Let’s dance
on September 5, 2021 at 12:01 amChapter: The Wedding
Characters: Amber O'Malley, D.J. Wilcox, Danny Wilcox, David Walkerton, Jason Chesterfield, Jennifer Billingsworth, Joe Rosenthal, Joyce Brown, Leslie Bean, Mike Warner, Mr. Brown, Robin DeSanto, Sal Walters, Stephen Wilcox
Location: The Wedding Church
Another fun page. Not as tedious to draw as you’d think! Sometimes crowd scenes are a bummer, but I remember enjoying this one. You can see all the various states of mind, though mostly they’re either “I’m from SEMME and I’m gonna kick his ass” or “wait shit I’m just a toy store employee, Cheezus Christ.” Billie’s happy to lay down the law regardless. C’mon, Danny, you’ve been to space.
Everyone on this side of the church is still in no dialogue land. Head Alien’s still the only one to have spoken. He’s broken the sacred silence. It works, I think.
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Did Jason bring a gun to a wedding?
It’s why they call him Bond.
Gold Bond.
I’ve been to some pretty boring weddings, but never to that degree.
Given the circumstances it’s weird that he’s the only one
I’m from Texas. Definitely weird to only see one gun at a wedding.
I was more thinking because they know Head Dorothy might be a problem and they need to have their guard up. But characters not using guns even though they probably should is well established by this point, so whatever
I do enjoy the irony of the Englishman being the only one to be packing heat
Then again, the abductees don’t really need a gun, they have actual superpowers
prolly bc this feels much less crowd sceney than others due to being face-on vs. overhead
although Joyce looks like she’s wielding an invisible baseball bat
Joyce looks like she’s ready for the most serious and deadly dance-off of all time.
Oh shit, it’s the entire (living) Squad 128 lineup.
For bonus points, it’s the entire “classic” Squad 128 lineup: Jason, Sal, Walky, Joyce, and Mike– plus Joe and Robin.
…come to think of it, who actually counts as having been a part of Squadron 128? Was, for instance, Dina ever officially a member? Like, generally speaking, Squads seem to all have five members at a time. Most of her appearances with 128 have her as (in TVTropes-ese) a “Sixth Ranger” who’s technically representing the science division of SEMME. I don’t think she ever lived in the Squad’s apartment, except during the period where she was dating Walky. Even during the Undersea Martian Embassy mission she was only a temporary member– and if that counts, then you could make the case that Anti-Joyce was a member. Like, I’d personally prefer to consider Dina a member, and Walkypedia’s article on Squadron 128 includes her in its list, but I’m not sure I can really make a good case that she was one?
We still have all the living former members in this strip, though, no matter how you slice it, so that’s good.
Even if she wasn’t official I’d say Dina was a de facto Squad 128 member.
Ready for combat, wedding-style!
Robin seems to be in both “I’m just a toy story employee” and “I was in SEMME, gonna kick your ass” modes.
“Shit, I only rented this suit.”
Alternately, it MIGHT tie into Robin’s whole experience with the Drama Tag, I suppose, since it’s the only time we know she’s aware of HAII. (It being the only time he shows up in Shortpacked until YEARS after the wedding.)
baaaaaah, bah bah, bah-baaaaah, baaaah baaah….
And putting Leslie with the Small Wilcoxen would allow for a nice little cameo later, at the OTHER Last Wedding In The Walkyverse.
I feel like Mike looks too angry. I mean, I know that’s impossible, but where’s the “Fuck it, finally someone I’m ALLOWED to murder” glee?
Unless it’s a sign of how scary HA is that even Mike isn’t quite feeling it.
I mean, last time he saw this guy he died. (And if it wasn’t for Joyce covertly arranging his resurrection, he’d have stayed that way.)
Mike had big plans to be the one to disrupt this wedding. He was going to be the one to object, with his fists. Stupid Head Alien stole his thunder.
I’d rather see Mike looking “too angry” like in this strip than see him smiling. Mike smiling is much worse.
I can never decide if the smile in that strip you linked is Mike’s creepiest, or if this one is.
Dammit, you made me lose 2 hours wandering through Shortpacked. And the worst part is I realized I didn’t remember a lot of those strips, so I am going to have to do a proper archive dive.
I *really* appreciate the little Sal-Robyn-Joyce triangle up front. Somehow Walky feels a little less visible between them, and it works. Robyn, despite her cred as a former government agent, rarely takes point in the action, and having her lead arguably the two biggest female powerhouses in the series (and two of the biggest, regardless of gender), feels just dissonant enough, yet wholly believable and appropriate, that this showdown that we’ve seen countless times before still feels different.
Don’t get me wrong, I see Jason and Joe and Mike and the normals, and they add to the overall effect here, but the main show here is Sal, Robyn, and Joyce, to my mind.
I just wanna say I appreciate Mike pushing Amber back, almost like he wants to pretend he wants to protect her.
Daw he actually likes her. ♥
I like Robin’s “I have no idea who this chick is but I’m going to clobber her anyway” expression the best.
A rare show of emotion from Mike. He truly loves these dorks. Or hates HA, one of the two.
I still love seeing Mike & Amber together haha
There’s someone I was led to believe was going to have big developments in this story who I have yet to see at all. I am honestly a little intrigued by their absence.
The Giant Mutant Frosted Honey Bun doesn’t show up until the fight actually starts.
Is Leslie holding one of the triplets there? Was this arc set/drawn after they were born in Shortpacked!?
I think that’s Danny/Billie’s second kid, who was recently born.
Yeah, page 3 shows that Leslie is looking after DJ and Stephen, because their parents are in the wedding party.
Despite everyone in that room, NO ONE suspected this would happen?
With their lives?
The core group at least was aware that Dorothy was a problem that needed to be kept in mind
I appreciate the “I’m gonna kick someone in the BALLS” expression on Mike.