Okay, so how about a comic for once?
THANKS FOR WAITING
Seriously, thanks for waiting for this one, i know the delay was unfortunate. 43 weeks between comix is not going to be a thing now, i must state. This was just the combination of a Quite Huge comic and a bunch of other side work and an ongoing heat wave that just goes ahead and drains one’s efficiency at times.
So i’ll see you again soon, and thanks for hanging around for the first 200 comix– it’s been a massive privilege indeed so far, and whatever opportunities i’ve had of late have been thanks to You All and the sharing of my work and the Word of Mouse that’s enabled me to pay the rent via a pencil an increasing number of times lately (be extra nice to anyone from Cracked.com that you run into at the grocery store/bowling alley/drunk tank, because they are The Best).
So cheers anyway, curse the preceding wait, and i’ll see y’all again soon. Them milestone comix, they be big. Apologies way in advance for the ungodly delay that will precede comic #300…
-Wr
July 18, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Hurray for 200! Congrats, Mr Rowntree, and looking forward to the next milestone already.
July 18, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Great mystery! I can see this comic as a Twilight Zone episode.
July 18, 2012 at 4:20 pm
you beautiful son of a bitch. congratulations, and thank you for these moments when I am having an otherwise boring and dull day at work, devote myself to the comic and finish not sure how I feel.
July 18, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Wow. House of Leaves?
July 19, 2012 at 9:37 pm
That’s what I started thinking about halfway through. WR must be an HOL fan.
July 20, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Heard of it, but i’ve never read it. Worth reading?
July 21, 2012 at 12:40 pm
House of Leaves is unquestionably worth reading.
As for the comic, I am always floored. Always. Somehow this one had the sensation of magnetism, of being drawn towards some irresistible conclusion. The lost anomalies were not a monolith, however, and so the seeker was pulled to pieces.
July 18, 2012 at 4:56 pm
I am assuming he lost time. The weather changed, his bag of evidence disappears, clothes change, new hair style, new glasses style… new anomaly.
I’m going to interpret it as an metaphor for academia wherein the peak experience is ephemeral, it is suddenly missing like anterograde amnesia. An intense and encompassing focus on the curious esoteric minutae in the world has resulted in it.
And suddenly all of that encompassing mystery is behind you, peak experience forgotten, and you are suddenly ready to get out with friends and have a good time again.
July 18, 2012 at 5:36 pm
What do you mean with academia ? I’m not really getting the metaphor.
July 18, 2012 at 6:58 pm
On his last bike ride to the office there is snow on the ground around buildings so a time lapse seems unlikely.
July 18, 2012 at 8:18 pm
Some time definitely elapsed, since he grew and manicured facial hair. 🙂
July 19, 2012 at 1:08 am
That just indicates that the world changed; not necessarily that time passed.
July 19, 2012 at 10:05 am
doggie it’s not like he just lost a few weeks; the past four years of his life had been rewritten in an instant
July 25, 2012 at 2:17 pm
“Rewritten” isn’t really the correct way to phrase it, from how I am interpreting the comic.
The anomalies are caused by the simultaneous expression of two iterations of a universe occupying the same “space.” Basically, bits of one universe intrude into bits of another.
The point at which our narrator turned the corner is the time at which the universes stopped interfering with each other, and the narrative piggybacked onto the narrator’s double.
For the more visually inclined: Picture two hallways that run perpendicular to each other. One man is walking down each hallway. One of them is being followed by a camera. Where the hallways intersect, the men run into each other. The camera instead starts following the other man, rather than continue following the first one. That basically what the narrative did.
Or perhaps the professor herself was an anomaly and she ceased to exist in the narrator’s universe when the two universes stopped intersecting, for whatever reason.
Actually, I like that idea. Disregard all of this but that paragraph.
July 18, 2012 at 5:46 pm
This was incredible. Absolutely worth the wait. I’m glad I decided to check today. You’re the best WR.
July 18, 2012 at 5:56 pm
Beautiful indeed. This story reminds me of a science fiction story I read a long time ago in which the protagonist finds items in his life disappearing; first trivial items, then more important ones, eventually his car, house, job. The last line reads, “I’m just sitting here having a cup of cof”
But in this case things are appearing too — like the professor herself. And then disappearing. Quantum virtual particles writ large — why not? A great story.
July 18, 2012 at 6:03 pm
The outlines around the shingle examples in part 4 area nice touch.
July 18, 2012 at 6:20 pm
If abnormalities are observable in artifices, and hypothetically observable in nature, couldn’t they be observable in the human body as well?
After all, how often have you woken up with an inexplicable new ache? Or noticed a blemish or pale patch on your skin that you dismiss; after all, it had to be there already, you just never noticed it, right? Right?
July 18, 2012 at 6:34 pm
Hoo! Really enjoyed this one. I bet it took a long time, but I think you’re really quite handy with the longer-form narratives.
July 18, 2012 at 6:58 pm
I’m pretty sure it hasn’t been 43 weeks since the last one. Has it? Or… waitaminute.
Seriously, awesomely good. Thank you for this and all the others, and the ones yet to come.
July 18, 2012 at 7:23 pm
I’m pretty sure it was more like 43 days… 🙂
July 18, 2012 at 7:11 pm
What a beautiful meditation on learning to think like a software tester (in my case), or I guess a scientist, naturalist, artist, detective, etc.
Beautiful!
July 18, 2012 at 7:24 pm
Wow.
Yeah, this is a brilliant take on what it’s like to be an academic. The ending moves it into sci-fi territory.
I especially enjoyed the panel about the “love interest” who would typically pull the character away in stories like these.
July 18, 2012 at 7:38 pm
And my mind was blown again. Or was it?
July 18, 2012 at 7:54 pm
This was fantastic, you hurt my heart
July 18, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Hmmm not bad, though I kind of saw it coming. Great story anyways.
July 18, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Another mind blowing read, Mr. Rowntree. I saw it as less of a metaphor and more as a thought experiment. As an aside, I have the same Asahi Pentax camera that the protagonist has.
July 23, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I might… it’s hard to tell but to my (biased) eye it looks like a ZX-7. But the sound effect would be different, as the ZX-7 has a motor drive, so it would be “click-whhrrr” instead of just “click”.
Also, this was great. Really excellent.
As a further bit of weirdness, I was reading this one and a professor in my department, a physical chemist who spends much of his time at the local syncotron firing X-rays at soil, came by and regaled me with a story about laying bricks in his backyard to make a walkway and a patio. The bricks came from some buildings that had been demolished, and we pondered the likelyhood of anomolies mixed into his summer project.
July 18, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Brilliant. Outdone yourself yet again.
July 18, 2012 at 8:52 pm
I loved it, you are a genius !!!
July 18, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Truly Excellent!!! 🙂 🙂
July 18, 2012 at 9:22 pm
I knew this would be totally worth the wait! Epicly awesome and awesomely epic!
July 18, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Worth the wait. It’s a bleedin’ graphic novel, innit?
