You’d think that after twenty years the comments wouldn’t confound me under some of these pages. Although humans generally confound me so I don’t know why I’m surprised on that front as well. Thomas somehow manages to polarize people while actually doing very little in the grand scheme of things. I actually have a theory about why that is, but in two decades I have managed to learn a few occasions when I should keep my fucking mouth shut. Not quite as many as would be wise, but more times than when I was younger at any rate. I doubt seriously that there is a single reader who could accurately point it out. If nothing else the writing of this project is very much in my voice, which manages to be unique in spite of being filled with tropes, archetypes, and very obscure cultural references. It’s sad in that there isn’t anyone I could hand this over to and be secure in the knowledge that they could continue it as I would. Some comic strips go on and on with virtually no sign that the original creator has stepped away, or died. That is a luxury this one won’t enjoy. Even if I were to hand it off it would become something different because I’ve poured my life into this and no life is a carbon copy of another. Ultimately it doesn’t matter if people love or hate any character in particular as long as their antics keep them coming back for more. I didn’t write any character as a paragon. The ones people side with tells you a lot about their experiences and who they are. Some people side with characters who are like them because they feel like they are generally right in their opinions, and some hate characters who remind them of themselves. There is no cast member that is universally loved or hated. Even Wes has people who think he’s right about some things, and the fact of the matter is that he is. Your coworkers aren’t your family. Your job isn’t your family. No matter how much the people who own a business might try to instill a company culture that insists “we’re all a big family here” it’s bullshit. Unless you are literally related to them it means nothing. He’s correct on some level to believe all of that and not feel like he owes any loyalty to his coworkers or his job. In any relationship you get as much of anything as you earn. If one party stops reciprocating that is grounds for disloyalty. Wanting to go to your job, do it correctly, then go home and not think about it isn’t wrong. I’ve never known anyone who wasn’t correct about some things even if they were wrong about the vast majority of things. A broken clock and all that. I sometimes forget that the reader doesn’t have my insight into things, then I remember and realize I can’t just explain it or there wouldn’t really be much of a comic. If Thomas just said at the start of an interaction that he’s mad that Patty fucked most of their gaming group it removes all the fun of getting it teased out over time. Just to be clear that may, or may not, be what happened. It’s just an example. You’ll find out the particulars when I feel like you are allowed to. As is my right as the creator. I’ll never know what the fuck is up with Tom Bombadil and I have to be okay with that. So too must you be okay with not knowing for certain what’s happening until it is revealed, or not.
I will say this much at least: how much effort and care you put into something like a D&D game has an effect on how you would react to it ending. Some people just bop through life without internalizing things, or investing, or however you want to phrase it, and some do. Neither way is intrinsically better or worse in some foundational way. For me the lives of fictional people matter. I’m deeply moved by things that are really just representations of something that could be real. I don’t like being evil in video games because it makes me feel bad. Clearly though that isn’t true for millions of people or the GTA games would never sell. Walking off the death of a character I went on an adventure as, or with, isn’t something I can just walk off in a couple of seconds and get on with my life. I stopped watching The Walking Dead when Glenn died. There was a point at which the emotional turmoil was simply too much for me and we spiritually died together in that episode. I’m not sure how I made it to the end of Game Of Thrones… Maybe TWD hardened my spirit.
Honestly I could go on for quite some time about this and related topics, but I don’t know if it would have value for me or you. Regardless I do have other things I can’t ignore so I guess I’ll cut this short and let you all slug it out in the comments some more. We haven’t reached Dumbing Of Age levels of commentary misery so I’ll just let it ride.
I hope that your week starts of well and trends in that general way. As always, if you’d like to support my work there are links all around the page to click on until you find a method that suits you. If you wish to hamper my work I’ll just remind you that I’m a person too and I’ve got plenty of things hampering me already. It’s probably not a good use of your time. On Wednesday I will return with more of whatever it is I do here. Until then, then until.

3027 The Complexities Of The Human Heart.

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