Feb16
Con Schedule
CGS Super ShowApril 6-7, 2013
Reading, Pa. - Meg only
TCAF
May 11-12, 2013
Toronto, Ontario - Isa and Meg!
Philadelphia Comic Con
May 30-June 2, 2013
Philadelphia, Pa. - Isa and Meg!
Where to find Meg
Where to find Isa
The Adventures of Ellie Connelly
All New Issues
Amya
Dar
The Devil's Panties
Dovecote Crest
The Dreamer
Eerie Cuties
Everblue
Fall on Me
The GaMERCaT
Girl Genius
Girls With Slingshots
Gloomies!
GRONK: A Monster's Story
Lackadaisy Cats
The Meek
> Seed
Phoenix Requiem
Red String
Roza
Something Positive
Subculture
Xylia Tales
YU+ME dream
Metacarpolis
GGAR
Sister Claire
> Blaster Nation
> 9.18 The Fan, radio
FRED!!!
Haha, I love Elaine’s flinch in the second panel. “MY card boy.” :I
Second.
I know,right? So cute.
Fred’s back! Yay!! And I wonder what the Calliope crew will do when it’s discovered Elaine is a Writer?
I would imagine Writers (with a capital “W”) are pretty rare. And powerful. She’s probably a target the numbered Nameless would stop at nothing to get a hold of. So I think, more than anything, Calliope will want to keep an eye on her. Like: “Come with us if you want to live”, kind of thing.
What I’m waiting for is Calliope to see Fred talking in English. Then questions will arise, leading to the big reveal.
I love how Wendy is very conscious of the situation and calling Fred a “he” instead of an “it”. It takes Alince a minutue before she realizes “Fred” is what Ben and Elaine are calling the card, and her aying his name calls him back from the card. Exciting!
Oooooh… Dear Fred…
I certainly hopes he mends alright. Perhaps some sticky tape?
Don’t joke about something like that!
…If anything they’d use glue. The good stuff. Their last bottle. Part of them is going to miss it,but at the end of the day it was just taking up space.
Of course. That would make more sense.
After all, tape has the tendency to peel, and we don’t want that! :c
Not at all.
Of course not. In my experience tape is both not sticky enough to stay yet sticky enough to hold on to some of the ink when it comes off.
Fred :<
Oh, I hope there isn't some misunderstanding where Emma sides with the Rippers because she thinks Calliope is holding her sister.
Yay! Fred! His eyes are closed though… hope he’s just sleepy not still injured! D:
btw, I just caught up and I’m SO HAPPY! It just happened to update right after I fini! Yay!
I believe his still hurt, in the last panel you can still see the slash on his cheek with blood.
Loving this. Fred is adorable, if simply returning hasn’t healed him, then I hope Alice knows how to help. She seems taken aback that Fred has a name, names are important. I wonder if someone can hurt you if they know your name?
I like this page, maybe because it’s the first new page that I’ve seen now that my computer (Mac) has been UPDATED with Snow Leopard – thanks to Mum!
On the surface, it simple looks like Elaine is (over?)protective of Fred’s card state, but on a subtler or deeper level, it could also be seen as a joke at card players – “You’re not looking at my cards!” to avoid cheating or having their plan noted.
Elaine’s face when she hears Alice explaining the return to deck: powerful emotion.
I’m probably a bit slower at Alice’s surprise reaction to Five of Red Card’s name = Fred.
But I love how he reappears in her arms like that, so we’ll see how hurt or healed he is next time (Next TIME, I said, not next day – who knows if the next post is something entirely different?)
I’ve been waiting for the “wait – you named the card?” reaction.
Fred’s still got the cut on his cheek, so it doesn’t look like being recalled healed him – at least not completely.
Extrapolating from us mortals, Fred recalled into the deck for only a minute or two. So when a person with “magic”, Alice or Elaine spoke his name, he reincarnated withou time to heal.
And speaking for the rare Freds in this world ,thanks for the support.
Fredrik T
Five of Red….You can’t say elaine isn’t witty…lol
But he’s the five of hearts. So…
Farts?
I like “Fred” better.
Agreed.
And what color are hearts?
At least he wasn’t Lost in the Shuffle.
