It was brought to my attention that I forgot my own anniversary on Friday! As is tradition, here is a sketch of a 4 year old Selkie:
Thanks for four years of Selkie, everyone!
Jessie should also probably say something about climbing on the library tables...
WE CALLED IT FOLKS
It’s a recording device of some sort!
What is?
EDIT to my previous post – read the rest of the comments and realized what it was. Damn the lack of edit button. :p
Yisssssssssss! Finally, Truck is going to get what he deserves! (hopefully)
More likely:
“Really? Let me watch that… Whoops! I accidentally deleted the video! So sorry!”
SMART KID. Nobody’s gonna notice a cellphone… Sitting on a shelf full of books… Quietly videotaping EVERYTHING.
Truck: “Is it safe to blow up at Selkie? Let’s see…. meaningless TA standing there, no threat. Cell phone sitting forgotten on a bookshelf, no threat. …”
Later…
“WHAT?!? That was YOUR cell phone? And it was recording?”
Now that I think about it, I think it does have to be a cell phone. A camera would be too obvious.
If you look at previous comics you can see a small purple box behind Selkie’s head.
I went back through the previous issues to play ‘spot the purple device.’ Disgusted that I missed it previously. *Observation skills fail*
Whoa. My mind is blown. Nice work, Dave!
It’s not purples it’s perrywinkles!
Also in this one she grabs it. It is in her hand last panel.
What kinda ten year old has their own damn cell phone >> I never got my first phone till I was 20 @_@
Kids these days…
Actually, if a bully had beaten up and hospitalized my child, with no repercussions, you bet your nippy they’d have a recording device on them the next time they crossed the schools threshold. He’ll is have nanny-cams in their clothes! I just hope that Selkie isn’t in trouble for “invading Trucks privacy”. There’s been real life instances where the victim recorded the incident and was in trouble from the school for “wiretapping offences”. I kid you not.
Seriously though. My 11-year-old heads to middle school in the fall and he will have a cell phone on him when he goes.
Please forgive spelling errors caused by auto correct. Curse you, AutoCorrect!
It depends on which state this is in. If it’s Minnesota, the recording is legal. In 38 states, you can record any conversation to which you are a party. The legislatures of 12 states have passed laws to protect criminals and liars, but in some of them the courts have re-interpreted the law:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_recording_laws#United_States
This comic takes place in Wisconsin.
Same here, mine turns 10 this august, and is constantly late for whatever appointment we have. So it’s kind of nice to be able to call him and tell him to get his ass home ASAP. 🙂
Definitely bullying, yeah. Also a good idea if you’ve got a kid in after-school activities- Selkie’s a bit young for that, but I could see it eventually being a thing, and depending on where Heather goes to soccer practice I could see her meriting one in case of early endings or cancellations.
My kids got cell phones when they became freshmen in high school… And they were some of the very last kids in her class to have one. The security and convenience you get for $30 per month is immeasurable. I’ve seen 8 year olds with daddy’s old iPhone, texting away madly.
With my daughters iPhone I can talk to her, send her messages, tell where she is (she promises to leave find my iPhone on, I promise to not be creepy) and if she gets in trouble somewhere she can push 4 buttons and get help.
When we went to Disneyland I could bring up a map of the park and SEE where every kid was at a glance.
It is absolutely worth it.
Shid. Sorry about the dupe, Dave… If you get a chance plz pull it out.
Done. 🙂
Happy birthday, Selkie! Delight in your fishcake!
Today’s comic: Selkie Episode VI: The Return of the Purple Box.
Let’s see how things stack up. Comes down to (1) The Trunchbull family losing this round, or (2) exposing a secret about Selkie the government doesn’t want exposed. Could be a tough fight among the adults.
You mean Trunchbull will threaten to blow the secrecy surrounding the Sarnothi open if he doesn´t get what he wants? Somehow I can imagine him doing that.
I can see Selkie and Todd going into the Witless Protection Program…
More likely Trunchbull going to the Federal lockup for violating some secrecy agreement. When you’re involved in clandestine stuff, the Feds tend to make you sign one of them.
Congratulations with your webcomic’s anniversary! This beans I’ve red through almost 4 years of work in two days a few months ago…
Selkie, Jessie is giving you very good advice here. While you have every right to a nice, cathartic laugh and gloat, it is often bad strategy.
