Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney

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TheQuinch said, about 1 year ago

Wait, that hair! It… it can’t be! It’s not true! It’s impossible!
Rachel Martin said, about 1 year ago

Looks like the demon that has been with Dru? So is the demon is the old man that pulled them in?
txmystic said, about 1 year ago

My, what a big…terminal you have there.

Is this indeed Spitcock/Incubus coming out of his own portal? Then I guess Pib/Dru is indeed the power source? And Spitcock is really like 800 years old, and needs to feed via the simulation to keep himself young?
The Old Wolf said, about 1 year ago

Well! Looks like we’ve reached the End Boss. Just a few more minutes and there will be cake! XD
Nabuquduriuzhur said, about 1 year ago

Kommandant Spitup is arriving.

Two Allied MI-6 agents are waiting to take him out…
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

Oooh! Looks like Inky!
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… maybe …
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

Luciano looks to have a cartoon smile in panel #3. I half expect Mickey Moose to start singing the tune to “Steamboat Willie”.
zorchon said, about 1 year ago

No no, we’ve got the perspective wrong: Look at the light: Geoff is hiding in the room with Pib, and Inky… came out of the screen!
Hock-Spit foolishly provided a portal OUT of the game, and now this character has escaped. -And will be none to pleased to see his Sweet-Pea tied up.
zorchon said, about 1 year ago

Then again, seeing Dru (pib) tied up might be just the sort of thing he’d enjoy. ;-)
Clix said, about 1 year ago

I don’t know, something about a Salvation Army Hat on a 37 pound horsefly makes this weeks panels very Daliesc.
r80 said, about 1 year ago

Ah HA! Oh HO! (Not you, Dru…) So ol’ Digory IS the Incubus! But could he also be the knight who done kilt Lena when she first got sucked into the game?

Hmm, it seems the ol’ pharte can retain his demon form out of the game as well.
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

Guesswork. Sheer, unadulterated guesswork. Brooke will surprise all of us (again), mark my words.
Paigely said, about 1 year ago

If Spitcock and Inky aren’t one and the same, then I think they are in cahoots. (Don’t you just love that word, cahoot?!)
reesee_d said, about 1 year ago

He’s heeeerrreeeee….
valerie.kisling said, about 1 year ago

Ah! He HAS no Wee Willy Winkie …
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Geoff looks taken aback, Luciano is smiling. Was it Inky he was smiling at? Was it a smile of recognition?

Another finger drumming question – underneath the monitor the green wall is divided, above the monitor it’s a solid wall. The floor is a divided circle/s. Does something open up?

Is this really Inky Incubus, or something else? Sure looks like him in silhouette.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Yet more questions – kind of echoing what I posted last night, just before the new Pibgorn came up.

The Spitcock game world seems to be on a closed time loop. Kill a character, and it resets itself, including the day night cycle. So, is it reasonable to ask if there is a true past to this world? Satori has memories, but are they real memories of things that actually happened or, if she is a creation of the game world, are her memories only implanted?

Another thought – if the timelines of this world have been tampered with and made to close in on themselves, what happens at the portal point where magical energy is being drawn out?

I’m thinking of the Doctor Who Key to Time series, where the Doctor was able to create a closed time loop within a local area and stave off events for a brief time, using the nearly completed Key to Time. It was a strain on the Key, and it was starting to break down.

Is something similar going to happen to Pib/Dru, the longer they stay hooked into the game world? We’ve already seen that Spitcock has no feelings about the living creatures he burns up as fuel sources, i.e., when he dumped the burnt out brownie from one of his devices and captured a new one. A sort of foreshadowing of what’s in store for Pib/Dru if they aren’t pulled out of the game?
elfinelvin said, about 1 year ago

Maybe Inky has decided he doesn’t want Dru drained dry and is about to release her. Nah, even he can’t be that stupid. Oh, it is going to be a loooong weekend!
AliKzam said, about 1 year ago
Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight:
1. Luciano opens the door and he and Geoff find a monitor.
2. The two stand back as the monitor glows even brighter. They step to the side.
3. The monitor transforms into an actual doorway and Spitcock/Inky (Spinky?) steps out. (I’m thinking we’re past introducing new characters. Why show the same sihlouette for two different characters?)
  So, if the doorway they just opened is virtual, I have to ask: how much of the rest of this place is not real?
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

No, I think the monitor is in the next room - in the last panel, its glow has filled the room and Geoff and Luciano have retreated back outside the doorway. The monitor appears to be a portal out of the game, through which Spitcock has emerged in his incubus form. I expect next week we’ll see him transform back to an old man.