July 18, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Yet another classic to add to the 200-strong anthology. For some reason I am reminded of that facetious definition of the word “expert”: “Someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know absolutely everything about nothing”.
July 18, 2012 at 10:07 pm
I would love to have this one as an actual print comic book. It’s one of your greatest.
July 18, 2012 at 10:07 pm
If you didn’t have attentive readers already, this comic would surely get them to focus on details!
July 18, 2012 at 10:20 pm
Not gonna lie, I checked the site almost every day waiting for this one and it did not disappoint. I’m hesitating to call this one a comic, since it really reminded me of a short story in graphic novel format. Yes, labels, blah blah, intellectual stuff, blah blah, etc. Point is: loved it, your art is amazing, and if I don’t age at least a year waiting for #300, it will be a nice surprise. 🙂
July 18, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Yeah, wow, this one is great. I love it. Masterpiece, instant classic, etc.
…truthfully, sometimes the really long ones are tough for me but this one was great. When I got to the panel with the drinking fountain at the end, I seriously stared at it for like a minute.
July 26, 2012 at 12:26 am
Me too, me too.
July 18, 2012 at 11:20 pm
99% sure that university is the U of R. Excellent story! Hope to read 200 more comics in the future!
July 20, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Yeah, it’s kind of sort of a fictional version of the U of R.
July 18, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Blown out of my shoes. Thank you.
July 19, 2012 at 12:40 am
This whole thing could have been one of those short stories from the Animatrix. Or just one of Agent Mulder’s long soliloquies. Love Sci-Fi. Love Rowntree.
July 19, 2012 at 7:15 am
I was thinking of that one episode of Star Trek: TNG where Worf flashes through all the different alternate universes
July 20, 2012 at 4:20 pm
I love that episode, definitely in my top 5 favorites. And that Animatrix wasn’t half bad either.
July 19, 2012 at 1:38 am
So awesome.
July 19, 2012 at 1:53 am
Brilliant. Really enjoyed it.
Now…anyone want to point out all the details I missed? I got that the colour changed from orange-red to red…
July 19, 2012 at 1:57 am
Outstanding story telling as always. I always check back for new releases, and am so pumped when there is a new one. Especially these massive graphic novellas!
July 19, 2012 at 3:09 am
First time commenter here. I’ve been following you since The Inner Dark, and goddamn, I love your comics. This one was fantastic as always, and I sincerely hope you continue your work. The Internet, nay, the world needs more like it.
July 20, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Ha, cheers man, and thanks for commenting!
July 19, 2012 at 3:56 am
Inception level awesome, this is. Same vibe, same “I really don’t know how to feel about this, but I’m extremely impressed” feel after reading it.
July 19, 2012 at 4:04 am
Beautiful, thank you
July 19, 2012 at 4:29 am
Reminds me of so many curious instances in my life. For instance, with the recent release of the new movie ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, I discovered the existance of the movie ‘Batman Begins’. I had perhaps heard the term somewhere, but I am certain I was entirely unaware of its existance, and the day afterward, happened to see it on television for the first time; even though I have seen ‘The Dark Knight’ a few times before. And one winters day where a ice scraper I had used the day before was somehow shorter by about six inches, but otherwise identical.
Part of what I enjoy about these comics is that they help remove the endless cycle of self-doubt brought about by things suddenly existing or never having existed, and another part is the beautiful wording crafted along with the images. I look forward to seeing the results of you keeping up the good work.
July 19, 2012 at 10:09 am
Yo is this like really clever viral marketing for the new Batman movie?
July 19, 2012 at 5:35 am
AUGH
July 19, 2012 at 6:41 am
So you got the name Rowntree from Dave Rowntree
July 20, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Either that or Rowntree’s candy, i can’t remember now.
July 19, 2012 at 7:18 am
You magnificent bastard. Such a grasping, pulling-you-in story. I was literally going “No… no, no, nooo!” at the catharsis.
Happy anniversary, and thanks a ton for your brilliant comics!
July 19, 2012 at 10:06 am
Another commenter said that they saw the ending coming. I have to say that I did not. Guessing the ending seems to come from either being unconnected to the part of the story in front of you or the ending being so cliched that you can’t help it. Well, there was more than enough on this narrative’s path to keep me looking at details (not unlike the protagonist) and not guessing ahead and this journey takes you so far afield that you can’t even see cliche with binoculars.
Keep handing out these maps, I’ve got my hiking boots.
July 19, 2012 at 10:33 am
Fantastic, one your best yet!
July 19, 2012 at 11:01 am
Really awesome. Totally going to rip this off for a few RPG-sessions.
July 19, 2012 at 11:28 am
What happened? did the professor disappear out of existence? was she an anomaly?
July 19, 2012 at 11:28 am
I’m here every day to check for new comix, but this is the first time I’ve spoken up… this was everything I could have hoped for out of such a monumental number… in my opinion this is your finest work, and moreover one of the better pieces of fiction I’ve read
congrats on 200, keep up the epic work
July 20, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Thanks– totally appreciate it.
July 19, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Thank you!
Whenever my RSSfeed shows some new post on Subnormality my heart skips a beat.
😉
July 19, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Ok, now I’m freaked out…
This is a masterpiece. Congratulations.
Ah, we want a book.
please
July 19, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Allright, so I’ve read this six or seven times since yesterday, and I’ve JUST noticed in the last reading that the “I” in the title of the comic has a little nudge on it. And I’m freaking out a bit because I’m not sure if it was always there. I mean that I’m freaking out a lot. GODDAMMIT ROWNTREE STOP PLAYING WITH OUR MINDS!!1!
March 18, 2013 at 2:01 pm
I CAN’T UNSEE THAT
July 19, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Saw the ending a mile off, but really liked it nonetheless. One of your best works.
July 19, 2012 at 12:52 pm
That’s spooky…
It’s got me thinking, maybe every time we walk into a room and forget why, maybe every time we take a wrong turn on a roundabout and get lost, maybe in an alternate universe that’s the road we intended to take, for reasons unknown to us, because of the different choices we make and maybe vice versa occurs there. Maybe they’re the echoes from a universe next door, and actions that are accidental or out-of-character here could be diliberate or second nature there.
I need to lie down, before my head explodes… Fantastic comic, as usual, really can’t wait for the next 100!
July 22, 2012 at 2:15 am
Deja vu?
July 19, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Also, I was sure “vestigial” was spelt “vestigal” up until reading this, which gives it extra freakout.
July 20, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Ha, i had the exact same experience– the spellchecker set me straight. Was it always spelled “vestigial..?”
July 19, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Definitely experienced changes on this level, most of them too small to matter but a couple of them too big to ignore. This is easily one the best comics you’ve ever done. It was well worth the wait.
July 19, 2012 at 1:31 pm
That was really well done. I think I speak for a lot of the posters here when I say if this is the calibre of work that extended timelines result in, please don’t change a thing!
July 19, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Spectacular.
July 19, 2012 at 1:45 pm
I am consistently blown away by the depth of your thought and attention to detail on these long comics. If ever I need a collaborator, I know who I’m contacting first.
