Tom Sewell

How do you know he broke a rule? Where were these rules documented? Because in all fair contests, sports or duels to the death, one opponent may not use anything that the other cannot use. Boxers may not use brass knuckles. Racing animals may not be doped. Duels are fought with the same weapons--matched weapons when available, randomly chosen from an identical pair. Jousters must have lances of the same length. In our world, that's the norm - but lots of things that were once titles or jobs are now (also or primarily) used as names. So the same thing could have happened to the term "Magus" in his world. Or perhaps it always was a name. Fair enough. There are quite a few men--and more dogs--named King, Rex, and Duke. But it could still be a title, quite appropriate to someone studying at a school of magic. There's even a uniform. And it has a tie. Except for the magic, I don't think this alternate world seems all that different from ours.

Yes, sparring, and Magus tried to cheat with that potion. It's hard to tell with the background art but it looks to me as if it took place in a stadium, which means it was a regular event. Events like that have rules, and Magus broke at least one. BTW, "Magus" isn't specifically a personal name, it's a title. The Magi were Zoroastrian priests; "magus" is simply the singular of the Latin version. For all we know, Magus' actual name could be Elliot. Maybe the Magus is the reigning champ at what's obviously a magical college. Either this one doesn't have quidditch or it wasn't the quidditch season.

You are not alone. That would be nice, but Pandora has had a few things on her mind since then, and there's no proof that Pandora has seen Magus at all since Sister II. Plus, Magus was basically a total jerk until until he refused to kill Abraham. Pandora might have given Magus that booby-trapped potion to teach Magus a Beauty-and-the-Beast-type lesson . Actually upon further inspection I see four images. The one furthest back, with arms not very far from his sides, are Elliot. Elliot's hair looks a bit longer and fuller than Magus', and he's more heavily built. The other three, proceeding from black to light to very light (why I didn't notice it at first) are Magus; the light and lighter images are partial clones of the black version of Magus, with arms outstretched wide and heat thrown back. Elliot's head is turned down, as it would be looking down the stairs. Maybe we will have three sisters. Or more. Since the three distinct alter-egos are much like different persons, how about six? Seven for Cheerleadra? Eight for the pink-haired girl? The Dunkels may need a bigger house, unless they git Rhoda to downsize all the Elliots.

Anyone familiar with the anime (and manga) Seven of Seven (七人のナナ Shichinin no Nana)? By a remarkable coincidence, it's from 2002, the same year EGS began. Sirleck complained early on that he couldn't take a break from his brain-dead host. However, he had to be invisible to the butler when he left the rich old man who immediately fell over dead because the butler was looking right at the old man. So it seems most likely he has to fully enter the material plane and become visible to its natives just before he attacks. Some character, maybe Edward, maybe Susan, explains at some point that Abberations always have a monstrous form, although some of them can appear as normal humans until they attack to feed. Anyway, whether or not Magus or Magus-Elliot or Magus-Elaine, or whoever and whatever the figure in Panel 4 is, that face looks like the face of someone who wants to kill someone. I hope it's not Ashley. If it's Magus, it may be Sirleck, whom he detests. But before he went back to Sirleck, Magus vowed "Pandora, I will end you." It could be that Magus wants to kill them both, but Magus seems to have some morality and betraying his partner who has helped him so much doesn't seem to jive with that morality, even if Sirleck is utterly detestable. But Pandora, not likely Magus forgiven her; she attacked him only when he refused to help him kill Abraham, and Magus has seen Pandora at her monstrous worst. I've said it at least once before on this forum, but it bears repeating here: I don't think Magus has any idea that Sirleck is sending vampires to kill Pandora's son. Painted Black was pretty darned dark. I don't think this road will be paved with yellow bricks.

The only time we've seen Sirleck's real form when he wasn't possessing a host (aside from a single sketchbook) was when he was about to possess the butler. Dan has already admitted that he's at least somewhat obsessive-compulsive, and he has invested quite a lot of time creating this convention. And at the moment the butler was about to be hijacked, Sirleck was behind him' the butler was still looking mesmerized at his master's fallen body. Possibly the butler was thinking this was too good to be true .Well, the fact that the figure in Panel 4 is framed so tightly that we can't tell if it has boobs may provide some hint of an explanation. Also, it seems to have been Pandora, not Sirleck, who told Magus that the dewitchery diamond was still part of the plan to recover his own body after it had already been used to create Ellen. My theory on how that would work is that Elliot-Magus has to touch that diamond again to split apart. Pandora didn't mention what sex Magus would be when the process completed.

