Okay, here's my off-the-wall spec, let's see if it winds up being accurate:

Kusari is someone, possibly Sasha, possessed by a shard of K'Z'K that somehow 'absorbed' some of Oasis's specialness when Gwynn murdered her during the Oasis-Torg "wedding".

I'm too tired right now to back any of that up in any clear and logical fashion, and frankly hope I'm wrong because, well, I just like being surprised. But I'm willing to bet, if not the farm, then at least a large cow that Kusari has some sort of connection to K'Z'K and/or the book of E-Ville. The purple outfit and insect-wing-like shoulder plates suggest the former; the diamond logo suggests the latter.

Silly and nonsensical spec: She is the distant descendant of the goblin known as Complains-of-Names - see http://www.goblinscomic.com/d/20060804.html for the clear correlation between the diamond and the color purple.

Just curious, has anyone figured out why Kusari couldn't be Monica? It would seem to fit, she has the links to K'z'k, is already known to be watching Torg, Riff, Zoe, etc for Chilus, who's cult has had previous ties to HC.

I'm gonna go ahead and say that IMO, there is no way that Kusari is Gwynn or Sashaor Crystal. As for Crystal, she's just the bartender. I don't think Pete will ever make her anything more. Sure, Sasha could be the replacement, but that doesn't answer the question of the first Kusari and just doesn't make sense in general with Sasha's dynamic. But Gwynn? No.

It can't be Gwynn for a number of reasons in my mind. The biggest is that as a few people have pointed out, Gwynn being Kusari would add too many things to her character. She already has a big enough role with a major villain (K'Z'K), a semi-major villain (CEO Aylee), and plenty of other unique qualities (the book, magic in general...). For Gwynn to also be Kusari, a so called "improved" version of Oasis, is too much.

Another big one to me is that in Fire and Rain, for Kusari's mission to succeed, Zoe had to die. Around that time, Gwynn had in her head that she somehow had to save Zoe from the fire in her dream. Polar opposites here.

Other things come up such as Gwynn being kidnapped by hC in DDA, her working at Burger Meister (Kusari did with her mask, why work two places as different people?), and the need for Gwynn to do some serious moving around during some storylines to be both - the example given about Gwynn beating up Torg while Kusari was in Burger Meister is a good one. The halloween party where Aylee drugged everyone is another. Plus, if Gwynn had gymnastic assassin abilities, wouldn't K'Z'K have been able to see that? K'Z'K would have capitalized on that. No, Gwynn as Kusari just doesn't make sense.

So my theory is that Kusari is someone we haven't met. It may be someone important to some of the other characters, but someone that we haven't really seen in the comic. In any case, the method/mechanism/technology explaining Oasis and Kusari is going to be almost the same, if not identical. It has something to do with the weaponized ghosts Riff mentioned in that underground facility, and possession sounds feasible. It has a sort of Agent Smith feel to it. Can you imagine Oasis fighting a million Kusaris, a la the second Matrix movie? ha.

~Wade

As far as monica goes, there isn't really any solid evidence for it. However, there are a couple things that (in my opinion) point against it.

1) Why would Schlock knowing what's under her mask make him think she should be ashamed? As far as we know, Schlock and Monica never met.
2) Monica was at least very surprised/disturbed by Aylee here:http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=071019. Not only does that not fit Kusari's personality/mentality, it also doesn't make sense because as part of HC, she has at least some knowledge about the Aylee project, even if she wasn't personally involved in it.

Also, I agree with the reasoning of previous posters on why its not Gwynn, Sasha, or Crystal: it's probably someone we haven't met or met only briefly.

I DISAGREE!


Right now, I'd say - on the subject of Gwynn being Kusari - that GeminiGod's argument against is the current Evidence To Beat.


[EDIT] Oh ƒ#©%! I just had a hideous, hideous thought: imagine for a second that Kusari is actually a robot. Now re-read her comment in today's (Dec 4th) comic with that in mind. She's saying those three are *like her*. That would mean Torg, Zoe, and Riff are robots!

Quick - have any of those three ever been seen being treated by a doctor, around x-rays or the like?? I'd lke to debunk this as quickly as possible, else my poor mind shall snap.

What if it's... a Bun-bun from the future operating a mechanical body from inside, and in a surprise twist at the end of the story he pops out and changes everything... that hasn't been done has it

Seriously though, I'm going full-forward with "central computerized intelligence which somehow uses corpses or specially prepared bodies as puppets." Both for Kusari and Oasis. The more I think about it the more I like it. I remember way back when that somebody proposed that it could actually be O.A.S.I.S. and K.U.S.A.R.I. to denote the name of some artificial intelligence programs via acronym, as in the movie D.A.R.Y.L. - Sounds likely to me.

Considering that if this stuff is still not revealed by the end of this story arc Pete will probably be stoned to death (or at least snippy-email-ed to death) by his own fans, I think we should start a betting pool or something. It's coming.

So nobody thinks it could be Val, huh? Odd, she seemed like a front-runner to me. It would also make it possible that there's only one Kusari, as Lysinda vampires can regenerate from decapitation, I think... and none of Kusari's skin is exposed, so it doesn't matter that she's seen in the sun.

If it is Sasha/Angela/Zoe/Crystal/Monica, I wouldn't be surprised if it's sort of a "My Own Worst Enemy"/Sleeper agent thing and Sasha/Angela/Zoe/Crystal/Monica has no idea she's Kusari.

You know, I can almost believe it is Sasha.

Here is what we do know about Kusari:

1) Design/created after Oasis
2) Fixed "problems" with the Oasis design.

