Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney

Tags: Be the first to tag this comic!

Comments (81) Jump to Comments Form

Fairportfan said, about 1 year ago

To ensure her future corporeal integrity, Satori needs to learn the ancient martial art of “Shuttu Uppo”.
txmystic said, about 1 year ago

Regarding yesterday’s comment from Trail_Blazer: I recall the episode of Star Trek with the probe. But only Picard was affected and thus the only one who aged. Lena entered the simulation after Pib was captured, so by the logic of that episode, Pib should have experienced the same age acceleration as Lena.
txmystic said, about 1 year ago

Look at Satori’s righteous indignation melt away when she realizes Dru will gladly kill her 30 times in 30 ways before breakfast.
Trail_Blazer said, about 1 year ago

Maybe she (Pib) did. She is 400 years old, after all. 400, 417, 450… she’d look pretty much the same, given that Dru, at 700 years of age, is still one heckuva hot babe. With an equally hot temper.
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

txmystic: Pib might have experienced the same age acceleration as Lena – but how do you tell a 400 year old fairy from a 417 year old?
–
Granted, if you spend 17 years local time and know it’s been 17 years, then Pib should also remember being there for a nice long time, and probably would have a made a comment at Dru’s arrival similar to Lena’s (“What kept you?”)
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

I don’t have immediate access to the archives (being the freeloader that I am) – did she make such a comment? I don’t remember! Maybe she did!
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

I’m going to have stop using the asterisks to make italics so much. Either me or the website can’t count them correctly!
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

Hmmmm – how can you have “righteous indignation” complete with the folded arms pose – whilst being ferried around by the scruff of your hair?
–
Actually, considering Satori is* “just” a “program”, I’m a bit surprised she *remembers having been killed and revived.
–
So much of reality, or our perceptions thereof, revolves around how we remember things. There’s nothing inherently peculiar about waking up in a lush, tropical setting; except for remembering that you were in a Chicago suburb in mid-winter when you went to bed last night! SO* did someone drug you and transport you here? Are you dreaming *now? Or was your entire life up to now a dream?
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

A NEW THOUGHT! (ouch, that hurts my head)
.

What if, when Lena claimed to have been there for 17 years, she was lying!?

Perhaps the actual truth is that, however she got inside that adult body, she noticed it, did the math, and just either convinced herself, or wants to convince Roger, that 17 years actually passed – when in fact, she only appears to be 25, but is still really only 8.
–
More speculation to toss about!
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

Ok, I did NOT tell it make those letters bold and 2 sizes larger! Maybe I should just quit while I’m not too far behind!
BJamesB86 said, about 1 year ago

Uncle Alby:

Keep in mind that this grown-up Lena claims to have found her glasses, which she probably doesn’t need anyway, off the body of a dead girl, who was still warm.

Maybe that clues us in on another component of the game, based on who does what.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, about 1 year ago

On dru’s side of it, she probably doesn’t feel much remorse for killing a computer program. Die, byte!
AliKzam said, about 1 year ago

UncaAlby, that’s too funny! That makes me think of this one site, where if you chat in abbreviation, the program can’t compute it and makes it look as though you’re using profanity. Instead of saying, “tyvm” (thank you very much), it says, “@#*!” Good times…
Anywho, that is interesting that Satori is becoming aware of her regenerative abilities. And I just love how Dru is able to look at the bright side of pretty much any situation.
With reguards to Pib not saying anything to Dru, I would imagine that after the first couple of centuries, the years just start blurring by. But yeah, I too have a feeling there is something more to Lena’s story than she is letting on.
Looking back, I do think it’s funny that Roger didn’t recognize Lena right away, after all. That means the worst thing he could think of to call an evil villainess was “twerp”.
SirMirom said, about 1 year ago

Was there any difference in how Roger and Lena entered the games?

Roger literally, deliberately leapt into the screen.

Lena, as I recall, fell in unintentionally.

Perhaps then Roger has more control over his ‘character,’ and Lena wasn’t able to control her destiny / avatar / inventory / time / (insert computer game jargon)?