Also, while that looks like a silly grin on Luciano, it’s actually his neck. Look at the last panel or previous day’s episodes. Sorta looks like he’s wearing a scarf.
JosephR4570 said, about 1 year ago

Luciano isn’t smiling - look closer. That’s just a fold in his neck and his “moustache” (whatever you call the stuff that surrounds a fly’s mouth) makes it look like teeth.
Fairportfan said, about 1 year ago

Uh-oh
maeverin said, about 1 year ago

sooo….
it Geoff going to jump in the game or is Inky going to have to push him in?
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Yeah, that’s it. Geoff and Luciano ducked back out of the room they just went into, probably because there was nothing in the monitor room to hide behind.

Thanks for clearing up the Luciano grin – I can see it now, that’s his neck.

Going back to the Halloween 2007 Pibgorn, Roger asks Digory “What’s ‘Suzerain’”? Digory replised “Transcendent interactivity. …Not virtuality. …Sui generis reality.”

Going back to the August 8 2007 Pibgorn, we see a figure in silhouette with Pibgorn, but looking again, it seems to be a different person – it doesn’t quite look like Digory. You see his hand and forearm, and he’s wearing what looks like a red sweater. Digory is always in white shirt sleeves and maroon jacket. The silhouette has a visible neck, Digory’s head and shoulders are hunched up.

Is it possible that someone else is involved in this?
aerwalt said, about 1 year ago

This MUST be published in book form !!
elfinelvin said, about 1 year ago

With Mr. M at the drawing board anything is possible!

Oh, yes! Please put this in a book!
K.B. said, about 1 year ago

I’m not ready to assume that Spitcock is the incubus – maybe because the incubus is so buff and Spitcock is so not, and the idea of them being the same is too “ew” to contemplate at the moment. I won’t deny the possibility, but I’m not going to settle one way or the other yet.

But if the incubus, whomever he might be, is enamored with Dru, mayhaps he is seeking her? Yet another twist to the game that Spitcock hadn’t planned?
elfinelvin said, about 1 year ago

MacF-
The sweater/jacket color got switched early on. If you go to 7-23-07 Roger is wearing purple. On 9-12-07 Roger has a red sweater and Digory is wearing a purple jacket. And a green tie, love the colors!
elfinelvin said, about 1 year ago

When Dru blasted Digory he broke up into pixels, so maybe Digory isn’t real and the incubus is. Lucky for Dru if it is so.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Hmmm … take a look at the August 6 2007 Pibgorn, or the August 31 2007 Pibgorn, where you see the figure again in silhouette. It’s not Digory!

Yeah, I noticed the color switch of Roger’s clothing also. We first see him in purple jacket, grey pants, white shirt, afterwards he’s wearing the red jacket, yellow shirt and darker yellow pants.

The color of the jacket the silhouetted figure is wearing is the same color as the jacket Roger is later wearing?

Could this somehow be Roger?
Dukeydey said, about 1 year ago

I’ll admit when I saw him in the doorway I yelled “NO WAY” lol
I also have a crazy theory (it’s sounds idiotically simple I know). To suck Dru into the game Spitcock pressed “ENTER”. What if to get everyone out, all Geoff and Luciano have to do is hit “ESCAPE”
The Old Wolf said, about 1 year ago

Not all details have significance. The one danger in starting to speculate about plot details based on costuming minutiae is that for all his spectacular artistic skill, one area Mr. McEldowney pays less attention to is continuity. He’s said as much himself in his commentaries, and in some responses to emails I’ve sent him.

Apparently he rarely if ever goes back to previous strips to see how he’s drawn something - all we have to do is look at Pib’s coloration and wings now, as compared to the initial strips.

But I’m still anxious to see who’s who and what’s what when this is all over.
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

Dukeyday - In my experience, the ESCAPE key never does anything.
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

MacFich - I’m wondering if the professor Dru dream-seduced early on isn’t somehow involved. His taking on the persona of a knight in the dream seems more than coincidental and it seems unlikely Brooke would have devoted that much effort to a literary detour.
maeverin said, about 1 year ago

Bucky Katt says:
“Dukeyday - In my experience, the ESCAPE key never does anything.”

