Angels: October 31 – November 5, 2005
April 7, 2012 ~ 26 Comments
I love this strip and I have no idea where it came from. The humor is weird even by Narbonic standards, but “the hunger” is always funny.
I never really figured out how to draw Iris’s hair.
This strip was written solely for my friend Jason, the person on whom Freddy is based. He has a terrible fear of caterpillars. Really.
Thank you, Photoshop!
I did a pretty nice job on all the little spare parts around the dismantled microwave. In general, there’s some pretty decent artwork in this storyline.
This is another strip written in tribute to Jason Thompson, the model for Freddy, because the thing with the sound effects and dripping water? Totally real. Jason also worked it into his graphic novel King of RPGs.
Yes, eyeball monsters are excellent. You know why? Because eyeballs are really, really easy to draw.
The only trouble with Dave’s outfit in this storyline is that sometimes it makes him look like a priest. Come to think of it, that’s kind of thematically appropriate, so I guess it’s okay.
“Allen wrench” is a funny word. Or two funny words. Whatever.
I remember writing this and being sad that this was the only time I got to mention the delivery guys in black helicopters. Looking back, it may have been the genesis of Skin Horse.
Want the original art for this strip?
Now I’m picturing a Broadway musical, “Little Appliance Shop of Horrors”. Of course, once the toaster oven tries that “Feed me!” line on Mell, it’s life is essentially over.
Well, I don’t think it would be that hard to write, actually… we just need someone to compose the music, since you could write the lyrics to the songs and we could probably get Shaenon and Channing to write everything else…
Hmm, wonder how much of a Kickstarter project we’d need…
Uh-oh. This can’t end well.
Heh, a toaster oven as Moloch, who delights in burnt offerings…. (I once named a Webber barbecue grill Moloch….)
The Auld Grump
Tuesday:
I have to wonder about the person who ranks “her famous Ping-Pong trick” as about equal in cheekiness to “eating live caterpillars”.
True story: I actually work with a guy named Ping Pong. Aside from being a good engineer, he doesn’t do any tricks.
Wednesday:
Dave is certain that what he’s doing is improving the microwave’s food-heating ability in some nebulous way. One hundred percent positive.
It can’t really be aimed, and the effects appear to be survivable, so it doesn’t qualify as a Big Freakin’ ™ Gun. File it under Negative Space Wedgie.
Dave’s getting into the fix… and out of hand. The results will be out of this world!
If your microwave is a gateway to the Negative Zone, does it still cook your food?
I may (or may not) have you beat, Ed. My wife works with an engineer named Tony Stark.
She’s an astronomer, and I think he’s an instrument engineer, I don’t remember. She said he did not have a metal briefcase with him when he came to the observatory. She also attended a conference with the astrophysicist who won the Nobel last year and flirted with him, long before I entered the picture.
“Better crack open the bread-maker” is one of my favorite quotes from this storyline. It’s just such a perfect Dave-at-this-stage-of-his-development thing to say.
Thursday:
The best part is that the fourth panel implies that they’ve entirely bought the idea that Iris literally created a few monsters. She is just that good.
Something else that’s easy to miss is Freddy summarising the events of the previous strip as “Dave says he’s almost done”.
(TUNE: “You Can’t Hide Your Lyin’ Eyes”, The Eagles)
Dave is almost finished in the kitchen,
The other players wondered where he went …
And Iris, from the handbook, she is switchin’
To a setting based on some dumb supplement!
She sees how all her players have reacted …
They haven’t heard a single word she’s said!
She doesn’t know that they have been distracted
By the things that hover right behind hear head!
They’re surprised … by flying eyes!
Iris do-esn’t realize!
As GM, she really tries …
To surprise the guys with flies, king-size, with eyes!
Ed: Ow Ow Ow!
Sounds and looks like “alien wench”, right?
Hurrah for eyeball monsters!
Friday:
May the “running in terror, arms flailing” pose never leave our host’s repertoire.
Off-panel head pokes: 31. Unfortunately, due to space constraints, we must miss out on seeing Eric’s arm mauled off and fertilised with eggs in one swift, beautiful motion.
(TUNE: Theme from “Robin Hood” TV show, Carl Sigman)
(also Monty Python’s “Dennis Moore” sketch)
Allen wrench, allen wrench,
With their L-shaped necks!
Allen wrench, allen wrench,
With cross-section hex!
It’s found all around
Each good workman’s bench!
Allen wrench … allen wrench …
Allen wrench!
I like the smoking bits in the background of panel 1…
So is Dave’s stupidity here symptomatic of his mental block regarding his own abilities? I mean, I know, in the Narbonicverse, people are stupid by default, even the smart ones, but this is something.
No, Dave isn’t stupid. He’s just desensitised.
He probably sees stranger things all the time at the lab. Probably being chased through his work area by Mell with a flamethrower.
No, no, Eric. It’s too late for that. You wanted Dave’s work mode off before he converted the microwave into a dimensional gateway. Now that he’s gone and done it, you want his work mode on so that he’s got a chance of fixing it.
Saturday:
I’ll be honest, today’s punchline is pretty good.
It suddenly occurs to me how dreadfully ironic this whole arc is – fearful beings with dozens of eyeballs invading the home of a woman named Iris.
(Some time after my first reading this strip back in ’05, I was introduced to Half-Life, and now, unfortunately, when I see “extradimensional entities”, “lab”, “black helicopter” and “microwave” together in one place, that’s all I can think of. And the microwave was just a one-off gag that got elaborated on in a fangame.)
Given what they turn out to be… they lay eggs?
(TUNE: “Nights In White Satin”, The Moody Blues)
Guys in black ‘copters,
Coming your way …
If you buy an appliance,
They’ll deliver next day!
But they won’t honor
Their warranty …
If it stops working,
And you call them, toll-free
They won’t answer …
They won’t answer!
The-ere’s no answer!
Re: the last strip – [SPOILERS] wait, cherubim have eggs? I wouldn’t have thought angels would bother with that sort of thing. [/ SPOILERS]