Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 8.

Line 8: "Spoonin' the tousled egg into her scrambled head she wells, as iffer, on the past now."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Spooning the scrambled egg into her tousled head she dwells, as ever, on the past now."
I assume she's eating the egg and not slathering it in her hair.

"Spoonin' the tousled egg into her scrambled head"
Play on "spoonerism," something Lucia often does revealing unconscious thoughts and desires. While exchanging "tousled" with "scrambled" isn't exactly a spoonerism, the words used her are like a cryptic crossword (or regular crossword if you're British): words will often be scrambled or tousled and the reader should pay particular attention when this happens.

"scrambled head"
She's mad.

"she wells"
Remember, Lucia is water! She's a river. And at times, she wells which is as close to stopping and thinking and dwelling on things as a river can do.

"as iffer"
No clue!

"on the past now."
She now dwells on the past. But she also dwells on past nows. As if Lucia understands Moore's concept of time in Jerusalem. All moments are eternal. Every memory of the past she dwells on is and always will be a now.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 7.

Line 7: "With her bunyans all complainin' she escapes the Settee o' Destraction and beguines her evrydaily Millgrimage towar's ridemption or towords the Wholly Sea; to wards, the tranquilisity of night."

The Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "With her bunions complaining, she escapes the site/city of distraction/destruction and begins her daily pilgrimage toward redemption or towards the Holy City/Sea/See; towards the tranquility of night."

"bunyans"
John Bunyan, the author of The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which is to Come, an allegorical story about a man on the path from the material world to spiritual redemption (Christian redemption, of course). This entire sentence is itself an analogy in that Lucia has become Christian, the everyman from The Pilgrim's Progress, making the same journey from the material world to the Holy City. Bunyan is one of the central touchstone characters in Jerusalem as is William Blake. William Blake drew illustrations for The Pilgrim's Progress in much the same way that Alma has done illustrations of her brother's pilgrimage in the afterlife, or, more literally, the book Jerusalem itself. It's also probably that Lucia Joyce living her version of The Pilgrim's Progress is meant as a subtle allegory of Alan Moore having lived through his version of Ulysses although in Northampton instead of Dublin.

"bunyans all complainin'"
Perhaps John Bunyan would complain about her method of traversing the path from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City?

"Settee o' Destraction"
Christian, the protagonist of The Pilgrim's Progress, leaves the City of Destruction (the material world) in search of redemption. Here Lucia does the same although slightly different. Her city, the asylum, is also simply a city of distraction due to its sounds and residents and medications and doctor's orders. Her "city" is also a "settee," a place where she and the other inmates would sit and rest and breakfast as opposed to journey. So the City of Destruction is also a Settee of Distraction, keeping people bound to, or seated on, the material world. Comfort and distraction help to keep pilgrims from every starting a journey toward heaven.

"beguines"
A combination of begins and beguiles (possibly in the literary sense of "to pass time pleasantly"). But probably more importantly, it is the name of a dance. Lucia Joyce was a professional dancer up until the age of 23 or so when she gave it up completely, possibly not of her own accord. Perhaps the sense of beguiling (both in passing time and in being charmed by somebody or something) fits with the dancing, as Lucia's journey toward the Celestial City would never have started if she had never given up dance. So she "begins" her journey in a reference where she avoids being beguiled by the beguines, or dancing.

"evrydaily"
Every day/daily.

"Millgrimage"
Obviously a play on "pilgrimage" but why capitalized? Without the capitalization, I would believe it references Blake's poem, Jerusalem, and its "dark Satanic Mills" and, well, look at that! I looked up Blake's written version to see if he capitalized "Satanic" and discovered that he also capitalized "Mills". So that's probably it! The dark Satanic Mills combined with the rest of the word "grim age," paint a stark picture of Lucia's starting point in her journey.

"towar's ridemption"
Here the idea is that Lucia is not just starting out on a journey to redemption but riding off to war to fight for it.

