Main page here.
- Or it might be because he's missing a gear.
He is this way because of some sort of accident, or disease, or something else that would have killed him under normal circumstances. The things that happen to him when the life support system is disrupted are symptoms he was suffering (or would have suffered eventually) at the time it was put in place.
Two out of three of the main guys are undead, why not go for the whole hog?
- You know, this would be a Poison Oak Epileptic Tree, if it weren't for the fact that I can't fit it into Epileptic Trees, no matter how much I WANT to.
- Interestingly, this page from Chapter 2 seems to support this theory, with Casimiro calling Hanna a "rotten hollow shell of a boy".
- And shortly after Conrad is turned into a vampire, he asks, "What smells dead?" With a zombie standing right there, Conrad guesses it's Hanna. Hanna fesses up in a rather suspicious, uncomfortable way."Nrrgh. It must be because I use magic, it taintsmyblood, BUT ANYWAYS!"
- And shortly after Conrad is turned into a vampire, he asks, "What smells dead?" With a zombie standing right there, Conrad guesses it's Hanna. Hanna fesses up in a rather suspicious, uncomfortable way.
- Also note this official art. When Hanna was a teenager, something awful apparently happened to him and he got kinda creepy-looking for a while. And he doesn't seem to have grown since. Perhaps the reason he's Older Than He Looks is that he's an Undead Child.
- Not to mention the quote at the bottom of the art: "After all this time, I'm still exactly the same. Trust me."
- This is also probably the reason a seemingly-normal human like Hanna feels the need to go to an unqualified, mediocre, back-alley Dr. Jerk when he's hurt. Word of God somewhere stated that Hanna has some sort of secret, which is why he goes to Doc Worth, and, anyway, one kind of imagines that a normal human who also happens to have six staples in his chest would go to an actual MD barring weird circumstances.
- Word of God states he had some sort of run-in with a ghost at sixteen, which might have ended up in his parents' death. But keep in mind that, although Adelaide claims he "smells of death", she states he is alive.
- Maybe he's only half-alive, and there's some kind of magic keeping him from dying. Considering magic taints your blood, that might explain why he looked so messed up for a while and why he smells dead - it's a side effect of using a spell powerful enough to keep him alive.
- As for the cause of his "death": It's possible he was possessed by the ghost and forced to do horrible things, and the stress from that and the exorcism of the ghost almost destroyed his body.
- Which could also serve to explain what happened to his family when he was teenager.
- It would also explain why he was so concerned over any lingering effects of {{...}'s possession.
- On the other hand, it might not be his body that was affected, but his soul. Not having a intact soul could explain why Lee passing through him affected him so much.
- Whatever it is, Worth thinks it'd be handy. That's probably not a good sign.
- Worth was talking about how he once considered becoming a witch doctor, not about Hanna's predicament. Though I guess it says something about it anyway—if Worth treats physical ailments only (regular and magically-inflicted ones, but physical all the same) then it goes without saying it's something wrong with Hanna's body and not his soul.
- I'd like to add something I noticed near the beginning of the comic- when Hanna asks Zombie where he got Hanna's business card, he replies with "I forgot." This means that Zombie got the card before he died, if I understand his predicament correctly, and therefore he has had the card for at least 10 years. 10 years ago, Hanna would have only been 14, which is crazily young for a kid to have a dangerous profession like that one, not to mention that he probably wouldn't be popular enough to have business cards. If he's been dead for a while, he could be even older than he says he is, in which case the age thing doesn't register, which makes it possible for him to have a thriving business for the past 10 years.
- Also, if the card is from 10 years ago, then that means Hanna's had the same flat for 10 years, as the number was on the business card. It's kind of hard to keep a flat when you're 14.
Think about it. Sharp shark-like teeth. Woobie-ish. Both violent. Veser has glowy green eyes, which is sort of one of the effects of Spiral Power. So to make up for his horrible home life, Veser is reincarnated into being a total badass who can't have a family that'll mess him up. However, fate still screws with him and makes him a Woobie.
That's why he's so evasive when questioned about it, and since he's only half selkie, he doesn't have a "full" pelt; it's also not as powerful and controlling, meaning he doesn't have to have it on at all times.
- This question has been asked, and it has been Jossed
It explains his Teutonic Cross-like necklace in the beginning of Chapter 1, and with a last name like Achenleck, it's not entirely improbable.
- To elaborate, he was sent by the Nazis to the future to allegedly do research on the occult. However, in the process of trapping Sassybat to send back to Germany circa 1940, he let her loose and she took control of his apartment. Conrad had already begun to be disillusioned by the whole Nazi business (I never said he was a good Nazi), but this incident was the last straw. He decided that he would stay in the future permanently a while ago. He makes excuses to himself that he was technically K.I.A., so he couldn't go back even if he wanted to.
This picture◊ shows a flat-screen television in the background, something that wasn't around in a decade before 2010. {...}, alive in the picture, has been dead for ten years, perhaps more. Thus, we can deduce that the picture was taken sometime around 2005-2008, and the story takes place around 2015 or later.
