Pack a suitcase, write a note
Does the sofa in the rectory living room usually have antimacassars? Or did I draw them just for this one comic because I wanted to use the word “antimacassar”? Unlike the unimpeachably great smell of Brut, some things are not so straightforward.
“I’m very ANTI-burning witches, but I’m quite PRO burning those specific witches.” I think this is one of my favorite lines from any kind of comic, ever.
“I’m not some kind of cowboy about the use of stakes and incendiaries, but… I’m not entirely sure they should be done away with.”
Aren’t antimacassars the doily placed on the back of the sofa? I don’t see any, maybe the layer was hidden.
You are correct. It was to protect furniture from macassar oil used to style men’s hair, thus an antimacassar.
I think Reverend Penrose is suing the word to refer to the arm coverings, which we can see in most of these panels. I have no idea if that usage is correct.
It seems correct, if we are to believe Wikipedia.
No matter, ‘antimacassar’ still sounds like some kind of military equipment to me.
Raising the question of what sort of hair-oil-wearing gentleman would rest his head on the low arms of a sofa. Given the indignity unavoidably ensuing, one must assume a substantial degree of loucheness.
They are there to protect the sofa from gentlemen whose thick and luxuriant arm hair has been styled with grooming products.
There is a young woman from Vassar
Who’s knitting an antimacassar
To lure her professor
To love and caress her
And possibly even to pass her
— James Thurber
While usually placed on a sofa- or chair-back or at the top of the cushions on the aforementioned furniture, they can also be placed over the chair/sofa arms to prevent soiling.
To be honest, I can’t feel sorry for Billie. Yes, she was deceived, it’s terrible and now she’s in crisis. But she was happy to be named between the Priestesses to watch and all that other stuff. Was that happiness all a lie?
To a certain sort of personality, anything and everything founded on a lie is a lie, especially feelings… there’s a religious personality that definitely operates this way, because it views facts as less important than ideas.
Speaking of the priestesses to watch, that cover can be seen at https://steeple.church/comic/a-very-spirited-performance/ – the page before the contract signing Billie mentions in today’s comic (in case anyone else was trying to remember where that contract is).
“arows”?
Flaming arows of death. Not to be confused with flaming arrows of deth, or flamen arrows of death.
“Flamen” sounds like a brand of spicy instant noodles.
“Try our NEW Arrows of Death™ flavored Flamen® noodles, now with whole Carolina Reaper peppers!”
The flaming arouse of death
Traces of Brian’s passage on the floor!
Please don’t leave traces of Brian’s passage on the floor
Mrs Clovis WOULD have put that rule on the leaflet, but she (perhaps naively) assumed this this was already covered by “No non-decorous guests”
“For the love of God, Mr. Bibendum, put on some pants!”
We’re back at the rectory here, where THERE ARE NO RULES
Wait ’til the Reverend hears about all the “help” Brian rendered earlier in the evening!
Hmmm. Did the contract say that Billie had to work for Tom *exclusively*?
Didn’t Billie have an idea to get the two Churches together that one time? A merger perhaps. Two Churches united against the Trident of Bob Warren.
I don’t recall Billie suggesting that. It’s been suggested by readers in the comments, I think.
Well maybe not a merger exactly but an armistice, a Christmas truce. That was in The Silvery Moon.
She may be an inmate at CoS, but she’s also running the asylum.
As has been noted multiple times, Tom’s congregation loves her, so she’s made lots of friends/admirers as a Satanist. That should count for something.
Also, she seems way more able to express herself in the CoS and more free.
I can’t see Maggie going back to the Church of Satan so will we see David being pampered and spoiled by three women now. And when I say pampered and spoiled what I really mean is bullied and hectored.
Why stop at three? Surely we can get Lottie back to Tredregyn, too. She likes a good hectoring.
I’ve seen this anime
I want Shelley back to Tredregyn!
“Dear Beezelebub,
I found I have changed, so I need to move on. But you’ll always be the demon for me.”
I love the drawing you did of Billie kicking the antimacassars, a word I first read in the classic Three Men In A Boat.
Me too Nick! I often think that one’s ripe for a reread.
Oooh. And what do we do with witches?..
&
Antimacassar will rise!
Sorry guys, just couldn’t resist.
“She turned me into a Satanist!… I got better…”
I also love how at some point making up onomatopoeia became too complex or too much of a stretch, and comics agreed to just write the verb instead of the sound. That “flail” there in panel 2 is just perfect.
I mean, John has, on at least 2 occasions, used “put” as sound effect. It is a delightful thing about his comics, yes.
I think I remember Ellen putting her hat on Sonny’s head in “The case of the fire inside” and the sound being just that. Lovely.
I completely agree. Although, to be honest, John will have a hard time ever topping the sound effect “Grab off ceiling!” once used in Sluggy Freelance.
Don’t future starships achieve propulsion through a reaction between macassar and antimacassar?
The Rev is quoting Proverbs 26:18-19.
Thank you for this. I was baffled. I’m still kinda baffled, tbh, as to the Rev’s point.
But just for fun, and because the language is lovely, here’s the King James version:
As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,
So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?
Wait, are we saying that in Old Testament times there were already those a-holes who say nasty things followed by “Just kidding!”?
Human nature has actually changed very little, if at all.
The reverend’s point is just that Clotilde and Ludmilla are horrible people, I think. They completely upended Billie’s life and the entire way she sees herself and the world, and then tried to laugh it off as a joke.
I can relate to Billie’s anguish. In 2005 I moved to Wyoming. I thought I was being clever, moving to a very inexpensive place and living on Internet work. But my kids got warped and my wife died of radon-induced cancer. I hope she has a better recovery than I did.
I hope your wife’s recovery at the very least doesn’t leave her zombified.
Ah, the old reddit switcheroo
I don’t frequent reddit, so I’ll take your word for it. That’s how I actually read it at first… wait. Is that why that site is called reddit? I never made any connection between “reddit” and “read it” until I started writing this reply.
Which is preferable, false happiness or genuine despair?
Sometimes it may be wiser to take the blue pill…
Just acknowledging that Titia successfully predicted the significance of today’s title in yesterday’s comments.