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unordinary-analysis · 5 years ago

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Episode 173

Honorable Mentions:

PSA (I keep repeating in every recent post sorry) this greatly relies upon things I’ve said in previous episode analyses especially for episode 167 where I go most in depth about John and his inner battles (his fake personality vs. his old one). (seach “#episode 167” on my page). My recent post “John’s “fake” self,” though kind of extreme, is good too but please read the reprise I just posted on that.

Finally I’ve been able to create a concept that holds up both in my mind and in the story and that I find myself sticking to, and then this whole issue of having to explain it every post appears…

This comes off as annoying self-promotion and I’m aware of that, but I just really value reader comprehension uishiuskjh

When I refer to John’s “fake” self/side, I don’t mean it’s actually completely false, it’s just easier to differentiate his two sides that way. One side is John’s dominant nature, his “evil” side (I call this “dark, evil, and true” side) and the other side is John’s “good” side (I call this “fake, false, fabricated” to emphasize the idea that it’s “borrowed” in a way/not really ‘from John himself.’ I explain this a lot in the actual post though lmao im kinda redundant

Do new people even read my posts? I feel like they’re too bulky for a new follower to commit to reading… lmao. If so, this post really isn’t helping

John asking Sera why she didn't take him for a drink or on a walk to talk to him like they haven’t been avoiding each other for like a month sends. When even is the last time you got drinks with Sera, John.

Sera keeps bringing up stuff for the first time in the comic and its great

How thick are these school’s walls istg it’s like every other episode that one of the characters is yelling at another in one of these classrooms smh

I recently had the thought to go back to watch the progression of the ratio of John’s text bubbles changing from white to black in each episode as a sort of scale/timeline of how John’s dark side is overpowering his good one. But then I didn’t…

I want to talk about Sera’s mention of UnOrdinary the book so much, but this is too long and I don’t know what I would say

Word choice is hard :(

Lot of redundancy in this one that's what I get for going in chronological order

Favorite words of the day apparently: “obviously, “we’ll get to that later”, and further”

This doesn’t have a title because instead of breaking this into multiple sections like I normally would, this episode is only one scene plus the things I want to talk about are kind of intertwined. So you get this mega post.

I actually wasn’t too keen on the confrontation being limited to a single episode because usually I feel, it seems very crammed to read and just usually doesn’t resonate, but I thought this episode was actually amazing. I was so well entertained throughout and the conversation didn’t just “happen” you know? That was probably because the episode was a little longer than it normally would be, at least I think it was. It felt like it.

Anyways, this is still in chronological order, so let’s start at the beginning.

The first thing I want to talk about is how this episode starts off. John and Seraphina are alone in a room together, and John has on his wide, innocent (, fake) smile. And I know that was kind of expected due to him still trying to sell the whole harmless cripple thing to Seraphina, but it really struck me right off the bat because of much it stood out to me (love the repetition). John’s fake personality has been in use less and less in the comic recently because he hasn’t been interacting with Sera as much who really is the last person that he puts it on for anymore. This absence of John’s false innocence has dissolved my immunity to it and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m recognizing just how different the two sides of John are. When I would see it every chapter, I got used to it and became numb to the constant switches back and forth by John, but the heavy focus put on his more darker side recently has changed that.

This can also be taken into the context of that slow progression from the fake John to the old John that I’ve been talking about since my analysis for episode 161. Like I said, before I was used to both of John’s faces, and the fact that we have seen so little of his fake persona recently alludes to the thought that, just like it reflects on screen, there is less and less of that side to John left. Brief disclaimer: this sounds kind of dumb if you don’t understand my context. I have been in this continuous explanation of John’s two sides (fake personality that I just talked about and true personality shown recently by Joker and previously by New Bostin John) being in an ongoing battle with one another, a battle that is very much so one-sided as it is already established that the real John will win because John’s anchors to his fake side are slowly disappearing. That probably made some sense if you’ve never read one of my posts before, but if you don’t understand me even a little, please look at the honorable mentions. It is important to everything I talk about in this episode.

Anway, like I said, this is the first thing in this episode that points to this concept, and we’re only on like the third panel.

Something else that we get teased for in the beginning of the episode is John still putting effort into displaying this fake persona because in this episode, Seraphina does not even once smile back at him or display anything warmer than a deadpan expression (maybe later, but not right now). His immediate reaction is to still act so cheery and motivated. I will be honest though, this is only for a while though because he does start to show frustration and similar emotions while still trying to keep Seraphina believing in his created self, but more on that later. Anyway, the main idea this is hinting at is that John is clinging to his false personality as best he can and the easiest way to do that is through extremity. By showing more negative emotions, he is risking accidently slipping out of character, which would not only lose Sera (makes sense now, but will make more sense later), but also something else, which is why his go to with Sera is that over the top smile, that wouldn’t be naturally appropriate for a serious conversation that is obviously about to happen. More on that later too.

More recently, I made a post about what I refer to as John’s “fake” self, and I explain there how Seraphina is an anchor and draw of goodness for John. Him trying his best to put that goodness forward and project it onto her in not only this episode, but every episode, really shows how much he relies upon her because, as I said a bit ago, she is the only person he really does this for. When John is with Seraphina, he tries to get the most out of the person he’s forced to become.

This chronological order is already getting on my nerves, sorry about that. This might be a hard post to follow. Anyway, if you take two of the ideas I talked about in the previous paragraphs and put them together, they connect into the next thing I want to say. My statements “there is less and less of that[fake] side to John left” and “John is clinging to his false personality as best he can” lead into my next point, which is supported by the first outburst of the episode (there’s a lot). And I’ve also said this in previous posts. John doesn’t want to be overcome by his evil, past self. John doesn’t want to lose the person he created to hide behind, his fake self, because once that image of himself is shattered (haha get it) the only person left is John’s true, hidden self. All we will have left is the dark side of John. Obviously because John created this fake personality for himself, he doesn’t like the person he really is and attempted to overcome it, defeat it. But his attempt is experiencing exponential failure (for reasons I’ve kind of said before and will explain in this post) and his dark side is corrupting him again, slowly but surely taking over. Again, I repeat, John does not want this. John is scared of himself. This is one of the reasons why, whenever he can, John takes the opportunity to deny the progression being made by his evil side. This is why, when Seraphina tells him that she knows John is Joker and there’s basically nothing he can say to make her not believe that, John says, “How many times do I have to say it? I’m not Joker!” This internal refusal to accept that he is Joker (evil) is what I was referring to literally a second ago when I said that by slipping out of his fake personality, John would be losing Sera, but also something else (I swear I thought it would take me longer to get to this). That “something else” would be his belief that there is any good in him at all. Let me explain. Because dark John’s takeover is inevitable and we can recognize that he makes up most of John’s mind currently, if John switches to his dark side now, it would basically represent the defeat of his fabricated (“good”) self. A quote of mine from my analysis from episode 161 is, “By denying that Joker is himself, John is in part saying that Joker isn’t the only thing that makes up John.” The moment John stops denying that he is Joker to himself, he admits that he is wholly evil, and you’ll have to wait a second for a full explanation on this. In John’s mind, his two sides are very black and white: his past self (evilness) and his new one, (goodness). This is exemplified in his previous flashbacks to New Bostin and their contrast to his daily life. The colors used, the words used. Very good vs. evil, hero vs. villain. And it’s meant to be. It’s one or the other. Anyway, as long as John denies that he is fully old John, fully evil John, he is saying that there has to be some left of the other side (good) in him. (usually it isn’t this black and white but I hope I literally just explained how he sees it as so. For John, it really is one or the other).

A very important aspect of this whole thing, this whole denial, however, is actually in who he’s with. Seraphina’s presence in this scene is very influential, as I’m trying to stress. Her image, to John, is a symbol of his goodness, which I’ve said earlier in this post (briefly), but first in my analysis for episode 161, and even more so in my recent post “John’s “Fake” Self.” John draws his “good” (what I refer to as “fake”) side Seraphina because he doesn’t want to risk trying to get it from himself (because he’s scared of himself). Anyway, I said in the beginning of this post that by showing his evil side to Seraphina, he would lose her. And beyond the obvious, which is that she would hate him for it and leave, there’s also the reason that because Sera is where John tends to get his goodness from, by showing her his evil self, by admitting he is joker (what I talked about more recently), John would be exposing himself as completely evil (already explained this line of thinking). This would mean he doesn’t have any goodness (aka Sera) in him, or that Sera would have somehow lost her own goodness as well, which is something that I just thought of, so I’m not sure if I’ll expand. I’m still thinking. Anyway, John doesn’t want to fully be evil, or at least doesn’t want Sera to know, which is why this all has a more symbolic meaning. And why this episode is so polarizing for John. This is a confrontation between what he considers his goodness and what he considers his evilness.

Next in the episode, when John says a second later, “Hello? It’s me, John! I’m a cripple! I don’t have an ability! I like going out for drinks, and hanging out on the roof, and exercising, and playing games! Sure, I act like a smart-ass and it gets me in trouble sometimes…! But have you seen the kind of shit Joker has done? That’s not me,” this supports my statements that John is clinging to his fake self, that he does view his Joker side as his “evil” side (old statement, but confirmation is nice), and that he will keep denying himself as Joker to not become him fully.

Anyway, the next thing really shown in this episode is when John grabs Seraphina and begs for her to believe him. Specifically he says, “Everyone else can think I’m shit. But you have to believe in me! PLEASE!” Another nod to his obsession with Seraphina and my concept of her as the source of his good. This is just kind of repeating what I’ve already said, just in a very extreme and eye-catching way so I wanted to say something about it.

This back and forth that the chronological order is putting me in is not it.

Now we get to the part where Seraphina validates me :). John finishes his plea to her with, “I’m not Joker. I’m not a monster, okay?” To which Sera responds (in her head), “”Monster”? Why is he acting like this? Is he really still trying to convince me? Or… Is he trying to convince himself?” This is the first time an UnOrdinary character has brought this idea up. Sera is probably the only character to have been in such a situation with John, though. Anyway, the concept that John is trying to convince himself of his own goodness has largely only been used in my own episode analyses rather than the actual comic (lol). I’ve already talked about it in this post, but it’s been a common theme for me throughout my last 10 posts or so. Seraphina thinking this same thing herself confirms the importance of the idea. John’s denial of himself as Joker is just as much for his sake as it is for Sera’s, likely even more. I said all of this up above when I talked specifically about his denial of himself as Joker, but the direct confirmation from the comic made me happy.

When Seraphina tells John that she knows about what happened at New Bostin, it’s significance is more grounded than these mind games I’ve been talking about up until now, thank god. I can never tell when I go too far… This can still be taken into that context, but I want to talk about a different aspect, because I would just be repeating myself from earlier if we talked about all that again. Anyway, when Seraphina says, “John, I already know everything… New Bostin, your expulsion, how you’re secretly a high-tier... “ John has a very extreme reaction, instantly throwing himself back into those flashbacks to New Bostin. He sees himself as the monster he was then now paired with the knowledge that Seraphina knows all about it too.

The aspect of the story I want to talk about is one of my favorites :D. Parallels! The parallels between John’s past and his present are absolutely phenomenal and I love them. And they’ve been growing a lot more ‘in your face’ as of the more recent episodes. Some examples are when John and Seraphina fought off that fake joker in the hall that one time and also that one scene between Cecile and John where John got all pissed off at Seraphina. That probably made no sense to you, but I talk about it a lot in my analyses for episodes 161 and 167 so….. I don’t know what to tell you lol. Anyways, with my analyses, I’ve been pushing the concept that John is becoming more and more unable to differentiate both events and people from his past and his present. My main evidence for this is that John’s flashbacks have been pairing up with details from the current storylines. In my analysis for episode 167, I say, “John’s flashbacks are making it so that John cannot separate the present from the past. He cannot exist at Wellston without his subconscious relating everything that is happening to what happened to John at New Bostin.” I also talk about what this means for his relationships with the other characters who go to school with him currently, especially Seraphina. Here are two quotes that are, again, both from my analysis of episode 167: “This episode’s flashbacks to Claire and situations revolving around her and the comparison to current events revolving around Seraphina, and especially the outburst by John at her; they all suggest that John doesn’t see Seraphina as her own person anymore, maybe that he never has.”... “It’s become clear that John is, currently at least, viewing Seraphina as another Claire.” My whole support of this is because of Seraphina resembling Claire in the events of episode 161 cueing John’s flashbacks of her, but more importantly (at the moment): how John, when told about Sera and Arlo meeting behind his back, has automatic flashbacks to Claire’s betrayal and seemingly takes his anger at Claire out at Seraphina.

So, basically, Claire was John’s best friend, but then she went behind his back because of his evil actions to secretly recruit their other classmates to defeat him. I know anyone reading this post should know that, but I wanted to mention it because of how startlingly similar this is to how John is viewing his current situation with Seraphina. Sera was John’s best friend, yet she’s been drifting away from him, and according to Cecile, she has even met with Arlo behind John’s back. I’ve talked about all of this before (I think? I don’t really remember lol). Anyway, the developments that this episode adds to this parallel, this comparison, are quite substantial. Both Seraphina telling John that she knows he is Joker and that she knows about the events of New Bostin further push this concept of her and Claire’s similarity, which in turn encourages John’s mental association of the two characters and his inability to differentiate between the past and the present.

Seraphina telling John that she knows he is Joker is adding to the similarity between the storyline at New Bostin and the storylines at Wellston. As I described in my brief summary of Claire’s buildup and betrayal, Claire turned against John because she realized how horrible he’d become. This is why we have the infamous one-liner, “monster,” from Claire. Claire’s entire motivation for turning against and leaving John was that she saw how corrupted and twisted he was becoming and wanted to put her other classmates’ suffering to an end. Now, there’s a bit of bias here on John’s part, as I do not believe he truly grasps that Claire only wanted him put out of power/authority (which was what corrupted him in the first place). I think John just thinks that Claire couldn’t stand the person he was and what he was doing, and that attempting to defeat him was purely a retaliation without an end goal and less of the logical decision and mission it was (to dethrone him). I think Keon’s classes really pushed this into John’s head, actually, because they were so focused on enforcing the fact that John was a monster. He became overwhelmed with that idea of himself as a monster and assumed everyone else was too. (The last few sentences have awful word choice and consequently worse comprehensiveness, but it is what it is). Anway, back on track, because John thinks that when people discover what a “monster” he is, they go behind his back and plan attacks. Now, because Sera has admitted knowing of John’s past/his identity of Joker, which are the most obvious examples of the “monster” in John paired with her having recently gone behind his back to talk to Arlo about John, her actions are obviously mirroring the buildup at New Bostin for John. Something else that’s big in this episode, is the later panel of Seraphina and Claire overlapping each other says, “monster.” This is both a support for what I’ve been saying and its own separate addition. With Seraphina now playing Claire’s part, this is going to further John’s association and muddlement of his past and his present.

There will be a lot more of this later in this post though, so stay tuned.

I do realize that without the confusing explanation of John’s difference in view regarding the events of New Bostin in comparison to Claire’s was kind of useless, I just included that because it really emphasized the comparison to this episode particularly, which is what this post is about lol.

Next in the episode, we get the creepiest panel of John drawn ever. You know the one. I first saw that and was stunned. Anway, normally that would go in honorable mentions, but come on.

Moving on, we have finally reached the turning point for this post, for this episode, and for the entire comic of UnOrdinary lmao. Early on in this post I said, “John doesn’t want to lose the person he created to hide behind, his fake self, because once that image of himself is shattered (haha get it) the only person left is John’s true, hidden self.” And, besides me still laughing because of that, it really helps me explain what’s happening here.

Currently, we are at the panels of the episode where John is seeing an image of his created self, aka L for loser John, aka hair gel John, splintering and shattering like glass. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what this means. Everything I’ve been talking about for a while. Not only this post, but for many posts in the past, is finally completely itself.

This is the final takeover of the dark side of John. I’ve always talked about this gradual battle between good and evil within John where the evil side is going to inevitably win and this is that. Most of this episode has been me saying stuff like ‘if this happens, it will mean that John has truly lost himself and is completely evil.’ And that’s where we’re at now. All of that has happened, okay? It’s time to abandon everything I’ve been saying recently because it’s in the past now.

Which is why, we see that completion of Seraphina and Claire becoming mirrors of each other in John’s mind. Throughout the rest of the episode there is obvious molding of the two, more so than ever before. So much so that I can’t really call my ideas on this topic an idea because they’re proved correct. John is blatantly viewing Sera as Claire now, and it’s meant to be understood by the reader because of the constant switches between the two from frame to frame. The concept of John’s anger at Claire being targeted and associated with Seraphina also makes a comeback. I am confident enough now to say that it is confirmed in the comic that John cannot fully differentiate Seraphina and Claire’s characters from one another.

Even the whole idea that John cannot fully differentiate his past and present as wholes gets extreme support, though not exactly enough for me personally to say that it is confirmed. After the “shattering”(I like that, might keep that), John instantly attacks Seraphina with accusations of going behind his back and why even when Seraphina kept telling him that she was in no way taking sides, only collecting the facts, John repeatedly told her that she was abandoning “his side.” These are obviously things that happened at New Bostin, and though it fits into the more set in stone Sera vs. Claire comparison, I am using it to support this more overall idea of present vs. past. But the best support for that past vs present thing is in this episode when Seraphina says, “You’re repeating everything you did at New Bostin!” That line is very self-explanatory, I feel. Also, the fact that it’s one of the characters saying this, makes me pretty confident that this is true.

I have now decided to call this turning point in UnOrdinary “The Shattering” because of both John’s and Seraphina’s uses of the concept. So, that’s fun. And it also leads into the next thing in the episode: Seraphina’s personal shattering.

