Mind Control Comics Forum

Coming August 28th!

And we're extremely pleased to announce that, through Plutonian Knight's and Octavia Moon's hard work, Saint James Infirmary is moving to a twice-a-week schedule, Tuesdays and Fridays!

OK, so I go on holiday for a week, pretty much incommunicado for the whole time, and there are seven new SJI waiting for me upon my return.  Not only that, but three or four of them are beyond even SJI's usual standards of hotness.

Then I see this news.

This is beyond awesome.  SJI twice per week!  WOO!   ;D

Thanks to all three of you. 

This is, indeed, superb news. ;D ;D

I don't quite have a handle on the title.  I'm leaning toward this being about  Jacqui, Laura, and Amy, but there are other possibilities (a return to Pearl's storyline, meeting the confederacy of slugs who have Jacqui concerned, or even Zenon or his boss).

Thank you. I know I asked for it and I was hoping that it could be done. Now I find that it will be done.

And since the plot seems to have taken a twist in the complex direction recently, this should move it along a bit quicker.

After all, some of us aren't as young as we used to be anymore!

I am guessing that this also indicates MCC's increased ability to pay them accordingly, which also attests to Daphne's and others' (or maybe just Daphne's) ability to manage things and get the whole enterprise back up and on relatively solid ground.

This is actually what I thought we'd see with the last update.  Beautiful. :o ;) ;D

About the pop-up text, um Amy and Laura don't know Danielle yet, and they're still getting to know Jacqui.*shrugs*

Unless you are speaking strictly in the Biblical sense, they all know each other; check out #78. (Amy is also the doctor's receptionist, so she at minimum also knew Danielle, Laura and Caitlyn before the events of #78.)

They all met the Night of the Watch, but Laura's comment about Adrian is problematic because she's also barely met Jacqui, and her knowledge of the others is not extensive.  Before the Night of the Watch, Dani didn't move in the same circles as Laura or Amy.  She met Amy once in her capacity as Zenon's receptionist (the day of the Night of the Watch).  Laura might be a nodding acquaintance with Amy.  She's seeing Zenon for stress relief.  Caitlyn might also know Amy to say hi, she's been seeing Zenon for a few months--though I still maintain the only way that works, is if Caitlyn has her scale somewhere that's nowhere near any mirrors (she was seeing Zenon for weight loss).  However, the non-SJI residents don't seem to know each other or the Infirmary tenants very well before circumstances throw them together.

Laura's major and her focus so far seem to limit her social circle.  She works closely with Vikram, but doesn't have time for much else.  She knows Amy to say hi Amy is Zenon's receptionist and Laura's seeing her for treatment. Laura actually seems most comfortable around Raven.  They might know each other pretty well if Laura gets her coffee at that establishment every morning.  Amy and her twin sister (whose name escapes me at the moment) intersect with a lot of these people casually because of their jobs.  Amy is Zenon's receptionist, so she's met all Zenon's patients and is probably friendly toward most of them.  Her sister is a clerk in the dispensary, so people visiting the clinic interact with her, but I don't think that automatically fosters a deep connection.

Wait, I thought we were talking about the pop-up text? That's a reference to Jacqui's history as a groupie, which is kind of a modern-day equivalent of being in a harem.

Laura's comment about Adrian seems straight-forward enough under the circumstances. I don't see anything in 109 that implies that the girls have a deep past connection.

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It is a great ep.

I suppose I was struggling with two separate issues.

Issue #1--I guess I don't see being a groupie as equivalent to the sort of harem relationship that the Watch has constructed around Adrian--so I translated the pop-up as referring to knowing and/or trusting Dani (though that's a stretch contextually).

I have no experience in this area except listening to "Behind The Music" interviews with '80s hair bands.  Those clips led me to believe that most of the time, being a groupie was about following the band around, getting swept up in the euphoria of concerts, and then once or twice sharing passion with a member or members of the band being followed.  That's not the sort of relationship Adrian has with any woman, and certainly not with any of the eight.  It might mirror the western fantasy of what a harem might be like, but it doesn't match what's happening here.  This distinction is important because it makes Adrian much more likeable (if not necessarily heroic yet) gives us a chance to get to know the other characters and enjoy them.


Issue #2--Then, I took a look at Laura's comment about Adrian and thought more about it.  I found it odd because she's confessing confusion to two women (like-minded, beautiful women) who she doesn't really know any better than she knows Adrian.  On the surface, asking Jacqui for advice or clarification on the situation makes sense because she is intelligent and more experienced than Laura, but the way they're framing the discussion, it's as if they accept that they know one another better than they know Adrian when that isn't true.  In fact, at least in Jacqui's case, the reverse is true.

I've been accused in the past of overthinking these things--but it isn't spoiling my enjoyment, and I think clarification on some of this, or at least consideration of it might actually help going forward.

We'll put it down to a failed joke on my part, then. :)


This is true. However, I would say that there is some automatic camaraderie between them because their all in the same position, and... well, they are in bed together; there's a certain amount of intimacy there. :)

No shit?

You need to update the description of this forum board -- it still says SJI updates weekly, and now it's semiweekly.

