentries James Bond has to strangle (why won't those bastards just die quietly!) and so forth.

You know one of my favorite bits from Grant Morrison's The Invisibles was when he devoted an entire issue to the biography of the life of one of the "random thugs" that King Mob casually gunned down at an earlier point in the series. All life is precious. All life has meaning.

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SteadyUP — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:31:59 -0800

This is very close to how I felt when I saw that "Are the FreakAngels the bad guys?" topic. Is anyone the "bad guys"? It's a bunch of people in a mess.

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JP Carpenter — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:52:39 -0800

It's a bunch of people in a mess.

That sums up, for me, the entire history of human life on Planet Earth.

Now I'm going to cry gently into some scotch.

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Cat Vincent — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:37:43 -0800

@johnjones:
'Dead Man Fall' is that issue of the book.

Anyway... back to Freakangels.

The more I see of the flashback sequence, the more I want it to go further back... to see their birth, early childhood - and perhaps even find out what the Package actually was. But at the same time, I'm happy if that's not a part of the story Warren wants to tell!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

SigridEllis — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:36:52 -0800

What I am finding most interesting about Freakangels, as a story, is that is seems to be a detailed and multilayered exploration of what humanity is. Of what it takes to lose, and then to regain, one's humanity. Each of the Freakangels is close to being an avatar of some aspect of self that, at some point or another, has been said to "define humanity." We build things, this makes us human. We care for the sick, this makes us human. We love, this makes us human. We plan ahead, this makes us human. We enforce law, this makes us human.

Yet it's clear that the Freakangels, if left to pursue their individual threads too far, falls away from humanity. They need each other, sure. But they also need the non-freaks, a fact they are just barely coming around to acknowledging. It's as if the entire of the story of the Freakangels may yet turn out to be the journey from the moment they decided to be something other than human -- the moment we are seeing -- to the moment (as-yet-unseen) where they decide to re-ally themselves with the people whose lives they destroyed.

I, of course, have no idea if that's the engine running this comic. But given Orbiter, and Global Frequency, it might could be.

And, in that light, the look into the eyes of the soldier as the purple-eyed kids decide whether he is 'Self' or 'Other' strikes me as a crucial moment in the story.

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SteadyUP — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:21:14 -0800

@Jon - ah, but what a fascinating mess. =)

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Pooka — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:19:16 -0800

Oh, this is getting really exciting.
I can't wait for next week!
Well, this week has been really busy for me actually. Thanksgiving, we ran in like bastards, ate big plates of food, dropped off the kids and sped out of there. We had alot of work to prepare for and I didn't feel like dealing with with horrid cousin of my husband. Who thought the height of comedy was falsely identifying my step daughter as a boy, and asking her if her father's name was Glitter (his family calls him Critter...). and then his mother saying we were bad parents (because I've had a girlfriend before mostly...and because we let the girls watch and read stuff above their "recomended" level...). Anyway, we went home and finished up our costuming for my husband's graduate project. He's doing some photo manip and I had to model as the main character in the first series and a secondary character in the second. Because it took us a while to get a proper camera, and a lot of other crazy delays we had to wait until the middle of a kentucky winter to take the shots, and my costume was, while layered, less warm than my coat. I also had to put my tights and boots on after we got to the shooting location because I really didn't want to hike down to the rock formations in boots that were really a size too big for me. We only managed one of the four set ups that we need, but we got some really good shots (I'll post the raw images once we get the on the computer). We have to go out today and find an old abandoned house (which won't really be that hard in this area. You can't go down any road for too long without finding creepy rotting farm houses and barns.)
We also went to see 2012. I got what I expected. The plot was predictable,the acting was mediocre, but that's not why you go to see movies like that for. You want to see the world burn. I was impressed by the world destruction...but I thought it needed another twenty minutes of monuments crumbling and people dying in bizarre and unescapable mother naturey doom...

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

maxowallis — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:31:25 -0800

Um ... I've always been a lurker, I really love Freakangels.

But on page pg 6, episode 77 there's a spelling mistake in 'practise' it should be 'practice'? Unless I'm completely wrong, which is possible.

Anyway keep up the amazing work guys :D x

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

razrangel — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:35:52 -0800

@maxowallis - that's the British spelling. Warren Ellis is British and FA takes place there so... no spelling error. Using a C is alternate spelling Americans typically employ.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

maxowallis — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:47:30 -0800

@razrangel - I'm English myself and have never been taught to use the 's' version in schooling, but maybe it's interchangeable these days I'm not sure. Anyway, fair enough.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

razrangel — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:58:17 -0800

@maxowallis - hm at your school(s) did they teach it with a "c"? I'm used to the differences in part as a professional copywriter and editor and typically with English writing we would refer to the BBC or British Economist style guides. According to the Economist the C is for the noun "practice" and the S is for the verb. Americans pretty much don't use the s in that way.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

maxowallis — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:05:44 -0800

@razrangel - they've always taught me the 'ice' or at least that's what I've ever noticed. I write myself, two novels and two poetry collections, and never used practise - but again that might just be something I've never learnt.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Flabyo — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:29:30 -0800

You practice something, and having done so you have practised it. I think that's how I was taught it.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

longtimelurker — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:36:49 -0800

Great episode this week.

I agree that if FA is "about" anything, it's the reality of being a human adult. Sure, the kids have unique conditions, but doesn't everyone have a condition? And who hasn't looked back at something they did at age seventeen and winced? And nothing is more human than failing to reach your full potential. I'm not saying I agree with Luke that they should live like Gods. I agree more with KK that they're capable of far more than they currently do. As are we all.

Paul, I join the growing consensus that its the strength of your art that makes the difference regarding the treatment of the minor characters. They're not stock, they're not cliche. There's a sensitivity that just makes the violence more powerful in contrast. (I hope I don't offend you if I make a favorable comparison to Steve Dillon!)

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

emsie — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:43:29 -0800

This is heart-stopping. I'm loving this flashback arc so much!! ^_^

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

audkady — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:01:08 -0800

Finally, its exciting to be learning of the origins of FA. Or at least seeing them first-hand.
There's something too calm about Mark thats frightening; something in his eyes
(and that sounds odd, considering ink doesn't usually portray emotion as such)
but its a little disconcerting.

Am I the only one who thinks they're going mad seeing two of the FAs with violet hair?
I mean, I'm sure one must be a furrier Arkady, but which one? They refer to the cropped top as Sirkka, but it still throws me off.

And, as has been already said PUSH ALREADY!!

side note: here in Canada, we learned practice and to have practiced. but thats us. different cultures do entirely different things, let alone spelling.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

SteadyUP — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:17:05 -0800

See? It's not just me. There's something about the short hair that screams Arkady.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

audkady — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:26:12 -0800

Well, seeing Sirkka with long purple hair, its just so off to see her with the short and someone else with the long.

So nope, its not just you. haha

FREAKANGELS Episode 0077

Jeff Owens — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:56:28 -0800

Of course, I finally decide to read all of FA right when it hits a gigantic cliffhanger, that just so happens to be part of a flashback prolonging the bigger cliffhanger, which would seem to be the appearance (rather, reappearance) of Mark.

I could go on and on about the many things I have loved about the series, but having missed the boat on that for two years, I'll just say I can't wait for the next six pages! It's going to be tough getting used to reading it this way.