Seraphina is always a more grounded character than John and it’s kind of refreshing turning my analysis onto her because she makes more logical sense. In this episode, Seraphina really lets loose at John about everything she’s been through because of him and even uses the phrase, “My whole world shattered.” She expresses how she feels like she’s been lied to about everything for such a long time (which she obviously has) and how to figure out what parts of both her relationship with John and even her own personality are true. It’s a very passionate and straightforward moment and I do feel like I tend to overlook Seraphina in analysis when it comes to focus, probably because there’s more to analyze with John, but I do feel like while reading this episode, my focus was really split between the characters.

Seraphina has completely changed as a person since she met John. Mostly, in fact, because she met John. Upon learning that he isn’t who he says he is, she’s met with this inevitable question of ‘how much of my personality, of myself, is also built upon lies.’ John largely influenced the changes in Seraphina and if that wasn’t true, what does that mean for her.

I’ve talked about this before in my analysis for episode 162, so I don’t really have much to say because unlike John, I pretty much have the same feeling for Sera as I did then.

The real development in this episode, however, was obviously that, “Sera you’re just a cripple,” from John. That completely broke Seraphina. I know that she knew that he was faking his whole personality before, or at least most of it, but I think this is when she really takes that in fully. Before John said that, Sera even said, “This isn’t you, John. Something happened at New Bostin that you haven’t opened up about.” This really conveys the message that Sera still believes in part that John didn’t completely fake himself, or even that she’s in denial, but when John harshly mocked her for being a cripple, which is probably the thing most opposite what Sera could imagine the John she knew doing, she completely just collapsed into herself. Like she said, her whole world was shattered. We get this whole flashback collection of John that Seraphina knew and it’s almost like he’s died in a way and been replaced by this fake, but it’s even worse because that’s who he was this entire time.

So then she hits him at the end so i'm kind of really wanting to read the next episode now so I’m putting this up now, over an hour after the new episode came out. ;-; r.i.p..

#i apologize to the people that actual read these things #its too bulky #unordinary #webtoon #uru-chan #uno #official #episode 173 #unordinary webtoon

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chibivesicle · 5 years ago

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Golden Kamuy chapters 220 & 221 - I am the bear.

I finally have a bit of a break from work and have some time off to catch up on stuff. As I had hypothesized in 219, I was pretty damn sure that Heita was the bear, the wen kamuy. Chapter 220 starts off with Asirpa trying to find the bear bum that Shiraishi and Sugimoto had seen. Sugimoto thinks that because they royally screwed up they are being punished by the white bear.

Asirpa meanwhile is just looking at him sternly while he sweats a little with stress lines under his eyes.

The next page is great as Asirpa calls Sugimoto out on his lazy cultural appropriation. She flat out tells him that using the “excuse” of a kamuy instead of taking the time to think is inappropriate. I love the framing of this shot, she looks in control, like a leader, yet not a harsh leader.

She follows up the idea of not thinking with the observation that there is no bear as there are no bear tracks.

Sugimoto then orders Shiraishi to find Vasily, though in English Vasily is referred to as “hood guy” implying that Sugimoto is too good to bother to learn his actual name. Vasily is helping them and yes, he is the enemy of my enemy (Ogata) is my friend sort of situation, but Sugimoto is supposed to be “friendly”. Not friendly enough to learn the name of a Russian soldier though. I sense this will come back to cause problems in the future. Sugimoto is clearly doing is best to other and dehumanize Vasily since if he knew his name then he’d have to more actively face his PTSD etc. I digress.

The action then returns to Heita finding his Dad and younger brother in a bear snow mound dead. He hears his brother chanting the Pure Land Buddhist chant, in hopes for salvation upon death into the after life. There are a serious of several graphic panels of the bear killing Taka as his head gets smashed by the bear paw. He finds the sexy woman of the group, Noriko and in the stress of watching her boyfriend, die, Heita tries to make out with her as she stops him right as the bear claws her face.

He manages to escape and runs into Sugimoto and Asirpa. I really love the detail between what Asirpa and Sugimoto observe and “Heitavision”. When he runs into Sugimoto, you can see that his face is clean, while the very next panel has smeared blood on Heita’s face as he tells them to run. Sugimoto with out missing a beat tells him, that we will protect you as he asks where the bear is.

Heita replies that it is not possible as the next page reveals him looking super creepy. The bear is going to eat him. It will happen. He also add is that you [Sugimoto & Asirpa] need to get far away fro him. Asirpa calmly asks him for clarification. As Heita names the people killed, Shiraishi has reached Vasily.

Shiraishi also calls him “hood guy” (hoodie-chan in Japanese, par for the course with his habit of calling everyone name-chan, save for Sugimoto). I can understand Shiraishi othering him since he did shoot him in the leg. Vasily is furiously sketching! Look at those eyes!

To build up the suspense, the action returns to Asirpa and Sugimoto with Heita as he explains everyone was eaten and Sugimoto finally realizes that something is off and he asks Heita who these people are that he’d been talking about as Heita looks like he’s in a daze.

Shiraishi is ignored by Vasily as he looks over his shoulder and has a look of panic on his face as he sees his sketch. It is a great page turn reveal as it is like BAM! Guess what, Heita was a convict from Abashiri with a tattoo, striking a sexy pose.

What is even better, is that when it shows the flashback (indicated by the black background) all of the faces have his eyes and eyebrows. This is the visual confirmation that all of these people were/are a part of Heita and his mind has killed them. It them makes his weird licky/making out face as he watched Taka and Noriko make more sense - he was making out with himself in the air.

Asirpa then in a very matter of fact fashion points out that the item that Heita is carrying in his cloth is a brow bear pelt. Even though Asirpa is clearly much shorter than Heita, the framing and angle of this shot makes her look like the wisest and most mature of the three of them. I get a feeling of not quite judgement from her, more like the clarity of a third party observer who has to clearly state the facts. Her pointing with her index finger adds weight to her observation.

Heita then is complete shot as he feels as though he is being haunted by it, despite disposing of it many times over. Sugimoto begins to look concerned as he sweats as he points out that Heita was carrying it like it as a precious item, not something he’d want to dispose of. Asirpa puts all of the pieces together, the bear bum that Sugimoto and Shiraishi saw was Heita wearing the pelt. I have to admit that I love how the pelt expands and rips the cloth as it unfurls in front of Heita as he sees it grow into the wen kamuy with his eyes before him. Asirpa concludes that this wen kamuy is in Heita’s mind only and it isn’t actually a real wen kamuy.

The wen kamuy stands before Heita on the ripped cloth at its feet. This is a great panel, I’m not keen on this story arc, but this 100% gets the point across so damn well. The next few pages are a mix of “Heitavision” and what Sugimoto and Asirpa see as the bear ‘kills’ him and he crawls under the pelt before he stands becoming the wen kamuy.

He then attacks Sugimoto with his front paw and as Sugimoto goes to block he breaks his left wrist! The chapter ends with Heita frothing at the mouth as he goes “bwooooooooh!” which is the sound effect for bears in GK.

Sugimoto has clearly been caught off guard! He needs to stop being so relaxed around former convicts, now he’s gonna have to get a cast and rest his left wrist so that it can heal, but first he’s gonna have to survive Heita.

Chapter 221 is the “bear man” and we get Heita’s backstory from Kadokura! Where have you been awkward old man? Whatever, I’m just glad to see that Kadokura and Kirawus are back in the mix.

Kadokura reveals his full name to be Heita Matsuda and he was a death row prisoner. Kirawus is relaxing in the background as he listens to the story as Kadokura is clearly a bit tipsy, he’s got a bit of a flush going on as he looks a little distant.

Kadokura remembers a lot of details about him, since he was a unique prisoner. He would constantly change the way he talked, using different forms of “I” to indicate how he wanted to present himself, including talking as though he were a sexy woman [Noriko]. This is easier to do in Japanese as depending on the speaker, it would be watashi, boku, ore etc . . . giving more info to a Japanese reader as English lacks an equivalent. The best way to think about this was in the movie “Your Name” when the characters body swap, they have to figure out which form of I to use when speaking about themselves.

Anyways, Kadokura states that Heita once told him that he has a lot of people inside of him and they switch places; this is likely an indication that he’s suffering from multiple personality disorder. I had originally thought these people were his victims, and maybe they were, but since he stated that they are inside of him, I’m more inclined to think that they are all Heita and his victims are not a part of his mental illness. The fact that Noda re-drew them with his eyes and eyebrows makes me think that they are a part of him.

Heita was always terrified, even in prison as he said there was a brown bear always outside of his cell and it was waiting to eat him. Kadokura states that Heita called it a “what-cha-ma-call-it” kamuy, implying he didn’t put a lot of effort into remember exactly what he said. He had to add in the fact that it was an evil got that ate people so Kirawus has some context. Kirawus then corrects Kadokura that it is a wen kamuy. . . his facial expression looks so over Kadokura.

Poor Kirawus, he’s clearly a smart guy stuck with a drunken loser like Kadokura. Though, I really get the feeling that Kadokura is the type of man who plays dumb so he can get further along in life. I think Kirawus just needs to hang out and work with someone a little more exciting and I’m curious if Kirawus has talked to Hijikata a lot or if he has been forced to interact with Kadokura as the go between and he’d prefer to have more access to Hijikata.

I honestly think Hijikata is keeping Kirawus at a distance, he didn’t trust Wilk, he didn’t trust Kiro and I really have a feeling that Kirawus knows a lot more than he’s let on (I wrote a meta about this awhile ago). I think that even though Hijikata says he needs the help of the Ainu for his plan to work (which Tsurumi has pointed out is a ‘flaw’ about his plan) Hijikata has shown absolutely no trust in any of his Ainu partners as Ariko/Ipopote is a literal pawn between him and Tsurumi. Additionally, it shows that HIjikata has been really crap at figuring out how to work with them, he never learned Wilk’s name nor did he learn Kiro’s real name. Hijikata is just going through the motions of the logistics in his quest for the gold.

Kadokura then explains that Heita’s people in his head are slowly killed off by the wen kamuy, he then is killed by it, he becomes it and eventually he kills a person in the real world. Once that happens his body explodes and he returns to normal.

Kirawus explains that the body exploding is based on how some Ainu groups treat wen kamuy. They cut the wen kamuy into small pieces and scatter is about the landscape. While they do this, they also lecture the kamuy about what it has done and that it needs to change its actions.

Unfortunately, when Heita “explodes” he doesn’t get lectured so that is likely why he isn’t able to learn and heal from his mistake of killing people.

It is also indicated that since Heita lacked the bear pelt in jail, he was safe since the wen kamuy couldn’t kill him and he didn’t become it. He also revealed that he ended up with all of these tattoos over his body and he didn’t even know where they came from. I wonder if one of his personalities agreed to being tattooed and was hiding it from the others?

Either way, at some point in time he shared a cell with Wilk. Kadokura ends with the fact that he was arrested over a victim’s body wearing a bear pelt and he had torn apart the body and it is heavily implied he had eaten part of him. It is also clear that he had likely done this before but wasn’t caught.

The action returns to Sugimoto, hitting him with his rifle as Heita tries to bite through his winter coat. The two of them roll off an embankment into a tree as Shiraishi catches up with the picture of Heita in his hand. No Vasily though, I guess he grabbed the sketch and ran?

Sugimoto’s rifle is caught in the tree and he and Heita are grappling on the ground as he only has his right hand to fight back. As the bear, Heita is trying to scratch through Sugimoto’s clothing, likely thinking his has claws. Sugimoto is in shock a the power Heita has and he knows this is going to be a tough fight.

But Sugimoto is able to push him back with his foot and as the bear roars his eyes go white (about to kill) and he pulls out his trusty bayonet and stabs him repeatedly.

As Heita regains control of his self, his hand emerges from the bear and trips an amappo. It looks like it is about to hit Sugimoto and he leans on top of him so that it instead will kill him. Heita by grabbing onto Sugimoto is able to take the hit instead.

Heita is happy and relieved that Sugimoto fought back so well. He lead them to the amappo so that the wen kamuy wouldn’t know that he was tricking it. He goes onto explain that as a child he learned about wen kamuy and the idea of them terrified him. He then became a gold prospector and his family wasted all of the money he earned. Their greed became too much for him and he hoped that their greed would result in some sort of divine punishment.

He states that the wen kamuy killed his family. I am still unsure if his family are represented by the personalities or he was just using those people in his head as the stand in for them. The wen kamuy then ate him and then he became a wen kamuy. The framing of the next shot is interesting. Asirpa stands over his head almost deadpan. Shiraishi is very upset as you can tell he’s trying to hold back his tears. Sugimoto is sitting down cross legged cradling his broken wrist, his eyes obscured.

Sugimoto looks very emotional as he gazes down over his body. This is a soft Sugimoto, we can see the light and sparkle in his eyes as he looks quite sad and distraught. I wonder if Sugimoto is thinking of himself when he fights? Keep in mind that he’s referred to as being a demon and not human when he fights. Tsurumi was able to recognize him as a result of his demonic fighting style.

Heita thanks him for allowing him to die. And he then dies as he lays on the snow before them. This then becomes an educational warning moment for Asirpa to Sugimoto. She explains that when a wen kamuy kills someone, they rationalize it by the kamuy liking that person and taking them away with them. However, the wen kamuy is not out to punish people, and Heita did not understand the story, instead he adapted it to his Japanese mindset. Therefore, he produced an incorrect wen kamuy in himself, creating a flawed monster.

She has such a look of wisdom as she concludes that it is important that information is passed down with accuracy, if it becomes corrupted, bad things will happen. This is a strong warning to Sugimoto to not cherry pick Ainu beliefs and customs and to place them in his own Japanese cultural context. He too thought that the wen kamuy of Heita is karmic payback for what they did to the white bear.

I find it curious that Sugimoto instead ignores her statement and instead wonders if he became the wen kamuy in the process of looking for gold? This then leads to the dramatic final panel of the major parties in the quest for the gold and the idea that it is driving everyone to madness.

The game is afoot. Each group is around Hokkaido.

Ogata is leaving Nagakura’s relative’s house where Hijikata was working out of for some time as shown in chapter 20. I’m going to guess no one was at Nagakura’s place as Ogata seems to be leaving it rather pleased. He’s got his happy cat face on. Seeing that Hijikata robbed the bank and had weapons stored there, Ogata grabbed some cash and clips for the type 30/38 he has.

The major question is if anyone was around - Kadokura is with Kirawus somewhere, likely near Kirawus’ kotan, Hijikata was near Noboribetsu with Kantarou and Nagakura.

Hijikata is currently shown on a street in Otaru, matching this one from chapter 98. Not sure why he’s in Otaru, likely waiting for Asirpa to head back home since her grandma and her home kotan are close by.

Lastly, Tsurumi appears to be in Barato, by looking at the mountain ridge line with houses in the foreground from chapter 59 most clearly.

Why Tsurumi is in Barato is interesting - I wonder if he’s looking for witnesses from the shoot out and for information about the skin that Hijikata got from Ogata?

It looks like the factions are closing in on Asirpa’s kotan and the area where the gold is supposed to be. Recall that Wilk was caught when his canoe capsized on Lake Shikotsu, and it is a rumor that he had some gold with him to make it sound more reasonable.

But there is the oral story that Huci explains about why there is so much gold in the first place. The collection of gold, polluted the rivers and the salmon were not doing their runs. As the salmon were essential to survival the Ainu leaders had to decide what to do.

All of the gold was put in one place and hidden so that people wouldn’t fight over it and it was also agreed to stop collecting it for the salmon. There was a moratorium on speaking about the gold and eventually each village had only a single elder who knew of the gold. The overall concept was that the gold should eventually become forgetten.

This was how they figured out the amount of gold is much more than what Wilk told the tattooed prisoners. With everyone back in the area of Otaru it is clear that the parties are starting to look for intel toward the gold.

Lastly, this shows that there are 4 factions; 1). Asirpa and Sugimoto, 2.) Tsurumi, 3.) Hijikata and 4.) Ogata.

I think this fits in with the chapter 201 title page and Ogata will act as his own faction. I’m curious to see if he continues to be a solo wildcat or if he will emerge to lead others?

Is Tanigaki going to team up with Koito and Tsukishima? Will these guys end up working under Ogata? Sugimoto and Tsurumi are rivals. Asirpa and Sofia are likely to become allies. Hijikata had Shiraishi working with him before, will he be forced to work for him again? I really wonder if Ogata will take advantage of commanding Koito and Tsukishima as Koito is now in doubt of Tsurumi and Tanigaki refused to follow Kikuta’s orders. Will another rebel group form in the 27th?

Whatever happens - Ogata’s emergence as a leader will continue to make things interesting. There is too much evidence now that he’s playing his own long game. Whatever it is.

#golden kamuy #golden kamuy meta #sugimoto saichi #asirpa #shiraishi yoshitake #kadokura #kirawus #tsurumi tokushirou #hijikata toshizo #nagakura shinpachi #ogata hyakunosuke #vasily #wen kamuy

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thattimdrakeguy · 5 years ago

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Tim Drake in Wonder Comics Young Justice so far

#TimDrakeIsTheBestRobin is something I been seeing Brian Michael Bendis tweet out a lot, but I just started to think about Tim, what all he’s actually done in Young Justice so far as we’re about 7 issues in, and well, he’s done nothing of note.

While the issues so far has shown Tim to be the most in-character he’s been since the New 52 (and even a little bit before), he’s done freaking nothing and half of the year is almost over. The only thing of note he’s going to do this year so far is change his identity, and that’s not only disrespectful to the fact they marketed Tim to fans on something else, but it’s also awful story telling.

