03-01-11 double pepperoni with sausage

[Lighthawk]

Unique?

[Kamino Neko]

"Melusine" typically refers to a specific medieval mythological person, about whom many variations of stories were written. Not really a class of creature (The same way that Medusa is a mythological person, who happens to be a gorgon).

That is the case in the real world legendry (and I've pointed that out before).

It is not the case in the EC universe. Brooke is identified as a melusine. And EC melusines are no more like any particular form of naga (there are several, even without leaving the original legends) than they are like the legendary Melusine.

[David Johnston]

I can't place the reasons why... but that birthday party scene is creepy on a whole other level. .

Perhaps because it looks like there's a lovecraftian monstrosity under the table that has tentacles and little girls coming out of it, with little tentacles coming out of the little girls?

It took me a sec, but I figured it out, They are simply in their "snakey" forms. ?

Oh sure they are. That was obvious enough. But since we can't see where the tails connect to the bodies we can imagine all kinds of things under that table out of context.

[WCRI]

No, you can... nearly, clearly, see who's tail is who's. Now that I've had some sleep I think I can hone in on a reason why, namely the puffing of the cheeks from where the other girls haven't quite yet swallowed their um, "snacks." Or even pigtailed blondie's smile where one of the mouse's feet are hanging out (at least I think its a foot, it could be a fang, not sure)

Oh, and someone mentioned young Brooke have pigtails? You sir are wrong, she has only one pigtail, singular, not plural. But also, ... mmh, nah, I don't feel that young Brooke makes it on the "cute-o-meter" I was moreso referring to panel one with her caught in the middle of taking a bite of pizza curious glance look as the cutesy moment for her. Yeah, its a stretch, but comparatively it does at least rate a 1 on the CoM. (young, naive Brooke, not so much)

[Eris Lobo]

What was it like when it came out a few hours later? The skeleton must have been almost intact!

Err ... I wasn't going to mention those details, but since you asked ... you are indeed correct. I got the chance to see one of her post-digestion mouse skulls after it was ... *ahem* ... thoroughly cleaned, and the bone structure was perfectly preserved in a fascinatingly macabre way.

Bizarrely enough, I got to see something very similar a year later, when my son got one of those "owl pellet" kits from his school, and when we took it apart we found little mouse bones still intact in there as well.

[Count de Money]

I apologize in advance for my morbid curiosity, but did Skittles become an early meal for Seth?

I like Nina's indignation at Layla for her choice of a midnight snack. Layla could have said it happened because she was drunk -- God knows I did enough stupid crap under the influence I should have won a Darwin Award.

Six-year-old Brooke is cute. My logic is undeniable.

I'm curious about EC melusines. Are they poisonous, like vipers, or are they more like constrictors? I didn't notice when Brooke transformed to her snake form way back when, but was Seth still there? I'm thinking maybe Brooke and Seth merge to produce the snake form, but I may be way off base.

[Gil Hamilton]

This reminds me of a tale.

Earlier in my college days, I would often after my one chemistry course go to a friends house and we'd watch Pokemon and have a snuggle. One episode that stuck out to me featured the character Jessie getting a new snake pokemon to replace her old one. The snake was introduced when one of Ash's pokemon, which was a sort of fire chicken, ran at it with fruit in excitement. I was a bit incredulous at the results of this, because this giant freakin' snake with enormous jaws DIDN'T proceed to devour the chicken but rather devoured the giant apple the chicken was carrying. I sat up in indignation.

"What the hell?" I said, waving at the TV. "Look at the teeth on that thing and it PASSED UP a chance for some tasty hot wings for an APPLE?" Later in the episode, Team Rocket lured the snake with a basket for fruit, and I had lost all respect for the monster snake and vegetarians snakes became an in-joke with our group.

[Azrael]

@Count de Money: No, when Brooke "snaked out" in the hall Seth was hiding in Chloe's cleavage. Panel one here before. And panel four after.

[Count de Money]

^^^ I stand corrected. The viper/constrictor question lingers.

[Azrael]

Well the projection of the fangs here would seem to indicate that she leans more towards a venomous type than a constrictor. But really, since she is a sentient being there is no real reason she can not be both.

[Gil Hamilton]

What does her sentience have to do with her being both venomous and a constrictor?

It doesn't make that much sense for her to be venomous. Giant snakes tend to be constrictors because they need to be able to reliably kill large prey and producing snake venom is energetically expensive. If you intend to eat, say, a sheep, you want to insure that it dies where you can eat it. If the sheep wanders dies a few hours later after running away, the snake loses it's meal and that's venom wasted. Most venomous snakes will dry bite if they accidentally encounter people, because the bite is "leave me the hell alone!" rather than "I'm trying to kill you!". However, constrictors don't have that problem with large prey, since they choke a bitch until dead and naturally, the prey can't flee. For something as large as a melusine, that' makes alot of sense, but producing super-expensive venom in large quantities might not.

[Azrael]

Because if Brooke is venomous she could also choose to costirct her prey if necessary, thus negating the need to expend her oh so precious venom. And while we are on the subject, Brooke is a magical being and therefore it is quite likely that any venom she would produce would also be done magically lessening "energy expensiveness" of doing so purely in a biological manner.

[Gil Hamilton]

"Because if Brooke is venomous she could also choose to costirct her prey if necessary, thus negating the need to expend her oh so precious venom."

You see that is a self-contradictory sentence, right? If she's a constrictor, she doesn't need to envenom her prey, as you say. So why would her species need be venomous in the first place? Sentience isn't coupled at all to melusine methods of predation. However, their size would tend to favor one over the other.

Further, playing the "magic" card isn't really useful to conversation. Heck, I haven't seen anything that really indicates that she's actually venomous. Presuming that she is, there is no reason to think that even as a magical being, the production of venom would be done magically. Why should it be? Tons of creatures in nature produce venom without the need for magic. Saying that it is "quite likely" that her venom is refreshed magically is a leap in logic. You wouldn't say that Brooke is magical, so therefore when she eats, it is quite likely that she magically extracts energy from a consumed guinea pig. You would start with the notion that she actually digests the delicious rodent, no magic necessary. I don't see why snake venom is any different; while snake venom is nasty stuff, it still is just biochemistry.

Though it might be fun to play that game. I say, that since Brooke is a magical being, therefore it is quite likely she can lift a bus and throw it at her prey like the Hulk as her method of predation. No evidence that she can do it, but I fancy the notion, so why not?

[Azrael]

Honestly Gil, I'm not sure just what your beef here is, as this was pure speculativeness based on the fact that Brooke is drawn in the comic with large extended fangs like those found on primarilly venom based snakes. Non-venomous constricting snakes have no need for these specialized fangs and therefore don't have them, rather having what could be more descibed as gripping teeth. Also in nature some venomous snakes also constrict their prey, so again there is nothing stopping Brooke from be able to perform either action, and she being a sentient being, being able to choose the action best suited for a given situation.

[bokonondeemax]

Snaky Brooke do wat snaky Brooke do

DO NOT TAUNT HAPPY FUN SNAKE

(seriously, a novel about a lost colony of descendants of Melusine would rock...but it probably wouldn't include birthday balloons)