Haha, what a painful place to be, the only one who hasn't checked out, spewing anxious energy to keep the group engaged. Jane is the last to drop off, noticing hours too late that her girlfriend is upset. I love how ugly Eve looks in the last panel, how banal the flirtation is. Eve really does want to fuck the wheel - her laughter and commentary, an act of domination - but it is the wheel that fucks her, lonesome and wanting as she is!!
12 thoughts on “#857 – a portal to hell”
Doodles
Ah, Fake Namey's, my favourite store!!!
Tangerine
Aww.
The commentary is often disconcerting–because I hadn't thought the flirtation was banal, I thought of how daring it was, how far Eve has come from the beginning, when she would never have put herself out there like this. It's an amazing skill and she didn't come by it effortlessly.
To me it made the build-up a more stark contrast to the loss–that in this moment she feels she has both a good connection to her roots and the excitement of boldly pursuing something new, and that in the next minute it's clear she has neither.
But instead of this being the peak, it's already part of the decline.
granulac
haha y'know that's fair. I'm probably a little hard on Eve in the commentary, compared to how I felt at the time.
Tangerine
Also: because Meredith keeps explaining about the choices in the coloring work, I noticed and love the block of light on Eve's face and chest in panel three SO much. It puts me right there, with the brisk cold and the dark and the light and the energy of the space and the last fading minute of summer. It's wonderful.
Lila
I feel wave after wave of scorn for single people in the commentary, and I keep swallowing it down, as if I deserve it, but some people don’t couple off or settle down. There is a place for them in this world.
granulac
you're right, and I'm sorry if it seems like it's directed at you. Sometimes I'm harsh with these characters who represent my own past. The comic (and rereading it) is how I've made sense of those years.
Lila
That makes sense. It’s been a weird few years watching all the webcomic women I looked up to have kids and settle down, while my life still looks more or less like Eve’s does. There are so many different paths through the forest. That said, it’s also cathartic to see the critical distance you’re finding in the re-read and I’m not trying to censor it at allllll. Keep it coming.
Bleh
Eve is pretty consistently lonesome and wanting as a character though
Claire Wyman
Never noticed the original Fake Namey's before. Nice touch.
kev
"hours too late"…How long have they been hanging out around the boardwalk?
Also, first time noticing the "Pretty Much! …Your Only Option" shop sign
Mauricio Lemos
After reading the next page you can see how Jane pulls back to see what's going on with Mar while Marek simply is increasingly lagging behind because focused on his phone (though he's most likely just affected by his conversation with Mar).
max
I think its interesting how harsh the commentary is on eve, tbh I think the willingness to let go of the need to be seen as dignified and the willingness to be a bit goofy and straightforward is a big step from the heavily repressed individual we see in the early chapters. I see it as more of a pendulum swing, and allowance to indulge her thoughts and feelings even if they’re simple, corny, “undignified”– to me the death of the prison of neuroticism is worth having a few moments you look back on and cringe. In fact, the willingness to do what you want in spite of others finding it cringy is imo a hallmark of maturity. Eve is losing the compulsion to act up to an externally imposed standard, and her own standards havent fully crystalized to fill the gap quite yet. shes in flux but she seems content to be a human in progress. respectability is overrated and tbh all of eves flirtations and goofiness I have found to be pretty charming, shes not fronting anymore, shes not trying to justify who she is. She doesnt know everything she wants but she goes after what she does know. Her limitations in communication and emotional honesty are to me the flaws that prevent her from the deep connection she wants, and the loss of her filter is at least a small step in the right direction. I understand the impulse to be hard on her but I think shes doin her best. Could probably be a better friend though