The other members in their spotlight issues got to do stuff that actually added to the plot while showing off their personalities, like Cassie had her issue with Zeus that showed how she liked to earn her spot while also being spunky. Conner had stuff set up with S.T.A.R Labs that showed off his rebellious side, and Amethyst had her whole world showed off for the first arc, but Tim got nothing in his.

Tim in his own spotlight didn’t do anything that showed off his personalty. He didn’t even have a plot set up. Stephanie even had a plot set up. Tim’s plot was how he remembered his past timeline (thanks to Zatanna), and going to Metropolis to see where Conner was. So basically, now that he found Conner, there we go. That’s it. His big set-up in issue 5 is done before we even got to see it.

Tim didn’t have any personalty in his issue, or actually do anything in it besides get his memories back thanks to someone else, and all it showed is that he loves his girlfriend and Conner, nothing about his own personality.

From the sounds of it though, Tim’s going to be pretty important for some of the next arcs, but at the same time, he’s getting a new costume and identity, which isn’t a good sign. Especially since the costume’s color scheme stands for boring.

One of the things about the build up to Young Justice was how it seemed to be getting rid of everything people didn’t like about their treatment and getting the characters set back on track. They gave them costumes that fit their personalities, Patrick Gleason almost always (literally only 2 panels I can remember not liking) was able to draw them perfectly as well as get the tone perfectly, and they were the most in-character they been in years for the issues so far.

Now they’re already changing stuff before the years over.

Tim has had no build up to having a need for a new identity.

There was people that wasn’t happy with Tim being Robin again though, they preferred him being Red Robin, but in Heroes of Crisis (which I would recommend avoiding since it’s crap, and certainly Tim’s singular panel) it said he was still Red Robin even though he had his Wonder Comics costume on. Which means he was literally Red Robin still, he just went by Robin with Young Justice.

I really liked that since that meant if you wanted him to be Red Robin still, he was, and if you were happy he was Robin again, he was. That’s a fan pleasing decision that I approved.

So why would Tim want to change his name AND costume now? Especially considering he just got this new Robin costume that fits his personality to a T, and still has his own name to use when having two Robins would be confusing.

Why would there be no build up in the story to this apparent identity change unless him being back on track was just a marketing stunt for more people to buy the issues?

What would be the real life reason for it be, besides they just freaking wanted to?

Are you telling me in the middle of going dimension to dimension that Tim’s gonna think it’s a good time to change his identity?

Did Didio ask for this?

Was it Bendis?

Why?

In what world is this considered good story telling?

Doing stuff at random to change stuff that made people happy isn’t good story telling.

I’m aware some people wanted him to remain Red Robin, but as seen in Heroes in Crisis, he still is, he just likes to go by Robin when he’s with Young Justice. So that problems already been figured out. He’s Red Robin if you want him to be, and that’s actually canon, he’s just also Robin if you want him to be.

If they’re so willing to out of no were change the basic identity of Tim Drake in the middle of an arc, when they just got his character back on track after almost a decade. Why should I trust they care about Tim to do him justice?

They might like him, but does that doesn’t mean they care about Tim’s character enough to do what fits. At this rate it’s gonna be just another DC comic that relies on sudden shocks and changes in desperate attempts at headlines or to please their selfish desires of doing what ever they wanted because that’s all they thought about.

They could even finally allow him to interact with the plot more than once in a substantial way, but when they treat him like he doesn’t matter that much why should I feel like they’re really gonna care about him?

The act of suddenly changing a character randomly is something people do when they do not care about a character.

In fact it’s even something some people do when they dislike or hate a character.

If Jason Todd suddenly became “Finch” with no build up in the story or a quality reason, while he was on another planet, just after they brought back his friends, while getting his story back on track right prior, and in the new story he didn’t even get to choose his own name, it wouldn’t be considered a good story would it? It would feel like they had no idea what they were doing, or they at least didn’t give a crap about him or fan loyalty.

To be honest though, I’m not that upset Tim hasn’t done much as far as the plot so far. It’s very understandable to me. The other characters deserve the page space more than he does. Tim (even if he wasn’t in-character) got to have plenty of page time in other comics compared to them. So that’s not a problem of mine, it’s just a bad sign when adding it up with other stuff.

You don’t get rid of the stuff they used to market the series this soon and have it be a good sign of stuff. That’s something people do as a publicity stunt. Something cheap and scummy.

You don’t have the character do essentially nothing of note by himself in his own spotlight issue that’s supposed to be focused on him and have that be a good sign.

The other character’s spotlight issues told you a lot about them.

What’d Tim’s spotlight issue tell you about him? He loves his girlfriend, he ran away from home with her, and he loves Conner. That’s not much of a personalty showcase like the other ones so far. That’s practically nothing.

Right now he is the most useless and boring part of the team.

So much so that his apparently new costume is brown and gray. Colors that stand for boring and dull, especially or at least together.

It’s starting to feel like a gag at Tim fans expense, because of all those antis that call Tim the boring one.

I’m aware it’s so soon in this comic’s run that it seems hasty to judge, but the signs aren’t lining up well for him. Already doing nothing even in his own spotlight, having his identity changed like it doesn’t matter, not adding a thing to the ongoing plot besides some lines, aren’t, good, signs.

If Tim gets to stay Robin/Red Robin and keep his current costume after all of this, I’m not gonna be upset I made this post complaining about what did not end up happening, because I’d be too focused on being happy that it turned out they did care about the character more than headlines and what practically only they wanted.

Like, Tim hasn’t even been out of character during any of this. The most out of character he’s been is kissing Stephanie so intensely, the rest he’s been fine.

It’s just a lack of care for him.

Even if they’d just left him with the identity he currently has with Robin/Red Robin, while he does nothing important, that’d be a lot more calming, because that at least means they won’t be messing with what got some fans excited. He’d at least be left alone to not be ruined with rushed not-thought-out decisions like they’re building up.

I remember Bendis saying Conner’s gonna be changing his identity too in some upcoming issue, or at least implied it by saying Conner’s gonna talk about Superboy with Jon (what ever that means).

If he messes with his costume too to go back to the T-shirt and jeans, then I’m gonna be even more upset because I know dang well that costume made a heckuva lot of Conner fans happy, to have that taken away from them so soon would be unfair too, and I’m pretty sure he was intended to wear his T-shirt and jeans look this whole time given that they refer to him wearing a shirt when he’s been wearing freaking tights in the actual comic, which been adding up to my fear of that.

Then there’s Bart and Teen Lantern who have been treated even with less respect. While Bart saved the day, he still hasn’t gotten a spotlight issue showing anything important about him, and Teen Lantern has done even less than Tim as far as the plots concerned (although she will be getting a spotlight issue here shortly).

But I understand that, there’s only so much page space, like I said, I’m not even upset Tim hasn’t contributed much to the plot, it’s understandable. It’s just, why couldn’t he have done anything interesting during his own flashback? Why are they messing with him so soon at such a random time when they were making so many fans happy? Why change what’s making a lot of fans feel safe and secure with this comic?

Why can’t Tim Drake be treated with respect?

#Tim Drake #Robin #Red Robin #Young Justice #Young Just Us #Wonder Comics #Brian Michael Bendis #DC Comics

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comicteaparty · 5 years ago

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July 8th-July 14th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from July 8th, 2019 to July 14th, 2019. The chat focused on Court of Roses by Kelsey Peterson.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Court of Roses by Kelsey Peterson~! (http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until July 14th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. What do you think is the story behind Merlow’s bad dreams? What demons is Merlow fighting exactly, and why do some of those “demons” want him to hurt others? What does it have to do with Merlow being triggered by Nocturne?

khkddn

1) hmm visually speaking I think my fave scene is when Diana shoots all those arrows http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/117/ it just looks so cool

But I also liked when merlow bonded with the kiddos who were curious about his bagpipes, that was a cute moment

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. What do you think is the cause of Nocturne’s unfortunate circumstances that he mentions having to make due with? What might this have to do with his poor amount of stamina or immense magical gifts?

RebelVampire

1) Probably the scene where Nocturne and Merlow sleep in an alley under the rain. I am a sucker for rain, and I liked seeing Merlow's acknowledgement that he was kind of a dick but that Nocturne was still able to forgive him. Plus, the atmosphere the rain added was too perfect. Somehow a spot of warmth among the cold and bleak. 2) I see this going in one of two ways in terms of my current theories. Way 1 is that Merlow's dad wasn't just an elf, but like, ultra evil wizard elf. And his dad is trying to control Merlow and use him as a beautiful and dangerous pawn. Way 2 is that Merlow got possessed by a literal demon and that fighting the demon from taking control is a daily battle. I think in regards to hurting others, asides it just being that's what evil things do, having Merlow hurt others is a pretty quick way to break his spirit and just have him cave to the dark side. Nocturne kind of looks demon-y so there could be that connection. Or maybe whatever Merlow has within him just hates Nocturne's species since that seems to be a common theme in the world.

3) Nocturne. Nocturne is classy, powerful, but has that cute smidgen of vulnerability that makes him endearing. Also very classy, and how can you not like classy people? 4) Nocturne maybe had a fight that did not end well due to overconfidence maybe. And this left him permanently weakened with poor stamina. I also get the sense that there is some deeper emotional trauma hidden in this. Like the person that caused his weak stamina was someone super close who probably betrayed him. Cause every story needs a good betrayal? XD Alternatively, maybe he just had a poor dice roll to begin with for the game.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Those theories with Merlow and Nocturne are really cool, Rebel! aaaaa it's so neat to see people speculating this stuff.

That alley scene came out so nice too, I was happy with it. My own favorite scene so far... it's hard to pick, but I think it was the whole sequence of the main bards fighting the bandits that stormed the festival. Getting to let everyone show off, from Sven's muscle, to Feliks' conjuring madness, to Diana's enchanted tidinit, to Nocturne's mysterious power saving Merlow.(edited)

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. What do you think the background stories are for Feliks and Sven? How might Merlow’s pre-established friendship with Feliks affect his interactions with the rest of the bards given they have more history?

Attila Polyák

I like had no time the entire week and could only read till the page where we see Sung from a distance. I didn't want to comment before I catch up, but now that I found a bit of time I get a server not found error. My luck is horrible. :( That said I do feel like my favourite scene will be the bit where Merlow performed and the cats came to listen. That was soo hear warming, but I'd like to read the rest before saying anything.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Ugh, sorry, comicfury just, goes down sonetimes...

khkddn

3) merlow is my favorite character, he just seems so nice and sunshine-y! Diana is also cool too though, and I also like Feliks... decisions is Hard

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

I don't feel like I know any of the characters well enough to have a favorite yet! I know how they act on the surface -- so far Merlow is the most entertaining and Nocturne is the most aww-inducing -- but we haven't gotten into the depths yet. Anyone could become my official favorite with the right reveal.

Was Merlow actually "triggered" by Nocturne, or just upset? Important difference there! I took it as the standard fantasy trope of "these two species have a history of antagonism, but after fighting on the same side for a while they'll develop an Unlikely Bond, and discover that they are Not So Different After All."

Favorite scene so far, hands-down, this page. Perfect cinematic smash-cut, makes me laugh every time. http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/22

...no elaborate backstory theories from me, pretty sure Guilded Age permanently ruined me for theorizing about fantasy comics. Just looking forward to seeing where things go.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

That's a really popular page lol!!!

keii4ii

I have yet to catch up with the archive, but omg that is an awesome-tastic page (and now I wish Discord had a horrible bleeding music note emote to go with this)

snuffysam

real talk? my favorite scene in the comic was this: http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/ not even technically a scene, but the two panels side by side of merlow drinking alone, followed by merlow having a good time with all his friends, just got me right there in the feelings instantly. and the way the panels link to the first and latest page respectively is a stroke of genius. instant hook.

besides that, my favorite scene is the one of diana, sven, and feliks banding together to stop the bandits. these three were at each others' throats a second ago, but having to fight off those attackers brought them closer together. and we got to see them performing as a band while doing it. really makes me look forward to more things to come with the protagonist quintet working together.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

That makes me so, so happy, Sam, I was really excited to make those and code them properly, and I'm happy they have such an impact. :3

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. Do you think Merlow will ever meet his father or open up regarding the subject? What about Diana and her mother? Will something regarding Diana’s enchanted instrument and the history behind it come to play in the story?

RebelVampire

5) Favorite illustration is definitely this place. http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/135/ I adore the particle effects, the change in colors and tone, and everything just works really well together. It's super awe inspiring to see Nocturne get a moment of badassery. <3 6) Feliks probably got banished for too many shenanigans. Since I'm pretty sure Feliks is a bit too comfy with spending nights in jail. As for Sven, I don't know. Maybe he's the one without some sort of tragic back story. Or maybe Sven has a tragic backstory but the tragedy of it all just flew over his head and he didn't notice. I do think there's gotta be at least something bad that drove his desire for justice. Like maybe he had a hero who died tragically or something. I don't know. But I do think Merlow and Feliks' past relationship is gonna drive some wedges. Cause Feliks seems like the type to go "well I've known Merlow longer than all you have" so ya know, everyone will be mad cause it can mean nothing while also being still true and itll just make everything awkward. And Merlow will make adorable faces and try to peace keep.

7) Merlow and Nocturne. They're both really different in terms of their relationship with being bards (or w/e Nocturne wants to call himself). And I think that their different viewpoints really bring out different sides to them that we wouldnt normally get to see. And theres no like bitter conflict either. Just two ppl filled with warm fuzzies trying to get to know each other and navigate the world. 8) Yes to both. The latter because I think he'll have to explain his past more in detail at some point, and that probably means telling everyone the circumstances of his birth. The former because wishful thinking cause there's nothing like meeting your long lost dad who went to get some milk and never came back. Diana too, of course, will probably have to talk about her mother who probably died tragically or, at the very least, when Diana was least prepared for it. I do think Diana's instrument will create conflict. In that someone will go, "Let's steal that enchanted weapon." And then it gets stolen and Diana freaks and everyone does bard battles to get it back for her.

Copper Mouflon

Been reading the comic and so far I'm really enjoying it! Didn't expect to as it's not what I usually read, but hey you kept me hooked and going for the next page! Absolutely loved http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/118/ made me laugh out lout. There's obviously a lot of backstory in these characters and I'm curious to see where this will go!

Copper Mouflon

NNNooooo! I reached the end! Job well done! It only gets better as the story goes along, by the way, Nocturne is BAD ASS, but most of all I love who they all seem rather normal (in the context of the story) yet they all turn out to ... well be so awesome.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

:D!!!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. Besides getting hired for a murder investigation, what other consequences do you foresee for the group in regards to what happened at Saung? Will it gain them notoriety, or will it be swept under the rug?

RebelVampire

9) Honestly the detail I'm addicted to is Merlow's hair. Like I like the thought that goes into that colored bit of it, cause that seems like it'd be annoying to remember to include all the time. But more than that, I like seeing the fact that Merlow will actually undo the braid http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/70/ . Like there's several scenes like this where theres recognition that hair isn't plastic and displaces and people don't wear their more elaborate styles to bed usually. It's a nice realistic depiction of how hair works in everyday life. 10) I 100% think they're gonna have some notoriety from it. Cause what makes a better story than some bards who beat up bad guys at a festival. Plus, I'm sure other important people will sing their praises as well. Of course, this notoriety doesn't always mean good. Like sure maybe the king's 2nd cousin's butler will hire them for a job, but now bandit dude's secret twin brother can come and exact revenge on them. It's gonna be a dual edged sword where benefit and trouble will both come looking for them all.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. Who do you think murdered the count and for what reason? Was there any specific reason the murder took place during the festival? Do you ultimately feel Merlow and company will be able to help?

Attila Polyák

Okay, so questions, yummy! 1, Definitely playing for the cats in the alley, buut the beginning of the bard festival was pretty cool as well. That said, I just feel like that scene grabs the essence of performance so well. I really liked it. 2, I feel like his demons are literal demons and they cause his nightmare, tho I have no idea how he met/got posessed by them. Connection to Nocturne? Probably looks, he is an infernal after all. 3, Torn between Merlow and Nocturne. Merlow is just an ultimate positive dude even tho his demons seem to be rather messed up and Nocturne. Well... He's just plain awesome. 4, I think Nocturne is in this state mostly because of his own decisions. While we do not know much about him, we do know that he is: Not a bard, Someone used to having money around but not in any fear of not being able to use it, Fond of music, Is, magically speaking, rather powerful, In general a sophisticated person, In possession of some rather unusual items. While these circumstances could mean a lot of things, my guess is that he's kindof an alchemist and he somehow traded his stamina for magical capabilities in pursue of another, probably greater, goal. 5, I think my favorite illustration is the middle panel on http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/134/ but really anything on this and the next to pages are. Just. Pure. Awesome. 6, I don't think Merlow's earlier friendship will influence the rest of his relationships as he seems to be generally friendly with almost literally everyone. 7, Merlow and Nocturne. I just find it to be a cool friendship, even though there are quite a few hints that there should be some friction between them for very real and serious reasons. Also Merlow "fanboying" about cool music is just adorable to see. 8, For Merlow... Yes, and I wouldn't be surprised if the topic was very eeply connected to his demons. Diana and her mother... I donno, maybe, but I'm more leaning towards no right now, but it could still happen.

