Today's comic is NUTS. Kudos to those who caught the K'Z'K bug in Panel 4 before me. The Fluffy (Aylee's pet) impersonation in Panel 6 raises questions of whether Torg's subconscious is altering the spiders appearence just as he is altering his own shirt. BUT, given the VERY careful writing on this guys dialog, I suspect Pete is up to something far more sinister.

This is NOT the Ex-Ex Fate Spider, but the "chewed out" agent of K'Z'K who also worked on the web before the Ex-Ex Fate Spider. Apparently he didn't die- and is now working to help manipulate Torg. Notice he did not say WHO his boss was- letting most assume its Father Time. Its not- its K'Z'K. This guy thinks he can better serve K'Z'K by managing "details" his master has missed. (How Chillus plays into this is a live question... is she actually trying to raise the Voweless, or claim the End for herself? I view it as a moot point, betting K'Z'K's coming back anyway).

Final detail- the "Sky Fall" lines. LET the Sky Fall. It seems to be warning Torg of the Web, but seems more likely to be prophesying/hoping for him to somehow help it happen. Perhaps needing to keep him alive long enough to do so.

If this is right, where is the ACTUALL Ex-Ex Fate Spider now? Last we saw watching Schlock, I thought (though there may have been other sightings since)

Oops, forgot to include this last night, but the Sky Fall references may relate to the Dimension of Rain's fate (insane weather after the breaking of the web)

I'm going to disagree on the bug's identity - I think it really is the ex-ex-Fate Spider. If the K'Z'K reference was subtler, I'd be all for it being a deception, but it's too out in the open for me.

I kind of agree with what you said about the "let the sky fall" lines, but not quite. As of this comic back in '09, the Fate Spiders had just tweaked the Lines so that Schlock and his plans would survive. I'm betting that telling Torg to "let the sky fall" is in keeping with this. Basically my endgame spec is that the Schlock Triangle ends up being crucial to keeping the web from breaking, even if letting it go too far would itself cause a break.

Oh and the linked comic is the last definite appearance of the ex-ex-Fate Spider that I can recall, and NiftySearch didn't turn up anything more recent.

Thanks for the Link (need to check- I thought there was at least one Sclock spider spying after bROKEN went hot... possibly during Year in the Life of a Hero II/during the Strom betrayal plot?). And nice thought on the triangle theory.

But the full on appearance of K'Z'K can't be ignored. Is it possible Torg was thinking of familiar bugs, esspecially when he got to "wacky Chinese food mode?" He HAS seen both Bug-K'Z'K and Aylee's pet once before (the former in the final fight with Zoe AND his "Dream Fight"). Perhaps the scene is impacted by his psyche in more than just the shirt. But panel 6 is undeniably a Fluffy... I count at least 5, maybe 6 legs and there is no way Pete's exacting art (and knowledge of his fan-base geekish critique) would mis-count a spider's legs. He even seems to try and fit in all 8 eyes, or at least a head bulky enough to accommodate them, in every scene while still showing personality in tiny motions.

A 3rd option could be K'Z'K himself spying on Torg's dreams for the merest of seconds, unnoticed by all but the viewers. Given a) K'Z'K's past power in dreams, particularly while preparing to manifest a shard of himself and b) knowledge that at least SOMEONE- Chillus or perhaps K'Z'K himself- sent a bug to spy on the web already (and therefore is aware of, and clearly trying to actively break it), it seems fully possible that the Nameless is now preparing to move into competing with the Spiders on their own turf... or at least watching quite brazenly at key moments. Going in in person seems quite a risk, though K'Z'K has never been shy.

Given Chillus' hints of desiring power herself, it seems possible he might be planning the Web-tractic as a way to circumvent his own only semi-loyal demons to enact his master PL_N (no v_w_ls, d_mm+t!!)

At any rate, the fact the Spider is willing to play outside of Father Time's plans both gives him a chance of succeeding, OR a chance of making things worse/being manipulated by K'Z'K as well. The classic "trying to avoid Fate and creating it" motiff.

Ah, you were right about there being a more recent spider appearance - right when you said, too. (Panel 5)

Yeah, I'm thinking it was just Torg subconsciously modifying what he should have been seeing, otherwise I don't get why the spider would also appear as Charlotte and a fluffy. Something else I thought of - Why would a minion of K'Z'K or Chilus bother to disguise itself when Torg wouldn't recognize it anyway. He hasn't even seen Chilus, for that matter.

I'm more comfortable with the idea of K'Z'K taking a direct role, but I have no idea how a bit of him (her? I forget...) would get into Torg at this point, unless it's been lying dormant for 13 years.

And yeah, there's no way the spider's plan will go off without a hitch.

Nice work- thanks for the link. I THINK that was it, though to be honest the spider hangs around Schlock so much I pretty much expect to see one every time a major plot event happens with him. Check the day he learned Riff was back- there MIGHT have been one there too.

I'm also trying to recall times he's hung around Torg. I think there may have been 1 before bROKEN, but I'm not 100%. The time he and Bun Bun spied on Chen at the basecamp is another possibility. Been doing this for a while, but admit my memory isn't perfect. Only 99.99% close to it. :)

Valid points... my hunch is a fragment of K'Z'K has learned to manipulate the Web, making him more horrifying and powerful than Chillus and possibly even the Fate Spiders/Father Time himself. How it got there is an open question- but since the Web connects everyone, it would not have needed to lie dormant in Torg to reach him upon mastering that mode of influence/travel.

The K'Z'K gender thing remains one I struggle with. I tend to view it as a he when free/non-possessing of anyone, and disturbingly slightly feminine in a weird way when fully possessing Gwynn. But I'm not sure its ever been stated one way or another. Need to look back over the Megatomes to see if they even use gender pronouns about it.

Well I didn't find anything when Schlock finds out Riff's back or when Torg & Bun-Bun encounter Chen again, but since the spiders basically made bROKEN happen, they appear throughout that chapter in the Web-world. One of the things they mentioned was making someone (Torg) forget to charge his cellphone, so there's that.

K'Z'K messing with the web directly? *shudders* Hoo boy...

With that in mind, today's comic ("It's literally a miracle we're alive.") makes it sound pretty definite that someone altered the Web in the gang's favor, whether it was "Carl Wonkstein" or K'Z'K.

Yes.. the fact they could be manipulated by other forces than the Fate Spiders for some time now has scary implications... as well as not knowing what they could end up doing next.

We've seen it happening for some time with Hereticorp, though that was partially coughed up to Sasha as a double-agent. But perhaps other forces are manipulating them both.