30

Nov 2015

Chapter 8: Page 18 - Not All There

Posted by / in Comic / 47 comments

Whoops, posting a little late today. Seba had an artistic inspiration halfway thru making this page that required a complete redo :)

Fun story time. On Thanksgiving, I stabbed myself in the hand/thumb with a pair of scissors and got to go to the ER and get 2 stitches :) Curse you crappy product packaging using zip ties!

Anyways, I’ve really enjoyed all of your theories and whatnot about Viktor (there, I finally admit it is him). No, who can go back and find the SEVERAL clues about him? They’re there all the way back to Chapter 4. Visually as well as dialogue. ;P

  • VIKTORRRRRRR :rockets to the moon:

  • Matt [in Middletown]

    Well, either he’s in there but locked in.
    Or he is out to lunch completely.

  • Graham Fluet

    Did Jane restyle her hair?

    • Yup. She’s always reinventing her look :)

      • Adriano

        Jane is clearly the teenage girl in this comic !
        Tenzin’s the grumpy grandad, Angie the mother, and Lily’s the little sister. What a cute family !

    • She changed it after Tenzin woke up, all her look

  • But he’s a little bit there. He’s aware that somebody is talking to him and he may be able to recognize his own name, if the POV panel is any indication. This is hard news to take, I’m sure, and things will never be the same, but it’s still better than him not being alive at all.

    I’m going to get personal here. My youngest brother was born with severe brain damage, through nobody’s fault, I should add-it happened because Mom got sick when she was pregnant with him and nothing could have prevented it. The doctors offered my parents the possibility of aborting him, but they refused. Of course, he didn’t turn out to be the miracle child who grew up to live a normal life through massive love and support. He’s still severely impaired and has the mental processes of an infant. He’ll never be able to communicate or live like a normal adult, but there’s one major part of him that shows he’s still a person under all those impairments and limitations.

    As limited as he is, he still needs people. He craves affection and attention and gets lonely if he’s ignored. When somebody enters the room, he looks at them. When we touch his head or his shoulder, he smiles. It’s clear that he needs people in his life to be happy and thrive. And if Viktor is at the same level as my brother, or even slightly more aware, then he also needs Tenzin, now more than ever. He’ll never be the same person he was, but he still needs support. He needs to know somebody’s there for him, and I really hope Tenzin is able to step up to the plate. It won’t be easy, but I like to think this is going to be the biggest test of their friendship yet.

    TL;DR: This page hits me right HERE, bro. I hope Tenzin does the right thing.

    • Thank you so much for sharing! I’m doing my best to not be as evil as you claim and do justice to this situation :)

    • NickDA

      Love your interpretation of Panel 3, same as how I read it… he’s hearing it, aware but foggy in a tunnel… Lock in syndrome or like some of the aphasia type symptoms, where he’s in there, but not able to control the body… etc.

      Also, thank you for sharing. We want to explore a lot of these more important concepts in the comic… Action is good and all, but like a lot of readers have mentioned, if you just want space soldiers you have Halo, WarHammer, Starcraft that can scratch that itch.

    • I gotta say it never crossed my mind to actually touch somebody so close. I hope I didn’t do anything insulting or disrespectful.

      • Not at all, I think so far it’s all been handled in a very believable way. And the panel showing his POV was done very creatively. I’m very engaged in this turn of events right now.

  • Adriano

    I so much need a Jane in my life atm

  • Adriano

    In panel 3 Viktor looks like a pirat ! Maybe in his head he is Captain Hook now ?

  • Chris

    So… despite his mental state, still keeping him as fit as Tenzin I see?
    What inconceivable plans do you have in store for poor Viktor?

    • Id say its standard treatment. a lot easier give him some therapy with electrodes and drugs than recovery him later.

      • Adriano

        Lol, they’re storing him for later use

  • theRoUS

    Didn’t you know you should use bolt-cutters on zip ties?

    • Unfortunately scissors were the only tool provided to me. After that, they used garden shears.

      • Matt [in Middletown]

        It was a Dread Gazebo moment, and mom smirked before telling us kids, “Roll for initiative.”
        / how it went down in my head, ending with near a complete party wipe.

  • Matt [in Middletown]

    Well, the invasion map said 2 survivors in arkjut.
    Since it was concerned with Minervan personnel, it kinda flagged outright that he was alive.
    And Lily gave him flowers.

    • Good job, you found 2 of them ;)

      • Matt [in Middletown]

        Someone else can list the other two.

      • I should make a little image with all the teasers

        • That would be cool. I’d make it a Patreon or voting incentive XD

  • WOO! I got one right! :D Not that I’m happy to see Victor in that state mind you. It rather sucks! And again I don’t think that Tenzin will be handling this well…

  • sorry sorry sorry sorry

    • Lol, nice gif :D Others, click on the image to open it. :D

      • Adriano

        The text should be ‘Dan watch out’ ;D

      • Chris

        oh my goodness… I had to combine 6 terminal screens to see what was happening.

    • Adriano

      Run, you fool !

    • Matt [in Middletown]

      DM declares it a total party wipe.

      • DeNitro

        Yea, DM declares it,, then that angry guy who always dresses as a dwarf, grabs and pulverizes all the 10 & 20 sided dice with his battle axe,,,

        • Yeah, I’m starting to think it would be rather entertaining to DM a game with some of you readers :D

  • Ian Brown

    sometimes more pain is necessary to heal wounds.

  • Citrus Reaper

    Holy hell. Well, I didn’t quite think this comic could get more bleak.

  • RTM

    Well, kind of was proven wrong with my prediction, Viktor. Besides Tenzin you’re the only survivor… sort of. :( I wonder if the same nanite neuro-jumpstart will be tried, though I doubt it. It probably NEED’s and AI intimately or at the very least very familiar with the person. Regardless, reminds me of a song for some reason… “Colonel” by Bi-2.

    Пустые города.
    Ни берега ни дна.
    Все начинать сначала.

  • I wonder if anyone will notice the edit :P

    • NickDA

      I noticed… but then again… I had to cheat to do so…

    • Adriano

      Is it about the last panel ?

      • thats not fair, you double check Jane’s panels by default :P

        • Adriano

          Sorry if I double-check sexy ladies ;P

        • Dusty Coyote

          I double check any panel with the color green.

          I had a paranoid moment when you drew trees.

  • Bullwinkle

    Why hasn’t Tenzin been fitted with prosthetics yet?

    • Excellent question ;)

      Short answer, he hasn’t consented to the surgeries required yet.

      • Dusty Coyote

        Because everything he touches dies

      • It kind of surprises me then that they mucked with his head, but didn’t go ahead and just use him as an erector set….
        <_< Looks at Tom and watches him wince…