That’s pretty well precedented in this sort of story, but honestly my first thought was that this genuinely was her corpse and she got brought back somehow by the shadow circus
She does seem quite pale in the modern day, and her eyes have gone white
We know the Shadow Circus has chemicals that can put people into a temporary death-like state (the “cyanide” implants discussed in Chapter 5, pages 13 and 14).
We also didn’t actually see her get hit by the van here.
Here’s my theory: A very talented goon is driving the van. Driving is his “routine”—that level of talent. He hits Maggie juuuust hard enough to knock her over. Passenger goon jumps out of the van, rushes over to her lying there. “Oh my God! Somebody call an ambulance!” Jabs her with a hypodermic needle before she can say anything.
That… is actually a pretty good theory right there.
You know, if you want to, you could always join TV Tropes and put this theory as part of this comic’s WMG (Wild Mass Guessing) section of its page on the website (a section that I created to post my own Clown Corps theory about McBell being a clone of Echo/Maggie).
She doesn’t look pale without the makeup but her hair is white when it clearly wasn’t originally. It could be a wig or dye or a reaction to near death chemicals like your theory proposes. Honestly this story so far has had some surprises and possible misdirects so I don’t know what to believe. The circumstances around Maggie’s “death” clearly are not what they seem. Why question now is why? Maggie and Morgan don’t seem much different from average Pinfall citizens. This is pretty elaborate to get one girl.
And I’m still predicting that once this flashback ends, Morgan will burst out from that rubble with her umbrella and rockets into Maggie, grabbing her in the process; and then both of them will exit out of the abandoned building and fly through the whole city until they reach the auction house where both the A and B stories will finally intertwine with each other.
Rule of Heroics #13: Upon death, beloved sidekicks will be resurrected as cold, vengeful assassins. See bionic implants, cloning, fountain of youth, etc
What’s worse? Traumatic flashback? Traumatic flashback about One’s own death? Or breaking the 4th wall in a traumatic flashback about One’s own death?!
Do we know when this happened? Like, x years ago? It is not just academic interest, but might be a question of life and death, actually. Let me explain:
So far, as courtesy demands, I treated the alt-text as word of god. Especially 3-5, where it is written: “ANGEL IS THE MOLE, IT ALL MAKES SENSE”. Finding “the mole” became an intellectual exercise (still thinking, Bunsen is the most likely alternative here), because WE ALREADY KNEW!
So I dreaded the consequences, when Scripture told us in 6-71 that Mustard was „gonna be finding confetti on her person for the rest of her life“. Which proved to be quite short, according to 6-132 „Anyway RIP Mustard“. Broke my heart, btw..
BUT!
We know that Maggie didn’t die and was „recruited“ by the Shadow Circus somehow. I think, Mr. A’s theory about the events might be pretty accurate, question is: Who told the Circus of Maggie’s astonishing ability? Must have been the mole, isn’t it? And the mole is Angel, the cat, as shown above. Only Angel wasn’t there when Maggie applied! See 2-10, where Agent Raspberry, when asked by Binky „What is new?“ answers „Well, I got a cat“. So Angel isn’t the mole, therefor the alt-text is just messing with us, therefor Agent Mustard is alive and well(ish, maybe)- I rest my case, Dr. Watson.
This happened long enough ago that Mustard had time to apply to clown school, graduate, likely do some field work, start a teaching career, and get enough seniority she can just walk away from her classes for days on end.
Raspberry is not Angel’s first “owner”, but it’s been long enough that no one remembers her previous times in HQ. (Except the old janitor no one talks to and who hasn’t appeared in the comic.)
And the wrecking ball is straightforward too, being a speechless machine of pure destruction, it won’t try to get your guard down with a harmless sounding soft little voice like Iron Mike does.
Chapter 6, Page 2: It’s not that kind of flashback!