July 19, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Dude, you should have written the ending to Lost
July 19, 2012 at 2:02 pm
amazing! you sir, are a genius! please dont ever tire of making art like this.
July 19, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Wow, this is like a cross between PhD the webcomic and Starslip Crisis. And speaking as a just-graduated graduate student who has spent years studying possibly-worthless minutiae under a very terse professor, this one really hit home for me. I read this one extra slowly and was so obsessed with trying to find secret anomalies in the pictures (none found except at the end) that I didn’t see that ending coming!
July 19, 2012 at 2:15 pm
With the hint at the start that the anomalies change back would that make the professor an anomaly herself?
Thank you for making my life a richer place.
July 19, 2012 at 2:29 pm
That was *ridiculously* beautiful. Thanks, Winston.
July 19, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Brilliant and some of the best sci fi I’ve read in years you should collate some your bigger comics into an anthology
July 19, 2012 at 3:05 pm
This one was amazing! I’ve always enjoyed the comics but today you had me looking closely and buildings as I walked around campus. 🙂
July 19, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Jeez. The tone of this reminds me of some of the really good, subtle SCPs from the Foundation. It’s not in your face, but it just noticable and off enough for that little shiver to run down your spine at the implications of it.
Brilliant work!
July 19, 2012 at 4:05 pm
That was really wonderful, and a little sad.I had to read the whole thing twice.
Thank you.
July 19, 2012 at 4:18 pm
I don’t want to be _that_ guy, but since no one else is (or maybe just tend to say the things they’re not assuming)…
*sigh* i’ll say it.
Of all people/projects out there …
you are the only one I’d really encourage to do a ‘kickstarter’.
PS: I lied. Human nature. Sorry.
Truth: Of all projects out there, only you and Order of the Stick should be collecting gazillionmillion bucks through Kickstarter. But since OotS already did that, you’re the last one my list.
PPS: Do it.
July 20, 2012 at 4:27 pm
No kickstarter for Canadians, as far as i know, though i’m sure that’ll change eventually. I got nothin’ to kick-start right now anyway.
July 19, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Beautiful.
What really gets me is going back to that comment near the beginning, when he mentions walking by the building with the cone in, like, 2026 and feeling the odd urge to photograph it. His wording felt so out of place at that point, and gives you shivers later…
July 19, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Fantastic! Poor professor, she got too close and had to be silenced, along with that meddling kid.
It’s cool to think you could be shunted into a different reality at any moment and not realize it.
I don’t just want a book, I want to wallpaper my house with your comics.
July 19, 2012 at 5:48 pm
FUCK YEAH
thnk you winston! you never cease to amaze me!
July 19, 2012 at 7:18 pm
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” – Douglas Adams –
July 20, 2012 at 4:28 pm
Ha, i hereby approve of this theory.
July 19, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Once again, the wait was more than worth it. Thanks for the subnormality, Mr. Rowntree.
July 19, 2012 at 7:33 pm
I am freaking out…
July 19, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Whoa, that one really had me thinking.
I feel the urge to look closely upon buildings now.
July 19, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Yay!
July 19, 2012 at 9:55 pm
I gasped audibly upon reaching the finish. Truly, Rowntree is a master of the medium.
July 19, 2012 at 11:09 pm
As always, worth the wait.
July 20, 2012 at 12:48 am
Wow.
Not really sure what to say.
I scrolled up and down after reading the end, searching for an answer.
I can’t say enough good things about you and your work, Winston. Amazing. Thank you.
July 20, 2012 at 1:33 am
I… love you… just that. Anomalies, subnormalities, paranormalities… you just make them beautiful and meaningful. Take your time. Most of us will wait for you. It’s so definitely worth it. Thanks again, for every single comic you have produced.
July 20, 2012 at 1:59 am
Wow. Genuinely spooky. It’s hard to get that sudden emotional lurch of a sudden reveal in a reader-paced medium. I’ve only read one text story that spooked me that way before, and now this comic.
July 20, 2012 at 5:16 am
Beautifully done. Thank you. Essentially the material for a novel you know.
July 20, 2012 at 5:40 am
This was definitely worth the wait, thank you.
July 20, 2012 at 5:53 am
Thank you so much for all the work! And the brain dinging.
July 20, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Thank YOU for the choice of avatar. I think you’re like the only one, so props.
July 20, 2012 at 5:56 am
That was beautiful and sad. Thank you very much.
July 20, 2012 at 9:21 am
By the way, the animation for the Batman video on cracked looks great. You and Swaim are a pretty great team.
July 20, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Swaim and anyone is a pretty great team. Dude is Talented.
But yeah, there’s Batman rap to be had, for anyone interested:
http://www.cracked.com/video_18443_batman-rap-why-gotham-has-more-street-cred-than-compton.html
It was a lot of fun to work on, and i am definitely impressed with what Swaim and Cody Johnston did animation-wise will all my sketchy drawings.
July 20, 2012 at 11:14 am
I started to write a comment and for the life of me I can’t remember why.
July 20, 2012 at 12:34 pm
*standing ovation*
July 20, 2012 at 1:07 pm
That was wonderful. Congratulations on #200.
July 20, 2012 at 6:46 pm
What did I just read? WHAT DID I JUST READ?
July 20, 2012 at 6:50 pm
You are my absolute idol as an artist. Jesus I actually audibly gasped at the end. I never audibly gasp at things. Worth the wait and congratulations!
July 20, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Love your comic, but for the next 200 can we have less apologising for who you are an more that was fun to read?
July 20, 2012 at 7:10 pm
I’m afraid I don’t get it…
July 20, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Damn…
July 20, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Just plain wow. I think I actually deflated a little.
I’ve had one of those moments where something changed *while I was looking at it.* But nobody else saw anything, and I can’t ever prove anything…
July 21, 2012 at 12:24 am
Jesus, that scared the shit out of me. Excellent work, as always.
July 21, 2012 at 1:18 am
Great. Fantastic. Wordy. Mind-blowing. I heaps praise upon you.
July 21, 2012 at 1:52 am
No matter how I already seen it coming, the delivery was perfect. It’s a long picture poetry. This is my first comment, an the heartlier thanks.
July 21, 2012 at 1:56 am
This is the most hauntingly beautiful thing I have seen of all your creations. This speaks to me deeper than any conscious thought I have had (I have always let anomalies be innocuous and rarely let them sink into cohesive thought). Thank you.
July 21, 2012 at 3:57 am
simply superb. You are to the webcomic as Bach is to the fugue.
July 21, 2012 at 4:47 am
As far as I’m concerned, Subnormality is the most underrated webcomic of them all. “Anomalies” is a more than worthy 200th. Congratulations on being awesome!
July 21, 2012 at 5:16 am
I think the other comments have said it all, well done and thank you!
(Also my first comment).
July 21, 2012 at 7:20 am
That was mind blowing.
July 21, 2012 at 2:40 pm
my life is changed
July 21, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Congratulations on reaching your double century!
July 21, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Amazing! my mind is completely changed. woot on the 200
July 21, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Wow, that was a work of art.
