Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney

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Margueritem said, about 1 year ago

I think he’s reached the 8 year old.
Margueritem said, about 1 year ago

And he has a plan…
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Wow! A first! Lena hugged Roger and was nice to him!

Interesting switch. Lena is Roger’s little sister, but now she’s older than him.
Fairportfan said, about 1 year ago

Satori doesn’t have to “find” the scimitar - it comes back to her automatically.
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

No she’s not - she’s still 8 years old. She only thinks she’s 25.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

I still want to see Lena’s ears. Impossible though, with all that hair.
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

Fairportfan - But only if someone dies - so will she ask Dru to kill her again? I’m sure the succubus would be willing.
The Old Wolf said, about 1 year ago

Aww… He finally got to her soft spot.

And it’s the weekend again… twitch
Beads_and_Cats said, about 1 year ago

I am not the only one who sits here going refresh, refresh, refresh about this time of night!
runar said, about 1 year ago

Sisters are a bitch. Mine was.
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

I was thinking about hitting the refresh repeatedly in an attempt to post the very first comment!
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But I thought, gee, if everybody did that, we might break the website!
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

Runar - I adore both of my sisters, but at the same time I can completely relate to this theme.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

“Let’s blow this bait shack.”

How? Does Roger have a plan for getting out?
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

ccdesan: No, he wants to get to Lena’s soft spot. But family matters take precedence here. Besides, we wouldn’t want to condone — ewwww!
Margueritem said, about 1 year ago

Yes, Roger has a plan.
Margueritem said, about 1 year ago

Don’t ask me what it is, however. I’ll leave it to you to speculate on that.
SirMirom said, about 1 year ago

Insert literate, obtuse, archaic commentary and speculation on Roger’s usage of the term ‘bait shack’ here: __ (with emphasis on its linguistic origins, the insinuations of their life forces being just ‘bait’ for the demonic creatures, mythological uses of the term ‘shack’ in ancient Greece, etc.)

(Go on, we’re waiting! We have all weekend!)

Double spaced, please, with full MLA bibliography.
Bucky Katt said, about 1 year ago

I think “bait shack” is the New England equivalent of the Midwest “popsicle stand.”
DarkJediDarbold said, about 1 year ago

First time posting.

You know, I love reading the comments, just as much as I love the comic. (Well… almost as much…)

I’ve been following this arc since the beginning, and although I’ve enjoyed it, I’m glad it seems to be wrapping up. I get the feeling that things are building to a climax.
Mikkail said, about 1 year ago

So now we have all the main characters gathered - Roger, Lena, Satori, Dru in Suzerain-land, Pib, Geoff, Inky (and Luciano) in “the real world”… except we are missing Spitcock (unless he is Inky) and the mysterious knight who attacked Lena and skewered Dru. I still think the Medieval Professor has a role to play, and it is always possible that while Luciano distracted Inky, Geoff grabbed Pib and made like the shepherd…
The Old Wolf said, about 1 year ago

Bad BuckyKatt! Bad! No tuna! That’s not what I meant at all! O_o

applies brain bleach
Kaibyo said, about 1 year ago

When I lived in RI, it was mostly “Let’s blow this taco stand.” In Narragansett, North & South Kingstown and Charlestown “bait shack” WOULD be more appropriate.(Gosh, I MISS clam cakes!)
arsmall said, about 1 year ago

I think this brother and sister relationship is going to be quite different after this adventure. They both have seen the others’ vulnerabilities in more ways than one…
TiggerLeBounce said, about 1 year ago

Not only has he reached the 8-year-old, it looks like she’s actually straightening her act up! Way to go Roger!
Ray C said, about 1 year ago

Okay, Roger has figured it all out, as only a geek can. He is in his element. He will get himself and his sister out of the game. But that still leaves Pib and the others inside. I think we may have some more time yet in this arc.
(But…why would he need his clothes?)
John Pelt said, about 1 year ago

Nice to know that however rotten she is as a kid, and a tyrannical butcher as an adult, Lena still basically just wants her mom with her… but then, don’t we all?
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

Ray C - he needs his clothes because the portal would spit them out in a back alley in NYC, and NYC still frowns on naked 15-year olds running around the back alleys. Don’t ask me how I know.
Pokefan_Frank said, about 1 year ago

When Geroff asked Luciano for clothes, he also asked for them to be “scare[d] up”. Is there a connection between Roger and Geoff then? Or did they just happen to both hear the same colloquialisms while growing up? And speaking of colloquialisms, somebody ought to tell Roger that Lena’s word for that is “zonk”, not “zilch”;!

