o1 - De Los MuertosrobodidacticApril 17 2011, 23:41:34 UTC
Comic: De Los Muertos Link: [Click Here] Date Published: October 21st, 2005 Summary: After a sarcastic joke to that effect from her teacher, Kim does the research for her homework on Toltec Mythology via an interview with the Mayan God Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the Dead.
De Los Muertos: [ Link" ] Day of the Dead (more correctly: Día de los Muertos) The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday.
Toltec: [ Link ] The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology (ca 800-1000 CE). The later Aztec culture saw the Toltecs as their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tollan (Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization, indeed in the Nahuatl language the word "Toltec" came to take on the meaning "artisan".
Mictlan: [ Link ] Mictlan was the underworld of Aztec mythology.
Mictlantecuhtli: [ Link ] Mictlantecuhtli was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan. More like Hades than Satan.
o2 - Secular HeavenrobodidacticApril 17 2011, 23:53:34 UTC
Comic: Secular Heaven Link: [Click Here] Date Published: November 29th, 2005 Summary: A misguided attempt to use a rocket-jetpack in place of normal morning transport accidentally causes Kimiko's death, leading to a brief visit to God's paradise for Atheists.
Her age is not apparent, but must by necessity fall between the ages of 16-19, according to the official timeline.
Geographic location again not apparent. No clues offered.
Oh look, it's a green alien guy. Why doesn't anyone notice him? Is this commonplace? Is he simply just a strange-looking person, or...what? This is not mentioned upon or really noticed by other characters or even Kimiko. He's just....a random green alien guy. Unclear.
Kim dies in this one, another look at her ability to simply stumble into strange parts of reality. Presumably she got back from being dead because being dead in this fashion simply didn't make sense to her. The "how" is anyone's guess. Maybe "alternate realities" isn't a turn of phrase after all.
Secular: [ Link" ] The state of being separate from religion.
Nikola Tesla: [ Link ] Nikola Tesla was an inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer. He was an important contributor to the birth of commercial electricity, and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Volleyball: Notice Albert Einstein and other notable scientists, inventors, and intellectuals playing Volleyball in an aside.
o3 - EpiloguerobodidacticApril 18 2011, 00:03:20 UTC
Comic: Epilogue Link: [Click Here] Date Published: January 30th, 2006 Summary: Inspired by her own nostalgia, Kim builds a machine that will transport an item from the future to the present on the principle that nostalgic memories are partially present in physical objects as much as personal brain-matter and that this will allow her to see the future. She is proven correct.
The wintry weather would seem to prove that, wherever Kim is now living, it is decidedly not southern California.
This is the first appearance of Alina and Dmitri. I hazard the guess that Kim is now in college, and has now acquired her more familiar friends.
A lot of the premonition here is what I would call "foreshadowing" to the climax of the Hob arc. The prosthesis, the iconography and even the locket are all elements that show up later. It is worth noting the "testing the arm" panel, which contains a background image of Kim's original arm suspended in a tube of fluid.
Apparently she couldn't foresee the meddling of time-travelers. This would seem to suggest that the events that lead up to their meddling were always inevitable, regardless.
This panel didn't do much to tell us about the setting. Kim's world beyond her immediate, momentary reactions are still a mystery.
o4 - Trouble in MemphisrobodidacticApril 18 2011, 00:14:52 UTC
Comic: Trouble in Memphis Link: [Click Here] Date Published: February 13th, 2006 Summary: A conversation regarding Schroedinger's Cat and Egyption religious figures at a fantasy camp themed around the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. No really!
Location again not certain, but likely not in her hometown. Alina is along for the ride, possibly on Kim's buck. Alina is noted as being opportunistic when it comes to free entertainment.
Kim is talking to gods again. Alina seems to understand this and takes it in stride, not the last time she'll do so.
Indeed, no one ever seems to regard this as strange and yet none of the overarching consequences of omnipotent (or only partly omnipotent?) beings existing in conversational quarters with human beings is ever shown.
I honestly don't know. Maybe Sokar just got bored.
