Here we see Tasi suddenly smitten with some sort of seizure and sinister vision. What does this mean? What is wrong with her?

Seizures and Visions: Some modern critics believe that visions of the ancient prophets, shamans, seers and sages were caused by epileptic seizures. Sometimes called God Seizures or spiritual seizures, they are often described as ecstatic or, in some cases, terrifying experiences by the one who is seized by them. Those who were compelled to write about their dreams and visions run the description gamut, from indescribable beauty to apocalyptic horror.  Hippocrates (circa 400 BC) was the first to identify epileptic seizures as a brain dysfunction and not a supernatural one.

He was correct, but I believe it is easy for some of us who are skeptics to lazily dismiss and discount these ‘spiritual’ or ‘divine’ experiences as a brain dysfunction and not allow for the possibility that, rather than being broken, it might be the place in the brain where a certain type of inspired beauty and mystery might lie.

If there are any questions on what part of the world that this story takes place, the logo on the front of the transit train gives us a clue to the region and city (as does the logo on the bus on page 16 tell us where the location of the suburb that Tasi just came from).

In the last panel, Tasi looks at a list of addresses. Who, exactly, is Joseph A. DiAngelo? One must get deeper into the story for more clues.

Now here’s some deeply buried trivia that is not related to this story but has been inserted here for purely selfish reasons: Two of the three listings are actual. Listing #5 is the place where I grew up in (but I moved out decades ago). It was while living in San Bruno where I discovered my love for comic books, It was there that (at 16 years old) I published a 100 page comic fanzine called High Energy (which was written about in the News Watch section [page 24, issue #77] of the Comics Journal), and culminating with me being discovered and hired by Cat Yronwode and Dean Mullaney to do the cover and debut story of a Steel, Stealth and Magic for Eclipse Monthly #9. Soon after, I left the comic book industry. Listing #6 is the place where, 20 years later, I became re-interested in comic books again, and I began the Silver Cord project (I have since moved out of that place years ago). So I too have crossed out those addresses, never to return (but for different reasons then Tasi’s).

–SM