49 thoughts on “Chapter 5: Lit, page 116.”

  1. Yep. Called it.

    And no surprise an anti-Rec scarecrow would have contacts within the anti-Rec (or possibly just anti-street demonstration) Cooks.

    1. there was a comment in one of the books (word of God) that the Cook family aren’t necessarily anti-rec or even anti-demonstration.

      They’re basically massive trolls, doing it for the lulz.
      It’s been a while since I read that, though. Pretty sure that was the explanation, though.

      1. If you were going to be dicks to some group just for LOLs, who would make a better target than self-righteous, socialist Rec? The Cooks are the polar opposite of Rec, so naturally they would pick on them.

      2. I think it should be mentioned here what Scip pointed out in Chapter 2 (if memory serves). The Cooks might well not actually exist as a real group, but any act of “Cookish” behavior (burning down demonstrations) gets ascribed to them, no matter who the true perpetrators in each incident are.

        It could very well be this guy isn’t a card carrying Cook at all but instead is a member of a secret anti-Rec group that is more than happy to let its more publicly unacceptable activities get blamed on the Cooks.

        1. Decentralized power structure, a shifting membership with only very loose de facto “leaders” (if any at all), causing shitstorms for the fun of it, lack of any real stated objective or goal beyond trolling, a large group of “copycats” and “hangers-on” who are often indistinguishable from or integrated into the “real” organization (if that statement has any meaning for an organization like this)…this entire conversation has made me realize that the Cooks function largely as an IRL Anonymous.

          The only major difference I can see is that Anonymous as an entity does have coherent stated objectives and positions, most of them revolving around things like freedom of information and DRM.

          1. If that was the idea behind their creation, then kudos to spike for taking a really interesting social phenomenon and using it to create another, sufficiently-different, really interesting fictional social phenomenon.

        2. Except that he’s obviously concerned about the Cooks being mentioned. If he wanted them as a cover he’d want them mentioned wouldn’t he?

  2. his hair is a different colour right RIGHT it was blonde before i am sure of it
    also i would not have taken hypatia for a cook/cook-affiliate.

  3. Oh, this guy again! I KNEW that early plot point couldn’t have been a non sequiter one off thing that was never to be heard about again.

    What fun!

  4. Hey BEN! BEN! A dangerous anarchist organization is really interested in you as a possible leak! Also the person who investigated it is totally in love with you! JUST SO YOU KNOW

    1. HAHAHA exactly, b/c you weren’t already tense and self-conscious enough… but now I think we can at least dispense with the disparaging comments and admit that, as crushing stalkers go, Patti _is_ very advantageously-placed.

  5. My prime reaction checking this site was simply “Mother fucker! It’s the Cook!”

    I am glad I live alone so people don’t think me too horribly insane.

  6. His irises look HUGE. Maybe that’s just me.

    Also, for no reason I’m upset that people just guessed it was Cook dude and were right.

    1. HOLY HELL Hahahahaha! Not just that comic… I clicked the link, then backed up half a dozen strips for context, then read all the way to where Moze and Sunny saw them on the street. Holy shit I cannot stop laughing at Reagan and Scip. Literally laughing out loud. I had forgotten all about that exchange. I think I truly love Reagan. I don’t know what’s funnier, Reagan outrageousness or Scip’s being utterly appalled.

      “REAGAN! YOU ARE SO COMPLETELY REPELLENT IT”S LIKE YOU WERE GROWN FOR IT IN A LAB”

      then,

      “that was not a mistake. you have been waiting all day to say that. that is the sort of person you are.”

      sorry, i know it’s off topic for the thread. i’m just sitting here literally LOL and I figured I’d share.

      1. Loves it; no worries. As gratifyingly ridiculous as the last several pages have been, I definitely miss Reagan too. Trying to spot a leisurely weekend in advance when I can reread from the beginning…

  7. wait… Patty! The Cook Family are bad guys! Right? they sprayed this gas on everyone! someone probably had a weak chest and had to be hospitalized after all that ruckus. and if they ARE just massive trolls, then that makes them massive uncaring douches. they have something against the right to assemble? F them!

