Slipped: 2020

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Chapter 503 — The "Most Dangerous Enemy"

Images & text © Michael Chevy Castranova 2020

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Chapter 502 — A Reckoning

Images & text © Michael Chevy Castranova 2020

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Chapter 501 — With the Grace of a Cat

Images & text © Michael Chevy Castranova

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Chapter 500 — Something’s Up

Images & text © Michael Chevy Castranova 2020

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Chapter 499 — The Game’s Afoot

Images & text © Michael Chevy Castranova 2020

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Chapter 498 — A Brief Account of the Past 12 Years or So, as Told by the Scarlet Sparrow

Bonjour. Je suis Tyler Wilson, resident of Paris and wherever else I happen to be. It has been brought to my attention that some of you have lost the thread of what is going on in this adventure comic strip, "Slipped." Again.

And I guess that is possible given this strip has been ongoing, online, for more than a dozen years.

And it does jump around, in time and location. So much so that even I – the main protagonist — get confused, and sometimes I don't know if I'm coming or going. Literally.

Donc, in an attempt to help, I'm going to offer a sort of executive summary, in English – which I believe is the language most of you are best familiar.

But be aware I'm going to have to leave a lot out or else we never will get done and, frankly, it all kind of is disordered in my mind anyway.

Besides, I don’t have a lot of time. (Ha.)

Also, now seems a good opportunity to do so, while my character is missing in action, and two of the other major characters are being held prisoner.

So, as I said, my name is Tyler. Hello!

I was born either in Paris … or in Cairo on the moon. It's not completely clear.

My mother — who it turns out was using an alias so I don’t have her real name — was an American, which is how I know some English. My father is Arkady Wilson. He was the first Scarlet Sparrow.

He disappeared when I was a child. But I have learned, through the course of my adventures, that he was a renowned thief, in Paris and elsewhere. Able to climb almost anything and get into almost anywhere.

I was studying to be a dancer. But I inherited his scarlet mask and gloves, and wear them in my own adventures, also calling myself the Scarlet Sparrow. At the same time as I try to find out what’s become of him.

With me so far? Bien.

It gets a little complicated after this.

One of the things Arkady stole was the Time Sword. (Not “a” time sword; the Time Sword.) I don't know how or from where . And it seems practically everyone wants it — including the devil himself. And it has ended up in my possession. (As I said, I am leaving a lot out.)

I don't have complete control over it, truth be told. I can pluck it out of the air — it appears in my hand, and I can use it as a weapon. But it also can drag me backward and forward in time, and drop me off in other locations — not all of them favorable. And almost never where I was hoping to go.

Over the years I've made a lot of friends. Philip Pirrip, whom you may have heard of as Pip, master singer of the American songbook. He's also a dog.

I came across Pip the same time as I met Uncle Béla. The two were doing a magic act on the moon. I don't know if Béla really is a great master of illusion or something far more sinister — which involves turning in a bat .

And Cartier Tour, who at first was working for the bad guys. But then she became a friend of ours. She claims she actually is a cat, which would explain her agility and strength. But I'm not really certain of that, oui?

Oh, and my sister, Mendacity. She got bit by a Time Fly and reverted to a toddler. Last I checked, she was in the care of some French people outside Paris. I mean to go back to retrieve her.

And we've developed a lot of enemies. Most notably, and as frequently as a Dalek, are les Rongeurs. (That means "rat" en francais.)

They keep invading places. And I keep stopping them. Or at least, setting them back.

Most recently, they seem to be have been legally elected to many high offices in Western Europe. I was somewhere different when that happened, so I can't explain it.

So here we are: In a relative storyline sense, I took the time sword and went back in time, in attempt to prevent some of that. I knew it would be dangerous.

They are I hijacked a rocket ship (OK maybe that was an accident) and met the father of my future boyfriend. (See, I did say it would get confusing.) Things between us got, how should I say it, very friendly. Oh, and then the rocket ship crashed.

Meanwhile, back in 1928, Cartier and Pip were trying to figure out if our new acquaintance, who calls himself the Hannibal Kid, was in fact Uncle Béla possibly under some kind of powerful spell.

Cartier was dressed as a character out of a bande dessinée that the Kid had been reading. I thought it might help jog his memory by reaching into his fantasies. Or something. Or maybe I did it just to keep everyone busy while I went into the past.

Alors, Cartier and the Kid got captured by les Rongeurs and sent to a labor camp. Not sure yet where Pip got to.

There, they were put to work on digging up and cataloging a crashed rocket ship. Yes, that same rocket ship, 20 years in my future.

Or the past. One of those two.

d'Accord?

So we will pick up our story from there. Thank you for reading.

Should you want to read all these exciting adventures for yourself, here is the link.

Merci. I’ve got to go.

(... I am fairly certain I've inadvertently left out one or two very important elements that I should have told you about. Hmm ....)

Images & text © Michael Chevy Castranova 09/30/2020