I’m very wicked
Panel 4 is a reference to a cover of Der Spiegel from 1992. Quite why I have remembered it for 31 years, I do not know. It was in our school library.
STEEPLE – A Scary Go Round Comic
by John Allison
Panel 4 is a reference to a cover of Der Spiegel from 1992. Quite why I have remembered it for 31 years, I do not know. It was in our school library.
I was really hoping the conversation would continue a bit longer. I hoped they’d at least take a step in the direction of working things out (whatever that ends up meaning). At least Billie seems to be on the right track with the car situation (though I suspect there’s more to it than she thinks).
It continues until Christmas for readers of Steeple dot church, rest assured.
It’s Der Chip-Krieg! https://cdn.magazin.spiegel.de/EpubDelivery/image/title/SP/1992/11/260
I genuinely cannot believe you found that
_oh no the original is mildly racist_
interestingly the reproduction isn’t. good on yer john’s memory/childhood brain
Drawing Japanese features on a face that’s meant to be Japanese isn’t racist. It wasn’t drawn as caricature.
I discussed the issue of whether the original was meant to be racist or not with a friend, the day I drew this. I think it’s meant to resemble Japanese feudal art. If they’d drawn a yellow face with buck teeth, we’d know what we’re looking at. But given its age and what appears to be an attempt to pastiche something authentic, I felt like it was a stretch of contemporary sensitivities to say it was anything other than someone having a go at something fairly benign.
https://i.icanvas.com/1614?d=2&sh=v&p=1&bg=g
I just drew what I remembered: a cyber face.
In the early 1990s Japan was for many western minds what China is today: a threat to become the technologically dominant country. The discussion was intense in Germany as elsewhere (USA, UK, France).
The Spiegel merely reflected that sentiment there was absolutely no racism in the cover.
Yeah, I was thinking Japanese feudal art, too. I feel like I have an image in my mind’s eye of the exact image that face originally comes from.
The inspiration is probably from the late 1800s. “Imperial” might be a better word that doesn’t carry the same “medieval” connotations in the West.
There are a lot of saints, so Billie will need to eat an appropriate diet to achieve enough flatulence.
“Beans come in, beans go out.”
How I love that Billie’s sincere attempt at being evil only makes her adorable.
The menu at the Church of Satan cafeteria is suitable for the task.
IM POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN, I EAT ALL THE BEANS I CAN. I GET FILLED UP WITH GAS AND IT BLOWS UP MY ASS, I’M POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN — was what we used to sing in kindergarten. So perhaps: I’M BILLIE MAD SATAN’S PRIEST; I LOVE ALL THE BEANS I EAT. etc. Someone more clever than me please finish the song
I’M BILLIE MAD SATAN’S PRIEST;
I LOVE ALL THE BEANS I EAT
ON PULSES I DINE
UNTIL I’M RENT IN TWINE (sic, “TWAIN”)
etc
I’M BILLIE MAD SATAN’S PRIEST
ON BEANS AND LEGUMES I FEAST
MY UNHOLY SACRAMENT
IS THAT I’M FLATULENT
BILLIE MAD SATAN’S PRIEST
^^^winner^^^
You’re all amazing. This is the peak of high art online.
Beans, beans, good for the heart.
The more you eat, the more you fart.
The more you fart, the better you feel,
So let’s have beans for every meal.
She might want to try to remain in the good graces of St. Elmo, patron saint of abdominal disorders until she’s finished with all the others, though. Just in case.
I like Billie’s idea. But what will she do to test it? Will she take her hands off the wheel to see if the car hits the wall or avoid it?! Also, she’s trying her best in the first two panels, but her wickedness has as much credibility as the one of a hamster.
Will she look the car squarely in the headlights and say “Car, it’s time we end this little charade”?
Apparently she has been taking lessons from Shauna, who is by repeated exclamation “Tough.”
Shauna actually is a badass, though.
I love that Billie’s sincere attempt to be evil only makes her more adorable.
You can say that again!
Lol. That was a posting SNAFU on my part.
She’s like a red panda trying to growl.
A demon brain? Or a computer brain?
Why can’t it be both!?
I often wondered if instead of saying a computer had a virus, we should say it has a demon. I think “possessed” works better than “infected.”
This would lead to significant confusion, however: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing)
Panel 4 also makes me think of David Warner (RIP) in Tron.
So what they are going to do is to drive it at a brick wall. If the car stops on it’s own then it’s possessed, if it hits the wall and they all die then it’s not. The good old witch dunking test.
I THINK she’s talking about testing her specific theory (which doesn’t actually involve possession at all) rather than just the idea that the car can drive itself. I could be wrong, of course.
Is it a stolen prototype, or an /escaped/ prototype?
Billie twerking! Hah!
Careful Billie, some of the saints might be into that.
“I AM EVIL! I AM THE PRECISE OPPOSITE OF ANYTHING HOLY OR GODLY. Hey Rev, you trust me, right?”
I shall never grow tired of Billie. Never! She is truly a treat, and you John are a genius.
oh my god der spiegel, I used to work at a bookstore and would help process the magazines, there was a very cranky german couple who would get der spiegel weekly. sometimes it wouldn’t show up from the distributor (if that happened we’d get it the next week along with that week’s issue) and they’d curse at me in german lol