Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2012-07-07
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2012-07-07

by shaenon on July 7, 2012 at 12:01 am
Chapter: Railway Children
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Discussion (47) ¬

  1. Sean K.
    July 7, 2012, 12:07 am | # | Reply

    Hmm. I appear to have gotten an early look at Saturday’s comic.

    St. Charlie sounds like someplace that ANTONIO SMITH might be hunting for. And since it’s in Massachusetts, he could team up with NOAM CHOMSKY!

    That is a crossover I would pay good money for. 🙂

    • Sean K.
      July 7, 2012, 12:09 am | # | Reply

      Ah, I see. The server seems to be on UTC.

  2. Shuilung
    July 7, 2012, 12:08 am | # | Reply

    I think I passed through St. Charlie when I was a kid living in Brookline . . . By the way, I am renaming my computer Unity since it now has more replacement parts than original ones . . .

  3. midwestmutt
    July 7, 2012, 12:58 am | # | Reply

    Oh I like the direction this arc is taking already. Sounds like Eureka without that pesky conscience thing going on.

    • woozy
      July 7, 2012, 5:36 am | # | Reply

      Well, as someone familar with the real Eureka, Ca. I rather like the idea of some-one takeing advantage of a similar obiquitos town in Ma. and turning it into a mad equivalent of *fictional* T.V. town.

      Of course, I have utterly know idea what the real St. Charlie MA is like (if there is one).

  4. CthulhuBeard
    July 7, 2012, 2:43 am | # | Reply

    a city so mad it warps readers perceptions, with even a minor description!

  5. Anderson
    July 7, 2012, 3:21 am | # | Reply

    Wait. It’s a city of mad scientists? I thought “thermonuclear fireball” was the accepted term for when more than, say, 50 of those guys got together for more than about a minute.

  6. Andrew
    July 7, 2012, 4:13 am | # | Reply

    What do you call a group of mad scientists?

    • Eric Burns-White
      July 7, 2012, 5:56 am | # | Reply

      A Periodic Table.

    • Blayzeing
      July 7, 2012, 2:56 pm | # | Reply

      A murder.

    • ysabet
      July 7, 2012, 3:30 pm | # | Reply

      A Muahaha of madboys.

    • Saberbeam
      July 7, 2012, 9:50 pm | # | Reply

      A Large Havoc Collider

    • Dave Van Domelen
      July 7, 2012, 10:50 pm | # | Reply

      A Faculty.

    • Scott's Folly
      July 9, 2012, 8:28 am | # | Reply

      An Epicentre.

    • Darkstarr
      April 20, 2016, 12:46 am | # | Reply

      An “Eccentricity”, of course! (And yes, I am a mad scientist IRL, so I should know!)

    • jdreyfuss
      January 21, 2020, 2:03 pm | # | Reply

      A convocation

  7. abb3w
    July 7, 2012, 4:16 am | # | Reply

    …hm. Isn’t that near lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg? Or is it closer to Ware?

    • kermit
      July 8, 2012, 8:42 pm | # | Reply

      Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, yes.

      Pronounced “chargung”.

  8. Kay Gilbert
    July 7, 2012, 4:55 am | # | Reply

    tune: “Blues in the Night,” Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, 1941 (By the way, if you’re one of those people who says “Missourah”—I lived in Kansas City, and I didn’t—feel free to pronounce it “worrah.”)

    St. Charlie, Missouri (bomp)
    Has reason to worry (bomp)
    It’s full of mad scien-
    Tists

    Plus chimera monsters
    That the town council sponsors
    The nightmares are giving me fits

    But now they need Skin Horse
    So off we will go. It’s our mission, we know,
    To improoooove this black site

    Ooooh, we went to Flor’da
    And then things went sorta
    Screwy!
    (Gavotte, she done told us)
    Zombie delegation
    Bad negotiation
    Screwy!
    (Gavotte, she done told us)

    Though Unity’s happy
    Her arm from the Queen has an elbow that’s keen
    But we screwwwwwwed up alright

    • Andrew
      July 7, 2012, 7:33 am | # | Reply

      Unless I wasn’t aware of a change, the city Sweetheart is talking about is in Massachusetts although a Mad Scientist community in St. Louis area would explain a few things. Like the whole steroids crazy in the 1990’s.

      The closest Kansas City has to a weird mad scientists-like is Westport. Which is right next to the rich part of towns: the Crown Center, The Plaza, and Quality Hill. Well, okay, the artist who put those shuttlecocks at the Nelson-Akins clearly had to be mad.

      • Kay Gilbert
        July 7, 2012, 9:43 am | # | Reply

        My bad! I somehow got it into my head as MO rather than MA, even though I know better. But Massachusetts never scans well in a song.

        • Kay Gilbert
          July 7, 2012, 9:54 am | # | Reply

          Ah, Westport. We used to hang out with a guy named Bob Berdella who had a booth in the antique mall there. Found out later that he was a serial killer. I’ll take mad scientists any day.

        • Daibhid C
          July 7, 2012, 2:23 pm | # | Reply

          Tell the Bee Gees that!

          No, really, please tell the Bee Gees that. They need to know.

    • Diane Castle
      July 7, 2012, 4:54 pm | # | Reply

      Forget the MO/MA issue. The important issue is that people who pronounce ‘Missouri’ as ‘mizzoorah’ are just *wrong*, much like people who pronounce ‘Oregon’ as ‘ore-ee-gone’. (Hint: think ‘Diane might have a knife ‘or a gun’. You’re welcome.)

      • JSStryker
        November 10, 2013, 3:04 pm | # | Reply

        I just pronounce it misery!

  9. Shane
    July 7, 2012, 5:03 am | # | Reply

    I have my fingers crossed for “Nomadic Airship City!”

