Comic’s done. Sorry for the wait, the lack of humor, the clashing colors.
Speaking of which
Speaking of which, i’ve gotta take next week off to catch up on some stuff and take a long, hard look at some other stuff, so i’ll be back the week of the 21st. Apologies for the interruption.
soon,
WR
Virus Comix News 
February 10, 2010 at 3:28 am
Excellent. Have a good break.
February 10, 2010 at 3:33 am
The new comic doesn’t seem to be the one on the front page.
February 10, 2010 at 5:13 am
Middle panel of the second row is excellent. And then I read all the way to the end of the comic… I’m gonna be thinking about this one for a while. Damn fine.
February 10, 2010 at 5:36 am
Bummer, dude.
February 10, 2010 at 7:53 am
it’s sad, actually.
February 10, 2010 at 7:56 am
Sequence of thoughts: Oh interesting idea, I can relate, then “woah.” That last panel took it off the deep end. You’re awesome!
February 10, 2010 at 8:13 am
I’m confused as to whether what is being adressed in the comic is something I can relate to or not, but overjoyed all the same.
Great work, yet again Rowntree 🙂
Blast you and your amazing comix machine brain.
February 10, 2010 at 9:20 am
This was a great comic. Really made my day (night, actually). Wonderfully drawn, wonderfully written, and very intelligent. Bravo to you, good sir!
I really should get to work on making some signs…
February 10, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Wow. Thank you.
February 10, 2010 at 1:02 pm
yeah, amazing turn, a lot to think about. Thank you, again 🙂
February 10, 2010 at 1:32 pm
The art is excellent, the dialogue is superb, and you are among my most favorite artists. This comic and comic series is rock solid.
That being said, could I ask a few questions about Canadian society? It’s ok, I am from Metro Detroit, I’m practically a cousin.
Why does Canada have a homeless problem at all? I mean, any citizen can get medical attention, right? So mental illness should be mitigated, right? Your educational systems are superb, and your social ethos is inspiring. What is not being done? What is being done wrong?
Look, Michigan has hella problems, so it might be hypocritical of me to criticize my Ontarian cousins. I freely concede that.
Still, why do you have homeless people?
February 10, 2010 at 1:36 pm
A thought-provoking and poignant comic. Well done, Winston.
February 10, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Hey any reason today’s strip is hyperlinked to “Subway Crossword Fiction”? It was nice to be reminded of that one, which I had forgotten; but I don’t get the connection.
February 10, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Good social commentary. Makes me sad, though. Most good subnormalities do that.
One thing though, and The Modesto Kid noticed it too: why does it link to the Subway Crossword Fiction comic? I guess it has some relevance in that the woman coming out of the bar is spreading discomfort, similar to Princess Washburn.
February 10, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Marc Hergott: Why do we have homeless people here? I don’t know, that’s probably beyond the scope of my knowledge. If we can say that in general homelessness is the result of substance abuse or mental illness or unemployment or domestic violence, then we can probably say that every country has these problems, canada included, but a combination of factors precludes their being solved. What those factors are i’m not sure (here’s an older article on the subject though: http://www.streetlevelconsulting.ca/homepage/homelessnessInCanada_Part1.htm ) but i’m quite sure that the stigma around mental illness/addiction is a big contributor. The way a mental disorder is viewed not in the way that a broken leg is viewed but in a way that implies blame on the victim. The culture of “get over it,” that kind of thing. I don’t know, it’s a big topic, but there’s no one reason for homelessness in canada, i think that’s the most important point. It is, like all problems, a combination of many factors.
The Modesto Kid, Buldwren: I have no idea why it was linked to the princess washburn comic, but thanks for alerting me, it’s fixed now. That was just bizarre, i don’t know how that could have happened by accident. Either it was gremlins, or a wizard did it.
February 10, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Damn wizards. They ruin everything.
February 10, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Holy shit Winston. This is why I keep coming back to Subnormality™. Not only was the premise fascinating, but the twist at the end really drove it home.
