When I say "The World" with regard to Gunnerkrigg Court, I'm not talking about the setting, the environment, the various characters or anything like that. For one, that topic ALONE would eat about 6 weeks worth of posts, and I'm only giving it one. Kind of. The World, here, though, refers to something I think many fans kind of forget about Gunnerkrigg Court:
It takes place in our world.
The Court and the Forest aren't on some magical island seperate from the everything, it is IN our world. It's often overlooked because of all the supernatural elements going on, but our world is just beyond the borders, to the point that it's visited frequently.
Kat and Paz make frequent trips outside, often on vacation. Heck, Tony and Surma left the Court outright at one point. The Court is not a prison in the strictest of senses, travel is easy between it and the world. It's even visible from space, as a satellite Tony and Donald put up as kids is still in Earth orbit.
Culture crosses through as well. Kat is a well known geek, with interests ranging from comics to anime. Language indicates the real outside, from Spanish to Polish, English accents and the odd reference to real places in the world.
History, that appears as well, through the lens of Mort and the fact that the ghost died, as a child, during the Blitz in World War II. And then there's Jones, the Stone who has seen all of world history, from the formation of the crust, to dinosaurs and beyond.
In fact, she also notes that the science and theories of the world we have today mostly apply to it. Science functions as it is supposed to, but with the added bits of the "etheric sciences," which is magic by other means. Despite the mythological creatures like Coyote running around, the world doesn't have a different origin or reality compared to what we see. Even Coyote notes it, claiming that he "doesn't exist" because of it.
On a whole, Gunnerkrigg Court is one of the prime examples of the Urban Fantasy, which I talked about way back when. It is one of many, of course, I have quite a list there, but despite this, Gunnerkrigg Court is alone in saying that everything we know IS real, there isn't a lie hidden there. The Court, however invisible it is, IS there though, and the things that it deals with are real things just under the surface of our world.
I suspect that this is part of the greater appeal of the comic as it puts the magic back in the world without subtracting out the things we know. Instead of being wrong, our knowledge, history and science are simply not complete, which is a completely different thing and one we can hope to eventually join up with.
Next time on the Successor, The Ether. Until then kiddies.
It takes place in our world.
The Court and the Forest aren't on some magical island seperate from the everything, it is IN our world. It's often overlooked because of all the supernatural elements going on, but our world is just beyond the borders, to the point that it's visited frequently.
Kat and Paz make frequent trips outside, often on vacation. Heck, Tony and Surma left the Court outright at one point. The Court is not a prison in the strictest of senses, travel is easy between it and the world. It's even visible from space, as a satellite Tony and Donald put up as kids is still in Earth orbit.
Culture crosses through as well. Kat is a well known geek, with interests ranging from comics to anime. Language indicates the real outside, from Spanish to Polish, English accents and the odd reference to real places in the world.
History, that appears as well, through the lens of Mort and the fact that the ghost died, as a child, during the Blitz in World War II. And then there's Jones, the Stone who has seen all of world history, from the formation of the crust, to dinosaurs and beyond.
In fact, she also notes that the science and theories of the world we have today mostly apply to it. Science functions as it is supposed to, but with the added bits of the "etheric sciences," which is magic by other means. Despite the mythological creatures like Coyote running around, the world doesn't have a different origin or reality compared to what we see. Even Coyote notes it, claiming that he "doesn't exist" because of it.
On a whole, Gunnerkrigg Court is one of the prime examples of the Urban Fantasy, which I talked about way back when. It is one of many, of course, I have quite a list there, but despite this, Gunnerkrigg Court is alone in saying that everything we know IS real, there isn't a lie hidden there. The Court, however invisible it is, IS there though, and the things that it deals with are real things just under the surface of our world.
I suspect that this is part of the greater appeal of the comic as it puts the magic back in the world without subtracting out the things we know. Instead of being wrong, our knowledge, history and science are simply not complete, which is a completely different thing and one we can hope to eventually join up with.
Next time on the Successor, The Ether. Until then kiddies.
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