The ability to see something...like Sirleck? Down the road maybe, but how are they going to get down that road? If Sirleck has already possessed Elliot-Magus, Ellen is going to be at least as far out of it as Francine the janitor, maybe even passed out. But Ashley would have seen Sirleck in his horrible natural form. Not a terribly good situation for either Ashley or Ellen, you think? On the other hand, if Elliot-Magus can already see Sirleck possessing Ellen, he wouldn't want to hurt Ellen. So Sirleck might just leave, planning to make a stealth attack later. Or the Elliot part of Magus-Elliot, now with ocular enhancement, might just tear off enough pieces of Sirleck so that the remainder clinging to Ellen would be weak enough or dead enough to remove without harming her. Ellen could then use her more versatile beams in taking care of that nasty Vampire infestation. And I wouldn't be surprised if Dan moves to a new scene, leaving us guessing what happened after this Friday comic. Not happy, but not surprised. So maybe we should all stock up on pitchforks and torches over the weekend.

Using Ellen? How? Sirleck's next move is to possess Magus-merged-with-Elliot. Not immediately. Remember, Sirleck can be seen when he's not possessing a host, and Magus is looking right at him. In fact, by the look in Magus' eyes, he might be able to see Sirleck merged with Ellen now--and I don't think he particularly wants to kill Ellen. And who exactly is Magus-merged-with-Elliot? Is Magus running the whole show? Does Elliot have some control? The worst circumstance would be if Sirleck has already possessed Magus-Elliot, something that lunatic expression in Panel 4 would fit. I don't think either Magus or Elliot has ever looked that over-the-top. But going back to the premise of the first paragraph, Magus detests Sirleck, and now that he has a body, his next move may well be to kill Sirleck or give it the old college try. Place your bets, I guess.

Looks to me like Magus has merged with Elliot. There's a suggestion of that in the three overlapping silhouettes in Panel 3, and the person in Panel 4 is wearing Elliot's clothes. My guess is that Sirleck's next move will be to try to kill Ashley, to leave no witnesses. To the several people I argued with about Sirleck possessing Ellen, kudos. You guessed right. The backstory would seem that Sirleck was possessing Francine the janitor, who was seen earlier in the background of Panel 2 and maybe Panel 3  of #2396 and again in Panels 1 and 2 of #2399 .

http://www.egscomics.com/?id=2419 And we're up in Elliot's room...and Ellen's room. And Elliot did get a giant beanbag chair. I wonder if Noah did too?

First, when Ellen uses her basic spell on human any male, the target turns into a female version but still recognizable as the same person. Second, is the spell really based on uryuom magic? Tedd worked on that gun for a very long time and put in lots of modifications. Tedd is really a wand maker. He can make up the spells he puts in wands. All his guns, watches, and whatever other transformation gadgets he's invented or modified could be mostly or entirely human-compatible magic. Third, the Dewitchery Diamond was enchanted with human magic, so it's reasonable to assume it can only act on curses made by human magic.

A few tiny problems with that and all "Sirleck has possessed Ellen" variations: Magus has to be between Ellen and Elliot. Magus can see Sirleck's true form when even when he's possessing someone. Magus is not going to be OK with that. Helen and Demetrius may not be able to be invisible to other immortals. There may be another Immortal watching Elliot, besides Voltaire. Just the possibility of getting detected by an Immortal should give Sirleck pause. Sirleck knows Pandora is interested in Ellen. Sirleck knows that Edward is interested in Ellen. Two more excellent reasons not to deal with Ellen without using at least one cut-out. Magus already got Ellen to try to zap Elliot. The problem with doing it again has really been Helen and Demetrius watching Just a suggestion like "didn't you forget something?" could bring Ellen home, then "call Elliot out so you can tease him" and then "Why not zap Elliot? You know Ashley likes Elliot as a woman."

Magus can't talk to anyone except Pandora and Sirleck. Otherwise he can only eavesdrop, maybe sense what people are thinking or feeling, and implant urges.

The ZZZZZZZAAAAPPPP!!!! has only progressed to ZZZ-. Elliot could dodge, or Ashley could knock him aside and get zapped instead. Where's Nanase? Remember, Elliot has the car; the plan was for Elliot to drop off Ellen while Nanase drove her family's PT Cruiser to join Ellen.

Only because Grace put Dex to sleep in time. The dragon was aiming at Noah, which means Voltaire was aiming at Noah. But worth trying. I believe I gave at least two reasons why Noriko wouldn't tell Edward or Adrian. You left out farthings, tuppences, thruppences, sixpences, guineas, and groats. Nor should you get into grains, pennyweights, hundredweights, drams, stone, dry quarts, bushels, pecks, firkins, leagues, hands, long and short tons, troy vs. avoirdupois... No, it's just a mistake. Seven inches shorter than 6'3' is 5'6". I MADE A MISTAKE!!!

