I get the feeling that may have been self-induced ignorance… Nera’s self preservation instinct kicking in.
Either that, or when she was growing up, her mom just kept saying “you’re better off not knowing” whenever Nera would ask. But now that she’s all grown up, she feels she deserves to know anyway.
I admit, I speculated for awhile that Nera’s mom *was* Mell…right up until Nera and Jonah ran into Caliban in one of the bonus stories and Nera didn’t recognize him.
Yes, Jonah. You know there is more. You and Panoptica both saw it, but at the time you thought you could choose a modestly successful life and be content. Are you still sure? There’s a much lousier cartoon out there for you, Jonah. Your writers are holding you back. Would you like to punch Batman?
In case there’s any doubt, the “much lousier” bit wasn’t a dig on the actual cartoon, but an attempt to make it clear I wasn’t seriously criticizing the cartoon for not going in that direction. Ok, going away now.
Speaking of which, a question for our authors: What’s the best way of finding out about your future projects, once you’ve recovered from writing SH and I’ve finally got out of the habit of refreshing skin-horse.com every day? Maybe you could set up a mailing list for notifications or something? (Please don’t say Facebook.)
I really don’t want to miss out on The Further Adventures of Nigel the Anti-Gravity Ferret.
This was exactly my thought. A nice narrative device. There are so many characters, so many sub-plots that we can’t know them all. Or maybe we will some day. Oh well, we have to find ourselves content with a mere decade-and-a-half of great stories. 🙂
See, that just makes me imagine a puzzle adventure game where you have to work your way through the different timelines until you finally have enough information to make a timeline where everything really *does* get resolved. 😛
The beauty of hyperlinks! The final strip could function similarly to the Cast page, being a montage of joyous reunions, each serving as a gateway to an offshoot strip providing closure for that thread…
Deep down somewhere near DC was a tall machine.
It’s Annex One returning to the DC scene.
There came rogue reporters for an interview.
One was this psychic boy name of Jonah B. Yu
Who never ever learned to read the signs so well,
But he hung with Nera V., so you never could tell.
He was a blogger on the Web, with this mystic crack.
Never could decide on just one happentrack.
Offering advice in the cryptic trade,
Claiming that he helped fix the mess they made.
The people coming by, they would stop to say,
“Oh, yeah, I am not paying for that crap today.”
His vision told him, “Someday you could be a man,
And make out a lot with Nera while she’s in command.
Many people coming from all around,
To see the flying saucer when it’s coming down.
Maybe some day your vision will be right,
Saying, ‘Jonah B. Yu’ tonight!”
Wow, coming back from a vacation and we’re in the final week! Some mystery gives a sense of a larger world, though. My guess is that Nera’s mom is another major player in the world, but one who hasn’t really been involved in either the Narbonic or Skin Horse storylines. The elder Helen Narbon would have been a fun reveal, but as we’ve seen, the Narbons are big on cloning.
Also, I don’t think I mentioned it at the time, but it was really cool to see “Bigfoot!” on the recent playlist! I hadn’t realized Frank Turner’s version was a cover. Not sure which version I prefer, but I like them both.
Though Jonah Yu’s visions aren’t clear, Gavotte tells him “Be of good cheer!” There’s still other stories, of new categories—though Artie’s not thrilled with the beer.
Much as I’d like answers to the millions of questions I still have, I’m perfectly content not getting them if the story works better that way. Nera’s mom in particular strikes me as one where the reveal probably couldn’t live up to the hype.
(I once created a character in a Doctor Who shared ficverse with a Mysterious Past that I planned to reveal as soon as I decided what it was. I then went completely overboard with Mysterious Past tropes, until I realised that if I actually did explain them all, then one way or another the character would become unusable.)
Incidentally, it just occured to me that the story of the secondary characters all hanging around waiting for the main characters to come back has a definite Moominvalley in November feel to it. That didn’t give us any answers and was a pefectly good, if melancholy finale. Although I hope they do actually come back in this one.
awgiedawgie, I think you might be surprised at how many women there are out there who are in their fifties, but don’t look it, and are still in good shape. Also, Mell has had access to Mad Science, and is Evil (and apparently very happy with being Evil), so those things could help with the whole aging thing.