July 21, 2012 at 8:31 pm
OH.. wow.
I am amazed. that drew me in so well. I found myself hunched over my laptop squinting at it like I would a good book. I kept looking at all the houses and things for little oddities. Can’t wait for the next 100 comix to come!
July 21, 2012 at 9:15 pm
Did anyone notice that the buildings and the bushes where he falls asleep look like eyes are staring at him?
July 22, 2012 at 2:33 am
The weirdest thing happened right before I read this comic, and I didn’t even think it was weird until I read it. 5 days ago some friends of mine formed a group on Facebook for a project we’d been planning on doing. For the past week I’ve been assisting with a lot of the logistics involved, so I’d been doing a lot of posting and commenting and been receiving a lot of notifications. I was in the middle of a conversation when I got an unrelated notification, and when I tried to go back to the group, the page that I was already on would just redirect back to itself. I checked my notifications, and every single one from the group was missing, as though the group had never existed.
July 24, 2012 at 3:42 am
yeah something weird happened to me too. i just came home i usually leave my money in a jar( yes a jar) and keep it where nobody knows. i place at least $200 in there then closed it. i was alone at the time after that i was still in the same room with the jar i was reading the comic on my computer. Then after i finished reading the comic i then took a look at the jar the $200 was gone it was the strangest thing to ever happen to me now i am here contemplating about what happened that time.
July 22, 2012 at 3:23 am
I love your work even though it causes my computer to grind to a halt for minutes at a time
July 22, 2012 at 5:08 am
Sense I discovered virus comics last year all you do is amaze and astound me. Whether its comedy, a tragity, or a simple short story they always leave me with a chill of thought running down my spine. Thank you so much for this one and I look forward to the next.
July 22, 2012 at 9:10 am
Did you intend for the professor’s office to intersect with the stairwell in an impossible way? It seems like the ceiling of the office should be sloped because of the stairs right above it, but it’s perfectly square and normal…
July 22, 2012 at 9:23 pm
That was incredible.
July 22, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Is anyone else reminded of Rant Casey?
July 23, 2012 at 2:00 am
Not until you mentioned it but damn Yes.
July 24, 2012 at 7:18 pm
I had never heard of this book until last week and this is the second time it’s come up. I guess I sidestepped into the universe where it exists.
July 22, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Oh wow, is this the same comic I started out reading? I love your comics so often delving into the meaning of existence. Now I know why you sometimes take a few weeks to update! Thanks so much!
July 22, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Reminiscent of Stephenson’s Anathem. Very cool. I enjoyed this even more than your time-travel tale.
July 22, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Awful. Horrid, and long-winded for the sake of it.
July 24, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Phooey.
August 12, 2012 at 9:14 pm
I think this guy is in the wrong universe.
August 12, 2012 at 11:12 pm
http://www.viruscomix.com/page483.html
July 22, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Man…I’ve been reading this comic for a while, and other than The Last Stand, this is the only one to actually give me goosebumps.
July 23, 2012 at 12:52 am
I SO WANT to make a movie of this… this is pure gold.
July 23, 2012 at 2:00 am
Well done, you’ve given me even more things to notice everywhere I go. This story needs a better outlet.
July 23, 2012 at 2:04 am
Wow. I’m so glad I started following this comic. You deserve to be way more well known.
July 23, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Well done , love the idea, and the way you showed it to us 🙂
July 23, 2012 at 2:24 pm
My goodness, beautiful. And a stomach drop at the end, like a roller coaster. You’re a fantastic story teller.
July 23, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Wonderful. Keep going and thank you.
July 23, 2012 at 7:58 pm
absolutely beautiful. well done.
July 23, 2012 at 11:38 pm
right on.
July 24, 2012 at 9:22 am
The feeling I get after reading your comics is like coming out of a deep and complicated dream. Understanding is there somewhere but fleeting. And I’d really like to go back to sleep.
July 24, 2012 at 10:23 am
Some of your best artwork so far. This one was worth the wait.
July 24, 2012 at 3:22 pm
In my life there has been one very realistic anomaly moment, where I felt like I suddenly popped into a parallel universe, as if reality had abruptly changed around me. Turned out I had misunderstood something of large significance earlier and it never occurred to me before.
Now I have to wonder: How did the protagonist gain temporary ripple-effect proof memory in the presence of the professor, and how did she possess that kind of memory? Also: Who else noticed that the trashcan changed before the ripple effect caught up to the protagonist?
July 24, 2012 at 4:17 pm
OK. You have now officially outdone yourself. I love it!
And yeah. My house – the one room doesn’t make sense – it turns out the builder had had the map upside down when he built it. That’s what you get if you pay a guy in beer – not kidding, the origial owner was cheap.
July 24, 2012 at 7:13 pm
As someone who has had two different incidents of CDs (listened to for years) suddenly develop new songs after someone else mentioned the song as being a good one by that artist – thanks. Reality can mess with your head, or is that the other way around?
July 24, 2012 at 7:33 pm
Not-notch stuff. Again! The line “Only with the advent of structure could deviations be spotted. Only with the creation of uniformity could anomalies even be theorized” made me think of the anomalies which are likely to arise in our current highly-structured world.
July 24, 2012 at 7:39 pm
What an incredible…#200….story. This would make a great movie I think too. I would read some of this, and walk away to think about it, and come back to read more.
July 25, 2012 at 12:19 am
So… he spent 4 years in an alternate universe and then suddenly popped into another? I can’t tell what I was supposed to get. Were the anomaly gods mad at him for trying to learn their ways? did the all nighter do it to him?
July 25, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Who says it’s the same guy?
Perhaps the narrative just shifted to the guy in the universe where the professor never existed,
July 25, 2012 at 5:04 am
This is brilliant, and I don’t mean that lightly. Just fantastic.
It had some definite hints of House of Leaves in it, and I’m pleased to see others in the comments felt that too. The spookiness of things being *out of place*, and in particular the relation to architecture. I highly reccomend [sic] that you read it.
And speaking of which, GOD! Friggin’ “recommend”! I loved seeing that used as an example, because at one time in my life I was CONVINCED that it was “reccomend”. That was one of those instances when I’ve felt suspicious that maybe it DID change, and maybe it wasn’t just my misremembering…
I also loved seeing “clothes” with “cloths” scratched out on the box: another great little subtle detail. Reminded me of “months”, another word which, one day some time ago, felt to me so much like it had suddenly changed from “monthes”.
The “anomaly indicating a change” concept is reminiscent of “deja vu indicating a glitch in The Matrix”, from the film of the same name. (Caused by the machines changing something unnaturally.) I would guess it’s not coincidence that you chose to feature Neo on the 1999 calendar; but if it is, it’s an awesome coincidence. 😉 The Fight Club poster (or is it a plaque?) kinda works as a reference too, although that one seems more like it may have been added just for color or to reinforce the time period.
Overall, I’m also left thinking of Philip K. Dick and Stanislaw Lem’s short stories.
