» Contribute     » Cast     » Archive     » Authors     » Search     » Random    » Resources     » Statistics     » Forum     » RSS Feed     Updates Mon, Wed, Fri when available

No. 885: Holly's Folly / Sack of Holding

First | Previous | 2023-07-24 | Next | Latest

Holly's Folly / Sack of Holding

First | Previous | 2023-07-24 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/owls/?comic=885

Strip by: SuperNerd

{Panels 1 and 2 are written on parchment}
Caption: In those ancient days, the great wizard Ambrose fashioned a bag whose storage surpassed appearances.
Ambrose: {holding up his bag of holding} As my Gallifreyan friend would say, it's bigger on the inside!
Caption: However, as the new great powers cracked down on magic, Ambrose hid and disguised his creations, never to be used again...
{Beside the caption is a silhouette of several items, including the bag, on shelves}
{Panel 3 is a grass field.}
Caption: Until now.
Offscreen voice: SACK RACE BEGINS IN 1 MINUTE!
{Holly is putting her leg into Ambrose’s bag of holding, now disguised as a potato sack}
Holly: {thinking to herself} I can’t seem to touch bottom.

The author writes:

I had two titles in mind for this strip, so I used both of them.

Here’s the parchment image.

In case you don’t get the references in panel 1: The bag of holding is a magical item from Dungeons & Dragons that—well, it’s basically like the comic. Ambrose quotes The Doctor, who is a Gallifreyan and whose time-travel device, the TARDIS, has a similar impossible-interior property. The very first words are a paraphrase of the beginning of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world, an ancient Sumerian poem.

Can you find the meme in panel 2?

I made Holly’s proportions more childlike. The ultimate punchline, of course, is her falling into the bag; however, I find the comic more interesting (and easier to draw) if the outcome is left to extrapolation.