And so, Valentine appears after a delightful meal of crumpets and tea with Merrick and Seranity’s step mother, who were both rather quiet for some reason.
He wondered if he put too much sugar in their tea.
constant number of magical beings? sounds like closed pool reincarnation scheme. using a prime number here is a nice touch 🙂
but why are the powers attained at birth? why not at conception? or maybe at the yet undiscovered by science moment of breaking consciousness barrier – realizing that one’s own existence for the first time?
I guess I’m missing something? I own and have twice read “Working Through the Negativity,” but I don’t recall this Valentine character. Can someone refresh my memory and/or point out where he’s introduced?
Hunh. So if Vicious said there were fifty-two, that means that there are five mysterious totally unknown witches, and…OMG IT’S THE FINAL FIVE.
*is shot*
Also, in relation to the earlier Valentine question — *I’m* totally blanking on who that was myself. Was he ever in the comic, or was there some public announcement regarding Everything Related to Valentine I missed out on?
If I recall correctly. Valentine’s kind of like Stilleta in that we (who have been following since aaaaages ago at the old website and liked to trawl through the doodle gallery tons and tons) knew her name before it was ever said in the comic – I think there was a drawing of him up on the website, and then it was taken down off the website (but was still in the image archives), and now I’m not sure. He didn’t used to have the swirlies under his eyes, but I like the way they look myself. 😀
But no, he was never actually in “working through the negativity” except for a reference to him on the “vampire info dump” page.
I like Sera’s angry eyes. *shiver*
And I kind of love the Heinz tie-in theory. Does this mean each living witch is to be associated with a certain “variety”?
I still don’t get what was meant by “the first monster” *gnashing teeth*
Love it, Mr A. Love it. Can’t wait to get the print version in my hot little hands 😀
And to think just a few pages ago she was a breath away from calling it “YOUR Town” right in front of him….. I have a feeling if Valentine wasn’t so damned callous she wouldn’t survive another!
For The Confused: yeah, Valentine only got a teeny mention in WTTN, but he was also in that very first “flashback” scene of GBCF. You’ll recognise those eyes!
The “obvious” First Monster would be the one that mauled the hiker, but Aaron’t sneaky, so it might not be.
Part of the list of 57:
Serenity Rose
Vicious Whisper
Emily Ash
Michael Fullmouth
Dame Glaurie Thorpp
Rivet-Hed
Valentine
Stiletta (until recent)
Baba Yaga
Something tells me there is something more to this “57 witches” clam.
Perhaps Sera’s mom was poisoned (force someone out of the group of 57).
How very El Topo-ish*. “Hahaha, I wont give you the pleasure (or XP) of killing me so I’ll kill myself to spite you.”
And Valentine basically just says “I feel nothing”
How do they know the person is a witch if they don’t use their powers? Like the super religious one, how do they know?
*If you understand that reference then I am sad for you
sera is 21? and stilletta is 17, stilletta says the first monster was all sera’s, this valentine guy says something obtuse about the possibility of another witch growing up in a cave and all sera’s nightmares have been hiding in a cave for 18 years..
can anyone see where i’m going with this if one supposes stilletta’s backstory as recounted by valentine was a lie?
I wonder what the reason is for witches not having eyebrows… I guess they’re the one facial feature you can get rid of and still look relatively normal.
Wait, EVERY witch is born with paper white skin? No matter what your partentage is? So you could have the unhealthly looking kid with the deep, smooth voice of a love machine?
The “one with the straight black hair from the opening flashback” looks like Ramona Moraga. Vicious mentions that one during her tea test with Sera in issue number five. She also mentions Mr. Domino and Dr. Vott. I assume they are all witches as they “passed” the tea test. So that’s three more to add to ze listy. 😉
What if, now bear with me on this, sera’s mom was a witch. Who somehow discovered that whiches can only give birth to other witches and killed another witch to make it happen, but it was the gilt that killed her and not some sickness. It’s not like Vicious is all-knowing after all. And it would explain Atlan’s obsession, Sera could be his new science exparament!!!
Part of the list of 57:
In the public’s eyes there are 5 American witches and one canadian
Atlan Samuel AKA Valentine(See pg.100)(USA)
Michael Fullmouth(USA)
Glaurie Thorpp AKA the super religious one(USA)
Marvin Garner AKA Rivet-Hed(USA)
Serenity Rose AKA Our Hero(USA)
Ramona Moraga(Canada)
Vicious Whisper(UK)
Emily Ash(UK)
Baba Yaga(Russia)
Stiletta’s Reincarnation(?)