10, I think that being part of the murder investigation will literally mean that they will be doing less bard stuff, which is obvious, but considering that they specifically came to town for the bard contest, it's still a shame. Now... beating the bandits already started them on an inevitable ride to notority, and being involved in the investigaton of such an inportant murder case. That will also boost them on their personal hype trains'. 11, Imo the greatest strength of the comic is the simple fact that even though a lot of not so great things happen to the characters (being thrown out to the streets for night, a murder case, bandit raid, inner demons, etc...) both the characters and the general tone of the story manages to be very positive. That's kinda odd, because this should be like... a bit of a dissonance. But the positive tone is just, simply there. I'd attribute that mostly to how Merlow reacts to everyone around him, but still since we see the story mostly from his perspective it just shines through a lot. Even when he is in pain, literally at times, he just somehow manages to feel positive. 12, I'm really unsure about the murderer, but I kinda feel like it's somehow directly connected to Merlow. Thus I ultimately think that the party will be able to help, one way or another, but the entire situation still feels a bit hazy.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Overall, do you think the new troupe of bards will be able to get along? What obstacles do you think there will be in them learning to cooperate with one another?

RebelVampire

11) While there are a lot of strengths, the one that stood out to me the most was the character designs. They're all so individualistic, yet each one is very specifically tailored to the character's personality. Like the minute I saw Merlow I was like "this is just a nice dude who maybe is a bit sensitive." and thats exactly what i feel like i got. and i always appreciate when the writing and visual design go hand in hand. 12) I think the count was murdered because nice counts disrupt the order of corruption and makes all the other nobles look back. As for the festival, yes. I actually think someone is trying to pin it on a bard. Especially if that bard's name is Merlow cause Merlow seems to have shitty luck. As for helping, I mean, I'm sure Merlow and company can find something. Although I personally feel like investigative wise Feliks and Nocturne are probably the best suited for the task. But hey the others can provide moral support?

13) I'm looking forward to just finding more out about Nocturne and why people seem to hate Nocturne's species. But just more Nocturne being fancy and classy is fine too. 14) I think the group will get along, but I think some relationships will fair better than others. Like I don't think Feliks and Sven are gonna become best pals anytime soon. And I kind of feel like Sven is gonna struggle fitting in cause he seems a lot more high energy than a lot of them can handle. Outside of that obstacle, I do also think that the biggest obstacle for them will be secrets. Cause they all seem to have something they want to hide, and hiding things from people who are supposed to be your allies can lead to bitter feelings. as everyone wonders why they arent trustworthy etc. etc. so i guess a better way to put it is trust will be their biggest obstacle, and that theyll have to accept a certain level of vulnerability.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Court of Roses this week! Please also give a special thank you to Kelsey Peterson for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Court of Roses, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/

Kelsey’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kelseynuttyp

Kelsey’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/kelseynutty

Kelsey’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/CourtofRosesCmc

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #court of roses #kelsey peterson

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krakenator · 6 years ago

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Chapter 11 aka “Welcome to Chili’s”

SPOILERS are sprinkled around extremely liberally for The Property of Hate

Masterpost here

Oh damn alright that answers my earlier question of “what will cause RGB to make like a cuttlefish”. He can fiddle with his colors at any time, but he’ll fritz and settle on colors after power surges as well

And he DODGES the black button question. Look at that anxious cane fiddling!

White knob handles color, black knob brightness, he’s just shown that the white panel opens to adjust brightness/saturation/color… is the black button just plain off?

“I lose you I leave you” is such a damned lie lmao

Let’s see what kind of Stuff people trade here!

Moments manifest as clocks, har-har

I’m in love with the borzoi vender bc I love borzois they’re such ridiculously ethereal dogs

Don’t like your current eye? Trade it for a better eye!

or you dont care about eyes, just revenge-feelings

Kisses of varying flavors, all shaped like X’s

STOP RIGHT THERE crimincal scum. RGB stole a farewell kiss (HAR HAR). But seriously, does the Market have law enforcement for this kind of thing?

I’m sorry but my shit fandom brain see’s discussion about trading body parts and my mind immediately goes to Skulduggery “lost his original skull when sleeping and replaced it by winning another one in a poker game” Pleasant

Incidentally ALSO a story about a standoffish dapper non-human taking a young girl on Adventures

uh oh

Lmao he ends up dropping his cane in panic

I love the movement in this panel. RGB just scooping her up with one arm

Goodbye New Suit we barely knew ye

RGB’s able to fine tune his pallet extremely specifically for just 3 sliders

This might be my favorite interaction in the entire damn comic

CAREFUL RGB YOUR ATTACHMENT IS SHOWING

I love how RGB decided “you know what i like what that quick camouflage did for my trousers, I’m going to coordinate my upper half to match it”

Interesting visual and sound effect- we saw a character swap out heads earlier without that CRACK. Considering Assok’s had trouble twice now with static cling to RGB’s face, is this an electric spark of sorts?

I like the detail that Watcher only speaks in one word sentences

God but that cane is convenient. What I wouldn’t give to have possessions that are impossible to lose

I love RGB quietly, actually checking in with Assok after accidentally knocking them off Hero’s head

And now for something completely different!

WHOLESOME ASSOK HUG

RGB’s starting to poke her towards her epiphany about the Make Believe

As a someone who spent a long time being a short person that’s such short people talk RGB

Dude I skimmed over Dial’s dialogue this page last time because, really. Look at it. So lets actually read this sucker

Oh shit Dial actually mentions the Elastic Valley way before we get there ourselves

He’s got to what now. TOby is there on a JOB? Someone put him here on PURPOSE? I thought he just ended up there and was so surly to every fucking thing and everyone passing by was like “ok u can stay there rudepants”. What’s he on watch for?? Unless it’s far more punishment than it is useful assignment

Bad puns, go to jail

Oh shit does Watcher have another pair of eyes on his wings? Damn! For a guy with 4 eyes he sure is not very helpful at his job later on!!

Hooo does his boss make Dial nervous. Lookit that stutter and devolution to muttering

When Dial says TOby took his eye off things, is he referring to letting RGB+Hero pass by (how would he stop them)? Is it that the wind blew him over and blocked his vision (THAT IS LITERALLY NOT HIS FAULT)?

And what the hell has TOBy done to defy Hate previously? What does he have opinions that Hate/Dial would have him change his mind about?

See you space cowboy…

And because I can’t make up my mind on what to meme here: “mm whatcha saaay”

A thought on Dial’s design… his head says “ON AIR”. Later we know that Hate can listen in on him. D’you figure he ever makes himself “OFF AIR” other than when he sleeps?

Now this little here combined textbox gives me some thoughts…

I haven’t paid attention to the color of character text beyond Hero’s voice getting eroded by sand, but… boxes can be any color and shape, its not uncommon for characters to have separate fonts, but words themselves? Only ever black and white. Now this could be for the sake of no eyestrain against backgrounds, but... consider the dichotomy TPoH is building up over its story

white in this comic is associated with bad things quite often. Lies, [-----], Hate’s realm. The blinding, scorching, destructive light of the unmasked Sun. meanwhile, darkness hides the Market from danger, and nighttime is tied intrinsically with dreaming. in fact, we JUST had an entire chapter dedicated to framing the Dark as good, protective, and aligned with trees and water, other positive entities

For a minute I got all excited because Dial and the Butterfly both have white text, thinking “oh, my god. do all Hate-aligned characters have white text?” this gets jossed pretty hard by Julienne’s white text, as well as Cell and Tailor.

but while THINKING on that, I jumped back to Storytime in chapter 10 and check this out: the moment RGB starts his story, text is suddenly white. Most of it continues to be in white… except for these two sentences

AND CHECK THIS SHIT OUT: THE TEXT COLOR/SCENERY CHANGE COLOR TO THE FIVE COLORS OF RGB’S SCREEN. HOW DID I MISS THAT??

(flips table) WHAT DOES IT ALL MEEEEEEAN

… y’know, the only character to have a white bubble color for their speech is RGB, who speaks in black

He’s both. He’s NEUTRAL.

Considering my talent for creating OCs but chronic deficiency in building coherent and decisive stories for them, they’re all probably wandering this Market and world right now. at the very least most of them have spent a DAMN long time here before becoming realized (im so sorry guys im trying)

The ones that are complete as themselves but their stories are unstarted/uncertain? That’s like. most of them. whoops. maybe this will be the kick in the pants i need

But on a brighter note: Fosters Home for Unfinished OCs

BUT by the rules of this world, RGB doesn’t have a story… yet this is his story.

Assok’s newest position of travel is adorable and im dying

Y’know… Hero and RGB have very different ways of solving things. A little obvious, but- RGB’s solutions are always convoluted, require multiple steps, and are a little ridiculous. Or, he at least FRAMES them as complex. See: Click escape, train escape, entire scheme to find a Hero to right the world. Hero’s far more straightforward but her solutions are also more, like… sensible than RGB’s if that makes sense. If it was just RGB up on the burning heart his plan would have probably involved more "im very intelligent” and pizzaz, while Hero went for the comparatively simple “lets zipline” (versus RGB’s upcoming Click escape clusterfuck)

All of which to say, I got thinking on that with RGB being like “it’s a very complex topic I can’t possibly boil it down to anything smaller” and Hero describing what the Make Believe acts as in one word

So if this worlds objects come from the sea, the sea is connected to other worlds? And it was confirmed early on that ‘stuff’ and ‘thought’ are basically synonyms- these foreign objects can exist in the Make Believe because they’re infused with enough Stuff!

Hero and presumably all of the other Heroes came from outside the Make Believe… they are not unrealized characters, or they didn’t start out as such. To exist here like this, they must then be imbued with enough Stuff/Thought… if we specify Stuff as equivalent to creative thought… by jove! I’ve hit on (another) theory!

Haven’t all past Heroes been artists? Julienne is a dancer, Melody a musician, Dial works radio, Ticker is a craftsman, and Tailor works with textiles. TOby and Assok don’t have anything obvious, but if I was Hate, I’d turn puppeteers into motionless dolls and empty-voiced sock puppets.

oh yeah, and Click. betcha he was a toymaker

I wonder what kind of artist Hero would grow up to be? She clearly draws, we saw her work taped to her bedroom wall

Of note… RGB is also an artist. It looked like that alternate human-self we glimpse later was involved with TV production, or perhaps script writing.

Tfw your ex walks past and doesn’t even hesitate like wow Magnus be a stone cold bitch like that

also like how his speech tail loops around his neck like a noose upon seeing Maggie

ALSO, that conveniently timed mention of hands when giving examples of what makes Stuff valuable in the Market- the nostalgia and undertones of regret are strong in this one

(watches this character die) oh jesus Christ. (looks at list of decommissioned ocs) ... oops

So this is what it looks like when a character dies… what does it look like when one is realized

do you like puns? want some more quality RGB roasting? like clothes shopping? the next chapter is for you

#tpoh #the property of hate #tpoh time with Gill

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letstalkaboutwebcomics · 7 years ago

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Let’s Talk About Heartstopper!

Please be sure you’ve read Ye Olde Disclaimer so you know what exactly is going on here. Beware… SPOILERS AHEAD!

Oh, Heartstopper, the feel-good comic of my heart. Dramatics aside, Heartstopper is a precious romance comic following the technical footsteps of slice-of-life. It’s written and drawn by Alice Oseman, who is the author of a number of novels. The Heartstopper storyline takes place in the greater universe of Alice’s novel Solitaire, so if you read it you’ll find the same characters on different adventures. Heartstopper is more of an episodic look into the backstory of Nick and Charlie’s relationship- two boys at an all-boys grammar school who find each other and work their way through what life throws at them. In Alice’s own words: “It doesn’t work as a novel because there’s no overarching drama - because it’s just real life. Just one normal, loving relationship between two people.”

So, onto the things about Heartstopper that I love! The first thing I look at when reading a comic is how exposition is handled right off the bat. Heavy-handed exposition is all good when it makes sense in the context of the story and avoids random info-dumping, especially within the first few pages. And thankfully, Heartstopper managed exposition delivery wonderfully! We are able to learn about Nick and Charlie’s personalities and backstories incrementally, and understand them as people solidly within a few interactions with them. It feels like getting to know a person naturally rather than being lectured about them, which sets up reader attachment. Right away, unforced, we have reasons to care about Nick and Charlie, which makes it easier to empathize with them and what they do.

Speaking of Nick, I can’t gush enough about how wonderful he is. Nick is just a downright lovable character, between his powerful love for other people, his big huggable design, and the fact that he simply does not half-ass anything. He runs with his emotions, never hesitating to come to the defense of someone who needs it, regardless of what it means for his own social standing. The way his bisexuality is handled is great, especially because his process of learning about what it means for him is an important and well considered part of the story. Charlie, having intimate personal knowledge on the struggles of balancing your identity with the rest of the world, is completely supportive of his journey. Which brings me to my next point…

Nick and Charlie support and uplift each other in so many vital ways. And in these ways, the story manages to subvert a number of huge tropes it could easily have fallen victim to. I’m so, so, glad it doesn’t. For one, the miscommunication trope. There are a number of times where the story seems like it might be going in this direction, but every time without fail, it pivots back to Nick and Charlie openly communicating with each other about their feelings, current events, and their concerns. This is the basis for a healthy relationship, so seeing that openness and fortification is so refreshing (Note I’m only talking briefly about this trope, and there are many nuances to it that differ between stories, so it really is situational). Because of this, these instances enhance the plot, rather than bogging it down.

Another facet of the story that was well managed amidst the danger of potential issues is Charlie’s backstory. Charlie being bullied is an important and realistic facet of his character; It informs who he is and how he engages with others, believably. But seeing as this is a story in [mostly] the aftermath of it, I’m happy that it focuses more on his healing and finding happiness rather than dwelling too much. The balance here is good. We need to engage with Charlie’s past because it’s what led to the current events, but we are still able to look toward the future. The elements that follow him into the current timeline, such as his interactions with Ben, are huge driving forces where I think the framing was handled nicely. Seeing Ben get his ass beat by Nick was incredibly cathartic even though we had only seen a few developmental points of him by that point, which is points to it being well executed. In addition, it’s important in a story like this to see Charlie find power within himself that is not completely hinged on a protector. The last time (in-story) that he has a tense encounter with Ben, he finds that power, which… as cathartic as it was watching Nick intervene, it was even more so this time watching Charlie deal the final blow himself. I actually whooped out loud.

Side note, a trope I love: the classic Accidentally-Falling-On-Each-Other-And-Getting-Flustered trope :^)

Now onto the technical stuff. Alice’s creativity when it comes to panel layout and formation is absolutely fantastic. It breaks the monotony of a vertical scroll format and makes the actual act of reading and scrolling part of the movement of the story. The parts where story elements like leaves and flowers escape the frame are such a joy, and the instances where a moment is huge and emotional and the frame dissolves into flying objects… It takes my breath away! Using these objects to effectively space out the panels also helps with the flow of the story, so it can slow the reader down and force things to sink in better. Pacing is definitely one of the hardest things to work with in webcomics, so, well done!

Lastly, I want to look at the implications for the future, especially in regards to Charlie’s mental illness. This was definitely a given based on all the info we’ve been provided thus far. Seeing as Heartstopper is a backstory comic, there’s likely a lot of info out there outside of it and it’s obviously no secret that Nick and Charlie end up together- and very happy, at that. I haven’t read Solitaire yet so I’d like to revisit this when I’ve read it and when the comic has delved into this territory. I’m eager to see how these subjects will be handled, and I can’t wait to read every update along the way!

Now, go read Heartstopper and leave lots of comments, favs, and reblogs!

You can support Alice by:

Checking out her Portfolio

Buying Alice’s Books

Supporting her on Patreon

Following her on Twitter

Buying something from her Shop

Following her on Tumblr

And, as always, tell your friends!!!

#heartstopper #webcomic #essays #comic reviews #LGBT Webcomic #essay #review

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iainwrites · 7 years ago

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This may be a bit blasphemous (and very out of character for someone so focused on canon), but the Word of Jim isn’t the be all, end all for me. For one thing, the Word is so scattershot it’s damn near impossible to find every single aspect of it, what with panel discussions, AMA’s, interviews, one-off comments to fans, etc.

For another, Jim contradicts himself, because he is human like us all. Did the Black Court create Dracula, or was Dracula the first member of the Black Court? He’s said both are true at various points (once again, panel discussions). Are the gods Mantles that are passed on and changed, or are the gods immortal individuals who change with the times and have been known as different things at different times in history? The big pain in the ass here is that any wiki is created by fans from what they hear or read, with conflicting statements being a high possibility and the ability to nail down the “true” truth becomes a lesson in futility.

At this point, I’ve gotten to the point where the only canonical truth for the series is what’s between the pages. Everything else is up in the air, open for interpretation or able to be labelled false because of a conflicting report Jim may have thrown out during a panel after a a 30 city tour, with way too many short nights and long days in between. That stance isn’t going to appease a lot of people, who will have their information lined up and ready to tell me where I’m not right.

But here’s the thing: unless I’m writing a story, these are just the ideas that pop into my head while I’m reading and make me grin because of how inane or random they are. I don’t treat them as absolutes; they’re “what if’s?” which by their nature are off the wall and nonsensical. I drop them in here because they may make someone else grin a little and think stupid and random thoughts about the series. Will Harry and Buffy ever sit down and shoot the shit about their lives? Probably not. Is Harry ever going to interact with a Thor like Hemsworth? He may interact with a Thor and the Muses knows if he’s like Hemsworth in this world or if Odin/Vadderrung brought him up the old way or a modern way. These random ideas don’t always need to be fact checked. I love having the nerd talks with people and bouncing ideas of everyone who follows or reblogs my scatterbrained ideas, but not all of it has to be fact checked. And that goes for other blogs out there! Some of us just enjoy the “what if’s” for the sake of the weirdness they present, some of us like them for the stories they can produce, some of us like them for the conversations they start up.