    • Rockphed
      July 7, 2012, 6:46 am | # | Reply

      That would play havoc with congressional districts and county taxation. The government would never go for it.

      • Dave Van Domelen
        July 7, 2012, 10:51 pm | # | Reply

        Nah, it’d just be a federal district like D.C. No state would want the liability anyway.

  10. mnementh
    July 7, 2012, 7:56 am | # | Reply

    I hereby declare this homesite to be under the protection of the United State of mnem. We shall send delegate (yes, singular) to OSHA to petition for… whatever the frell delegates petition for. Afterwards s/he shall address Congress while wearing pants. But no cologne.

    mnem
    Hear now, young State; no harm shall come you you or either of your citizens. I can’t promise anything for your shrubbery, however.

  11. mittfh
    July 7, 2012, 8:20 am | # | Reply

    An entire town of mad scientists?

    I wonder if Mell’s set up a legal practice there? 🙂

    I know Shaenon said it would be a while before we saw Jonah and Nera again, but Jonah would be perfect for reconnaisance… “There’s a 24ft tall weaponised robot down that street… there’s snakes with extremely biocorrosive venom down that street… that street’s booby-trapped with a nuclear bomb… and the creatures down that street won’t *physically* harm you, but they’ll destroy your sanity…”

  12. Bartimaeus
    July 7, 2012, 8:33 am | # | Reply

    Sister city to Xyon? :3

  13. Scott Free
    July 7, 2012, 11:48 am | # | Reply

    Today’s strip reveals that Gavotte may have made a rare error, interpreting the note in the file describing St. Charlie as being in the “State: MA” as meaning Massachusetts, when in fact it means St. Charlie is in the State of Madness. Which, these days, could put it anywhere.

    I still like yesterday’s idea that St. Charlie is itself a sentient organism (in which each “citizen” is simply a cell in the larger creature), as it would explain much about the St. Charlie (well, officially St. Charles) that lies a mile south of my home. Yes, much indeed would be explained… Then again, it it were a city of mad scientists, that also would explain much…

  14. Ben Jims
    July 7, 2012, 1:10 pm | # | Reply

    If this doesn’t lead to more Narbonic cameos, I can’t be held responsible for what I’ll do.

  15. Shadowmehr
    July 7, 2012, 1:22 pm | # | Reply

    A town of mad scientists? I’m not sure if I want to move there or escape to the other side of the country. Will this turn out to be bastion for or against Anasigma? Given Jonah’s experiences, it could go either way.

  16. Loki
    July 7, 2012, 3:24 pm | # | Reply

    Until it is proven to be otherwise, I’m going to believe that St. Charlie is what Prescott, MA renamed itself after the waters rose to cover parts of it for Quabbin Reservoir. The Prescott Peninsula, now part of the town of New Salem, but it only allowed access to the public once a year.

    There are, officially, only the remaining cellars and foundations of the former residences in Prescott.

    But thinking that they actually hide the entrance to St. Charlie is much more appealing.

    Let’s also consider the fun inherent with the fact that this whole frigging town of madboys and girls is sitting right on, or under, one of the primary water supplies for Boston, MA. Heh heh heh heh heh.

  17. jennibrock
    July 7, 2012, 4:26 pm | # | Reply

    It’s probably located in the middle of the triangle of Salem, Arkham, and MIT.

  18. KeeCoyote
    July 7, 2012, 4:50 pm | # | Reply

    Yeah I sensing a Eureka, Eirie Indiana, or even Mechanicsburg of Girl Genius about to go on. or some mind bending combination of all 3 places. Or even the Whaley house in San Diego

  19. Diane Castle
    July 7, 2012, 4:57 pm | # | Reply

    What I want to know is if the streets and buildings are named after historically famous mad scientists and mad scientist families. “Oh yes, that’s Narbon Lane, named after the first Helen Narbon, who discovered how to turn bubonic plague into pneumonic plague… And that’s Narbon Court, named after the second Helen Narbon who…”

  20. Kay Gilbert
    July 7, 2012, 8:15 pm | # | Reply

    Kudos to Diane for knowing that pmeumonic plague is much more deadly than bubonic.
    In other news, the Office of Jet-Pack Suppression is falling down on the job: http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/topofthetimes/features/la-hm-erskine-20120707,0,2175410.column.

    • mnementh
      July 8, 2012, 2:06 am | # | Reply

      Well, seeing as it’s permanently attached to a firehose and has a max altitude of about 10-15 ft, think it’s suppressed enough. 😉

      mnem
      Definitely a hose job.

  21. Amonduul
    July 8, 2012, 5:06 pm | # | Reply

    A mad scientest town in Massachusetts called St. Charles.
    Hmmm.
    I wonder if they’re the real reason you shouldn’t go swimming in the Charles…

  22. Shin
    June 27, 2013, 6:07 pm | # | Reply

    A city of Mad Science?

    TrenchCoat Man away!

  23. SotiCoto
    August 21, 2014, 3:44 am | # | Reply

    I take back what I said on the previous page and re-apply it here instead : Why so many comments all of a sudden?

    • Kona
      October 9, 2014, 2:18 pm | # | Reply

      It’ll come to you on the next archive binge…

    • Dementron
      December 16, 2016, 3:04 am | # | Reply

      At the top of the last page:

      shaenon
      July 6, 2012, 8:21 am | # | Reply

      Okay, the archive is back up! I still have a lot of work to do to restore everything on the site, but the strips will resume updating as usual. Thanks to everyone for your patience.

      The archive went down. Not everything was successfully restored.

      • Dementron
        December 16, 2016, 3:43 am | # | Reply

        That last bit was from me. I tried to add an extra blank line to show that, but it disappeared. : /

  24. Delta Echo
    September 7, 2014, 7:23 am | # | Reply

    Castle Wulfenbach.

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