- It doesn't particularly look like a flat-screen TV to me. The angle to the viewer is such that we possibly just can't see the curvature of the screen or the bulky back.
- No, it's definitely a flatscreen. You can see the inner edge of the frame running an almost parallel line to the screen, something that wouldn't happen on a screen with curvature. Plus, TVs with curved glass screens are too heavy to suspend like that without some kind of a shelf underneath. Cool. I never noticed that before.
- This troper remembers seeing flatscreens in some of the fancier places when she was growing up in the 90s. Still puts the timeline towards a 15 minute future, but not quite as far from present.
- It doesn't particularly look like a flat-screen TV to me. The angle to the viewer is such that we possibly just can't see the curvature of the screen or the bulky back.
- ...Or he could possibly be trying to prevent people from freaking out... see here where he mentioned wanting to be discreet, there explaining the scarf and (later) high-collared jacket + fedora. In that page, if you look, there's a rather obvious, raised stitch line where it would appear a good chunk of his hand was sewn on. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, I just question that a bit since Conrad hasn't shown any extreme personality shifts, so I'm a little skeptical. I suppose we'll have to wait until {...} loses a glove.
- In one of the character Q&As, {...} says that he wore the gloves to prevent people from freaking out over his green skin. After awhile, he just got in the habit of wearing them.
Building on that...
- This troper personally thinks he made a Deal with the Devil.
- Considering how the Latest comics have Tibenoch driping a blood/Oil combination from the wound on his side, it's probably not that out there.
- Not to mention his seemingly Bender-like ability to consume alcohol as what might be some type of fuel.
- Going off of that, his split personality is a result of his gears being out of alignment/being in need of repair. Should the storyline continue, Hanna will save everyone by repairing Ples manually and restoring his sanity.
- Not quite.
- Alternate theory: they're brothers.
- Well, to be fair, she's been doing the convention circuit all summer, which hasn't given her much time to update. Not to mention she's been working on autographing countless pre-ordered volumes of the first chapter. Her sister has stated on the front page of Hanna that we'll be getting updates when con season is over.
- For the moment, Tess's still working on it, having finally posted "an update".
- We're back on track, for now. As of Nov. 9th, he's been posting more frequently than once every other day.
- Sadly, as of April 6th, we haven't had a proper update for two months, and nothing at all since valentines day. This WMG is looking more and more valid each day.
- Noooooo...
- It's all the way into June now, and still nothing. Comic's dead, kids. note
- Tess has recently resurfaced on the internet, and a drawing of Conrad has appeared. Maybe the hiatus is nearly over.
- Link, please?
- "Heache"◊. This is NOT Conrad. It is fanart for another comic called Fishbones. That is the main character, who happens to have a bit of a resemblance to Conrad.
- That picture is from February.
- As of March 26, 2012, the comic has been on "hiatus" for over a year. Seems like it's officially gone.
- He's an alien.
- He's a zombie.
- He's neither male nor female.
- He's both male and female.
- Despite appearances, Hanna is 24 years old (and therefore a man, not a boy).
- In the current arc Tibenoch appears to have gone off the deep end and is carrying a silver hip flask than appears to be leaking green smoke. The hip flask is :
- A potent magic, that brings out the inner Jerkass.
- A potion designed to remove inhibitions.
- An alcohol distilled by Tibenoch to enable himself to get drunk (finally). The night he tests it is the night Hanna and co drop by.
- We know it has something to do with both personalities, and Tibenoch is lying when he says he doesn't know what it is, so I propose it's a potion that has something to do with why he probably murdered Lee and stole Veser's mum's selkie pelt.
- This might also explain the gates closing at exactly 12:21 AM. Maybe Ples had programmed for those gates to close at that exact time so that his house could contain Tibenoch until, like clockwork, Tibenoch would retreat and Ples could go about his daily business without having to worry about terrorizing the townsfolk when he loses control.
- Or the organ could be for Hanna, the "hollow shell of a body", who just recently had a mean run in with a ghost and who Worth cares about.
- Or the heart is for selling, and he is upset because once it has fallen on the floor he will have to sell it at a discount price.
- This is the most likely explanation. The heart is probably for another one of Worth's clients. If it was at all important to the plot, he probably wouldn't have dropped it, or been a lot more than just irritated at it falling on the floor.
- Or the heart is for selling, and he is upset because once it has fallen on the floor he will have to sell it at a discount price.