"towords the Wholly Sea"
Her entire journey is made through words, and not just regular words! But words that mean a whole bunch of things at once (the Wholly Sea (sea also being a sense of the subconscious)). The Wholly Sea points most directly at being "the Holy City" or Celestial City of Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. "The Holy See" is also the entire area of the Pope's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. So pretty much the entirety of the Church (the Holy City also possibly being simply a reference to Vatican City or the Vatican).

"to wards, the tranquilisity of night."
Lucia's journey always leads her back to the wards at night where she must return. And it isn't simply "tranquil" because it's peaceful; it is tranquil because she is possibly often "tranquilized."

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Lines 5-6.

Line 5: "Ah, what a performance, practised and applausible."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Ah, what a performance, practiced and plausible."

"what a performance"
This suggests that Lucia's high spirits and upbeat morning energy are simply a put-on to fool the doctors and nurses. Perhaps, like many schizophrenics, she prefers her non-medicated state and so must continue to act happy around those who might suspect she needs more or different medications which would alter her mood away from the one she seems currently happy with.

"practised and applausible"
She has been doing her performance for quite some time and it has gotten so plausible that it would be truly applauded by any audience in observance of it.

Line 6: "She claps her hands, over her ears, to drone out all the deadful wile-ing and the sorey implecations of whor farmlay."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "She clasps her hands, over her ears, to drown out all the dreadful wailing and the sorry implications/imprecations of her family."

"claps her hands"
Clapping hands make a large percussive noise, the opposite of what Lucia wants at this moment. And while one can "clap their hands over their ears," I chose to change it to "clasp" simply for that reason. The loud sound of a clap is something Lucia currently wants to avoid as she, presumably, enters the cafeteria with all of the other inmates of the asylum.

"to drone out"
Obviously clapping your hands to your ears doesn't "drone" out other noises. But maybe making her own low rumbling mumble, it helps her to not hear any ranting or raving from other inmates.

"all the deadful wile-ing"
In this instance, perhaps it isn't the inmates "wailing" that Lucia is drying to "drone" out but the orders and suggestions from nurses and doctors trying to persuade or manipulate her to act a certain way. Of course, people who have gone "round the bend" can also sometimes see and hear the ghosts of the dead. So Lucia is probably trying to keep from hearing (by hands clapped to ears or droning on so she is all she hears) the rantings of other inmates, the orders of doctors and nurses, and the constant yammering of the dead, many of them probably also insane, which surround her (not to mention her family whom this sentence is ostensibly about. So maybe just drowning them out?).

"and the sorey implecations of whor farmlay."
This she is also trying to keep out of her head: memories of her family and their deeds.

"sorey"
Not only are the implications/imprecations of her family "sorry" but they also make her sore or angry to think about them.

"implecations"
Probably a combination of implications and imprecations. The "implications of her family" probably refer to their secret deeds (possibly incest according to this fictionalized account) which may have contributed to her mental state. An "imprecation" is a spoken curse and if that's not what Alan Moore intended, being that he's Alan Moore, I'll eat and cook my own face. In Lucia's eyes, her family itself is a spoken curse which she must drown out by constant babbling or mumbling. She's trying not to think about her family as much as she's trying not to hear the other noises around her. But due to the fact that every single sentence which goes through her mind is full of many, many meanings, she's going to have terrible luck not thinking about them.

"whor"
"Whor(e)" replaces "her" which probably means she can't help but think of herself as a whore, probably because of the incest with her brother but maybe also her attempted relationship with Samuel Beckett. Plus she was never shy about taking a lover, I don't think. I haven't read any biographies on her but she was a dancer who sometimes danced in France! Ooh la la, amirite?!

"farmlay"
I don't know about this one but I reckon it has to do with seeing her family as a farm where animals rut. The family members are the animals rutting. You know. Incestuously.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 4.

