| Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode. Continuity and Trivia might contain spoilers of the story beyond this episode. |
The torn comic book pages are a series of collectible items found throughout The Walk. They are all pages from an unnamed comic book series (possibly Detective Violet), which focus around the efforts of an unnamed female (only ever referred to as "Ma'am") and her assistant, Bastion, to capture Jack the Ripper.
Initially just an odd item, the pages take a sinister turn in Episode 25: My Face Shall Be Hidden, when Jackson LaVarre, in a conversation with Walker about Project SevenDays, mentions that there had been email chatter about a number of "testing facilities", which were only ever identified by codenames. He lists off the codenames:
Jackson: "Sundae, Watermelon, TreeShip, Bright Star... we're pretty sure that was Harsham House, for the star on the coat of arms of the Harsham family. Tarantula was one, for some reason. It went a bit off-piece at that point in the two-syllable naming, what were the others? Plesiosaur! We guessed that was a reference to Loch Ness but couldn't locate any likely test centres near to the Loch. And then, uh..."
Charlie: "Man'O'War... I think I have heard of this place..."
Jackson: "Man'O'War! They had to shut that last one down. Noone said why. The chatter about it dried right up."
Each of the names of the testing facilities had appeared in the comic book pages up until that point, and they continued to appear in additional collectibles until all had been listed.
In Episode 27: Garuda Walking a media article announces that police have concluded their investigation into the disappearance of Bernice Durkman, author of the popular Detective Violet series of comics (which had had a minor reference in an earlier landscape item in Episode 11: A Snare in the Ground: one of the items is a Detective Violet t-shirt).
Article Clipping: "Missing comic writer declared dead"
According to police a suicide note had been found, which had been withheld by the author's wife, Scarlet Durkman. Scarlet protested that Bernice was not suicidal and might still be alive somewhere, and may have been kidnapped by the CIA. The article goes on to note:
"However, several ex-colleagues of Ms Durkman's at a local scientific research facility have come forward, confirming that she was in very low spirits and had spoken in the past of a desire to take her own life."
Also according to the article Bernice had been employed as a technical writer before finding success as a comic writer.
Later collectible items include two unpublished images released from Bernice Durkman's sketchbook, and are very similar to the torn comic pages found earlier. These pages show images from a story about two robots which have been built to fight each other to the death again and again. Characters also state that the robots need something else, one suggests giving them a heart, the other a brain. The implication seems clear that the robots are supposed to represent Charlie and Soleil, and hint at the differences between them (heart vs mind).
The exact identity of Bernie Durkman, and her relationship to Project SevenDays, is not revealed. It is possible she was Professor Bardle, in hiding.
A complete list of each comic and possible references to the main plot appear below:
| Episode | Page Shows | Possible implication |
|---|---|---|
| 2: Chaos and Confusion | The female character has wrangled Jack the Ripper's pet spider in order to find his secret lair in the desert (in England. The assistant also comments "I didn't even know England had any deserts...") | The spider looks like a mechanical Tarantula, one of the names of the testing facilities. |
| 5: All Tremble at War | The two characters are searching in a tank to see if they can see the Ripper's body when they are confronted by the Ripper in his greatest creation yet: the Man'O'War, a large armoured suit. | Man'O'War is the name of one of the testing facilities. |
| 15: Earth Opened her Mouth | The two characters are flying a spaceship up to the Ripper's space vessel when they see the TreeShip:
"He's going to destroy mankind's last hope among the stars". |
TreeShip is the name of one of the testing facilities. Possibly a reference also to New Tomorrow? |
| Episode 24: The Consequence of War | The two characters awaken to find themselves in the company of a plesiosaur and a pterodactyl. | Plesiosaur is the name of one of the testing facilities. |
| Episode 29: Come and See Loneliness | The two character think they have Ripper cornered, but he escapes in a spaceship and is now heading towards a bright star. | Bright Star is the name of one of the testing facilities. |
| Episode 32: Who Loves None | The two characters (the male finally identified as Bastion) celebrate another job well done. Bastion suggests they celebrate with a sunday. The female character tells him that's not how you spell sundae. Then they find another body, killed by Jack the Ripper. | Sunday/Sundae is the name of one of the testing facilities. |
| Episode 35: The Buddha on the Road | A giant brain tells the characters that Jack the Ripper was only a puppet, and it was pulling the strings: "He was a loyal servant, but now he has brought you here, I no longer have any use for him." Bastion states: "Ma'am, look! She's going to burst Ripper's head like an overripe watermelon!" | Watermelon is the name of one of the testing facilities. This may also be a reference to Soleil pulling Lawrence's strings (giant brain manipulating a human). |
| Episode 44: Pursued by the Sword | Image from Bernice Durkman's sketchbook of two robots with the caption: "They made them fight to the death... and then rebuilt them to fight once more!" | Possible reference to Charlie and Soleil. |
| Episode 46: Every Swarming Thing | Image of one of the robots, broken and slumped. Two scientists discuss it:
S1:"It has to care about winning." S2: "It needs a heart." S1: "No... it needs a brain." |
Possible reference to the differences in the programming of Charlie (heart) and Soleil (brain). |
