I’ve never commented on here before, but I have been silently reading along for a while now and just came to say that I absolutely love this comic and its characters.
That being said, sometimes I hate Brandon and I don’t really know why, maybe it’s the way he’s always so self assured that it borders on ignorance. Like in this page, you couldn’t discribe his reaction as lack of emphathy exactly when he shows so much of it but at the same time he is so assured in his world view that he doesn’t think to stop and hear Al out for a second. Accept what he has to tell first.
Instead he gets pushy. And I get that Al needed to be pushed if he was to be in this relationship at all, but i still don’t like it. XD
And that is not to say that Al can’t be a massive douchebag too the scene with Military guy was a prime Example, but I guess I get him better than I do Brandon…
In any case it’s brilliantly written characters.
It’s a hell of a lot harder for people like Al to say something, to actively argue, than to ‘let him think that’. I understand why Brendan is complaining, but I don’t agree that it goes as far as ‘massive douchebag’. Definitely agree with you about Brendan here, I mean what the hell. You ASKED for this Brendan, and you’re demonstrating why he doesn’t tell you things about himself. You can’t handle the truth. How do you expect him to put in effort to be supportive of you, if you can’t even be supportive here. He needs a hug, not you to attack him!
I get what you’re saying. On the one hand I LOVE these characters, that they are *real* and imperfect. On the other hand it’s then frustrating when they do or say something so wrong that we almost can’t believe it, because we *like* them, and we want to like them all the time.
Al comes across as this competent guy but he’s hiding a lifetime of insecurity, and has had longer to make screw-ups than Brendan has and to think about them. Brendan’s this young man who’s still in that over-confident full-of-himself phase where you think you know everything and hasn’t had the time yet to really make grand mistakes, and be humbled by them. And like he said way back, he doesn’t know how to fail
Look at his face; he’s scared and upset and he cares about Al but his response is to FIX IT I MUST FIX IT. I’ve had a similar thing confided in me (I managed not to go with the automatic “well stop it then) reaction, thank goodness) so I get where he’s coming from, it’s a kneejerk reaction, but a really unhelpful one.
The contrast between young Brendan, who tries to stick his oar in and control things, and older Brendan who worries more but also listens more, is really interesting. When he made Sulla, he listened enough to let her decide to be a *her* despite his own original intentions for her. So he learned something from whatever’s going to happen.
Erg. This hits close to home. The first friend I ever told about my eating disorder turned into the food police, watching me like a hawk at meals….even though I’d recovered ten years before without relapse. It’s one of the reasons why trusting people with old baggage is hard: you never know if they’ll trust YOU again the same way.
Exactly. When I discuss my depression with doctors or family, I always want to reassure them that I don’t feel suicidal in the slightest, in case they lock me up somewhere ‘safe’.
Yep, even if I am sort of suicidal at the time. There’s a short list of people I don’t have these reservations about, and that’s because they’ve all been there at one time or the other, too.
AH! My heart exploded! I used to do what Al did and my sister did the same thing, she took away all sharp objects. This is getting so intense, I love it! Poor Al!
I have been Brendan. I was even his age when I was that way. You learn really fast that making assumptions without even bothering to listen is the quickest way to shut down your partner’s trust…and then everything outside your relationship becomes a huge secret because he worries over the next stupid thing you say. It takes a sh*oad of work to gain that trust back.
So, finally we see an uglier side of Brendan. I’m glad; it was overdue. I get that this is probably Al’s rosy POV here but even so. I’m glad for this development; their age difference mentally was bound to catch up on them somewhere, and for them to work it out (albeit it sounds like Al’s death was during at least a fight if not worse) requires the ugliness to come out. Brendan was bound to not know how to handle something well.
Could someone do me a favor though?
On the last page, waaay after it was posted, I brought up the issue of how we know robot Al is the same as human Al. Has that been answered in the comic? Like, what’s stopping Al’s creator from making another Al, with the same memories, or fifty, or more? How is this Al the same Al from the past vs other hypothetical Al clones (including Sulla)? We know that different memories define who we are in the comic world (if I understood what I read correctly), but I thought the whole point Brendan and Al were trying to make with their company was that the robot clones do NOT replace the humans? If that is right, then why is robot Al being treated AS human Al, essentially? Or is it just because Robot Al thinks he is Human Al that he is treated as such?
Er, by mental age difference I meant Brendan’s immaturity in comparison to Al. Badly phrased on my part. (Also sorry for reply
As an edit vs an edit; my phone dislikes the comment editor.)
Actually, we’ve been seeing Brendan’s bad side all along. At least, the easily-exploited bad side. Creating Sulla is his attempt to create a version of Al that he loves, without all of Al’s faults. It’s creepy, honestly.
Someone is going to exploit Brendan’s belief that Al is not past self-harming. And whoever created the Al robot knows Al’s and Brendan’s history and is plucking the same heartstrings on Brendan presently. Can’t wait to see who that bastard is, though.