    1. But trolling is a performance art form, especially the level to which these guys take it.

      Don’t be down on the trolls “for the lulz” is a great philosophy isn’t it? Why be down on people who just wanna have fun?

      Up the trolls! Up the Cooks!

      1. Nobody looked like they were having fun. It was dangerous and mean spirited.
        Cause a panic, people are trampled and hurt and traumatized.

        hahaha wasn’t that hilarious?

        I have a feeling that this guy is a better man than that, bc on the window sill he talked about how it was “unprofessional” ad “embarassing” and all that. I’m prepared to forgive him given the right amount of backstory, but not the Cook Family.

    2. MEH. I like this guy, look how they meet: http://templaraz.com/?p=339
      He exhibits disdain for mobs and institutions, but courtesy (considering the circumstances) for individuals. Very Archibald Tuttle, he seems.

      So he was part of inducing a Rec rally to possibly sustain casualties comparable to a respectable hardcore show or epic house party: Do not corrupt interests/governments invariably presume to hold the “public safety” hostage to the absoluteness of their rule? By now it should be clear that TAZ is no utopia and the Cooks, whether performance artists or apolitical activists, are an integral part of this ecosystem.

  8. I think the Cook family might be heroes in the dystopian setting of Templar though? I mean making it so every demonstration turns into a violent one is sort of a heroic act in a setting that may be ruled be corrupt as hell people. We don’t have a lot of background on the States, but simply from the current changes to the world we know of (Australian Civil War, the fact that Soviet style worker communes are still around, (which at least implies that the USSR didn’t happen because if it had it would be way harder to convince people to join collectives) the Jake’s kin, etc..) we know the world is greatly different. Easiest way to get people to rise up is to make the conditions for complacency untenable.

    Probably the Cook folks are dicks though. I thought Mesmer was a righteous dude until he went through Gene’s stuff though, so what do I know.

      1. I think the assumption is riot paint, which could make sense except for Spike specifically mentioning on Google+ when she forgot to upload the version with the birthmark in “Oops, I forgot the birthmark”. Either that’s a case of grade-A doublethink, or it’s a birthmark.

        1. If it had been riot paint, I think we would have seen Valentine giving Hypatia crap about it while he was giving her crap about the kind of guys she liked.

    1. Spike’s already confirmed a couple times that it’s a port wine stain birthmark. …Not that that sounds stalkerish or anything.

    1. It would explain her fascination with people carrying on double lives if she’s carrying on a double life herself.

  9. Is he really that worried about this? I’m not even sure what he thinks the problem is. Then again, if I was a member of a secret society, I’d be paranoid about any attention that was brought on me that I didn’t make myself.

    NOTE: If you go to SPXPO and see Spike’s name in the program, she’s not actually there! I was surprised, and then disappointed. But the table it listed her at was next to another of my favorite comics, so I GUESS I was OK with it.

    1. Definite resemblance but scruffier. Some WMGs:
      Claudius is his public persona. After all who would suspect someone that Awful Lawful to be a member of the anarchist Cooks?
      He’s Claudius’ Chaotic Twin
      Claudius has a split personality.

  10. dang, patti is a pretty cool customer when she’s out of shouting distance of a certain vertically challenged copybook author

  11. Makes you wonder how much of Patti’s apparent infatuation for Ben was just an act to coax information out of Val.

    Consider Patti’s range of emotion in panels two and three of this page: http://templaraz.com/?p=1725

    Is that joy from seeing Ben? Not necessarily. It could be the laughter many experience after deceiving someone. It isn’t an unheard of response. Additionally after this burst of joy/laughter she goes on immediately to inform Bill of her findings in the copyshop. Perhaps the whole ordeal was just a fact finding mission.?

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