Whitechapel - FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T04:09:24-07:00

It's Friday, it's FREAKANGELS: in which shit continues to get heavy.

Morning, Whitechapel. I am still on the far-less-capable-of-running-the-world backup laptop this week while I get a replacement brain for BULL. But I haven't killed anyone yet (mostly because that's a touch harder to do with the laptop. But still!). How's everyone?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T04:13:37-07:00

Morning Ariana. Only heard about the BULL crap yesterday. Was it the crushing death of a hard drive like Warren's or something else (hopefully). It's not too bad hear - the birds are free to fly in the sky without fear of plane-strike and I'm on an hour's notice to go into paternity leave mode. Which is filling my workmates (who'll be covering my work) with fear. it must be Friday

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T04:25:58-07:00

The door bit made me laugh.

Could "rain man" do something about the ash-cloud that extend over Europe?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T04:32:33-07:00

the bit with the door: priceless.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:05:48-07:00

Oh, so killing someone of "their own" is worse than having him running around shooting everything? Interesting, the pigs being more equal and so on.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:08:03-07:00

Yep, I admit guilt with Gekko and Lordmitz. I laughed at the door bit ^_^

Things have improved this week. And there is bellydancing on Monday so I just keep on looking forward.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:17:24-07:00

0093: A great episode, with only a moderate cliffhanger.
I will second or third the door. Wicked funny. I actually laughed out loud !
They didn't know they could do these things (well they still got it pretty close, didn't they?)

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:20:20-07:00

"If any of you ever try to build anything for me I will shoot you." LOVE IT!

The dialogue in this is just too good.

Happy Friday everyone!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:20:58-07:00

Ah the shite is hitting the fan....

...again.

I'm glad Mark isn't dead. It was too early. I want everything turning upside down at some point.
Lovely - the door bit was class.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:27:38-07:00

DOOR LOVE +1

Heading out mine in just a bit here, in fact. On my way to Chicago. c2e2! Eeee!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:30:15-07:00

Seriously, though: the storm clouds brewing in this episode are worse than the first attack on WC we witnessed, and at least equal to the storm that heralded Mark's return.

My week has been logistics work and walks in the sun, scrabble and card with wife and friends. Tonight we're going to the bar, where I will drink and smile and dance the tension out of my shoulders, and tomorrow there's a craft fair during the day and KICK ASS in the evening. Sunday, dinner with some of the wife's family. !!!

This is what grown up life is supposed to be like, I think.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:41:49-07:00

Heh, if that door is anything to go by I wouldn't like to see how an attempt to put Luke or Mark back together again 'properly' might look. Well I kind of would but that is because I am a bit of a wrong 'un. Jack's casual acceptance of his potential exile speaks volumes about him as a character, and his relationship with Sirkka.

Week was fine thanks, apart from managing to pick up a nasty cold. Went to a pretty amusing gig last night where the girlf got to meet a couple of friends, and all while I was wearing my beautifully designed SCIENCE GANGSTER tee that arrived yesterday!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:45:24-07:00

Well, we've known that Kait would have a big problem with Jack doing what he did to Luke - even though it was more a mercy, since Alice is the one was who punched his ticket proper.

It's going to be a bit of a harrow watching them all deal with each other, and sorting out what all has happened and why. In the end, Luke's having a gun in the first place was Jack's fault, and Karl certainly isn't innocent for what he did to Luke with it in the pit.

And they've got to work all this out while they keep an eye on Mark, and who knows what he's going to be about when he wakes up again.

Also, it's nice to know that even working as a team they can still managed to get a door on backwards.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:50:57-07:00

Hmmm. Wish I could be shouting "WOW!" along with everyone else, but I think the storm's passed for now. I predict much yak-yak-yak for the coming weeks. But I will be very happy if proved wrong.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T05:57:03-07:00

This one let me know that this chapter is nearly done so I went to check and verified that, yep, only three more weeks left for this bit.

Did anyone notice what the error was that Ellis has to fix?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T06:03:19-07:00

I haven't killed anyone yet

That day is young.

I love Kait.

That is all.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T06:11:55-07:00

Did anyone notice what the error was that Ellis has to fix?

My best guess is Jack's remark about leaving on his boat, "...like Mark did." But I could be SO wrong.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T06:19:00-07:00

Next-to-last panel of the last page: My thoughts exactly.
OF COURSE Kait is going to raise hell with Jack and Alice, even though it was all in self defense, for EVERYONE.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T06:25:36-07:00

And now we can entertain the possibility of . . . . . Zombie Luke. Going around eating people would make Luke an even bigger knob than he is now.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T07:08:10-07:00

The gravel has been swept away from the sidewalks after the snow melted away. That's the first sign of spring for me. There's has also been sunshine this week. Which is nice.