Chapter 6, Page 135: Oh, it’s THAT kind of flashback…
…It does make me think of the parts one or the other wasn’t there for, though. Maybe most of us were wrong and these aren’t “point of view” flashbacks.
Which, if that’s the case, it still makes Mustard’s turnaround feel a bit rushed. I’m hoping this isn’t all we see of it. Like, I can see that if she was really that bad, maybe she actually goes deeper and lashes out until she finds someone who turns her to Clown Corps herself and, thinking of her “departed” sister, she finally joins that way?
I think these flashbacks aren’t exactly us seeing anyone’s memories, but us seeing the events as one character believes they happened. Both what ther remember, and the things they’ve been told, and the assumptions they’ve made to fill in the gaps.
I mean, she literally says that in a past chapter. She tells McBell that she’d wanted to be an actress or model, something where she could be hot and famous, then her sister died, and she joined the Clown Corps in her honor.
I’d be pretty disappointed if this was unreliable narrator like a lot of folks want it to be. The idea that Mustard was actually just a mean person and this traumatic event rocked her world is much more compelling to me than “The mime is exaggerating/making things up”
That’s very valid. We do know that there is an unreliable narrator here, we were given one set of memories first, and people like Mustard, so it’s understandable that the first impulse is to declare those first memories to be the true version. The question is, since Mustard has inconsistent flashbacks, which set of flashbacks are the real ones, or are neither of them real?
It can make sense that the first ones were the way Mustard preferred to remember events, hence why they were in color. And then therefore these memories are the true version. But it’s hard to conclude anything with certainty now!
Neither of them seem to be inconsistent. Maggie and Morgan at the fair kept the same through line of Maggie wanting to fight Morgan’s ego and Morgan feeling like Maggie was cramping her style. Morgan clearly still loves Maggie, even though she was bothering her. Wheres the actual inconsistency, aside from seeing them in entirely different environments for more than one tender sister scene?
We know that there’s something unreliable about flashbacks, that’s clear. I don’t personally think any version of events is the exact truth. Morgan probably wasn’t a great person, but Maggie probably wasn’t the heroic underdog either. Both of those are way too convenient for one person’s narrative or the other, don’t you think?
And we can see that Maggie has been in some way convinced to abandon whatever reasons she had as a child for wanting to be a Clown. Currently, her perspective makes no sense.
I wonder if the flashback is going to involve Maggie being resurrected/reawakened using a seltzer bottle. Or maybe Morgan being awakened from the flashback with one.
Look, all I’m saying is, it’s a clown comic. We’re overdue a seltzer bottle gag.
Clearly this isn’t truly what happened. At least, not the full story. I feel like this must be a clue. Something here is telling us something, about how Maggie got brainwashed or what’s going on with the flashbacks or something.
Boy do I hate being right all the time
You should try being almost right. Happened to me two pages back. It was fun.
TRUCK-KUN SAMA, I KNEEL!
I’m confused how this works now. They body double her corpse?
No you see, she’s only mostly dead. Only mostly dead is still slightly alive, and slightly alive is something Ringleader could work with.
They brought jumper cables!
All you need is to turn the coroner into a thrall ahead of time. Boom, mostly dead is declared all dead.
In this case, “To blave” was the right answer.
That’s pretty well precedented in this sort of story, but honestly my first thought was that this genuinely was her corpse and she got brought back somehow by the shadow circus
She does seem quite pale in the modern day, and her eyes have gone white
We know the Shadow Circus has chemicals that can put people into a temporary death-like state (the “cyanide” implants discussed in Chapter 5, pages 13 and 14).
We also didn’t actually see her get hit by the van here.
Here’s my theory: A very talented goon is driving the van. Driving is his “routine”—that level of talent. He hits Maggie juuuust hard enough to knock her over. Passenger goon jumps out of the van, rushes over to her lying there. “Oh my God! Somebody call an ambulance!” Jabs her with a hypodermic needle before she can say anything.
That… is actually a pretty good theory right there.
