Saw THAT coming. :((((( poor girl

Ah, the Bright Noa morale induction method. Works like a charm. Makes you look like a jerk.

You know the situation is desperate when you have to resort to anime therapy tactics!

CRACK is such an impactful sound effect for a slap.

Maybe this could be like "Airplane" (Where they all take turns slapping her.)

Captain Bright! I mean... JENNY!

Leader of the Year material, no doubt

Thanks, she needed that.

And now Jack, Rosa and the NC form a line to slap Sylvie. Some of them with clubs, wrenches, etc

I think the thing that puzzles me most is the suddenness of Sylvie’s breakdown after entering the Inner World. She went from, “Bah, they went in,” to meltdown in what seemed a very short space of time, before she even knew the school kids were negative constructs. I’m not even clear on the “mistake” she thinks she’s made.

Crack ? O_o'

Time to lock in, Sylvie!

Hahaha nice. Sorry, I don't really feel bad for the witches all things considered, and Sylvie has been utterly annoying so far, from her loathing nonchalant looks given to dying Noa before her makeover to her nervous outbursts and inability to make a proper decision to stay or flight on her own. Even though it's Jenny who's slapping her.

Those [0x42]itches are getting more likeable by the minute... :(

I miss when we knew nothing about Jenny and she was just a sweet goth witch ????

What's a good slapping between friends?

What inspired leadership from Jenny! Time for her to... hulk out? maybe? Or perhaps she has a glass jaw.... then she might just fall down. I'm failing to see how any of this will convince Zimmy that they are 'friends'..... but maybe we're beyond that point. I'm still curious whether these creatures are surrounding Annie and friends or whether this is localised.

Nothing like some motivational abuse

Begin flashback!

Oh. So Jenny really is a witch but with a "B" in place of the "w". I hope she gets her just deserts.

Good ol' violence always solves all.

GOOD! Slap her again and again!

Hahaha. Oh, I can't wait to read the comments losing their minds over this.

and jenny gets worse... again

I'm starting to think these girls are not very nice people.

Some Bright slap she gave.

Holy fucking shit, Jenny.

that's hot

OHHHHHHHHHH! First rule of Negative Construct Fight Club is: Don’t freak out about being in Negative Construct Fight Club.

Understandable

gettin' real tired of these witches

Just gonna say, if it was a hero smacking sense into a sidekick we'd be all for it. Will you consolidate to * smacking sense is ok in emergencies, Jenny is doing what's necessary * smacking is just plain bad, Batman needs admonishing ?

Literally slapped the snot outta her.

bunny panic setting in

Aaaand there it is..

C'mon! This slap wouldn't have connected. She was guarding.

While I hate violence, her hysterical thing was getting OLD. So I can understand.

Jenny managing to sink lower and lower. I speculate that the things that she want her underling to do carries a high cost even when successful. It would be on brand to be an ordered sacrifice play. A possible scenario is that they survive and even succeed... but now the witches are more wary of the manipulator that lead them and they fracture. We could say that the panic and pressing danger justifies violent measure to make her accomplice behaves... But the fault of the situation is fully on Jenny, not sharing her knowledge about what the situation would be like.

that's not cool...

Damn okay. Jenny gets worse every scene she's in

I don't think this is going to end well for Jenny, whatever Sylvie does: 1) Sylvie turns against Jenny (unlikely); 2) Sylvie controls Zimmy's monsters, which both enrages Zimmy and alerts her to their exact location; 3) who knows what elae?

"Get a grip, you fool! Our lives are at stake here!"

Oof. But what if we kept our hands to ourselves, yeah?

Despite the fact that Jenny's group probably has the statistical advantage against Annie's in terms of abilities, with most group members retaining their memories in the Zimmyverse, I'd still wouldn't want to be Team Jenny. They just don't seem to really care for each other the same way Annie's gang does. And that might be the key to their downfall.

Poor thing. Y'know, for someone associating with folks of varied homicidal impulse and sociopathy. Get it together, dear!

The same boiling water that hardens the egg, softens the potato. Jenny really doesn't know Sylvie at all.

Well that wasn't very nice.

Also love the attention to detail on the fly-aways in that bun. Even witches can't tame them.

Sylvie was knocked unconscious, and they all died. The End?

Okay... so... hear me out: That is the appropriate response. You are surrounded by monsters, your life in danger, your friend's lives are in danger, and you are paralyzed by fear. Someone might just have to come along and drastically snap you out of your paralysis. Because, if you don't, everyone will die. If you are angry, good. That's *the point*. Take that anger and turn it into action.

Why do I feel like Sylvie using her abilities in the Zimmyverse will end catastrophically wrong for her

We already learned that Jenny was manipulative and power-hungry, and now it's clear she's abusive as well. I suspect she's the weak link in the chain Zimmy perceived. Her own abilities don't seem particularly well developed; she's just been pushing everyone else around.

Come and see the violence inherent in the system

...

What’s the catch?

Ha, Jenny finally goes full Betty Davis, or as she thinks of it, leadership.

Jenny really is awful. I can't imagine she'd even care about this if her ability to steal Zimmy's power through Jack wasn't at risk. I'm not sure she cares about any of them outside their usefulness.

If it worked for Amuro...

I was wondering how long it would take for Jenny to do that. Now, let’s see… cause > effect > long term results… . Well, no pressure here Sylvie. Just salvage this mess I made or I’ll smack you even harder next time!! Don’t make me ruin my nail polish!

