Ruth was responsible for her own death, and that should be respected. Danny’s merely responsible for endangering literally EVERY PERSON ON THE ROAD. The jerk.
Though yeah, Danny didn’t want to be here in the first place, so bothering Howard, really not his fault.
Danny did have the option of not bothering Howard. There would just be an unpleasant consequence via Billie. And imo Danny should have just taken whatever Billie was going to dish out so Howard didn’t have to suffer anymore.
The hate on Danny (by the author himself!) is a little bit much here! Danny was *actively trying* to never interact with Howard ever again. He’s being forced into this by threat of physical violence. Billie deserves all of the blame.
They are college students, they are kids. Talking death is not easy for seniors citizens, how are youngsters supposed to react?
Knowing what to do or say is never a known factor.
The best you can do is say, “I’m sorry for your loss”.
In Danny’s case he was more involved than usual. Yeah, he should have given his condolences to Howard when it happened, but he was about lost under his own cloud of guilt.
Billy should back off on this one. It is a very hurtful situation going on between Ruth’s brother Howard, and Danny, a boy involved in the night’s events. I won’t say he killed her, Ruth killed herself knowing just what she was doing. But Danny was a chief player.
It may or may not help for Danny and Howard to face each other eventually, when they are ready.
And yeah, it does seem to read different now then it did then.
I will say that panel one is a very noble attempt at perspective that unfortunately only serves to reenforce how geometric the characters are at this point. My favorite is the way it seems Danny’s hand is attached to the end of his sleeve as it’s colored to preclude the existence of an arm inside. He’s like some kind of robot.
Billie earns the big jerkwad points here, ’cause this was her idea and she’s forcing Danny into it, but since Danny’s resistance to it seems to be entirely based on “seeing the dude whose sister I got killed makes me uncomfortable”, not on, say, “maybe seeing the dude who got his sister killed makes him uncomfortable, too, so maybe I should tell Billie to shove it and stop harassing him”, he’s not exactly coming off well here either.
I find it interesting in life how often the transgressor demands closure from the transgressed, when really, the transgressed owes the transgressor nothing.
(This is just a general observation, life has a lot more shades of grey than this and even the Danny/Ruth/Howard situation does, too)
No way this works on Danny. He hears that from everyone.
So wait Danny’s pressured into violating Howard’s privacy, which he did not want to do, and that makes him the jerk?
I’m pretty sure being responsible for Ruth’s death makes him the jerk.
Possibly also for not, like, going to the funeral and/or otherwise making amends long before college started and this was a thing.
Ruth was responsible for her own death, and that should be respected. Danny’s merely responsible for endangering literally EVERY PERSON ON THE ROAD. The jerk.
Though yeah, Danny didn’t want to be here in the first place, so bothering Howard, really not his fault.
Danny did have the option of not bothering Howard. There would just be an unpleasant consequence via Billie. And imo Danny should have just taken whatever Billie was going to dish out so Howard didn’t have to suffer anymore.
Long story short: Danny loses no matter what.
No, but he’s _DANNY_, so the “jerkwad” comment is still appropriate.
My reaction to the first panel is ‘So, we’re going from slice-of-life with weird sci-fi side stories to straight up horror comic now?’
I know, right? this comic’s got everything!!!!
I just want to…Pan the 1st panel over to the left so it’s not so badly oriented.
Why is my memory of reading this so much different than my feelings now? It’s only been like… wow, almost three years….
Ditto…
There’s a joke to be made based on our avatars and our comments.
I don’t see how memory problems could be significant for either of them?
I’d say it’s because you’ve grown and changed as a person, but c’mon, that’d just be nuts.
The hate on Danny (by the author himself!) is a little bit much here! Danny was *actively trying* to never interact with Howard ever again. He’s being forced into this by threat of physical violence. Billie deserves all of the blame.
They are college students, they are kids. Talking death is not easy for seniors citizens, how are youngsters supposed to react?
Knowing what to do or say is never a known factor.
The best you can do is say, “I’m sorry for your loss”.
In Danny’s case he was more involved than usual. Yeah, he should have given his condolences to Howard when it happened, but he was about lost under his own cloud of guilt.
Billy should back off on this one. It is a very hurtful situation going on between Ruth’s brother Howard, and Danny, a boy involved in the night’s events. I won’t say he killed her, Ruth killed herself knowing just what she was doing. But Danny was a chief player.
It may or may not help for Danny and Howard to face each other eventually, when they are ready.
And yeah, it does seem to read different now then it did then.
And that, children, is how you get away with four panels on your Sunday comic.
I will say that panel one is a very noble attempt at perspective that unfortunately only serves to reenforce how geometric the characters are at this point. My favorite is the way it seems Danny’s hand is attached to the end of his sleeve as it’s colored to preclude the existence of an arm inside. He’s like some kind of robot.
Billie earns the big jerkwad points here, ’cause this was her idea and she’s forcing Danny into it, but since Danny’s resistance to it seems to be entirely based on “seeing the dude whose sister I got killed makes me uncomfortable”, not on, say, “maybe seeing the dude who got his sister killed makes him uncomfortable, too, so maybe I should tell Billie to shove it and stop harassing him”, he’s not exactly coming off well here either.
I find it interesting in life how often the transgressor demands closure from the transgressed, when really, the transgressed owes the transgressor nothing.
(This is just a general observation, life has a lot more shades of grey than this and even the Danny/Ruth/Howard situation does, too)
You know something serious must be happening when you see a Dutch angle.
OKAY GOODBYE FOREVER HOWARD
Originally posted:
September 26, 1999