Asha is a genie who lives in LA, masquerading as a human Pop Star. Since her last master died before asking for his final wish, and being buried with Asha's Bottle. Haji has granted Asha the ability to stay in the human world without returning to her bottle.
Well that a surprise! Either Guano is being magnanimous or he has ulterior motives. Like he looking tp take over for Haji and be basically, the new Haji or possibly Guano afraid of the Blue Djinn and want Asha to take over his position. Or there a possibility that Guano doesn’t want to take over for Haji and so he going to abdicate his position as the Lord Master and let Asha be the new Lord Master and knocking himself out of the possibility of taking over too.
Possibly the most relevant question here is, assuming Asha does take Guano’s place, will she also take over as Jean’s boss?
Another thought comes to me: Guano seemed sort of friends with Rouyah when we saw them together in I Dream of Technicolor. Could he show up in Cocoa Beach to see Ms. Eden?
@Kattgirl – Depends on Asha’s motivations, goals, and level of ruthlessness. To cite a great example from history (that might make me look really bad), we stopped trying to kill Hitler when we realized the next guy might know how to do his job.
I’d have to partially disagree with that. A reasonably intelligent opponent can be counted on, to a degree, to be at least somewhat predictable. A really stupid enemy is more likely to be random, and hence more prone to do surprising things. Granted, that can work either for or against them, but it can introduce more of a wild card effect.
@Kattgirl – But a stupid opponent is less likely to come up with something you wouldn’t think of, even though you might dismiss the idiot’s ideas as too stupid to be used. I think I get what you’re saying, though; the smart one might outthink you, but the dumb one might make you outthink yourself.
An intelligent opponent might be counted on to see the writing on the wall and back down, too, whereas the fool stubbornly fights on or even tries to drag everyone down with them in defeat.
Guano seems to get a bad rep. I wonder as a thought experiment… (please don’t be hard on me for this!) what if Guano was a girl and acted in a similar manner? Would Guanda be considered bad or
Just strict?
I’m going to try and list Guano’s ‘good’ points. He (somehow?) defeated the blue genie before. He seems to be acting to protect the genies from a grave threat- their entire population is in the hundreds… We know he’s not usually like this and started very meek kind and forgiving but these traits don’t serve well in his current role- as he was advised. So he was pretty convincing to make a front of some sort. Again perhaps because he does genuninly want to be a good genie lord?
Anyway that’s me playing a bit of devils advocate. I think Guano is complicated and actually very layered as a character. He’s important and much like.. a lot of genies he acts like he feels… he has no choice either? How is a genie lord punished for failing in his duties…
Hm. Guano seems to be given to making lots of assumptions.
Of course, Haji may be encouraging him to do so. I just don’t see Haji as being dumb enough to actually be taken in by the likes of Guano. I have a feeling that old Batpoop is being used as a pawn by bigger players. Or maybe even as bait.
Perhaps Guano is going to try to “disappear” as a genie lord, hoping to make himself less of a target for the Blue Djinn. At least trying to be less conspicuous. Or, his egotistical nature makes him think he is going to replace Haji, not that I think that is actually Haji’s plan . . . unless Haji plans to let Guano be an even bigger target for Big Blue . . . hmm.
I think that while Guano is “clueless”, he’s not “stupid”. I figured back in the last strip that he’s bringing in some help from outside of the KNOWN genie community as back-up. Maybe Samantha will show up; either because of a genie/witch truce, or because Haji want’s to ask her if the witches had anything to do with the Blue Jinn’s escape.
Oh look, Guano ISN’T as stupid as everyone thinks he is – while he IS still a prideful piece of guano, he at least knows when he’s helpless and needs someone better than him to step up.
Really? I read it as that Guano thinks he will be replacing Haji, so he needs someone to take over his (Guano’s) current spot. Not that he’s looking for help, just that he’s a social climber.
Maybe Guano isn’t as dumb as he looks. He may have figured out that what Haji is really doing by selecting Guano as his “successor” is setting him up to be killed by the Blue Djinn. Setting a straw man on the throne or as heir to the throne for a short time is a stratagem has been used by many a cunning tyrant.
Will that even work, though? We’ve seen that Big Blue is after Haji *and* Guano, specifically. Just stepping down as Haji likely won’t save his skin from Big Blue’s wrath.
@Tom: That’s possible, of course. But so far Guano doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it. And of course, it remains to be seen whether Guano actually IS under consideration, or if he’s just flattering himself.
@Robert: You make a good point. Somehow I doubt that it’s escaped Haji’s notice that the Blue Djinn is after him, as well. My thought there is that Haji may be simply putting Guano on the spot as the most convenient first target, while setting up an ambush for Big Blue when he takes the bait.
