UPDATE 2! Since this time travel business has been woven so much into the background of the story of the SuperFogeys (and time travel can be kind of confusing), I want to help point you guys towards the right places as much as possible. Some of you are wondering WHY this is happening, and I think this strip right here answers that question pretty well, but if you really want to know the full extent of the WHY, the entirety of Chapter 10 – Bubbles of Light is can’t miss material. I’m also going to point you towards Jerry’s origin, which shows some of the events of Chapter 10 from a slightly different perspective starting here. Hope that helps!
UPDATE! Link to SF 107 now fixed.
Want to know where Swifty went? You’ve already seen it. That’s right, this is the zero point. This is the moment Future Swifty comes from, and from here he’s going straight to SF 107. First posted in… 2008!
Longtime readers know what that strange energy is surrounding Swifty. Those are “Bubbles of Light” and they mean time travel. If you had told me SuperFogeys wouldn’t get to this moment until 2013, I never would have believed you. You plan a story, you drop hints and little nuggets to be picked up later… and you just assume those pick ups will come a little closer to, I don’t know, the decade you write them in, maybe?
But yes, here we are. Now you know fully what Future Swifty was talking about during this conversation with his past self. I gotta tell you, it took a bit of wrangling to make this all work out. You guys know me, you know I plan way, way in advance with this stuff, but plans don’t always work out exactly the way you want and, to be perfectly candid, I had to do a bit of story gymnastics to make sure this moment lined up with everything else. It was fun planting the seeds for this over the past five years, but I’m glad we now get to move on from it!
So, what is next? When will Swifty come back? Will he come back? Stick with me. Like I said, I plan way, way ahead.
Big, big thanks to SuperFogeys artist Marc Lapierre for once again pulling out a double-sized strip to mark a big moment. This could have been done in one, single strip, but Marc gave it all the majesty it kind of deserved. Great inking, great storytelling.
You may have missed it late last week, but I’m now a contributor over at the great genre movie news and opinion site, Geek League of America. Big thanks to Jeff Carter and the whole team over there for inviting me on board. My first piece, “Jedi Are Pricks: How Star Wars VII-IX Can Make the Prequels Retroactively Better” is up right now. I think there’s cool stuff in it.
And so it has begun!
Indeed!
So this starts off the whole Bubbles of Light thing and how Swifty screws up his own life in the process. 🙁
However, now that we know the FULL story of this major story line plot the question is will Swifty be able to come back to the present and CAN he come back after all that time traveling ? 🙁
Also there is the question of WHEN and WHERE Swifty will come back to ? 🙁
All great questions, but why the long face?
I just worried and hope that WHEN Swifty returns from his time-traveling adventure, I hope he realizes just how Screwed up his life is becuase of this.
I’m kind of curious though… I did know it WOULD happen, but I still don’t know WHY it happened! Or have I missed something?
I’ve updated my comments below the strip to address this question. Hopefully the links will provided will tell you what you need to know!
Is the red-glowy thing around Jerry’s hands a new power or is that what making holes looks like in slow motion?
Not a new power, it’s something we’ve seen before back in Chapter 7 when the Third Man “killed” Tom. As to the nature of that power… if you go back a little ways in this very chapter, you might notice Spy Gal discovered some blueprints in Dr. Klein’s desk that explain pretty much everything.
so umm.. WHY does the link to SF 107 take us to geek league of america?
I wondered about that, too…the Pixar comic heroes article wasn’t really that interesting.
Sorry, fixed.
Just FYI – the link to “SF 107” actually goes to the Geek League of America page.
Not being a hater – just letting ya know.
Thanks. All fixed up now.
Hyper time jump 1. Now we wait until we see the body for reverse time jumping for speedy.
Body?
So…does Mega Matt become the story’s deus ex machina?
Mega Matt… you guys gotta let that guy go.