I think this is my new favorite Subnormality™. It used to be “A Christmas Eve In The Future.”
In my opinion, your best work is social commentary. Your insight into the human mind is truly profound. It’s like you know exactly what I’m thinking and just where my emotional soft-spots are. It’s fucking brilliant. Bravo Winston, bravo. I only wish I could sit down with you over a beer and pick your brain.
February 10, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Is Zoe Muggs a victim of domestic violence? Will we see more of her?
February 10, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Oh man, that was a good comic. Made me really sad, but I just can’t shake the feeling that I was set up perfectly.
February 10, 2010 at 7:52 pm
man, this one’s good. they’re all good. i’m not sure how you do it, but you’re amazing. thanks!
February 10, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Brilliant! Brought a tear to my eye in the final panel. Conveyed the quality of the best short fiction (meant as quite the compliment from a career-long writer…). Really well done!
February 10, 2010 at 9:41 pm
I dig the message here and the ending is very clever, but I have to say it already…whats with the seeming idolization of fashionable, physically attractive, “hip” chicks all the time? They are almost always portrayed as the voice of wisdom and reason surrounded by idiots.
I find generally, these types of trendy girls are more concerned about their appearance and superficial bullshit more than deep sociological commentary or anything meaningful.
Just an honest observation from a fan.
February 10, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Positivity, I think it’s an exercise in subtle irony, either that or it’s just a bizarre aspect of the Subnormality universe. Winston, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong as this is just conjecture.
That being said, I do think Positivity has made a very interesting observation. I hadn’t really thought about who these “hipster girls” would be in real life, but now that I do, your characters seem to be the antithesis of them.
*shrugs*
Looking forward to a response on this.
February 10, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Fantastic and thought provoking. Also, her belt is the Triforce, and that is awesome.
February 10, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I saw the smoking as a sign, although I’m not quite sure whether that was the intention.
February 10, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Fuck…
its cold.
Hard hitting as always. I love how the witty insightful banter lulls you into a feeling of normality then BAM, the normality is subverted 😉
Also, this comic was updated on my birthday, woooo!
February 10, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Wow. Insightful and heartrending, particularly as the panhandler girl gives the patron her last cigarette. Clever comentary on the use of signs but my all time favorite bit is in the last panels where the panhandler throws her smoke in the garbage, yet all the patrons butts are in front of the can. Perhaps we cling to proprieties more when all we have are our manners.
February 10, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Homelessness article link busted, so ya know.
There are plenty of situations where someone (single parents, sadly and usually) is homeless for a short period of time because they run into trouble between jobs. Not all of them are chronically homeless, gibbering and wearing their underwear outside their pants for lack of medication.
And, of course, great comic. I love the name of the bar. And the return of the blonde-freckly girl. She doesn’t appear as much as formerly-pink-haired girl, but she has shown up a few times before and I like her every time.
February 11, 2010 at 12:07 am
DoubleW, here’s the fix’d link:
http://www.streetlevelconsulting.ca/homepage/homelessnessInCanada_Part1.htm
There was just an misplaced ) at the end.
February 11, 2010 at 12:35 am
Awesome.
In defense of hipster girls, I know some very wise ones – I wouldn’t agree that “these types of trendy girls are [generally] more concerned about their appearance and superficial bullshit than about deep sociological commentary or anything meaningful”.
February 11, 2010 at 12:42 am
Cold it is indeed.
February 11, 2010 at 1:00 am
Great one.
February 11, 2010 at 1:36 am
Excellent very thought provoking as always Winston. I have actually had chats with quite a few homeless people who hang around outside in the UK near where I go out to drink and can say that very often they are thoughtful insightful people… when sober.
