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What Might Have Been

🕑 Added 2025-03-25 01:14:26 +0000 UTC

Comments

Raymond Dannelly

Visiting Marten's apartment is still possible, just a lot more involved.

Clifton Royston

I notice Anh doesn't seem even the slightest bit offended by Faye's question.

enchantedsleeper

As of the next strip caption, it seems like it's canon 👀

enchantedsleeper

This earwormed me for hours, gdi xD

enchantedsleeper

Heeeey, the Wisp has just as much history in the comic as Anh does xD (Well, almost) It's been through a lot!

enchantedsleeper

Buuuuut she can still visit Faye and Bubbles 🥺

enchantedsleeper

Where can I subscribe to updates xD

SilverbackRon

Yes! That theatrical pose was a delight.

SilverbackRon

We have already seen how Anh is fine with fictional romances. I don't see her letting go of this anytime soon.

SilverbackRon

Ohhhhhh, good point. (I was about to type out a scenario where Hanners is at the apartment visiting with Marten and Clare... then I remembered... no... that won't happen.... EVER AGAIN! 😭 💔😭

Sean Kinlin

*applause*

Stephen Wells

Fernando

Stephen Wells

For copyright reasons it's not FERNANDO

Stephen Wells

An audiobook in the sense that her maid, Aramantha, had to read it aloud to her. Aramantha is now deeply in love with Anh and even now is packing her bindle and leaving California on a quest to catch up with her and confess her feelings. "I was a fool!" cries Anh, "at last I see that what I needed was right in front of me the whole time!" They embrace, silhouetted against the flames of the burning Dang Tech headquarters.

legobil

The bean sprout? Agreed.

Opus the Poet

As a former metal fabricator I know that such venues need regular sweeping to not be a fire and explosion hazard.

Opus the Poet

I like Anh as a fictional character, as a human being I have to interact with... not so much.

Opus the Poet

It's spelled "Jeph".

Sean Morgan

Y'all. She's about to be living in a house with Pintsize. Introduction to proper smut will NOT be a problem and she is gonna learn SO MUCH

Sean Morgan

See, now? Now I enjoy Anh. Because now Anh has a personality and that personality includes self-insert fanfic about Rodrigo in Ibiza.

Kuragari

At one point I would have thought "You can read?" to be a horribly stupid question. But it's 2025 and the last 10 years changed that.

Nessi505

Same. I’m glad I’m not alone in my dislike

Melissa Wilson

Hugh, it’s this one: https://youtu.be/dQsjAbZDx-4?si=nAcmt8NilH1CJS29

Melissa Wilson

Thanks, Opus!

Hugh Eckert

That is exactly what I thought, thank you!

Hugh Eckert

But funny.

That Blair Guy

I got that detail wrong It is indeed a mop. Though it’s unclear whether Anh would know the difference or to use it with soapy water….

Raymond Dannelly

I suspect this all comes to a head when a filthy Anh traumatizes Hanners with her lack of sanitation.

Mark Krepela

That one piece of Anh's hair is my favorite new character.

Mark

True, although, we don't know how much time has passed. Martin has opened a coffee shop already.

legobil

True! Tai probably has some excellent suggestions. Just take a detour around Marigolds works.

legobil

We already had it and Hanners politely (with a touch of panic) said “no, thank you”.

Ailadi

**hugs** I feel your frustration.

Ailadi

Since she’s in MA and not Canada, Tai could make that introduction 😁

Rawrisaur

You know who’s from the same world as you, Anh? Hanners. PLEASE LET ME HAVE THIS, JEFF. 🧡❤️🤍🩷💜

legobil

So many Little gold nuggets in this strip. Anh’s dramatic pose in panel 3, Faye’s exclamation in the final panel, me imagining Moray introducing Anh to some proper smut. Ok, that final one is only me. But still!

Michael Steamweed

Ohmigosh! RODRIGO! It's you!!

Michael Steamweed

She had a bad case of affluenza in her youth.