I don’t know that we’re going to see Satori as ‘downloadable’ from here. But I have a mental image that the last frame of this plotline will be Dru sitting at a computer, e-dating with her incubus friend. :)
The Old Wolf said, about 1 year ago

On another note, the evil expression on Edda’s face over on Chickweed Lane appears to have intensified. I wouldn’t have thought that possible…
zorchon said, about 1 year ago

On that other note… I still find this one a purer incarnation of evil.
r80 said, about 1 year ago

How about this: All things are possible in Comicland. All things are possible in Fairyland. (Not so much in Iceland or even Maryland) Why not just go with what is being presented and just go with it? It’s a COMIC, MAN!
GorgoloChick said, about 1 year ago

r80 - For the simple reason that speculation is FUN!
Okay, I love Dru’s exspression in the top right panel. “Oh Reeeereealllly?” she thinks. “Well, if you want to go down that road…”
Umm - in the bottom left and bottom right panels, Dru is carrying Satori with her right hand, but in the middle it surely appears she has her in her left. Speculations? I think it just made a better full-frame drawing that way.
lucktron said, about 1 year ago

I don’t think Pibgorn is actually in the game. Her body is powering the system – a replacement for the used up Brownie – while her mind rides along with Dru. The game should stop when Pib burns up or is released by Jeff.
corwin_argentus said, about 1 year ago
GorgoloChick -
Could be, but now think of the silhouette. Are you looking at the scene from below them (left hand) or above them (right hand)?

All I know for sure is:
1. Satori has follicles of steel
2. Satori’s hair is healthy and strong (a mass of good healthy hair is very sturdy indeed).
3. Dru has quite a grip - imagine what she could do to a person.
Line 3:
“Tu loodie, tu lookie, tu wipple”
GorgoloChick said, about 1 year ago

Carry-over from yesterday:
“corwin_argentus says:

GorgoloChick -
You make a good and true argument. Nevertheless the evidence is building that some things do travel via the Pibgorn link to the Suzerain side of things. Two examples of which I am aware;

Goeff’s exclamation, or the associated emotion, or some aspect of his disturbance was enough to make Dru “hear” or feel it.”
Ah! But, it is my contention that physically Dru and Pib are both still there, so Dru-in-the-game reacted to what her physical ears heard in the ‘real’ world.

“The Plasma energy generated by Dru physically manifested itself in the “real” world. That energy had to travel to the real world, and it appears to have done so through Pib.”

Again, on the hypothesis that Dru is physically still in the real world, then of course it would, and not ‘through’ Pib at all.
Oh! I like it when I can actually defend my viewpoint well!
corwin_argentus said, about 1 year ago

Note: Line 3 is a continuation from yesterday’s comments

PS: “imagine what she could do to a person.” Ahem.
Kyuzio said, about 1 year ago

If you interpret the silhouette as being viewed from below (looking upwards towards the silhouette, yes it appears that Dru is using her left hand now.

But if you interpret the view as being from above right (looking downwards towards the silhouette), then she is still using here right arm.

I just love the word silhouette. It evokes a sensually pleasing image of the form of a woman. And Brooke has definitely given Dru a great silhouette! Batwings included!
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

I hope you’ve all bought multiple copies of both Pibgorn books. This would serve the dual purpose of keeping Brooke happy and well-lubricated with his favorite tipple, and further encouraging him in this madness we all enjoy. It would also get a lot of your Christmas shopping out of the way.
Kyuzio said, about 1 year ago

Ahhhh…Corwin beat me to the analysis of the panel….I type so freaking slow….
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

Anyone else notice how Edda’s clothing has morphed from last week’s “little black dress” to something approximating a sleeveless wushu uniform? Methinks this was intentional. I just hope Brooke illustrates her using correct form for any moves or techniques she might demonstrate.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Moral of this vignette – don’t argue with Dru, especially if gives her the opportunity to wreck more mayhem and violence! :-)
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

r80 says:
How about this: All things are possible in Comicland. All things are possible in Fairyland. (Not so much in Iceland or even Maryland) Why not just go with what is being presented and just go with it? It’s a COMIC, MAN!

I think Brooke is working with the parameters found in literature on fairies and other magical folk, but the parameters are flexible and subject to the mad muse that moves Brooke. Anything can happen in Pibgorn/9 Chickweed Lane!

I’m going through “The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries” W.Y. Evans-Wentz and found a few items that reminded me of Pibgorn – a discussion on similarities and differences between medieval succubi and fairies (they both take on lovers) and a discourse on worlds other than Tir na nOg that sounded like Thorax’s discourse on the same subject in a past Pibgorn story.