@Marc Hergott – Coming from a society that is built in much the same way as Canada (the UK, same ideas on social welfare, health care etc.) we still have quite a few homeless people especially in the major cities. Quite often it is a result of a drug or substance abuse and it saps their money away until they end up on the street. In those cases you cannot give them a handout as the money would go to feed their habit. So what do you give them? Well obviously a roof and help to kick that addiction… but this only works if they want to be helped. You could try classifying them as Mentally ill but if the grounds for that are the willingness to sleep rough or substance abuse then you open up a can of worms in stereotyping a large group of people. These are the people who tend to be your long-term homeless, the guys who may be on the streets for years, decades or even the rest of their lives.
Other homeless tend to me more transitory, and are just normal people who through some sudden money worries end up with no house. A lot of these people end up in their car, but if you end up being unable to afford to pay for the car then that might get sold so you have some money to feed yourself and then you are sleeping rough. These people tend to me more temporary as they are more employable and have no addiction etc. that would stop them seeking help. Many don’t because they are too proud or embarrassed to do so and prolong their stay on the streets.
Others are running away from something and have nowhere else to go. Be it domestic abuse or just falling out with someone and having nowhere else to turn. Not to stereotype but the vast majority of these tend to be women. Once again usually transitory as their are definite systems in place to help them if they are willing to seek them. That said it is actually often advised that women do not sleep in homeless shelters for their own safety. Trust me I have been in a shelter, I am a big bloke and I was shitting myself just being in their for a night.
Finally and probably in the smallest minority are the people who choose to do this. They reject society as it exists and take up a more hobo like existence, bouncing around from place to place in search of temporary work. These guys are rare but will always probably be around as it is a personal choice they feel comfortable with making.
Boy that was a long post. To conclude there are systems in place to help people but there are many holes in this safety net for people to potentially fall through. The safety net is also based around the idea that people have to want to help and improve themselves, if they don’t want help then there is very little we can do as we cannot force people to do something they don’t want. They haven’t broken any laws so we just have to let them be.
Chris
February 11, 2010 at 3:04 am
Positivity combo breaker: I appreciate your honest observations, i’d rather have such a discussion than not have it. I’d say that your generalizations about “these types of trendy girls” are I think misguided. I think you’re trying to establish a distinct group of people that do not in fact exist. Are there girls who are trendy or hip or whathaveyou? Sure. Are they a distinct group of people about whom accurate generalizations can be made? No, not even close, and if you can’t make generalizations then you can’t make generalizations. As for the characters in my comix, if i have any agenda it’s to have female characters who feature in situations beyond only those that specifically require female characters.
Floyd Gondoli: Ah, but WHICH triforce?? Power? Wisdom? Uh, what was the other one?
Benedikt: Yeah, exactly. You can generalize about “hipsters” in terms of fashion i suppose, but nothing beyond that.
Chris: Thanks for the info, i’m really glad you took the time to write such a perfect summary. You definitely know what you’re talking about, i reckon.
February 11, 2010 at 4:16 am
:
There is only one Triforce. What you’re thinking of, Winston, are the individual triangles that compose the Triforce. Those are the Triforces of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. The pendants in A Link to the Past also bear those names.
February 11, 2010 at 4:49 am
Again, Rowntree… I mean, what the fuck. Again, I feel bad for being human.
You’re still awesome though.
February 11, 2010 at 5:32 am
Lack of humour? You must be kidding… it’s a very dark, brilliant, and insightful sort of humour, though.
February 11, 2010 at 9:01 am
Like a slap in the face Winston, wonderful.
This story though less-so: Vancouver’s apparently ‘cleaning the streets’ in the run up to some sports thing:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/03/vancouver-winter-olympics-homeless-row
February 11, 2010 at 9:03 am
Man, I thought my life was bad, I may be unemployed, but at least I still have a roof over my head.
February 11, 2010 at 9:59 am
Very meta, very nice.
I speak from ignorance (as many readers here will testify), but unless cigarettes are REALLY cheap in Canada what is a homeless girl begging for money for food doing smoking cigarettes? The really hard-up (and I have been near, if not quite outside at night) smoke rollups.