July 25, 2012 at 11:27 am
Do you ever get the feeling that before another one of those shifts, it was also standard to indicate a plural with an apostrophe?
July 25, 2012 at 10:08 am
Nothing to say here except “Guh… whu…” And yet, five minutes ago, I was certain I had the answers to everything. Or did I?
Superb story!
July 25, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Wow, excellent and well worth the wait.
July 26, 2012 at 12:17 am
Well, you did it, you made me cry again, when he turns the corner and the door isn’t there; I frose and made a short gasp, I was dumbfounded. I was glued to this not only because I’m a trained architect and the discussion of the little details that appear after age has changed the vision of the design.(though I have never seen the thing between steps) The character and feelings of this guy match me very closely as well. The turning down of party pussy, the focus on ‘unseen’ knowledge. I just finished school and the feeling of moving forward is close to unbearable sometimes. Our art has given me understanding only a science lecture or thick book could match. Well Done!!
July 26, 2012 at 12:18 am
Your art, haha
July 26, 2012 at 1:19 am
The ending made me think of the John Cheever book “The Swimmer” (later a film Starring Burt Lancaster.) Not all of it, but the ambiguous passage of time, the gradually shifting reality, and the (tragically?) unresolved plot line brought up strong memories of a great book/movie. I think that’s why I related to this comic so much. Cheers Winston, outstanding comic the best in the business.
July 26, 2012 at 1:21 am
Another outstanding comic from the best in the business.
July 26, 2012 at 2:58 am
After finishing this, I looked up at the room around me and was shocked it still looked the same. It felt like something should have changed – not just because of the them of the comic, but because something in me changed when I read it. I haven’t had a comic-hangover like this since The Last Stand. You’re a rare kind of awesome. I beg you, please keep on with your work. The world needs it.
July 26, 2012 at 3:32 am
Am I the only one who thought that the ending was kind of a cop-out? I was hoping that the anomalies would lead to a different discovery than the exhausted parallel universes / crossing timelines; this one seemed American Beauty-esque “plastic bags are so pretty in the breeze.”
July 26, 2012 at 11:29 am
Ambiguous endings are what you make of them. Do you really think the story was just about esoteric SF topics like parallel universes and such? Look over Winston’s past work–he’s all about what makes us human. This story is no different. Compared to his previous work, this one actually reminds me, thematically, of #194, “Between Stops”.
July 26, 2012 at 1:02 pm
I agree, it’s a lot deeper than “just science fiction.” I just felt that’s he’s executed his themes better in his past stuff. I have to say, the fact that we can discuss and reference to previous works means that he’s a growing, talented storycrafter. I’m just being that overly critical reader 😛
July 26, 2012 at 7:18 am
This story reminds me of something i’ve forgotten.
there is a term that describes the act of nearly being able to grasp the tail of some huge beast holding up the world. like inside your head is a grenade and you are tugging at the pin. but, every time you try to pull it out you realize there is no grenade. but there is a grenade in your head and you are tugging at the pen. something that is incognizable and inarticulable yet primally fundamental to existence. There was a time that I knew the word for that.
but your comics sure do make me want to find out again.
July 26, 2012 at 10:48 am
I love how this is a SF story with no overt SF elements until the end. I read it as about people with a sideways look at life. It reminds me a bit of the film Pi, but I feel it one-ups that film on an imaginative level.
The strip works really well as a metaphor for intellectual obsession, and the cult of special knowledge in the academia – and the bittersweet feeling of leaving that behind.
It’s told with many naturalistic details that ring true with grad students. It’s drawn in a crisp, comparatively direct style that I could see appealing to many mainstream readers. And it’s a story that derives its best dramatic effects through the specific combination of words and pictures – in fact, it’s a story that could only be told in comics form.
Thunderous applause.
July 26, 2012 at 11:08 am
I actually read that in two sittings. So much information at one time. It was well worth the read though ^^
July 26, 2012 at 4:20 pm
As elegant as this is going to sound…. What a mind-fuck!
July 26, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Maybe the professor is with the Museum of the Theoretical now, possibly having been brought back from a long sabbatical. Maybe our narrator will have the opportunity to visit in the future, and meet the anomaly researcher that he could have been.
Or maybe there is a gnostic heaven here, the prof just made the grade for ascension, and the whole “Left Behind” scenario is handled with a lot more seamlessness and panache, and a lot fewer abandoned clothes… or offices… or temporal relationships.
September 4, 2012 at 7:50 pm
If the professor ever makes a cameo in the Museum of the Theoretical, I may just die on the spot (in a good way).
July 26, 2012 at 8:04 pm
The cleverest bit. Or eeriest, was the fact there was no scroll-over text this week.
An anomaly, perhaps?
July 27, 2012 at 12:30 am
Well. Sir, you have done it again, I hit the button in the left corner of my browser, recognised the tone of the comic. turned on and edited version of the silent hill 2 soundtrack and got to reading, about ten to twenty minutes later, looked up and I swear that the pattern on my lamp was the opposite direction before I started. This is in my opinion one of the greatest short stories
Three more things
1) the monthly waits are fine
2) definitely read HoL
3) happy 200th, see you in 2021 for #300
July 27, 2012 at 4:57 am
This is amazing. My brain has been pleasingly bent. Thank you!
July 27, 2012 at 11:00 am
This was fantastic. Worth the time it took to load (half an hour).
July 27, 2012 at 12:21 pm
great comic… just great.
July 27, 2012 at 9:22 pm
I really enjoyed this. It’s so weird and so visual, like watching some eccentric European short film. 🙂
July 28, 2012 at 11:29 am
I got goosebumps, more than usual.
You were pretty awesome before. Then you got better.
July 28, 2012 at 12:33 pm
This was very, very well done. Man, really good stuff.
July 28, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Inspiring. Such great writing.
July 28, 2012 at 11:44 pm
I love your comix. I can’t help but think, though , that they’d be better represented on paper, perhaps in an over-sized coffee-table style book, where I could open it and pore over it without having to scroll a web page. They bear repeated viewing, reading, and poring over, and I prefer to do that with a real, hold-it-in-your-hands book. This story left me going… wait, WTF. I reread the last half again, and then I swore a few more times, and then clicked on the comments. Glad to see I’m not alone in my feelings. Which I’m not really sure what they are, to be honest, but I see some others feel the same.
July 29, 2012 at 3:42 pm
First the praise. This is a fine story, and you should be proud of it. Next, the amusing bit; I think what a person gets out of this story says something about what they are. Several comments have been about how it was touching, others how it was mind blowing, or a metaphor for this or that.
Myself, I view it as a horror story. Lovecraftian at its best. There are things that slip us by, not because they do not exist, but because deep down we know they should not. This is the story of a man who followed someone who didn’t know when to stop looking. Eventually, she was lost. He was lucky, he merely lost a part of his mind.
Looking forward to more of your work. And more sphinx, of course.
July 30, 2012 at 11:19 am
Are there things that should not exist? But in any case, there are always myriad things that slip past us. Infinity in a grain of sand, eternity in an hour, blowing by on the wind. The Sphinx could tell you.