Mr. Domino(?)
Dr. Vott(?)
That gay german witch who’s fantasies poped up on his ecto-TV(see pg.14)
I know I’m missing a few but that’s all the living witches I can find so 13.
@AlexM: oh yeah, forgot about Ramona, that sounds plausible…. & I was thinkin’ surely V had mentioned more but couldn’t remember!
@Trever: bearing with…. but what a twisted thot! eeeeeeghhh…..
@filem0n: it’s still kind of a weird number; you gotcher classic ‘3 witches’ thing, then the coven of 13 (3^0+3^1+3^2)….. I wonder if he’s lying and there are 58, with one as the ‘supreme’ witch, kinda like the leader of a coven? And is it *him*, or *someone else*?
hmmm…. 3^0+3^1+3^2+3^3=40, that’s not it…. all y’all math geeks rise to the challenge! 😀
I don’t think Atlan is Valentine. Especially since it’s hinted at that Valentine has something to do with the vampires(In WTTN, the second vol, not sure what page. The “unidentified slavic warlock” that’s mentioned has an arrow and “valentine?” written next to it). They also don’t have the same body type, but a witch could change that I suppose… Most seem to have a favoured form, though.
I also would have thought that Merrick would have known about Val if he was Atlan. But I could be wrong about that too. 😛
SSI and its counterparts, if any other country has anything like them, are likely to know who the majority of the witches are, if not all of them. I’m curious to see how the other nations treat witches. We british seem to not really give much of a damn, since V DOES float an entire stadium around.
I Have to edit myself as i have reviewed my copy of WTTN
Atlan Samuel(USA)
Ogden Michael Fullmouth(USA)
Emily Ash AKA the super religious one(USA)
Marvin Garner AKA Rivet-Hed(USA)
Serenity Rose AKA Our Hero(USA)
Ramona Moraga(Canada)
Vicious Whisper(UK)
Dame Glaurie Thorpp(UK)
Baba Yaga(Russia)
Mr. Domino(?)
Dr. Vott(?)
Valintine(?)
That gay witch who’s fantasies poped up on his ecto-TV(see pg.14)(Germany)
Stiletta’s Reincarnation(?)
That Makes 14/57.
Good lord, for all we know he just threw some dice or raided the nearest bingo hall for the number. It could the number that he drunkenly had tattoo’d across his backside.
It could be, for all we very know, the amount of bodies under the paito.
@Lorien: *That’s* where I saw that line before…. thanks!
& my best guess about the number 57:
3 x 13 (coven)
+ 4 x 3 (‘witches three’ classic trio)
+ 5 x 1 (‘i work alone’ solo types)
+ 1 (‘The Uberwitch’, like a coven leader of all covens?)
= 57
not sure if the 3-4-5 progression means anything though, but most things witchy seem to start with 3…..
@Grim+Trevor: I didn’t get it, and my *email* address is over ten years old. So no pity for me!
OK….
traditional coven=13=9+3+1=(3^2+3^1+3^0)
It’s a base 3, exponential heirarchy.
Say you want to take it out one more level? 3^3=27, so add that for 40.
Now let’s go 3-dimensional…..
3^3+3^2+3^1+3^0=40
3^2+3^1+3^0=13
3^1+3^0=4
and one more on top:
3^0=1
grand total: 58, fitting my suspicion that Valentine was leaving one out….
In issue four, it said there was only 50 known witches (in Sera’s box of the character sheet at the beginning) and in issue five Vicious says she’s met all 52 of them, though she said she suspects there’s probably a few “squirreled somewhere… Catacombs and such”. So the number’s been climbing for a while. It’d make sense if Val knew about them all, though.
@Alphatroll You are an endangered species then, Good Sir! 🙂
Why would he leave one out? Unless he wasn’t counting himself for some reason, or maybe there are things a witch might do to themselves that would negate there presence in the fifty seven? :s
@Lorien He also knows their birthdays, favourite colour, middle name, current living place and you secret crush. He sends everyone a card at all major holidays. 😉
7 has always been considered sacred no matter the culture.
and the 5 basic elements of nature used in witchcraft
Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit/Void.
also in tess’s essay(A bunch of junk ilearned about witches) she states that witches have 5 powers that i have coincided with elements.
