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Summary
Lady Edith Manning is meeting a man called Papa Skat in a club in 1924.
She wants to get the Hand of Glory from him. When they leave the club
she pulls a gun on him. 'Meanwhile' in 1997, Ragged Robin begins to draw
Quimper patterns on her face. King Mob talks to Edith as she is in 1997
- he tells her he is going back in time to find out how The Hand of Glory
works. When they come to show it to Takashi they find that Boy has stolen
it and has disappeared. King Mob has already gone into a trance, propelling
himself back through time. Back in 1924, Papa Skat has got the gun from
Lady Manning. The shadow of a scorpion rises up behind her and King Mob
appears to save her.
Characters
o Papa Skat
o Lady Edith Manning
o Ragged Robin
o King Mob
o Mason Lang
o Boy
o Lord Fanny
o Jack Frost
o Takashi
o Tom O'Bedlam
Analysis
o Dogon, The
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Annotations
o
[page 1] [panel 1] This panel's design of Skat's face dissolving
into a nightclub scene is reminiscent of jazz album covers of this period.
[RD]
o [page 3] [panel 2] Singer Josephine Baker was notorious for
her lesbian affairs. [JB] panels 3-4: See the essay on the Dogon. Also
see the note for 1.18, page 19 re: P.K. Dick's use of the Dogon in his
book "VALIS." [JB]
o [page 5] Important to note that a) this is in flashback and
b) the use of quotes implies that, to Robin, it's as if someone else
is speaking her and KM's lines. Spooky... [RD]
o [page 7] [panel 2] "That was a bit weird... in bed last night..."
I take it that KM and RR are employing the Tantric methods Mr. Reddy
talks about, perhaps unconsciously. Later, King Mob does "alter the
topography of time and space itself" in a way. High sex magick at work?
[AP] [panel 8] The Tower card's meaning is that of destruction of what
has been established. The picture shows God's lightning (according to
some the Flaming Sword of the Qabala), knocking the 'crown' of achievments
from the established tower, while two figures of heirarchy, male and
female are blasted out. On one hand, the Tower is an excellent symbol
of the Invisibles, since its basically what they do. On the other hand,
it could mean that the cell is going to fall apart soon. The tensions
and betrayals within the cell would support this. [R]
o [page 9] [panel 1] Notice the photo of Josephine Baker, in
back, second from left. [JB]
o [page 11] [last panel] That burning thing is apparently a funeral
barge of some kind. [RD]
o [page 13] I am not familiar with the tantra that Mr. Reddy
and Edith are performing, but I surmise that it includes having sex
with a menstruating woman and then both of them imbibing the fluids.
[R]
o [page 15-16] We get to see the pun in Mr. Skat's name: he does
his mojo through scatting, the glossolalial gibberish popular in black
music of that time. You can see Cab Calloway scat a little in the Minnie
the Moocher number in the "Blues Brothers" movie. [RD] More recently
scat was revived by Scatman John, with his singles "Mr. Scatman", and
"Scatman's World." [JBU]
o [page 17] [panel 4] Note the stressing of the word "accident".
It's been suggested that Takashi and those around him may be (supernaturally)
accident-prone, considering this dialogue and Robin's accident later
on page 20, panel 3. [RD]
o [page 19] [panel 1] The woman in the portrait is Florence Farr,
a famous theatre actress in England who joined the Golden Dawn. [R]
o [page 21] [panels 3-4] Fanny is having a flash of intuition
on the state of affairs as reflected in the card. It is also synchronous
that another meaning of the card is that a 'flash' of genius, like a
flash of lightning, can destroy years of established rational structure.
[R?] [panel 4] Does the guy on the left of the card look like Dane?
[RD]
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