July 30, 2012 at 11:06 am
Perfectly perfect.
July 31, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Definite horror story I got chills I was totally immersed You are the type of person that makes the world more interesting
August 1, 2012 at 1:17 am
In line with anomalous experiences, I had one several years ago when Borders still existed once upon a time. I was beginning to get into Mel Brooks films, and at Borders had a collection of Mel Brooks films displayed upfront. I noted the titles, particularly History of the World Part I. Right next to that Dvd was, I solemnly swear, History of the World Parts 2 and 3, with different dvd cover designs and everything….I made a mental note to look them up in the library later, where I could get borrow dvds for free, only to find out there there was no such thing as History of the World parts 2 and 3 and that Mel Brooks liked to give misleading titles for sequels. I later surmised I was just imagining things, but I really have a vivid memory of what I saw.
August 1, 2012 at 9:31 am
You are a goddamn poet.
August 1, 2012 at 12:56 pm
THis is an amazing story that I don’t quite actually know what to make of. I love your stuff – it makes me think and challenges me.
August 2, 2012 at 3:03 am
I just had to comment and say this comic was absolutely beautiful on so many levels, and I’ll be staring at buildings a little too hard for awhile now! You have this incredible knack for exploring vast ideas while keeping a narrative very personal, immediate, and grounded. I especially loved the professor’s theory that anomalies could only be noticed once civilization developed. There’s something mind-boggling about the idea of a strange and inexplicable frontier hidden in the mundane. I’m not sure a word exists for the emotion this comic inspired in me – then again, maybe one will tomorrow!
August 2, 2012 at 4:25 am
This is the best comic you’ve made so far! I never comment but I was so in awe that I had to say something! Glad you have a place where I can tell you what fantastic work you’re doing. Please continue making interesting, thought-provoking comics. And thank you!
August 2, 2012 at 5:36 am
.My hat’s off to you and your 13 chapters, Winston!
(BTW – it’s got that same Yold Anglican font as has the protagonist’s baseball-related one).
The whole OCD-ish plot kind of needs the long-winded, soft coloured …..
sorry!
Have to post at once for No 200 reply.
ben
August 2, 2012 at 5:38 am
Good work!
(ahhhh 200)
ben
August 2, 2012 at 7:48 am
By the end of this strip all I could manage to think of was… wow. This is truly one of the most mind-bending strips you’ve made! This’ll have me thinking for a while, and I thank you for that and congratulations on your 200th comic!
May you make many more!
August 2, 2012 at 12:10 pm
This was awesome. One of the best comics I have ever read in any medium. Just fantastic. Thank you!
August 2, 2012 at 9:52 pm
This comic brought back memories, of when I would sometimes walk and notice something, and wonder if it had suddenly appeared or if a plug had been in the wall before and was just gone… I would totally forget and I would have this feeling that something odd had happened.
Anyway, I could relate somewhat to this comic… and it was very touching, and for me, very, very sad. There was one commenter, I forget who, who talked about intellectual obsession and the “bittersweet” feeling of letting it go. Whoever wrote that comment pretty much summed up what I felt. I was so sad that everything seemed to be just gone, and yet maybe the guy was better off moving on.
I really loved it. I love your work and the stories woven into the comics, and I will definitely be rereading this one over and over and over again. 🙂
August 4, 2012 at 3:52 pm
This one gave me a very strong vibe of low budget sci-fi movie. A bit like Pi (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/). Very impressed with the amount work put into this.
Hoping to see your work serialized in the form of short animations or something similar.
August 6, 2012 at 9:37 am
you made me feel emotions, seriously you are a genious
August 6, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Who drew the people in the background of chapter 4? Don’t tell me that was you. Where can I see more of that?
and seriously, this comic is golden.
August 9, 2012 at 2:27 am
I think it’s a simpler end then some realize, but can also be interpreted differently. It’s just that MY interpretation is the correct one (lol), and wraps up the story so nicely.
August 10, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Long-time reader, first time commenter. Been watching Subnormality since the Atheist Apocalypse days, and you’ve gotten better slowly to the point breaking through into something truly amazing here. It feels like it shouldn’t be just a webcomic, but is worthy of being made into a fine short book, like one chapter per page.
I can’t help but look around my house… and the other houses, checking every corner or line for some box or triangle that just doesn’t belong. I can’t look at the trees the same way… how do I know each leaf or knot in the wood grew into place? No one’s filming their growth all the time.
I’ve been in the right place at the right time to see some subtle, wierd things, small objects appearing and disappearing before my eyes. I’ve had things I need for my classes, like my flash sticks and notebooks, go missing but turn up exactly where I left them. Where were they when I stuck my hand down where I left them and came up with only bare table or empty backpack? I’m really not sure anymore the laws of physics are as solid as people think they are… and this plays right into that.
There’s too many horror stories that rely on shock and gore instead of the intellect, subtle ones like this that mess with your head and stay with you. And the way your comic has been everything from lighthearted to philosophical, I never saw the twist coming, way to bank on the style of your previous work.
I think you’ve got this comic’s evolution on a good path. Keep this up and I can see it being printed and cherished someday.
And thanks for making my life a little brighter every… once in a while.
August 10, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Hey, I drift back here every now and then to go through the fresh archives. Today I came back and just started flipping through the most recent ones, and this was positively amazing.
The art was its usual stellar quality, but the narrative absolutely gripped me. Empathic, real characters we could easily identify with, an interesting plot around what I’m sure is a universal feeling, an ending I was logically expecting but not quite in that way. I really felt invested in this, and when I had to run to the store, I was sad to find out it wouldn’t load on my iphone browser.
It’s odd, given the way it ends with an almost sinister ambiguity, but I really felt like the world made a little more sense after I read it, felt a little smaller, and I felt a little less alone. Obviously, not because it actually explains the way the world works, but I honestly feel comforted in the way I imagine a myth would back when oral tradition was the rage.
I can’t say the fact that it took 43 weeks since the last one affected me, but if it had, it would have been absolutely worth it. Seriously, when are you going to come out with a book?
August 11, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Brilliant!
August 12, 2012 at 9:21 pm
I hope this spawns a breed of mischievous vandals who set out to make fake anomalies to freak out readers of this comic.
August 14, 2012 at 3:27 pm
It’s funny, but in the last shot of the courtyard, as he’s riding away on his bike—there’s an anomaly. A little square of wood that’s sitting there collecting snow, and wasn’t there just five panels up. Odd, that wherever the narrator is now, the anomalies have followed him…just not the same ones.
August 22, 2012 at 2:15 pm
This is one of the bests things I have ever seen. Thank you.
August 24, 2012 at 5:31 pm
I absolutely love your work.
August 25, 2012 at 5:39 am
Wow, wonderful.
Reminds me a bit of Captain Estar Goes To Heaven. (spoiler) It’s interesting to me that when Estar finds herself inside a different story, her history – an ugly, violent one compared to that of this comic’s protagonist, and one of a life she mostly seems to stumble through with a relative lack of control – are so strong inside her she simply changes her life back, while the protagonist of this story spends four years devoted to studying these anomalies and yet, when they affect him in a life-changing manner, he simply seems to adapt and move on.
