Well it’s obviously Di in the middle but the other two? The guy on the left looks new just by virtue of nobody fitting his build in the main group. The hooded figure? I wanna say Rumy having faked her death but maybe Ally? If Dotty says all of them were members that means Joseph was around them so maybe Ally was at some point as well? Otherwise, Hilda? Zaha?
The guy on the left reminds me of the big Islamic guy from the arc where they went after the fake bin Laden. The one on the right might be new.
Looks like the speculation on Shanna and Marc is true. Whee. Marc looks like he aged a lot, really quickly. Also, Jayespin as the general’s dad, and for some reason wearing his espin uniform. Glad to see Bax made it though.
@Some Guy, they are the remaining members of Ar-ra’d, the Middle Eastern equivalent of AEGIS. http://www.faans.com/books1-6/index.php?p=1882 I’m guessing the hooded one is the woman member toughed up (just in a different manner than Ally a couple of strips ago).
There were a number of organizations similar to AEGIS that the Order mentioned distracting and we later saw fighting the multiple Xis later. The hooded figure might be that group of monks whose name escapes me, but is composed of East Asian shaman. In addition to Baxter surviving he looks like he’s doing well for himself if he’s involved with Jackie. I wonder what Marc lost on the bad day since he seems to be with Shanna at the time and that could only have occurred after Will’s death which I would classify as bad day criteria. There have probably been a lot of bad days and Dotty just refers to the one that hit her the hardest.
I say what got to Marc was that Baxter was there when Tim and Julia needed him and he was not. If he’d been with them, they might’ve all made a clean getaway.
I have to think joining with Ar-ra’d would make the Hand’s propaganda efforts too easy. Lance Clarkson would perpetuate the notion that AEGIS was in league with al-qaeda wannabees and I fear the population is gullible enough to believe it.
@Sri, ah of course, how did I miss that?! I’m still curious about the one on the right since it’s so ambiguous, we don’t even know the gender! Can’t wait for more answers.
I really want it to be Indira. I think that transformation would speak volumes about the dangers here since she was the most peaceful and diplomatic of their group before.
The presentation here looks sincere, but there’s something about faux-Laura’s wide-open gaze that makes me think twice about trusting these refugees’ stark perspective. They do not seem “whole” enough to give an unbiased picture of the future. Cause and effect alone are more complicated than humans have ever been able to explain away: Would aliens (particularly aliens who take an interest in justice) be able to improve that situation even if they sincerely tried?
I want to know what the “blood cure” has done to Baxter, in the context of his continuing relationship with Di. I would like to know whether Rumy’s son Joseph is an unbiased witness to the Hand’s assaults on human liberty. The “futurespeak” interests me possibly the most, because although many new concepts seem to have been created, there’s a blind simplicity beneath the words. “Org,” here, and “reactive” earlier, are technical terms in a quite specific sense. I am not going to get into that because it is politically controversial. Suffice it to say that there are stakes.
Colbert at the start of the broader AEGIS arc and the Order of the Dragon seemed on opposite sides of a false conflict. I feel like that “media war,” or maybe “fake struggle,” has become uncomfortably real with the addition of the Cuckoos. In particular, although shapeshifting aliens are not exactly a consistent staple of speculative fiction (shapeshifters in folklore having had precisely as many natures as possible bodies), we do know the Cuckoo’s — Hyperman’s — natural form. Aliens in that shape have had a consistent and even mythically relevant nature. That relevance is also itself a subject of dispute. Exactly what specific conclusions follow from that, in the minds of AEGIS members, may do quite a bit to encourage coexistence or even (in the end) mutual annihilation. After all, Kath is shown at least somewhat able to stand the new aliens on the just-previous page.
I don’t know whether the Cuckoos are Lieber’s Snakes or Anthony’s Polarians, but I suspect that “neither” and “both” are the only easy answers about these shapeshifters. Perhaps someone with a more diligent heart can lay the connections bare. After all, Captain America isn’t going to necromance alone.
(Oh, and that doesn’t even account for the continuing question of Cloud’s… I’ll now excuse myself.)