(void)

There is a Spanish guitar riff in the room right after she said RODRIGO

Graydon Armstrong

'Cause we know what she's reading, know what she's reading... R O D R I GO Anh is glued to her Kobo, Doesn't need to see a nude, The erotic prose is lewd!

William Burns

Damnit. I read all the way up to Bra Pirate.

Everett Bradshaw

An electrician joke! Brilliant!

BookBeard

That's okay, I'm sure Momo is covering for her, and she has acess to all of the... *ahem*... "historical romance". https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2037

Halloween Jack

I think that I mostly avoid audiobooks because if I got into them, I might be in serious danger of finishing a book.

Marc Moskowitz

You'll have to wait a little while; Tai's on her honeymoon.

Opus the Poet

Not if she touches the green wire, then her potential goes to ground.

Opus the Poet

Another ABBA song, the title escapes me at the moment but I know it's ABBA.

Opus the Poet

Guess which half most of the commentariat occupy, Elf.

Opus the Poet

@Sean, it's from The Sound of Music, Do Re Mi.

Emmu Lah

I feel like, at least for me, Anh is not for enjoying. She is a tool by which we get to view more Faye and Bubbles growth

djellafine

I feel like "you read books?" or something like that might have been more to the point. Implying that she's too shallow/busy being a rich party girl or whatever.

SpookyPenguin

I wish I could read like I used to. Now that I am partially sighted, audiobooks are a lot easier than reading. It's not the same.

Melissa Wilson

Maybe this is just what it looks like when she tries not to be weird.

Melissa Wilson

Teach us your secrets!

Paracog Steadham

Poor Ahn, so impaired by hautism.

enchantedsleeper

She's joking. The whole exchange is a humorous one, and Faye is upping the ante with exaggerated shock over Anh's "revelation" ^^;

enchantedsleeper

Anh probably DOES have an ongoing love affair with her clothes hangers. 🤔 They've always been here for her, safeguarding her most trusted possessions.

enchantedsleeper

*romanhce

enchantedsleeper

Guys, it's a joke, Faye is exaggerating shock 😅

Clifton Royston

Yes, she's very good at it.

enchantedsleeper

It's actually looking for the left-handed screwdriver that got her dusty. Which was why they needed someone to sweep.

enchantedsleeper

Ahhhh, a morning well-spent re-reading the space station arc :D I headcanon that Pintsize and Station are still penpals: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2169

Bagge

I love the Thursday Next books

Rodrigo Ourcilleon

Really trying my best to care/like this new character and her storyline but it’s just not happening. :| Not even in that ”love to hate” style. I guess it’s just not meant to be. Just like with my fictional namesake.

OldGoat

Please Jeph, have her fall head over heels for Pintsize. Or Barry the whale wanker. Or maybe she can get a job as Melon's understudy just to make ends meet.

Sparky

The library may be the path to awareness …

Steve Prowse

Oh that was a perfect unexpected segue 🙏🏼😃❤️

Call me Ishmael.

Yes! Fantastic foreshortening, and wonderful hands!

Bagge

Perhaps bring her by the library. I'm sure Tai has some recommendations.

Call me Ishmael.

Just because they're fictional, doesn't mean that they're not real. Hell, I'm not 100% sure I'M real!

Ken

Ale, Ale, Alejandro!

Ken

Snort!

Call me Ishmael.

It is Anh's fate to find love, but it can never be with Hangers - but who?🤔

Elf Sternberg

Good grief! I bow to such a prodigious memory!

Walt Donovan

Uh, Blair, I only saw Anh holding a mop and she had just found it. Which strip has her sweeping?

Call me Ishmael.

No doubt, you were distracted by the misspelling of Rodanh.

Elf Sternberg

Like an onion. The more you cut into her, the more she'll make you cry.

Opus the Poet

Faye, that was rude.

Andrew

Headcanon: Anh got the maids to read all the spoken parts

William Cole

You are a hero, sir!

Andrew

Long story short, she can’t go back to the island. Ever.

