Annotations


o [pages 1-3] King Mob and the other Invisibles are dressed-up like the the fox hunters in 1.02. Another part to the initiation. Interesting how Tom disappears, then returns after Dane's meeting with the cell. [JBU]

o [page 3] A lot of Dane's conscious education seems to revolve around his unimportance. It's only his unconscious education which comes out later which reveals how important he is. [L]

o [page 5] [panel 3] Regarding the blank badge: In the Beatles Anthology video there's a clip from a press conference in New York in '68 with John & Paul when they were forming Apple, and someone asks "what's that badge?" and the camera zooms in on it and he says "it's a badge with nothing on it" or something. Interesting the badge link and the apple link too. [TH]

o [page 6] [panel 2] Boy with strange red hair or a girl very similar to her? [PV] Notice that the hat the jogger is wearing is the same one Boy is wearing in 1.02.3.5. I'd guess it's a coloring error here. [CG]

o [page 8] [panel 3] "When me he spies, away he flies...": What's this a quote from?[PV]

o [page 9] The building is St. Paul's Cathedral. [JBU] Is this some friendly bird spirit or is the conflict the Invisibles are involved in duplicated in other creatures? Is this how birds see the enemy? [L]

o [page 12] [panel 1] "Open your eyes, go back to sleep." Tom obviously doesn't think Dane has learnt nearly enough yet, he can open his eyes but his brain will still be asleep. 'Here endeth the lesson', a double meaning in the sense of Tom as the teacher, but the phrase is originally religious, maybe tying in with the cross in Issue 2. [L]

o [page 13] [panel 2] KAR 120C. This is the license of the Prisoner's car. The car could be Kink Mob's car because is very similar to the one shown in issue 1.05. [PV] Although it has the KAR 120C plates, the car is clearly not a Lotus 7, like the Prisoner's car. [BSI]

o [page 15] [panel 1] "Pan and Dionysus... and we must be incandescent...". See 2.08-2.10. Pan and Dionysus are ancient greek Gods. Pan is the god of nature and Dionysus the god of pleasure and fun.[PV] panel 3: "Frateretto calls me, and tells me that Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness" - Tom quoting King Lear again. The original meaning was that the emperor Nero was fishing in hell. [EB] [panel 4] Hand of glory: The hand of glory is a powerful magickal item. It's created by severing the hand of a hanged man charged of murder and then mummified following secret rituals. These rituals give the hand the powers to command the elements, to acquire riches, to charm people and create curses. The most powerful hand of glory ever created was the one created by occultist John Dee. [PV]

o [page 16] [panel 1] "Dark emperor Mammon" is probably a personification of the economic power. Jesus said to the merchants before the temple that they couldn't serve in the same time God and Mammon. [PV] Mammon is a demon associated with wealth. Ambrose Bierce writes in his "Devil's Dictionary": "The god of the world's leading religion. The chief temple is in the holy city of New York." [CG]

o [page 17] [panel 3] The sculpture is Cleopatra's Needle. Among the hieroglyphs there's a picture of a beetle with the sun. It's Kaphra, the sacred beetle as seen in issue 1.01, page 1. [PV]

o [page 19-21] Tom is using a rough, immediate type of Reichian therapy on Dane. He's earlier referred to Dane as "little man," which was Reich's generic term for people addicted to authority, afraid to think for themselves. (See Reich's excellent book "Listen, Little Man") Here Tom calls Dane a "little robot," a Reichian term synonymous with "little man". On page 21, panel two, Tom: "Feel it Dane. Be born. Crack open the armor and let the air in." A goal in Reichian therapy is to break through character armor, the encrusted character formations one accumulates over a lifetime of social power games, sexual neuroses and acculturation into the work world. [JH] Page 20, [panel 2] Mahu and Modo again (see 1.02); any idea on Obidiant, Hobbididance and Flibbertigibbet? [L] "Obidiant ... Flibbertigibbet" - more Lear quotes. "Mopping and mowing" means "moping," i.e., depression. [EB] : "Five...head" is a King Lear quote. [CG]

o [page 23] [panel 6] Tom is partly quoting the Noel Coward song "If Love Were All": "I believe in doing what I can/In crying when I must/In laughing when I choose." [L]

o [page 24] Canary Wharf again, as previously seen in 1.02, and will be seen in 1.04 and 2.10. [JB]