Our pious friend
I think Reverend Penrose displays significant restraint in today’s comic. He barely dips into his combat repertoire.
Colours by Sammy Borras
I think Reverend Penrose displays significant restraint in today’s comic. He barely dips into his combat repertoire.
Colours by Sammy Borras
I feel this will come back to bite the good Reverend later.
He knows, but he doesn’t care. He protects the helpless and serves his God.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
…
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
11Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were befor
5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.
“Oh the Meek! I’m glad they’re getting something. They have a helluva time.”
I do wonder if that one isn’t a sarcastic “blessed” sometimes, what with the war in the end times that’s prophesied, and also the whole Inheriting Earth when other people get the Kingdom of Heaven, but also its not like the meek are going to really speak up about it I suppose?
The word meek has changed its meaning somewhat since that translation -it used to mean uncomplaining and stoic or similar, rather than the Victorian “meek and mild “ leaning we think of today.
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Correct, the meaning has changed a lot. At the time of the King James and other early translations were made it was a translation of a word which also meant gentle, and prepared to submit to God’sauthority.
Meekness wasn’t synonymous with weakness the way it is now – it carried a sense of having power, but choosing not to use it until the time was right. Not abusing one’s strength or power.
A lot of words had different meanings then. “Fear” as in “God-fearing” used to mean something more like this from the most excellent Hogfather:
—–
“Well, you brought some magic into that little life,” said Albert, as the next child was hurried away.
IT’S THE EXPRESSION ON THEIR LITTLE FACES I LIKE, said the Hogfather.
“You mean sort of fear and awe and not knowing whether to laugh or cry or wet their pants?”
YES. NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL BELIEF.
—–
Revelation 21 says heaven and earth in their current forms will be destroyed, and describes both a new heaven and a new earth. The intended purpose of this new earth is up for debate, (much like everything else in that book).
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth, six feet by three feet
And how about those who are persecuted by the righteous?
You’ll notice that the Rev isn’t self-idolatrous or so prideful that he believes he can’t be wrong. When Maggie or Billie or even Warlock Brian makes a good point or tells him he’s in danger of being cruel and unthinking he’s willing to back off, think about it, and correct course.
That’s a difference between actual righteousness and being a fanatic and a bully.
Love the details here — the stars by the Rev’s forearms in panel 1 (either he’s powering up, or these are residual stars from the previous page)… Maggie’s dad yanking off Penrose’s crucifix, and his scraggly little chest tattoo that’s the same lineweight as the meager body hairs on his torso…
And Grandma almost looks like a Mignola villain in panel 3!
yeah but shouldn’t it burn him or something?
The cross is just a little piece of shiny metal. It’s not magic. Daddy Dearest could guzzle a brandy with holy water soda. For old school Satanists (I’m talking pre-LaVey) and the witches who existed in Jacob Sprenger’s imagination a lot of the rituals centered around profaning and defiling holy objects.
I had a frisson just reading the first few panels. Watching the Rev literally pin Bob Warren to the wall is chef’s-kiss.
He didn’t know Rev. Penrose before? Jeez, Maggie, way to rat out your boss.
He knew where Maggie was, that she’s drowned her Harley, that she’d gone over to Jebus… he’s got spies in that town. He knew. This is just more mind-fuckery on Maggie.
Besides, it’s not always easy to keep your wits about you and watch what you say when you’ve just been rescued from reasonably certain severe distress, if not necessarily death.
Contrariwise, Maggie might have known exactly what she was doing when she addressed Penrose by name (instead of just “Reverend”). She might have been concerned that he was going to do serious harm to her grandmother (whom we have as of yet no particular reason to think is anything but a reasonably ordinary elderly human being) and she used his name to sort of snap him out of things, to, I dunno, pull him out of his kill zone mode OSLT.
And that thought prompts a new thought: Have we ever actually seen Penrose kill anyone/anything on-panel?
On-panel, no. We have however seen him bring at least one dead sea horror back to be burned, and in the original Dark Horse Steeple series’ first issue Penrose engaged in a vicious melee with one of the dark merfolk to save Billie but was injured before killing it.
I think it is reasonable to assume, given his reputation as the Great Destroyer of the Cornish coast, that Penrose has killed a number of merfolk and sea horrors over the decades. But it’s certainly a topic that can be explored and discussed.
That one-handed hoist tho.
Left-handed too (unless the Rev. is a southpaw and I never noticed – is that his axe hand?).
(leans in close and growls) Imagine what I can do with my right.
Oooh that lost cross is going to cost the Rev later.
Yes, he’ll have to buy a new one.
Not easy to do right now, what with the supply chain and all. Apparently cross-makers are back-ordered through to next March.
He can still make the Sign of the Cross. For this lot he’s willing to make the Sign of the Extremely Cross.
I think grabbing Bob and slamming him against the wall is a pretty good sign he’s extremely cross.
Has a little more zing than the Finger Gesture of Fertility 🙂
I’d have thought that using a crucifix as an arcane connection while working black magic (if that’s what you mean) was… deeply unwise on a symbolic and practical level.
He can just turn it upside down innit
But then it wouldn’t be a very good symbolic connection to Penrose.
As I mentioned above a lot of old-style Satanic pageantry involved defiling sacred things. Your Z-rated movie Black Mass often involved stealing and doing various bodily function things to the Host or turning a cross upside down. Getting your patron demon to do things, as Warlock Brian put it, is all a matter of getting the incantations right. Contrariwise, for the Faithful it’s about purifying your faith and intention so that you carry out “Not my will, but Thine Oh Lord.”