February 11, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I find these so thought provoking I sometimes catch myself getting all evangelical about it. Scared I might turn into that relative or friend you’re beginning to find annoying who won’t stop sending you links to random stuff on the internet.
Anyway, amazing.
February 11, 2010 at 1:44 pm
@ simon, classic inadvertently judgmental question. As well as the fact she can spend whatever money she’s given on whatever she chooses, there’s the more likely situation: someone gave her the cigarettes instead of funding whatever other ‘habit’ they might think she has.
It was her last one too, making the whole scene even more cuttingly poignant.
February 11, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Cigarettes suppress hunger. A pack of ten cigarettes will last longer than spending the same amount of money on a meal.
February 11, 2010 at 3:54 pm
And when I thought you had done your best… Really, Winston, your comics are outstanding. BTW, have you seen “Placido”, “The Executioner” or any other of the films by Luis García Berlanga (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0305557/)? This is exactly in the line he used: humour without pity, so to say.
February 11, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Man, your comics almost seem to get better from week to week. They’re getting heavier and more intense and in my humble opinion taking comics to its highest level. Every now and again people like you come along and lift an art form higher than most. Your form, approach and delivery is unique. Impressed as always.
February 11, 2010 at 8:31 pm
This comic sparked a half hour intellectual conversation between me and a friend.
I really think you managed to nearly perfectly capture a small tragic part of the human condition.
Very poignant, thank you.
February 11, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Great comic. I still don’t care about homeless people (as an issue I do. Individually I have no interest in talking to them or giving them money) but a good comic nonetheless.
February 11, 2010 at 11:49 pm
I never have change on hand to give to homeless people, so I feel a bit bad about passing them by. When I first got hired at the bakery I work at now, I would squirrel away the leftover/day-old baked goods to give to homeless people. I only stopped when my employer (a Wal-mart, so no guilt over hurting any profit margin) began quietly cracking down on employee theft. I never got caught, and the store began donating day-old food to nearby shelters, so I guess everything worked out in the end. Sort of. I still never have excess money to hand out.
February 12, 2010 at 12:11 am
@DoubleW – *is* there such a thing though as ‘excess money’? I don’t think so, and I think the concept of ‘spare change’ precisely accesses that disparity by strangling the human guilt-gland.
The fact that I don’t know the story of the beggar on the street makes me want to know their story. Listening to their story makes me feel guilty for having more than they do, regardless or not if it’s true, which is the secondary concern after stopping. The coin as a full-stop for both their ‘pitch’ and my involvement is one of the fastest ways to feel shit I’ve ever known. Paying to walk away is fundamentally abhorrent. We’ve all got our methods of ‘dealing with the homeless’ and heroics of warm meals are often unwelcome, since their spot on the street may be taken by the time they come back full, or they might not actually right at that point be hungry, and right at this point I have no idea. But a bit of food in a bag is a good thing to come back down the street and give if you pass by and give nothing on your way into town, so I’ve heard.
February 12, 2010 at 2:22 am
Zarpado/Awesome
February 12, 2010 at 3:24 am
Dammit Rowntree, you have finally broken through my hard, chitinous shell of cynicism.
You magnificent bastard.
February 12, 2010 at 6:24 am
J: Alright, my comprehension of triforces is lacking, i admit it. The correction is appreciated.
GerryB: Yeah, the BBC had a great article about it too (recently i’ve been reading about my country from foreign sources, it’s very interesting). What’s pissed me off the most this week is how they painted over all those murals in lovely Olympic Blue to impress god knows who (article: http://www.straight.com/article-276729/vancouver/beatty-street-murals-painted-over-city-vancouver ; second article: http://www.straight.com/article-280338/vancouver/antiolympic-paintings-appear-where-beatty-street-murals-once-dispalyed ). I cannot properly express how angry that makes me. Anyone who had anything to do with that decision should be fired out of a fucking cannon, and i don’t mean one of those purpose-built circus cannons. With glowing hearts we kill the arts indeed.