Earth=Telekinesis
Air & Fire=Weather/Fire Control & Flight
Water=Shapeshift
Spirit/Void=Ectoplasm
5+7=13 hay look we have our coven number.
but if we take 5 and 7 and make 57 that a nice solid prime number.
Enough witches to rule the Earth without making to much conflict.
(well…not to much?)
Looking back on it after having reread it a couple times, I suspect that this was Valentine/Charles’ goal this whole time: to get Serenity to finally step up and claim ownership of the town. In the end, after all her resistance, she ended up being his student after all. An unconventional education, to say the least, but an effective one.
OH SNAP!
but what’s going to be on the next few pages? o.o
*thumbs up* keep up the good work
And so, Valentine appears after a delightful meal of crumpets and tea with Merrick and Seranity’s step mother, who were both rather quiet for some reason.
He wondered if he put too much sugar in their tea.
You know what I like? That you have the ability to draw expressions on characters without eyebrows that can be distinguished.
hmmm why 57 i wonder?
constant number of magical beings? sounds like closed pool reincarnation scheme. using a prime number here is a nice touch 🙂
but why are the powers attained at birth? why not at conception? or maybe at the yet undiscovered by science moment of breaking consciousness barrier – realizing that one’s own existence for the first time?
filem0n: …except 57 isn’t prime.
I guess I’m missing something? I own and have twice read “Working Through the Negativity,” but I don’t recall this Valentine character. Can someone refresh my memory and/or point out where he’s introduced?
Nevermind my question. I have the memory of a goldfish. 😛
…Goldfish have quite good memories actually. And ya can’t argue this point, as it was learn from Stephen Fry, and thou shalt not question Stephen Fry!
Duh! 57 is the number on bottles of Heinz ketchup and that stuff is magical.
Fabulous story. I guess we’ll be getting three pages next week, instead of the usual two?
ink Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 4:03 am
hmmm why 57 i wonder?
Maybe for a heinz promo tie-in?
What a twist who’d a thought Blondie would take her self out?
Hunh. So if Vicious said there were fifty-two, that means that there are five mysterious totally unknown witches, and…OMG IT’S THE FINAL FIVE.
*is shot*
Also, in relation to the earlier Valentine question — *I’m* totally blanking on who that was myself. Was he ever in the comic, or was there some public announcement regarding Everything Related to Valentine I missed out on?
If I recall correctly. Valentine’s kind of like Stilleta in that we (who have been following since aaaaages ago at the old website and liked to trawl through the doodle gallery tons and tons) knew her name before it was ever said in the comic – I think there was a drawing of him up on the website, and then it was taken down off the website (but was still in the image archives), and now I’m not sure. He didn’t used to have the swirlies under his eyes, but I like the way they look myself. 😀
But no, he was never actually in “working through the negativity” except for a reference to him on the “vampire info dump” page.
I like Sera’s angry eyes. *shiver*
And I kind of love the Heinz tie-in theory. Does this mean each living witch is to be associated with a certain “variety”?
I still don’t get what was meant by “the first monster” *gnashing teeth*
Love it, Mr A. Love it. Can’t wait to get the print version in my hot little hands 😀
Hey, someone be valentine for Halloween and post pictures. So I can burn them with fire.
And to think just a few pages ago she was a breath away from calling it “YOUR Town” right in front of him….. I have a feeling if Valentine wasn’t so damned callous she wouldn’t survive another!
For The Confused: yeah, Valentine only got a teeny mention in WTTN, but he was also in that very first “flashback” scene of GBCF. You’ll recognise those eyes!
The “obvious” First Monster would be the one that mauled the hiker, but Aaron’t sneaky, so it might not be.
BTW, nice underwater view at the top, mr A!
Part of the list of 57:
Serenity Rose
Vicious Whisper
Emily Ash
Michael Fullmouth
Dame Glaurie Thorpp
Rivet-Hed
Valentine
Stiletta (until recent)
Baba Yaga
Something tells me there is something more to this “57 witches” clam.
Perhaps Sera’s mom was poisoned (force someone out of the group of 57).
Y’know, I can’t help but feel rather sorry for Stilletta.