Line 4: "Canfind in this loquation now she gushes and runs chinkling from her silt and softy bed, pooring her harp out down an illside and aweigh cross the old manscape to a modhouse brookfast."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Confined in this location now she rushes, (twinkling/chuckling), from her silky soft bed, pouring her heart out down a hillside and away across the old manor's landscape to a modest breakfast."

"Canfind"
Even though she has been locked away in this asylum (confined), she hasn't lost herself or her upbeat spirits (can find).

"loquation"
Like the brook she has become a metaphor for (beginning last sentence and continuing through this one), she babbles (talks; loquacious) constantly. This idea that she awakens with an upbeat disposition (considering that her medication is currently working) continues through this sentence in both the literal meaning and the Lucy-Lips version.

"Canfind in this loquation now she gushes and runs"
As a water way will speed up and become rapids as it becomes confined in a narrower space, Lucia, confined in the asylum, now gushes and runs from bed to breakfast.

"she gushes"
As in the way water runs and in the way a person talks exuberantly.

"runs chinkling"
I'm stumped on this one but at a guess (which, really, is most of this anyway!) it's probably a portmanteau of chuckling and twinkling. Both the laughter and twinkling (as in eyes but also as in the way water twinkles in light) showing her morning exuberance (gushes; loquation).

"from her silt and softy bed"
Continuing the imagery that Lucia is a flowing water source, her mind a fluid sluicing through the asylum. Bed, of course, doing double time in just its regular old meanings here.

"pooring her harp out"
"Pouring her heart out" continues the description of Lucia as an effervescent, talkative sprite running about the asylum's grounds. The Lucy-Lips version adds the layer of poverty to this image. She has and owns nothing but her own self here in the asylum. Pouring her "harp" out evokes her voice and enthusiasm as music of its own while also continuing the water metaphor as people often speak of the music of running water.

"down an illside"
In the non-Lucy-Lips version of this, we just see Lucia running down a hillside while "pouring her heart out" (which I assume means talking quite a bit about a lot of her inner stuff (thus the "loquation" bit)). But in the Lucy-Lips version, her heart can also be seen as "pooring" itself down an "illside," being that she suffers from the mental illness schizophrenia. So her thoughts and the things she speaks of can easily get away from her, maybe somewhat out of control. And, of course, we continue with the imagery of water cascading down a hill.

"aweigh"
As a ship heads out to sea, so Lucia's mind and heart float free from any solid berth.

"cross"
Remember! This is Northampton, the Jerusalem of England! So we have to keep that cross imagery in here, evoking a slight reminder of the monk bringing the cross from Jerusalem to the center of the land. Also the word can also evoke sailing across oceans and seas.

"the old manscape"
"Manscape" is probably a portmanteau of "manse" and "landscape." The "manse," in combination with the previous "cross," continues to evoke a religious sense to the scene. Perhaps the asylum is not just Lucia's home but her spiritual center as well, so a house occupied by her spirt or religious sense, or her manse.

"modhouse"
Madhouse. Alan Moore being a British child of the 60s, "mod" may also mean more to him here. But I'm not sure how unless Lucia suddenly hops on a motor scooter.

"brookfast"
Simply closing the sentence on more water imagery.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 3.

Line 3: "Her arouse from drowse is like a Spring, a babboling book that gorgles up amist the soils o' sleep, flishing and glattering, to mate the mournin' son."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Her rousing from drowsiness is like a spring, a babbling brook that gurgles up amidst the soils of sleep, flashing and glittering, to meet the morning sun."

"Her arouse from drowse is like a Spring"
Here, we get an image of how fluid her consciousness exists between waking and sleep in the metaphor that doesn't quite exist. But what the words are actually saying is how her consciousness comes on like the Spring, an image that evokes an explosion of flowering and new life. "Arouse" and the fertility of Spring evoke sexuality as well. Spring, with the article "a", evokes the mechanism and the action as well as its other impressions, perhaps conjuring the image of Lucia leaping to wakefulness as well.

