Grunbaum Academy of Art

Hey gang! Sorry I went inactive there for a minute — just the Jewish holidays that got me, not another mysterious Yarnie disappearance...

But in exciting news, I did get a letter back from the Grunbaum Academy of Art — that organization that ran an ad on the back of the torn Stupefying Yarns cover. They're asking me to send back a (fairly detailed) rendering of a comics panel, based on a provided description. Given the depth and other story beats referenced in the description, I'm thinking it might be one of a few different prompts.

Has anyone else gotten their Hogwarts Grunbaum letter yet? I'll transcribe the full prompt at some point, but it's very long. And I'll take my best stab at drawing it and sending it back, although I'm far from a pro artist. :/

I too had to disappear (work and life projects taking all my time   But, I have one too!!!!  I am going to attempt to do it as well.  Here is a bad image of the letter - I am off to work, but will post the comic scene when I can.  This is exciting... a chance to make a comic (even as I lack any talent and would be no where near those who made SY and all the other awesome comics).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15RZuRUS8zKSmKec36zehKuKaCAb7-Wry/view?usp=sharing

That's very interesting. At least it was a Homburg hat and not a bowler.

Oyml wrote:

That's very interesting. At least it was a Homburg hat and not a bowler.

I do like the potential beginning to a hat pattern Hats are very important and to me can symbolize much (such as using the phrase wearing many hats). Plus - hats cap the brain and well...

Oh, almost forgot - there is such an undercurrent of knights and fantasy and such in the letter - And there have been Grail mentions in other places and maybe other references too - I'm getting an Arthurian vibe here - is it just me? Also, I need to include a picture of the envelope - it was hand addressed in awesome calligraphy, which I love as hand writing is an art form that is being lost.

I thought the calligraphy was great! And what about the return address? Who or what is H.P.G.?

Here's may art test assignment. Very ominous.

YankeeWhite wrote:

I thought the calligraphy was great! And what about the return address? Who or what is H.P.G.?

Ok, so I am not the only one that was confused - I am guessing the G is Grunbaum?

Sooo many mysteries - looks like it is Google Doc/wiki time to help me track all of this

The fact that there are different scenarios to be drawn makes me think they may come together and be important. Time for me to step up and drop them a line to see what I get back.

Here's my scene! It went on for so long they needed a second page...





EDIT: whoops too big

Interesting...so everyone's getting snippets from the same story, and it's up to us to reassemble them based on context cues?

@docwho2100's half pager looks to be the first panel, closely followed by @yankeewhite's 1/6th pager...

Seems like there are a few panels (or even pages) missing between that and @destinies' 1/6th pager. I wonder if this is an exercise in collective storytelling to recreate a Stupefying Yarns tale (presumably in the Old Gnarly family).

Neato. i'll try and see if i get anything back

I was talking to R.E. and he mentioned that Grunbaum = Green Wood/Tree and that made him think of something he had been working on connected to the Greenwood Frequency (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood_frequency) has anyone heard of this before? Any potential connections to that stuff going on with Charity's Tourist? (SUCO TECHNOLOGY and/or COMETITE)?

Could be. BTW, has anyone tried making and sending in the comics described? If so, i'd love to see them!

Garfield_minus_Jim wrote:

Could be. BTW, has anyone tried making and sending in the comics described? If so, i'd love to see them!

I am going to try (warning, stick figures are a challenge for me), and I will share once I send it (probably have time tomorrow and will send it in by Tuesday).

Swinging back to the comics topic - I find it intresting how some entries have more... "personal" commentary. The language used is very... visual (see the main body of my letter for examples e.g. soft lips and sharp teeth of the succubis, Art).

Yeah. THe first one posted seems to imply that these comics are windows into alternate realities.

Garfield_minus_Jim wrote:

Yeah. THe first one posted seems to imply that these comics are windows into alternate realities.

Well going back to the first Telex Machine Message (I think it is the first one) - "NO COLONIES ON MOON OR MARS. IMPLIES HIS [sic] WORLD CALVED FROM OURS AS RECENTLY AS TWENTIES OF [sic] THIRTIES."

So "Calved from ours" Is this why everyone is forgetting the SY? Did our reality calve from the SY reality and the further we get from that point, the more that is "lost" (or something???)???

The letters description of "old gnarly" as "a version of the modern day that has not progressed blond the dark ages" would lend credence to the multiverse theory.

Adding to the list!
Also, I didnt realize Muriel's pal HPG was a Grunbaum until seeing the return address on the mailing!



Also, noticed there are a few letters missing from my note: specifically, ones that spell out KINGSROOD. Did I miss people talking about that in prior letters, or is that new for this batch?

mjandersen wrote:

Adding to the list!
Also, I didnt realize Muriel's pal HPG was a Grunbaum until seeing the return address on the mailing!



Also, noticed there are a few letters missing from my note: specifically, ones that spell out KINGSROOD. Did I miss people talking about that in prior letters, or is that new for this batch?

Comparing to mine, I did not notice missing letters - I wonder what that means.

So if the story can be pieced together, it appears Peroni is working with the Bowlers. No idea who CSRF is though...aside from a security vulnerability.

Kingsrood? Sounds like a secret society that believes it's protecting the world from some greater evil...

YankeeWhite wrote:

Kingsrood? Sounds like a secret society that believes it's protecting the world from some greater evil...

I admit - when I first read that word, The Kingsman movie jumped into my head

I was going to reread all of these to find common themes, but I'm not sure they are all here. I have panel descriptions from drwho2100, destinies, yankeewhite, and mjandersen here and Muriel's on Twitter. Is that all of them (that we know of)?

Finally got my letter back!

Any chance you can get me a clearer picture of the middle third of that letter? I'm going to try transcribing these and it is kind of blurry at the end of the section.