Summary


Division X have been reformed and are brought to the House of Fun to investigate the happenings there, and to find out what is going on in the Mother of Parliaments. Someone has found some magic matter. They manage to track some paranormal material back to Quimper in Soho. While they are meeting him a woman gives a video tape to Jack Flint. They watch it and it shows a woman who looks like Princess Diana and the Moon Child / Shoggoth in delicate circumstances. Quimper has vanished by now, but he speaks to them through a woman at his club. The conspiracy goes right to the top, and it is up to Division X to go to the top too....

Characters


o Jack Flint
o George Harper
o Mr Six
o Quimper
o Moon Child / Shoggoth

Analysis


Our heroes confront their nemesis

Annotations


Note: The characters of Jack and George in Division X are pretty obviously based on the characters of Jack Regan and George Carter (played by John Thaw and Dennis Waterman) in the 1970s British cop show The Sweeney about the Flying Squad. Right down to the likenesses. The Mr. Six character in this issue is also pretty obviously based on the character Jason King from the 1970s British TV series Department S and Jason King, played by Peter Wyngarde. [D]

o [page 2] [panel 1] This is from the Channel 4 TV series Father Ted, also referred to in page 20, panel 3. Possibly not significant except that it's a very funny sitcom about three catholic priests on an island off the coast of Ireland. [D] Why "and later"? This scene's happened before, not after, the girl chat. [PV] "And Later" maybe because Page 1 starts with "In the beginning" and the girl is talking about the creation of the universe 9000 years ago. So our story happens "later" than that. [RM] [panel 3] For more Flann O'Brien info, go to http://indigo.ie/~ocaooai/flindex.html [CE]

o [page 4] [panel 1] The Sex Pistols said "fuck" on a british TV show, which led to the show's host (Bill? Grundy) being fired. [RL] panel 2: Didn't the Regan character leave the Sweeney under less-than-perfect conditions? [L]

o [page 6] [panel 1] Is it just me, or does the statue on the far left of the panel (presumably of Winston Churchill?) look a lot like Quimper with his straw in his mouth? [CE] [panel 3] "Mr. Crowley": Like the famous occultist. [PV]

o [page 7] [panel 3] "Captain Jodie reporting for duty, sir": Is this a quote? To me, this is a reference to Jodie the Pig from "The Amityville Horror." [JDA] The pig mask also appears on [page 16] [panel 3] and in [1.15] [page 5] [panel 4] [PV]

o [page 8] [panel 2] Is this the same stuff as 1.1, pg 32? [BSI]

o [page 9] How does the team get to Benny from the shop? Is it just that he's a Sweeney-type grass or do they have luck on their side? [L]

o [page 10] [panel 3] "I don't like that story mummy." Is this a Psycho reference? [L]

o [page 11] [panel 3] "Tekeli-li!" comes originally from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym." It is the noise a bird in the polar land of the Tsalal makes, and more importantly, Lovecraft uses this as inspiration for his first and only true appearance of the shoggoths. They are created by the Elder Ones (extra-terrestrials who created the shoggoths as slaves [and incidentally created human beings as a failed attempt]). The shoggoths are mimics, and have a certain cunning in that way. They rose up and were responsible for the destruction of the Elder Things (due to their relative invulnerability and their parrot-like intelligence). The point is "Tekeli-li!" is the cry of the shoggoth (presumably mimicking the birds of Poe's story) as it pursues the protagonist of "In The Mountains of Madness" (generally regarded as HPL's best work). [JP]

o [page 12] [panel 4] "You were behind me." Did he mean just now, or when he was sailing the Viking ship? Does Mister Six have a less-than-savoury past? [L]

o [page 13] [panel 1] "Hele, Conceal, and Never Reveal": This is part of the Masons' initiation oath according to "The Brotherhood" by Stephen Knight. Looks like Eddie's a Mason. (check out http://www.ronniet.demon.co.uk/mason-intro.html for the ritual) [CE]

o [page 14] [panel 1] This is presumably the mirror from 1.11 [BSI] [panel 2] Eddie's reasoning about the Invisibles sounds very similar to most racist cant. [L]

o [page 15] [panel 1] Is it just me, or does George look an awful lot like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo here? Would make his lines in this panel a lot funnier if this is intentional, which it may be, considering the 70-rejects nature of Division X. [RD] [panel 2] "Armageddon": Biblical event that will put an end to the human world. [PV] "Return of the Great Old Ones": Another reference to Chtulhu myths. [PV] "Hopi Fifth World": If I recall correctly, the Hopi Fifth World is the successor to the present Fourth world, which will be destroyed in a nuclear-like Armageddon or possibly a psychic shift of some sort. There are several worlds to come after the Fifth world as well. [DS] "Ragnarok": The clash of Gods that will destroy the world, according to the Norse mythology. [PV]

o [page 16] [panel 3] Note the constant juxtaposing of the pig-mask with depravity (see Sheman). Does this mean anything in particular? [RD]

o [page 20] [panel 2] Quimper seems to be sucking on the stuff the team were shown on page 8. [L] [panels 5 & 7] This reminds me of ideas in P.K. Dick's "VALIS" again, which in turn was derived from Gnostic Christianity. I'd really appreciate it if someone conversant with Gnosticism would make comment...[RD] panel 6: "Queen of Hearts" Nickname given to Princess Diana by the press. [RM]

o [page 21] [panel 3] It is Princess Di, of course (see the discussion in 1.11). Interesting to go back to this after the death and virtual sanctification of Diana. [RM]

o [page 22] [panel 4] So, the Royal Beast from 1.11 is more than just a one-off bit. See also the bit in "Entropy in the UK" [1.17-1.19] where one of the Gideon Stargraves nukes the Royal Beast of his dimension on coronation day...[RD]

o [page 23] [panel 2] Note the vacant look, note the plastic sheen on her chin like the reflection on her boots. Is this girl also one of Quimper's little dolls? Is this the sort of thing he tried to do with Jolly Roger in 2.0? Also note the blank look on Robin's face on the last page of 2.10 in this light...[RD] What's the globe Quimper's sucking from? [PV] [panel 6] The number 23 shows up again. [BSI]