Although Satanism is of course a real-world religion, we’re dealing with a fictional denomination of same, in a world of sentai and sesh gremlins and so on. It works however John A says it works. 😉
Yes this is definitely going to be a thing….
Oh yes! This is so beautiful! Penrose looks like a giant; strong and unstoppable!!! Full of cold rage for seeing how Maggie was treated. And he’s right, all the people in that house have gammon faces! Glad to see how Maggie is able to stop him. But her father will surely try to kidnap her or make her return.
He can try, but taking on someone who gets in life or death fights almost every night, figures that dying in a good cause means a promotion, and has the baraka?
All I can say is pack a lunch, bring a shovel, and cancel your appointments. Dangerous sumsabeetches have been coming for him for years, and he’s still here.
Baraka is a good word, you don’t hear it enough.
I get the sense that the Rev can work the whole room if he has to, physically. These kinds of Satanist upper-class families operate from that lawful-evil side of things.
Sadly, in this case, the law is on Bob Warren’s side. The Warrens hadn’t *done* anything yet when Rev grabbed Bob, and it’s only his word and/or Maggie’s that they were about to do something awful to her. Indeed, even we don’t know the nature of the ritual yet.
And this is why I pegged Bob as dangerous early: He’s not a physical superstar. He’s a charisma and intelligence maxer. He won’t have to personally lift a finger here to hurt Penrose.
He’s patient and cunning, and well willing to use lies and popularity (if he even has to lie here) to turn the public and the law against the Rev – which is my prediction for the next few weeks.
The Trident folks are gammon-faced, while the Reverend would be better described as gamma-rayed (“PENROSE SMASH! PUNY WARREN!”)
Kinda wish she hadn’t stopped him. Leaving a rich, powerful, amoral, sociopathic enemy alive guarantees you’ll be bushwhacked later on when he’s got more hench-hogs and bigger guns. Well, I suppose Bob is her Dad. Saving him from being smote hip and thigh and bollocks and head would be the Christian thing to do.
Penrose already HAS a powerful, amoral, sociopathic (if not necessarily rich) enemy. Who is also Maggie’s father’s enemy. And the enemy of your enemy…
Then again, in this situation, that works both ways, dunnit?
Besides, do we know that Penrose is willing to go so far as to murder his fellow human beings? Unlike killing monsters whom most people don’t believe exist in the first place, you can be sent to PRISON for THAT. Especially if your victim is a rich one and you murdered him in front of a bunch of other rich people. Money doesn’t just talk, it gets paid attention when it does so.
old “Crone” – I’ve got to use that word more often
Seems I remember another Penrose-lookin fella what got countenanced by a demonic device and it went unwell for him.
Boy, see, I wish I remembered his name.
Yeah, it’s pretty useless when one is unable to remember things like that.
What about petrol? The Rev. Penrose got there on rage and fumes.
Off stage Billie siphoned fuel from one of the posh cars into Penrose’s tank.
That would absolutely be the Satanic thing to do. Everyone underestimates Billie. Just like the best saints are reformed sinners nobody is quite as wicked as a good person fallen from faith and grace. Just look at what her first sincere ritual accomplished.
That’s why he has shown such remarkable restraint. If you are out of gas, you would not want to make too cross an impression on all Top Gear hosts rolled into one.
Definitely my favorite Penrose moment to date! Regardless of whatever frequent disagreements they have it’s obvious that he’s come to care deeply for Maggie.
Off topic, but did anyone else notice that Shelley… er, Jane Asher made a brief appearance in the Beatles Get Back documentary?
Further meddling! Keep an eye on her!!!
Warren should remember his Nietzsche. ‘That what does not kill me, makes me stronger. ‘ Alot of things have tried to end the Rev. Maggie may not be around the next time Penrose drops around for a chat. Well, we can hope!
If we’ve learned one thing from covid-19, it’s that whatever doesn’t kill us then mutates into something stronger and tries to kill us again. Nietzsche: not a scientist.
Hey, the jury’s out on Omicron yet. For all we know yet, it may end up a hugely contagious mild variant, basically a non-opt-out self-distributing vaccine against its deadlier cousins. A successful pathogen is defined by its ability to thrive, not its ability to kill. Yoghurt bacteria have been more successful than Ebola getting distributed by humans, and maybe we’ll all see Omicron jell-o in the stores in due time. Or maybe we’ll still need a few mutations before beating out the industrial vaccines.
I wasn’t especially thinking of Omicron, although it is potentially a great villain name. Imagine a villain called Omicron and drawn by Jack Kirby… imagine the character’s giant spiky helmet!
Next up, the Unicron variant.
And the converse: “Pain is Nature’s way of telling you to stop what you’re doing before you damage yourself.”
“In a way, pain is good. Otherwise, we might be hurt and not know it and die during Social Studies.” — Tom Servo
“Embrace the pain.” — Dr. Clayton Forrester
“You must make that pain work for you.” — Tom Pendennis
“Don’t tell him, Pike”
Is that a surgical scar or a thinning landing strip on ol dad warren?
Or an off-kilter trident!
Or possibly just wrinkly skin
Actually, I’m going to take a contrary position on the stars and opine that perhaps the Rev is playing through some pain! Of course, he has the will, but the vessel is getting older and has a lot of mileage and wear on it! Note the stars around Pater Warren’s back when Rev Penrose slams him against the wall!
Maggie’s dad putting out some nasty vibes in that last panel. Coby still slithering about is a nice touch. Also, looks like there’s a missing speech bubble tail in panel 3
I just saw some hippy meme telling people to carve a trident into a candle and wish for things, what are you up to John A?