I’ve got way too much time on my hands to consider this kind of stuff...

#random #Iain thinks out loud

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clonerightsagenda · 7 years ago

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Ok, let's finish this up tonight, now that I've gotten my cover letter ironed out. We're to Cherubquest, and I have a lot to say about the way John interacts with some of the meta stuff in this subact, so let's get started.

As they approach the MSPA terminal, John and Dave have another chance to talk. In John's tirade about Con Air, he reveals he thinks Dave is the true hero of the story. Meanwhile, Dave has repeatedly said he thinks John is the real hero. This is mostly due to both of them holding themselves to silly standards and then putting their friends on pedestals in comparison, and in the conversation, they both agree that's probably a little silly. The conversation closes with

JOHN: now, let's go write ourselves a happy ending!

which is a callback to something Jane said a long time ago.

Now, it's time for the conversation between Dave and Caliborn while John's trying to hack the narrative prompt. This log makes me laugh literally every time i read it. Part of its purpose was to relentlessly mock the theories that Dave would die because he's the most important tragic character ever, but the log also explores some meta stuff about Homestuck as a narrative and authorial control that ties into what I'm doing with John, even if he doesn't participate in the conversation. And I've got a lot to say about this, because I wrote my undergrad thesis on how Junot Díaz portrays the author as inevitably a dictator in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Great book by the way, if you haven’t read it. It has the most kickass opening I have ever read.

In that novel, Díaz quips that writers and dictators have never gotten along because “like recognizes like”. The novel explores the politics of storytelling – how those in power shape or silence narratives – and it makes even its own narrator and author complicit. Any act of storytelling is inherently dictatorial to an extent. The person telling the story gets to choose what to include and what to leave out. Everyone listening is forced to accept their version of events. There's a big motif in the novel of gaps - things that the dictator has covered up, or things that the narrative is not willing or able to tell. The blank pages are a sign of suppression and violence, but they can also be an opening for someone willing to write on them.

Caliborn is a textbook example of putting the author into authoritarian. He seizes control of the narrative and attempts to retell the story in a way that fits his sensibilities. (Some conspiracy theories argue that he succeeded.) This extends way past his Homosuck doodles. As Lord English, he shapes and defines the alpha timeline, dooming any deviations from the path he has set to wither and die. Any story that doesn’t meet with his approval and match the one he’s telling is sidelined. Caliborn has been forcing everyone to be bit parts in his epic from day one.

(As a sidenote, this is a flaw I accuse Dave of having – of thinking of other people’s motivations and reactions as peripheral to his aims, like they’re props in the drama of his life. Of course Caliborn is much much worse (many teens are solipsistic) but it’s intriguing.)

I’m aware of the obvious catch here. After all, the two of us decided we didn’t like the way the story was going, so we barged in and grabbed it. Now we’re telling a version, and the characters are dancing to our tune. My conclusion from reading Díaz’s novel (though not mine alone; I wasn’t fast enough off the block to be the first person writing on this) was that to avoid being dictators, writers have to leave gaps. A motif within The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the pagína blanco or blank page, something that hasn’t been filled in. The narrator leaves gaps, asks questions, and specifically says he cannot finish telling the story on his own. The readers have to piece things together or make assumptions, and different readers are likely to do that differently. The novel draws on so many different frames of reference, probably intentionally, that no one person will grasp it all.

So silence is one way to not impose your authority over a narrative, but then no narrative gets to exist at all. But the other option is openness, or multiplicity. I wrote in a gag about Caliborn’s superior headcanons, because he’s trying to make his vision overrule all while wildly misinterpreting the characters we know, but headcanons? Fanfic? Fandom in general? That’s how readers turn a dictatorship into a democracy.

As I was working on the outline for this project, I had to wrestle with what made Lord English a compelling villain. After all, Dave says it himself in his argument with grimbark Jade. He lurks on the periphery. He hasn’t done much to any of them directly. Technically, he’s the reason any of them exist. But he’s also what has them trapped in only one option, punishing any deviation even if it might make things better for them. He’s the reason for the dreambubbles being stuffed with dead dreamers who objectively did everything right. He’s the tyranny of the narrative given form.

I was rather pleased with this conclusion. Then Act 7 happened and a bunch of other people came up with the same idea as an explanation for why canon had to end the way it did, which made me feel far less original, not that I was very original to begin with. Did canon pull it off? That’s up to you to decide. Will we? Same thing. After all, if we want to avoid the same level of tyranny, at some point we have to back off. At some point, we – like all the other authors – have to die. Metaphorically. Hopefully, anyway.

How does this tie into John's arc? As I said earlier, John has a tendency to view things through the lens of fiction. When he gets the retcon power, he now has authorial control over the story. He can defy the alpha timeline, which is the narrative Caliborn/Lord English privileges. Dave makes a joke about Karkat's sickle plus John's hammer meaning they'll seize the means of production, but John does. He seizes the narrative, and he writes them out of the hole they're in. By saving Calliope, he defies Lord English's will and starts a chain reaction that will lead to his defeat on more than one front.

Specifically, he calls Calliope's name. At the very beginning of Homestuck, we're shown that you have to name the character before you can give them commands. We're told later that the cherubs' names are important, but it never comes up again. So I made it relevant again - maybe Roxy just saying Calliope's name wasn't enough, but armed with the narrative prompt and Breathy power, John can call her name loudly enough to bring her back from the dead. Plus, with his meta power, he fucks around with the comic proper - clicking links and appearing outside the panel frame. This story is his now. After viewing his life through the prism of a story, he's going to use that to rewrite it better.

Now that I have forced you to sit through a miniature version of my undergrad thesis, let's move on to post-Cherubquest content. As the Betas prepare to fight Jack, John stares up at the sky and is treated to a cloud-memory of his dead father. (Has Gill shared the sketch for this panel? It's ridic.)

EDIT: She once sent it to me. Here it is.

He's facing these memories now, even if they're not ones he enjoys. As a side note, you'll notice the next panel has everyone drawn in old school Homestuck style to show how far they've come. The thick lines are kinda unsettling tbh.

And finally, our most recent update. John is getting used to the fact that ok, he might be silly and dorky and not the traditional Platonic form of a hero, but he gets the job done. He's actually one of the characters who'll rely on the walkarounds a lot more for closure - be on the lookout for him to sort of settle some of his issues re: emotional repression, heroic ideals, and doomed timeline bias when we get there. Still, he's on his way! And he got to do some stuff on his own terms, instead of just being bossed around, so he's a lot happier, even if he is burdened by the harsh reality of their lives. The past may be brutal, but things are looking up.

#tlcstuck #dvd commentary #i'm caught up!#since i'm waiting on the kanaya one

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paleorecipecookbook · 7 years ago

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RHR: A Three-Step Plan to Fix Conventional Healthcare

In this episode we discuss:

The patient case that inspired the book

Who is this book for?

The mismatch between our medical paradigm and chronic disease

Drug companies and conflicts of interest

How clinicians can help create a new paradigm

The three core problems and how to solve them

What this new paradigm looks like

How do we pay for this? Is it scalable?

How allied providers are the key

Show notes:

Unconventional Medicine by Chris Kresser

Special offer for RHR podcast listeners - get the audiobook free if you buy the book by November 12th.

NaturalForce.com - use coupon “unconventional” and get $10 plus free shipping

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Chris Kresser: Hey, everybody, Chris Kresser here. Welcome to another episode of Revolution Health Radio. Today we’re going to do something a little different. I am bringing on a guest host, Tony Federico, he’s the VP of marketing for Natural Force Nutrition, a physiology editor for the Journal of Evolution and Health, and a longtime contributor to Paleo Magazine, and also at Paleo f(x), which is where I met Tony, I think, originally, and I have interacted with him the most. And he’s moderated several panels that I’ve been on and I’ve always been impressed with the way he’s done that, the intelligent questions that he asks and just his balanced perspective on ancestral health and Functional Medicine, and this movement overall. Today is the day that my new book, Unconventional Medicine, comes out. It’s now available on Amazon, and I wanted to ask Tony to come take over the podcast and talk with me about the book because I know he’s really interested in all these topics and he’s read quite a bit of the book himself, and I thought it would be more interesting to have a conversation about it than for me to just sit here and do a monologue. So Tony welcome to the show and thanks for being here. Tony Federico: Yeah, thanks for inviting me on, Chris. It’s always fun, when we’ve had the chance to chat, as you said. Whether in person or on podcast, I’m always happy to jump in and dish on health with you. Chris: Fantastic. So, you have read a little bit of the book and we chatted a little bit about it via email, so let’s dive in. Let’s talk a little bit about this book. And for me it was really, it felt like the most important next step that I could take in order to get this message out about ending chronic disease. Tony: Yeah, I got my copy of Unconventional Medicine a couple days ago. I just so happened to have some time off yesterday, and the next thing I knew I was 80 pages in. Chris: Nice. Tony: So, I have to say that, as somebody who’s been in the trenches, I worked as a personal trainer for 10 years, I could really relate to a lot of the things that you were saying in the book, and we’ll get into why a little bit later on in the interview. But you know I just am really impressed with what you put together here, Chris. So let's just, let's get into it, and the first thing that I actually wanted you to maybe tell me a little bit about was how you open the book, which I think is a really great story about a patient named Leo. So I wanted to talk a little bit about Leo and his story and kind of how that inspired you to go down this particular path of unconventional medicine.

The patient case that inspired the book

Chris: Sure, yeah. So, Leo was an eight-year-old boy that I treated in my clinic a few years back, and I wanted to start with his story because it's, unfortunately, a typical story, much more common than, of course, we would like. And it was powerful for me, it was a powerful experience. It's what actually led to me writing this book. So, like way too many other kids of his age, he was suffering from a number of behavioral issues. He was initially diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Eventually they settled on OCD and sensory processing disorder. He would throw these just crazy tantrums where he'd end up crying or screaming inconsolably, writhing on the floor, and this would happen for seemingly the simplest of reasons. Like trying to get his shoes tied as they were going out the door, not cutting the crust off his sandwich in just the right way or getting a stain on his favorite T-shirt. And he was really rigid around his behavior and its environment, everything had to be just right, just the way he wanted it to be, or else he would fly off the handle.

Is a new healthcare paradigm affordable? Scalable? You bet.

His diet was extremely limited, he only ate a handful of foods, pretty much all of which were processed and refined. So crackers, bread, toaster waffles, that sort of thing, and this is part of the kind of OCD-like tendencies. And any time his parents would try to introduce new food, he would go totally ballistic. And they were worried about nutrient deficiency, but they didn't feel like they ... they were just worn down. Any parent who has a kid like this will understand that. It's just they didn’t feel like they had the resources to battle him at every meal. And they took him to a bunch of doctors locally, and that’s where they got those diagnoses. Initially they were kind of relieved to have those, but then after a while they realized that they were just simply labels for symptoms. And when they asked what the treatment was, you can probably guess the answer: medication. Tony: Something to do with drugs. Chris: Something to do with drugs. Yeah. And when they asked how long he would be on that treatment, you can probably also guess the answer. Tony: The rest of your life. Chris: Yeah. Shrug of the shoulders, indefinitely, maybe he'll grow out of it, that sort of thing. And they weren't excited about the idea of of medicating their son, but they were also aware of how much he was suffering, and they were suffering, frankly, too. They decided to give them a try, starting with Adderall, and then they progressed to Ritalin and then antidepressants. And certainly the drugs did seem to help with at least some of the symptoms, but there were a couple issues. Number one, they also caused some very intractable side effects like headache, abdominal pain, irritability, and most significantly, severe sleep disruption. And they had a couple of other kids that were younger than Leo. So they were not happy about the sleep disruption. Nobody was because it was brutal for them and also brutal for Leo. Kids need a lot of sleep, and if they’re waking up throughout the night, that’s going to make ... So that was in some ways worse than the original symptoms they were trying to treat. And then Leo's mom had done quite a bit of research on the effects of these medications and she was scared. Particularly for children and adolescents, some of these drugs have some pretty scary side effects and long-term risks. So what really stood out to me, and I mentioned this in the book, is that not once during this entire process of seeing all these different doctors, primary care provider, psychiatrist, eventually behavioral disorder specialists, did anybody even hint at the possibility that something in Leo's diet or some other underlying issue like a gut problem or nutrient deficiency or heavy metal toxicity or something like that could be contributing to his symptoms. It wasn't even broached as a possibility at any time. Fortunately, Leo's mom, one of her friends followed my work and sent her a couple of articles from my blog. One was on the gut–brain–axis, and I think the other one was on the underlying root causes of behavioral disorders. And so that's what led them to bring Leo to see me, and long story short, we were able to ... we did a bunch of testing, found issues that you might guess at. So, disrupted gut microbiome, SIBO, fungal overgrowth, gluten intolerance, but also intolerance of soy and corn and rice and buckwheat, which were major ingredients in a lot of the processed and refined food products that he ate, and arsenic toxicity because rice milk was the only other beverage he would drink aside from water. And we know that rice products can be high in arsenic. So, we, over several months, it definitely wasn't easy to address these problems because of his OCD-like tendencies and his picky eating habits. But after several months he was like a different kid. His teacher even called home and was like, “What have you done with Leo and who’s this kid that you’re sending in?” Because it was a big issue for her. They often had to come to school and pick him up early because of the behavioral problems. And his diet expanded; he was eating foods he would've thrown against the wall just months before, he was more tolerant of disorder, more relaxed in his environment. They were able to travel for the first time in a long time because he wasn't so anxious in unfamiliar environments. His physical symptoms had improved significantly. So they were just over the moon. They couldn't believe it, and toward the end of our treatment together, she said something that really struck me, which was there’s so many kids out there that are like Leo and they’re suffering, they’re not finding help in the conventional system. Tony: Sure. Chris: And their doctors and parents are not even thinking about this stuff. Like it’s not even in most people’s consciousness that if a kid has a behavioral disorder that you should look at these physiological issues. It’s not, for 99 percent of people they don't even go there because they don't know. Tony: Yeah, I mean I think that that was—reading about Leo and reading about a story and certainly there's people that I've known, myself included, who have had very similar experiences—I think it's great to have a narrative like this that you can really connect to because then when you tease it apart, all the pieces really make sense. It makes sense why having doctors treat symptoms has failed, it makes sense why a lack of communication between the health provider network that was supposed to be serving Leo failed. It makes sense why it didn't work when you actually start to tease it out. But then we’re still all, well not all, but most of us are still going down this path and it's an exercise in futility, really. You have an eight-year-old kid who's on powerful stimulant medications, he’s on antidepressants, and it was bad enough for his parents to reach out and to seek those interventions as solutions, and then the side effects are even worse. And that’s just something that just gets you right in the heart. And like you said, he’s not the only one, he’s not the only kid. His parents are not the only parents. And frankly, his doctors are not the only doctors because I can guarantee you that that probably doesn’t really feel good for the practitioner, for the healthcare provider to not get results as well. And they’re working with what they’ve got. Chris: Absolutely. Tony: And trying to use the tools they have. Chris: Yeah, I mean, let’s be clear about this. Everybody is doing the best they can in this situation. The parents are doing the best they can, in the vast majority of situations, parents just love their kids and do everything possible that they can to help their kids thrive. I’m a parent, I know that that’s how I relate to my kid. I know that every parent I know, that’s how they relate to their kids. And I would even, I would say that’s true for doctors too. The vast majority of them are trying to do the best they can with the tools that they have and in the system that they’re working within. And that’s the rub. Tony: Right. Chris: It’s like most doctors I’ve seen have been caring and they’ve wanted to do the right thing, but the question is, can they do the right thing in the conventional medical system as it exists today? And, of course, that’s largely what the book is about.

Who is this book for?

Tony: Yeah, so let’s kind of speak to that specifically. And we’re talking about doctors, we’re talking about medical professionals, we’re talking about patients, and then we didn’t mention it, but where I fit into this formula or potential formula as an allied healthcare provider, as a personal trainer/health coach, is that your audience for this book, do you really see that kind of triad is who you're speaking to here? Chris: Yeah, definitely. I think if you look at the cover of the book, the subtitle is “join the revolution to reverse chronic disease, reinvent healthcare, and create a practice you love.” So that last bit would suggest that it's mostly for practitioners, but that's not true. It is really for anybody that is interested in the ideas of reinventing healthcare and reversing chronic disease. And, in fact, I would argue that that change is going to be initiated by people, primarily by people that are not practitioners. So it's like a grassroots, bottom-up approach, where a good example is with my training program, my ADAPT training program, now that we've been training practitioners in this approach for the last couple years, we always ask people how they learned about my work or how they learned about the training program. And in a surprising number of cases, the answer is from their patients. So these doctors or other practitioners, their patient brings an article in that I wrote or brings something in, tells them about me, and to their credit they’re open-minded enough to go and check it out. And then they like what they see and they end up taking the next step. So people even who have no intention of ever becoming a healthcare practitioner, I think would really benefit from this book if they're interested in these ideas. And then certainly, as you mentioned, licensed healthcare providers like medical doctors or nurse practitioners or physician assistants that are currently working within the conventional paradigm but have already seen its limitations and want to do something different but don't yet know what that might look like. And then people who are outside of the conventional paradigm but are already practitioners, so acupuncturists, chiropractors, naturopathic physicians, etc., in many cases they’re already well aware of the limitations of conventional medicine, which is why they chose to go down a different path. But speaking personally as an acupuncturist myself, I also saw some limitations in the traditional Chinese medicine approach, or at least some differences in the way that I wanted to practice it. I was looking for something that could incorporate modern diagnostic testing and create a more systematic approach that included ancestral diet and lifestyle and some of the other things we talk about in the book. So, I think many of those practitioners can benefit from the book from that perspective. And then you have the growing and already large number of people like yourself who are personal trainers, health coaches, nutritionists, etc., who I really think are going to play an increasingly important role in this revolution to reinvent healthcare. Tony: Yeah, it so important now for people to really, for patients to be their own advocate, and I don't think we’re living in a time where I remember with my grandparents—if your doctor said something, it was basically gospel and you didn’t question it and you didn't think about it. Now, the first thing people do when they experience a symptom, it's Dr. Google first. So it's super important to equip and arm patients with good information, which I think this book does. Here's a path, here's a path forward for you as a patient. But then it's respectful of the role of doctors, and you highlight many situations where conventional medicine is great. If you break your arm or get in a car accident or have a heart attack or whatever the case may be, yeah, you need a doctor, and you need to go to an emergency room and you need those types of interventions. But it's really in this kind of gray area, it’s really not gray, it’s actually quite clear. And we could probably specify a little bit more, but there’s this middle zone where somebody’s not acutely injured, they’re not acutely in a disease state. They’re in a chronic disease state, or they’re just unwell. And it’s hard for a system that is all about pharmacological interventions, surgical interventions, to deal with a more subtle approach. And that’s where that whole middle ground and acupuncturists and massage therapists and everybody who's in that middle zone. I had clients constantly when I was actively training, constantly asking me questions where I was like, you know what? This is really something they maybe should be taking to their doctor. But guess what? The doctor only has 15 minutes under pressure to see as many patients as they can. I had a friend who was a physician in France. And he was telling me about their medical model, and he would spend tons of time with his patients. And it was actually incentivized for prevention. And here we see some maybe misplaced incentives, and perhaps you can speak a little bit more about that.