How very El Topo-ish*. “Hahaha, I wont give you the pleasure (or XP) of killing me so I’ll kill myself to spite you.”
And Valentine basically just says “I feel nothing”
How do they know the person is a witch if they don’t use their powers? Like the super religious one, how do they know?
*If you understand that reference then I am sad for you
57? I dont like that…it should be an even number haha
Sera’s mom wasn’t a witch, according to Sera & V they don’t reproduce at all….
@mrHacks: don’t forget Atlan Samuels and that one Canadian witch….
Oh, and the one with the straight black hair from the opening flashback, presumably…..
@JimmyM: yeah, messed up as she was, it’s not like she messed *herself* up. Only 17, after all, even younger than Sera.
Sphyrna: All witches are born with paper-white skin. It’s hard to hide them.
@alphatroll Exactly. She’s a victim in this in a lot of ways.
Paper white skin and no eyebrows O_O
Couldn’t they shapeshift to change these things? If they really wanted to. Maybe?
sera is 21? and stilletta is 17, stilletta says the first monster was all sera’s, this valentine guy says something obtuse about the possibility of another witch growing up in a cave and all sera’s nightmares have been hiding in a cave for 18 years..
can anyone see where i’m going with this if one supposes stilletta’s backstory as recounted by valentine was a lie?
I wonder what the reason is for witches not having eyebrows… I guess they’re the one facial feature you can get rid of and still look relatively normal.
So I guess witches are sterile, not asexual?
@Joe 57=19×3 *facepalms* gosh I feel stupid 😛 serves me well for being a smartass 🙂
Wait, EVERY witch is born with paper white skin? No matter what your partentage is? So you could have the unhealthly looking kid with the deep, smooth voice of a love machine?
The “one with the straight black hair from the opening flashback” looks like Ramona Moraga. Vicious mentions that one during her tea test with Sera in issue number five. She also mentions Mr. Domino and Dr. Vott. I assume they are all witches as they “passed” the tea test. So that’s three more to add to ze listy. 😉
What if, now bear with me on this, sera’s mom was a witch. Who somehow discovered that whiches can only give birth to other witches and killed another witch to make it happen, but it was the gilt that killed her and not some sickness. It’s not like Vicious is all-knowing after all. And it would explain Atlan’s obsession, Sera could be his new science exparament!!!
Part of the list of 57:
In the public’s eyes there are 5 American witches and one canadian
Atlan Samuel AKA Valentine(See pg.100)(USA)
Michael Fullmouth(USA)
Glaurie Thorpp AKA the super religious one(USA)
Marvin Garner AKA Rivet-Hed(USA)
Serenity Rose AKA Our Hero(USA)
Ramona Moraga(Canada)
Vicious Whisper(UK)
Emily Ash(UK)
Baba Yaga(Russia)
Stiletta’s Reincarnation(?)
Mr. Domino(?)
Dr. Vott(?)
That gay german witch who’s fantasies poped up on his ecto-TV(see pg.14)
I know I’m missing a few but that’s all the living witches I can find so 13.
@AlexM: oh yeah, forgot about Ramona, that sounds plausible…. & I was thinkin’ surely V had mentioned more but couldn’t remember!
@Trever: bearing with…. but what a twisted thot! eeeeeeghhh…..
@filem0n: it’s still kind of a weird number; you gotcher classic ‘3 witches’ thing, then the coven of 13 (3^0+3^1+3^2)….. I wonder if he’s lying and there are 58, with one as the ‘supreme’ witch, kinda like the leader of a coven? And is it *him*, or *someone else*?
hmmm…. 3^0+3^1+3^2+3^3=40, that’s not it…. all y’all math geeks rise to the challenge! 😀
3 covens + 4 trios + 5 solos + The Uberwitch = 57……….?
I don’t think Atlan is Valentine. Especially since it’s hinted at that Valentine has something to do with the vampires(In WTTN, the second vol, not sure what page. The “unidentified slavic warlock” that’s mentioned has an arrow and “valentine?” written next to it). They also don’t have the same body type, but a witch could change that I suppose… Most seem to have a favoured form, though.
I also would have thought that Merrick would have known about Val if he was Atlan. But I could be wrong about that too. 😛
you sniky bastard! you changed the pagecounter! In a very subtle way!
…still make good timing on when to quit tho. Cheers.
