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That's the end of this chapter! Thanks to Valerie for her fantastic color work on these pages. Stay tuned for a new story!
NEW YORKERS: I will be at 2 comics events this weekend! Check the blog post below or the Tumblr post here for details!
42 thoughts on “#789 + 790 – hot winter”
???
Those last two panels are truly phenomenal. Really demonstrating your growth as an artist and your colorist's skill and valuable contribution to this already beautiful comic.
Jos
That middle panel may be one of the best drawn stills I've seen from OP recently, and that's saying something. Really ambitious and lots of detail, I'm consistently blown away.
oceans
yessss it reminds me of the waiting for the bus scene in totoro.. equally simple and beautifully done.. pregnant with some emotional pull
Rowen Morland
The whole thing is great, going from the simpler easy joke, it could happen to anyone, first two panels to the amazingly still middle and then pulling us up and away. It's all great.
Basmah
Beautiful!
Skinny Panda
Oh my….
JennyB
The coloring is ACHINGLY beautiful. Gahd. The composition. The mood. I'm floored.
oddthought
I am constantly amazed at the beauty of your work. Those last two panels are out of this world.
Chad
unbelievable color and line-work on those last 3 panels!
David
I should've waited til I got home to read this. Now I'm left with a satisfied sense of empty longing at work of all places. Just.. fantastic emotions and colors. I love that third panel!
And Hannah's egg eyes! lol
octopuspie
I love what you did in the second panel. It shows humor in a situation like that is possible.
cwbuecheler
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Meredith, I do believe you (and Valerie) are doing some of the best work in comics anywhere.
squidy
a square peg and a round hole huh.
gilrain
That last panel is a bit ambiguous. I wonder if she went back inside…
Wixenstyx
I was wondering this too.
bryanew710
Good…I'm not the only one.
Tabasco
The third panel.
THE THIRD PANEL, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
grantimusmax
I really feel that the this perfectly captures the gradual isolation of the storyline, as people are figuring out what they really want as individuals, and learning to be okay with being simply themselves, even if it's isolating at times.
I want panel 3 as a poster!
kickpass
Petition for a poster seconded! That purple is speaking to me, and the rain is just phenomenal. I'm not saying I didn't like the b&w OP, but damn the coloring has opened up so many wonderful doors. 11/10 this arch has been amazing.
Devon
Third for a poster. I would get this. I think it would be lovely as art but still be a great reminder of this years-long, glorious journey OP has taken me on.. and how much the characters and I have all grown.
gqbrielle
gorgeous art
Madeline
The last two panels depicting the rain are just amazing! Totally beautiful.
Arkadi
Yes, the rain in those two las panels is just perfect ^^
Sam
Absolutely beautiful.
NemoProprius
I'm speechless! So…
Jeff
Three distinct techniques all meshing perfectly together on a single page!
Somewhere Scott McCloud says quietly under his breath…"learned well you have, young padawan."
Jon
From Laurel and Hardy to film noir in just a few panels. Beautiful.
Robert
"Fwoomp" means, "Larry, no way, forget it."
Layogenic
Nothing like a boner joke right before a left hook of meloncholia.
Anna
I can't make out what's happening in the last two panels. Please help, internet!
adamrocketblack
yellow circle= hannah's umbrella. The light above to the left is Wills house she just left
She stopped on the porch 2 addresses over .
The bottom right corner is the reflection of the building lights in the street.
What we see is that Hannah stepped off Wills apartment porch, & walked into rain. Then she stopped and quickly sheltered on a nearby porch, ( reconsidered? )
and then she is gone.
Normally this would be a very strong clue, that she turned around and took up Larrys offer.
In any other comic I would take that as a given.
But Gran likes to bring the very little poignant moments into sharp focus, and will do so at the expense of showing every piece of the plot.
Sometimes its like putting together a puzzle that somebody took care that the individual pieces had their own special composition, even if that makes it harder to see where it goes.
So even if hannah doesnt go back to Will's, what we see is that she stopped in the rain and considered what she was doing, and where she goes going: if she should go forward or backward.
To Gran this is more important than an overall plot because it gives insight into moment, and the characters.
Its also a new development for Hannah. Its serves as an overall metaphor for her life.
( Maybe she should go back, and get back together with Marcus. Repair her friendship with Marigold . )
It shows shes reconsidering her ideas of what she wants and needs to be happy. Just as she reconsidered her ideas with larry about how easy it can be to meet men. Her depression is beginning to lift, and laid-back Hannah is returning, even if shes not high.
Or Maybe she was kidnapped by a serial Killer and the comic takes a dramatic turn.
notlegato
two days and i reached the end. god damn. the best i've ever read, possibly. now it's 4am for the second time, and i'm going to crash.
octii
I'm so glad you decided to start doing the comic in color. It's fucking beautiful!
MuNuXi
I love that the umbrella and the light from Larry's/Will's window are the same warm shade of yellow. The borrowed umbrella is an extension of the warm regard and kindness Hanna found in her friends' home. Even though she's walking home alone in the cold rain, she's going to be alright.
bellizagets
Rain is so Real
silvrstake
Pssh, no I am not pressing my cheek up against my screen to better show my appreciate for the last few panels. Don't be absurd.
Chris
This comic is just so phenomenal.
Nova
Can someone explain the last two panels? I do not understand what they are showing or what is going on in them?
friendlyuser
The final two panels show the face of the apartments and the street from a high angle. The yellow rectangle is the lit room from [presumably] Larry and Will's apartment, and the yellow circle is Hanna's umbrella. The sequence depicts Hanna walking down the street away from them (and away from a hook-up with Larry, being considerate of Will's emotional state), although some people have theorized that it suggests the possibility of Hanna going back into the apartment.
Wixenstyx
Since the window is directly above the door, I assume the fact that the umbrella is past the door in the second to last panel means she has just walked on.
Talor
Maybe Hannah is the most together one after all.
Jack wood
"Damn, I wanted to poke _her_ in the face with _my_ expanding stick."