Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2013-08-20
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2013-08-20

by shaenon on August 20, 2013 at 12:00 am
Chapter: My House Is Me
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Discussion (53) ¬

  1. palenoue
    August 20, 2013, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    Revised game rules here:

    http://palenoue02.businesscatalyst.com/untitled-13.html

    Should we start a discussion in the forums for the game, or keep it here in the comments?

    • soft
      August 20, 2013, 12:14 am | # | Reply

      Would be easier to follow and keep all together in the forums, I would think.

      • Foxhack
        August 20, 2013, 12:53 am | # | Reply

        THERE’S A FORUM?!

        • mittfh
          August 20, 2013, 3:07 am | # | Reply

          Apparently so – it’s the last tab up top. I haven’t visited it yet, so it’ll be interesting to see what goes on there…

  2. John Campbell
    August 20, 2013, 12:13 am | # | Reply

    It’s nice to see Nick’s casual acceptance of his princess status.

    In unrelated news, my Dwarf Fortress just produced an artifact marble crown named “Lovegrasps the Hale Lyric”, which strikes me as very Tigerlily name.

    • Anderson
      August 20, 2013, 12:20 am | # | Reply

      It menaces with spikes of GROOVE.

  3. Anderson
    August 20, 2013, 12:19 am | # | Reply

    Wait. So *UNITY* is the one arguing for staying on task and getting things done?

    Even on top of the previous character development she’s had, Collodi’s mind-mafipulating-magic..um….something-that-is-a-simile-for-“colouring”-but-starts-with-an-M…….machine…thing….seems to have had some interesting results.

    • Tetra Valent
      August 20, 2013, 12:28 am | # | Reply

      “multichromaticizing”?

    • soft
      August 20, 2013, 9:00 am | # | Reply

      I don’t think Collodi actually “manipulated” their minds. I think he just imparted some information that made the group realize something and their minds (even if subconscious) went “oh snap!”

      As for UNITY, you’re surprised that she’s able to stay focused on saving something that she really likes?

      • Andy4Hire
        August 20, 2013, 11:20 am | # | Reply

        It could be she’s just interested in the destruction and violence. This *is* Unity, after all….

  4. Daniel
    August 20, 2013, 12:47 am | # | Reply

    Oh, Sweetheart. This is why you’ll always be my least favorite character.

  5. pcj
    August 20, 2013, 12:50 am | # | Reply

    That is being TOO practical Sweetheart, turn that frown upside down.

  6. eddi
    August 20, 2013, 1:13 am | # | Reply

    Sweetheart presents a realistic and practical solution. Naturally nobody listens to her.

    • mnementh
      August 20, 2013, 1:21 am | # | Reply

      Like most cynical, disillusioned middle managers, she probably just needs to get laid. Maybe if she switched to Pina Coladas…

      mnem
      Coconut palms are God’s way of marking the habitable regions of this planet.

    • OneUniverse
      August 20, 2013, 9:05 am | # | Reply

      I was wondering why Tip hasn’t fixed Sweetheart’s problem yet, since he’s used his “Super-Power” on all the other females (and at least one male) available.

      • Kristine Roland
        August 20, 2013, 9:31 am | # | Reply

        Tip told us and her in the werewolf story that he was only interested in humans.

      • Rex Vivat
        August 20, 2013, 10:37 am | # | Reply

        Also, his superpower didn’t work on Unity.

    • jdreyfuss
      August 20, 2013, 10:54 am | # | Reply

      I don’t think she’s presenting a practical solution; I just think she’s pissed off that Collodi impugned Skin Horse.

      • Rex Vivat
        August 20, 2013, 12:55 pm | # | Reply

        I’d probably have a similar attitude in her place, actually. Why bother helping someone who won’t trust me afterwards? Of course, later I’d realize that it’s not about Collodi or his daughter, it’s about saving the people that are about to lose their home.

      • the1trueian
        August 20, 2013, 8:41 pm | # | Reply

        If so I imagine Sweetheart is gravely misinterpreting the situation, Considering Collodi’s Politics and the fact that it was a warning for his daughter.

