Annotations


o [pages 1-2] These two pages are key. Fanny's explication of Mayan mythology is important in three ways: it explains her background, Mayan mythology, and how Mayan mythology ties in/coincides with McKenna's theories. [JB] [page one] The caterpillar's devouring the leaf is an image that will be used by Elfayed in 1.17, page 9. [JB] [page two] [panel two] "Do you feel as though time's speeding up, darling? I mean ACTUALLY getting faster." Fanny's question echoes through the series: 1.8, pages 4-5 [John the Baptist's head] and page 17, panel 2. [JB] [page 2] [panel 3] King Mob's speech is a description of the structure of Terence McKenna's fractal Timewave temporal resonance theory. [JH] [page 2] [panel 4] "It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it." King Mob is referring to the tantric sex ritual he has/will perform with Edith. [RM]

o [page 5] [panels 2 & 4] This statue is the Cristo Redentor ("Christ the Redeemer"), located in Brazil. [RD] panel 3: The books on the shelf: "Gone ..." is probably "Gone with the wind." [PV] "Bar..." = "Barbra Streisand" (see page 6) or "Barbara Cartland". I think Barbara Cartland.[PV] FWIW, I think Barbra Streisand. [JB] "Teddy B..."= "Teddy Boys" ? [PV]

o [page 6] Note the two tickets for Barbara Streisand concerts on the wall. [PV]

o [page 7] Brodie looks like actor Lewis Collins who played William Bodie in the British late-70s/early-80s TV series, "The Professionals." Also his dialogue is very reminiscent of Bodie's. In the series Bodie (who had a very tough and macho attitude) and his partner Doyle were "top operatives for the government department CI5 -Criminal Intelligence 5, a Home Office department set up to deal with terrorism in all forms" (quoted from the web page "PRIMETIME ACTION - by James Pimentel-Pinto"). Their boss was George Cowley, the controller of CI5. The fast paced action series was very succesful in Europe. Division X of 1.25 looks like a cross between The Professionals and the X-Files. [RL] panel 3: Jack/Dane appears, on the run away from the Invisibles. This scene also appears in 1.16, page 2. [PV/JB] [panel 5] "Oneiric energy"? Webster's says "Oneiric" = "having to do with dreams." [JB] "Dream catchers" are those circles of string, supposedly handcrafted by Native Americans, which people often hang from their rear view mirrors like New Age fuzzy dice. Brodie and Sir Miles' exchange suggests that they really work! [RM]

o [page 8] [panel 1] "They'd lock you up for that now: a cat called Darkie." It's not really a reference, but: H.P. Lovecraft's cat was called "Niggerman." [RM] [panel 2] A mention about "reopening" Division X. [PV]

o [page 9] [panel 6] Fanny is interacting with what seems to be the "molten imagination" used by Jim Crow in 1.10. [PV/JB] More of the hallucinogenic blue fluid common in tryptamine visions, as practiced by South American shamans and bruja in yage rituals. [JH]

o [page 10] This page is drawn in the "exaggerted anatomy/pin-up" style of Rob Liefield. [PV/JB] Grant said the borrowing of various styles was borrowed from the movie 'Natural Born Killers' in the lettercol of issue 1.17 [BSI]

o [pages 11&20] These pages are drawn in the style of Dave Gibbons' work on "Watchmen," using a nine-panel grid. [PV/JB] page 11, panel 2Second mention of Edith's psychic "link" with Tom; first was in 1.1, page 6, panel 4. [JB/BSI] [page 11] [panel 3] "that awful building": Canary Wharf. And ol' Edie is smoking marijuana ["skunk"], a "cure for arthritis." [JB] [page 11] [panel 7] Another mention of the mysterious "loss" of John-a-Dreams from KM's cell; see1.9, [page 7] [panels 1-3] [JB] Can someone please ID the picture hanging on the wall? [JB]

o [pages 12-15] These pages--and 18,19, 21 and 22 too--are drawn in the naturalistic, thick-lined syle of Gilbert Hernandez's "Love & Rockets" work set in the magic realism/Central America world of his "Heartbreak Soup" serial. [JB] [panel 4] Drawn and narrated in the "Ripley's Believe It or Not" style, as per the lettercol of 1.17 [BSI]

o [pages 14] [panel 1] Fanny mentions that hir mother was 'stabbed at Mardi-Gras by some drunk wearing a papier-mache dog's head. Of the group who later rape and damn near kill Fanny (when she's a prostitute, before meeting John-A-Dreams), one is wearing a papier-mache dog mask (V.1 #15, page 15, panel 4). This is the same group that's got Quimper chained to the wall behind them (he's there in V.1 #15 right behind the 'cat', just crudely drawn, he's more apparent in the redrawing of the sequence in V.1 #25). [Jack Frost]

o [pages 16-17] These pages are drawn using Frank Miller's "Sin City" style. [PV] [page 17] [panel 2] Vivienne Westwood is a famous English fashion stylist. Heaven is a discotheque in London. [PV] [page 17] [panel 3] the movie is "The Elephant Man" by David Lynch. [PV]

o [page 18] The tea is probably ayahuasca, also called yage, a mixture of DMT (dimethyltryptamine) and harmaline. Yage and salvia divinorum (a super-psychedelic plant native to Mexico) both commonly generate insectoid/alien visions, along with puddles of liquid intelligence as manifest in blue, silver or violet fluid. [JH] [panel 2] All images that we know and love or will soon: The Greys again...Brodie's cat...the hands and legs at the top right look like Babies limbs so that's possibly a reference to Hilde's birth/initiation as a sorceress. Not sure about the cockroach with a cloak (Orlando?) and as for what looks like corn on the cob lying on a couch, I've NO idea! [Loz] [panel 4] The red light again. [PV]

o [page 19] [panel 5] "naguel" = totem protector [PV]

o [page 20] [panels 7-9] An apple, again. See 1.01, page 27; 1.06, p. 6, 14-15. [JB] [panel 9] "You must brave the jaws of the dragon, dear. Each of you in turn I shouldn't wonder." A fair enough synopsis of issues 1.13-1.24. [RM]

o [page 23] [panel 4] Note the reflection of Mictlantecuhtl in the mirror. [BSI]

o [page 24] This member of Division X is probably Mr. Six. [PV]