Fair point (and no, I wouldn’t be surprised – I know a few of those women). But if Narbonic and Skin Horse are still running more or less in real time as they have been – with only occasional skips to make up for long-running story arcs – then unless I missed some important detail somewhere, Mell should be only around 12 or 13 years older than Nera.
Gavotte: “You see many possibilities, Jonah. For now, be in this one.”
Jonah: “Er, yes, ma’am, I know there’s a bee in this one. Quite a few of you, in fact. But that doesn’t really solve my–”
Nera [pulling Jonah elsewhere]: “RIGHT YOU ARE MA’AM for cripe’s sake, J, I seriously cannot tell if you’re doing this on purpose.”
Jonah, never underestimate the value of having a super-hot girlfriend who loves you. Many guys out there would kill for that. (OK, probably not literally, but still…)
There is, Jonah! Eventually she becomes a super hot wife. 🙂
On the nose? Nose such thing!
Words to live by. Thank you, Gavotte.
…Yeah, what WAS up with Nera’s mom?
And what about Scarecrow’s brain?
A bit of a reveal that even Nera doesn’t know what was up with her mom.
I get the feeling that may have been self-induced ignorance… Nera’s self preservation instinct kicking in.
Either that, or when she was growing up, her mom just kept saying “you’re better off not knowing” whenever Nera would ask. But now that she’s all grown up, she feels she deserves to know anyway.
Seemed she was involved in something that was not the Shadow Government that Skin-Horse and Anasigma were part of. A shadow Shadow Government?
A darker shade of black?
How certain are we that all of Dr. Narbon’s clone daughters were dissected, save Beta?
Or, even more terrifying: Mell probably has family out there. Somewhere.
I admit, I speculated for awhile that Nera’s mom *was* Mell…right up until Nera and Jonah ran into Caliban in one of the bonus stories and Nera didn’t recognize him.
Nera’s Mom has got something going on.
Yeah, that was on my list, too.
The way Nera says that makes me think she’s referring to a very recent and specific event.
Perhaps Nera invited her mom to join them at The Return but she was called away at the last minute?
“What was up with Nera’s mom?” that my friend is a story for another time…
Yes, Jonah. You know there is more. You and Panoptica both saw it, but at the time you thought you could choose a modestly successful life and be content. Are you still sure? There’s a much lousier cartoon out there for you, Jonah. Your writers are holding you back. Would you like to punch Batman?
In case there’s any doubt, the “much lousier” bit wasn’t a dig on the actual cartoon, but an attempt to make it clear I wasn’t seriously criticizing the cartoon for not going in that direction. Ok, going away now.
Speaking of which, a question for our authors: What’s the best way of finding out about your future projects, once you’ve recovered from writing SH and I’ve finally got out of the habit of refreshing skin-horse.com every day? Maybe you could set up a mailing list for notifications or something? (Please don’t say Facebook.)
I really don’t want to miss out on The Further Adventures of Nigel the Anti-Gravity Ferret.
+1 😉
My first thought is their Patreon page. It’ll still be active after the conclusion of Skin Horse.
+1
Dang, that’s a good question. I have shaenon.com and a Twitter account, and there’s our Patreon.
I can testify that Shaenon is an excellent Twitter follow. Horror movie recs and top-notch sarcasm!
Thought there could be another marriage—theirs.
I love how Jonah and Nera are standing in for all us fans so the authors can use Gavotte to advise us to be satisfied, if not content.
I am looking forward to seeing the last one, and then posting, “But what about So-and-So?”
(I’ve got a theory about how it *could* end, but I don’t want to post that till it *does* end.)
This was exactly my thought. A nice narrative device. There are so many characters, so many sub-plots that we can’t know them all. Or maybe we will some day. Oh well, we have to find ourselves content with a mere decade-and-a-half of great stories. 🙂
“How many possibilities do you see, Jonah?”
“14,000,605.”
“In how many are the plotlines resolved?”
“One.”
Not even one. They’d all have at least a few dangling threads. Like what’s up with Nera’s mom?
I bet there’s one where we find out what’s up with Nera’s mom but nothing else gets resolved.
See, that just makes me imagine a puzzle adventure game where you have to work your way through the different timelines until you finally have enough information to make a timeline where everything really *does* get resolved. 😛
You just described the 999 series. First 2 are good, third is ok.
The beauty of hyperlinks! The final strip could function similarly to the Cast page, being a montage of joyous reunions, each serving as a gateway to an offshoot strip providing closure for that thread…
And, what about Naomi?
