And there he is, the mastermind behind the whole thing. Some of you had no idea, some of you guessed straight off. That’s okay, the real reason for this story is the why, not the what. The why is coming. Only two pages left!
The art on this page, as in this whole story, is by a man whose fame is known far and wide in the underground kingdoms of the Carpathian Bug People–Jason Williams! Be sure at check out more of Jason’s work at Realm of Gallimore and his artist page.
Did you miss Wednesday’s strip? It was a big one–double-sized, even! A big moment for Soviet Sam, so I know you don’t want to miss it.
You just had to confirm the existence of the Carpathian Bug Peoples, didn’t you? Wonderful. Do you have any idea how hard it is for us to sneak an execution squad into your world these days?
I’m terribly sorry. But you people… you need to be stopped.
You kind of deserve it. We humans don’t like being lied to, Proffesor “Harmless”.
It was kinda obvious from the start that this was some kind of test for Spy Gal.
But this strip right here makes me wonder about Money Man. In the previous origin stories with him he was very different kind of person. Very non-action kind of guy, but in context of this story he showed some actions. Maybe it’s just the side of him we haven’t seen before, maybe you have changed your view point of him, or Money Man kinda staged everything to look more action like. I’m not talking about the blood or that kind of stuff, but more about him doing physical stuff, which we haven’t seem by this Money Man (but what we have seen the alternative Money Man do, which is one of the routes which Money Man might have gone also in this “orginal” universe). Just pondering.
Could be this is the case:
“Our” money man; the one we saw killed by Soviet Sam, isn’t actually present–this guy is a decoy. The test scenario happens in every universe where a Spy Gal is tested by a Money Man, but in “our” universe, he’s got a body double doing this mission, just in case Spy Gal hasn’t reformed (her will to reform is what’s being tested here, correct?).
Maybe in Earth-Avalon, he really did do it himself, rather than having a body double. In another version of Earth, spy gal didn’t reform and killed the guard. In yet another, she went “antihero” and killed the person she thought was Manny (in which instance there are at least two earths with this happening–one where Manny is a body double, and another where she kills the real Money Man)….And so on, ad infinitem. If you can think of it, it’s happened, somewhere and somewhen.
Ooh yeah also possible–it’s a body double just in case Spy Gal goes overboard with the reformation and tries to stop Manny by herself rather than pushing the alarm for her would-be captors.
I will refrain from commenting, but I will point out this: the entire reason Money Man was killed was because he jumped into battle without the proper training. But he did jump in.
Dunn, dunn, duuuuuuuunnnnnnn!
I went and read Spygal’s origin again and I can’t help but wonder… Did she kill her father during her last heist? It seems to be implied that she did.
Oh, and question for Mister Williams: Will you, kind sir, one day resume your wondrous work on Barwench Tales?
Silly Zealot,
Thanks for the kind words, I still have to finish the Origin story of Sarah the Barwench, so short answer is yes, however, i still do not know when that will be.
I, for one, can wait until the stars are right! 🙂