Oh, there were plenty of clues that he’s more than just a janitor, but none of them actually pointing to him being the head. And there have also been clues that imply that he’s not the head.
Or maybe he really can cloud men’s minds. And women’s. And dog’s. And black nanite goop posing as a zombie’s. Although that last one might not be necessary.
At least for me, it never crossed in my mind that Shelby *is* Mr. Green.
Usually in stories, someone who act suspicious rarely the mastermind themselves. At most they are the dragon or co-conspirator. Usually people in Mr. Green position will be someone entirely new, or someone we know but we never pay attention or suspect. For example like… Ira.
There’s definitely something up with Shelby, but he couldn’t be Mr. Green. We saw Shelby talking on the phone reporting to his shadowy superiors (at least that’s how it looked). Unless of course there’s someone even higher up that Mr. Green reports to.
While we do only strictly know that he’s driving Mr. Green’s car, this is pretty indicative that he’s the real deal. He might be just reporting to co-conspirators rather than higher-ups in that strip, after all. We’ve seen him in a lot of questionable locations, as well, like with the crystals, or the safehouse.
Or, he slid over to exit close to them, all friendly-like. Or just the Empress’ artistic choice, correct as always… I doubt a second person in the car; the Scoobs saw “him” coming…
Good points, these. Come to think of it, what little we’ve seen of Mr. Green in past arcs had light skin, although that doesn’t mean much, in light of the Violet Bee drone.
Looking back at that, there’s no indication that he’s talking to superiors. He didn’t call whoever was on the other end of that line ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’, for example.
He got out of the passenger side. Not sure if that means it’s a self-flying car, he has a pilot, or he’s actually just an assistant and Mr. Green’s still at the wheel.
Or Mr. Green isn’t even in the car but Mr. Green needed Shelby moved quickly and so sent his own car and driver. (I’ve seen the same thing done in real life with a personal jet when a guy’s M&A lawyer was needed on short notice while on vacation.)
Still, Silverstein is Green? He must be a Slytherin. . . .
Or maybe Shelby is from a part of the country where they say “Coke” to mean Pepsi, ginger ale, 7Up, etc.
Besides, it’s Unity, you can’t expect civilized behavior.
I could be off the mark, but my guess is that from here, the tone changes, the drawing style becomes more realistic, and Shelby is given the Alex Rackley treatment over the next 40 strips supplemented with footnotes from psychological studies of torture victims.
Okay, yesterday’s theory failed. So. Shelby is still not Mr. Green – and has only pretended to be a bad guy. He’s reporting to someone, but not necessarily someone bad. And for me, someone tricky, and not necessarily bad will always be the lamented and not-necessarily late Gavotte. You guys just wait – someday one of my theories will be right, and then you’ll all be sorry.
More like Chekhov’s gun went off with a pop and a fizzle. But at least it went off.
It would seem that Shelby does indeed have more to do with the shadow gov than just being the janitor. He’s always seemed to know too much. Then again, the janitor is sometimes portrayed as knowing a lot more than pretty much anyone else in an organization. (See: the crazy guy in the tunnels in Die Hard 2)
And it’s possible that Mr. Green knew the kids would be there (he’s shown signs of prescience in the past), so he arranged for Shelby to take the car instead of himself. And really, what janitor would turn down the chance to drive a flying car?
One thing that may be relevant: his surname is Silvers. Also a color-name like Green, Violet, Ao, and Gold(bug).
And we’ve had references in the strip to _The Westing Game_, where (spoilers) similar patterns in certain characters’ names are clues that they’re the same person.
DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!
…Sorry.
Thank you for not using Dramatic Groundhog
Quelle surprise.
…Well then.
Unity’s mind is not so much clouded as mired.
Mired, muddied, and surrounded by mirrors.
And don’t forget the Willie Nelson posters. Yet another reason I’m convinced that Unity got some of Mell’s DNA.
This is really taking Almighty Janitor and running with it.
Well, so much for my “It’s the security guard” theory! ^o^
The butler did it!
You know, we all know he is suspect but THIS, is totally not what expected…
Agreed. I always thought he was working for Gavotte, feeding her info while she’s (they’re?) on sabbatical.
Figured this would have to happen at some point.
Credit where credit is due, I genuinely was not expecting that.
I’m re-reading the Skinhorse series, and there are clues that we all seem to have missed.
Oh, there were plenty of clues that he’s more than just a janitor, but none of them actually pointing to him being the head. And there have also been clues that imply that he’s not the head.
Wait, didn’t we already see Mister Green’s real face at some point? Like, not his face face, but the back/side of his head?
… Or at least his arms as they rested on his Evil Chair?
Huh.
Maybe that was a decoy. Or maybe this guy is a decoy.
Or maybe he really can cloud men’s minds. And women’s. And dog’s. And black nanite goop posing as a zombie’s. Although that last one might not be necessary.
I think that was in the VR?
We saw his hand in the beginning of Mixed-Up Files. And it was a Caucasian hand, so not Shelby.
Eh, Shelby was one of my prime suspects. Something’s clearly been up with him, ever since “Can’t Catch Me.”