Jaune Jaymes

You mispronounced Domingo 😆

Minzoku Bokumetsu

https://i.imgur.com/hxqIeWq.gif

BookBeard

I knew she had used it as a ringtone but I misremembered it as a different phone call. Spent like 40 minutes looking in the wrong place. Still worth it. 😆

Ailadi

Damn BookBeard, you’ve really been on a roll with those hidden gems 😉👌 🙇🏻

darklion

OMG how deep did you have to reach for that one

Yelling Bird

And I, am SANCHO!

BookBeard

Uh oh, Hanners must be nearby, I can hear her ringtone. Better restrain Anh. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2104

Ailadi

*applauds* (non-sarcastically)

Nessi505

I want Jimbo’s hat

Ailadi

*looks around the comments* Nope, definitely nothing odd about that.

Diptych

Ghod Rilbert?

Ailadi

This strip looks like it was ridiculously fun to draw. Theatrics + anhoge = 🤭

Joseph Bonnar

HOW DID I MISS THAT ONE? Godzilla DAMN IT! How did I miss Rodanh!

Ailadi

*snrk*

Michael Steamweed

That. Would. Be. Perfection. JEPH. Get on this!

Michael Steamweed

That hair lock is as expressive as Lemon's! Melon's, too, come to think of it.

J.R. Murdock

I feel like Ayn is getting dirty each strip...in every sense of the word.

Diptych

She has people to read for her.

Michael Steamweed

Her dramatic flair is Ahn point. Great stage potential!

Michael Steamweed

Ahn needs to read the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde. Soon Ahnough, she'll be secretly meeting Rodrigo for illicit illustrations.

Michael Steamweed

Perhaps 'romAhnce'?

Michael Steamweed

Lots of dusting and sweeping and cleaning up. The place is a machine shop, remember.

Rabbit

why is faye surprised that Anh can read? She's an heiress?

Michael Steamweed

Perhaps Rodrigo got Ahn all a-quiverin', but there was no deliverin'.

Michael Steamweed

Or maybe RODRIGAHN?

Michael Steamweed

What about RODAHN?

Doc Gumby

Embrace toleranhce.

Errol Lobo

HISTORICAL Romance... RODRIGO... Borgia???

AlexKorobeiniki

Wait, that might actually work. I'm pretty sure any romance with Hannelore will stay firmly in the realm of fiction for Anh anyways

Joseph Bonnar

ANHRIGO! Start the ship NOW!

Elf Sternberg

"Like a kielbasa into a jello mold!" (Somehow I don't think that's quite how Sven experienced it, though....) Given Anh's quest to, ah, explore her Sapphic side, she needs to deal with Dr. Heteronormative! (Also, another good excuse for a Jimbo cameo) https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1526

Rich Holmes

That's actually substantially more than I would have guessed.

Gargleblarg

Technically L-Space is a subset of Discworld, where audiobooks and movies in archaic formats live.

Todd Ellner

Nastacoff Sovietsky

Melissa Wilson

Panel 4 is the first time that unruly wisp hasn’t completely irked me. Does this mean *gasp* that I am on the path to accepting her (the path of anhceptance)? I’m afraid.

Dave, Duke of Fridges

you truly are passionate about delivering those QC deep cuts

Elf Sternberg

Before the Current Unpleasantness™ defunded the NEA, it's last report on readership indicated that in 2024, for the first time in their records, less than half of all Americans read at least one book for pleasure that year.

Ben R

I'm sure Rodrigo loved her back. Still unacted upon, but not unrequited.

BookBeard

I'm sure Rodrigo was great and all, but let's face it, he's no Lord Forwhyllyn. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=180

Elf Sternberg

Parasocial Romance is a genre lacking happy endings.

Aditya Rameshan

True, but the fact that she's genuinely shocked by that isn't good either 😂

darklion

what a fool belieeeeeeves to beeeeeeee no wise man has the power to reason away what seeeeeeeeeeeeems to beeeeeeee is always better than nothing and nothing at all keeps bringing her back...