You know, if you want to, you could always join TV Tropes and put this theory as part of this comic’s WMG (Wild Mass Guessing) section of its page on the website (a section that I created to post my own Clown Corps theory about McBell being a clone of Echo/Maggie).
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/ClownCorps
Also, while I don’t know what’s up with her eyes, the pale skin is just face paint. If you look at her neck, it’s a normal color.
So, uh…I forgot that Maggie appeared without the face paint multiple times in this chapter (most recently page 89).
She doesn’t look pale without the makeup but her hair is white when it clearly wasn’t originally. It could be a wig or dye or a reaction to near death chemicals like your theory proposes. Honestly this story so far has had some surprises and possible misdirects so I don’t know what to believe. The circumstances around Maggie’s “death” clearly are not what they seem. Why question now is why? Maggie and Morgan don’t seem much different from average Pinfall citizens. This is pretty elaborate to get one girl.
Jesus Christ…
And I’m still predicting that once this flashback ends, Morgan will burst out from that rubble with her umbrella and rockets into Maggie, grabbing her in the process; and then both of them will exit out of the abandoned building and fly through the whole city until they reach the auction house where both the A and B stories will finally intertwine with each other.
Gentlemen, we can rebuild her.
We have the mimeology.
Rule of Heroics #13: Upon death, beloved sidekicks will be resurrected as cold, vengeful assassins. See bionic implants, cloning, fountain of youth, etc
There’s just something so unnerving about seeing the corpse. Like it isn’t even mangled or looks grotesque. It’s just hollow.
What’s worse? Traumatic flashback? Traumatic flashback about One’s own death? Or breaking the 4th wall in a traumatic flashback about One’s own death?!
im willing to bet that morgan lost sleep over the fact that the last words she said to her sister were “get drenched”
If those really were Morgan’s last words to her.
SHE. HAD. THE. RIGHT. OF. WAY!
2 ton motorized can on wheels would like to tell you there is no such thing as a right of way when it’s careening down the road at breakneck speeds.
Point is, right of way won’t keep you from becoming a tire-shaped road waffle.
Bold of you to assume it wasn’t the Shadow Circus on that car.
This raises more questions than it answers
She’s just mimicking a corpse.
Do we know when this happened? Like, x years ago? It is not just academic interest, but might be a question of life and death, actually. Let me explain:
So far, as courtesy demands, I treated the alt-text as word of god. Especially 3-5, where it is written: “ANGEL IS THE MOLE, IT ALL MAKES SENSE”. Finding “the mole” became an intellectual exercise (still thinking, Bunsen is the most likely alternative here), because WE ALREADY KNEW!
So I dreaded the consequences, when Scripture told us in 6-71 that Mustard was „gonna be finding confetti on her person for the rest of her life“. Which proved to be quite short, according to 6-132 „Anyway RIP Mustard“. Broke my heart, btw..
BUT!
We know that Maggie didn’t die and was „recruited“ by the Shadow Circus somehow. I think, Mr. A’s theory about the events might be pretty accurate, question is: Who told the Circus of Maggie’s astonishing ability? Must have been the mole, isn’t it? And the mole is Angel, the cat, as shown above. Only Angel wasn’t there when Maggie applied! See 2-10, where Agent Raspberry, when asked by Binky „What is new?“ answers „Well, I got a cat“. So Angel isn’t the mole, therefor the alt-text is just messing with us, therefor Agent Mustard is alive and well(ish, maybe)- I rest my case, Dr. Watson.
This happened long enough ago that Mustard had time to apply to clown school, graduate, likely do some field work, start a teaching career, and get enough seniority she can just walk away from her classes for days on end.
Raspberry is not Angel’s first “owner”, but it’s been long enough that no one remembers her previous times in HQ. (Except the old janitor no one talks to and who hasn’t appeared in the comic.)
I don’t remember the alt-text ever saying Angel was the only mole.
You think, there is ANOTHER mole beside Angel&Oats? Naah, three moles, that would be CRAZY!
