Tom Sewell

That we know of, but back in Moperverse October (in Marker) Pandora really, really wanted to give Ashley a mark, but didn't feel it was right. But now, she could find justification, such as she really likes Ashley and realizes that since she'll be close to Elliot, who has been targetted by another Immortal, Ashley could use some extra protection. Also, it is in canon that you don't need to get a magic mark to get magic. I get the vibe that Ashley could have the magic potential in her family. The deliberate evasion of her parents pretending they don't know where they're ancestors came from (but nevertheless told her it surely wasn't Japan, which is supposed to have been founded by a Majo named Himeko.) kind of supports them hiding a big secret for her own good. Plus I'm an Ashley fan. I'd like her to have more than a cameo or two in this story arc. And in EGS, there is no such thing as too much tranformation.

Noah's tonfas were pretty effective, and arguably Grace's claws, which made Damien vulnerable for the first and last time in his life, could do the trick against vampires. And have you noticed how careful Dan is being to tell us that while the events in Goonmanji 2 are non-canon, the powers of Rhoda and Catalina are canon. And it is canon that Rhoda is one of the most powerful magic-users in Moperville now. And as for Elliot and Ellen, their original magic grew out of Greg's training, and perhaps from his own magic. I kind of doubt that they would be useless against vampires. Yes, Helena and Demetrius have quite a number of potential recruits for vampire disposal duty.

Also nice was that the old man not only got changed into a woman, but a woman of color.

Anyone else remember that one of the neighbors of Greg's dojo is an abortion clinic? For a minute, I thought maybe this was a guest comic for With Fetus. What really made this comic for me was the ellipsis of hesitation between "reproductive" and "rights?"

They chose the same entrance because Dan needed them to choose the same entrance. And he was right. This is not any of the ways I pictured Susan and Diane finally meeting. It's a perfect representation of an awkward first meeting between two people who are both carrying a lot of emotional baggage. Taken together with Friday's comic, there's a consistent but unspoken demonstration of how alike Susan and Diane really are. First, Susan hesitates before the entrance. She doesn't see Diane until she takes a few steps forward, and doesn't notice Diane until Diane speaks--likely in the voice Susan recognizes as her own. And what is Diane doing behind that pillar, shivering in a January evening near Chicago, stalling--exactly what Susan was doing, not because Diane expected to meet Susan or anyone else she knew. Notice that there are only two panels in this comic where Susan and Diane are actually looking at each other. Panel-by-panel: Susan still hasn't turned to face Diane. Now they are closer and looking at each other Susan continues to look at Diane, but Diane looks away as she explains, holding one arm with the other. Diane looks at Susan again, but her arms are still clutched. As Susan explains, she looks away from Diane, and crosses her arms behind her back. Neither says anything, and their arms are still in positions showing reluctance. Arms still reluctant, they look at one another and finally agree to go inside. I kind of think Wednesday's comic will cut away to somewhere and someone else, since it's been established that the main characters have plans that scatter them over Moperville. Sarah's supposed to having her not-date with Sam. Nanase is supposed to drive to the college alone to meet Ellen. After dropping off Ellen, Elliot and Ashley have plans which don't seem to involve a lazy movie. Like the previous Friday night, Grace and Justin will be working at Salty Crackers. We don't have any real clue to what Rhoda, Catalina, Adrian, and Noah will be doing or where they will be doing it. Rhoda and Catalina will probably together somewhere. Best guess is that Adrian and Noah will be home. Likely Jerry 2.0 is watching Susan and Diane. Helena and Demetrius could be watching Elliot, or looking for more vampires. Magus is probably keeping close to Elliot, and Sirleck is probably staying close to Magus. Pandora could be anywhere, as could Tedd, Edward, Matt Cohen, the Screaming Girl with raccoons in her attic, an assortment of vampires.... Carol Brown could alsocbe anywhere, but for once, I'd like to see her actually on the scene in time. Greg, perhaps on a date with Vladia? Many choices for the cast of a new scene--and also many choices for Susan and Diane to encounter inside the mall. Or we could actually concentrate on the developing relationship between Susan and Diane as Dan did for much of So a Date at the Mall. Stay tuned. It occurs to me that a lot of you don't really get 'stay tuned." It's from back in the days before cable and satellite and Netflix and home video recording. When I was a kid living out in the back of the beyond in Idaho, we only had one channel until I was in the fourth grade, so staying tuned meant not turning off the TV. To get the second channel we had to put up a separate antenna. And pretty often we got interference from stations all over the continent. People who actually lived in civilization usually got no more than three or four stations. There were only twelve channels until UHF, and markets rarely were granted licences for adjacent channels because of potential interference. If you want more of this, maybe I'll start an off-topic thread. Over and out.

It isn't, but being a really rich obnoxious guy who has to have a lot of enemies and a lot of people looking into his misdeeds for justice or for blackmail isn't the best strategy to hide either. And Sirleck clearly enjoyed lording it over his minions a lot, over and above living a life of luxury. Which brings up another question: does Sirleck have the ability to experience human pleasure? Does he taste what his hosts eat and drink? Does he get anything out of sex? That's a mighty attractive secretary he had, but could he do anything with her other than look? Maybe is having the power to manipulate others provides most of the pleasure in his unending, unnatural, and perhaps increasingly boring life?