BookBeard

I actually live in L-Space, I just vacation in BookWorld.

Bill Silvia

Based on her expression, it was genuine shock that just slipped out rather than a thought-out zinger.

Green

I genuinely love this twist so much

Michael Boettger

Jeph needs to create a one shot character by that name. Perhaps out on the Island. Perhaps wandering into Marten's cafe. Perhaps bemoaning his lonelin ess.

adrian koren

Natasha Rostov (I know, not very original)

That Blair Guy

Faye put her to work sweeping a half-dozen or so strips back. Evidently this is the first time Union Robotics has been swept.

Mad Marie

If you turn the audiobook setting to 1.5x, it qualifies as speed dating.

ValdVin

Faye, just because Anh doesn't read Sex Guy in her NoHo bed doesn't mean she doesn't read.

Diptych

She's been working in the shop all morning!

Rich Holmes

No reason for such an assumption other than statistics, and certainly no reason for incredulity if it turns out to be incorrect. If anything, I'd think being wealthy is correlated with greater likelihood of reading for pleasure — you can afford to, and you have time to. (But I have no data to back that up.)

Walt Donovan

Huh. Why is Anh all dirtied up? We see her blouse(?) in 5519, but Anh doesn't seem like someone who would wear a dirty top.

Claudia D.

Responding to Greg: It would be very "Purple Rose of Cairo", yes?

Shawn Spencer

Illiterate - no, she obviously went to a high priced school. But capable of enjoying a novel? That doesn't really apply to that many people so it's not unreasonable to assume she wasn't the sort who reads for pleasure.

ValdVin

See, if we all listened to podcasts on our radios, we wouldn't have that problem.

Shawn Spencer

Look if the Goblin is redeemable, than Anh is redeemable.

Two Wheels

She needs to confer with BookBeard

Aditya Rameshan

That you can read comment was out of pocket, even for Faye 🤣🤣🤣

Shawn Spencer

It's mostly surprising she reads for pleasure.

Gary Levine

She’s a fan of romAnhance novels.

Kevin McCarthy

Jeph I swear to Ghod you better not let our beloved Hanners be sullied by this...this CRETIN!

Rich Holmes

Or to a different tune: Rodrigo I've just read a boy named Rodrigo And though he's fictional Rodrigo's really all To me

Diptych

(wearily, with great effort) Yes, but you know what I mean.

Donna Flint

But, she has potential...

Logan Nix

ok, it was a bit mean of Faye, but i did still laugh

Sean Kinlin

Anh cannot be with Rodrigo, as she has not yet figured out a way to enter the BookWorld.

Creeperkry

The only thing Anh can't read is the room.

Ace

I mean, your point isn't wrong, but Anh and Marten are also very much not real

Sean Kinlin

I can't place the tune, but this is great!

Donna Flint

Honey, none of them are real.

Greg Matyola

But I mean having a relationship with a fictional character couldn’t be that odd?

Graydon Armstrong

R O D R I GO She is learning espanh̃ol R O D R I GO Spends her days on Duolingo

Josh Bacon

This is so much. <3

Diptych

🎵 Before you comment, remember the order The N comes first and the H comes after! Her name is Anh, A - N - H That's how it's spelled on every page! I hate to insist and I beg your pardon But Ahn's not real and neither is Martin! 🎵

Thomas Baxter

Panel 3 is life. You can tell she is putting all the sauce on a bad Spanish accent

Graydon Armstrong

Oof. This level of disconnect from reality might really be problematic, as opposed to just anhoying.

Tamara Macadam

I CACKLED AND PEOPLE ARE LOOKING AT ME FUNNY ON THE BUS NOW

Taigan

Really nailing that whole “being normal” thing Ahn.

Jason Wotzko

The fourth brother, he's fictional

Damian

An important step in liking her, at least to me, is that she greatly mellowed out now that she's no longer stressing about wanting to do things with other girls. So now she's just a rich girl caricature and a relatively well meaning one at that.