Saint James Infirmary 273: Desperation Takes Hold.

[Daphne]

Tuesday, February 25!

[Werdna]

Sounds... ominous.

[laguna85]

Everyone down
or the one

[Haight]

Well then.  

Somebody's getting shot.

Also, I want to add that the art has been kicking butt lately, but in this page the shadows are *very* weird.  I dunno.

[laguna85]

someone with hunning rifle with a scope is going to shoot the handgun out of Vikram hand.
Who do we know have a hunning rifle?
Do blame Vikram try take and keep Amy for His wife!

[Werdna]

Wow, Vik's really gone off the deep end here, hasn't he?  Now his delusions have made him think that he and Amy were actually engaged before Adrian entered the scene?  (Though at least the "Congratulations" banner that Alex was putting up last time makes more sense.)

Someone ages ago posted on the forum that Vik's mini-breakdown when Adrian was meeting Laura and he was meeting Kanti back at the lab was a good supervillain origin story.  After 150 issues or so, I've come around to complete agreement to that view.

Lastly - more interesting interactions between the level of control provided by #49 and by the watch.  I maintain that the watch's control is more fundamental, but other forms of control work as long as they don't actively interfere with the watch's programming.  So I think Amy's probably thinking that she could get married to Vik and still be Adrian's, though it's clearly causing some internal conflict.

Last point - who's aiming the rifle at Vik's hand?  Q and Kanti are at the lab.  Erin, Dani, Marliese, Cherry and Laura are at the Infirmary.  Leaving ... Mallory?  Rain?  Jacqui? Yves?  Right now, my guess is Mallory: a) she knows how to use a rifle; b) we last saw her (some time ago now) asking Baron Samedi to show her the face of her enemy, so she might have been told that her enemy - i.e., anyone who puts Adrian in danger - is Vik; c) it seems very plausible that Marliese would call her (of all people) to get her to do something to help. 

I'd be interested in the theories of other, smarter people.

[OctaviaMoon]

Well then.  

Somebody's getting shot.

Also, I want to add that the art has been kicking butt lately, but in this page the shadows are *very* weird.  I dunno.

Hmmm...could you elaborate? We can't improve if you don't tell us exactly what the weird is

[jmundt29]

Okay, I thought Marli was saying she'd be there as soon as she could, but if that was someone on the phone reassuring her, it probably was Mallory.

By the by, how do we know that Mallory knows her way around a rifle?  There wasn't one in the big pile of armaments assembled as a reaction to the hit and run.

[mns_95125]

I doubt Marliese was calling someone to go help Adrian.  How would she even know he was in that kind of trouble?  Wanting someone to help with Cherry and Erin is much more plausible to me.

That said, I have no good theories about who is aiming at Vik.  I just hope he or she is a good shot.

Hmm... wasn't the last thing said in the Q/Yves thread something about getting Vik?

[jmundt29]

Yves wanted Vik there while Q brewed his PC immunity potion probably because he thought Vik would be a check on Q if Q decided to do something else.  Whoops.

Which brings me to the following--If Vik is Blue Gloves (as it seems he is) and his entire relationship with Amy is a delusion (as it seems to be at this point) who stole his notes from the lab and why?  Q doesn't have them, the doc is busy with unnamed other stuff (still investigating his own break-in?), and Vik was leaving the premises with Kanti when the break-in happened.  And Cherry and the Thug hadn't arrived in town yet...had they?  Is Rain's walk around the block with Adrian before or after the break-in because there's a shady looking dude standing in the middle of the street who might be Cherry's Thug.

Is this Marliese batting cleanup in the chem lab as she was at the doc's office, or somebody else?  SJI has a lot of firepower, but I didn't see any scoped rifles on that table.  Could the Thug be protecting his investment so that he'll get a repaired Watch back?

[laguna85]

We know that Mallory is good with a shotgun., she load or clean one (SJI-I 201) on the table
Do Mallory Have a rifle and training?
Danielle have handgun training but what about Rifle?
What type gun training that Rain have?

It may be Julian Pichier be protecting his investment?

Who take shot hope Vik bullet miss Hayley

[GodWilling]

I think the last panel is a sloshed Mallory using her now empty rum bottle as a telescope.

If Vik is Blue Gloves then why Alex and Katie? Why "Anything he wants"? I can see some motive for trying to frame Q but, I mean, he's the one who's suddenly got a harem. That's the very thing that Q told him would give someone away. He even sent Alex out with more Pink Clouds.

[laguna85]

I think the last panel is a sloshed Mallory using her now empty rum bottle as a telescope.

If Vik is Blue Gloves then why Alex and Katie? Why "Anything he wants"? I can see some motive for trying to frame Q but, I mean, he's the one who's suddenly got a harem. That's the very thing that Q told him would give someone away. He even sent Alex out with more Pink Clouds.

All good Mallory with empty Rum Bottle as a Telescope very good!

Vik doing the framing and he more likey be the Blue gloves

[mns_95125]

Maybe Rain is the burgler.  She seems to have ties to all the methods of mind control seen so far in the series.  Maybe she's a collector.

[Haight]

Hmmm...could you elaborate? We can't improve if you don't tell us exactly what the weird is

The edges of the shadows are very, very harsh and contrasting with the non-shadowed areas, mainly.  It's particularly noticeably when the shadows are very heavy (like in this page) and gives Vik's face a weird cast to it, almost like he has black paint splashed on his face. 

Like, I don't mean to be overly critical.  I really like the comic as a whole, both the content and the art style.  It was just really noticeable this time.