not again…
on April 16, 2017 at 12:01 amToday’s strip is kind of counter to most Easter-type messages on this Eastery day. She is not risen! She is not risen indeed!
I will tell you this secret, though: Even as I drew this strip all those years ago, I was still not yet certain on whether Sal would live or die. I kind of felt like I needed to Pull A Ruth. This was a big storyline event, and big storyline events need somebody important to die, right? Right? It’s part of why Dina was so badly hurt earlier — I wasn’t sure if Sal was gonna die, and if she didn’t, I might’ve needed somebody to go.
Kind of cart before the horsing, wasn’t I? “Kill somebody so it feels important” is probably not a great mindset, storytelling-wise.
But if Sal lives, she’s… definitely gonna hafta go to prison. For forever. She’s probably killed a buncha people, and shown herself to be kind of a major danger to… existence. So dying here might be a mercy.
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Originally posted:
August 5, 2002
I dunno, “Kill somebody so it feels important” is how a bunch of comic book event lately seems to operate.
*remembers the quality of those events*
Point, Willis.
I think the problem with those is having to semi-stick to a Status Quo. If you could introduce and kill folks left and right like Heroes (before it got stupid), then sure.
Also, too many people (*cough*Americans*cough*) are obsessive about action and violence in that anti-vaxxer-esque “I’m privileged because I can afford to laugh at death and destruction like it’s not a thing” way ¬_¬
CLANK!
So you’re Billie’s little dork pal.
Dina’s still not talking to you?
Identify yourself!
Did he move?
Doesn’t matter.
New Years Eve
There’s no Nachitos left!
We’re HERE
Spray! Spray!
Kleenex
DIE!
All we have to do is find a Bible
Petty and incompetent
Dog ate my homework
Killing someone to emphasize the importance of an event isn’t BAD writing, but we’ve gotten so used to the trope. Besides, it needs to have lead up. It can’t be just a random death to characters meant to Worf them and show the threat level.
They need to, in some way, be a part of their death.
Otherwise you betray your readers’ trust in you.
Why invest in your story if you’ll simply do whatever you want without regard for proper lead up?
So we’ve both seen Game of Thrones then?
The Star Trek reboot killed 6 Billion Vulcans as a plot device … and went on to say that they didn’t really matter.
Lead up and follow through.
Also, consider the quality of the first two Star Trek reboot films.
I mean, it’s how comic book companies structure their Events.
Counter: proper rehabilitation renders prisons obsolete
Storyline events don’t need important people to die though. Just kill off a few redshirts to show things are serious or something.
Tony’s facial expression/immediate concerns don’t really line up with the hole in his chest, lol
It’s just a flesh wound.
He’s had worse.
Better a scar on the chest than a bullet in the heart.
Does Tony count for the risen quotient? Was he resurrected with Martian eggs to give to all the little children? That’s what Easter is about right, I’m Jewish and have never understood this holiday
Don’t forget the 3-pound chocolate Martians!
Easter’s about spring and banging. That’s why the bunnies and eggs: obvious fertility symbols. I dunno how Yeshua got into it. I’m thinking someone somewhere along the line got “sacrifice rabbit” and “sacrifice rabbi” mixed up.
Now that the holiday itself is over and the new comic is up, I’m less likely to offend someone (as they likely won’t see it) by being a pedant about how Easter as we know it today is, similar to X-mas, much more related to pagan folk celebrations than it is to any Christian meaning overlaid on top of it. The late classical through early medieval church built it’s liturgical calender around converts who made up most of the Christian population at the time and set many of the celebrations to have people in the church when they would otherwise be out celebrating these traditional rites. Easter carried through with the fertility symbols because celebrating the resurrection doesn’t have a static date due to needing to match Passover which is on the Jewish solo-lunar calender, rather then the Julian or Gregorian ones, and hence didn’t quite block the timing of those celebrations similar to how the Feast of All Saints doesn’t quite block the traditional night time Samhain (and similar harvest celebration) rites. The resurgence of interest in pre-Christian rites in the 19th century brought these vague cultural remnants back to the fore (and built the foundations of the modern Neopagan movement) and the mass marketing of the 20th century capitalized on their easy marketability to kids. The repaganization of X-mas is it’s own whole special kettle of fish I won’t wade into.
Eh, just kill Tony again.
Jason appears to be throwing leaves into the air, in a “whatever, man, here’s some leaves” sort of way.
Come to think of it, this plot arc actually managed to have a negative number of deaths, at least for named characters.
…And, you get a sucking chest wound! And, you get a sucking chest wound! And,…
Sal doesn’t need to go to prison. Just give her the Joyce treatment and leave her in her room for a few months.
Eventually she’ll learn a lesson and this little attempted genocide will be a chance for personal growth.
I don’t think the Joyce treatment works when Sal blasted a giant hole right through a skyscraper while on the news.
Depends on whether her room was in the part of the skyscraper she blew up.
…sooooo a few years then?
All this drama, and I’m caught up on the two loose leaves and how they relate to the power booster rod. Do the individual components retain a portion of the energy the rod contains when detached? Are those like little hydrogen bombs?
All 3 contenders at once.
What about Dina?
…I know I should be focused on the tragedy, but what I mostly see is tony’s stain in orange… is he secretly filled with delicious, but disgusting, sunny D or as he not actually injured and just felt bad so faked it?