Thanks for the door bit!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T07:23:03-07:00

(with regards to Greasemonkey's comment)
Now especially with the Luke deal, I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the angels experimenting with the possibility of resurrection in the package--brain-eating zombies though, eh, not so much :)

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T07:25:59-07:00

Did anyone notice what the error was that Ellis has to fix?

If you're talking about certain people keeping secrets, no I don't think they are mistakes.

Karl acting surprised that Luke is dead. Look at his body language. Listen to the tone of his dialogue. He's not in shock; he KNEW Luke was dead since he saw it when he fixed the weather. But it's one thing to see it and another to have it confirmed. And why not tell Kait he knew already? Because he knew how she'd react and he likes to keep a low profile. Getting into things with her isn't a smart move at the moment, especially since....

Mark told Kait how Karl and Kirk tried to kill him. Since he didn't die, that leaves them off the hook for the moment. But does anyone really think she's forgotten? More likely she's filed the information away and will be keeping a closer eye on them in the coming weeks, before they try to do it again.

Luke didn't shoot at Alice. Some people would say that probably doesn't matter, since he threatened to kill her earlier in the alley. But it's an interesting detail when you consider the possibility that Luke could have been taken alive. So why did Jack say that he did? Well, maybe he assumed, maybe he thinks it doesn't matter... or he's lying. He's putting his defense together. It becomes troubling when you consider: Kirk hit Luke first, in issue 9. Kirk shot Luke first, with Jack's gun. Both Alice and Jack shot at Luke first, without giving him a warning. Painting Luke as a crazed lunatic sending bullets everywhere is a convenient way to deflect criticism. But it's not true, and Mr. Ellis wants us to notice it's not true.

The bottom line is: they might read each others' minds and get in each others' heads, but they can keep secrets from each other... for a while anyway.

EDIT: Just saw from Warren's website that there is a mistake, so my interpretations might be wrong. Well, look, Orson Scott Card has said that mistakes when writing fiction can become the best ideas, because mistakes weren't planned, and therefore aren't likely to be a cliche. I know Warren will tell the story he intended to tell. I continue to think of Jack and Karl as noble characters, in any case.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T07:45:47-07:00

At TravisAnderson

Well, one of them already can. Kait has brought back the murder victim, albeit briefly, and that little bird that exploded in the flashback. Also, there is the question of how Mark survived Kirk and Karl. Maybe with Arkady and the gang's recent success with putting things back together, they'll be able to bring Luke back.

But you're right, if he came back as a brain eating zombie, I think I would somehow like Luke even less than I already do. I wonder if his package would survive a shot to the head, though, in the event he doesn't come back as Zombie Luke and is honestly resurrected? Slightly different than dying for a few seconds like Arkady.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T07:53:00-07:00

That was a very enjoyable installment. A good laugh for a day with a rough start.

Many thanks.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T07:57:38-07:00

OF COURSE Kait is going to raise hell with Jack and Alice, even though it was all in self defense, for EVERYONE.

Well, maybe. Yes, he was a danger. However, it's pretty clear to me that Jack and Alice went after him because they wanted him dead. Not caught. Not brainblasted into a coma. Dead. Luke's mortar stunt could have hurt Sirkka. And that's it for Jack. You try to hurt Sirkka, you die. As for Alice, Luke was just a Mark that she could get to. Mark raped her brain and murdered her brothers. Luke raped a girl. And a blond girl, at that. So in Alice's mind, he needed to die.

You'll also note that Jack is preemptively taking the credit/blame for killing Luke all on his own shoulders, despite the fact that Alice is really the one who did it. He probably figures, quite rightly in my opinion, that the idea of a "normal" (even an honorary Freakangel normal) killing a Freakangel would push some serious buttons with others in the clan.

Of course, I'm not sure how much good lying, or even shading the truth, will do in a group of telepaths, but I suppose we'll see.

@ longtimelurker

I have to take issue with the idea that Luke could have been taken alive, by Alice, anyway. Even if she'd wanted to do it, how could she. Given any time at all, Luke could make himself invulnerable to her shotgun and then kill or mind control her at his whim. The only chance she has against him is a full-out surprise attack to kill.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T08:18:37-07:00

I think Mark telling Kait that Kirk and Karl tried to kill him is the huge time bomb in this volume. This is the most significant thing Mark has done in his Whitechapel incursion, and it could tear the Freakangels apart. Kait is not going to let atttempted murder slip by like it was nothing.

I don't think that Luke being a Freakangel matters much in Kait being pissed at Jack. To her, murder is murder - whether the victim is a Freakangel or a non-psionic - and she won't let it go until she's convinced it was really self-defense.

I don't think Luke is dead. Mark and Arkady have been dying - spike through the brain, overdose, and drowning - and coming back with new powers. There's no reason to think the same thing won't happen with Luke. Volume 4 will probably end with Kait wanting to have a very serious conversation about the FAs going around murdering (and attempting to murder) people, and Luke coming back to the living with new psionic toys to play with.

EDIT: corrected a few typos and a sentence that didn't make a lot of sense.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T08:38:05-07:00

@twiggy_trippit

I completely agree with Luke coming back with new powers. With all the instances of FAs dying or almost dying and the aftereffect being new powers. It even makes me wonder how close Jack came to dying when he was attacked on the boat. Did he actually regain conciousness before he drowned?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T09:04:57-07:00

@John jones

Fair enough. Can't blame Alice in a way; she trusted the FA's to keep Luke locked up and they failed to do it.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T09:14:01-07:00

@twiggy_trippit

I like the idea. But if you're Luke what do you do? Wipe the rest of them out? Only to have them come back with greater powers themselves?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T09:22:35-07:00

Who elected Kait the Mayor of Everything? Why does she feel that she has to be the one to deal with Jack, whatever "deal with" means? I know they've somewhat delegated the Whitechapel police function to her, but there's a big difference between being the cop and being the judge/jury, which she seems to be leaning towards. She tells Jack he "murdered" Luke, which is very different from saying he "killed" Luke. Murder is a judgment. Where's rule of law?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T09:27:24-07:00

@longtimelurker

Good Point. Maybe Luke planned this knowing that "death" would grant him greater power. They did say he was the most intellectual of the group. Luke also mentioned that the only one capable of taking him down mentally was Arkady, who's powers he knows were augmented by her overdose experience. If he does come back, he may want to hide his new gifts from the rest.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T09:38:19-07:00

Painting Luke as a crazed lunatic sending bullets everywhere is a convenient way to deflect criticism. But it's not true, and Mr. Ellis wants us to notice it's not true.

Um...lets not forget that Luke took KK out of the air COMPLETELY unprovoked.

Also, Alice came from outside Whitechapel where things are quite different, and Jack was often off on his own, and we saw how safe that was in volume 1. They are hardened in ways that Luke, sitting 'safe and comfortable' in Whitechapel, never was. I think this has more to do with them shooting first at Luke, who just never really got those sorts of conditioning experiences. Luke was an asshole, and probably didn't value other life all that much - at least, not above his own - but he wasn't battle hardened in the ways they were.

Jack even told Luke as much to his face in the beginning - he really didn't grasp the realities of combat. Just bullying. So when he was in the real thing he lost his cool, and then he lost his life.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T10:29:22-07:00

i'm still laughing at the door bit

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T10:31:48-07:00

@Berserker

Damn, you're right.

Guess I know how Kait feels! Wonder what she'll do...

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T10:36:54-07:00

@greenboy

The look on Luke's face when he got air-conditioned didn't suggest it was part of a grand scheme...!

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T11:01:02-07:00

Page 3, top panel: Does Mark's shell have cracks in it? Whether intentional or not, they make him seem fragile.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T12:51:19-07:00

@longtimelurker

It's just a theory, but his actions suggested he was intentionally trying to provoke the other FAs.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T13:30:17-07:00

@greenboy

I think I know what you mean. Re-reading his taunting of Kirk, it seems like he keeps provoking them to use the Package more. "You're just a monkey with a stick." For Luke, being all-powerful gods using the Package for their own pleasure is the ultimate goal, and he would have loved to continue to put the others in situations where they have to use the Package to get out of trouble (like the mortar incident), in the hope that they eventually become addicted to using it. I'm sure he would have defended his shooting down of KK by saying "well if you knew how to fly you wouldn't need the bike" or something like that.

What does Luke hate? Well, he hates Sirkka, because she has created a sexual paradise for herself that the others accept (or at least tolerate) and he's jealous. Sirkka's partners keep her grounded in her humanity. He hates Alice, because she too keeps the others grounded in humanity. We never see him building or defending Whitechapel, because the society keeps the FA balanced and responsible, whereas he would like them to become "the master race."

