Continuing the "no conspiracy, no help" thought on this page, where Hanna's loneliness comes through visually. It is a cosmic loneliness, millions of miles from help. I'm reminded of my son again, and the value of teaching him to self-soothe when he was small. It's an essential tool at the end of the day to be with oneself, no longer searching. We're probably still not convinced that Hanna is Okay after this page, but she's brought herself back from the brink, with enough strength to keep the show running. In the position she's created for herself - someone people depend on - fulfilling her duties under pressure is the same as being Okay.
7 thoughts on “#1002 – snrk”
Louis
How do you teach your son to self-soothe?
punkybird
A lot of it is just creating a soothing environment before they go to sleep. Calm voices, soft lights, and a very predictable routine do wonders.
roxy
really like this page visually, took me a few looks to realize that endless night of loneliness is in fact behind the panels, i feel like it really adds to the feeling of it creeping up on hanna like it can creep up on everyone, without a clear source. thanks for doing these reruns 🙂
Hong
Eve is there for Hanna, though! I love their friendship.
cwbuecheler
So, here's how I interpreted this the first time through: this is Hanna confronting the "nothing" she purported to want (in song, no less) in the scene just before she takes up running, finding that said nothing is absolutely terrifying, and rejecting it. Yes, she goes on to put on a brave face, but those aren't really the panels that matter. That's the aftermath. The two panels right before it, the sniffle and the sigh, are where the real growth happens.
Hanna's not Okay. Okay with a capital "O" is a journey that goes beyond this series. But I feel like she's taken an important step in that direction.
cjmaloof
I think this is my favorite comic in all of Octopus Pie. And I see it in almost the opposite way.
We've all been where Hanna is in the middle panels, feeling alone and despairing in a way that can't be overcome by reason or will. And she really could have given in to it and gone home! The party would have gone on and Eve would have completely understood the next day. But instead Hanna takes a minute, and reaches for a little of the nothing that she's found through running to eat away at the sadness (once she would have needed weed). Despair turns into sniffle, sigh, brave face, and recovery. And so she goes back in.
Siggy
Took this run for me to notice the parallels to Eve's ferris wheel freakout. Also the growing and ebbing abyss in the second row. This comic, man!