  7. Manifesta
    August 20, 2013, 2:25 am | # | Reply

    tune: “Brave Sir Robin Ran Away,” Neil Innes, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975

    Bravely bold Captain’s Fan-
    Cy Valentine Sweetheart
    She was not afraid to die
    Oh brave Ms. Sweetheart
    She was not at all afraid
    To be killed in nasty ways
    Brave, brave, brave, brave Ms. Sweetheart

    She was not in the least bit scared
    To be mashed by wrecking balls
    Or to face a fusion bomb
    And be vaporized
    To die from gamma rays
    Her fur all burned away
    And her paperwork all mangled
    Brave Ms. Sweetheart

    Her friends bulldozed
    And her mission failed
    And her authority
    Totally ignored
    And her whole field team
    Turned to compact cubes
    And her gonads . . .
    (“That’s . . . that’s enough music for now Kay. There’s dirty work afoot!”)

    Brave Ms. Sweetheart ran away (“No!”)
    Bravely ran away away (“I didn’t!”)
    When demolition loomed ahead
    She grabbed a boat and fled instead (“No!”)
    Yes, brave Ms. Sweetheart turned about (“I didn’t!”)
    And said, “Let’s take the last boat out.”
    Jumping in with all four feet (“I never did!”)
    She told her team they must retreat (“All lies!”)
    Bravest of the braaaave, Ms. Sweetheart!
(“I never!”)

    • Tetra Valent
      August 20, 2013, 9:44 am | # | Reply

      And here I thought they had to eat her minstrels in Alaska.

      (… looking for that strip where Sweetheart wet herself ….)

      • JET73L
        March 5, 2015, 11:35 pm | # | Reply

        No, she ate her Minstrels in Canada. She didn’t have the patience to save them for the journey when she was young, and they’re not available in the U.S.

  8. mittfh
    August 20, 2013, 3:14 am | # | Reply

    So Sweetheart wants to leave, Nick thinks there’s probably a clue to the real princess somewhere in the vault (not that he thinks there’s anywhere enough time to sort through it all), Unity’s aware they’re pressed for time, while Tip seems eager to explore.

    I’d say they should at least retrieve Moustachio’s memory drum – thet would, for a start, given them a clue to the message on the film (not that he seems to have told the rest of WhimsyCorp given SH have historically turned up every year or two on a routine visit – auditing their accounts, IIRC).

    • Andrew
      August 20, 2013, 4:55 am | # | Reply

      Yeah…but do you really want to deal with a second ramage from Moustachio?

      • soft
        August 20, 2013, 9:04 am | # | Reply

        Based on a previous scene with Moustachio switching out memory drums, I don’t think it will actually cause him to “revert” to an older self. The memory drums are not who is currently is… it’s just his long term memory storage.

    • jdreyfuss
      August 20, 2013, 10:57 am | # | Reply

      If you don’t trust someone that has a right to inspect your premises once a year, you don’t keep him out. You spend a week hiding anything he might not like and then steer him away from the hiding places.

      • Tetra Valent
        August 20, 2013, 5:40 pm | # | Reply

        The Vault seems to be just such a hiding place.

  9. Robert The Addled
    August 20, 2013, 4:59 am | # | Reply

    Flash of half asleep this morning – Perhaps the Princess has something to do with the upcoming human/machine group mind thingy that I cannot find the word this early in the morning.

    • Miserichord
      August 20, 2013, 11:37 am | # | Reply

      Singularity, perhaps?

      • Robert The Addled
        August 20, 2013, 5:01 pm | # | Reply

        That’s it – I recalled it myself around 1300.

        Hazards of web surfing that early in the morning.

  10. Eddurd
    August 20, 2013, 6:46 am | # | Reply

    (TUNE: “Walk Away Renée”, The Left Banke)

    Collodi warned the princess …
    Who is she, who?
    Tip, looking stern and grim, says,
    “What should we do?”

     [CHORUS:]
      Let’s run away today!
      Let’s jump in a boat and save our butts!
      No time to sift through all
      The cup that’s in the vault …
      Run, oy gevalt!

    The secret left behind gets
    To fragments blown!
    And speaking of behinds, let’s
    Now save our own!

    The wrecking balls are coming,
    And very soon!
    The Whimsy ‘bots are humming
    A dismal tune …
     [repeat CHORUS]

    • Eddurd
      August 20, 2013, 6:47 am | # | Reply

      Arrgh repeat chorus after second verse why no edit

  11. Dr. steve
    August 20, 2013, 8:21 am | # | Reply

    the boat back to Kansas?

    • OneUniverse
      August 20, 2013, 9:11 am | # | Reply

      Kansas would be too normal for them.

  12. davidbreslin101
    August 20, 2013, 8:59 am | # | Reply

    A little late to the party, but… that’s some GOOD colour. Everything from the bright-but-not-eye-bleedy Whimsy palate to the almost invisible grey of Sweetheart’s fur.