Anybody willing to take bets that the Trunchbulls will ignore all eyewitness evidence, including the teacher that Truck threatened, and only give way (in the sense of admitting that their position is now untenable, not in the sense of admitting they’re wrong) when presented with the recorded evidence?
My bet is that the Trunchbulls will show up and the ‘good professor’ will be all set to blow the lid off Selkie’s secret (particularly the venom etc) – but is going to find himself checked and checkmated by the revelation of the presence of Agent Brown. At least, I hope so – because it’s clear that official secrecy is still very much on the whole business, and Trunchbull has already shown himself willing to take that too lightly and casually. If he reveals that in front of the Agent, he’s likely to find he’s got a lotta ‘splaining to do, to some very patient and unhappy folks in suits, for a long time. And considering his influence on his wife and son, while they are clearly notnice people, they also seem weak personalities and may actually improve when der Professor is not a part of the picture… or at least be less confident that their bullying will pass unnoticed or be accepted.
Yes. She has every right to be there, both because she saw what happened and because seeing Truck deal with the consequences of his behavior will be very beneficial to her. I don’t subscribe to this minimizing approach that Jessie is taking. He put her in the hospital and gave her nightmares; seeing some justice is the best way for her to work towards closure.
why do i get the feeling MR.Trunchbull is gonna pull some legal bullshit about her recording them without their permission?
Assuming Selkie’s world closely mirrors ours mister Trunchbull wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Wisconsin is a one-party consent state, meaning so long as a party to the conversation agrees, a recording can be made. Selkie was Truck’s objective when he entered the library, and thus was party to the conversation.
Plus, a good lawyer could make a case that Truck didn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Hey Dave, I just want to say that I have been a long time fan and we all love the work you are doing here. It’s a smorgasbord for the funny bone and be sure not to stress yourself out. We want you to stay healthy and happy 🙂
What is everyone talking about proof of a recording device for? I don’t see any of that all I see is her webbing between her thumb and forefinger. No proof of any cell phone or recording device.
In the last several strips, there has been a purple square behind her head, that very much does not match the books. That does seem to be webbing in the last panel, but from the shape, she’s pretty clearly grabbing something. And if you look just to the left of her head in panel 3, you can see the purple thing.
If I were Jessie, I would have to say something to the effect of “Get all that evil laughing out of your system before we get to the office” ’cause yeah, she totally deserves it after what she’s been through, but it’s definitely a bad idea to enter the office with a sinister cackle. And also, holy run-on sentence, Batman! Sorry ’bout that. Oh, and one last thing. There’s a panel a few pages back, “This is my happy face” that should TOTALLY be on a t-shirt and posters and things. Totally.
Mmmm
Selkie, honey, while it is great that you have evidence; that evidence also has you calling the boy a dick. So while your evidence is great you did agitate him. That can work against you. Also nice fish-cake sweetie, but i think it would be best to cook the tasty cake fish first.
Wow, that is some deep thinking for an eight-year-old! She *did* have some time to plot, but. . . are Sarnothi super-humanly intelligent? The only other Sarnothi we know of is a doctor, and a first-generation immigrant, so it seems plausible.
Taunting a bully to lure him into a situation where he’s being recorded with the phone your dad gave you for this express purpose? That isn’t deep thinking for an eight-year-old. Hells’ bells, you should have seen my sister when she was eight. This? This is nothing.
She´s sitting around the detective books, she said; somebody mentioned that “dick” is slang for a detective.
So I think she´s covered there.
I was confused like Smatty at first. I noticed the “purple box” after flipping through the comments. Now to backtrack and see if I had actually noticed the mystery box before or just completely missed it the entire time. My brain does that sometimes. “Oh look, a completely inconsequential yet utterly out-of-place piece of background…moving on!”
I applaud the initiative no less even if she is antagonizing Tommy in her recording. I wouldn’t call that baiting. All she did was confront her bully and some colorful language can be expected, I don’t care who you think you are or what you think is “OK.”
I just checked my mail. Got a little envelope. Got a label with a return address – who the heck is that? Got a label with my address. And the envelope is dark – it’s got the crosshatches on the inside, so you can’t tell how much money is in it.
Who’s this “Dave” guy in Illinois, and why is he sending me money?
I open the envelope. Love, life and fishies. 😀
Bookmark! I’d forgotten I’d asked for it. 😛
Thanks, Dave.
You’re welcome. Enjoy!