Illuminatus: Not familiar with the guy’s work, but i am now intrigued for sure.
DoubleW: What pisses me off are the higher-end clothing stores who shred their excess inventory because it would cheapen the brand if they gave the stuff to charity. That just crosses all kinds of lines. Gonna have to recommend the cannon on that one too.
Quotidian Torture: Been hammering away at my own shell for a while now.
February 12, 2010 at 11:25 am
That’s how I always felt about homeless people. I always wanted to have a conversation with them.
February 12, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Great Comic as always, especially the juxtaposition. Is the fist bump really that prevalent in the Canadian bar society?
February 12, 2010 at 2:07 pm
“What pisses me off are the higher-end clothing stores who shred their excess inventory because it would cheapen the brand if they gave the stuff to charity. That just crosses all kinds of lines.”
There’s a similar scene in The Grapes of Wrath where rich land owners douse excess food stocks with gasoline and burn them right in front of the poor people, instead of just giving it to them. It never changes, eh?
Great comic, really moved me. Couldn’t see the last panel at first cause I hadn’t scrolled down enough. Didn’t understand the comic, I was WTF, then it hit me.
February 12, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Oh the irony… Beautiful man, just beautiful.
Since I’m not often out on town for leisure I usually don’t have time to talk to homeless people since I’m on a timetable.
However I’ve met some of them in my work and most are pretty normal.
Even those with addictions are usually ok to talk with as long as they’re not on a high (or too low, that makes them unpredictable).
Their stories vary pretty wildly but some way of incurring debt is usually present.
It’s surprisingly common that a divorce makes people crash enough that they can’t pay their bills and end up on the street (sometimes in combination with an addiction, of which alcohol is the most common).
Since they’re not sick or mentally ill, they sort of end up “between the chairs” and doesn’t get much help for the safety net.
“What pisses me off are the higher-end clothing stores who shred their excess inventory because it would cheapen the brand if they gave the stuff to charity. That just crosses all kinds of lines. Gonna have to recommend the cannon on that one too.”
Sorry? Cheapen the brand?
I know several stores and chains who use that method to strengthen their brand, coming across as socially responsible/caring.
The most profiled one is a shoe store who gives a pair of shoes to people or kids in poor countries for every pair bought in the stores.
February 12, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Kayleigh is right about the cigarettes btw.
Several of the homeless I’ve spoken to have said the same thing.
Oh, and the company that sells shoes and gives one pair to porr kids for every pair sold is Toms Shoes, started by Blake Mycoskie.
February 12, 2010 at 8:55 pm
“I dig the message here and the ending is very clever, but I have to say it already…whats with the seeming idolization of fashionable, physically attractive, “hip” chicks all the time? They are almost always portrayed as the voice of wisdom and reason surrounded by idiots.
I find generally, these types of trendy girls are more concerned about their appearance and superficial bullshit more than deep sociological commentary or anything meaningful.
Just an honest observation from a fan.”
Anyone can dream bro
February 13, 2010 at 1:40 am
Wow, that was really deep.
February 13, 2010 at 5:42 pm
this one is just great. =)
February 13, 2010 at 6:52 pm
This brain-kneading strip (no offense) makes me a little sad. It IS excellent !
It’s about the last… anythings. Last Segarettes ?(notice the smoke). Maybee about “Popeye’s Last Supper” (see boingboing). Maybe about the last prey.. : we have a predator/prey-case here (big wasp vs white bat in panel 2).
Anyhow: nice gurls !
benS.
P.s. All known mispellings are intentional !!
P.p.s Does Olive Oyl smoke ?
February 14, 2010 at 12:19 am
It makes me giggle when people get upset over other people talking about ‘superficial’ and ‘meaningless’ things. It reminds me of when I used to do that. We must be ALL DEEP, ALL THE TIME, folks, even if we lack the self-awareness to tell when we’re just trying too hard.
Light conversation has its purpose.
February 14, 2010 at 12:35 am
Just great.
