MAY IS HERE!!! FANTASY GOODNESS COMES OUR WAY!!!
Patrons voted for dragons, so …
As for this comic…
This section of the story arc definitely sets the record for the longest stretch with zero appearances from the main cast. They’ll be coming into the equation soon, but for now it’s been an extended vacation from the Puck family. Certainly confusing for new readers, though thankfully this webcomic stopped getting any new readers about ten years ago, so I don’t have to worry about that!
Hey! I resent that last remark in “about this comic”. I’ve only been reading since 2016 X)
Ooh, a “new” reader! Hope you like what you see, stranger!
I approve, but she doesn’t need censoring as far as I am concerned…the tears of pearl clutchers is essential to my coffee.
She’s not the one that’s censoring.
Oh yeah. I like the new definition of “Dragon Lady.”
I keeps it fresh, I does.
FRESH? FRESH?
Side, if you keep that up, and I hope you do, you may end up getting a visit from Will Smith.
Wow, talk about having some choice words and also congratulations on reaching 700 comics of Puck.
Thanks! We aim for high numbers here.
With this page, you have achieved a Prime Number…
B-dum tsh!
It’s fairly clear being the devil is purely Aesthetic for him and he has no powers whatsoever.
You noticed.
Damn. I was hoping he starts remembering having also some powers later.
Does he have powers? We’ve only tangentially heard of them in this comic.
What if that was just good storytelling?
Sigmund clearly hasn’t read the Evil Overlord’s List. Gloating in front of people that you’ve betrayed and then letting them live never ends well for the gloater.
You’ve read this type of story before, have you?
I almost got a Terry Pratchett-themed tattoo.
Was it Death? What kind of tattoo? I’m curious.
There were several in the running, including The Turtle, but in the end I almost got Ridcully. I chickened out though. I’m a wimp.
It’s never too late to get that tattoo.
If you are afraid of pain, there is always option to get it done posthumously.
We all have. It’s very popular.
And you do it very well.
Dragon Lady needs to be a poster!
Not sure it deserves that but glad you like.
Well geesh, Sigmund. You developed a spine at the worst possible time. And here I thought you might LIKE municipal politics!
…And now you can’t watch Satan and Tracee going at it anymore.
Spine development is never convenient. It’s always painful, unexpected and poorly timed.
Yes, we know the main cast will be involved soon enough.
With nowhere else to go, Satan will obviously go to stay with his daughter… And Puck will have 2 new houseguests.
Well, let’s pretend we’re surprised when it happens.
“Wow, I didn’t see that coming!” (Sure, I thought about it, expected it, hoped for it, bet on it, and read about it, but I hadn’t seen it beforehand.)
You mime surprise very well.
Love the dragon pic.
Given Puck’s supposed age, my head cannon is that this is a pic of Puck in the past.
That was my thinking as well.
If it is from a time when she was younger and … ummm, frontally perkier? … perhaps she suffered from Excessive Unwanted Attentions, asked for help from Someone With Magic, and … in the way of such things … got what she asked for plus an undesired side effect. This lead to her frequently being mistaken for a boy, as by Shakespeare. Eventually she just decided to chuck it all and emigrate to Tír na nÓg but ended up in Canada, where daytime TV and Cheese Whams leads to an illusion of eternal youth, interrupted at last by the arrival of Daphne.
Oh it could just be artistic license. Who knows?
I’m guessing artistic license. I was going for the sort of fantasy art vibe that kinda prefers certain proportions.
Given that she doesn’t seem to age, it can just as likely be a pic of Puck in future.
True.
Pretty sure that gloating is just setting yourself up for failure.
That said, there’s a reason he’s just a minion.
I have a theory. As a devotee to the forces of Evil, Sigmund knows that Satan has the potential, but has lost his way, and has orchestrated this plot to push Satan back to his evil ways by utterly humiliating him.
Of course, that may result in his death, but a true servant of the forces of Evil, he will happily give his life to them.
Exactly. This is the kick in the pants that Satan needed.
Once a lackey, always a lackey. He’s just lackeying for a different master.
about the hidden text, I don’t think that’s what she’s calling Sigmund. In fact, I think she’s just getting started.
I don’t think so either.
Maybe she should try a few nouns.
She’ll get to nouns eventually.
Would the censor faeries be as strict upon Tracee’s choice words if they were, instead, spoken by SATAN?!
On another note: I like the dragon pic. The patreon pic, however, is a very good reason to support Puck in Patreon.