    • soft
      August 20, 2013, 2:34 pm | # | Reply

      Wait, what? I thought she had white fur and what we’re seeing as coloration is actually shadowing?

  13. Dorcus
    August 20, 2013, 10:27 am | # | Reply

    At the very least they should retrieve M’s memory drum, it’s his and I’m quite sure he wants it back if only to have his complete set.

    As for the overarching plot and the skinning of the horse. Well I have the sneaking suspicion we’re barreling toward a broken Aesop, but I’m not sure what the velveteen rabbit’s message was either.

    • jdreyfuss
      August 20, 2013, 11:02 am | # | Reply

      I always thought the Velveteen Rabbit was saying that while satisfaction may come from material comfort, true happiness comes from fulfillment of purpose. It’ not a bad message for free beings, but dangerous for many of Skin Horse’s prospective clients that serve a master or otherwise don’t understand free will.

    • Rex Vivat
      August 20, 2013, 12:59 pm | # | Reply

      Here you go, straight from this comic’s prologue. http://skin-horse.com/2007/12302007/

      • Dorcus
        August 20, 2013, 4:46 pm | # | Reply

        Yeah but what does that actually mean?

  14. FlyingFish
    August 20, 2013, 12:20 pm | # | Reply

    I don’t think Sweetheart is being practical; I think she’s honestly scared, and not of the wrecking balls.

    Of the team, she is the most organized, the most controlled, the most desiring of sanity, and she finds Skin Horse to represent the law and order she desires. Now here is something telling her “don’t trust your superiors, don’t trust your allies, don’t trust those whom you have worked with for years to bring order to a chaotic world.” This information, if true, would shatter her world view in a way that the other three could live with.

    She doesn’t WANT to hear this. She’d rather the whole place get crushed so she can forget what she heard and move on. And here is the opportunity to throw in the towel, none would blame her for “failure” at this point… except her own teammates persist.

    It is perhaps not coincidental that, while Tip, Unity, and Nick gained color from their revelation, Sweetheart remains as monochrome (as “black and white”) as ever.

    • nemryn
      August 20, 2013, 1:25 pm | # | Reply

      Nah, it’s totally a coincidence.

    • Shadowmehr
      August 20, 2013, 7:06 pm | # | Reply

      Seconded. FlyingFish, kudos for your insightful analysis.

    • WJS
      July 9, 2019, 2:12 pm | # | Reply

      Yes, but consider the source of the warning; is there any reason she should think it’s true? Mad scientists are such reliable people, after all.

  15. commodorejohn
    August 20, 2013, 2:05 pm | # | Reply

    Tip wears the expression of a hardened veteran who knows now that there is no way to avoid a therapy-puppet conflict-resolution here.

  16. Saberbeam
    August 20, 2013, 2:55 pm | # | Reply

    I’m kind of suspecting that this will end with one or more of the Skin Horse crew staging a sit-in protest in front of the bulldozers, while Unity randomly hurls 70’s anti-government lines about.

    • Moor
      August 20, 2013, 3:06 pm | # | Reply

      WANT!

    • soft
      August 20, 2013, 6:29 pm | # | Reply

      If UNITY hurls anything, it’ll not be “words”….

  17. Meredith
    August 20, 2013, 3:15 pm | # | Reply

    It’s lovely color, but I’ll really miss it being in black and white. I want MORE black and white comics, not fewer and fewer!

    • commodorejohn
      August 20, 2013, 7:30 pm | # | Reply

      I kind of agree; Shaenon’s black-and-white work from the last couple years of Narbonic to the present is some of my very favorite this side of Bill Watterson, and a big part of the reason I’ve gotten away from digital art and back into ink-and-paper drawing myself.

      But heck, I’m not going to turn up my nose at coloring this nice, especially not with a transition as clever as Saturday’s. Besides, we still have Monster of the Week.

  18. Ogden Wernstrom
    August 20, 2013, 9:33 pm | # | Reply

    Paddle, Sweetheart! Paddle to the sea!

    I did not expect the gag of Sweetheart trying to escape the amusement park on a water ride to qualify as excessively subtle.

  19. Dave
    August 20, 2013, 11:49 pm | # | Reply

    I said it on Saturday but I feel like saying it again: I love how the newly added color gives us a stronger appreciation for the patchwork-quilt of skin tones that is Unity. 🙂

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