I have to say… I’m lost on the ‘cuckoos’. The story these kids are telling seems disjointed and missing big chunks, which is probably at least partly intended, but still… The cuckoos breed? Why bother with humans… do they eat us? Are they parasitoids, like wasps? Why does spellcheck not recognize that as a valid word (or for that matter, the word spellcheck itself)?
Seriously, though – not trying to be a dick when I say this, when I write things – code or just writing – I *want* people to hallway test it so I can find GUI issues… so I’m sort of phoning in a pass it forward qpq…
prelims done, I want to say: this doesn’t seem like ‘Tune in next time, true believers!’ kind of sequence to generate curiosity, but a ‘Oops, I forgot the reader doesn’t know all the background plot elements’ and a ‘accidentally skipped over necessary foreshadowing, leading to choppy plot continuity’ kind of wonderment that I’m feeling about current events. Ok, there, I have now been a harsh and cruel reader who thinks he knows more than he does, fitting several other unpleasant stereotypes in the bargain. I will continue to read this comic regardless, as I have half of my adult life. Cheers!
Parahacker, forgive me for being stubborn, but it seems to me like the main answers to your questions are in the text, if you take the FF’s story at face value.
The Cuckoos’ main goal was membership in the Community. They answered the call when the Community came knocking on Earth’s door, and got the Community to view them as the true “Earthlings.” Eventually, they started wiping us out, and got less and less pretentious about serving as our “protectors” while they did it. In short, they didn’t need our biology, they needed our real estate.
I have forgotten nothing, trust me! But we can’t spend TOO much time on this future timeline right now. We’ve got a lot more to get to, and I think it would be uninteresting and overly depressing to stretch the sequence out too much.
Well it’s obviously Di in the middle but the other two? The guy on the left looks new just by virtue of nobody fitting his build in the main group. The hooded figure? I wanna say Rumy having faked her death but maybe Ally? If Dotty says all of them were members that means Joseph was around them so maybe Ally was at some point as well? Otherwise, Hilda? Zaha?
The guy on the left reminds me of the big Islamic guy from the arc where they went after the fake bin Laden. The one on the right might be new.
Looks like the speculation on Shanna and Marc is true. Whee. Marc looks like he aged a lot, really quickly. Also, Jayespin as the general’s dad, and for some reason wearing his espin uniform. Glad to see Bax made it though.
The last panel cracks me up something fierce.
LOL “No jaywalking”
@Some Guy, they are the remaining members of Ar-ra’d, the Middle Eastern equivalent of AEGIS. http://www.faans.com/books1-6/index.php?p=1882 I’m guessing the hooded one is the woman member toughed up (just in a different manner than Ally a couple of strips ago).
There were a number of organizations similar to AEGIS that the Order mentioned distracting and we later saw fighting the multiple Xis later. The hooded figure might be that group of monks whose name escapes me, but is composed of East Asian shaman. In addition to Baxter surviving he looks like he’s doing well for himself if he’s involved with Jackie. I wonder what Marc lost on the bad day since he seems to be with Shanna at the time and that could only have occurred after Will’s death which I would classify as bad day criteria. There have probably been a lot of bad days and Dotty just refers to the one that hit her the hardest.
WHOA. Faceless Marc is wearing a Marc-mask. o_O creeeeepy
I figure the guy on the right in the robe and hood is Keith.
The big guy is apparently named Nidal – if it is the same big guy. http://www.faans.com/books1-6/index.php?p=1883
I say what got to Marc was that Baxter was there when Tim and Julia needed him and he was not. If he’d been with them, they might’ve all made a clean getaway.
@ Brasca I think the “Bad Day” was the one where Tim died, not the one where Will died, though I’m not sure.
I have to think joining with Ar-ra’d would make the Hand’s propaganda efforts too easy. Lance Clarkson would perpetuate the notion that AEGIS was in league with al-qaeda wannabees and I fear the population is gullible enough to believe it.
@Sri, ah of course, how did I miss that?! I’m still curious about the one on the right since it’s so ambiguous, we don’t even know the gender! Can’t wait for more answers.
I really want it to be Indira. I think that transformation would speak volumes about the dangers here since she was the most peaceful and diplomatic of their group before.
Yeah, Jesse!
The presentation here looks sincere, but there’s something about faux-Laura’s wide-open gaze that makes me think twice about trusting these refugees’ stark perspective. They do not seem “whole” enough to give an unbiased picture of the future. Cause and effect alone are more complicated than humans have ever been able to explain away: Would aliens (particularly aliens who take an interest in justice) be able to improve that situation even if they sincerely tried?
I want to know what the “blood cure” has done to Baxter, in the context of his continuing relationship with Di. I would like to know whether Rumy’s son Joseph is an unbiased witness to the Hand’s assaults on human liberty. The “futurespeak” interests me possibly the most, because although many new concepts seem to have been created, there’s a blind simplicity beneath the words. “Org,” here, and “reactive” earlier, are technical terms in a quite specific sense. I am not going to get into that because it is politically controversial. Suffice it to say that there are stakes.
Colbert at the start of the broader AEGIS arc and the Order of the Dragon seemed on opposite sides of a false conflict. I feel like that “media war,” or maybe “fake struggle,” has become uncomfortably real with the addition of the Cuckoos. In particular, although shapeshifting aliens are not exactly a consistent staple of speculative fiction (shapeshifters in folklore having had precisely as many natures as possible bodies), we do know the Cuckoo’s — Hyperman’s — natural form. Aliens in that shape have had a consistent and even mythically relevant nature. That relevance is also itself a subject of dispute. Exactly what specific conclusions follow from that, in the minds of AEGIS members, may do quite a bit to encourage coexistence or even (in the end) mutual annihilation. After all, Kath is shown at least somewhat able to stand the new aliens on the just-previous page.
I don’t know whether the Cuckoos are Lieber’s Snakes or Anthony’s Polarians, but I suspect that “neither” and “both” are the only easy answers about these shapeshifters. Perhaps someone with a more diligent heart can lay the connections bare. After all, Captain America isn’t going to necromance alone.
(Oh, and that doesn’t even account for the continuing question of Cloud’s… I’ll now excuse myself.)
Kudos to whoever called the General’s father being Jayespin. Now who’s her mother?
Also, I’m throwing in with those who say the hooded figure is badass-Indira.
Cesario, the new General is a clone of the old one, so I’d assume she doesn’t have a mother, and Jayespin is an adoptive father.
Yeah… *Crosses fingers* Here’s hopin’ that before this story is over that we’ll get Jessie back! :3
I have to say… I’m lost on the ‘cuckoos’. The story these kids are telling seems disjointed and missing big chunks, which is probably at least partly intended, but still… The cuckoos breed? Why bother with humans… do they eat us? Are they parasitoids, like wasps? Why does spellcheck not recognize that as a valid word (or for that matter, the word spellcheck itself)?
Seriously, though – not trying to be a dick when I say this, when I write things – code or just writing – I *want* people to hallway test it so I can find GUI issues… so I’m sort of phoning in a pass it forward qpq…
prelims done, I want to say: this doesn’t seem like ‘Tune in next time, true believers!’ kind of sequence to generate curiosity, but a ‘Oops, I forgot the reader doesn’t know all the background plot elements’ and a ‘accidentally skipped over necessary foreshadowing, leading to choppy plot continuity’ kind of wonderment that I’m feeling about current events. Ok, there, I have now been a harsh and cruel reader who thinks he knows more than he does, fitting several other unpleasant stereotypes in the bargain. I will continue to read this comic regardless, as I have half of my adult life. Cheers!
Parahacker, forgive me for being stubborn, but it seems to me like the main answers to your questions are in the text, if you take the FF’s story at face value.
The Cuckoos’ main goal was membership in the Community. They answered the call when the Community came knocking on Earth’s door, and got the Community to view them as the true “Earthlings.” Eventually, they started wiping us out, and got less and less pretentious about serving as our “protectors” while they did it. In short, they didn’t need our biology, they needed our real estate.
I have forgotten nothing, trust me! But we can’t spend TOO much time on this future timeline right now. We’ve got a lot more to get to, and I think it would be uninteresting and overly depressing to stretch the sequence out too much.
Mm. It is in there, and I understand the tradeoffs you’re making to keep things moving. Complaint rescinded.