Brooke may or may not have read this particular book, but at the time this book was published (early 1900’s) there was a lot of this kind of interest in fairy worlds, which Brooke may have come across.
GorgoloChick said, about 1 year ago

“corwin_argentus says:
GorgoloChick -
Could be, but now think of the silhouette. Are you looking at the scene from below them (left hand) or above them (right hand)?*
Hee hee, I actually thought of that. It must be from below because the background is stars.
Paigely said, about 1 year ago

Nabuquduriuzhur says: “On dru’s side of it, she probably doesn’t feel much remorse for killing a computer program. Die, byte!” -She’s a demon. I don’t think Dru feels remorse over killing anything!

corwin_argentus says: “3. Dru has quite a grip - imagine what she could do to a person.” -After impaling her claws clear through the Satori’s head in a fit of pique, that doesn’t surprise me at all. :-)

Regarding Lena, I have no problem imagining that the program could warp one individual’s perception of reality without doing it to the next, especially if Mr. Spitcock is directly involved with directing the program, real-time. Or rather, possibly the computer has superimposed an artificial personality over Lena, making her a bit of a split-personality. (Geeze, I’m a geek. Anyone else remember a Stargate SG-1 episode similar to that?)

lucktron says: “I don’t think Pibgorn is actually in the game. Her body is powering the system – a replacement for the used up Brownie – while her mind rides along with Dru.” - I believe Pib and the brownie were used to power two different instruments, like using AAA batteries for a calculator, and an electric generator for powering large pieces equipment. That aspect of the story reminds me of Terry Brooks’ Jerle Shannara series, where an ancient self-aware computer was also capturing magic-users. It put them into a virtual reality where it hoped they would use their powers to protect themselves. The computer would then siphon off the power to augment its dying batteries. By the way, does anyone besides me wonder what Monsieur Diggory is doing with Pib and Dru’s energy, what he is powering?
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

GorgoloChick (and any other interested folk) -

Found these on YouTube the other day, a set of Irish language tutorials. I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet so I can’t vouch for them.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=sSgwrCdOXdw Part I

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=cmvgDZmUO-o Part II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn-LHHJFn4s Part III

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAkZ1ZXXssU Part IV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrZS03xDqVE Part V

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoBuGfCK8BI Part VI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG9FBUT-gHc Part VII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig1m8oSVzGs Part VIII

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=lQxW0YHDWiU Part IX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0in_2ORuIr4 Part X

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2XahQWDN1A Part XI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QLrWA5n5Ps Part XII
GorgoloChick said, about 1 year ago

Chickweed thought: Hey, it looks like Edda is getting ready to deliver a frog (punch to the arm with middle knuckle sticking out, to leave a worse bruise) instead of a noogie!
Paigely said, about 1 year ago

GorgoloChick says:
“corwin_argentus says:
GorgoloChick -
Could be, but now think of the silhouette. Are you looking at the scene from below them (left hand) or above them (right hand)?*
Hee hee, I actually thought of that. It must be from below because the background is stars.”

That still doesn’t work. In the left corner panel, you are above Dru looking down. She’s using her right hand to carry Satori there. In the right corner, you are looking up, and Satori is still in her right hand. In the center panel, you are looking from underneath up to the stars (just as in the right corner panel). From that perspective, Satori is in her left hand, otherwise you would be seeing the ground under her, not stars (unless Dru is doing aerial acrobatics and is upside down, or they are so high that you can’t see the ground!). Personally, I think she is just switching hands. :-D

(And no, I wouldn’t have noticed it at all if you hadn’t brought it up! lol)
Jgiffen1979 said, about 1 year ago

Not sure who posted the comment that Lena came into the world in an adult body - seventeen years could have passed in the game. In the strip where Lena enters the game, you see her (as her own age) at the spear point of a knight. Seeing as to how she is now the evil queen, 17 years must have passed in game time.
Paigely said, about 1 year ago

Yet Satori was fighting the evil queen before Lena ever entered the game. That is why she was attacking Pib. She thought Pib was an agent of the queen…

Maybe 17 years of game time did pass, but I would have expected some comment from Pib to Dru in that regard near the beginning. If I remember right, Pib was caught, then Lena, Roger, and Dru. Do I have that right? There was no sense (at least for me) that Pib had been there for years before Dru showed up. 17 years may not be much when you are 400, but 17 years of being repeatedly attacked and hacked into pieces would make an impact on most creatures… I lean towards the theory that Lena was incorporated into the game since she was an unexpected addition, and once more creatures became stuck in there, the program stopped trying. Whether I’m right or wrong, I can’t wait to see how this plays out.
maeverin said, about 1 year ago

huh, for some reason i thought dru knew this already.
Edda looks like Gollum in the last panel of Chickweed today:)
my precioussssss
LauraIngalls said, about 1 year ago

Hi Y’all!
I love this community of Brooke appreciators!