Today’s strip also kills the theory that the yellow light represented a “portal” to the rel world.

Theory time: If Roger and Lena were to jump out the window, Lena would reset to a little girl and Roger would get his clothes back. While this is desirable, I think whatever Roger has in mind to “blow the bait shack” require’s Lena’s ability to produce death rays. Thus, he can’t risk her losing that ability by resetting her to a little girl. Tossing the sword, obviously, was just to buy himself a little time, since it seems a fact that Satori and her sword will eventually be reunited one way (she finds it) or another (it appears in her scabbard).

I also still think Geoff hasn’t made his appearance yet, just standing to the side while Luciano attacks Inky.

As for Spitcock, yesterday I posted

By the way, have you noticed how much Mr. McEldowney’s display picture looks like Spitcock’s profile? Maybe the reason we haven’t seen Spitcock in a while is because he’s stepped out of the Pibgorn world to, ah, fool the Comics.com staff into believing he was McEldowney and he was OK with the colorizing?
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

Unca Alby - You’re thinking about the plan to flush all the toilets in the Pentagon at one time. That was Bloom County. I don’t think a lot of simultaneous refresh commands will damage the website.
cfortunato said, about 1 year ago

“he needs his clothes because the portal would spit them out in a back alley in NYC, and NYC still frowns on naked 15-year olds running around the back alleys.”

Unless they have a giant housefly covering their privates.
ozzimandius said, about 1 year ago

Around the North eastern parts of NJ it tends to be lets blow this Clam bake…… and either way, Yes Roger has a plan.
cfortunato said, about 1 year ago

If Lena is 8 and only thinks she’s 25, how is she built like that?
pibfan868 said, about 1 year ago

Lena is built like that because they’re still in the game. Roger does have a plan, and I like both the metaphorical bait shack and the New England customary statement concepts, either could apply, or both. At least Lena is able to realize that just because he’s older doesn’t mean Roger is the enemy.
Greger said, about 1 year ago

Apart from everything else, what are us poor souls not being brought up in the lasd of the free and the land of the brave (is that the same country, by the way?); what does he mean? It he going to slip out the back, Jack?
maeverin said, about 1 year ago

roger has come so far! when we met him he was just this gawky nerd and now he’s a confidant, calculating, sword-weilding chick-tackling, take charge…gawky nerd.
no really, i have loved watching him grow a set. eww, i grossed myself out.
my_discworld said, about 1 year ago

So is Satori just sitting back in that dungeon-room with an unconscious Drusilla? Augh, I have such a hard time keeping straight where all the characters are!
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

Satori is probably getting up off the floor, wondering what the heck got into that boy.
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Her monomania has now probably decided that Roger is the Enemy.
Ahnk_2000 said, about 1 year ago

OK, if Lena really is 8 or at least has the mind of an 8 year old, why isn’t she just totally grossed out looking at her brother’s naughty bits? Wouldn’t she have found something for him to cover himself with? Or am I overanalyzing again (not that this strip isn’t already overanalyzed).
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

Swapped Roger says:
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I don’t think a lot of simultaneous refresh commands will damage the website.
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Actually, in point of fact, it can.
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Have you ever heard of a “Denial of Service Attack”? It’s when an attacker somehow gets hundreds of computers all over the world to make simultaneous requests on a server all at the same time.
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This fills up the server’s queues and, at the least, prevents the server from doing its job for the real customers, effectively “breaking” it!
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If the server has bugs in it, such as not having been programmed to properly handle overflowing queues, it can actually shut down.
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So, yah, it *is* possible!
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

Ahnk_2000, the current working theory is that Lena has been time-shifted by 17 years. That is, yesterday she entered the game at the age of 8, and in the intervening hours, has witnessed a personal time progression of 17 years.
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So, she has physically aged to the age of 25.
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But it seems clear from her actions that her mental and emotional age hasn’t advanced much.
aerwalt said, about 1 year ago

Pokefan-frank:
My theory yesterdayre resetting Lena.
Burgundy2 said, about 1 year ago

I’ve been going around all morning in a miserable mood - yet didn’t know why…then it hit me. I’d been so busy, I didn’t have my Pibgorn & comments fix!