Damn. This page hit like a…
Dammit, like a… a… a thing that… hits real hard.
Mike Tyson! There we go.
Page hit like a… wrecking ball!
And the wrecking ball is straightforward too, being a speechless machine of pure destruction, it won’t try to get your guard down with a harmless sounding soft little voice like Iron Mike does.
What if her consciousness moved into the hat?
Chapter 6, Page 2: It’s not that kind of flashback!
Chapter 6, Page 135: Oh, it’s THAT kind of flashback…
…It does make me think of the parts one or the other wasn’t there for, though. Maybe most of us were wrong and these aren’t “point of view” flashbacks.
Which, if that’s the case, it still makes Mustard’s turnaround feel a bit rushed. I’m hoping this isn’t all we see of it. Like, I can see that if she was really that bad, maybe she actually goes deeper and lashes out until she finds someone who turns her to Clown Corps herself and, thinking of her “departed” sister, she finally joins that way?
I think these flashbacks aren’t exactly us seeing anyone’s memories, but us seeing the events as one character believes they happened. Both what ther remember, and the things they’ve been told, and the assumptions they’ve made to fill in the gaps.
So all this time it was a sense of guilt and obligation that Mustard was in the Clown Corps ? To fulfill her sister’s dream ?
I mean, she literally says that in a past chapter. She tells McBell that she’d wanted to be an actress or model, something where she could be hot and famous, then her sister died, and she joined the Clown Corps in her honor.
More specifically: chapter 3, pages 11 and 12.
I’d be pretty disappointed if this was unreliable narrator like a lot of folks want it to be. The idea that Mustard was actually just a mean person and this traumatic event rocked her world is much more compelling to me than “The mime is exaggerating/making things up”
That’s very valid. We do know that there is an unreliable narrator here, we were given one set of memories first, and people like Mustard, so it’s understandable that the first impulse is to declare those first memories to be the true version. The question is, since Mustard has inconsistent flashbacks, which set of flashbacks are the real ones, or are neither of them real?
It can make sense that the first ones were the way Mustard preferred to remember events, hence why they were in color. And then therefore these memories are the true version. But it’s hard to conclude anything with certainty now!
Neither of them seem to be inconsistent. Maggie and Morgan at the fair kept the same through line of Maggie wanting to fight Morgan’s ego and Morgan feeling like Maggie was cramping her style. Morgan clearly still loves Maggie, even though she was bothering her. Wheres the actual inconsistency, aside from seeing them in entirely different environments for more than one tender sister scene?
We know that there’s something unreliable about flashbacks, that’s clear. I don’t personally think any version of events is the exact truth. Morgan probably wasn’t a great person, but Maggie probably wasn’t the heroic underdog either. Both of those are way too convenient for one person’s narrative or the other, don’t you think?
And we can see that Maggie has been in some way convinced to abandon whatever reasons she had as a child for wanting to be a Clown. Currently, her perspective makes no sense.
more like,,, clown CORPSE
So, her sister was isekai’ed into a non-alternate universe where she was herself.
Isekai’ed so hard she stayed in this universe
The panel van STOLE HER HAT!
I wonder if the flashback is going to involve Maggie being resurrected/reawakened using a seltzer bottle. Or maybe Morgan being awakened from the flashback with one.
Look, all I’m saying is, it’s a clown comic. We’re overdue a seltzer bottle gag.
Chapter 5 Page 14, ‘A Chemical Agent simulating death’? Could that be in play here?
(Mr. A pointed that out two days ago). Personally I think it is very probable.
Clearly this isn’t truly what happened. At least, not the full story. I feel like this must be a clue. Something here is telling us something, about how Maggie got brainwashed or what’s going on with the flashbacks or something.
I Was A Super Powered Mime In Another World But Then I Came Back To Get Revenge On My Rude Older Sister!
Oh, I just realized: This is kind of a callback to ch5 p109.