Mega Matt!! Never forget!! 🙂
Geez…
Ok… Starting here, this is Swifty’s entire journey through time as well as I can make it out:
http://superfogeys.com/2007/03/04/107-bubbles-of-light-1/
http://superfogeys.com/2008/11/25/182-someone-steps-forward-bubbles-of-light-3/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/10/17/355-bubbles-of-light-6/
http://superfogeys.com/2009/06/25/213-bubbles-of-light-4/
http://superfogeys.com/2009/05/12/sf-origins-the-society-of-heroes-pg-13-what-are-you-doing-here/
http://superfogeys.com/2009/05/19/sf-origins-the-society-of-heroes-pg-14-save-him-dirtlicker/
http://superfogeys.com/2009/05/26/sf-origins-the-society-of-heroes-pg-15-dude/
http://superfogeys.com/2009/06/23/sf-origins-the-society-of-heroes-pg-19-did-you-save-him/
http://superfogeys.com/2009/06/30/sf-origins-the-society-of-heroes-pg-20-he-was-a-noncombatant/
http://superfogeys.com/2009/07/07/sf-origins-the-society-of-heroes-pg-21-sayonara-sucker/
http://superfogeys.com/2012/02/27/390-bubbles-of-light-7/
http://superfogeys.com/2013/02/25/483-bubbles-of-light-8/
http://superfogeys.com/2009/08/06/219-bubbles-of-light-5/
http://superfogeys.com/2010/08/17/sf-origins-baby-swiftys-first-words-pg-1-back-to-start/
http://superfogeys.com/2010/08/23/sf-origins-baby-swiftys-first-words-pg-2-preposterous/
http://superfogeys.com/2010/10/28/282-mucking-with-space-and-time/
http://superfogeys.com/2010/11/04/283-future-or-past/
http://superfogeys.com/2010/11/11/284-pairing-off/
http://superfogeys.com/2010/12/23/290-too-much-sun/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/01/13/291-ear-cancer/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/01/20/292-everything-was-chaos/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/01/27/293-good-actor/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/03/23/301-hmph/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/03/28/302-dont-remember-any-of-this/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/04/13/307-t-magus/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/04/18/308-time-displacederasedno-taste/
http://superfogeys.com/2011/04/20/309-time-travelin-scamps/
Not quite sure where this on fits, because it comes after Swifty realises he is time travelling, but before he loses his mask, http://superfogeys.com/2008/08/28/158-bubbles-of-light-2/
Whoa! Somebody has been doing their homework. I approve this order.
That kind of work deserves a reward, so here you go: Bubbles of Light 2 takes place before Swifty loses his mask, yes, but also AFTER he loses his walker. So… there’s a Bubbles of Light yet to be seen. As it is right now, I’d place 2 after 3 in the timeline. Which means the missing Bubbles would have to go between 2 and 6.
Seriously though, this list is awesome.
Oh, Marc, Jerry’s “crazy” face in the central panel is a work of genius. Absolutely brilliant. I’d like to have it as a mural on my living room wall but I don’t think my landlord would appreciate it. So Swifty had to be contrary and not snatch the power crystal to get catapulted through time so I could be right for once? Vexatious little man. Just to clarify since there seems to be some confusion going around, Swifty’s time travel is the result of his and Jerry’s powers interacting – his super speed and Jerry’s portals – correct?
Actually, the bubbles of light are caused by that temporal Psyciatrist. Now, I dont believe for an INSTANT that someone with that power makes a mistake and grabs the wrong swifty, especially one from a future point in time. Lets face it, it would have been More likely if she grabbed a swifty from say… the day he moved into valhalla? No.. She KNEW she was getting the right one, because she knew what jerry had done (going to do? was going to about to do?) Either way, Id be more inclined to believe this bubbles of time travel waws because swifty is meant to fix this stuff in the past.
Spoiler alert! Swifty helps Soviet Sam get in the past, inturrupts himself from killing money man, thwaps himself upside the head, and brings mega matt back home to the present. Money Man helps direct Jerry to ebcoming a hero and not what he is now. Meanwhile, these changes cause the 5-finger universe to revert to one where money man dies, causing all this you seen happen in that universe. Our money man finds out adn goes there to warn them, and maybe try to fix it. The swifty of that universe helps Soviet Sam get in the past, inturrupts himself from killing money man, thwaps himself upside the head, and brings mega matt back home to the present. Money Man helps direct Jerry to ebcoming a hero and not what he is now. Meanwhile, these changes cause tour universe to revert to one where money man dies, causing all this you seen happen in this universe. The five finger money man finds out adn goes there to warn them, and maybe try to fix it. The swifty of tthis universe ……………….
My head is spinning, but Valareos is essentially correct as to the cause. Blame Gina Holloway.
Ahh, so when magical space-time what-her-chick tried to pull Younger swifty out of the past, she unintentionally sling-shotted him accrossed history?
That is what she indicated, correct.
>>Sue, no, wait, this is what I wanted to write the first post foorgt a key word: awesome. Sheesh! xoxoSue, you are so gosh darn talented! I love your blog. Congratulations on such an inviting and clever design, which supremely showcases your as-per-usual awesome content. Keep up the great work. Love, Terri
What? No! This can’t be the end of the archives! It just can’t be!
Welcome aboard! It’s not quite the end as there are more strips coming next week. Also, there’s a whole slew of SuperFogeys Origins pages that deepen the story. Several key characters even made their debut there. Have you seen ’em?
In any case, glad you dig SF!
[…] got–well, his return was already planned for this moment. The last time we saw Swifty was in “Bubbles of Light 0.” An important SF strip if there ever was one. The Bubbles of Light, in case you don’t already […]