Hey, gotta provide SOME reason to support on Patreon.
I enjoyed decyphering Tracee’s rant. It was more fun than the Cyrptograph puzzle in the Sunday paper (yes, I’m one of those dinosaurs…).
By the way, “yipes!” on the Dragon Lady. I’m guessing Puck doesn’t get mistaken for a boy like she did in your early episodes.
“Yipes?” Is that an expression of fear or terror?
Neither; meant it as a good expression. “Yipes” as in an overwhelmingly pleasant surprise that you know could get you into trouble really fast. “Hot Damn” would be a comparable term in my neck of the woods .
Huh. In my neck of the woods, “Yipes” is almost exclusively used as a sound of alarm. And to check I’m not crazy, the dictionary defines it as ‘an expression of fear, surprise or alarm’. It’s the sound Scooby used to make when scared.
Now I know that it has an alternate meaning, somewhere out there. (Out where dreams come true.)
You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but you can’t take the trailer park out of the girl…
Well, you can try. But it always fails.
There’s an irony here that this is the second time Satan has been thrown out of paradise, albeit this time by his own minion.
I feel Satan has been cast out of many successive paradises, amusement parks and family restaurants. Really, his life has likely been an endless cavalcade of getting cast out.
Sigmund forgets that really, evil is boring. Banal. Tedious. Tiresome. Also, Sigmund will now be put to real work, long hours, low pay–if he gets paid–no dental and vision care, all for ‘evil.’ Ho hum humdrum.
Evil is boring. Good is boring too. The really fun narratives lie in the in-between.
Exactly. As in Henry: Portrait of Serial Killer, you do the evil thing, then remain on the couch wondering what else to watch on television.
Something about those glasses is still really bugging me.
I’m getting full on Reservoir Dogs vibes from these wiseguys.
If we get a flashback with all of them eating breakfast in a diner then my suspicions will be confirmed.
The intention is that they’re all very unnerving and just a little inhuman.
I heard the word Dragon, you have my full and undivided attention.
Glad you’re my target audience.
I like the irony of being faithful to the principle of evil.
I keep thinking about the Dragon lady thing. And although it seems unlikely she’s ever worn anything like that that wasn’t to a party, it seems very likely that’s stepped that elegantly and also waled on someone with a staff while screaming until they ran away.
how them mighty are fallen…
now, how shall he return to infamy? Say, that blind little calculating primadonna… if he recruits her, maybe…
I think the path back to evil glory will involve the recruitment of many. And if you think that Hannah will be involved, you’re … okay, you’re 100% right.
Frank, you underestimate the nature of the rebellion against god
ANY rebellion in favor of freedom is a rebellion agaist authoruty not willingly granted.
The light bringer is the first and greatest of all freedom fighters. The ethic is freedom- and social darwinism.
Enjoy.
OR, prove me wrong.
I’m not about to claim Satan is a freedom fighter – at least not in the popular (and highly loaded) way that term is used today. He is a figure that is greatly open to interpretation; he is different things to different groups and different people.
For me, what I will note is that Satan is interesting. His rebellion, his arrogance, his desire for more makes him a fascinating figure in a narrative. I’ve long felt that way about villains. As a kid, I never liked the heroes of the story. I never bought their toys, never really rooted for them. Good was boring because good just sat around and chilled. It was always the villains who were initiating things, causing a ruckus, hatching a plan. The good guys were just reactionary counter-agents to the bad guys.
Right now, I’m kind of wondering which side of evil can occlude the other. I was thinking of eclipse, but occlude was my first choice. Humanity seems to have a bit of a failsafe built in from achieving a true epic attainment of something that is “true” in the sense of a supernatural scale. Maybe on the scale of godhood. Evil is supposed to succumb to good in the end. But here we have a human worshiping evil going against the archetype of evil incarnate. Who is to say that Satan here is bested, out side of Gecko of course, that he doesn’t have some an unknown plan here that was set aside with Sigmund’s great great uncle or something like that. I mean, he was married to Elizabeth Taylor. Who’s to say that he wasn’t married to Mata Hari? Joan of Arc’s evil twin sister? The sister of the guy who commanded that Bill and Ted be thrown into the Iron Maiden?
Hell, who’s to say that he makes these things a generational occurrence just for fun. How old is he supposedly. Anyway, just like the gardner who looks for the choiset of fruits in his vines, Satan would be looking to see if his lackeys are all that. Wouldn’t he?
Who’s to say?
Certainly not me. I have NO idea what the heck is going on here.