I feel much better now - thanks everyone. Just, ah, don’t tell my boss!
Paigely said, about 1 year ago

GregerLhd says:

Apart from everything else, what are us poor souls not being brought up in the lasd of the free and the land of the brave (is that the same country, by the way?); what does he mean? It he going to slip out the back, Jack?

The phrase means you are going to get the heck out of there as quickly as possible. The subtle connotation is that you have much better things to be doing than hanging around where you are, and/or something bad will happen if you stick around. On the west coast, we’d often say “Lets blow this joint”, and we weren’t referring to drugs. ;)

Burgundy2, I can sympathize! I have the kids at the babysitter’s so I can puppy-proof our house (getting one tomorrow), and I’m sitting here reading this instead! lol
Burgundy2 said, about 1 year ago

9CWL - Isabella’s sarcasm is priceless. I’m going to have to remember that one. I can think of all kinds of applications besides violists.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Yeah, I was doing that too – doing other work, had gocomics/pibgorn up, hitting the refresh button to watch for the next installment – cool! A new one and no comments! I wrote a comment, hit post, and saw that margueritem had posted two replies in the time I was writing mine. I’m not the only one!

pibfan868 says:
Lena is built like that because they’re still in the game. Roger does have a plan, and I like both the metaphorical bait shack and the New England customary statement concepts, either could apply, or both. At least Lena is able to realize that just because he’s older doesn’t mean Roger is the enemy.

I’m going to guess that when they come out, she’s still going to be the grown up lady that she is now. It’s a common theme in Irish fairy stories – someone goes away for a little time in Tir na nOg, comes back and years have passed. I’m still guessing that this realm isn’t a a creation of Spitcock’s technology; he only invaded it and shaped it to his own purposes. So, the time Lena spent there was real time, and she really is as old as she looks.

Still wants her mom though – the little girl who was denied during her time in the other world.

Lena always was evil, maybe her evil is growing up now, to become the kind of evil that Dru has. Yes, Dru is evil, but often in the Pibgorn stories she shows more morality than most mortals.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

From what I’ve picked up from 9CWL and Pibgorn – violists are stupid, violinists are demonic.

What’s the common thread here? Where is Brooke’s mad muse going with this?
maeverin said, about 1 year ago

Burgundy2:
i won’t tell your boss if you don’t tell mine ;p
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

“Let’s blow this bait shop” – sounds like another crossover of 9CWL and Pibgorn. New England idion and language (although I think this is a Brooke original) appearing in Pibgorn.

Although, I don’t think crossover is the right word. This is really only one comic story, taking place in two different strips. While Roger is talking with Lena about getting out of the game, Isabel is being scornful toward Burkhardt (sp?).

The wedding scene with Diana and Francis – sometimes it looks like Brooke steps out of the world and exercises his own artistic license with it. Who invited Dru, Pib, and Geoff, and why are they sitting there in dappled coloring, Pib with her wings in full display? I think Brooke stepped out of the world he created, made a special moment for everyone, and all were invited. Really nice touch on his part, and a wonderful expression of the romantic themes that seem to run all through his work.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Continuing the thought – when Lena was still a little girl, she saw Dru and said she wanted to grow up to be like her. Her “evil” has been immature and murderous, nothing at all like Dru’s evil. Dru’s evil is moral (and I’m aware of the oxymoron, I’m having fun with it and it seems to fit), but Lena’s is immature and immoral. If she truly wants to grow up like Dru, she has to mature in her evil.

And that’s a starting point – she wants her mom.

Who are Mon and Dad? I want to see Lena’s ears!
elfinelvin said, about 1 year ago

Don’t forget, Mr. M. is a violist!