"a babboling book"
This chapter is about Lucia Joyce and, as such, will also reference her father James and his novel Ulysses (just as the rest of Jerusalem does!). "A babboling book" suggests the tome, Ulysses, since James Joyce's autographed copy to his daughter was inscribed "Babbo."

"gorgles"
Possibly a reference to Lucia's brother, Giorgio, whom Alan Moore intimates in the following chapter had an incestuous relationship with his sister. Alan Moore, as seen in his work From Hell, cannot keep himself from extracting lengthy fictional accounts of hinted at historical possibilities. So if somebody somewhere wrote that Lucia was perhaps a bit too intimate with Giorgio, Alan Moore has decided they were definitely fucking. Giorgio will feature much more prominently in this chapter.

"amist"
As a spray, percolating throughout a space. Here, it is possibly referring to Lucia's consciousness or perhaps the way the book Ulysses expresses itself to the reader.

"soils of sleep"
Once more evoking the idea of the unconscious as a place that is buried. In sleep, we are underground. Lucia's consciousness must rise out of this darkened Earth as a mist in a graveyard, perhaps to coalesce into her waking mind.

"flishing and glattering"
Lucia will often mix up two words like this, offering insight into what she's really thinking about. Here, at the beginning of the chapter where things are still relatively simple, it may just be getting the reader used to looking out for these mix-ups. As these are both nonsensical words, they may be suggesting real words such as "fishing" or "flushing", and perhaps "clattering" or even "flattering." Fishing could be seen in terms of the human mind, the wakeful mind being the fisherman and his line descending into the depths of unconsciousness to seek answers or memories. "Flushing" could also be seen in this way, perhaps the waking mind flushing the dreams and dark thoughts of the unconscious as one wakes to the world.

"to mate the mournin' son"
Possibly the first reference to an incestuous relationship between Lucia and Giorgio. Why Giorgio would be a "mourning" son, I have no clue. Perhaps a clue that the bit of Lucia's life covered in this chapter takes place when she returned to St. Andrew's Hospital after her father's death and not when she was first admitted there in 1936.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Lines 1-2

Line 1: "A wake, Lucia gets up wi' the wry sing of de light."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Awake, Lucia gets up with the rising of the light."
Lucia wakes up at dawn.

"A wake"
The language of this chapter, the language which Lucia Joyce speaks, is that of her father's language from Finnegans Wake.

"wry sing of de light"
Wry seems to modify "sing of de light" or "Song of Delight." Two possible meanings seem to leap out here. Possibly Lucia wakes up in a state of delight characterized by a subtle sense of humor concerning her current state of affairs. On the other hand, she may find disappointment in what her life, her "song of delight," has come to. Ending with the word "delight" gives the reader a hopeful and optimistic feeling towards Julia but the invocation of the word "wry" throws a scanner in the works. This first line needs more context.

The current context, though, is that we know Lucia Joyce is waking up in an asylum. So perhaps she's making the best of things? Or is in a state of mind which doesn't even take into account where her body has been locked away by concerned family and friends.

Line 2: "She is a puzzle, shore enearth, as all the Nurzis and the D'actors would afform, but nibber a cross word these days, deepindig on her mendication and on every workin' grimpill's progress."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "She is a puzzle, sure enough, as all the nurses and the doctors would affirm, but never a cross word these days, depending on her medication and on her progress based on how every pill is working."
The doctors and nurses are puzzled by Lucia but they never get angry at her, at least not recently, mostly depending on how well her medication is working.

"She is a puzzle"
Nothing strange here but a simple acknowledgment that the doctors and the nurses simply can't get a read on Lucia. This also allows for some play further down the sentence with "cross word".

"shore enearth"
The shore is next to the sea or the ocean. The earth is solid ground. Perhaps this is an acknowledgment that, at least currently, she's slightly tethered, grounded. But she remains on the shore and can slip out to sea at any moment, meaning lost in her delirium and madness.