Electric Company (childrens show 1970’s)
And what happened with Chuck Cunningham?
We don’t talk about him…..you know why…
It was lucky that Fonzi was there to help.
A lovely touch that Panel 3 foregrounds a single bee out of the swarm.
“I’m ready for my closeup, Ms. Vivaldi!”
Deep down somewhere near DC was a tall machine.
It’s Annex One returning to the DC scene.
There came rogue reporters for an interview.
One was this psychic boy name of Jonah B. Yu
Who never ever learned to read the signs so well,
But he hung with Nera V., so you never could tell.
Go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Jonah B. Yu.
He was a blogger on the Web, with this mystic crack.
Never could decide on just one happentrack.
Offering advice in the cryptic trade,
Claiming that he helped fix the mess they made.
The people coming by, they would stop to say,
“Oh, yeah, I am not paying for that crap today.”
Go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Jonah B. Yu.
His vision told him, “Someday you could be a man,
And make out a lot with Nera while she’s in command.
Many people coming from all around,
To see the flying saucer when it’s coming down.
Maybe some day your vision will be right,
Saying, ‘Jonah B. Yu’ tonight!”
Go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Go, Jonah, go, go!
Jonah B. Yu.
—from “Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry.
Pure beauty!
Bravo.
Well done, well done.
Applause!
Wow, coming back from a vacation and we’re in the final week! Some mystery gives a sense of a larger world, though. My guess is that Nera’s mom is another major player in the world, but one who hasn’t really been involved in either the Narbonic or Skin Horse storylines. The elder Helen Narbon would have been a fun reveal, but as we’ve seen, the Narbons are big on cloning.
Also, I don’t think I mentioned it at the time, but it was really cool to see “Bigfoot!” on the recent playlist! I hadn’t realized Frank Turner’s version was a cover. Not sure which version I prefer, but I like them both.
Though Jonah Yu’s visions aren’t clear, Gavotte tells him “Be of good cheer!” There’s still other stories, of new categories—though Artie’s not thrilled with the beer.
How about seeing the future where you get clouted with a handy chunk of two-by-four?
I expect Jonah has seen that one.
Much as I’d like answers to the millions of questions I still have, I’m perfectly content not getting them if the story works better that way. Nera’s mom in particular strikes me as one where the reveal probably couldn’t live up to the hype.
(I once created a character in a Doctor Who shared ficverse with a Mysterious Past that I planned to reveal as soon as I decided what it was. I then went completely overboard with Mysterious Past tropes, until I realised that if I actually did explain them all, then one way or another the character would become unusable.)
Incidentally, it just occured to me that the story of the secondary characters all hanging around waiting for the main characters to come back has a definite Moominvalley in November feel to it. That didn’t give us any answers and was a pefectly good, if melancholy finale. Although I hope they do actually come back in this one.
Nora’s mom’s a lawyer and delivered Anasigma their new CEO a few years back, what’s there to wonder about?
I thought that too, …until Nera failed to recognize Caliban in one of the bonus stories.
Plus that would make Mell at least in her 50s by now, and I can’t believe that cute little lawyer who delivered Chris and Marcie was that old.
awgiedawgie, I think you might be surprised at how many women there are out there who are in their fifties, but don’t look it, and are still in good shape. Also, Mell has had access to Mad Science, and is Evil (and apparently very happy with being Evil), so those things could help with the whole aging thing.
Fair point (and no, I wouldn’t be surprised – I know a few of those women). But if Narbonic and Skin Horse are still running more or less in real time as they have been – with only occasional skips to make up for long-running story arcs – then unless I missed some important detail somewhere, Mell should be only around 12 or 13 years older than Nera.
Gavotte: “You see many possibilities, Jonah. For now, be in this one.”
Jonah: “Er, yes, ma’am, I know there’s a bee in this one. Quite a few of you, in fact. But that doesn’t really solve my–”
Nera [pulling Jonah elsewhere]: “RIGHT YOU ARE MA’AM for cripe’s sake, J, I seriously cannot tell if you’re doing this on purpose.”
There must be more!
Jonah, never underestimate the value of having a super-hot girlfriend who loves you. Many guys out there would kill for that. (OK, probably not literally, but still…)
But that is another story, and shall be told another time.