XD
Wonder if Fred will still be able to speak after returning. Otherwise, Elaine may have to re-change him. If he can, I’m looking forward to Alice’s reaction to a talking, named card soldier. Not to mention Elaine’s writer ability, which is going to be obvious either way.
“Wait, Fred?”
And now Alice finds out things are MUCH worse … and perhaps better… than she had imagined.
He’s still got his nose. So he’s likely still Fred.
It’s cute that Alice is slow on the update, while Wendy gloms to the situation quickly and calls Fred a “him.”
The question is: how long will it take before Wendy and crew realize that Emma isn’t the ghost.
The fact that Fred still has his HAIR is what’s giving me hope that he didn’t reverse to default card mode.
And I don’t think they think Emma is the ghost. At least I hope not. I was under the impression they knew a lot more about this than we thought. Maybe they know ghosts can take on different forms/faces?
I think he always had hair. He was just always wearing his helmet. At least that’s how I saw it. But the fact that his helmet didn’t get Recalled with him is promising.
No, back when he first got it we saw him scratching his head like it felt weird, then taking off the helmet and freaking out. I think Elaine made the hair grow.
This is a shot in the dark, but I think if Fred had hair when he was just a soldier, it would have been black, white or red like the rest of him. Even his skin is paper white. That shade of brown comes from Elaine.
Oh yeah. I’m not very good with the whole memory thing,sorry. But still,the helmet isn’t with him.
We already knew that Elaine changed Fred in a very fundamental way. But I think here Alice unknowingly summoned him by saying his new name. Elaine gave him a name in a deeper way…. cool.
If he’s able to be summoned with his new name,does that mean it’s permanent? It’s like the Deck’s way of acknowledging that he’s a new person now.
It’s gonna be amazing when they realise that Elaine is a Writer and that Fred is talking English.
Posessive Elaine, incredulous Alice, Calliope to the rescue and Fred returns. One of my favorite pages in the whole comic. And now my intellect has run out-
Fred! YAY! True love brought him back! Elaine and Fred!
And my intellect’s back. Did Alice recall Fred by saying his name? Names are important, so now he has a name, does he exist on his own right, or at least more so?
That’s what I was thinking. Ever since Elaine gave Fred the name, I wondered if that would affect anything, since names have power.
But WHY are names powerful and important to Namesakes, Writers, and story characters?
If you think about it, that makes sense. Characters in works of fiction tend to be run-of-the-mill and rather mundane/insignificant if the author does not deem them important enough to give them a name. For example, they could probably be killed off or forgotten without a whole lot of fuss. But if/when they are named, then they are important and significant. Readers start to care about them. They are much less likely to die, at least without a lot of fuss or fanfare. And they always play some significant role in the story. Just by having a name they are remembered.
Elaine is a Writer, with a capital “W”. She gave Five of Hearts – a story character who used to be just a number; one of many in a deck of cards – a NAME! That, by itself, made him important and was enough to change him. The writing stuff down on paper was after-the-fact.
Hmm… Now I’m wondering what would happen if Elaine gave one of the Rippers a new name instead of a number. Would that change them? Ozma giving Renge a new name changed her…
There is an entirely different reason why names would be important, though. There is mythology and superstition surrounding the importance of names going back to ancient times. And part of this belief is that to know a person’s or thing’s TRUE name is to hold great power over it, like a witch using a hair to brew a magic potion. Some cultures did/do not even give children a proper name until a certain age or rite of passage, referring to them by a baby name until such time. And folks in some cultures kept their “true” name hidden, going by a common name their whole lives.
This stuff reminds me of a story I read in a “reader” in 3rd or 4th grade about a knight who hunts down a shapeshifting wizard to an island to defeat him. He had earlier discovered the wizard’s true name and used it to command him to return to his true form. The wizard turned into a huge dragon and the knight panicked that he didn’t know his true name after all. But the dragon laughed and said, “This is my true form!” And he makes a dragon snack out of him. The knight’s companion lives to tell the tale, though.
“The Rule of Names” by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Oh! Thank you, thank you!
I’ve been looking for that story title for years!
By the way, I’ve lost my log-in for Strawberry Comics, but I find your insights into Red String interesting as well.
Maybe this means Fred is now a Marked Card.