Anyway. Since we know the runes are powered by the user's body somehow (he has to touch runes to activate them, etc etc) these runes must use up a tonne of base natural energy. I imagine it like a computer using nearly it's full capacity of RAM running critical programs. Hanna seems to be able to use small runes like light and whatever he attacked Ghost-Lee (oh god I just got that..) with, but using larger spells like the one that broke the curse on Adelaide drains so much power that some (or all) of the runes standing in for his organs are temporarily shorted out. While drawing the giganto-rune for Adelaide's curse-breaking spell Hanna looks a bit worried, like he knows there's a good chance he'll be hacking up blood in the next few minutes. Maybe that spell drained just enough power to say, take out the stomach rune for an instant, and when it reactivated the space where the stomach used to be is filled with blood, resulting in the lovely vomit panel a few pages later. Being possessed by Lee's ghost in the next chapter shorted out enough organs to knock him out briefly, and using whatever rune he did seconds after waking up tipped the balance and knocked him out again, this time for much longer. Of course, the runes eventually sort themselves out and he wakes up right as rain in Worth's office a few pages later.
Of course, it should probably be noted that this is all conjecture based on one readthrough and a lot of free time to ponder, so I take full credit for anything that sounds idiotic. Should be interesting if we ever get any new pages to see what kind of effects other spells have on Hanna's body. If my theory holds up then they should do more damage the more powerful they are, and the more magical a creature is (ghosts seem to be something like pure magic in this world) the more it should screw with his insides. Only time (or the author..) will tell!
... aaaaand that took up way more space than I anticipated.
- This is my canon until Tess says otherwise.
- Mine too! Plus, it would make for some veeeeery unsettling scenes if a “lung” runs goes out… especially if the audience doesn’t know the “rune” thing yet, and it seems like poor Hanna is just unable to breathe for some reason. And, if he casts a spell powerful enough to short out the “heart” rune— especially in order to protect the others— it would actually make for quite a poignant sacrifice, doubly poignant if everyone knows and is begging him not to cast said spell, but it’s the only way to protect everyone. (Sigh)… Shame we’ll never see this… at least there’s Fanfiction.
- This is my canon until Tess says otherwise.
- the exchange "Good you've overstayed your welcome" "Haha. Still acting as if you were a victim..." would make quite a bit of sense in that. If the "Good personality is the intruder, then technically the "Bad" personality is right to call him out as such.
- Myself, I sometimes think that he's an Evelyn.
- Jayne has gained certain popularity.
- According to this statement from the publisher, he's apparently fine, but they're respecting his privacy and not asking what's going on or telling us if they already know. It's pretty much assumed that he's abandoned the comic for whatever reason, but decided not to let anyone know by making an announcement (presumably because he doesn't want them to be angry with her.)
- He could have been Daniel Smith, or Sam Davis.
Most people, on being teased by a friend, would laugh, tease back, and/or act annoyed (sincerely or not). They wouldn't say, "You teased me? Cool! That's a whole new level in our friendship!" And on seeing a friend or potential friend smile for the first time, they would likely smile too, and be happy because their friend was; but it wouldn't be conscious at the level of words, and they wouldn't make a big note of it. Certainly a heart wouldn't appear in their speech balloon.
So, why does Hanna appear to be watching his friendship with Zombie and Conrad so carefully? A guess: for some reason or other, he's never felt friendship before; and he isn't feeling it (at least not much) now. But he's trying to; he's been trying for years. He values compassion more than anything - he sincerely does want to help everyone in his path, and is a great friend in everything except the emotional plane - but he longs to feel friendship, and feels (wait . . .) guilt that he doesn't. His extreme niceness and jokiness may be an attempt to make up for that, or remedy it. And that's why he takes such note of those actions of Zombie and Conrad's - they're doing what Hanna wishes he could do.
This explains his combination of sappiness and No Social Skills - and also why he's so nice to Doc Worthless, who's one of the few people he sees on a regular basis and with whom therefore he longs to be friends.
Maybe it's Zombie who's humanizing Hanna, not the other way around.
Now, this is very much Poison Oak Epileptic Trees and makes practically no sense, but here’s what I think happened…
So basically, let’s say Hanna’s parents got possessed. And let’s also say that in this universe, exorcising a demon kills the host (similar to in Locke & Key). And Hanna, not knowing this (or, if the universe decided to be particularly cruel, knowing this full well but not having any other option), tried to exorcise said demons. And that’s pretty much it—
I don’t know why I thought of this, and I know it doesn’t make much sense at all.
But it would explain why Hanna was so worried about {…} getting possessed, I suppose.
In other words, I believe the reason Tess left the comic could have been due to simply not knowing what happened next. They left us hanging, but maybe that’s because they themself didn’t know either.
I thought of this possibility when trying to start writing a potential series of events that could have happened next (*cough* shameless self-promotion *cough*), and I honestly… didn’t know what should happen. I didn’t know how long the conflict with Tibenoch should drag on for, I didn’t know exactly what should happen… maybe that’s just me still being pretty new to the comic and it being a bit early to write Fanfiction for it, but… maybe that’s how Tess felt, too.
And as for the lack of explanation, I understand why they wouldn’t have explained what was going on with the comic if this was the case. After all, who wants to admit that they’re stuck? However, completely abandoning the fans was definitely the wrong call, so don’t assume I’m defending that decision, please.