It's telling that he never wandered off on his own. Mark came back, but Mark probably didn't want to leave to begin with. Is Whitechapel the last good place to live on Earth? If so, Luke probably wouldn't have allowed himself to live anywhere else. "I deserve to be here."

Scary that I'm starting to understand him so well. Urghh. I need a shower.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T14:19:30-07:00

Remember that Kait's a lunatic in her own way. As much as Luke and Mark are/were. She's just fixated on law and order, rather than forcing the world to go her way like Luke and Mark. Though in a way, she is trying to make the world go her way by her cop role, and ordering the others around right now. Luke and Mark cross the line by using their powers to control people's minds. And where the heck has Connor been? We know Miki's back at her clinic working on Kirk. Sirkka we've seen. Luke's dead and stuck somewhere for the moment. Jack's with Alice. Everybody else is with Mark. Was the last time we saw Connor in the background when Luke was in Kait's torture pit?

Also, I love the door and Kait's reaction to it. Kait's still my favorite, lunatic as she is.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T14:49:10-07:00

HAHA Ah Kait, you're ok. }:> I'm glad that killing someone is a //thing// self-defence or not. Necesssary doesn't always equal right and I'm just as glad that Jack is ready to face the consequences. There's no way Kait won't know Alice was part of it, though. Even if Alice doesn't say it herself - and I totally see her standing up and saying "I shot him first, Jack sealed the deal" - a big fucking shotgun blast to the chest would be hard to hide from the likes of Kait, package or no.

Karl should worry. He's the one running away from past actions and hiding what he knows. That's the sort of slipperiness that a stickler for order like Kait would be quite irked by, I should think.

Hee, forgetting how a door works. }:>

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T15:12:37-07:00

The story works. Better than the door. Kait will sort it out. She's theatre too ... I'm happy Luke got shot through the head. Self defense works for me.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T15:21:54-07:00

"Oh, so killing someone of "their own" is worse than having him running around shooting everything? Interesting, the pigs being more equal and so on."

Actually, yes. Even in massive disaster, humans are still way more numerous than Freakangels. The human race seems in little danger of going extinct, whereas there's a small (and now, decreasing!) number of FA's.

So....don't they have the moral responsibility to value the FA life higher than the human one?

It squicks me out to think that way, but from an objective standpoint, it strikes me as correct.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T19:02:32-07:00

@johnjones wrote:

You'll also note that Jack is preemptively taking the credit/blame for killing Luke all on his own shoulders, despite the fact that Alice is really the one who did it. He probably figures, quite rightly in my opinion, that the idea of a "normal" (even an honorary Freakangel normal) killing a Freakangel would push some serious buttons with others in the clan.

Maybe, maybe not. The FAs seem to be very hardy. It's quite possible Alice may have dinged Luke up good but not killed him. Jack may have detected this and chose to finish him off for any number of reasons. Maybe Luke knew something Jack didn't want divulged. Maybe he didn't want the possibility of an exiled Luke teaming up with Mark. Maybe he just wanted to be sure Luke was dead. We'll see.

Or maybe we won't. :-)

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T21:35:36-07:00

Clearly Alice didn't kill Luke. Luke would have healed. He still might. Jack, though, intended to make it final.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-16T21:49:52-07:00

Heh.
"He shot at new girl--" "Alice."
Have to keep reminding myself she's only been there a week...

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-17T02:46:23-07:00

@NakedCelt - A week + six months, actually.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-17T06:32:04-07:00

Great job on Mark's "cocoon" on page 3.
It has that wonderful optical finish but is still somehow organic.
It reads as a membrane, very thin, but containing bullet-proof FA stuff. WOW !
(If it was finished with a perfect, glass-like optical surface then it would look strange without refractions bending the light and shifting the background slightly.)

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-17T06:42:45-07:00

@razrangel - Six months? There was a "one week later" skip, but have I missed a six month one as well?

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-17T14:06:11-07:00

Oh crud I had remembered the jump as six months. They had gotten so much built up and the newcomers were in much better health... what i get for posting pre-down and not double checking

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-18T12:23:19-07:00

So, I keep pondering something -- first, that Jack more than foreshadowed his shooting of Luke; he outright called it while he and Alice were sitting on Luke back in 61: "Actually, they sat you here so that I don't fire a gun through his head." Now, mind you, that was in response to Alice saying that Jack was there to keep her from cutting Luke's throat. So, a couple of questions rolling around in my head:

Did Jack shoot Luke to protect Alice from being the guilty party? (I don't disagree with @phorgan1 about whether Luke would've been killed by her last shotgun blast, but surely she would've finished the job if Jack hadn't?)