Gah. This was supposed to be in response to Otakubouzu..
At least for me, it never crossed in my mind that Shelby *is* Mr. Green.
Usually in stories, someone who act suspicious rarely the mastermind themselves. At most they are the dragon or co-conspirator. Usually people in Mr. Green position will be someone entirely new, or someone we know but we never pay attention or suspect. For example like… Ira.
…that impossible, right?
Not impossible to me (although I forgot his name and just kept thinking of him as the security guard.). ^_^
There’s definitely something up with Shelby, but he couldn’t be Mr. Green. We saw Shelby talking on the phone reporting to his shadowy superiors (at least that’s how it looked). Unless of course there’s someone even higher up that Mr. Green reports to.
http://skin-horse.com/comic/authoritatively/
While we do only strictly know that he’s driving Mr. Green’s car, this is pretty indicative that he’s the real deal. He might be just reporting to co-conspirators rather than higher-ups in that strip, after all. We’ve seen him in a lot of questionable locations, as well, like with the crystals, or the safehouse.
No, he’s a passenger in Mr. Green’s car. If it’s road-legal in America, the controls are on the other side.
I didn’t even notice that. I’m used to everthing being right-hand drive.
It could be an import from some right-hand-drive land like England or Japan.
Or, he slid over to exit close to them, all friendly-like. Or just the Empress’ artistic choice, correct as always… I doubt a second person in the car; the Scoobs saw “him” coming…
And it occurs to me that while the kids saw who they believe is Mr. Green approaching the car before they hid in the trunk,
1) That doesn’t mean that it was Mr. Green, and
2) Even if it was Mr. Green that they saw, that doesn’t mean that he actually got into that car.
“Remember your three O’s: Obscure, Obfuscate, and Obliterate.”
Good points, these. Come to think of it, what little we’ve seen of Mr. Green in past arcs had light skin, although that doesn’t mean much, in light of the Violet Bee drone.
Looking back at that, there’s no indication that he’s talking to superiors. He didn’t call whoever was on the other end of that line ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’, for example.
He got out of the passenger side. Not sure if that means it’s a self-flying car, he has a pilot, or he’s actually just an assistant and Mr. Green’s still at the wheel.
Or Mr. Green isn’t even in the car but Mr. Green needed Shelby moved quickly and so sent his own car and driver. (I’ve seen the same thing done in real life with a personal jet when a guy’s M&A lawyer was needed on short notice while on vacation.)
Still, Silverstein is Green? He must be a Slytherin. . . .
How dare you offer pepsi to someone asking for a coke! D:
Well, when it’s all you’ve got, you offer it. And if you’re thirsty enough, you’ll drink just about anything… even Pepsi.
Or maybe Shelby is from a part of the country where they say “Coke” to mean Pepsi, ginger ale, 7Up, etc.
Besides, it’s Unity, you can’t expect civilized behavior.
It’s Unity… You can expect uncivilized behaviour. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t expect civilized behaviour.
Ha, I knew it! Wait, no didn’t
Huh. I always figured it was Ira.
I just thought he was the janitor who really liked the cobras.
Too many Skin Horse revelations. Mind overwhelmed. Must be taken away now. Situation much too revelatory.
I could be off the mark, but my guess is that from here, the tone changes, the drawing style becomes more realistic, and Shelby is given the Alex Rackley treatment over the next 40 strips supplemented with footnotes from psychological studies of torture victims.
Okay, yesterday’s theory failed. So. Shelby is still not Mr. Green – and has only pretended to be a bad guy. He’s reporting to someone, but not necessarily someone bad. And for me, someone tricky, and not necessarily bad will always be the lamented and not-necessarily late Gavotte. You guys just wait – someday one of my theories will be right, and then you’ll all be sorry.
Well, that Chekhov’s gun went off with a bang.
Maybe he was just taking Mr. Green’s car into the Evil Government Garage to get the “trunk is open” light fixed?
More like Chekhov’s gun went off with a pop and a fizzle. But at least it went off.
It would seem that Shelby does indeed have more to do with the shadow gov than just being the janitor. He’s always seemed to know too much. Then again, the janitor is sometimes portrayed as knowing a lot more than pretty much anyone else in an organization. (See: the crazy guy in the tunnels in Die Hard 2)
And it’s possible that Mr. Green knew the kids would be there (he’s shown signs of prescience in the past), so he arranged for Shelby to take the car instead of himself. And really, what janitor would turn down the chance to drive a flying car?
Wait a minute. Is that car he was flying a Shelby Cobra?
No, no, no… The Shelby Cobras are all at the Jersey safehouse.
…..oh, wait… different cobras. Nevermind.
Judging from Google Images, no. But I’m betting the authors are kicking themselves now.
Hi Mr Green!
One thing that may be relevant: his surname is Silvers. Also a color-name like Green, Violet, Ao, and Gold(bug).
And we’ve had references in the strip to _The Westing Game_, where (spoilers) similar patterns in certain characters’ names are clues that they’re the same person.
You realize that was all covered already in the following day’s comments?
Unity is clearly just trying to see if the offer will trigger a soda commercial identity reveal.