I'm surprised that the onomatopoeia for a slap is crack and not smack or slap.

On one hand, this is clearly abuse from Jenny. On the other hand, these witches are all awful, so I don't feel much sympathy for her.

WOAG!

Dammit, Amuro, act like a man!

earned it

The CRACK! makes it sound like Jen broke a bone

That's right, abuse the troops now... great for morale, it is. (last part of sentence in Yoda's voice)

Jenny channels her inner Batman

Does Jenny have any friends or is it really all just.. this?

People have been saying here that Jenny is Not Nice. I think we now have proof. Also, Sophie, please make them do the Monster Mash.

Also, the bits of Noa floating in the background plus the monsters suddenly appearing reminded me of Half-Life for some reason...

I'm starting to get the feeling that Jenny may not be a wholesome person...

I wonder at what point the author decided how messed up Jenny was gonna be

What is even the pount of this power play? What is blonde teenybopper's motivation?

this seems like a hostile work environment

Quit wussing out, Sylvie, you're messing up Jenny's cool plan!

Jenny: in my opinion, the first objectively evil character in this story. Of course, that perception may change as the action plays out, as it did for me with Coyote, then Ysengrin, then Robot, then Tony.

JENNY DID THE BATMAN MEME!!!

How could Jenny punch Sylvie's face while covered by her arm?

I would say this is appropriate for a life-or-death situation… except that Jenny has been shown to be a worse person than expected, and she’s very willing to manipulate those around her for her gain, so HOW DARE YOU JENNY DON’T LAY YOUR HANDS ON SYLVIE

CRACK!

Last panel looks like the trope "Get a hold of yourself, man!" (slapping a hysterical person), which just makes things worse in real life.

Also: depictions in this comic of outdated responses to symptoms of anxiety disorder should not be taken as endorsement of such behaviour by the artist or commentators. Airplane! is not a valid source of medical advice.

Is that the Batman slap meme?

When your Chekhov's Gunman starts Refusing The Call and needs to Get a Hold of Themselves, a hearty slap can put a stop to any Inelegant Blubbering. In other news, what is Jenny's endgame here? Is power an end in itself for her, or does she have something she intends to use it for?

Oh yeah, y'all really followed the right leader... NOT.

Well, that's not a good sound. However, this is not where Jenny crossed the line - she's far beyond it by now. Using Jack, killing people, and now this.

Yikes!

Ok Jenny now has full villain status. Noa's a "monster she made", not just a friend she used. She cynically uses Jack as a tool to syphon zimmywaves or something. And now she's had her "kicking the dog"/slapping the Sylvie moment.

Okay i hate jenny now

Stealing Zimmy's power? Is that what Sylvie can do?

OH! Oh no, Jenny's true colors huh?

Slapped the SNOT out of here!

rude.

She was really saving that up. Sylvie really shouldn't have hung out with the bad crowd, it was never going to end well.

Too early to tell if this is just Jenny being Jenny or we're seeing real leadership here. Their very lives could be in real danger and the only one who can curb it is in full crash out mode, paralyzed with fear. Sylvie could also be refusing because she knows what they want her to do will only make it worse...

A certain scene from the movie "Airplane" comes to mind...

Just in case we weren't sure Jenny is the villain here. (We were, but still.)

I think that hair bleach has ruined Jenny as a character. I used to like her.

Owie

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

(cher voice) SNAP OUT OF IT

witch slap, ayyyyy

I feel bad for her, but the comic has been good at making me regret liking every one of these witches, so I expect Sylvie is about to do something terrible!

Sylvie freaking out can be an example of what happens when a theoretician faces reality. It all looks good when it's numbers on a paper, but when your survival hinges on the practical application of those numbers, they start to look a little less conclusive.

I bet she controls them by merging with them

@Pebkio - it's nuts only one other person understood this. Slapping someone for refusing under average circumstances is bad. But when their panic will get them (and you) killed in the next few seconds? It's the most effective "SNAP OUT OF IT!" / "Get yourself together!" there is. .... Did none of y'all watch Incredibles? Edna smacked Hellen with a newspaper under similar circumstances!

Looking forward to the inevitable comeuppance.

There is a reason for that crack! (We'll find out... next time... )

Violence is the Jenny way. She just hasn’t tried with Annie yet

I like Jenny less and less with every page we see her.

Every time we learn more about Jenny, she seems like a better and better friend

Maybe the real monsters, were the friends we made along the way.

My guess is Sylvie's work involves sacrificing herself by turning herself into another Zimmy or just plain old suicide. Her "mistake" was not realizing that when it comes down to it, she wants to live and Not Do That, but she's gotten in too deep and may have no other option. She never really thought it would come to this and now that it is, she's hysterical!

I'm surprised a simple slap magically makes Jenny a worse person in the eyes of some readers. Guys, both her and Sylvie were seeking to kill Kat, and killed Omega. They are also looking for Annie and co to do...what exactly, have tea? It's the same group with the same values. How is this worse than murder?? How is murderous Sylvie is a poor girlie now? Just cause Jack, Zara and Rosa were actual executors, you are putting everyone else in the more innocent category? Geez. They all deserve to get consequences, and Sylvie is far from innocent.

Captain's Log: September 15th, 2026... I've caught up to realtime after a month of free time binging. Gunnerkrig Court has taken over my mind; and now I too will know the pain of waiting for the next page like the rest of the fans here forever more. It is truly a dark day. But we try not too cry because we caught up... But smile because we found it at all.