Comments on: Chapter 5, Page 3

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 07 May 2019 23:36:40 +0000

In reply to V.

Right. In the translation by Claudia Novack-Jones the title comes from:

“You still stand watch, O human star, burning without a flicker, perfect flame, bright and resourceful spirit. Each of your rays a great idea — O torch which passes from hand to hand, from age to age, world without end.”

Her’s is the best of the available English translations, in my opinion. This quote does not appear at all in the more common shortened version of the play by Selver and Playfair.

By: Anon E Moose

Anon E Moose — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 03:45:48 +0000

In reply to Willow. In the third panel, looks like the flow is still going strong.

By: Fallingivy

Fallingivy — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 23:00:50 +0000

Not willing to cut Brendan any slack on this kind of comment. This seems more like a bit of resurgence from his old issues with Al, and Brendan’s own propensity to force Al with being open instead of accepting Al’s fear of being outed. He wasn’t empathetic about people (like Al) who don’t feel comfortable or safe being open about being gay, and seemed frustrated with him at best, scornful at worst. It was his lack of empathy and patience/respect for Al’s anxiety that I liked the least about him in the past, and unfortunately it seems like he hasn’t gotten over it.

Yeah- Brendan’s been a good dad, and to some extent this comment was about Sulla, but I think his anger here is for Al, and for Al’s coping methods. He seems to think the Sulla HE knew wouldn’t have run away after outing herself: the problem isn’t that she outed herself or that she’s upset, he’s angry that she ran away from it, a course of behavior he identifies with Al. So now he’s blaming this new ‘cowardice’ on Al instead of wondering why his daughter felt terrified or upset enough to run away.

I guess Brendan has always been a confident, extroverted person, so Sulla might have felt uncomfortable talking about her social anxiety and her desire to fit in and not be outed to him, and he’s her father and she might not want to make him worry, so it makes sense why she would talk to Al instead of her father about this. Al is who she’s based on and he gets how she behaves instantly, so there wouldn’t be a point in hiding it. I only hope they get past this initial finger-pointing from Brendan and Al can explain some of how Sulla’s feeling to him. And hopefully, for everyone’s sake, Brendan can start understanding more about why Al did what he did and why Sulla’s behaving this way.

Honestly, my biggest fear is that he communicates to Sulla that her behavior is inappropriate.

By: SI

SI — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 16:01:02 +0000

“I understand what’s going through her head.”

And there it is.

By: Aaron Sofaer

Aaron Sofaer — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 05:10:33 +0000

I think we should cut Brendan a bit more slack. Judging by the quality of his daughter – bright, empathetic, brave, and capable – he’s been a good father, and he’s obviously deeply concerned for her right now.

By: V

Wed, 16 Mar 2016 14:16:27 +0000

In reply to Zathyra.

Sulla’s name is taken – both in-universe and meta-textually – from the Czech play “RUR”, which is also where the comic’s title comes from!

By: CT

CT — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 06:05:09 +0000

Years ago DC comics had a story where Wonder Woman was trying to help the hapless mortals and she couldn’t understand why they didn’t accept her even after her heroic deed. Clark Kent pulls her aside and gently explains there is a reason he cultivates a human ‘identity’, it’s so that he can co-mingle with humanity and get to know them without having his marked differences keep him at more than arms length from everyone else, which leads to isolation and resentment. If you can fly and have super strength and possible immortality, you aren’t exactly ‘people’ anymore, you are something else, alien. Sulla in a selfless act basically has outed herself as something ‘alien’. The scene where she is floating above the amazed crowd is iconic; Sulla sees the people below her, the crowd looks up at her, and there is a distance between both of them, no matter how one feels about the other, that can’t be casually crossed. In that instant Sulla knew that her cultivated relationship as a normal fifteen year old girl with the people she had met was gone.

If Brendan has one working nerve in his head, he should be
thinking about how he is going to shield Sulla from the military getting their hands on her. He has basically ‘built’ supergirl.

By: AromaLadyNova

AromaLadyNova — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 17:02:16 +0000

In reply to JM. I agree. Age and experience haven't done **** for his attitude.

By: SC1978

SC1978 — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 16:06:05 +0000

Brendan actually has a point. Although Al had his heart in the right place, the advising he’s given Sulla (“be smart, conceal who you are, and do what you need to pass as human”) is questionable, to say the least.

By: Zathyra

Zathyra — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 14:36:24 +0000

Today I noticed for the first time, that the name Sulla is (might be) a variation of the last two syllables in Alastair backwards. Well it works the way I pronounce it.
Or is that what her name actually comes from? I remember something like ‘she read it in a book and thought it was pretty’ but it has been so long since I read the older pages.
So, am I making stuff up in my head or was this canon all along and I kinda didn’t notice?