"Nuzis and the D'actors"
Lucia's paranoia paints the nurses as Nazis imprisoning and harming and experimenting on her. While the doctors may as well be actors pretending to help her but actually keeping her imprisoned and medicated.

"afform, but nibber a cross word"
The slight altering of "affirm" to express some "form," probably Lucia's in that her form here is a puzzle which the doctors and nurses are trying to solve. In this particular metaphor, she is a crossword which they are attempting to solve with a "nib" or a pen. This means that whatever word they guess cannot be corrected if, in the future, they find it was mistaken. They put their beliefs and assumptions, expertise and experience, ahead of actually trying to correctly solve the puzzle of Lucia.

"deepindig"
Lucia is deeply dug in. Who she is and her personality, her traumas and inner problems, are hidden deep within her just as all of her inner thoughts and traumas are hidden in deep in the language she speaks. Only by digging through her "Lucy Lips" can one extract what she's really thinking.

"mendication"
The idea that her medication is meant to mend her with a hint at "mendicant," or a person, most likely of a religious order, who relies on sustenance from begging. Lucia's condition is much like a religious ecstasy and she relies on the charity and goodwill of those around her to keep her fed and safe from her own delirium.

"every workin' grimpill's progress."
John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is one of the texts Alan Moore is in conversation with in Jerusalem. The rest of the title which is rarely given from A Pilgrim's Progress is "from This World to That Which is to Come." So the pilgrim is progressing from one world to the next, literally, in the book, from the material world to the spiritual world. It is the sole journey that matters to the religious pilgrim, how to navigate the journey while avoiding the pitfalls of this world, and Bunyan's book is an allegory for that journey. Here the work is hinted at but in Lucia Joyce's strange language. She, too, must be on a journey from one world to the next.

"workin' ... progress"
"Work in Progress" one of Alma's paintings in her art show depicting her brother's journey to the other world, his own Pilgrim's Progress. It's also a chapter title in Jerusalem (which makes sense since pretty much all the chapters in Jerusalem represent one of Alma's paintings in the show, as her show is a metaphor for Moore's book (just as Alma is a stand-in for Alan Moore)). Moore chose the phrase "Work in Progress" because it's also what James Joyce called Finnegans Wake as he was, you know, working on it.

Justice League America #26 (1989)

This issue has a hidden naughty word on it!

It would be easier to find the hidden word if this issue were called "Duck Hunt" but it's not. Here's a hint: the naughty word is a synonym of "barn owl."

Imagine if, in 1989, The Huntress had shot Batman in the face with a crossbow bolt. That shit would have sold more issues than when Superman couldn't even win a fist fight. I would have purchased multiple copies and wallpapered my room with that disastrous panel (except the one section of wall where my Poison poster hung).

I wonder why The Huntress was about to shoot Batman in the face in this scene. What was Batman doing to Blue Beetle passed out in trash? Do you think Batman is a sleep creeper? The correct answer to that question is "Obviously." You don't live in the same mansion as Dick Grayson and not caress that sweet butt at least once while pretending to tuck him in.

For the youngsters out there, that weird gray rectangle near Batman's foot is something called an "audio cassette." It was the MP3 of the late 70s and the early 80s. Maybe even later because CDs could never be trusted if you needed music while walking or running or biking.

This issue is called "Slice and Dice! or 'There's something very wrong with Blue Beetle!'" I don't know where the convention of naming a story like this comes from. Like at the end of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, the narrator would be all, "Be here next week for Slice and Dice! or 'There's Something Very Wrong With The Blue Beetle!'" Except, in that case, both titles would be some dumb pun about how the current episode ended. I'd come up with some examples but I'm terrible at puns.

Currently, Guy Gardner is reading porn and yelling at the phone. No wonder Ice is going to fall hard for him. What a man!

Blue Beetle winds up picking up the phone because Guy Gardner was too manly to answer it. When he does, he winds up in some kind of post-hypnotic trance, leading him to stab Oberon and trying to kill Max Lord. Hmm, no wonder Max Lord eventually shoots him in the face.

