2.21
January 16th, 2010
Holy christ what is this, I updated a whole day early??? This page was sort of easy drawing-wise, that’s why :B Haha. I’m excited about pg 22!
Today’s pimp goes to the excellently rendered comic Strays! I generally do not read comics about animal people (with the exception of the ones that I need to keep up on in order to snark), but I can’t help liking this one. Nice characters too, including one who doesn’t talk (which is sort of rare for a webcomic). Check it out! As for me, I have some more comics to ink.
Yeah, ’cause an ultimatum really says, “I really love you, and want to help you be a better person.”
It’s good drama,
but it’s bad love.
I don’t know, I don’t think it’s an ultimatum. Sounds like she’s just seriously had enough. Maybe she’s tried for years to get him to be a better person, and now she’s just fed up.
I’d stay it started being “bad love” when Luca started resorting to violence against his loved ones when they get in the way of his revenge. This may not be the best way of making someone into a “better person” as you put it, but Phe is also concerned for her own safety (and that of her children) here. Implying that Phe isn’t being properly considerate of Luca’s personal development here is kind of ignoring the larger picture, no?
So, what should she do? Let him continue to abuse everyone around until he magically “gets it?” It’s called tough love and sometimes you have to do it.
Heh. Everyone is all rooting for good things to happen. Personally, I hope this all goes very tragically wrong. No, Luca, back away from the light! It’s more fun here in the darkness, c’mon!
Great Phe!!
It sounds more like a last chance than an ultimatum. (there is a difference) She doesn’t want to do it. She wants him to be like he used to be, but she can’t keep pretending. This is a very hard thing for her to do.
It’s probably a little strange to be bringing it up now, but… gosh, Phe is beautiful. I wasn’t really seeing it in the earlier pages, with the way she was so calm/stern, but it’s definitely showing now that she’s not bottling everything in.
And yeah, this definitely won’t end well… which makes me that much more excited to see what happens next! Popcorn, anyone?
I am on the tip of my seat, figuratively off course. I’m actually already in bed but it’s cold so I use my laptop to warm me up. It works!
So far, I like this comic, and though I know it would be better to wait a year I keep coming back.
Love it, and the third panel, holy cow. Beautiful. I keep going back to just look at it and taking in its awesomeness. It’s all getting very dramatic and I love your pacing, I wait all week to see the next page(s).
Yeah, I am pretty sure that he is going to be like “NOW THEY TAKE YOU AWAY FROM ME TOO. THEY MUST DIEEEEEEE!” And he’s going to be a miserable bitter old lonely man who destroys everything in the wake of this fight!
Steel Magnolia – women can be hard when they need to be.
I love how Phe looks in second panel.
Oh come ON. I can’t possibly be the only one who sees that Luca is clearly in the right here, not bitter, whereas his wife is meddling in his politics?! Yeesh. People, sometimes…
well i can see why this got out a little early
what with there being only 4 panels and little work needed for backgrounds other than a couple doors and a texture
still looks good all the same
This argument isn’t about either one of them being right… There’s not really a “right” side here. Each of them wants what they think is best, and has their own set of points on why they think that way.
Luca wants justice for the wrongs done to him, and to prevent more wrongs from coming to those around him (or more to himself). In a way, he is vying for protection, although it’s a more offensive protection.
Phe wants domestic safety. She doesn’t want to feel like she and her children are being placed in the backseat of Luca’s life for his justice. She doesn’t want him to lose himself to that justice. She also wants to protect something, but her methods are more defensive and non-aggressive.
While both sides have their validity, from personal experience, I’m with Phe. Luca is being consumed by his desire for justice, and is totally blind to the pain that it’s causing his wife and daughter (his son doesn’t seem to care so much). When diplomats seek him out, he snaps at them because of his personal biases, and doesn’t bother to even POLITELY decline their requests. This could spark an unneeded war, bringing a lot of death to his country and unhappiness to his people. Phe is trying to AVOID this, and keep her family together.
So, it’s not necessarily black and white, but I think that one side does have more consideration for the greater good…
Re: his wife is meddling in his politics.
I’d say, considering she actually lives in the country he’s deciding the fate of… not to mention the family he is ruining… they are just as much her politics as they are his…
Can’t have your cake and eat it, too!
But revenge is a dish best served cold…
The cake must be ice cream cake.
And will melt if not eaten.
Therefore, he must eat the ice cream cake of revenge.
Whiiiiiiich is choosing Phe, I guess.
The Lady and the Tiger – chose one or the other, is it? Well, for the sake of the story, I’m guessing the Tiger. Excited as ever to see where this is all heading.
Your art is still wonderful, but this page is a bit static. I suppose that must be hard to get around with scenes like this.
I hate to admit that this is one of my favorite type of scenes to write (and read of course). It’s the type of thing that can push a dramatic character like him over the edge.
And he won’t realize it until he’s looking into the Abyss. Can Not Wait for the Next Page!
Luca is acting as he is because he feels hurt, from the torture. He would interpret Phe’s reaction as a betrayal to him, as if she is ignoring the pain he has suffered and what they took from him. It is likely that he would reject her: viewing her as a traitor, and descend into a paranoid madness. By this, I mean he knows he has enemies, real enemies who hurt him, and they are in another country, but now even his family, his soul mate has betrayed him too, and there is no one left but him. And so in his loneliness he will methodically work to carry out his revenge, which will soon become an insane plot to gather all available power in order to rid the world of his every enemy. In this way he believes that he is rectifying all injustices and restoring perfect order.
“Do you know what hurting is?”
…To quote an earlier page. …This is what hurting is, Luca.
I’ve never really commented before, but this… this page is just, simply, awesome. The way you portray emotion is so prominent… Phe, as said, feels so real.
I think I even got a bit teary-eyed.
Your characters are so deep and complex. ;-; I seriously don’t have all the right words to describe it.
HA! I was just voting for the Meek and the captcha character it gave me was Angora!
(I’m probably a little too psyched about this coincidence, but given how many times I’ve voted and the fact this is the first time I’ve gotten her… Wheeee!)
Phe has gorgeous hands!
This page was emotional and powerful. Good job.
I love the eyes in that last panel….
Poor Luca.
I don’t know if anyone’s caught this yet or if it matters that much, but when Phe says “will” in the first panel, the “I” has the little crossbars on it.
eew, that’s not the emote I typed in. D: