Level 10: #1
Chapter: Comic, Level 10 — Speakeasies & Sea Monsters
Thanks for voting! The turnout was amazing, with 1,124 readers submitting a response! The two allies Mimic will be bringing on this adventure are Anti-Madeline, and Stabs Doogan! Here’s how the votes break down:
| Candidate | Percentage | Votes |
| Anti-Madeline | 32.3% | 363 |
| Stabs Doogan | 27.2% | 306 |
| Prestige P. Perkins | 22.2% | 250 |
| Derek the Cleric | 20.7% | 233 |
| Dorilys | 18.8% | 212 |
| “Ezra” the Hipster Vampire | 18.5% | 209 |
| Robespierre | 17.5% | 197 |
| Roxy Casbaugh | 15.7% | 177 |
| Slobber Stankbreath | 9.7% | 109 |
| Patina, the rust monster | 6.7% | 76 |
| Plaidbeard (write-in) | 3.2% | 36 |
| Dinkum (write-in) | 0.9% | 10 |
| Grinner (write-in) | 0.6% | 7 |
| Calamitus (write-in) | 0.6% | 6 |
| Byron Bloodhoof (write-in) | 0.4% | 4 |
| Gordie the Gorgon (write-in) | 0.4% | 4 |
| Drago Stromscale (write-in) | 0.3% | 3 |
| Dr. Grawlf (write-in) | 0.3% | 3 |
| Sir Malevolus (write-in) | 0.3% | 3 |
| Schmetts (write-in) | 0.3% | 3 |
| Myrmarch Antropas (write-in) | 0.1% | 2 |
| Glib, the Gibbering Mouther (write-in) | 0.1% | 2 |
| Golden Gus (write-in) | 0.1% | 2 |
| Zar (write-in) | 0.1% | 2 |
| D. D. Burnum (write-in) | 0.1% | 1 |
| Rue Lily (write-in) | 0.1% | 1 |
| Temper (write-in) | 0.1% | 1 |
| The Astral Deva (write-in) | 0.1% | 1 |
| The “B-shell” mermaid (write-in) | 0.1% | 1 |
| The Baseball T. Rex (write-in) | 0.1% | 1 |
| Twit, the messenger bird (write-in) | 0.1% | 1 |
Mimic has seen the Belt of Genre Changing. This means that he has one potential strategy which he clearly hasn’t tried yet.
Disguise himself as the Belt, and see who looks surprised and confused when they spot him.
Hope they don’t need muscle for this job, ’cause they’re runnin’ a bit short.
Actually, for this genre, Stabs and Anti-Maddie are probably the perfect helpers.
The “winning side” (insofar as there is one) never brings the muscle in noir.
I hate you for that pun
… they’ve beaten him to it because the genre has been changed to noir.
Brilliant deduction, Boxford.
Of course… how did I not see that sooner?
…D’oh. I haven’t looked at this in a while, but it still should have been obvious.
https://i.imgur.com/mSFXk2a.gif
Someone make a note to ask to see Robespierre and Slobber in Noir styling when we get to the next Critical Missives. They’re both the only men in the top ten and also the only people in the top ten who I can’t at all see in that style, and it’s amusing.
Err, sorry, Derek was also a male who made the top ten, I misspoke, but I could see him in the part, at least.
Robespierre and Slobber would make decent bouncers. And the title specifically says “speakeasies”.
Noooooooo! Capitan Plaidbeard, why are you not the winner of the vote?!
On the upside he was the top write-in candidate.
Next time…we’ll get him in next time.
Dang, anti madeline was not someone I was expecting to see.
Neither was Mike. The Twitter post explaining that the next strip was going to be late says ” I did NOT expect the Level 10 vote to turn out the way it did.”
Indeed, in story, the only way I could see it happen is that Mimic picked Stabs, explained, and realizes that Anti-M was listening. Since he couldn’t tell three, he was stuck with her.
She’s already causing trouble this level, and she hasn’t even shown up yet.
Hey, did someone notice the subtitle? “Speakeasies & Sea Monsters”. Neither Mimic nor Stabs nor Anti-Madeline is a sea monster, and they’re not a typical fixture of the noir genre, either. Could it be that our favorite puppet-playing kraken is about to make a return? I can certainly see how a puppet-show performer would be interested in manipulating genres.
I thought the Kraken got petrified. Though, I guess someone could have unpetrified him…
I just took it as your typical “this & that” alliteration, but now that you have me thinking about it, we could see the return of the (more legally distinct) Tentacalli syndicate.
Sea train? Sea train!
Hmm… beaten to the belt, or with the belt? 😛
It’s Noir. It’s black and white. We may see both.
I could have sworn that I did a write-in vote which doesn’t appear here. Regardless, the vote I’m sure I cast was for Derek, and I’m pleased to see that he came in about 4th (along with Dorilys at 5th; clearly this was almost a Cleric party).
I’m not sure how Anti-Madeline can possibly function in this storyline, but I’m sure it’ll be interesting to find out. At least we know it isn’t going to result in a repeat of Y.T.’s redemption storyline, since AM is quite obviously the least redeemable character in the entire series (beating out even Calamitus, for all that we have no idea what he would have going for him if he lost the “evil” shtick; at least he doesn’t have an existing identity that lacks said shtick and thus would instantly render him obsolete without it).
Wait, who is “Temper”?
The cast page says she’s from Inktober content. If that strip is on the site, I can’t find it.
Temper and Keeffe can be seen in Twitter messages from October 2018 and 2019, starting from https://twitter.com/rustyandco/status/1046773486574866433/photo/1 and https://twitter.com/rustyandco/status/1179231014096441344/photo/1
62 pictures, I think.
Oh, cool, thanks. I wasn’t expecting bonus adventures today.