Yes. It is as I suspected. A reality quake has altered that commentary since the time I read it before. OR You're right again, Scotty, but I still get all the space bimbos.

Would Adrian be the best to protect the forbidden child? His record with Noah isn't quite perfect. Adrian could think it would be better if as few people as possible could connect him with his child. And it is also quite possible that Adrian would not know Noriko had a child by him. It takes many screws to build a crib, but only one to fill it. And it is extremely possible that Noriko knew that Adrian is the only one who would be the father. She could even be the only person who knows.

Wrath. Right. Right? Chew on this: Another Immortal is trying to kill Adrian. Does this suggest all Immortals have warm and fuzzy feelings for the children of half-Immortals?

It could be another reason Noriko is so distant. She may be protecting her younger child/children from Immortal wrath. And Edward "Mr. Know-It-All" Verres may agree 100%. Maybe he faked that seizure when Tedd wondered aloud if his mom had any more kids. OR Noriko doesn't want either Adrian or Edward to know because it would hurt them both, not to mention Tedd.

The other child could have been an infant, or Noriko could have been pregnant when she left. We don't know anything about what arrangements Edward and Noriko may have left; it isn't unheard of for custody of children in a divorce to be divided between parents. Maybe Edward and/or Noriko decided it would be better if Tedd didn't know he had a sibling who did have (obvious) magic. Or, at the ultimate limit of possibility, Edward doesn't know that Noriko has another child. Or maybe not-Tengu said "children" to emphasize that he would kill everyone in Noriko's family, even members he might discover later. Or maybe Noriko did have a child with Adrian, and maybe Susan and Diane have a red-headed sister or even a brother--which would also make them both related to Nanase. Maybe it was Magic's taste for dramatic serendipity that got Susan and Nanase together on that trip to France. Meanwhile, is Ashley relieved or disappointed because Elliot sharing the same bedroom as his sister means it's more unlikely she will be having sex tonight?

You must mean Schloss Dunkel. At least until the inevitable Kittylypse at the mall. A catgirl here, a catgirl there, A catgirl down the hall, That's how we maul vampires away From the jolly old Moperville Mall.

One thought I've had for a couple of years now, maybe longer, is that Noriko might have left Edward for another woman. It would fit well with my theory that Mrs. Kitsune wanted to be Mrs. Verres, and if Adrian Raven played matchmaker, it would further explain why MK is still angry with him.

I noticed something in Dan's commentary for that comic: He got his math wrong. He says Susan is 5' 6". But that was Susan's height before her growth spurt, as noted 137 comics earlier, before the summer break began, when Matt Cohen (remember poor Matt Cohen?) asked Susan for a date.

Yes, popcorn with chopsticks. Forgot that one. So, officially established that Elliot has been to Susan's house at least once. And, apparently, alone. Was Mrs. Pompoms out of town? Maybe her sister broke her other leg. Or maybe the Really Big Couch (with remote control), it's gags exhausted, went to couch heaven where it frolics with the other sofas of yesteryear and the ottomans of old. Or maybe Dan just decided, "Hey, how about a better-looking couch for this comic?" I kind of think they'd want to use the biggest screen set, especially for sacred occasions such as watching the entire seven seasons of ST:TNG (twice), and even Susan would think that having any male in her bedroom alone has certain implications. For instance, what if Sarah asked where they were watching? How do Susan and her mom keep up that enormous pile? Invisible Mexicans? (The intercom plays Mexican radio.)

You know, I've always thought they did the show in Tedd's basement because I think that's where they were when they'd just watched a bunch of review shows. But now I see it could have been done in Susan's house. Or, since the show was Tensaided's idea in the first place and he owns a video store, at the store or in his home, assuming he actually doesn't live at his store or maybe over it. I think the second alternative would fit better assuming Susan's mom hasn't changed her attitude toward men. But on the other hand--when did I grow another hand? Anyway, if Elliot has been doing the show from Susan's place, Susan's mom may have softened her attitude toward Elliot since he's ridiculously well-behaved. She might even be hoping they'll get together because he looks like the safest prospect for Susan. I'm assuming that Mrs. Pompoms wants some grandkids eventually.

Even the Demonic Duck wasn't a throwaway gag. He's even made a cameo in at least one other webcomic. You're in the EU, which means it is at least eight hours later where you are. Here it is 1:45 AM. I am going to bed now.