The mismatch between our medical paradigm and chronic disease

Chris: Yeah, so, going back to your original comments, I think that the most important thing for people to understand is that our medical model, when it comes to our medical paradigm, is that it evolved during a time when acute problems were the biggest issues. So in 1900, the top three causes of death were all infectious diseases, tuberculosis, typhoid, and pneumonia. And the other reasons people would see the doctor were among those you mentioned, like a broken bone or a gallbladder attack or appendicitis. Tony: War. Chris: Right, injuries, trauma, etc. And so the treatment for that's pretty straightforward. It wasn't always successful, of course, but it was straightforward. You know, if the bone was broken, you set it in a cast. If the gallbladder was swelling, you would take it out. If someone was having appendicitis, you’d remove the appendix. So that's pretty ... it's one problem, one doctor, one treatment. Pretty straightforward. But you fast-forward to today, it's a totally different healthcare landscape. Seven of the top 10 causes of death are chronic disease rather than acute problems now, and 86 percent of the healthcare dollars we spend go toward treating chronic disease. And unlike acute problems, chronic diseases are expensive, difficult to manage and usually last for a lifetime. They don't lend themselves to that one doctor, one problem, one treatment kind of approach. The average chronic disease patient requires multiple doctors, usually one for every different part of the body in our system, and is taking ... Tony: Specialists. Chris: Right, specialists, they’re taking multiple medications in many cases, and they're going to be taking those medications for the rest of their life. So far, it's really, our conventional medical system is amazing for these acute problems. But it's the wrong tool for the job for chronic problems. So that's one issue, and it’s really important to point that out, because we just went through the whole healthcare debate again with the Affordable Care Act and the current administration’s proposal for a replacement, which has not come to fruition. But throughout that entire discussion, it really bothered me that there was an elephant in the room. All the discussion was around insurance. Like, who gets insurance and who doesn’t. And that’s important, it’s important to talk about that. But we have to recognize that health insurance is not the same thing as healthcare. Tony: Yeah. Chris: Health insurance is a method of paying for healthcare. And that’s really crucial to get that difference. Because my argument in the book is that there is no method of paying for healthcare, whether it’s the government, corporations, or individuals, that will be adequate and will be sustainable under the pressure of growing prevalence of chronic disease. It will bankrupt all of us. Government, the corporations, individuals, whoever is responsible for paying for the care will not be able to do it unless we can actually prevent and reverse chronic disease instead of just slapping Band-Aids on it. Tony: I think the analogy you gave in the book was rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “Making a few small tweaks to our current system and expecting that to work is like rearranging the deck furniture on the Titanic as it inexorably sinks into the ocean. Too little, too late.” Chris: Yeah, exactly. That’s the argument about insurance. As the whole ship goes under, sinks under. The other problems you mentioned are very real also. So we have a misalignment of incentives, like the insurance industry, for example, doesn't benefit when the cost of care shrinks because they only make more money when the overall expenditures rise. So it's actually not in their best interest necessarily to seek out the most cost-effective solutions.

Drug companies and conflicts of interest

Chris: And then of course, we have drug companies. People are pretty well aware of the conflicts of interest there. It’s in their interest to sell drugs, and even when that’s not in the interests of the general public or the patients or the doctors. In many cases, it’s not in their interest either. So the best example of this is a recent one. We’re in the midst of an opioid crisis, the worst we’ve ever seen by far, and the DEA has been wanting to create new regulations that restrict a pharmacy’s ability to sell opioids in ways that will protect people. So, for example, there was a pharmacy in West Virginia in a town that was tiny. It had like 30,000 people in this town, and they had ordered something like nine million opioid pills in the last year. It was clearly a front, like there’s clearly something shady going on there. There's no way that 30,000 people in that town needed nine million opioid pills, and yet there are no regulations to actually prevent that from happening. And so, the DEA had proposed some regulations to just safely protect people from that kind of thing. And the Big Pharma lobby basically shut that down and they played a big role in writing a law that limits the DEA's ability to do that kind of regulation in the midst of the worse opioid crisis ever. And to put this in perspective, we hear a lot about the gun lobbies and their control. They spend about $10.5 million lobbying Congress, I think, per year. And Big Pharma, they spent $250 million. Tony: Wow. Chris: Twenty-five-fold higher. Tony: It's really tragic. I actually, I don’t think we’ve ever talked about this, but I grew up in South Florida, which was kind of ground zero for the opioid epidemic. And I remember in high school down in Miami and West Palm Beach, and kids would get a hold of a contact or whatever, somebody that had a prescription and basically would end up being a de facto drug dealer vis-à-vis a pill mill, etc. The kid across the street from me died, multiple kids in my high school died, multiple kids went into in-treatment programs, some of them battled addictions for decades. Some of them got out of it. Very few got out of it. Some of them didn't and have continued to be plagued with either switching from pharmaceuticals to street drugs like heroin, etc., and then we can see what's happening there. And that's just one example. If we look at drug consumption in the United States, is it that Americans are just that much sicker and we’re in that much more pain than people in other countries? Because we’re consuming far and away more painkillers than any other country on the planet. And I would venture to guess that you could say the same about antidepressants or ADD medication. It's very much a case of misaligned incentives. And incentives are working in the sense of the pharmaceutical companies are doing very well. Chris: Yeah. Who are they working for is the question. Tony: Exactly. Chris: We’re the only country aside from New Zealand that allows direct-to-consumer drug advertising, and I think that's a big part of the problem. But it's not just Big Pharma. We also have conflicts in medical research that, of course, are related to Big Pharma because they pay for two-thirds of all medical research. We have broken payment models, where there's no real incentive or reward for good performance, and in fact, you could argue it's the other way around because doctors are compensated for, usually based on the number of procedures they order and the number of patients they see. So to your point about the doctor in France who is actually incentivized to prevent, rather than just treat disease, we don't have that at all, it's the opposite. And so there are a lot of deeply entrenched issues that we certainly need to address, and that's not essentially what this book is about. There are other books that cover that material really well, and frankly many of those issues are outside of our individual control as clinicians or practitioners.

How clinicians can help create a new paradigm

Chris: We can work toward addressing them, and I think we should, but the good news is that I think that the bigger changes that we need to focus on individually and collectively are addressing the medical paradigm which we’ve talked about, creating a medical paradigm that’s better suited to tackle chronic disease. Addressing the mismatch between our modern diet and lifestyle, and our genes and our biology, which we've, of course, talked a lot about on the show before. And then creating a new way of delivering healthcare that actually supports this new medical paradigm and this more preventative approach. Because those things are all within our control as clinicians. Tony: Yeah. I like how you posed the question, and it was kind of a cool little, I think it was, not Hiroshi, but the person who is in charge of cooking at a Buddhist monastery. And basically a young monk comes up to this older man. He’s like, why are you doing the grunt work, basically washing rice out in the courtyard? And he says, it was like, what was it? “If not me, who? And if not now, when?” And I think that that’s really kind of the core of setting all this stuff up. Talking about the problem is really in the service of pivoting to the solution, and I’m a big believer in thinking globally, thinking big, but acting locally, hyper-locally, like yourself. Chris: Yeah. Tony: And then the people around you and who you can touch and impact. That’s ultimately where the power comes from. So let’s talk about that. What is in people’s power. And you started to describe some of those pillars of a new model. And you describe it as the ADAPT framework. And I don’t know how much you get into this on your regular podcast episodes, but to just kind of lay it out, ADAPT from a big-picture perspective. How does that actually address some of these systemic issues from an individually empowered stance? Chris: Yeah, great question, and before I even go into that, I just want to say I agree that I think the change is going to happen on different levels. So, because a lot ... we’ve talked about this stuff at conferences or even some people who’ve already read the book. They say, oh, this is fantastic. I’m so excited. But how are we going to deal with Big Pharma and the insurance industry and these misaligned incentives and all of that? And can we ever deal with that? The answer is we’re not going to deal with that overnight and it’s going to take a while to unwind those things. Tony: It’s the chronic disease, is what you call... Chris: Exactly, exactly. And I use that analogy in the book. But the good news is that changes can happen very quickly on an individual and local level. And there’s already a lot of evidence of that happening. So my own clinic, CCFM, tripled in size in the last three years alone. We have Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, launched by Dr. Mark Hyman, has just blown up like crazy. I mean they started in this tiny space. Now their 17,000-square-foot space, it takes up the whole second floor of the Glickman Tower at Cleveland Clinic. They've got a waitlist of 2,500 patients from nine countries around the world. This is really exciting! The Cleveland Clinic is always on the forefront of the newest trends in medicine, and the fact that they've invested that much money in this speaks volumes. Then we have groups like Iora Health, an organization based in the Rocky Mountain area that’s reversing diabetes using health coaches. So there are lots of really interesting produced concepts, and there's going to be more and more of these. Like we’re doing a pilot program with the Berkeley Fire Department where we’re working with their new recruits to help, we’re implementing a wellness program. Tony: That’s awesome. Chris: To reduce injuries and help with recovery and optimize their performance. And if that goes well, there’s been interest from the wider fire department and in the city of Berkeley as a whole. Robb Wolf’s done some incredible work with Reno that we’ve talked about before. So I think the change is going to happen more quickly on this local grassroots level, and then that's going to start to get the attention of people on a state and federal level. And then it will start to get really interesting.

The three core problems and how to solve them

To answer your question, in my book I basically lay out three core fundamental problems with the healthcare system in the US. And these, I argue, go even deeper than the misaligned incentives and Big Pharma and all of that stuff, although they’re, of course, connected. The first is that there is a profound mismatch between our genes and our biology and our modern diet and lifestyle. And I'm not going to say more about that now because almost everyone listening to this podcast knows exactly what I mean. The second problem is the mismatch between our medical paradigm and chronic disease, which we just talked about. We need a new medical paradigm that is better suited for chronic disease. And then the third is that the way we deliver care in this country is also, it's not set up to support the most important interventions. And we’ve touched on that too, where the average visit with the primary care provider is just actually eight to 12 minutes. Tony, you were talking about 15 minutes. That’s luxurious in our current model. The average amount of time a patient gets to speak before they’re interrupted by the doctor is 12 seconds. Tony: Wow. Chris: So I think it’s pretty clear that if a patient has multiple chronic diseases, which one in four Americans now do, one in two has one chronic disease, and they show up to the doctor’s office and they're on multiple medications, and they had been presenting with a whole set of new symptoms, there’s absolutely no way to provide high-quality care in a 10-minute visit. So we have to change our, not only the paradigm, but also the way that care is delivered. So that was my premise. So it follows then that my solution would address, I would hope at least those three points, right? Each of those three deficiencies. So the ADAPT framework combines an ancestral diet and lifestyle, which addresses that mismatch between our genes and biology in our modern diet and lifestyle. And then Functional Medicine is the new paradigm of medicine that is based on addressing the root cause of health problems, so we can prevent and reverse them instead of just suppressing symptoms. And then the third component is what I call a collaborative practice model, which links licensed providers like medical doctors, nurse practitioners, with what I call allied providers, which include folks like yourself, Tony, health coaches, nutritionists, personal trainers, etc., to provide a much, much higher level of care than what doctors are able to provide on their own. So, again, we're not trying to replace doctors in any, or even conventional medicine. We need people to do colonoscopies and remove cancerous tumors and use all of the incredible amount of training and expertise and skill that they’ve acquired over a lifetime of practice and study. We absolutely want that, but we need to add stuff to that that's not available now. Tony: What that really says to me is, emphasize the importance of community, of connection, of collaboration. We’re social creatures, we’re tribal by nature. That’s another kind of Paleo/ancestral health part of the puzzle. And it would be foolish to think that we can dissect out and silo out all these different aspects of our lives without consequence. I really like this idea of bringing everybody into the fold, and it’s not saying that you can go to just the naturopath, or you can go to just the health coach. Because like I mentioned already, I certainly would’ve been ill-equipped to handle plenty of issues that a client would’ve brought to mind or brought up in conversation during a training session. But it would’ve been really great to say, ah, here's the Functional Medicine practitioner that I recommend you speak with, and to have a good relationship with that person and to be able to, as a health coach, help my clients better by getting them in touch with the right person. And that’s having this network that can really support people throughout their health journey whether it’s just feeling better and more energy, or addressing something like diabetes or hypertension. Which certainly there’s a place for all the players in that kind of scenario.

What this new paradigm looks like

Chris: Absolutely. And let’s use an example just to bring this to life for people. So, imagine you go to the doctor and they do some blood testing for your annual physical. And they find that your fasting blood sugar is 96 or 97. Your hemoglobin A1c is 5.5, and you’ve got triglycerides that are 110, 120, maybe 130. Currently, what would happen is nothing, usually. Tony: You’re not sick enough yet. Chris: Yeah, all of your markers are within the lab range, they say, and that means you’re normal, and so you might get some vague advice about make sure to exercise and follow a good diet. And thank you very much, that’s it. Certainly there are exceptions to the rule, of course. There’s some practitioners who can get a lot more proactive about that. But I can’t tell you how many people, patients I’ve had that have been given that basic line with those kinds of lab results. What could happen is this. The doctor says, “Well, you know, if we think of blood sugar disorders on a spectrum, on the left you’ve got perfect blood sugar. On the right you’ve got full-fledged type 2 diabetes. You’re not on the right yet, you don’t have type 2 diabetes or even technically prediabetes, but you’re progressing along that spectrum. And what we know from a lot of research is that if we don’t intervene now, that you’re going to continue progressing. And in fact, we have studies that show that the average patient who has prediabetes, will progress to full-fledged type 2 diabetes in just five years if it’s not addressed.” So what we want to do is be proactive here. We want to intervene now because it’s much easier to prevent a disease before it occurs than it is to treat it after it’s already occurred. So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to set you up with our staff health coach, and they’re going to give you all the support you need to adopt a better diet. They’re actually even going to take you shopping, they’re going to come to your house and clean out your pantry with you, and they're going to give you recipes and meal plans and give you ... totally hold your hand and do everything that they need to to get you on this diet. Because we know that information is not enough. We’ve got lots of studies. I can tell you as a doctor, go eat a healthy diet, and hey, we know that that’s probably not going to happen. Most people know what they should be doing, but they’re not doing it, and it’s not because of lack of information. It’s because they need support, and we’re here to support you. We’ve got this health coach. Furthermore, we've got this great personal trainer named Tony. We’re going to set you up with him and we’re also going to set you up with a gym membership. And the good news is, your insurance is going to pay for all this. They’re going to pay for the health coach, they’re going to pay for the gym membership, they’re going to pay for your sessions with Tony. And in six months’ time, you’re going to come back here and we’re going to retest your blood markers and I can almost guarantee that if you stick with the program, you’re going to have normal blood sugar by that time. And throughout that period you’re going to have weekly check-ins with a health coach, you’re going to have training sessions. And not only will your blood sugar be normal, you’re going to lose weight, your energy levels are going to go up, your sleep’s going to get better, you’re going to feel more confident and empowered because you’re making these changes, and you’re going to feel like a different person. Now that’s totally possible.

How do we pay for this? Is it scalable?