Some slight worldbuilding: Cats were kicked out of the God's metaphysical asshole's club? Seems even Zeus and Sokar get fed up with smug mammals, once in a while.
Possible worldbuilding: A very short person is pictured alongside Kimiko and Alina. Perhaps this is meant to be a younger Carl Jung? It doesn't look like the photos of a younger Jung. Perhaps this is another of the Tiny people. Not much information on this front
Copenhagen: [ Link ] the capital and largest city of Denmark, situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager.
Copenhagen Interpretation: [ Link ] The Copenhagen interpretation is a commonly taught interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Wave Function: [ Link ] A probability amplitude in quantum mechanics describing the quantum state of a particle or system of particles.
Wave Function Collapse: [ Link ] In quantum mechanics, wave function collapse is the phenomenon in which a wave function appears to reduce to a single one of many superimposed states as a result of being observed.
Sokar: [ Link ] A falcon god of the Memphite necropolis in Egyptian Mythology. One of his titles was 'he of Restau' which means the place of 'openings' or tomb entrances, making him one of the Egyptian gods of the dead.
Schrödinger's cat: [ Link ] Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 in which a cat is shown to be in a superimposed quantum state, both alive and dead
( ... )
o5 - ZhuangzirobodidacticApril 18 2011, 00:41:06 UTC
Comic: Zhuangzi Link: [Click Here] Date Published: March 2nd, 2006 Summary: Kimiko experiences an adventure in which she solves riddles, travels to a far-off land, uses a mysterious artifact and defeats a mysterious evil only to have her prize turn her into a tree, by mistake. More metaphors than you can shake a stick at. References Chinese Philosophers.
If anything in this series counts as a dream or daydream sequence then it's this because if not, then I have no idea what the hell it says about Kim's world.
It just doesn't seem to make any sense whatsoever. Most likely is a daydream Kim had, especially with the panels at the bottom showing Kim at school, partaking of a tray lunch.
Oh look, it's that alien guy again. Still no explanation for him. I like to call him "Martian Carl."
Zhuangzi: [ Link ] An influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought.
Zhuangzi: [ Link ] A Taoist book, named after its purported author Zhuangzi, the philosopher. Widely regarded as both deeply insightful in thought and as an achievement of the Chinese poetical essay form.
Ankh: [ Link ] The symbol on the green creature's chest. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life"
Half Rhyme: [ Link ] Half rhyme or slant rhyme, is consonance on the final consonants of the words involved. Widely used in Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Icelandic verse.
Comments 99
Link: [Click Here]
Date Published: October 21st, 2005
Summary: After a sarcastic joke to that effect from her teacher, Kim does the research for her homework on Toltec Mythology via an interview with the Mayan God Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the Dead.
Reply
Reply
Toltec: [ Link ] The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology (ca 800-1000 CE). The later Aztec culture saw the Toltecs as their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tollan (Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization, indeed in the Nahuatl language the word "Toltec" came to take on the meaning "artisan".
Mictlan: [ Link ] Mictlan was the underworld of Aztec mythology.
Mictlantecuhtli: [ Link ] Mictlantecuhtli was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan. More like Hades than Satan.
Reply
Link: [Click Here]
Date Published: November 29th, 2005
Summary: A misguided attempt to use a rocket-jetpack in place of normal morning transport accidentally causes Kimiko's death, leading to a brief visit to God's paradise for Atheists.
Reply
Geographic location again not apparent. No clues offered.
Oh look, it's a green alien guy. Why doesn't anyone notice him? Is this commonplace? Is he simply just a strange-looking person, or...what? This is not mentioned upon or really noticed by other characters or even Kimiko. He's just....a random green alien guy. Unclear.
Kim dies in this one, another look at her ability to simply stumble into strange parts of reality. Presumably she got back from being dead because being dead in this fashion simply didn't make sense to her. The "how" is anyone's guess. Maybe "alternate realities" isn't a turn of phrase after all.