August 27, 2012 at 7:40 am
wow. You’re a genius.
August 31, 2012 at 11:45 am
Wow! Interesting. A graphic short story, and a good one at that. I’ll now be looking out for building anomalies.
Also reminds me of the 3 1/2 floor stairway in one of the buildings in my University. it’s 3 1/2 floors because there is a wall across half of the stair that would otherwise mark 1/2 way to a 4th floor. I recently discovered that a second stairwell in that building also has 3 1/2 floors.
Haven’t yet been able to find out why it exists, but given that there is also an extensive network of full head height underground tunnels, and possibly a fallout shelter, there could be any number of reasons.
August 31, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Thank you, this is one of the most viscerally terrifying things I’ve experienced since the Dr Who episode Blink (which considering I live in Cardiff where it was filmed was nightmare inducing)! I’ve always thought the best creative things should move you and this definitely did that. I’ve always loved Subnormality but this is possibly the best so far.
September 1, 2012 at 9:13 pm
How do I view the comic? I just get the text “Image loading..” where it usually shows up. There’s usually an ellipsis (three dots) with a message like that, so maybe the two dots means something important?
September 1, 2012 at 9:56 pm
I feel like I should espouse some theory about what this comic means…
But really, my mind is quiet and my feelings full. You so often write the things that I have observed, in the quiet corners of the world, but never been able to give form to myself.
Thankyou, for that.
September 5, 2012 at 8:40 am
“Message saved”. Surely irrelevant in the context of the story therefore very relevant to the meaning. No?
September 6, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Comic works now. After reading it, my previous comment seems more appropriate than I knew.
https://viruscomix.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/200/#comment-31800
September 12, 2012 at 11:55 am
There are days I pray to God, asking for God to relieve the suffering in the world. Then I think to myself, what if God can reach back in time to reduce past suffering? I know that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. 6 million is the number. It’s always been the number. Hasn’t it? If God could reach back and manipulate that number, how would anyone know? We wouldn’t. And that’s why I love this comic.
September 12, 2012 at 11:59 am
Sorry?
September 12, 2012 at 12:03 pm
It’s hard to express. Basically, this comic touched on the idea that the past is malleable, that reality is malleable, and that we would never be able to notice if any changes were made since we would be part of what would be changed.
September 12, 2012 at 12:16 pm
It is indeed a very powerful concept. Slight leap: for me one of the darkest Dr Who episodes was the one where if a particular thing happened to you then you had simply never existed; your travelling companions would never mourn you or spare a second considering your loss. It was a very heavy subject for what is essentially a kids TV show.
September 13, 2012 at 12:46 am
God, being omnipotent, could create infinitely many universes, each different from every other. And, if he, she, it, or they chose, could cross their timelines now and then (as well as cause them to branch or merge here and there / now and then). How, indeed, could God resist such an exercise of creative power? And yet — still alone in frightful solitude.
September 21, 2012 at 5:00 am
I could SO see the professor in the background, just around the corner in the Museum of the Theoretical. Just staring at a section of brick wall….
In fact, I think I DID see her. Didn’t you?
September 28, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Sir. That put me into a strange place and made me see the world in a different way, and for that I thank you.
Have you ever read any Borges? I think that you might like some of his stuff.
October 2, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Linked here from Reddit. (I think the comment that caused this comic to be brought up is linked in my name)
I got serious chills at that scene of the empty hall. That was… really intense. I saw this page and thought it would be just one quick comic, like an XKCD or something. When I saw it went on, I almost stopped reading, but instead I hung in there. Glad I did! Wow!
October 5, 2012 at 8:05 am
Absolutely brilliant. A real classic.
November 18, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Thought this was great and so did my subconscious mind since I dreamt the sequel comic last night. The point that got me going was the fact that the comic was written in the future about the past. He was referring to his past when he first met the strange teacher. We don’t yet know when this was but further on in the comic we realise he is certainly over 45 when he is retelling this story (he notes that he revisits a site where they find an anomaly and he was 45?). So, the ending shows the world has changed but remember, this is being told from the future….
My dream carried on the story, he met up with some new friends and lived a normal life but he continued his obsession with anomalies, not understanding why he was fixated on them. This eventually led him to form a group of similar aged friends who started to unwind the same ravelled secret behind the anomalies…. My hope is that there is another comic coming out about this soon. It isn’t over is it?
November 20, 2012 at 10:54 am
I stumbled upon this and read through with great intent, formulating my own answers to anomalies, questioning myself to there existence in real life. When he turned that corner at the end, my mind literally jumped. and like others could not think of anything else for minutes. I love how this story explains its definitive idea in the core plot. Going into vast detail about anomalies in buildings playing the reader right into the anomaly of the disappearing professor.
Sincerely
a very happy, yet somewhat confused, reader
January 13, 2013 at 1:21 am
i think it was good, but she should have been there, and the follow up
January 13, 2013 at 10:36 am
A “comic,” eh? Such a permanent and limited description for a great question, a wonderful adventure, and some serious philosophy. Time is NOT linear; nothing is. Everything in the universe is either circular, cyclical, or spherical. Time is no different, and someday soon we’ll discover that. Universes (actually smaller, more personal untis called ‘destinies’) overlap all the time.
As someone who studies, photographs, and documents architectural anomalies in historic structures (www.architecturalvestiges.blogpot.com), I have done the same as the protagonist for years. But I also have experience in the field of CREATING these anomalies. I’ve been in construction for thirty five years and in historic restoration for twenty-seven. Seldom do new or old projects come out as the plans show; architects are notoriously ignorant of actual building practices. Jutting corners, bumps, mislaid bricks, abberant windows, stair stringers appearing in ceiling/wall corners, all are par for the course and hardly anomalies. That they appear overnight because of an ever-changing/overlapping world/destinies is an interesting possibility, but I’ve never actually seen it. As to the disappearing professor, it was not an anomaly; it was inevitable as well as expected. Professors like her disappear every day. Our small-minded universities (governments, local communities) get rid of them as often as they can.
My only argument with the story is that the protagonist searched for these things at night. If he had looked for them during the day, he would have seen they are much more common than he imagined.
What a wonderful, beautifully illustrated story. Just right for a dark, rainy Sunday morning in winter.
January 13, 2013 at 11:10 am
Today i learned that if you miss out the “s” in a “blogspot.com” address it sneakily directs you to some sort of ultrareligious crazysite (presumably jesus was all for this kind of deception). This would be the commenter’s actual blog for anyone curious: http://www.architecturalvestiges.blogspot.com
January 13, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Thanks for the correction, Winston. I thought I’d proofread it well, but it’s funny how those words and phrases we know so well are the ones we miss. Me, anyway. Blogpot? Sounds like a site for future growers of the newest ‘legal’ euphoric in Colorado…
January 14, 2013 at 12:22 am
How kind of you to illustrate and write narrative for the sub-processes that drive my existence. That corner has always confounded me as well.