Chris: I can hear some people saying, “Oh, how are we going to pay for that? That’s ridiculous.” Tony: Is it scalable? Chris: The question we should be asking is, is treating type 2 diabetes scalable? Because I mentioned this in the book, it costs $14,000 a year to treat a single patient with type 2 diabetes. So let’s imagine that this patient progresses. We don’t intervene, five years later they have type 2 diabetes. All of a sudden the healthcare system is spending $14,000 a year paying for that person’s care. And let’s say that that person gets diagnosed at age 40, which is still reasonable these days. The age of diagnosis is dropping more and more, and then let’s say that they live until they’re 85 years old, which is also possible because of our heroic medical interventions that keep people alive a lot longer than they might have been otherwise. So 45 years living with type 2 diabetes, that’s a cost of almost $650,000 for one patient to the healthcare system. Tony: And that doesn’t even touch on the lost wages, cost to employers, when someone’s on leave, loss of productivity. And then the cost to the family members. Chris: Absolutely. Tony: People that are actually, are helping the patient, their health is going to be going down too. Chris: Yeah. Nor does it touch on the qualitative aspects. Being immobilized, not being able to play with your grandkids, all of that stuff. But let’s just even forget about that for a second—$650,000, okay? And then the CDC recently came out with statistics saying that 100 million Americans have either prediabetes or diabetes, and 88 percent of people with prediabetes don’t even know that they have it. Which means they're almost certainly going to progress, right? If you do the math and you multiply 100 million people times even $14,000 for one year, you get a number that’s so large, I don’t even know what it is. It’s like a google something. It’s like, it has so many zeros after it, I don’t even know how to characterize it. But then if you multiply 100 million times like 20 or 30 years, it’s more money than there is in the world. It's like it's not going to happen. Tony: Not sustainable, not scalable. Chris: Not sustainable, not scalable. So let’s say in our example that we ... the healthcare system spends $10,000, which is way more than would be necessary, but let’s even say we buy the person’s groceries for three months. And their gym membership and their trainer, and their health coach, and those weekly, let’s say we spend $10,000. We’re just super generous and we spend $10,000 for that six-month period. Again, the research and my clinical experience indicates with near certainty that if the person is at that stage of not even prediabetic and we intervene, there’s like almost no chance that it’s not going to, we’re not going to be able to normalize that person’s blood sugar. And if they do that and they stick with it and they are able to do that because they now have support rather than just information, we’ve just saved the healthcare system $640,000 over the course of that patient’s lifetime. And that’s a conservative estimate, as you say. We're not including even the indirect costs. Tony: Right, right. Chris: I think that this is not only possible, it's going to become necessary. And whether we get there with a proactive approach where we decide to move in this direction and we make these changes or whether we get there because we absolutely have no choice, we’re going to get there. Tony: Yeah. I mean it really sounds like we can’t afford to not do this. Chris: Exactly. Tony: And if we get to that point where we continue down the reactive path and we wait until there’s a total collapse, it might be too late, just to put it frankly. And it’s going to come out at a huge, not just financial cost, a huge human cost. Chris: Yeah, it’s going to be, we can use the chronic disease metaphor again, it’s a lot easier to prevent a problem or reverse it at an earlier stage than it is to wait until the patient is essentially on life support or the healthcare system is on life support. It’s harder to reverse it at that time. And that’s of course why I’m writing the book now because I want to get this message out as far and wide as I can. Tony: Yeah. If not now, when? If not you, who? Go right back to there.

How allied providers are the key

Chris: Exactly. And one more thing about that is the amazing thing, the beauty of this is that it takes about eight years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to train a doctor. And it takes a certain kind of personality and a certain kind of comfort level with science, and a lot of prerequisites. It’s not for everybody. And there’s a ... already we have a shortage of doctors, and that’s predicted to get worse. I’ve seen estimates that suggest by 2025 we’ll have a shortage of 52,000 primary care physicians. So that’s a big deal. [insert image] So we already don’t have enough doctors, it’s already going to get worse, but if you think of healthcare as like a ... I have something in the book called the healthcare population pyramid. And you were referring to it earlier, Tony, where at the very top of that pyramid you’ve got 5 percent of people who are in really acute situations. So they’re in the hospital or they’re in an intensive outpatient care setting. They need the conventional medicine paradigm as it exists, and it’s fantastic for those situations. Then you’ve got another 25 percent of people in that kind of high middle of the pyramid who are dealing with some pretty serious chronic health challenges. So they require more regular care, but they’re not sick enough to be in the hospital or in any kind of ... they’re living their lives, but they’re struggling a lot. A Functional Medicine practitioner/clinician usually working in concert possibly with the conventional specialist of some kind is a really great option for that 25 percent of the pyramid. But then you’ve got the 70 percent at the bottom. So these are people who do, may have health issues, but they’re more minor, so they might have skin problems, or a little bit of brain fog, some difficulties sleeping, some GI issues. And these can be definitely debilitating and total pain, but they’re not at the level of that 25 percent. My argument is that in many cases these people could be very well served by a health coach or nutritionist with good training. And possibly seeing a Functional Medicine provider once or twice a year, or something like that. And the thing is, we can train people in a year or two without an extensive science background to be very, very objective in this role. Because they’re mostly working with patients on changing their behavior. If you think about it, most of the risk factors for chronic disease come down to the wrong behaviors. Eating the wrong diet, not getting enough sleep, not exercising, or exercising too much, or any number of things that come down to choices that we’re making. And so if a skilled health coach who’s trained in things like motivational interviewing and coaching to strengths and other evidence-based principles of facilitating behavior change which we have a ton of research on, they can be incredibly effective for that 70 percent of the population. That's the majority of the population. So we’re totally underutilizing these practitioners, and my argument is that they’re going to play a huge role in this future of medicine. And that's of course one reason why we're launching an ADAPT Health Coach Training Program next year to complement the practitioner training program that we've been doing. Because I want to create this ecosystem we've been talking about where you have all of these different types of practitioners working to the maximum of their training and ability and scope of practice and supporting each other and therefore providing the highest level of care to patients. Tony: That certainly kind of perks my ears up hearing about the ADAPT health coach option and something that I’m personally interested in. So who knows? Maybe I can get in on that. We can talk about it again in the future. Chris: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Tony: So, for this particular book, for Unconventional Medicine, people are fired up, they’re hearing about it, they’re like, “Okay, this resonates with me. I’m a practitioner, I’m an allied health provider, I’m a patient, I’m ready. Now’s the time. This is it. We’re going to do this.” What’s the best way for people to get their hands on this thing? Chris: Well not surprisingly, Amazon. They have the best way to get your hands on anything. So it’s available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook. We’re hoping [the audiobook] is going to be out today, the day this podcast is released. But it might be another two or three days. They’re just taking their sweet time to approve it. I narrated the audiobook myself. So you podcast listeners, I figured you might be into that, since you like to listen. Tony: They know your voice. Chris: Yeah, and just listening to something instead of reading it perhaps. So to that end, we have a special offer for podcast listeners, because I appreciate your support and I know many of you are already part of this movement, and some are wanting to get involved. So if you buy that paperback or Kindle version between now and Sunday night, you’ll get some really cool bonuses. The first is a free copy of the audiobook. So again, we wanted to include that for podcast listeners, since we figured you guys and gals are probably interested in audio. But there are two other things that are really, I think, fantastic. And one, they’re both tools to help you be more confident and persuasive and factual when you share your passion for Functional Medicine and an ancestral diet and lifestyle. Because we’ve had a lot of questions from people, both practitioners and non-practitioners alike. They say, “Oh, how do I talk about this stuff to my sister at Thanksgiving?” Tony: “Isn’t that that caveman diet?” Chris: Yeah, exactly. All of our ancestors died when they were 30, so why should we even care? How do you respond to those arguments? Or if you start talking about Functional Medicine and maybe one of your conventional medicine colleagues says, “Oh, that’s just, I saw something on Science-based Medicine that said that was all just hooey. There’s nothing to it. How do you respond to that?” So what we wanted to do is give people the ammunition they needed in a respectful way. You know, this isn’t about getting the better of somebody. It’s about responding in a factual and convincing but respectful way. So we’ve got two different, we’re calling these the Power Packs. And one is for practitioners, so clinicians, health coaches, nutritionists, trainers, etc., and these are facts, research that you can reference and persuasive reasons for your clients or patients or colleagues to consider this Functional Medicine and ancestral diet and lifestyle approach. And then we have one for non-practitioners called the Supporter Power Pack. And these are smart answers and compelling comebacks, again respectful, for those common objections that you hear when you start talking about this stuff with your friends and family. So these bonuses are available until Sunday night [November 12, 2017] at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. So you’ve got a few days to act on that, and you can go to ... we set up a special link for you to get these and that’s Kresser.co/bonus. That’s Kresser.co/bonus. So head over there to get your Power Packs and your free audiobook, and that’s after you purchase either the paperback or Kindle. There’ll be a place where you enter your order number and we ask for some information just to verify, and I hope you enjoy those and get a lot out of them. Because they were actually really fun to put together. Tony: Yeah, I think the audiobook is huge. I like to listen to audiobooks when I’m driving around town or outside getting some exercise. Chris: Yeah. Tony: So, no excuses when you make it that easy. Chris: Yeah, yeah. So, Tony, thanks so much for doing this. This has been really fun to talk to you, as it always is. And I appreciate it. Tony: Actually, I wanted to throw in one extra little special thing, as we mentioned, at the top of the show. I spent 10 years as a personal trainer in the trenches, I was involved with Paleo Magazine for many, many years, going to all the events, and for me kind of an evolution in my professional life was, how do I impact more people? How do I help more people? And at first I was working one on one, and then it was as a facility manager helping other trainers and coaches get better. And then I was able to scale it up that way. And last year I had an opportunity to join the team over at Natural Force, which is all-natural, nutritional products, and I basically said, “You know what? I’m going to go all in on this because if I can touch a million people through really good, high-quality nutrition, that’s me maximizing my impact and really kind of living my purpose.” So one of the things I wanted to do today is put it out there for anyone listening who maybe uses collagen or MCT oil or whey protein. We really bend over backwards to source the best ingredients in the world, no additives, all that stuff. Everything is as clean as we can possibly make it. It takes a lot of work, working with manufacturers. Kind of like what you were saying, how patients have to know how to talk to their doctor. I don’t think people really realize, and I didn’t realize until I got on the inside, how much work it is for a brand to work with their manufacturers to convince them to get outside of the conventional mold. So it’s the kind of unconventional nutrition is really what we’re pushing here. So I set up a discount code for any Revolution Health listeners. Go to NaturalForce.com, use coupon code “unconventional” and get $10 off plus free shipping on your order. So I just want to put that out there as just a little extra bonus for anybody, and I would certainly love to help in that way and really get some good, high-quality nutrition into people’s hands. Chris: Awesome. Yeah, and there’s so many ways people can help, and I ... at Paleo f(x) we’ve see the growth of companies that are serving this space, and it's amazing. Like the products that are available now. I had breakfast this morning, I had some eggs and kale and parsley and a little bit of bacon in a couple of cassava flour tortillas. Breakfast burritos. Whoever thought I’d be having a breakfast burrito again? Tortillas are made from completely cassava flour. They’re autoimmune friendly and they’re grain-free tortillas. It’s incredible. Tony: I think I might have some of those in my fridge as well. Chris: Yeah. I mean there’s so many things. And these people, they’re serving this movement with that kind of work. So it’s great to see. Tony: It takes a village, man. Chris: It does. Thanks again, Tony. I really appreciate it. Thank you, everybody. So again, Kresser.co/bonus to pick up your free audiobook and the other bonuses, and I hope you can all join me in this revolution to reinvent healthcare. We need you, whatever your background and goals. Take care, everybody.

Source: http://chriskresser.com November 08, 2017 at 04:12PM

#paleo #recipe #food #delicious #healthy #yum #diet

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danschkade · 7 years ago

Text

PAGE x PAGE ANALYSIS -- BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #1 (PART TWO)

PUBLISHED: DC Comics, June 1998

SCRIPT: TY Templeton

PENCILS: Rick Burchett

INKS: Terry Beatty

COLORS: Lee Loughridge

LETTERS: Tim Harkins

EDITORIAL: Darren Vincenzo

Picking up where we left off last week, we’re gonna dive back into1998′s BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #1. You can check out part one here, but for those with time against them, the setup of the issue is: The Joker has killed the only son of industrialist G. Douglas Reid, who has put a fifty million dollar bounty on the killer clown’s head. With all of Gotham gunning for the reward, Batman and his affiliates have taken the Joker into their private custody until they can resolve the situation. With Batgirl guarding the Joker in the Batcave, Batman and Robin head off to answer a Bat Signal from Commissioner Gordon. We’re eleven pages in.

Along with the regular discussion of story flow and scene direction, I’m also gonna get really into some tiny moving parts that particularly interested me as an artist. That might ultimately make this one of the dryer entires in this feature, but hey -- if you wanna skim through the analysis and just enjoy some great pages, friend of mine, it’s okay by me.

BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #1 and all characters contained therein are property of DC Comics, reproduced here solely for educational purposes.

***

PAGE TWELVE

Such a good design on that little Riddler iPod Shuffle (hereafter referred to as a “?Pod”). The question mark motif is clear enough to read, while still subtle enough to keep from being distracting. Loughridge does a good job of keeping the vibrant greens of the ?Pod distinct from the soft greens of Reid’s office in panel two. Burchett choses to include the Riddler’s staff on the ?Pod screen, which makes him immediately recognizable as the classic Batman villain and visually echoes the ?Pod’s design, helping us catch the motif.

Props to Bruce Timm for giving each of the Batfamily distinctive mask eyes, so they can be easily identifiable even in the shadows.

I’d also like to point out something so small it might even be an accident, but something I’ll definitely be using in the future: the different way Reid and Gordon hold their phones.

The angle of Reid’s hand in panel one suggests he’s holding the handset microphone closer to his mouth so he can better make his demands. His posture in panel two emphasizes the anger he feels, the power he’s trying to assert.

Compare with the angle of Gordon’s right hand, turning the handset so that the speaker is closer to his ear. Added to the way he’s gesturing with is other hand, this clearly shows us a man who’s trying hard to reason with somebody who just doesn’t want to hear him.

Try acting this out yourself -- imagining how you’d have to be talking to be holding a phone in each of these two ways. Like I said, it’s small, but it’s some real fine acting.

PAGE THIRTEEN

The ?Pod’s great design continues to help us out in the first panel -- it’s distinctive screen becomes an easily identifiable panel shape. Since the rest of the scene takes place in a green/teal environment, Loughridge gives that first panel a red boarder to help break up the scene. See also; the magenta sky.

There’s an interesting relationship between the Batmobiles in panels two and six. Here’s the page again, simplified to just those two panels:

See how the front bumper (gouger?) of the panel two Batmobile asserts itself over panel five? Somehow, this doesn’t interfere with the reading flow. Maybe it’s the simple black shape of the bumper, encouraging you to view it more as graphic element than a pice of diegetic matter. Or maybe it’s because the Batmobile is essentially a location, so we don’t expect it to interact with Batman and Robin inside -- and as a result, it doesn’t throw us when we see it encroach into their space. See also: the Uptown sign in panel seven.

Furthermore! The panel seven Batmobile’s rear fin creeps all the way back into panel two. It’s definitely purposeful -- it’d be easy to avoid with a very minor alteration in the angles of the cars so that they fit entirely within the panel borders. So why this atypical staging? It’s certainly a lively layout, for one thing. For another, liberating the Batmobile from the bounds of panel boarders makes it feel fast and powerful -- driving at liberty all over the page.

PAGE FOURTEEN

Look at that great smirk in panel three. The New Adventures redesign of the Riddler has nothing on the amazing sport coat and slacks look of the original, but it does have a certain stripped-down charm. It’s clean, distinctive, and devoid of redundancies.

This scene suffers some a little bit of messy geography, as we’ll soon see. For now, just take note of the balcony railing at the bottom of panel one, which is unquestionably where the gunmen are in panel four.

PAGE FIFTEEN

“Or merchandise worth an equivalent amount.” Templeton immediately ties the Riddler subplot to the main Joker narrative. Again, everything in this comic radiates from the clown prince’s murder of Reid’s son. The universe of the comic feels huge, but also connected.

The Riddler’s pose in panel two is his question mark motif writ large. Lowering himself on that ball, the “dot” in the question mark of his body, is a really good visual idea. Unfortunately, it’s at the heart of the geography problem in this scene.

But before we get to that, I want to point out a great example of setting up, execution, and finishing off an action: in panel one, the Riddler uses his cane to pull the rope towards him -- the setup. In panel two, he descends on the rope -- the execution. Then, in panel three, he’s still touching the ball -- finishing off the action.

PAGE SIXTEEN

Burchett makes great use of negative space to increase the tension of the Riddler’s countdown in the last two panels.

Sidebar: I’m remembering this bit from a Dan Olson video about -- don’t freak out now -- Triumph of The Will and the Cinematic Language of Propaganda, where he talks about the paradoxical perception strength and weakness of the enemy as viewed by fascism. Check out this segment of his video, and watch until about 10:50. It’s only a minute of video, and it’s interesting food for thought when viewed in the context of how to depict super villains, especially trickster-style villains like the Riddler (see also: Loki, Mysterio, or the Flash rogue who’s actually called ‘The Trickster’). Just try not to overthink the Nazi stuff.

PAGE SEVENTEEN

We jump from a panel of the Riddler to a panel of the Joker. Note how both of them are looking straight at us, both gesturing with their left hands -- the Joker’s even echoing Riddler’s countdown with his “Quarter to three” lyric. All of this means that we get to ride the tension of the Riddler scene right into this one, and multiply it by the demonstrably greater potential danger posed by the Joker.

The scene wrings extra tension out of the metatextual history that exists between Barbara Gordon/Batgirl and the Joker in the mainline DC universe. Even without that, we feel the threat he poses to her by the way he’s staged on the page. Look how the Joker dominates the layout: In Fig. 1 below, we have all the Joker panel appearances and dialogue (darkened so as to make the contrast more apparent), and all of Batgirl’s in Fig. 2.

He’s a talker, alright. But this serves another purpose as well: it reminds us that Batgirl is isolated -- trapped in that space with the Joker.

