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[penguinofhonor]

Goddamn.

At least I know where to direct all that anger I can't point at Tony anymore.

[RedKing]

So....holding her back a year was maybe a way of buying time to figure something out? And he's being watched by the Court, so he has to be Dickfather Supreme at all times (except at home, where I'm guessing he has bug-blockers or something).

[Zangi]

So....holding her back a year was maybe a way of buying time to figure something out? And he's being watched by the Court, so he has to be Dickfather Supreme at all times (except at home, where I'm guessing he has bug-blockers or something).

That doesn't excuse her copying homework though... >.> 
But assuming that there are tests as in schools in good ol US of A, she still knows enough to pass. (So I don't really have a problem with it myself.)  Unless those are take home tests.

[penguinofhonor]

This is set in Britain.

[Zangi]

This is set in Britain.

Do the British grade kids on tests?  I havn't the slightest clue how their schooling works.

[RedKing]

This is set in Britain.

Do the British grade kids on tests?  I havn't the slightest clue how their schooling works.

No, children are graded on their tea etiquette and bloodline.

THAT IS THE WRONG SCONE, NIGEL! YOU FAIL FOREVER

[lemon10]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I also contend that it wasn't a coincidence that the antenna reached the fire elemental.  I just don't believe it was done to power the spell (that is, to generate a motive force by which the spirit of Surma could be summoned), but rather that it was done as the target of the spell (that is, it itself was the spirit of Surma).  From what we've learned before, nothing was left of Surma as far as the psychopomps, our experts on crossing the veil from this side, are concerned, by extension implicitly excluding the bit that was already passed to Annie, the fire elemental spirit.  Thus when the spell reached out to Surma, what it reached was the fire elemental spirit, with the consequences we saw for its present vessel/form, Annie.  I also don't believe that sacrifice was necessarily a fundamental part of the spell, but rather that it was a consequence of how Surma's ancestry led to her death.  I also especially don't believe that any of the parties in question meant for such a thing to happen.

But, now we're just getting into speculation, for which we'll likely have to wait until we understand more about those who helped Anthony.  I think I understand a bit more about what you intended by what you say, though, and I can see where you're coming from.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yeah, that seems pretty likely, and is probably what did happen.
That said, I do believe that the beings that sponsored the spell did so with full knowledge of what the result would be. Either they didn't know she was a fire elemental (which does seem slightly unlikely (but of course not impossible), as it was pointed out that Anthony would have probably told them), or they did know, and give him the spell anyways.

E: I also feel that a generic resurrection spell (eg. One that took a dead person from the afterlife) would differ mechanically from the one they used (eg. One takes a nonhuman soul from the living world, and (presumably) takes the remains of the dead surma in the afterlife (which lack a soul, but presumably still have some memories/form)).
While it is possible that one spell would be broad enough to accomplish both the first (resurrect regular human) and the second (resurrect/snatch fire elemental) it seems more likely that this spell was designed to accomplish the second.

Ah, I stand by my assessment, Fire Elemental shenanigans.   Surma didn't immediately die at child birth... and Tony knew why/how she was dying.  Conventional doohickeys clearly failed.

For what its worth, I think she didn't die instantly because she didn't lose the fire elemental fully until Annie got a bit older. I think Annie was slowly siphoning it off her mother, and once she got the entire thing Surma died very quickly. I think the ill health effects before her death were because living with even half a soul is pretty tough.

If Annie completely lost her fire elemental part, I think she would immediately slip into a coma, followed very shortly by death.

[Bauglir]

I think you're overthinking the magic. All that's necessary is that it "bring back Surma", and we already know that part of Surma became part of Annie. So without anything else it's reasonable to conclude that that part got taken away from her. All this stuff about souls as currency and stuff is kinda crufty.

[Antsan]

@today's comic: Suspected as much. At least I got that one right.

[Arx]

I like how Tom casually backhands all the haters in the author comment.

[Bauglir]

Meh. Thing is, unlike Annie, we immediately started out with the consequences of his severe character flaw that hurts everyone around him, no context to explain it, and no known redeeming features. If all the information we have about a guy is that he's a tremendous asshole, in a way that's consistent with all his past behavior, then by all metrics available to the reader we will conclude that he probably is not a Good Guy. As an author, communicating badly and then acting smug when your characters are misunderstood is not clever. It's certainly a valid and entertaining plot twist, but the casual backhanding is what leaves a sour taste in my mouth, y'see.

[Mephansteras]

Yeah, but I think that's a natural product of having a fan base that's so keen on trying to predict everything that goes on. It's not a backhand aimed at the general reader, I think, but the ones who are themselves incredibly smug about their theories and how they 'know' everything that is going on despite often missing crucial details.

Not that it excuses it, of course, I just think that's more what's going on.

[Sinistar]

While at first I was greatly amused with the latest chapter being all "Let's make everyone feel awkward for hating on Tony", I'm too am becoming increasingly, well, bored by it. It feels just so... dunno, artificial? From an extreme point of him being a complete jackass then swing into a complete opposite by being served a sob story about Surma. Don't get me wrong, I like the extra background story and little touches like him at first literally seeing Surma in class, but man, this is probably the first chapter since I started reading Gunnerkrigg that I'm just not impressed with.

But heeeeeeeey, not to be all sour about it or anything, the chapter isn't even finished and the whole story even less so, so I'll just have to wait a bit and see what cool trick will Tom pull out of his magic hat next.

[Haspen]

I like how Donny took neither side in today's strip.

[Culise]

I'm rather amused how yesterday's strip basically seems to sum up the diverging fan reactions to this chapter's revelations in a nutshell.