In case you don’t feel like scrolling Twitter dynamic page to infinity, here is the list of pages and images: https://pastebin.com/tbtgiKts
I somehow suspect Anti-Madeline is going to show up as the femme fatale in this noir; Stabs fits better as the long suffering assistant for this genre, Anti-Madeline certainly has the “horribly untrustworthy and could secretly be behind things” role down pat, and visualizing her trying to actually do some of the traditional femme fatale things is utterly hilarious to contemplate :).
Yeah, that’s the role I figure Anti-Mads will play, too. The sultry femme fatale who sways into Mimic’s office in a dress cut to *here*, trailing a cloud of trouble and expensive perfume…and has to jump up and down on his desk to get his attention, because sexy dress or no, she’s still only three inches tall. She’s gonna be fuming before long, and not just because this is set back in the age of plentiful cigarettes.
Plus of course the same problem as the mermaid: can you seduce him when you’re not even sure he’s a him?
To be fair, she never tried. Who knows what would have happened?
I was going to say “lady in red” but it’s gonna look dark grey.
Stabs would fit in perfectly as just what she is, a bartender who’s a friend of the Detective (and occasionally helps them out), despite that the Detective’s a magnet for trouble (especially when the case has a dame involved), which makes the bar ground zero annoyingly often.
Think Mac from The Dresden Files, or Morley from the Garrett P.I. series.
I’m guessing a lot of write-in votes were cast by Ezra’s new brood.
Wait, maybe brood is the wrong term. I meant her new thralls, I think. Then again, why would she even create more hipster vampires? SO mainstream.
I missed the vote, but am glad someone else thought of my write-in candidate for this chapter, the “B-shell” mermaid.
Happy to see Anti-Madeline won!
poking fun at Noir is about the only time I can tolerate it.
Well, I’m glad one of my voted characters got in, namely Stabs. My second vote was for Robbespierre, mainly for muscle to go with the versatility (Mimic) and underworld knowledge (Stabs).
Yeah, I went with Anti-Maddy and Robespierre… on the basis that along with Mimic, they were pretty much the least suited to a mission that would require a degree of subtlety. Stabs is far too well qualified… 🙂
I’m surprised so many people voted for Anti-Madeline. This bringing in villains to help out the heroes strikes me as tempting fate, especially since we can’t be sure that Mike won’t let us screw things up by making the wrong choices.
Plus I feel like Anti-Madeline would be more interesting having tiny adventures off completely on her own, unconnected to the rest of the cast.
Yeah, bringing Anti-Madeline doesn’t strike me as a smart move. But to be fair, while she isn’t particularly trustworthy, I do believe that she does not want the world to be destroyed. If only because she lives there.
As for being off on adventures of her own, maybe she is, and will just happen to meet up with Mimic at a dramatically-appropiate moment when their goals briefly align.
The genre is noir now. The protagonist doesn’t *make* smart moves, especially where a femme fatale (even a tiny one) is concerned.
Wait, “Gordie the Gorgon”? I think I missed that one, where does the character appear?
The pizza guy.
I’m surprised that someone voted for the astral deva, it was not me. (I went with Stabs and Prestige.)
Well, obviously someone beat him to it. I’m fairly certain the series wasn’t noir detective before this strip :-p
I admit to being quite puzzled why Mimic would choose Anti-Madeleine after Zar told him to pick two companions he could trust. Stabs, sure.
…though I suppose she might have a sibling rivalry thing going on with Maddy. “Anything that %**&! goody-goody I can do, I can do @$>#* better.”
It’s noir, there has to be a dame who’s nothing but trouble.
> why Mimic would choose Anti-Madeleine
Noir doesn’t work that way. A-M will choose *him*, and like Dreadaxe says, she’ll bring him nothing but trouble.
Because that’s who got the most votes!
TBH, I don’t see think the Evil (and associated inevitable betrayal) will be the biggest problem with her; she’d likely try to get her hands on the belt herself, sure, but all she’d do with it is “actiony! more explosions!” which isn’t *that* bad.
No, the problem I see is simply the impulsiveness,
I had a thought. This might not just be noir. This might be Lovecraft.
Half the map would be forbidden areas. Where is the shelf of spooky books?
Awesome. Stabs and Anti-Madeline should be fun together, and have left the big guns for a castle siege.
Our party seems to have a problem… Nobody can reach the top shelf!
I guess Mimic could turn into a ladder for one of the girls to climb, though…
Given how much Boxford is drinking, it’s probably a good thing he can’t get to the “top shelf.”
Uncannily timed for a tie in to https://xkcd.com/2375/ , from a day after your post. Tsifera, are you Randall Munroe?
In any event, Mimic would surely earn a place of honor on the “Worst Ladder” rankings.
Heh. I am nowhere near that funny. I’m just kind of accidentally psychic.
To all the Byron fans (all 4 of us) we beat Draco, could not have asked for a better outcome. Also congratulations to Baseball T-rex on your inclusion, never let death hold you back.
I thought it was weird to see so many write-ins, knowing that they had no chance of beating out any of the major characters, but I see that you had your own goal in mind. As Byron said, they never fail who die in a great cause.
Boxnoir
It makes me happy to know that I wasn’t the only one voting for Grinner. Just need 299 more, and we’ll get him in next time.
I approve of this genre change! Love all the callouts to noir-typical scenery
a) LOVE the art and dialogue. This is going to be so much fun.
b) If there isn’t a Dixon Hill reference, I will be very sadly disappointed.
(Oh please, oh please…)
Sea monsters… hold up, are we going to see the kraken that was living in the vampire castle moat, or did that one die? It’s been a while since I checked on this comic.
Petrified, but not dead. And in this comic, neither condition is permanent.
Point. Though there are plenty of other aquatic beings that could fulfill the role here.