February 14, 2010 at 9:42 pm
i though she was homeless from the start~ i dunno why that makes me feel like i had a mini-victory, but it does.
ha-HA~!! *poses galiently*
anyhow, i was talking to a homeless man while on break at my Mcdonalds. His name was john and he showed me his $2,000 bicycle he was riding and his back back FULL of cash!!!
he said he had a house in town and everything hahahaha i’ve seen him a few times since then.. he seemed like he had addictions in the past, but i’m not sure whether it’s just alcoholism or actual hard drugs. he was a blast though^o^
my uncle once gave money to a “hobo” only to go to a garage sale and find that the owner of the house was the homeless guy!!!
i guess you can really make money doing that~ i made $350 on my “”act-like-a-hobo” holiday
fun times
February 14, 2010 at 11:42 pm
This is arguably the best Subnormality strip to date. The impact of the last panel still has me reeling. My thanks.
February 15, 2010 at 6:53 am
Wow!!! I wasn’t expecting that last panel at all. Makes me think long and hard.
February 15, 2010 at 1:09 pm
@Veronica
Wasn’t that part of a Sherlock Holmes story?
February 15, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Veronica: “Homeless” means without a home. Someone with a home is not homeless.
February 16, 2010 at 1:05 am
Having signs are a terrible idea, I should know people, find me annoying and childish. And having that kind of sign would want me to talk to them.
February 16, 2010 at 1:05 am
That actually wasn’t funny, just sad. Almost made me cry. But I’m kind of…sensitive…so…
But it was great! I love when comics can be entertaining and interesting but not necessarily hilarious. Although the signs in the beginning made me laugh! It also brings up some cool stuff to think about.
I’m definitely going to keep reading this strip. By the way, I found out about your site from Cracked.
February 16, 2010 at 4:01 am
This comic is defiantly making me think. I get your message but i cant put it into specific words? Perhaps if we did have little signs we would actually judge based on that sign, and as such the world would be stuck in little social groups of similar people? Like if the homeless girl did have a sign saying something like “Im homeless because i dropped out of high school” or something of that sort, the other girl wouldnt have talked to her in the first place. But because there wasnt a sign she didnt make an assumption and so she met someone who was actually a nice and insightful person. So the message is not be sterotypical? Or maybe im just thinking to much
February 16, 2010 at 9:25 am
Stereotyping is a result of the evolution of the psychological tendency to avoid outsiders due to potential danger or offspring being born with traits that are not as conducive to living in the particular environment that the former had settled.
You can’t really blame the general population for it, unless they had been indoctrinated to avoid this underlying psychological tendency towards racial prejudices at an early age. But then there are a ton of confounding variables that would disrupt that anyways.
February 17, 2010 at 5:16 pm
By the way – if someone is looking for a fix for this week’s lack of a comic, lookee here:
Why Being ‘Attractive’ Isn’t Worth It [PIE CHARTS]
February 17, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Love it!
February 17, 2010 at 10:50 pm
‘Has tiny car’ is worth a manboyish ROFL or two.
February 18, 2010 at 5:09 am
Glorious, dude.
February 19, 2010 at 1:15 am
Wow man wow.
I’ve been following you for awhile now, and I gotta say you’re up there with Calvin and Hobbes. No joke…
February 19, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Pathos-tastic.
February 20, 2010 at 1:33 am
Wow. That was deep. I would really like to make a short movie on this..
February 21, 2010 at 9:06 pm
I can tell this is an incredible comic because for the first time it made me want to read the comments.
Homelessness is an issue really close to my heart. I see people on the street everyday (I live in BC, where there are around 11,000 chronically homeless people, nevermind those who are going through transition) and I talk to them all the time. But I am selective in who I talk to and who I give money to. This comic brought to my attention how I avoid people with signs. I feel like having a sign is shutting down conversation by trying to summarize why they are there and what they want, and it leaves me feeling like the person is trying to simplify themselves. Trying to downgrade their potential.