See? This is why I like Guy! Instead of constantly harassing the women in the League the way Beetle and The Flash do, he simply compliments them on their attractive bums. Like a gentleman!

Before Guy Gardner can chase after Blue Beetle to figure out why he stabbed Oberon and what he may have done to Max, Fire explodes into green flames. It's not shown on panel but I know what's going on! My memory might be terrible but you don't forget when a superhero goes from wearing practically nothing to wearing absolutely nothing.

Turns out, Beetle stabbed Max as well. But Max went running out into the public because nobody would ever do anything crazy in public, right? There are witnesses in public! Witnesses who will witness your shame. It's the main reason I don't go out in public and I'm not even violent. I'm just very ashamed.

I bet Blue Beetle's final thought before he died was, "Hunh. This must be irony."

I've discussed this before but I bet mind control being an actual (and fairly common) thing in the DC Universe was just a boon to defense attorneys. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury. Have you ever heard of . . . MIND CONTROL!" Acquitted!

The Huntress arrives because she's on the cover. She decides to try to save Max for some reason. I guess that's what makes her a hero. She'll risk her life to save people she doesn't even know whereas I'll risk my life to save maybe 30% of the people I know.

Max Lord passes out in an alley from loss of blood. Then The Huntress knocks out Blue Beetle before he can finish murdering Max. That means it's time for another hero to wander on the scene and jump to some inaccurate conclusions.

Oh good. It's Batman. He never jumps to inaccurate conclusions!

Do you like how I pretended to have forgotten about the cover? That's called acting!

Batman's outfit is way too high-waisted to be a man's outfit. I think he accidentally put on Batwoman's costume.

Batman begins wrestling with The Huntress because Catwoman isn't around. While they're engaged in frottage play, Blue Beetle regains consciousness and starts muttering about doing a murder for the Queen. So I guess he's been hypnotized by Queen Bee, current ruler of Bialya. I'm not sure how "hypnotizing a person over the phone" is a power a bee-themed villain would have. A bee has never convinced me to do anything except run around screaming.

This is Beetle's head and shoulder but, for a second, my penis thought it was The Huntress's butt.

Batman knocks out Blue Beetle (but softly so that he doesn't become a completely different person for thirteen issues) while Huntress pulls a Batman on Batman and disappears. Everybody winds up back at the Embassy (rather than the hospital where Batman might have to explain some things and Beetle might get in trouble with the law) to discover that Oberon is in the hospital and Fire has been calmed down. What happened to her, people who read this comic book back in 1989 were probably wondering like crazy. Although Guy Gardner paints a pretty sexy picture of what happened to her.

Oh yeah! Fire and Ice and a dump!

I wonder if I can commission Frank Cho to draw the image that's burned into my brain right now? Probably!

The letters this month were from Steven Robinson of Chicago, Illinois; Jim Kelly of Freeport, New York; Derek VanDeweighe of Ontonagon, Michigan; Robert Knuist of Mountain View, California; Eugene Hoyle of Middletown, New York; Jeffrey B. Sparkman of Tracy, California; Jody Hamby of Robbins, Tennessee; and Binky. Robert almost acknowledges Bob Lappan the Letterer when he lists everybody by name until he gets to Bob and just fizzles out with "the rest of the crew." Which, Robert, took longer to type than "Lappan" (as he was using only last names). What a jerk.

Justice League America #26 Rating: B-. Batman didn't recognize The Huntress so I suspect this was her first post-Crisis appearance (other than maybe her self-titled series). Is she going to become a member of the team?! Well, I mean, why else bring her into it? Oh yeah! To sell issues of her own series! Man, now I feel manipulated! I'm dropping the rating on this comic book! Or did I? You'll never know if I was too lazy to actually change the rating! I hope to see more of The Huntress, if only to get better shots of her butt and clear my head of the Beetle's head and shoulders "butt" that kind of turns me on every time I picture it.