Reply
Nikola Tesla: [ Link ] Nikola Tesla was an inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer. He was an important contributor to the birth of commercial electricity, and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Volleyball: Notice Albert Einstein and other notable scientists, inventors, and intellectuals playing Volleyball in an aside.
Reply
Link: [Click Here]
Date Published: January 30th, 2006
Summary: Inspired by her own nostalgia, Kim builds a machine that will transport an item from the future to the present on the principle that nostalgic memories are partially present in physical objects as much as personal brain-matter and that this will allow her to see the future. She is proven correct.
Reply
This is the first appearance of Alina and Dmitri. I hazard the guess that Kim is now in college, and has now acquired her more familiar friends.
A lot of the premonition here is what I would call "foreshadowing" to the climax of the Hob arc. The prosthesis, the iconography and even the locket are all elements that show up later. It is worth noting the "testing the arm" panel, which contains a background image of Kim's original arm suspended in a tube of fluid.
Apparently she couldn't foresee the meddling of time-travelers. This would seem to suggest that the events that lead up to their meddling were always inevitable, regardless.
This panel didn't do much to tell us about the setting. Kim's world beyond her immediate, momentary reactions are still a mystery.
Reply
Link: [Click Here]
Date Published: February 13th, 2006
Summary: A conversation regarding Schroedinger's Cat and Egyption religious figures at a fantasy camp themed around the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. No really!
Reply
Location again not certain, but likely not in her hometown. Alina is along for the ride, possibly on Kim's buck. Alina is noted as being opportunistic when it comes to free entertainment.
Kim is talking to gods again. Alina seems to understand this and takes it in stride, not the last time she'll do so.
Indeed, no one ever seems to regard this as strange and yet none of the overarching consequences of omnipotent (or only partly omnipotent?) beings existing in conversational quarters with human beings is ever shown.
I honestly don't know. Maybe Sokar just got bored.
Some slight worldbuilding: Cats were kicked out of the God's metaphysical asshole's club? Seems even Zeus and Sokar get fed up with smug mammals, once in a while.
Possible worldbuilding: A very short person is pictured alongside Kimiko and Alina. Perhaps this is meant to be a younger Carl Jung? It doesn't look like the photos of a younger Jung. Perhaps this is another of the Tiny people. Not much information on this front
Reply
Copenhagen Interpretation: [ Link ] The Copenhagen interpretation is a commonly taught interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Wave Function: [ Link ] A probability amplitude in quantum mechanics describing the quantum state of a particle or system of particles.
Wave Function Collapse: [ Link ] In quantum mechanics, wave function collapse is the phenomenon in which a wave function appears to reduce to a single one of many superimposed states as a result of being observed.
Sokar: [ Link ] A falcon god of the Memphite necropolis in Egyptian Mythology. One of his titles was 'he of Restau' which means the place of 'openings' or tomb entrances, making him one of the Egyptian gods of the dead.
Schrödinger's cat: [ Link ] Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 in which a cat is shown to be in a superimposed quantum state, both alive and dead ( ... )
Reply
Link: [Click Here]
Date Published: March 2nd, 2006
Summary: Kimiko experiences an adventure in which she solves riddles, travels to a far-off land, uses a mysterious artifact and defeats a mysterious evil only to have her prize turn her into a tree, by mistake. More metaphors than you can shake a stick at. References Chinese Philosophers.
Reply
Steampunk owls? Floating ghost-mecha-things? Purple, furry sauropods?
It just doesn't seem to make any sense whatsoever. Most likely is a daydream Kim had, especially with the panels at the bottom showing Kim at school, partaking of a tray lunch.
Oh look, it's that alien guy again. Still no explanation for him. I like to call him "Martian Carl."
Reply
Zhuangzi: [ Link ] A Taoist book, named after its purported author Zhuangzi, the philosopher. Widely regarded as both deeply insightful in thought and as an achievement of the Chinese poetical essay form.
Ankh: [ Link ] The symbol on the green creature's chest. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life"
Half Rhyme: [ Link ] Half rhyme or slant rhyme, is consonance on the final consonants of the words involved. Widely used in Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Icelandic verse.
Reply
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