I know, i keep hitting it everyday at work and yet i’m still here…weird…

the room that Geoff and Lucioano are in, that’s the same room Dru and Pib are in, right? when Inky sees that the curtain has been torn down, Geoff is gonna have some ‘splainin’ to do!
Aribeth de Tylmarande said, about 1 year ago

Okay, as I read it, Luciano and Geoff 1)saw a light under a door, 2) opened the door, 3) saw a genormous monitor, and 4) alerted by (a sound, perhaps?) are hiding behind the same door. The big question is whether Spitcock is just the avatar of the incubus, or vice versa. Did I get anything wrong?
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

ccdesan says:

Apparently [McEldowney] rarely if ever goes back to previous strips to see how he’s drawn something - all we have to do is look at Pib’s coloration and wings now, as compared to the initial strips.
.
Foo. I always thought it was simply an indication that all these incredible experiences were forcing Pib to become more mature, to grow up faster.
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I guess I was reading too much into it.
Tombstone1881 said, about 1 year ago

Bucky Katt says: I’m wondering if the professor Dru dream-seduced early on isn’t somehow involved. His taking on the persona of a knight in the dream seems more than coincidental and it seems unlikely Brooke would have devoted that much effort to a literary detour.

Good catch. Having recently returned to the beginning of this arc and re-read, I was beginning to wonder the same. As I recall, he was a professor of medieval studies, was he not? Hmmmm…
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

maeverin, you have to hit the escape sequence. I.e., you hit the “escape key” followed by a “sequence” of other keys.
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Of course the sequence that gets you out of work without disrupting your cash-flow is a closely guarded secret.
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

RE: divided vs. solid wall.
I think that’s not a divided wall, I think it’s the cables running to the monitor from the CPU… or maybe from Pib.
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

That ain’t no demon, that’s Seth with a perm.
K.B. said, about 1 year ago

I don’t think Spitcock can be the knight that slew Lena, either since he was in his lab at the time:

http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2007/12/21/

His expression of surprise, as though he senses something is amiss (or perhaps at the sudden appearance of “YOU BASTARD” all over the multiple screens, as seen in the next installment) – yes, I’m sure that neither Lena nor Roger were in his plans.

This appearance of the knight, however, leaves me to wonder…

http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2008/04/16/

I’m still undecided whether Spitcock and the incubus are one and the same. Spitcock is something magical/digital/not of this world at any rate.
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

K.B. - I agree - I think that knight was just another minion, like those eventually “shucked” by Evil Queen Lena. However, I think the knight that impaled Dru was Spitcock - note his gloating over the course of events and apparent decision to impale Dru as a means of goading her on.

I think Spitcock is also the incubus, which is a personification of his efforts to drain her of her magical energy.
AliKzam said, about 1 year ago

Bucky Katt said: No, I think the monitor is in the next room - in the last panel, its glow has filled the room and Geoff and Luciano have retreated back outside the doorway.

Oh, yeah! I see it now: Geoff’s standing in front of the doorway arch in the first panel. Not sure why I missed that before, I guess I was trying to take it all in. So I gues scratch that comment I made about a virtual door.
I don’t know if I can wait until Monday…
Pokefan_Frank said, about 1 year ago

So this is a “backdoor” into the game? (For those of you not familiar with the term, a backdoor is a thing the game’s makers put in to be able to test the ending of the game by jumping to it)
aerwalt said, about 1 year ago

SirMirom: Many thanksfor the lesson.
Asyou can see , it worked.

The Blue Max: German Imperial Air Force, WW I
The Old Wolf said, about 1 year ago

@aerwalt: Nice avatar!

Anybody paying any attention to that pattern on the floor in front of the monitor? I could be wrong - it happens several times a day - but I don’t think that’s random decoration…
aerwalt said, about 1 year ago

ccdesan: Thank you.
The floor pattern is in fractions of a half circle. Compass headings?
aerwalt said, about 1 year ago

They are 30 degrees apart.
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

aerwalt says:

[The lines on the floor] are 30 degrees apart.
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ASSUMING the divider between the purple and the green is a straight line dividing the floor (purple) from the wall (green), and not an optical illusion of some sorts.
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Such as, for example, Luciano’s “smile” … !