This comic touches on something I've been wondering about -- the girls internal perspective on what's happened to them.  Based on #56 and #58, the original cohort programmed by Danielle (Erin, Mallory and Marliese) know that they were hypnotized into being Adrian's slaves.  It isn't clear whether Jacqui knows this, but based on #76 she knows that the second cohort (Danielle, Amy, Caitlyn and Laura) were hypnotized.  The second cohort, though, does not know that about themselves -- they were programmed to think their feelings are natural.  Presumably Jacqui and the first cohort have an agreement not to mention the truth to the second cohort.

This seems like it would put the second cohort in kind of an odd position.  They suddenly have all these new feelings with very little reason to justify them.  That seems likely to provoke curiosity.  Danielle is in an even stranger position: based on the events in #62-65 she knows about the existence of the watch and what it can do, based on #76 she shouldn't think the watch has anything to do with her new feelings for Adrian, and based on #78 she knows the watch was used on her.  That's got to be an interesting thought pattern: "I'm now Adrian's sex slave, after being hypnotized by the watch that turns people into sex slaves, but there's no connection between those two facts."

Extremely hot work on this.  Love the sense of passing down sexual knowledge from one generation to another.  The only way to completely express myself would be to say that the SJI team rocks in every way possible.

Hope to see more of there relationship in the next storeline. I like to see those three keep making love to each other and talking about the other 5 women as well.

Hey, guys--this storyline isn't over.  It looks like they're just revving up.

mns--It's even more complicated than you think.  Caitlyn, who is definitely part of the group you classify as "the second cohort" refers to Adrian as "Master" when discussing him with Mallory and Danielle--which suggests some awareness of her second level of hypnosis.  Jacqui makes direct reference to Adrian "saving" the girls of the second cohort from Derek's hypnotic control (issue #81, "Performance Review").  It seems that the programming that Mallory tried was designed to make them think of Adrian as a mutual boyfriend, but also altered their perception of what happened with Derek.  It's unclear exactly what they now think happened with Derek.  Laura's been the most vocal about it, but her statements don't match.  She remembers the scenes Derek made her act out, but apparanetly thinks they were voluntary.  She described the weekend to Vik as an ill-advised holiday fling when he asked.  She claims to have believed that the "hypnocock" sequence was just part of the LARP Derek was having them play.  We haven't really heard much from Cait or Amy about that yet.

It's possible that she remembers her involvement with Derek as voluntary. It's also possible that she decided "Oh, was some guy's hypnotic slave over the holiday break before my new boyfriend rescued me" was too much to get into when she's trying to get out the door to a date. :)

People's attitude towards mind control seems much more casual in the SJI universe than in reality.  We'd view it as a serious criminal assault, equivalent to or worse than rape; in the SJI world it seems more like having your house egged.  It's annoying, and not something a decent person would do, but if it happens you just grumble a bit and clean up the mess as best you can.

I'm not sure that we can interpret Caitlyn's use of the term 'Master' as meaning she's aware of her having been hypnotized by Mallory/Marliese.  We know she was programmed to think the feeling were natural, but she still has the feelings.  In effect, she thinks of herself as Adrian's slave and thinks that being so is natural, not a result of mind control.  But you are correct that the second cohort could have had their memories of their time with Derek altered -- we have no evidence on that one way or the other.

Well, it wasn't a pet name.  When aware of it (see Marliese's hypnosis arc) Adrian doesn't particularly like it used in reference to himself.  In fact, this was a sticking point in the new program.

As to the attitude concerning MC...I really...well, we don't have a neutral viewpoint.  Every woman who's weighed in on the subject has been under some form of hypnotic control at the time.

It seems like the comments from all of the second chort in the last half dozen issues indicate some sort of awareness that they are still under hypnotic control.  Look at the comment in the most recent issue.

If you'll recall, they know they all belong to Adrian, love him, and are his sex slaves, but were programmed to believe it's completely natural.

I actually forgot the third of those four items.  However, thinking back on it, I do remember the induction.  I guess I thought that, like calling him "Master" the sex slave bit was supposed to be understood but not spoken so as to maintain the appearance of normalcy and to avoid any awkward hesitations on Adrian's part.  They're trying to keep the programming from him.

I think those things are not supposed to be said where Adrian can hear them -- but if he isn't around, it's apparently open season.  It might have been smarter to program them to never be said, but who says Mallory/Marliese can think of everything?

I think the casual attitude towards MC can be seen in Adrian's failure to file a police report against Derek.  The response to his departure was basically just 'good riddance', but in the real world there would probably be an APB on him for multiple counts of kidnapping and rape.  And Adrian is as close as we get in this comic to a neutral observer.

sweet Jesus yes

Speaking as the author, nothing makes me happier than detailed analysis of the strip. :)

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While Jacqui's immediate comment makes this difficult, I was left with the idea that Dani's comment about "fixing up the other girls" is supposed to encourage Adrian to assume that the watch was used to deprogram everyone.

Adrian's reaction to being installed as owner of the harem is far different than others' in Dani's experience and it could be that it's a unique response, which might explain why Dani was so blunt in the beginning.

The idea that all the subjects of the watch want to extend the harem as part of their programming is an interesting one and one that I hadn't considered.

As to the law itself in this sleepy little town--I'm not sure Wilmot even has campus police and what exactly could Adrian tell them that they'd believe?