58 thoughts on “Chapter 5: Lit, page 119.”

  1. You know, it’s funny. I would have expected that line from Reagan, Curio, even Moze (though not delivered to Bill).

    Did not see it coming from Patti. Well played, Spike, well played.

  2. I so would not have taken Patti as the ‘kickin’ flaming oxygen tanks off the roof’ type at the beginning of this chapter. Goodness, I might be developing a crush. :P

      1. I think this is also her in Panel 2 – it’s just kind of a cap that she keeps on with her goggles – you can see it starts to kind of fall throughout the panels.

  3. Yipes, did not expect the last line! Wondering if they are together or if he’s cheating on his wife/partner/girlfriend. Quite an age difference!

    1. WHOA. I doubt they are together. I think she’s just the type for whom sex is a thing, enjoyed but detached from relationship. If she actually talked to Ben, she’d probably offer within the first 3 hours.

      1. Make it so. Ben’s reaction alone will greatly increase the LULZ factor of this comic.

        Think about that for a second. Templar, AZ. More lulzy. Right?

      2. Reminds me of a line from the Illuminati trilogy: They never made love but he did fuck her a few times.

        And three hours? Try three minutes.

        1. Nah. but only cause the first 3 minutes she’d be staring, all in awe. Then she’d ask him about his work, his background, and any failings he might have since she’s apparently into that.

          Then comes the offer for sex.

  4. Quick Spike! Churn out some new catchy quotable line before “Oh, hey! Wanna fuck me real quick?” becomes a ‘thing’ among your Con going readership.

    1. The Cook Family might not yet be fully developed as a character, but I’m fairly certain that a marketed t-shirt is the exact opposite of something that should exist.

      1. … From the Family’s perspective, just to clarify.

        I mean, maybe some entrepreneurs would make one, but anyone in the group would take it as code for “Hit me in the back with a flaming tank of propane”

        1. Entirely possible for an aggressively-territorial network of True Believers (like any corporation in possession of a profitable trademark), but that also depends upon just how homogenous and cohesive they actually are as a subculture: If Reagan’s and Scipio’s theories are _both_ correct, there is a legit/oldskool/hardcore Family orbited by but unconnected to a variety of copycat groups. The Family might just as likely appreciate the decoys and choose Not to discourage wannabes from standing in as designated lightning rods…

          1. That is an excellent hypothesis. It feels right.

            A subversive group that engages in illegal & illicit actions and whose members – going by what we’ve seen so far – tend to dress rather uniformly while active would probably love for others to be dressed similarly.

            I don’t think it would involve a logo, though. Logos are too memorable. I would think the key elements would be color, cut, & accessories.

  5. Man, at first I thaught Patti was crazy in the adorable way, but now I see she is simply fucked up. My esteem for has pretty much plummetted. Then again, I don’t read Templar for it’s admirable characters, just it’s interesting ones.

    1. It’s like we were given her craziness in doses so we didn’t pass out in shock when we discovered its full capacity. Her face in the last panel is …well… wow. Don’t know what to say? She is teh nutters! Wonder if she has a severe case of BPD or something?

      1. Naw. EJ’d be the one with BPD (what with the very large mood swings between “I love you soooo much!” and “if you leave me I will kill you and everything you hold dear.”) I’d say she’s more fanatical with the cooks and admires Bill a lot. There doesn’t seem to be anything specifically ‘wrong’ with her.

          1. yeah though. for real! i don’t think patti is fucked up. she’s just trying to cheer the guy up. and she’s not shy about sex. and she’s got an interesting type of person she’s attracted to. definitely not even close to one of the most fucked up characters in TAZ ^_^

          2. BPD is Borderline Personality Disorder. @Dotcom seems to be describing Bipolar Disorder, which, though it has a few components similar to BPD, is nevertheless an entirely different sack of fish.

            Either way, I don’t think Patti suffers from either. Having a casual attitude toward sex certainly doesn’t signify psychological disorder.That’s quite a Victorian mentality.

            Unlike @Dotcom & @myles, I don’t see Patti as being that crazy at all. I don’t think we’ve seen enough of the Cooks to judge their motives. In fact, I suspect I’d agree with quite a bit of their philosophy. And I certainly don’t think a casual attitude to sex is at all crazy, it’s how I’ve lived a large portion of my life. As for her being emotionally attracted toward, shall I say, ‘damaged goods’, that’s another I can easily relate with. I’m just as guilty as she is.

            Wow, running through this list, I’m realizing I have a lot in common with her!

    2. Also, someone up there a poster mentioned that that we only got Patti’s craziness in small doses. Just like a real person–we see bits of her unfold, and get caught up and charmed by her personality before we see who she’s aligned with. YOU ARE SO GOOD WITH PACING AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

  6. Aww.HELL.Yeah. Cooks and Jakes, Patti and Reagan, diets of stealthy vs. shameless provocations, that last panel just brings it full circle, although Reagan’s last-panel outburst is still better: http://templaraz.com/?p=89

    Also: HOW DO I PREORDER A COOKS T-SHIRT NOW NOW NOW (any color but black plz)
    “…spoiling your broth since…”

      1. It’s just that I feel gastronomy (along with rigorous, uncompromising grammar) is one of the tragically underrepresented themes among militant subversive groups.

  7. On one hand, it’s good to see the world is internally consistent with its more casual attitude toward sex.

    On the other hand, her asking in such a manner suggests they’ve done the revolution of the biological system before.

    1. I think it’s more the casualness of his response. This clearly isn’t a big deal for either of them. (Nor is it all that surprising, given Patti’s thing for “troubled men” as noted above.)

    1. There were a few more of them at that Rec rally. I counted nine, I think.

      Is Hypatia supposed to be Nile? I assume she is, but the famous historical Hypatia was from the Roman era – died c. 415 AD around when the Library of Alexandria was destroyed, way after Pharonic Egypt and 400 years after Cleopatra. Spike specifically said no Nile person was named for Ptolemaic figures. Was she Nile in this timeline? Does the alternate history stretch back that far?

      1. I’m reasonably sure it’s already been decided that she’s First Nations/American Indian. Not that I can remember anything official on that score, but it does seem to make sense.

  8. Good job Spike, making me like and laugh with a character I would ideologically hate in real life. Your characters are so well-written.

  9. Sub-cultures that never drop out but go right raw into the heart are fascinating before they are pulled apart by the yawning maw of the beast which they seek to tame.

    Also, Patti’s a keeper. Damned a keeper if I had ever seen a keeper.

  10. That last panel seems more like it’s from that story you outlined on Google+ a while back, the one about the self-destructive dancer and the alcoholic older guy.

      1. Who said breeding had anything to do with it? And while Patti may have quirks, she is FAR from “batshit insane”. I’ve been committed, I’ve seen batshit insane. You may disagree with her politics, her casual attitude toward sex, and what kind of person attracts her, but that doesn’t make her “insane”.

  11. Her last question threw me. Didn’t expect that from her to him. I don’t think the sex would have been for breeding anyway. Just to ease tension.

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