Did Jack intend something like this all along?

Did Jack know in advance it was going to happen? (Corrolaries: Does Jack know the future -- perhaps, as someone suggested, because he too has had a possibly fatal or near-fatal experience -- and if so, is it on his own, or, perhaps, and I love this scenario, did he find out from Arkady?)

It seems to me the more that I look that Jack has been hinting around for some time about going out on his boat and not returning... it all just makes me wonder.

Man, I love this comic. :)

R

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-18T12:26:36-07:00

Warren's mistake:

Was it page 4, panel 2? Karl says "It was fuckin brilliant".

Should he have said "fucking brilliant" or at least "fuckin' brilliant"?

Pedantically yours, look forward to the documentary

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-18T16:26:32-07:00

I hope Kait beats seven shades of shit out of Jack.
Luke was a douche, we all know that, but he never actually killed anyone.
Jack is hardly in the moral position to be handing down death sentences to anybody.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-19T09:46:33-07:00

The crimes have sure added up in a hurry, haven't they? Let's break them down:

CATEGORY 1-CRIMES BY OBVIOUS CRIMINALS
Luke's rape of the girl.
Luke shooting Kirk.
Luke shooting down KK.
Luke shooting at Jack.
Mark returning from exile.
Mark bringing weapons into Whitechapel.
Mark conspiring with others to overthrow Whitechapel.
Mark killing that guy for Kait to find.
Mark trying to mind-control Kait.

CATEGORY 2-CRIMES BY THE WHITECHAPEL STATE?
Kirk shooting Luke.
Alice shooting Luke.
Jack shooting Luke.

CATEGORY 3-NON-CRIMINAL ACTS OF POLICE WORK
Caz and Sirkka apprehending Luke.
Arkady, Kait, Kirk, KK and Caz apprehending Mark.

So Arkady says "We didn't kill him." Which means all five of them showed restraint, including Karl who tried to kill him before. Karl is given a second chance to hurt Mark after the reconstruction, but again shows restraint in front of Kait. Which suggests he's operating from a practical standpoint more than a moral one. Similarly, Caz as much as told Alice that she thought Luke should be exectuted, but she still showed restraint in knocking him down. Working with the group in spite of individual feelings is how the Freakangels get along.

So the big question: do the actions I've put in category 2 truly belong in that category? I know Alice had to surprise Luke to bring him down. But she was the one who said "fuck the law" before doing it. If shooting Luke was okay, why did Kirk wait until everyone was gone to do it? Why didn't Jack tell Sirkka about the guns in her house? These actions are done in secret for the same reason all states commit crimes in secret: to get away with it.

A bigger question: which category does Kirk and Karl's conspiracy belong? They acted in defiance of the other nine; Kirk said as much. But they did it with the intent of protecting the state. ONLY THEY DIDN'T SHOW RESTRAINT, AND THEY WEREN'T SANCTIONED BY THE OTHERS. I think that is the important difference. That's what separates Caz's actions from Jack's, where Luke is concerned. And it wasn't done in the heat of the moment. Even though they probably regret it now and may or may not do it again, when it was committed, I'm not sure the attempted murder of Mark doesn't belong in Category 1.

As always, Alice's position makes her the most important character. If Kirk and Karl had been successful her brothers might still be alive. Unless of course, they ARE immortal. I don't see Alice having an easy time dealing with THAT little bit of information.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-21T17:19:16-07:00

Two days.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-22T21:01:12-07:00

@ longtimelurker

I think you're forgetting something in the midst of your categorizing. There is no State. There is no formal Whitechapel government, or laws as such. Right now, Whitechapel looks like a bunch of people going through the motions of their previous society because that's really all they know. And in the meantime, they're content to take direction from the nice, helpful, but very, very dangerous group of young people who came in and restored order during the Bad Time.

Is there is President or Prime Minister or even a Mayor of Whitechapel? Not that we've seen. Is there even a formal leader of the Freakangels? Again, no. Essentially, the group divided general responsibilities and left it at that. There's no formal structure. There's no one who's actually "in change." Instead, you have a highly informal group that easily subdivides into differing cliques and opinions with no real way of settling conflict.

And I think in the next few issues and in the next Volume we're going to see the effects of that.

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-23T01:33:26-07:00

> Is there even a formal leader of the Freakangels? ... There's no formal structure.

Maybe it's a direct democracy.

"Anarchy means without leaders, not without order".

FREAKANGELS Episode 0093

2010-04-23T03:17:48-07:00

Has everyone forgotten about Mark's drone army?