January 26, 2013 at 7:51 pm
Hey, I didn’t realize it until just now, but there is a relatively short manga by Kaneko Atsushi called “Soil” that actually treats very similar material to this. As a bonus, the story takes on a stronger critique of conformity in Japanese society (juxtaposed with model suburban developments which they learned from the USA). It’s scanlated and aggregated online, so English and Japanese speakers can get a look.
January 28, 2013 at 2:12 pm
Talexan, you are so right about that. I’ve read Soil but never saw the similarities as you point them out.
Good recommendation.
February 1, 2013 at 7:11 am
Wow, there are a lot of commenters, some of whom have experienced this. http://amasci.com/weird/unusual/objs.html and a few [unexplained phenomena] books have similar anecdotes as well.
Not sure about architecture, but I once had a spray painting project that I left to dry. When I came back, a cheap metal washer was missing, but not the ring of paint outlining it on newspaper. Days later I found it in the same place it would have been if I had not removed the paper. This happened in a locked room, while I was alone (as far as I know).
Oh and first time commenter, started reading Subnormality in October 2011 and really like it. 🙂
March 17, 2013 at 3:04 am
Yaa! Didn’t know SN had blog comments. But then someone linked to Vanishing Objects page above.
200 isn’t so weird if one realizes that we genuinely “live in the matrix,” and that the world isn’t anything like we think it is. The real trick is to harness the effect. Make Murphy’s Law run backwards, and always get good parking places.
February 27, 2013 at 2:04 am
I loved the little nod to the WoW! Signal
March 17, 2013 at 4:14 am
At least one toe in the cosmic flow: pointing two fans at each other does do something interesting. Well, not fans exactly. Spinning flat disks. A spinning disk makes a great terminus for a low-pressure vortex core, and a pair of them create a stable laminar “vortex bottle” effect.
April 23, 2013 at 11:05 pm
Re-reading this a while later – did the Professer herself cease to exist the second she understood the anomaly? That would explain why the other guy suddenly changed into to a version of himself that never met her, and it’s possible the anomaly is only caused by someone fully understanding it in the first place, whereupon they vanish, leaving anomalies, etc. etc. ad infinitum.
Never picked that up the first time I read this…
October 24, 2014 at 6:23 am
The fourth image down was used in the something awful competition that created the urban legend of Slender Man. This is common knowledge, or should be…
While it’s true that Photoshop did not exist when some of these images were originally taken there is a long history of photo manipulation to create “ghosts” the Christmas one reminds me of one of those that were popular during the beginning of the spiritualist movement. There are various groups on Flickr that have images such as this that were created using a variety of developing manipulation or splicing multiple images together when processing. They are quite interesting, I suggest looking into them if you like that kind of thing.
Sorry though, but the addition of the Slender Man image as well as one from creepypasta somewhat leads to the BS factor on this one for me.
June 1, 2013 at 7:01 pm
My gosh, you are an amazing story teller. I just read Anomalies and it blew me away. i love the ssurreal feel in your longer comics. Makes you sit back for a few minutes to mistrustfully eye the reality around you. Awesome
August 2, 2013 at 6:23 am
I got hooked reading this particular one because of recent browsing stuff like Mincraft/Chunk errors, RL “Chunk Errors” and of course the argument that the universe is a computer simulation…
Awesome, this one!
September 11, 2013 at 9:12 pm
I know it is silly season in the newspapers and possibly a prank but an architectual anomaly has been recently reported: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2416812/
October 19, 2013 at 8:31 pm
John Doe above finally touched on what I felt to be the crux of the story. It was in Ch 9, when the professor whispers, “It is possible that the anomalies represent the rearrangement of matter after some kind of transitional event.”
So, her *transitional event* was her reaching some understanding of the pattern of anomalies, which led to her “rearrangement” (disappearance/timeline shift? we don’t see her new arrangement in the comic).
This event in turn leads to his *transitional event* – turning that familiar corner and finding a water fountain where her office had been, which then causes his “rearrangement.”
In other words, reaching the truth changes the truth. That’s not quite right, but it fits nicely with what I understand physicists experience when they try to measure subatomic particles.
And yes, he saved her voice message, but I would wager that, when he returns to his flat (probably a different flat, maybe even with a kitchen and a significant other), there’s no message from the professor on the tape (like everything else connected with the professor, it’s gone / was never there).
Oh and thanks, other readers (just ordered “House of Leaves” from the library).
I can’t remember when I first found Subnormality – I guess my own timeline may have shifted a few times since. I do know it wasn’t very long after my mom’s “rearrangement” (aka death) in late 2006 and our wedding in Spring 2007 (another rearrangement for sure).
And, despite my mostly-consistent attention, I often discover “new” Subnormality comics that I never saw. #200 is one of those (it seems recursive (anomalous?), I know; but – not making this up).
WR, it seems that most folks assume you’re a guy, and maybe you are, but I’m going to continue to assume you’re a gal. Not that it really matters; as we all know, there are far more similarities between the sexes than differences. 😉
…too many words
November 27, 2013 at 11:43 pm
I like the anomaly in the block where the snow appears. It seems like the protagonist is going out with a new couple of people to search for anomalies and is perhaps the new professor now since 5% of people will detect them on their own anyway and it seems like the professor has ceased to exist when everything goes from orange to red-orange. Maybe he will make the same discovery and transition. Pretty cool!
December 30, 2013 at 11:22 pm
That was one seriously impressive comic 🙂 Absolutely brilliant use of the medium as someone else said. Also, can’t believe you haven’t read house of leaves! Although, maybe you have by now.
October 24, 2014 at 6:22 am
The fourth image down was used in the something awful competition that created the urban legend of Slender Man. This is common knowledge, or should be…
While it’s true that Photoshop did not exist when some of these images were originally taken there is a long history of photo manipulation to create “ghosts” the Christmas one reminds me of one of those that were popular during the beginning of the spiritualist movement. There are various groups on Flickr that have images such as this that were created using a variety of developing manipulation or splicing multiple images together when processing. They are quite interesting, I suggest looking into them if you like that kind of thing.
Sorry though, but the addition of the Slender Man image as well as one from creepypasta somewhat leads to the BS factor on this one for me.
March 13, 2016 at 7:19 pm
This is one of my favorite short stories of all time. I first read it years ago, and I’m glad I found it again.
November 21, 2016 at 10:12 am
This comic is my favorite, I still come back to read it every now and then. I desperately want to buy this as a print, but it’s not listed on topatoco 😦
March 31, 2018 at 3:37 pm
why are these comics so good?
January 22, 2019 at 10:16 am
This is such a great comic, Anomalies is my go-to when introducing someone to Subnormality.
June 30, 2019 at 10:38 am
thank you for this, it was chilling. i’m going to look for anomalies in my everyday life now.
October 25, 2021 at 4:39 pm
Great comic, predictable end. Though I guess that is just a product of the structure of story telling, the need for an impactful ending. And loss is an easy way to make an impact.