I Think She’s Waking Up
I have to say that, oddly enough, this page makes a lot more sense when taken with the previous one as a spread. Beyond that, I’ll just let it be, and not try to over-explicate the scene. Once again, though, it’s the great pain of the weekly long-form comic that sorting out scenes like this can sometimes take a while. But I paced it this way for a very specific reason. You can see the spread as a voting incentive, thus:
This week, by the way, saw me reach my 33rd birthday. It passed more or less unnoticed, though I did get a few notes from friends – one in particular was extraordinarily uplifting for me (thanks, Joost!) It was, however, depressing that my birthday should now be connected with an act of horrible violence, and very close to my home. I live in Lower New England, near New York City, and on Friday, there was a terrible massacre at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, nearby. As an architect (which is what I do for a living) that kind of thing stands in very stark opposition to the creative and constructive work I have chosen to devote myself to, and I found it doubly distressing to see how fast politicians with agendas began trying to make hay out of a tragedy.
I’m not nato believe, as some reactionaries may believe, that we can outlaw tragedy of this kind. Rather, I found it most sad and depressing that one of the immediate reactions in a great deal of the regional media was of the “Where’s Your Messiah NOW?!” variety, coupled with a dismissal of the culprit as an irredeemably evil person. It’s a temptation to succumb to such easy answers to the problem of bad things happening in the world; I, for my part, just feel sad and disappointed that once again, non-violence has been dealt a heavy blow. The struggle goes on.
And so does daily life. And as I have a job to get to in the morning, I’ll leave it at that. Until next week, folks, all the best to you!
Now, unless Mike has discovered magical powers to heal massive burns, reverse radiation damage and regrow an eye-ball, is this something you’d really want to wake up from?
I’ve really been of two minds about this comic lately. The art has been fantastic and the story engaging, but I’m still a little bit leary about the swing towards the fantastical, with Mike apparently becoming psychic somehow.
don’t forget the psychical trauma
but it looks pretty nice with the previous page, nice follow up
Well, thanks, I guess. As a matter if fact, one CAN survive things like this – many survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki went through it. It wasn’t easy or pretty, though, and involved a lot of suffering, sickness, anguish and pain.
In re your reservations, Cameron, I share them, mainly because this chapter more than any other relies on a buildup of information for the reader as the story unfolds, and as a result it’s straining the limitations imposed by the online weekly format. Unfortunately, a page a week is the best I can do, so I hope you’ll bear with me. There are a lot of things that may seem one way but be another in the end, and I’ve tried very hard to pick and choose which “supernatural” elements to push, and under what circumstances, because the way characters perceive things in this situation is very important in revealing their relationships.
Anyhow, I’ve said too much already, probably. I hope I’m not disappointing you but just know that I’m doing things very deliberately here and I’m trying to AVOID the very problem you mention. I hope it works out.
–M
Now are they in the “land of the living” or are they already back in Command Post Alpha?
Very confusing, but I think that’ll all clear up next week.
Oh-HO! I’ll be curious to see if it measures up to expectations, actually.
–M
The best for you too, try and keep the best of the day.
I think I got whats happening but better not to make premature assumptions about whats going to happen.
keep it up.
😀
It’s a weird moment in the story, actually, where things may or may not really be as they seem. If this were in print you could just turn the page. But the whole thing is, at best, a draft, I guess, so its slow going at the moment. I just hope everyone holds on and doesn’t desert the story because of what things seem like now! There’s a LOT of explaining yet to happen.
–M
I think that break you took was good for the strip Mathieu. I’ve always loved your art and always thought you were a very solid visual storyteller, but since you’ve been back I think that you’ve raised the story telling bar a bit more. I think you’ve been choosing even better and more impactful camera angles. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I feel like you moved up a notch artistically. A year ago I don’t know if you would have done the two shot above.
It’s the faces, facial expressions, eyes and poses/ postures. I’ve never seen much like it in my 10 years of reading webcomics, graphic novels or narrative artwork.
I really took note of it the first time during Rucker’s nervous breakdown. It’s all so natural looking. Not too much, not too little, it’s just right.
Just like one could expect from SciFi-Drama (if you want to slap a label on it).
I really appreciate the support, guys, honestly I do. With the last few weeks, I’ve gotten a lot of people sending me not-quite-hate mail over the whole Russian thing, and readership so far for this chapter has generally been down about 30-40% from last Spring, so I have been kind of dragging myself forward in hopes that all the retooling and the weird linguistic and artistic decisions I’ve been making were actually worth it. Even when it’s just a vocal minority, it shakes my confidence a little to hear people tossing around words and phrases like “weird,” “not worth it” and “arrogant,” because I really do try to do the best I can every week to make something entertaining for everyone. So it means a lot to me to get such supportive comments, too! So, thanks!
–M
I was blown away by the detail and emotional intensity of this strip…well done!
Oh, and happy b-day btw…
Thanks, man! I was very proud of this sequence, and the one following it – it’s one of my favorites so far, actually. I know it’s tough only getting a bit at a time, but I am sticking to my conviction that it will all work out right in the end.
–M
Feels like we are back on track from a dream. It will be interesting to see the story unfold and how the last pages of the last weeks will connect to the story.
And of course: Happy Birthday! 🙂
😉
Mmmmmmaybe…
Dream sequences have been an odd grey area for this comic from the beginning, I admit. But I think it’ll all come out right in the end. And thanks, by the way – thirty-three years is quite a chunk of time. By some estimates, I’m halfway there, so to speak, so I mean…
–M
Then the sober anguished part of living returns.