If Sirleck could do all that, he'd be running the world after a few generations. By accelerated aging, I'm thinking at least dog years, seven to one. And there's that "no empathy" thing. I think Sirleck lucked into finding a host already so mean that he could take him over without rousing suspicion. However, while I don't buy your theory for Sirleck or any other Moperverse vampire/aberration, I think it's a really neat design for a character, and not necessarily an evil one. Make the chosen heir a loathsome little weasel (but smart and cunning) and we get a gotcha ending worthy of a Twilight Zone episode.

Infinite diversity in infinite combination? Actually a more Yoda-from-Star-Wars way of saying it than IDIC.

That was far from Shatner's worst movie. He was in a movie that was done completely in Esperanto. Shatner's even parodied himself twice. He did voices in Over the Hedge and Escape From Planet Earth.

And Nemesis hardly ever, thank goodness.

You're right. Even I get Susan and Diane mixed up, even when Susan isn't a blonde. Diane has shown no signs of knowing that the three-tailed furry she met at Not-Tengu's fallen body was Grace. But I wouldn't put it past her to have figured that out. After all, Noah realized Grace's three-tailed superhero form sounded just like Grace, but shook it off.

Star Trek First Contact came out in 1996 and Jody Foster's Contact in 1997. If the current year is 2014, the best guess on the Shivepedia Wikia, Susan would have been at best a toddler when either one came out. I did consider "First Contact" but decided to save that for the first Susan time meets a space alien. Except, of course, for part-alien Grace. Maybe for the time when Susan learns about that little detail of Grace's background?

Enlighten me, as I am not completely fluent in text-message-abbreviations and didn't get my first cellphone until last year. IRL=In Real Life? After more sleep and examination of #2403 (which I have unofficially titled Contact!) I have noticed the presence of seams and pockets on Susan and Diane's pants, something I don't think Dan does that often. And I notice that Susan isn't carrying a purse, wearing a backpack, or have any pockets that look big enough to hide a fairy inside, and with her hair bound in that ponytail, not enough room for a fairy to take cover in her hair as little Nase did the very first time Susan summoned her.

I think this is the only time Susan has been shown wearing a ponytail since the flashback in #319.

This isn't something I pictured. Aside from Dan's reference to Suddenly Susan (a show I don't remember ever watching), having the initial meeting outside the mall makes it less likely they will run into someone who knows either one of them while the first one to arrive is waiting at the food court. That is, any mortal people who know either one of them. They may have one or more invisible companions. Geminis means, of course, twins, which may imply a number of things, such as that Susan and Diane are actually identical twins despite what Edward told Nanase. That's assuming Edward wasn't lying, which he's had a lifetime of practice for covering up UFOs, alien encounters, and maybe Elvis sightings. Remember, we all learned in the first Men in Black that Elvis isn't really dead, he just went back to his home planet. But it seems likely that Dan wants to give us the impression, whether true or not, that Part 20 will be focused on Susan and Diane. One thing it can't imply is that Susan and Diane are Geminis. They're Capricorns, of course. But there's another set of twins in EGS, Elliot and Ellen, so maybe the focus will shift back and forth. Does anyone know their signs? You know, if Dan was following Anime/Manga tradition, we should know the signs and the blood types of all the main characters.

Diane has previous experience at lurking behind pillars.

What about color clones that can interact? This could seriously off-foot anyone who thought they knew Nanase's fighting style. In fact, we do know that Nanase was always one of the color clones. Maybe she could already switch between clones.

Hmmm. Well, it could start out as simple as making illusion-clones. Note that the color-clones are illusory but they can act autonomously like Susan's fairies or Fox. Then, control options. Next step, duplicates that have the same knowledge, abilities, and personalities of the original, but fade out or can be unsummoned (explosions optional.) Finally, permanent duplicates--That's what Ellen is, more or less, isn't she?

How about making clones of other people? Perhaps seven extra Ellens?

I don't think Sirleck could possess a single host for decades. If he'd done that, he would have had decades to prepare for his next host. Since he has a vampiric/parasitical nature, Sirleck almost certainly destroys the health of any host over time at a much faster pace than normal aging. If Dan cares to, he could make up a long list of notable hosts Sirleck has robbed of life and morality. Idi Amin comes to mind.

It's a clone/illusion spell like Nanase's color clones. I wonder if Nanase has any more clone spells besides Fox now.

And in this forum, neh?

Elaborating on the theory that the Francine we see hiding in the toilet (she's hiding, not using or even pretending to use the toilet because her pants aren't down) is really Pandora, I'm assuming the real Francine was flimflammed by Pandora so she wouldn't come to work. And there could be another reason why Pandora would want to come to Moperville South today: To see her son. Maybe she's reconsidering putting off talking to him until Saturday (tomorrow). And that would be a reason for her to be hiding in the toilet stall wrestling with her conflicting thoughts and feelings. I wouldn't be surprised if on the very first panel of Friday's comic (assuming it comes out on Friday) is Pandora sitting on that same toilet. Especially if Pandora is still wearing the janitorial uniform. I still say there's a great chance Pandora won't be able to say what she wanted to say to Adrian tomorrow.

That was last spring, just after the trouble with Abraham at Moperville South. And Sirleck goes on to explain that he's busy looting as much as he can of the old man's fortune before he has has to abandon the body. It's still before the last act, so not too late to fire that Chekhov gun. Besides, Dan likes to diddle us about these things as long as he can get away with it. Also, a proper job of showing Francine's possession could easily take two or three pages, and I'm not sure Dan has fallen in love with this character enough for that. Yet.

That was in a non-canon NP. Still, you may have a cookie because I forgot all about that one until I clicked your reference link. Although, come to think of it...