I just wanted to say that I discovered this comic just 2 days ago and now I’m already all caught up! (Yes, I have no life, or at least, my life is being neglected) I absolutely love it! :3 I almost wish I hadn’t caught up so quickly, because now I have to wait for more. :’( All the characters are just so…great! No one is boring, and everyone has a purpose, it seems. I wonder how I didn’t discover this sooner! Thank you and please keep up this amazing work!
Thanks very much for giving us a read!
I dunno… if I were a magical writer who could change reality, I’d probably end up playing with that more than I should…
“And a chicken appeared in the living room! It offered us magic powers and a tuna sandwich.”
Yeah, yeah, so too much change is bad. But chickens? Chickens are another thing altogether.
I’m just a little concerned that our dear Fred, might not really be a card anymore… I don’t know how long it takes a damaged card to be “healed”, but in that last panel it appears he’s still injured… *ominous music*
Oh. Ha. Now I’ve finished the archive. =D
Welcome aboard!
Heh. Alice’s now 1 card short of a full deck.
And Elaine has been carded.
Aaaand the card puns start full force. Yaaaaaay…
Ah, yes, but where do they start?
Cut the deck, please.
Oh my goodness! THis story is amazing! I want to know what happens next so badly. Great job on this. How often do you update?
Sirius
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
To give a name is a powerful thing, giving a name for the card may have change him somehow. Awesome!! And it seems that Elaine has bond pretty well with Fred
First time commenter although I have been reading since nearly the beggining. As a ElainxFred shipper….*SQUEEEEE* And now I am done.
Also…Elaine’s Writer powers are impressive, even untrained. I have to wonder if just anyone gave him a name if it would have worked.
All right I have read this word shipper and I have no clue what it means could someone come up with a definition for this out of the loop old lady. Every time I read it I imagine someone who works for ups.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shipper
Here you are :3
It’s a take on the word relationship. So shippers are people pushing for a particular relationship. I’m just surprised no one has started renaming them yet. Like Freelaine. Or Emmrick. Oh, damn, now it started…
Well I call it Emmick, so…
“ship” is an abreviation for “relationship” used by fans of a show/comic/book on the internet. Shipping means that you are currently smitten by the love story or the potential love story. A shipper is a person who appreciates the relationship or “ships” them. It can be used as a noun of a verb. Exemple : verb – “I ship Romeo and Juliet! It’s sooooo tragic!” noun – “This Romeo and Juliet ship is crazy, don’t people realize the relationship is based on lust and not love?”.
“ships” are usually named by fans using a portemanteau of both names. Exemple – in this comic, the Emma and Warrick relationship could be refferred to as the “Emmrick” or “Warma” ship.
Shipping a great part of most “fandoms” (aka groups of fans who like the same show/book/comic) and one’s love for a ship is often shared thru fan made art and stories.
I find that urban dictionary helps me out in these cases (another out of the loop old lady). Kids these days and their made-up words.
Let us oldsters reatliate by speaking in old slang. Are we sympatico on this? Because that would be really gear.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#youngunpowers
#diminishing
#fml
And then they found out Elaine gave him a soul.
Just wanted to squak about finding a namesake advertisement on DA xD
I saw it too! I screencapped it.
so why did they just say ah well young people these days just do not know how to speak plainly.
::stamps away with an old person grumbling noise.:
“and another thing all you kids get off my lawn ;D
Read through the whole comic, sigh. I’d wanted to wait for the books from the kickstarter, but I’m weak…
Hurry Emma, get back to Oz, and away from those scummy Rippers.
The temptation was too great, it seems!
Thanks! Glad you’re among us!
i love how she’s all “no! mine T^T”
Possessive Elaine is adorable.
Fred was a red-shirted ‘expendable crew member.’ Now he has a name, so he’s been elevated to ‘recurring role.’ I’m liking this meta-aspect of writing characters into a story, within the story.
I was under the impression that most Writers only affected the side-worlds to which they were linked. But just like Emma seems able to travel to worlds for which she is not an explicit namesake, it looks like Elaine is able to affect THIS world with her writing. That’s something Calliope is likely to find fascinating and… quite possibly… a bit scary.
Calliope can be a bit jumpy aobut things like that.
Just discovered Namesake a few days ago. Did the archive dive. WHAT A RUSH!
Hahaha, awesome!
I’ve made myself break up the archive readings into parts because the enjoyment was too huge not to take time to savor the work! I am sad I am caught up, and elated too. GREAT stuff!