I don’t think he was trying to create Al without his faults. From what I remember he was trying to bring Al back into his life–faults and all, but Al’s memories didn’t really imprint on Sulla so Brendan had to raise her as a new being…a child. If she had properly became Al, he probably would have given her an older appearance. He never tried to attempt it again. I think he realized it was crazy. Grief messes with many of us like that. I know many people would attempt the same if they thought they had a chance of bringing a loved one back to life. Look at the people who try to clone pets? There was a great episode of it on the televised version of “This American Life.”
And here we have a prime example of a very lucky person who’s never had to deal with these kinds of things before. So, Brendan, can you show us how *not* to react when your partner tells you about his past? Ah, thank you, that was a perfect example. Well done!
Seriously though, I love the way this comic deals with things like this. I WANT Brendan to mess this up, to say all the wrong things, because then he can *learn*, and that way we as readers can learn as well. People don’t react perfectly to situations, and exploring that in a comic like this (that already deals with pretty big personal issues), is a wonderful way to get information across. Not to mention that it only serves to make the characters more human, which in turn makes us care more.
TL;DR: I love how human and realistic Brendan and Al are. Kudos <3
I found his comic day ago, and read it through at once, and now I’m kind of sad, that I have to wait for updates now }X )
But, I absolutely adore this comic, and love the characters. Can’t wait to found out who’s behind the mystery of Al’s “resurrection”.
And this quotes between chapters – a very smart thing. Oh and the color scheme is very good too…
}X ) Let’s say I love it all.
WOW Brendan that was… cruel…
People have many reasons to want to die loneliness most of all is like a knife that can pierce deep enough into someone it doesn’t matter how priviledged that person is it hurts…
read this page for the first time before i ever self-harmed. now, during this reread, having caved in to the urges a couple times, it REALLY hits home! Damn. too real, the reactions from both sides.
1) My heart is shattering
2) At the same time I’m kind of hyperventilating from laughing over the “these are almost older than YOU are” line
Oh, Brendan… I don’t think our entrepreneurial redhead knows just how much even successful people hurt inside…
With the sheer stigma of self-harm, I don’t blame Al for keeping mum about it. Poor guy! 8C
Oh no ; ;
I’ve never commented on here before, but I have been silently reading along for a while now and just came to say that I absolutely love this comic and its characters.
That being said, sometimes I hate Brandon and I don’t really know why, maybe it’s the way he’s always so self assured that it borders on ignorance. Like in this page, you couldn’t discribe his reaction as lack of emphathy exactly when he shows so much of it but at the same time he is so assured in his world view that he doesn’t think to stop and hear Al out for a second. Accept what he has to tell first.
Instead he gets pushy. And I get that Al needed to be pushed if he was to be in this relationship at all, but i still don’t like it. XD
And that is not to say that Al can’t be a massive douchebag too the scene with Military guy was a prime Example, but I guess I get him better than I do Brandon…
In any case it’s brilliantly written characters.
It’s a hell of a lot harder for people like Al to say something, to actively argue, than to ‘let him think that’. I understand why Brendan is complaining, but I don’t agree that it goes as far as ‘massive douchebag’. Definitely agree with you about Brendan here, I mean what the hell. You ASKED for this Brendan, and you’re demonstrating why he doesn’t tell you things about himself. You can’t handle the truth. How do you expect him to put in effort to be supportive of you, if you can’t even be supportive here. He needs a hug, not you to attack him!
I get what you’re saying. On the one hand I LOVE these characters, that they are *real* and imperfect. On the other hand it’s then frustrating when they do or say something so wrong that we almost can’t believe it, because we *like* them, and we want to like them all the time.
Al comes across as this competent guy but he’s hiding a lifetime of insecurity, and has had longer to make screw-ups than Brendan has and to think about them. Brendan’s this young man who’s still in that over-confident full-of-himself phase where you think you know everything and hasn’t had the time yet to really make grand mistakes, and be humbled by them. And like he said way back, he doesn’t know how to fail
Look at his face; he’s scared and upset and he cares about Al but his response is to FIX IT I MUST FIX IT. I’ve had a similar thing confided in me (I managed not to go with the automatic “well stop it then) reaction, thank goodness) so I get where he’s coming from, it’s a kneejerk reaction, but a really unhelpful one.
The contrast between young Brendan, who tries to stick his oar in and control things, and older Brendan who worries more but also listens more, is really interesting. When he made Sulla, he listened enough to let her decide to be a *her* despite his own original intentions for her. So he learned something from whatever’s going to happen.
Erg. This hits close to home. The first friend I ever told about my eating disorder turned into the food police, watching me like a hawk at meals….even though I’d recovered ten years before without relapse. It’s one of the reasons why trusting people with old baggage is hard: you never know if they’ll trust YOU again the same way.
Exactly. When I discuss my depression with doctors or family, I always want to reassure them that I don’t feel suicidal in the slightest, in case they lock me up somewhere ‘safe’.
Yep, even if I am sort of suicidal at the time. There’s a short list of people I don’t have these reservations about, and that’s because they’ve all been there at one time or the other, too.
