Speculation/Spoilers

[Cyanocorax]

Things are heating up in SPQR Blues (and I don't just mean that pesky volcano). This is a place to float your ideas about what is going to happen next. Because there is a historical record involved here, there may be spoilers so be warned.

[Cyanocorax]

To start, I'll say I've been reading SPQR Blues since before the beginning. I sometimes miss things though, so please be patient with me! Also, I am pretty clueless when it comes to history.

However, I'm pretty handy with Google, and the only reference I could find to Spendusa was some graffiti, "Marcus loves Spendusa." Cool! I'm pretty sure that Marcus is Felix's praenomen.

Problem is that the graffiti is in Pompeii, not Herculaneum. And to this point in the story I wouldn't say that Felix is in love with Spendusa (nor does she think he is). So what events could lead to this graffiti? (Or graffito, if you want to be pedantic).

Latest comic (3 part LXXXIX (continued)) starts to get REALLY interesting. Spendusa is trying to say she's with child. So Felix, who is a sucker for kids, certainly may begin to take more than a passing, lustful interest. Somehow he's got to get her freed, and one of them has to make it to Pompeii. Before the boom.

Before today's strip I thought that Spendusa was going to do something dramatic that would suddenly make everyone (including Felix) take notice. Like save somebody's life.

And that's what's been on my mind. Am I crazy?

[T. Mummius]

I don't know (both to your speculation and the question at the bottom of the thread), but Spendusa certainly has something tragic about her, too. I wouldn't be surprised if her death were somewhat imminent, whether to childbirth, disease, conflict with the Blues or volcano I don't know. Or if saving her (and eventually his offspring) from the volcano were the last noble thing to do for the last heir to Marcus Antonius, who, as we know it, never came to reap the fruit of his long-kept noble birth (btw. what would that be? The eastern half of the empire?).

Okay, I'm lousy at guessing, and guessing "death" when a volcano is due to explode is a little bit unimaginative. But if we rule out the obvious choices here, will that lead to a different storyline?

[Cyanocorax]

It is certainly true that Lolla was doomed, and Iusta did get that warning, so maybe it really is not a good idea to become Felix's wife.

But I hope that Felix finds some happiness before (or after?) the boom.

[T. Mummius]

Specially as Klio's so good at drawing happy people ...

[Shishio]

To start, I'll say I've been reading SPQR Blues since before the beginning.

How is that possible?

[Cyanocorax]

I think what I meant was that I was reading Klio's 10,000 Drawings before she started the SPQR Blues series. Not much before, however. She started 10kd (http://10kd.outsidefood.com) on June 12, 2005 and I didn't discover it until early November, 2005. SPQR Blues started Nov 20, 2005.

But I've been a fan of hers since we first met in September 19XX (dates changed to protect any fiction about age either of us might care to perpetrate).

[BryanO]

hey didnt know where to post this but i just saw the new comic and was all :O

so yah... looks like the story is gonna get even more exciting

[T. Mummius]

Wanna bet? Calatoria ends up to be the "rich woman in the gladiators' house" in Pompeji.

[Cyanocorax]

Sorry, I'm being slow. Where's there a reference to rich woman in the gladiators' house in Pompeii?

I also just realized that just because some of them may have gotten out of Herc before the BOOM doesn't mean they'll survive. Klio's got me so interested in Herculaneum that I momentarily forget that most everyone in Pompeii died too.

Duh.

I was going to suggest we place bets on who survives.
Which is still possible, if they happen to have urgent business in Rome or Britain or some such place. I like your suggestion that Spendusa escapes with Antony's heir.

I know -- the legal wrangling might require some consultation in Rome or something. Is Pompeii on the way to Rome and the graffiti could happen on the way?

This had better be a long chapter. A lot has to happen to tie up loose ends!

[T. Mummius]

When the Palestra in Pompeji was excavated, the bodies of several gladiators - one still shackled to an iron footbar - were found, and the body of one woman with money and gold necklace and earrings. This spurned some stories about "rich women making whoppee with gladiators", which are also testified in literature ...

Ok, here are my bets:
Antonius Felix: dead. Dies while getting Spendusa on a boat.
Mus: dead. Turns out to be Christian. Dead nonetheless.
Menander: survives. I don't know how, maybe on some errand.
Calatoria: dead, dead, dead. Probably the whole mountain crashes down upon her (while she rallies the Gladiators in Pompeji to her aid).
Speudon: dead, even before the volcano goes boom. Brought down as a scapegoat by Calatoria in her attempt to get away with her ordered muggings.
Mus' father: dead. Does something noble before he dies, either forgiving Antonius or accepting that his son is gay. or both.
Sejanti: dead. Struck down by something falling from above.
Spendusa: survives, with both her son and Antonius' stepson.
Petronia: dead. Probably after some struggle with a madly love-struck Antonius and her own destiny, the part of the mountain that doesn't fall upon Calatroria is heaped upon her.
Pliny the elder: dead (cameo appearance).

And here's my wager: if I lose (more than half of my guesses turn out wrong), I'll draw a small fan-art series (10 strips).
If I win, hm ... let praise and honour be my reward

[seraulu1]

Huh? i don't think so! learn hypnosis free

[Kesha32]

Hi all!

Good day..........
I am new here.........
By the way i'm kezha.........
make money online