SSI and its counterparts, if any other country has anything like them, are likely to know who the majority of the witches are, if not all of them. I’m curious to see how the other nations treat witches. We british seem to not really give much of a damn, since V DOES float an entire stadium around.
BUH I JUST REALIZED. V says “Welcome home, Serenity Rose” at the very end of WTTN…
… I’ve commented a lot on this page…
I Have to edit myself as i have reviewed my copy of WTTN
Atlan Samuel(USA)
Ogden Michael Fullmouth(USA)
Emily Ash AKA the super religious one(USA)
Marvin Garner AKA Rivet-Hed(USA)
Serenity Rose AKA Our Hero(USA)
Ramona Moraga(Canada)
Vicious Whisper(UK)
Dame Glaurie Thorpp(UK)
Baba Yaga(Russia)
Mr. Domino(?)
Dr. Vott(?)
Valintine(?)
That gay witch who’s fantasies poped up on his ecto-TV(see pg.14)(Germany)
Stiletta’s Reincarnation(?)
That Makes 14/57.
And yes alphatroll I have many a ‘twisted thot!’
I love this comic….
I wonder why 57 is the magic number…..
Good lord, for all we know he just threw some dice or raided the nearest bingo hall for the number. It could the number that he drunkenly had tattoo’d across his backside.
It could be, for all we very know, the amount of bodies under the paito.
Grim… I love you.
Marry me?
@Lorien: *That’s* where I saw that line before…. thanks!
& my best guess about the number 57:
3 x 13 (coven)
+ 4 x 3 (‘witches three’ classic trio)
+ 5 x 1 (‘i work alone’ solo types)
+ 1 (‘The Uberwitch’, like a coven leader of all covens?)
= 57
not sure if the 3-4-5 progression means anything though, but most things witchy seem to start with 3…..
any more combos that work?
@Trever ….will there be cake? 😉
Yes…but the cake is a lie.
i pity anyone who actuly got the portal refrence.
…considering how overused it was? Most people who interact with the internet WILL.
SO PITY THE FOOLS.
@Grim+Trevor: I didn’t get it, and my *email* address is over ten years old. So no pity for me!
OK….
traditional coven=13=9+3+1=(3^2+3^1+3^0)
It’s a base 3, exponential heirarchy.
Say you want to take it out one more level? 3^3=27, so add that for 40.
Now let’s go 3-dimensional…..
3^3+3^2+3^1+3^0=40
3^2+3^1+3^0=13
3^1+3^0=4
and one more on top:
3^0=1
grand total: 58, fitting my suspicion that Valentine was leaving one out….
more in the forum!
In issue four, it said there was only 50 known witches (in Sera’s box of the character sheet at the beginning) and in issue five Vicious says she’s met all 52 of them, though she said she suspects there’s probably a few “squirreled somewhere… Catacombs and such”. So the number’s been climbing for a while. It’d make sense if Val knew about them all, though.
@Alphatroll You are an endangered species then, Good Sir! 🙂
Why would he leave one out? Unless he wasn’t counting himself for some reason, or maybe there are things a witch might do to themselves that would negate there presence in the fifty seven? :s
@Lorien He also knows their birthdays, favourite colour, middle name, current living place and you secret crush. He sends everyone a card at all major holidays. 😉
Let’s forget the math for a min.
What are the 2 greatest numbers of power
7 has always been considered sacred no matter the culture.
and the 5 basic elements of nature used in witchcraft
Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit/Void.
also in tess’s essay(A bunch of junk ilearned about witches) she states that witches have 5 powers that i have coincided with elements.
Earth=Telekinesis
Air & Fire=Weather/Fire Control & Flight
Water=Shapeshift
Spirit/Void=Ectoplasm
5+7=13 hay look we have our coven number.
but if we take 5 and 7 and make 57 that a nice solid prime number.
Enough witches to rule the Earth without making to much conflict.
(well…not to much?)
I want cake.
@trevor….. simple, and elegant…. i like it! Definately a strong contender.
(still not prime tho…. 😉 )
@trever: ……but 5 + 7 ain’t no 13! go an’ make me look foolish in the forums, will ya? 😛
Looking back on it after having reread it a couple times, I suspect that this was Valentine/Charles’ goal this whole time: to get Serenity to finally step up and claim ownership of the town. In the end, after all her resistance, she ended up being his student after all. An unconventional education, to say the least, but an effective one.