AH! My heart exploded! I used to do what Al did and my sister did the same thing, she took away all sharp objects. This is getting so intense, I love it! Poor Al!
Ah! Poor Al! This page is heart-wrenching!
Multitool to the feels! D:
So then, when Brendan found Al’s fatal scene with blood all over… who knows what conclusions he jumped to, or how extra-horrifying it was? Wow.
THIS is why I don’t talk to people IRL about my life/past/feelings. I know this, almost word for word…
I have been Brendan. I was even his age when I was that way. You learn really fast that making assumptions without even bothering to listen is the quickest way to shut down your partner’s trust…and then everything outside your relationship becomes a huge secret because he worries over the next stupid thing you say. It takes a sh*oad of work to gain that trust back.
So, finally we see an uglier side of Brendan. I’m glad; it was overdue. I get that this is probably Al’s rosy POV here but even so. I’m glad for this development; their age difference mentally was bound to catch up on them somewhere, and for them to work it out (albeit it sounds like Al’s death was during at least a fight if not worse) requires the ugliness to come out. Brendan was bound to not know how to handle something well.
Could someone do me a favor though?
On the last page, waaay after it was posted, I brought up the issue of how we know robot Al is the same as human Al. Has that been answered in the comic? Like, what’s stopping Al’s creator from making another Al, with the same memories, or fifty, or more? How is this Al the same Al from the past vs other hypothetical Al clones (including Sulla)? We know that different memories define who we are in the comic world (if I understood what I read correctly), but I thought the whole point Brendan and Al were trying to make with their company was that the robot clones do NOT replace the humans? If that is right, then why is robot Al being treated AS human Al, essentially? Or is it just because Robot Al thinks he is Human Al that he is treated as such?
Er, by mental age difference I meant Brendan’s immaturity in comparison to Al. Badly phrased on my part. (Also sorry for reply
As an edit vs an edit; my phone dislikes the comment editor.)
that is all.
now we’re seeing the crack in your own armour, brennie.
at least you’re going to see that al actually cares about something.
(theoretically, you shall, anyway.)
the fact that al will be getting upset means he does feel Sentiment for the gift you gave him.
(i think…)
Actually, we’ve been seeing Brendan’s bad side all along. At least, the easily-exploited bad side. Creating Sulla is his attempt to create a version of Al that he loves, without all of Al’s faults. It’s creepy, honestly.
Someone is going to exploit Brendan’s belief that Al is not past self-harming. And whoever created the Al robot knows Al’s and Brendan’s history and is plucking the same heartstrings on Brendan presently. Can’t wait to see who that bastard is, though.
I don’t think he was trying to create Al without his faults. From what I remember he was trying to bring Al back into his life–faults and all, but Al’s memories didn’t really imprint on Sulla so Brendan had to raise her as a new being…a child. If she had properly became Al, he probably would have given her an older appearance. He never tried to attempt it again. I think he realized it was crazy. Grief messes with many of us like that. I know many people would attempt the same if they thought they had a chance of bringing a loved one back to life. Look at the people who try to clone pets? There was a great episode of it on the televised version of “This American Life.”
And here we have a prime example of a very lucky person who’s never had to deal with these kinds of things before. So, Brendan, can you show us how *not* to react when your partner tells you about his past? Ah, thank you, that was a perfect example. Well done!
Seriously though, I love the way this comic deals with things like this. I WANT Brendan to mess this up, to say all the wrong things, because then he can *learn*, and that way we as readers can learn as well. People don’t react perfectly to situations, and exploring that in a comic like this (that already deals with pretty big personal issues), is a wonderful way to get information across. Not to mention that it only serves to make the characters more human, which in turn makes us care more.
TL;DR: I love how human and realistic Brendan and Al are. Kudos <3
He is young, naive, and believes he can fix all things. Also he is a control freak. Having a child cures one of this if you care to be a good parent.
i concur: as far as i see it, everything progresses just smoothly, here
what stake does one have in a story where all is hunky-dorie, and, one is never “challenged”?
(i’m still looking for Enomalie to come back…..)
I found his comic day ago, and read it through at once, and now I’m kind of sad, that I have to wait for updates now }X )
But, I absolutely adore this comic, and love the characters. Can’t wait to found out who’s behind the mystery of Al’s “resurrection”.
And this quotes between chapters – a very smart thing. Oh and the color scheme is very good too…
}X ) Let’s say I love it all.
Buzz! Wrong thing to say, Brendan!
I mean, his reaction is understandable, but it displays a lack of trust in Al, as well as a lack of understanding…
WOW Brendan that was… cruel…
People have many reasons to want to die loneliness most of all is like a knife that can pierce deep enough into someone it doesn’t matter how priviledged that person is it hurts…
Well now my heart is broken.
Huh, I was struck by this PostSecret today:
http://postsecret.com/2015/01/18/sunday-secrets-60/6-cutting/#main
Weird… This whole week, the website keeps updating between this page and the next.
read this page for the first time before i ever self-harmed. now, during this reread, having caved in to the urges a couple times, it REALLY hits home! Damn. too real, the reactions from both sides.