As to the silhouette panel, it looks to me as if we are seeing Dru with her right hand still carrying the load - and we are at about the same level looking from behind.
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

I sort of envy you folks who apparently have played computer games enough to understand and analyse a comic strip in that context. Closest I’ve ever come to this kind of separate reality in my own life is 25 years of SCA combat, and while time is out of sync in the SCA, we don’t have chicks like Dru or Pib, to say the very least!
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

Look at the sketch, guys. That settles the whole “airborne perspective” question.
Paigely said, about 1 year ago

I agree with that, except there are stars beneath them. Maybe we should just attribute it to artistic license. Stars look much cooler than dark ground. ;)
Eugeno said, about 1 year ago

Re: time dilation … there was an episode of ‘Northern Exposure’, many years ago, now - in which Rob Morrow’s character, Dr. Fleischmann of New York, walked into a closet - there was a bright flash of white that filled the screen, and we were in New York, where Fleischmann spent the whole, or better part of, a day. At the end of the episode, he came out of the closet to a remark from another character, Maggie, I think, to the effect of, “What were you doing in there?”, yet it was less than a minute later, local Alaska time. Neat stuff -
ThatCat said, about 1 year ago

Paigely,

I think it is definitely possible they are high enough for there to be only star background - but - the body positioning (especially of Satori) suggests that she’s just switching hands. Maybe she’s enjoying the idea of dropping her and likes flipping her back and forth.

I too wonder he is powering up - maybe something to send Lena the heck back home and get her out of his hair? Since growing her up didn’t work the way he thought it might…? I could imagine this might be something urgent to him.
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

If you really want to get into time dilation sometime, read “The Anubis Gates” by Tim Powers. In fact, we have a 3-day weekend coming up, don’t we? Good reading material during a hurricane watch.
Paigely said, about 1 year ago

ThatCat says:

“Paigely,

I think it is definitely possible they are high enough for there to be only star background - but - the body positioning (especially of Satori) suggests that she’s just switching hands. Maybe she’s enjoying the idea of dropping her and likes flipping her back and forth.”

-I was thinking of counterbalancing while flying, but I like your idea better. X-D

“I too wonder he is powering up - maybe something to send Lena the heck back home and get her out of his hair? Since growing her up didn’t work the way he thought it might…?”

-You think? I think she makes an EXCELLENT evil queen!
Nabuquduriuzhur said, about 1 year ago

thanks for the Irish tutorials. Have to look at them. Studied Scots Gaelic in high school. (Forgotten just about all of it.)
Tombstone1881 said, about 1 year ago

Suzerain is not a game, regardless of Roger’s insistence. Spitcock referred to it as “Transcendent Interactivity”, implying a giant leap beyond mere virtual reality. Spitcock may have written the rules, but the plot is writing itself. I’ve stopped trying to guess how it’s going to play out, but I’m keeping an open mind.

I would not be surprised if it turned out that Satori but another poor hapless individual that wandered too close to one of Spitcock’s monitors and was sucked into Farfallaland like everyone else.
GorgoloChick said, about 1 year ago

Nabuquduriuzhur says:

thanks for the Irish tutorials. Have to look at them. Studied Scots Gaelic in high school. (Forgotten just about all of it.)

Yes, many thanks for the tutorials. Oh, Scots Gaelic, that’s the dialect I’d really love to learn, since I have a lot of Scots (and less Irish) blood.
GorgoloChick said, about 1 year ago

Roger, but not THAT one, the other one. says:
Look at the sketch, guys. That settles the whole “airborne perspective” question.

I don’t see how it resolves perspective, since there is NO background and the sketch only shows their outline?
r80 said, about 1 year ago

TO Gorgochick:

Yeh, I s’pose……
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Ta failte romhat!

I think something that is going to come out of this is that the world of technology and the magical world of fairies, demons, and like minded spirits don’t mix. Digory Spitcock is more evil than the worse demon from Hell.

Maybe another reason why I wouldn’t want to press the analysis of time dialation too closely. It’s using the thinking of science, i.e., Einsteinian relatively, et. al., but the worlds of Fairy run by their own principles.

Some of Brooke’s earlier excursions into time and causality – sort of made me think of the David Tennant/Dr. Who episode titled “Blink.” Cause and effect get wrapped and twined around each other so you don’t know where one thread starts and the other thread ends.

Blink – that was the one with the stone statues that froze when you looked at them.

« Previous 1 2 Next »

Comics A-Z Navigation

Pibgorn-iphonead

Pibgorn-booksad_poltergeist

Pibgorn and the Poltergeist in the Piano

About Pibgorn

A fantastic saga of adventure both high and low, of forbidden passion and iambic pentameter, of fays, fools, organists, demons, accordions, heaven, hell and Shakespeare, Pibgorn follows the whims and flights of its eponymous fairy heroine as she plies her conviction that there must be more to life than depositing dew drops on dandelions and sleeping under mushrooms.

© 2009 Brooke McEldowney - All Rights Reserved.