So she is a similar vein, but not identical to Oasis. Something that Schlock hints at that some of these fixes make Kusari worse than Oasis.

A) Can be replaced, but not near instantaneous like Oasis.

Then there is the whole mask thing. There is a reason we don't see it. Pete isn't some hack writer who is doing it to be mysterious, but then drops clues. We know who Kusari is or Kusari's face would reveal something major about her character.

I propose that the following are things that were fixed and damaged with Kusari compared to Oasis:

Stable reincarnation. As we see with Oasis that her reincarnations have different personalities. Same data, same memories, but as if plugged into different people as she said herself. Now, I might be missing some minor detail here so feel free to correct me on this, but Kusari has remained pretty identical in both incarnations.

The trade off is there is a penalty/price to replacing Kusari that takes time. The important thing to note here is that Kusari, no matter who or what you think she is, is loyal to HC. Maybe to Daedalus, maybe to HC itself to avoid another Oasis/Steve situation. But loyal she is. She would have been back at work the moment the "replacement" was able. Short of her regeneration, if she does regenerate like Oasis, dropping her off in the most remote spot possible she would have called HC for pick up at the first phone. Keep in mind, I do mean first phone as she would likely kill to get to it.

What this means from here is up in the air, truthfully. Perhaps Kusari's reincarnation is targetable.

To that end, that is why I actually support Sasha now being Kusari with Gwynn being a red herring. Sasha is aware of Kusari and probably asked where she was, or made some snide comment during the Cloney battle. Sasha was kept captive alone with Bert, and with Bert being dead what went on with them is now private.

So it isn't unreasonably, but not the only solution, that the Kusari Process was applied to the annoying girl who brought up Kusari when Oasis suddenly begins rampaging. It may have been a last ditch attempt to ward off Oasis in case Cloney failed, which she did. With Oasis out of commission till then there was no need to rush Kusari's revival and Sasha was the closest available.

HC just lost before it could finish, which it did, while Sasha was at the hospital.

I doubt Gwynn could be Kusari on two reasons. Kusari I, pre-decapitation, it requires too much jumping around here and there. By time we see Kusari II Gwynn has the Book protecting her.

Note it is Kusari speaking of Riff, Torg and Zoe. Riff is the combatant, Zoe and Torg are tied to Oasis. Outside of Cloney, Gwynn has next to nothing major tied into HC and the Oasis project outside of killing Oasis once. So if it was Schlock going Riff, Torg, Zoe, hesitation and Kusari finishing with "and me?" I could see it. From Kusari's POV, it is whichever "kid" she is. Which is likely a victim of HC in some manner, had interactions with HC and/or (but very likely and) a former ally/friend of the Torg group.

So this is why I doubt Val, Dr. Lora, Monica stuff. Of the obviously sticking out nails Sasha fits best, but with Pete's style

Of course, this is just one possibility of what could have happened. A rationalization based on what we know.

Considering prior to this my favorite "spec" on Kusari was she was a discarded body of Oasis, there are other solutions that could from left field. Heck, if Oasis is a ghost then Kusari could be THE discarded body, the original body of Oasis even making all the Sasha stuff a red herring.

That is the thing, as much as Sasha can be made to fit there has been way too much Sasha stuff going on. It all either screams near certain she will soon return or is to make us think she will return soon.

I think Kusari is really a pony. What do you all say? Yea or neeeeigh?

Off the top of my head, Torg was in the hospital for his coma-ette, Zoe was in the hospital following Fire and Rain, and Riff got his leg broken. So that's at least medical once-overs for Torg and Zoe, and x-rays for Riff.



I follow, and for the most part I agree with you. Sasha is the best bet of anyone (but I still say it's a no go). But if Sasha is Kusari II, then who is Kusari I?

You know... while it probably is unlikely. Nana does appear fairly often in alternate dimension stories and she's almost always crazy in one form or another. Very, Very, few minor characters get another shot let alone constantly re-appearing in some form or another.

As far as I know, Nana prime is still around but she hasn't been seen for ages. When was she last seen in sluggy prime and how long before/after kusari? Keeping in mind she was torg and riff's dentist and possibly even dated one of them... It is fairly interesting. Nana as Kusari. I gotta say, I think I like the idea.

Whoa there, I might as well throw in a few equally unlikely candidates, while we're at it...

I say Kusari could be any of the following:

Angela
Kada
Muffin the Vampire Baker
Homogenize Milktoast
Jaya
Deputy Deer
Lodoze
Bert

Angela maybe. The rest, are just fairly silly :P. Though angela also tended to be an outsider even when living with the group in kesandru house. I just don't see it being either Sasha or Gwynn. I personally am beginning to think that the girl on the title page could be kusari unmasked, though it's equally likely to be Oasis breaking down ala Fire and Rain

What I don't get is, if it isn't Gwynn, then how did her name get left off? If Kusari was not Gwynn, then why would Kusari not mention her? I'm pretty sure they have met at some point, and Schlock should feel bad about roping all 4 of them into this, and not just Torg, Riff and Zoe?

I'm sticking with Gwynn, quite possibly a future Gwynn.

The way I see it is there's a personal involvement for Torg, Riff, and Zoe. Torg is the object of Oasis' affection, found her in the first place, etc. Riff worked for the company, and Zoe was targeted specifically by Oasis, Kusari, and hC snipers for different reasons at different times. Gwynn just got caught in the crossfire, and only for DDA if I recall. She was essentially no different than Bert, and he wasn't mentioned either.