“Oh look, Guano ISN’T as stupid as everyone thinks he is”
I disagree. He popped in just before Asha fully took her top off, if he was smarter he would have done it just after :-).
It occurs to me we’ve never seen a lady genie ‘lord’ … does the position come with a new form? In such a society it’s possible this is seen as a ‘perk.’
Well the idea of Genie came out of the Middle East and generally, women for the most part are considered second class citizen or even more like property. There are exceptions of course, but, that the general rule. That what the burkas are for.They cover a women body from head to toes, with even a vail over her face to cover her up. Traditionally, it was for the purpose of protecting the women from rape in about the 13 century. But, since that time, it been used more as servitude and domination by the male in there society and not for protection.
@Larry: Yes, but Genie society seems more based on pre-Muslim Middle Eastern society, rather than modern Muslim practices. And things like burkas are extreme even for most Muslim cultures; most interpretations of Islam across the world don’t do that, only a few places like Saudi Arabia take it that far.
The Genie culture we’ve seen here seems based on Middle Eastern societies from a couple of thousand years ago or so, which were very similar to many contemporary cultures across the world at the time in their roles for women, and not nearly as extreme as modern Saudi practice.
I have another project on the burner after SailorSun.org is done.
Your not the first to notice the comment count is higher per comic; but remember people are coming back throughout the week to talk on each JeanieBottle comic. On SailorSun.org they only have a couple days to comment before the next comic.
During the Xmas Daily updates, I’ve notice a lot less comments per comic.
I’m not saying JeanieBottle isn’t more popular then SailorSun.org. The comments per comic tends to be a little misleading as to how popular.
There is the tittle then! and Robert, I hate to be that guy, but unless Gauno is a new piece of lore…
Damnit, autocorrect! You’ve failed me for the last time!
Wait… that makes no sense in this context.
Well that a surprise! Either Guano is being magnanimous or he has ulterior motives. Like he looking tp take over for Haji and be basically, the new Haji or possibly Guano afraid of the Blue Djinn and want Asha to take over his position. Or there a possibility that Guano doesn’t want to take over for Haji and so he going to abdicate his position as the Lord Master and let Asha be the new Lord Master and knocking himself out of the possibility of taking over too.
Interesting… Now tell us more about Asha.
…and she was known ever after as ‘Ashan’…
Possibly the most relevant question here is, assuming Asha does take Guano’s place, will she also take over as Jean’s boss?
Another thought comes to me: Guano seemed sort of friends with Rouyah when we saw them together in I Dream of Technicolor. Could he show up in Cocoa Beach to see Ms. Eden?
More than friends, she seemed like a mentor figure for him, heck he even seemed like a child at her side.
MEET THE NEW BOSS!
…(probably) WORSE THAN THE OLD BOSS!
We don’t know that. She might be way better than ol’ Batpoop.
Unlike Guano, she’s actually got a brain. How much worse could she be?
@Kattgirl – Depends on Asha’s motivations, goals, and level of ruthlessness. To cite a great example from history (that might make me look really bad), we stopped trying to kill Hitler when we realized the next guy might know how to do his job.
He Who Abides has a strong point. An intelligent asshole is far more dangerous than a stupid one.
@NotShuttingUp:
I’d have to partially disagree with that. A reasonably intelligent opponent can be counted on, to a degree, to be at least somewhat predictable. A really stupid enemy is more likely to be random, and hence more prone to do surprising things. Granted, that can work either for or against them, but it can introduce more of a wild card effect.
@Kattgirl – But a stupid opponent is less likely to come up with something you wouldn’t think of, even though you might dismiss the idiot’s ideas as too stupid to be used. I think I get what you’re saying, though; the smart one might outthink you, but the dumb one might make you outthink yourself.
An intelligent opponent might be counted on to see the writing on the wall and back down, too, whereas the fool stubbornly fights on or even tries to drag everyone down with them in defeat.
Rock…
That’s me, playing Civilization. The latter, not the former.
Wow, this whole conversation strongly reminds me of a certain someone who’s been in the news a lot lately…
Please, Robert, don’t drag Kim into this. Let’s stick with Batpoop. 😉
Guano seems to get a bad rep. I wonder as a thought experiment… (please don’t be hard on me for this!) what if Guano was a girl and acted in a similar manner? Would Guanda be considered bad or
Just strict?
I’m going to try and list Guano’s ‘good’ points. He (somehow?) defeated the blue genie before. He seems to be acting to protect the genies from a grave threat- their entire population is in the hundreds… We know he’s not usually like this and started very meek kind and forgiving but these traits don’t serve well in his current role- as he was advised. So he was pretty convincing to make a front of some sort. Again perhaps because he does genuninly want to be a good genie lord?