That’s something that really clicked with me in this comic. The sign you wear doesn’t have to be something negative; it could be something really cool about you, but it would still discourage conversation because it seems like you’re trying to end it before it even starts. The most interesting thing about people is what they’ll do next. Bringing around a sign that was written in the past about something that happened in the past hides future potential.
Looking back, when I give a street person more than 50 cents I look for something specific about them. A plan for the future. If someone says they’re gathering money for the hostel they’re going to sleep at tonight, I’ll happily give them 20 bucks right there. If someone is saving for a meal, or a bus fare, or a phone card, I’ll give them what I have. But then if they had a sign that was expressing that same concept I’d be hesitant…
Gah! This is confusing!
P.S. Oh, and Positivity, I happen to be a hip-looking young woman with hip-looking young women friends, and we are philosophical powerhouses when we want to be.
February 23, 2010 at 1:11 am
Iiiii love yoooooou…..
(your comiks…I’m currently at the Some People Like Them one right now) And I read this one first (signs). I don’t remember how I got here. But you complete me. -_- Yes.
…
February 24, 2010 at 12:26 am
I found your comic via stumbleupon and i am in love. I just thought you would like to know. Keep up the good work.
February 24, 2010 at 9:39 am
Well done..
long-time lurker, but your stuff always makes me go ‘well whaddya think? Now theres a totally new way of looking at things that i’ll have to get used to’
Always
February 27, 2010 at 5:34 am
Very touching, and a bit sad.
March 10, 2010 at 4:53 pm
I kind of want to jump into the comic and give this girl a hug.
March 17, 2010 at 2:20 am
This strip is powerful. Wow.
March 23, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Fucking crazy! I love it, outjie.
April 7, 2010 at 9:18 pm
f.ing genious.
This piece of art work has inspired me.
Thanks for it.
April 11, 2010 at 11:15 pm
That last panel cut me out of nowhere. It was beautifully stark and just…it fit. Perfectly. Amazing work.
Your stuff has always inspired me, but I’ve been content to admire it from the quite end…and then I read your latest comic about the grocery store and I decided to live a little.
If I had to wear a little sign, mine would probably say “Caution, contents unstable.” Honest and desperate for understanding, which probably underlines my personality.
Great job, man. 🙂
January 17, 2011 at 6:25 pm
This was the most beautiful thing I have had the pleasure of seeing/reading in a long time. Well done.
September 11, 2011 at 8:35 pm
well, that’s a sign all right.
how beautiful. i hurt for that conversation.
September 12, 2011 at 12:29 pm
How curious! A reasoning like that is what motivated me to look for a place where they made custom printed t-shirts.
The first one read: “Soylen Green, it’s what I hate”. But nobody gets it… I think I should get make one that reads: “I expect too much from people”.
July 19, 2012 at 8:34 am
Question: Was she (with the sign) given those cigarettes, or did she buy them with change or something?
IF the former… then fine… can’t be helped.
IF the latter…. then the stupid bitch shoulda bought a sammich with the money instead of more tar-sticks.
(Oh, and anyone who wants to jump in and give the fictional homeless girl a hug… I’m looking at you, Delilah…… how about you go give a real homeless person a hug instead? That is something you can actually do. Seriously.
I don’t bother, personally. There isn’t remotely enough sympathy in me for all the billions of people in the world who need it.)
November 11, 2012 at 5:43 am
????
Fuck you. Self-centered, moralistic fucks like you are disgusting.
April 13, 2013 at 10:29 am
Or you could, y’know, donate your time to help those in need. Community service is totally a thing people can do without being directed to by the justice system. Just sayin’!
August 25, 2014 at 9:56 am
When you have bad shit happen to you self destruction gives the control back to you. Some people smoke, some people drink, some people have dangerous hobbies.
October 15, 2014 at 6:01 pm
Reading through your comic for the first time, and this one really hit home for some reason. Fantastic point you made there.