#451 – crema-torium seven

It's a lovely spring week! This story will be over Friday. Then no more snow stories for a while.

47 thoughts on “#451 – crema-torium seven

  1. The lines between hipster and hippie are blurred! Why buy a scarf when you can grow one- guaranteed 100% organic.

    When he is done with official too-cool-for-school barista business, he rides his magnificent blue ox back to the hills and resumes his lumberjacking.

    1. A single speed blue ox, of course.

    2. some hippies are definitely hipsters too! the lines of the counter culture are blurred. i've met my share of gutter punks in the rainbow family and more. rainbow family is the most open and inviting community i know – we befriend everyone. thus you're a hippy first, and if you 'qualify' to be a hipster, then nobody will judge you for going to the sweat lodge on weekends. try tucson, arizona. most of the hippies are hip enough to be hipsters too, but even there, not all. portland, oregon, too, as i'm sure anyone who's lived there has learned. one of my friends there makes some custom awesome cargo bikes that are sold all around the world. go support a hippy today.

      1. Reading this in 2018 is… an experience.

  2. for a moment, i thought montpelier's pants were down

  3. Man, I really want Jack and Jane to stick around in this comic somehow. I like them so muuuch. This guild drama is interesting though.

    1. I love Jane way to much for her to leave!

  4. Excellent! I can hear the wind in panel 6, blowing Eve's hair and Mike's beard. Awesome! Also his words ar gold! Missing and unaccounted for since crema-torium seven. Wow!
    Can't wait to see how it ends!

  5. Mike Van Montpelier…God DAAAAAAMN that's a douchey name! The perfect leader for a bunch of baristas. And Jack sold her out! I knew it wouldn't last! Bah!

  6. I really love the guild plot. It gives a sort of 5-Stars epic feel to this arc.

    Does anyone know Mike Von Montpelier's Intelligence Bonus?

    Eve might be able to make a saving throw.

    1. That guy looks like a mad wizard, so I'd guess a +5 or a +6.

      Eve's will save vs. plot absurdity is high, but she has about a -eleventy gillion penalty vs. ex boyfriends, old flames, and crushes.

  7. I really love the guild plot. It gives a sort of 5-Stars epic feel to this arc.

  8. Ah. That explains Jack's reaction after seeing Eve's tattoo. Guild watchlist or something of the sort?

  9. I so hope it ll work out with Jack anyways.

    1. Nobody likes a stoolie, kid. You know what they do to stoolies around here? We sends them to the Crema-torium.

  10. ARGH! The suspense! I hate cliffhangers.

    And by hate I mean love!

    And by love I mean loathe!

  11. So I just went back and noticed all the tattoos. The only one I couldn't find was Jane's. Didn't notice/think of them till today.

    1. Never mind. Found Jane's.

  12. Ha, Julie is so baffled. Also, where did all of those people come from.

    1. Burlington.

  13. I really like the depth of characterization here. Even while you see him betraying Eve, you can still understand where Jack is coming from. It's been firmly established how important the guild is to him, and even though he does genuinely like Eve (at least that's what I get from his ashamed expressions here), he still goes through with it because it's part of his character. I do hope he ends up sticking around in the comic.

    1. SHAME for him, nevertheless. Booo!

    2. I don't. Jack's a character already symbolised my Eve's relationship with him. Fleeting and temporal. Sure we can be happy that a morally minded, likable character has made an appearance, but past this storyline I can't see him serving much use to the narrative of Octopus Pie.

      I like the dude though.

      1. Yeah, I agree that he's more or less finished his role as a major character in this arc, and I wouldn't exactly want him showing up to canned studio applause with a catchphrase or something every strip, but I'm just hoping that he doesn't end up in the abyss that "one-and-done" comic characters often find themselves falling into. I dunno. I'd at least like to see him appear as a minor/background character every now and then.

    3. I see him appearing in some far-off future arc. Just to complicate things, of course.

  14. *le gasp* the plot thickens!
    I sure hope this doesn't severe things with Jane and Julie. Another satisfying slice of pie, perfect way to end "Pi Day"(3/14).

  15. oh man
    goddamn it jack why do you suck

  16. I want Jack to stay forever.

  17. This is my favorite arc of all time!

  18. So, wait. What tipped them off. Didn't Jane already know Eve was part of the Guild (#440)?

    1. whoa
      !!!
      maybe only high-ranking members are marked? that's a good point

  19. Wait… does this mean we’re going to get exposition? OP’s exposition is always genuinely insane! (course, it’s always delivered by Hanna…)

  20. This is wayyyy more epic than it has any right to be. Well done.

    1. It has all the right to be epic. Shame on you.

  21. Each time Catastrophe Waitress is said, I get that song in my head. Not complaining, just saying!

  22. Juke — she knew Eve was part of the Guild, but not that she left. Eve asked Jane not to mention it to anyone. Jane assumed Eve just didn't want to talk shop on vacation.

  23. I'd say bringing a lynch mob means you're not second date material.

  24. Crema-torium 7….why is that familiar to me…

  25. I love the line "vermont guildsmen–all 7 of them"

    1. Except I count more than seven people there… Three un-ID’d people in the window. Jane, Jack, sunglasses guy, and girl who doesn’t make connections well. Plus Mike. That’s eight.

  26. The sound you're hearing is stuff going down.

  27. Haha I love how everything always goes bionkers towards the end of these stories, and this one really takes the cake. Hoping to see some what of a back storty to this.

  28. Cannot believe I missed page 439. This story makes so much more sense now, after reading it. #fail

  29. Jack almost looks like Will in panel four, in the "I fucked up" kind of way.

  30. Perhaps I've been playing a tad too much Mass Effect, but I read all of Mike's lines in my head as a Volus.

    It seemed… rather fitting.

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