Anyway that’s me playing a bit of devils advocate. I think Guano is complicated and actually very layered as a character. He’s important and much like.. a lot of genies he acts like he feels… he has no choice either? How is a genie lord punished for failing in his duties…
Hm. Guano seems to be given to making lots of assumptions.
Of course, Haji may be encouraging him to do so. I just don’t see Haji as being dumb enough to actually be taken in by the likes of Guano. I have a feeling that old Batpoop is being used as a pawn by bigger players. Or maybe even as bait.
Perhaps Guano is going to try to “disappear” as a genie lord, hoping to make himself less of a target for the Blue Djinn. At least trying to be less conspicuous. Or, his egotistical nature makes him think he is going to replace Haji, not that I think that is actually Haji’s plan . . . unless Haji plans to let Guano be an even bigger target for Big Blue . . . hmm.
I think that while Guano is “clueless”, he’s not “stupid”. I figured back in the last strip that he’s bringing in some help from outside of the KNOWN genie community as back-up. Maybe Samantha will show up; either because of a genie/witch truce, or because Haji want’s to ask her if the witches had anything to do with the Blue Jinn’s escape.
So what *do* retired Genie masters and Genie lords do?
That what we are getting ready to find out. Stay tuned in for future episodes of Jeannie in Bottle to find out!
Oh look, Guano ISN’T as stupid as everyone thinks he is – while he IS still a prideful piece of guano, he at least knows when he’s helpless and needs someone better than him to step up.
Really? I read it as that Guano thinks he will be replacing Haji, so he needs someone to take over his (Guano’s) current spot. Not that he’s looking for help, just that he’s a social climber.
Oh god you’re right – at least the blue djinn will have an easy target after Haji.
Maybe Guano isn’t as dumb as he looks. He may have figured out that what Haji is really doing by selecting Guano as his “successor” is setting him up to be killed by the Blue Djinn. Setting a straw man on the throne or as heir to the throne for a short time is a stratagem has been used by many a cunning tyrant.
Will that even work, though? We’ve seen that Big Blue is after Haji *and* Guano, specifically. Just stepping down as Haji likely won’t save his skin from Big Blue’s wrath.
@Tom: That’s possible, of course. But so far Guano doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it. And of course, it remains to be seen whether Guano actually IS under consideration, or if he’s just flattering himself.
@Robert: You make a good point. Somehow I doubt that it’s escaped Haji’s notice that the Blue Djinn is after him, as well. My thought there is that Haji may be simply putting Guano on the spot as the most convenient first target, while setting up an ambush for Big Blue when he takes the bait.
“Oh look, Guano ISN’T as stupid as everyone thinks he is”
I disagree. He popped in just before Asha fully took her top off, if he was smarter he would have done it just after :-).
It occurs to me we’ve never seen a lady genie ‘lord’ … does the position come with a new form? In such a society it’s possible this is seen as a ‘perk.’
We did see one, lord Natshir back in page 432, unlike Lahab she is not only part of the circle of lords but is even referred with the tittle of lord
Good point I forgot about her. Still it seems quite rare.
Well the idea of Genie came out of the Middle East and generally, women for the most part are considered second class citizen or even more like property. There are exceptions of course, but, that the general rule. That what the burkas are for.They cover a women body from head to toes, with even a vail over her face to cover her up. Traditionally, it was for the purpose of protecting the women from rape in about the 13 century. But, since that time, it been used more as servitude and domination by the male in there society and not for protection.
@Larry: Yes, but Genie society seems more based on pre-Muslim Middle Eastern society, rather than modern Muslim practices. And things like burkas are extreme even for most Muslim cultures; most interpretations of Islam across the world don’t do that, only a few places like Saudi Arabia take it that far.
The Genie culture we’ve seen here seems based on Middle Eastern societies from a couple of thousand years ago or so, which were very similar to many contemporary cultures across the world at the time in their roles for women, and not nearly as extreme as modern Saudi practice.
cool take the job
This is a great twist in the story.
The number of comments indicate significant interest.
When sailorsun.org winds down do you thnk we might get more than one Genie update per week.
The number of comments here almost always triple those at sailor sun.
The number of comments here almost always triple those at sailor sun.
That’s just because we’re all so stubborn & like to argue.
Oops – was that my ‘outside voice’?
You may be stubborn. I’m strong willed. 🙂
Glad your liking the story.
I have another project on the burner after SailorSun.org is done.
Your not the first to notice the comment count is higher per comic; but remember people are coming back throughout the week to talk on each JeanieBottle comic. On SailorSun.org they only have a couple days to comment before the next comic.
During the Xmas Daily updates, I’ve notice a lot less comments per comic.
I’m not saying JeanieBottle isn’t more popular then SailorSun.org. The comments per comic tends to be a little misleading as to how popular.
Absolutely love the snail’s pace of this comic strip! Someday you know something interesting and exciting will happen! Can’t wait!