PAGE EIGHTEEN

On this page, the creative team and the clown prince have the same objective -- they’re trying to draw us/Batgirl in, commanding our attention, using a repetitive visual/verbal rhythm to hold our/her attention. The rhythm breaks when the Joker reveals his little magic trick in the final panel; on the art level, this is achieved by having the Joker break the panel border, along with the sudden snap to red.

PAGE NINETEEN

The intensity spikes with this page, both through the warmer colors and the more action-y diagonal gutters. Some clever staging here; Burchett is able to convey Batgirl’s jump in the first panel by showing us the railing behind the Joker, giving us a concrete landmark by which to place her in space.

Check out the motion lines Burchett and Beatty have given us here; see how no two actions take place along the same axis, creating a ton of energy on the page.

That black silhouette in the last panel is as gritty as this comic gets, but Burchett keeps it respectable by only showing the Joker, not the Batgirl he’s clobbering. On the next page, it’s immediately made clear she’s just knocked out, not fully Jason Todded.

Also, props of everybody for never messing up which of the Joker’s hands was cuffed. It’s the easiest thing in the world to accidentally switch it up, especially when a character turns their back to the reader.

PAGE TWENTY

The Joker is now free to move about the Batcave -- Burchett gives us a detailed look at the cave in panel one so that we viscerally feel this dangerous new liberty. He breaks the panel boarder again in panel two, which adds to that great double exposure as he sees the Batcave entrance. Sure, he saw it earlier when Alfred was coming down the steps, but it’s still a great moment. And anyway, it’s the Joker -- maybe he just forgot about it in all the excitement. Who’s to say?

PAGE TWENTY ONE

And we’re back. Here’s the heart of the geography problem -- or at the very least, a continuity problem. Back on pages fourteen and fifteen, we saw the Riddler’s goons are up on the balcony, along with him.

The Riddler then descends to the stage where Batman and Robin are standing. He then begins a one-two-three countdown; we leave the scene when he’s on two. Now he’s about to count three, and suddenly the goons are on the stage as well.

Gunfights are logistically tricky in any medium, especially when your heroes are unarmed. In this instance, the goons had to be down onto the stage so that Batman and Robin could realistically (”realistically”) take them on hand to hand. But since we never saw them descend to the stage, nor would they have had enough time to believably get there via stairs or whatever, their sudden appearance on the stage is very jarring.

A fix; in panel three on page fifteen, pictured below, we just have the goons descending on their own ropes.

If they’re fully rendered, they can be placed behind Robin, The Riddler, and Batman without interfering with their silhouettes.

PAGE TWENTY TWO

This is real solid action blocking. First panel has Batman in the foreground, Robin in the back. Batman’s punch leads organically into panel two, perpendicular to Robin’s kick -- now he’s in the foreground, with Batman in back. In each panel, they have their own fights on their own planes of movement, making the space feel huge. It’s a very short, simple fight scene, but this variety of staging from panel to panel makes it feel much bigger than it actually is.

Burchett also manages to maintain a consistent rightward movement throughout. It totally feels like Batman and Robin are just tearing through these guys, and the uniform direction of movement is a big part of that.

PAGE TWENTY THREE

Back to Wayne Manor with this very cool page. Check out how the action funnels towards the bottom:

By placing the Map to Movie Star Homes where he has, Burchett guides the eye back to the central axis of the page. The action then travel’s straight down the central axis, getting narrower and narrower panel by panel, from the Joker’s wide stance to Alfred’s tactical crouch.

(The vibrating tea tray is a very nice touch.)

PAGE TWENTY FOUR

Wobbly panel shape as a shorthand for a woozy character coming back to lucidity is an evergreen technique. I’m also a big fan of the popping bubbles thing, but your milage may vary. When Batgirl comes back to full consciousness in panel three, Burchett cuts to a wide shot, soberly showing us all the characters in relation to each other, which is a great way to indicate a return to reality. We end this subplot, which preyed on themes of isolation and home-invasion danger, with Batgirl and Alfred standing together. An satisfying emotional mini-arc -- and appropriately, Alfred gets a joke in on the Joker.

***

You can get this entire issue -- for free! -- on Comixology, along with every other issue of GOTHAM ADVENTURES for around a buck apiece.

For a couple of my own comic creator bona fides, check out WILL EISNER’S THE SPIRIT RETURNS and SAN HANNIBAL, and pre-order the trade collection for BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: GODS AND MONSTERS.

Additional content can be found on my website, danschkade.com, as well as my twitter!

Be well, talk soon, etc

PREVIOUS PAGE x PAGE ANALYSES:

BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #1 (Part One)

GANGBUSTER: SWING ANNA MISS

MINI-ANALYSIS — FIRST SIGHTING: SUPERBOY

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #69 (with Aud Koch)

THE SHADOW STRIKES! #13

PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN #13

BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #17

#Batman #page x page analysis #dc comics #educational purposes #Ty Templeton #rick burchett #lee loughridge #comics #Dan Schkade

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enharmonious · 8 years ago

Video

youtube

Here's a compilation of all the clips I managed to record during Anime Impulse 2017 during the panel with Jonny Cruz, Christian Howard, and Gaku Space. I recorded mostly talks about Overwatch, although the panel did cover a bit about Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, in which both Gaku Space and Christian Howard play significant roles.

These are in clips because I was running out of space on my phone and was concerned if I wouldn't be able to catch something good that could came up later. orz This is also why some questions are not recorded in these clips. It’s not much unfortunately (panel was ~1 hour long I believe).

It can be extremely hard to hear at times, even with a headset, so I've done my best to transcribe what they've said. (Warning: I'm bad at it.) Also, hope it helps for those who can't listen to the video!

The transcription under the cut also includes one other recording (to fill in some of the things I missed), but is not in my compiled video above, so be sure to read it. It’ll be bolded to easily spot it!

These clips are in chronological order.

Contents: 0:00 - Gaku Space’s experience with voice acting (esp. Overwatch) 3:34 - Jonny Cruz’s experience with voice acting (esp. Overwatch too) 8:11 - Gaku and Jonny discussing new Overwatch events; ult voice line requests 10:08 - Q&A - “Jonny Cruz, can you do the longest ‘aw yeah’ possible?” 10:25 - Q&A - “Who is your OTP?” 11:15 - Q&A - “Can you sing the pineapple pen song?”

Key: DP = D-Piddy, the host. GS = Gaku Space. CH = Christian Howard. JC = Jonny Cruz. [?] means I'm unsure of what was said. Otherwise, everything in brackets are just notes by me, usually giving context about the video clips.

As usual, if you find errors and can give clarification, please do let me know and I'll fix them!

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[The beginning, which I did not record, is mostly Christian Howard talking about Street Fighter. If I remember correctly, Gaku Space didn't speak at all and never chimed in.]

Clip 1 (0:00) DP: How is doing something from live action to voice acting Overwatch - how do you prepare differently for the roles, for Genji or Gouki? GS: Towards the beginning, I got the audition - I didn't know what it is. So they have fake title, and a fake name, and fake everything. So only the description says that, "Looking for the voice"...is like a younger version of Ken Watanabe in Last Samurai. And then I just try that and then they booked[?] it. [?], they revealed that, "Oh, this is Overwatch" and now it's like...huge, so I don't know... DP: Yeah, Overwatch is huge. I mean, is there any Overwatch fans here? [small audience cheer] DP: Have you personally played the game at all? GS: Uhh, no. DP: I know there's two Japanese characters named Genji and there's Hanzo, did you cast for both or did they particularly pick you... [incoherent, they're talking over each other] GS: In the beginning, yeah, I just voiced over Genji. And then...I didn't...I haven't met Paul [Hanzo's voice actor]. DP: You haven't met him? GS: No. So, animated short, just - I only did my part. So I did not [see him?] DP: Oh, I see. It's just like that I'm unfamiliar with voice actor stuff - do you go to the studio, they have you read a bunch of lines, and you're done? GS: [Yeah, that's it?] Yeah, because I voiced Akuma, the older version of [?] but I have to match the lip sync so [it was awkward?]...it was Joey... CH: Yes, so Gaku had actually...even though Joey was playing Akuma as the older version, and he was speaking Japanese on the day, just because of Akuma's voice... DP: He's the one who did his voice. CH: He's augmented[?], so Gaku actually filled in and did a lot of the voice for older Akuma as well. Which is, again, this is a serial thing because you're in the studio on your own, and you're technically interacting with other people like...for Overwatch, right? You said you’ve never interacted with Paul, but you have to dialogue[?] when you see the final thing. So you gotta bring the intensity and [?] to the lines, it's gonna reach out. DP: Ooh, cool. For Genji's character, did you do any research and like...[?] in live action you try not to get into the character's head, right? For Genji - I mean, for Gouki, for example? But for Genji, do you have to learn the backstory? Does that help at all, or do you just go there and read the lines? GS: The thing is only the director's and writer's right there while I'm recording it. So I asked right on the spot, "So what's the character's...what's the subtext for this line and everything?" And then I recorded probably like 4-5 times. By then, I'll be done with that so they don't have to tell me specific stuff that I already knew. And when I recorded the animated short, [I went ahead ____ video game?], so I already knew the characters. DP: Genji's voice is a little distorted because of his helmet. Is that imposed, or do they have a little filter thing to speak over? GS: That was post-production. DP: Oh, it was post-production. CH: Did you know what Genji looked like before you did the voice? GS: Yeah, yeah, I knew. I saw on the sketches and stuff. DP: What do you think of the large popularity and growth of the game?

[At this point, the questions were not answered because a staff member had stepped up on stage and stopped D-Piddy to talk to him privately.]

Clip 2 (3:34) [Pre-recording: D-Piddy has announced that there is another guest, in fact a second Overwatch voice actor, at Anime Impulse. The audience has already yelled "let's break it down" twice. However, D-Piddy instructs that on the count of 3...] DP: "Let's break it down," okay? 1, 2, 3! [audience yells "let's break it down;" as Jonny Cruz pops up behind the wall, the crowd cheers] DP: Jonny Cruz, Lucio himself, is in the house! JC: Whoa, look at this crowd. [?] DP: [?] How's it going? JC: Good, good. I went here, so it's great. Audience. Never been to one of these guys in my life. But now I'm here. First time with you guys. [The lack of loud cheering here is very upsetting and saddening to me. I'm used to big, big cheers if a special guest announces that they're here for the fans, especially if it's their first time at an anime convention. That aside--] DP: So how do you take this perception of Overwatch's overwhelming growth of popularity in the game? JC: I had no idea it would turn into what it turned into. The game itself, you know...I've been actor for 15 years, right? Grinding away for many years, and the one thing that really shoots me to popularity is a video game, which is like...mind blowing to me! I'm like...this is a whole new world. And just the fanbase is amazing, the people that play the game, the vibe has just been so overwhelming. I'm a huge fan of you guys. DP: Do you play video games? JC: I did extensively growing up. I've been [?] until I had to get a job. [?] DP: You played Overwatch before right? JC: I have played Overwatch before. DP: I think I've seen a video of you playing your own character? JC: I was watching somebody else play me terribly. DP: Weren't you just commentating on it? JC: Yeah, I had a...it was a fart gun and that looked like Lucio's gun and every time I would be like, "Oh let's break it down! [raspberry-fart noise]" If you watched the video, it was all my idea. DP: Wow, that's really cool. Do you interact with some of the cast members? I've seen a video of Jonny going around...BlizzCon or...? JC: Yeah, it was BlizzCon. DP: It was at Blizzcon; interacting with all the other voice actors was pretty amazing. Do you keep in touch with them at a regular basis at all, or some of them? JC: Oh yeah, we're friends online. On Facebook. We've got a little group chat, we've got a little group chat. But the one I mostly interacted with before that was Darin de Paul [Reinhardt's voice actor]. We did some voiceover work together in the past. But that day at BlizzCon was the first time I actually met Gaku and a couple of the other people. They're all just wonderful human beings that we really just have fun and make a little dumb video of it, so that was uh...[looking at Gaku] I thank you! CH: That was when I knew - Gaku's still alive as well. Because this guy has NO social media presence. He doesn't have Facebook or anything. So we're seeing his video with Jonny and we're like, "Oh, Gaku's alive." JC: "He's alive!" DP: What - is there a reason why you don't? You just like keeping it private? Gaku? JC: What was that? DP: Oh no, uh, Gaku. I mean, does he - you don't have a Twitter or Facebook page? GS: Nothing. Nothing. JC: Why's that? CH: Keep it private.[?] DP: Keeping it private? JC: Why's that? GS: I don't like it. JC: He doesn't like it. That's the reason why. DP: Jonny, I follow you on Twitter, so you're great. You said you like riding the wave around and you've done video game voiceovers before, or...? JC: I was a voice in Prototype 2, and I was all the Hispanic characters in Prototype 2. And that was kinda my foray into video games - it was never something I had thought about really - but I had a great time at the booth, because at the end you do all the weird like...you know, okay, this is the sound of you getting your head ripped off, and then you have to figure out what that is. And there you're just like, "Alright...'GWAGHGHDGAAA!!'" and that to me is the [laughs] fun stuff of it. All of those weird sounds. DP: How about the grunts? JC: Oh grunts...I've never had my head ripped off or my arm ripped off. But how does that sound?! DP: Do you have any other video games that you're working on or any more voice work that you're possibly doing? JC: I have done a few more video games after Overwatch, but I cannot tell you what they are. Which is the WORST. [Post-recording: I managed to find the continuation of this conversation in another video (https://www.facebook.com/borei.kang/videos/vb.650113324/10154299562193325/?type=2&theater).] JC: IT'S THE WORST. DP [to Gaku]: You too? JC: You too? [?] GS: Actually, I have [?] next week, Genji again, but I cannot tell what it is. [crowd goes ooOooOoOo] DP: Here's another question for Gaku and Jonny. So you know how they release holiday specials and stuff? Have you recorded all that stuff previous, like months and months ago, or...

Clip 3 (8:11) DP: Do they bring you in periodically for updates and stuff, or how does that work? JC: Yeah, they bring us in periodically, way in advance, they're planning it out. So they test it out, we see their works. So it's always usually a while. DP: Can you tell us what the holiday event is going to be? JC: I have no idea. [looking at Gaku] Do you know what it is? The next holiday event? Do you know what it is? GS: I know. JC: Oh you know? Why are they telling...Gaku? But they don't tell me nothing? GS: Because it's not important! DP: Is it Valentine's? You don't have to say anything, but I'm going to guess it's Valentine's. GS: Yeah. DP: Yeah apparently, there's some Genji and Mercy shipping going on. [scattered cheering among the audience] GS: I can tell - I recorded my lines about Angela. JC: About? GS: Genji and Angela. DP: Wuh - Angela? JC: The voice actor. [Her name is actually Lucie Pohl.] GS: Mercy. DP: Ahh, okay okay. Well that's a hint. You guys know who he's shipped with.[?] Can I get a request from all of you guys? JC: Sure. DP: Jonny, can you do one of the ults? Can you... JC: [adjusting the mic] Here we go, here we go. [pause] Oh let's break it DOWN! [audience cheers] DP: Christian Howard, can you do one of Ken Master's special attacks? CH: ...I'll try. DP: Here we go, here we go. CH: Shouryuken! ["Rising Dragon Fist", I believe?] [audience cheers] DP: Gaku? Genji? Can you do a little Genji ult? GS: What should I do? Which one? Which one do you want? DP: Dragonblade? GS: Ultimate? DP: Ultimate, ultimate. GS: Ryuujin no ken o kurae! [audience cheers] DP: That is so awesome! Cool!

Clip 4 (10:08) [Pre-recording: Q&A session. Someone requested Jonny Cruz to do his longest "aw yeah." I noticed that the person requesting it drawled out the "aw" rather than the "yeah," but did not appear to be conveyed to Jonny. It’s still great though!] [...Do I even need to transcribe this?]

Clip 5 (10:25) [Pre-recording: During Q&A session, the three were asked who their OTP was. D-Piddy took some time initially to explain it since they didn't understand the term lol. For those who don't know: OTP means one true pairing. It's basically another way of indicating two characters that you wish would be paired up with each other as a significant others/partners.] JC: ...Yeah yeah yeah. Everybody here always asks me about D.va. Uh...and I'm about it! I'm about it! DP: Lucio is down with Lucio and D.va! JC: I think everybody should just be shipped together! A big ol' pile! DP: One big Overwatch... JC: One big Overwatch shipping. Haha! DP: How about -- I already know, you -- you like Mercy, right? Genji and Mercy? [Gaku nods and makes this...hand motion. He points out to the crowd at a witch!Mercy cosplayer.] DP: Genji's pointing at you, yeah! [witch!Mercy makes a heart symbol with her hands. She told me that Gaku returned the heart symbol, but was not recorded in the video.] DP: True love in the air! How about you, Christian? I mean, do you ship any particular Street Fighter characters? CH: ...I'm not sure if I understand the question.

Clip 6 (11:15) [Pre-recording: The three were asked if they knew about the pineapple pen song. Only Jonny Cruz knew about it (a little) and was requested to sing it.] JC: You have a pineapple...pineapple pen! Is that - is that how it goes?! Is that how it [?]? [looking out at the crowd] DP [to the person requesting this]: Was that alright for you? What was that? JC: It was okay?! DP: It was alright, it was alright. You go like this. JC: You have a pen. You have a pineapple...[muffled mic sound] Pineapple pen! Yeah? Yeah alright! DP: You were missing the [muffled mic sound].

Random tidbit I remember, but isn't recorded by me: Q&A - “Who is your favorite Overwatch hero?” JC loves playing Junkrat; GS responded with Mercy.

#overwatch #anime impulse #anime impulse 2017 #gaku space #christian howard #jonny cruz #video

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