The Costume Design Contest was a smash! There were 10 great entries to choose from, but in the end I could only pick one winner.
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The winning design was sent by Somogyi. Congrats! I’ll be using your outfit on Selkie once the next long arc begins.
I’d also like to share the nine runners-up. Thanks again everyone for the great outfit designs!
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By Craig Olsen.
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By GreenGlow
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By Jade Griffin
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By Linda
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By PainterLily
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By PyrPyr
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By The Merry lurker
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By Theresa
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By Vanessa
Thanks again, one and all!
The idea for the graphic speech bubbles came to me after a very weird dream.
Discussion (186) ¬
…woah
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
I can’t even read it.
-_-
The absence of words might have something to do with that.
I… Woah. If that all means what I think it means… I now like Andi a tiny bit for trying to do the right thing, but oh good Gods do I dislike her for the lies. The lies are horrible and wrong and… Yeeeah. No. Just no.
Not to mention (possibly) illegal– fathers have rights, too.
depends on the state but usually the mother gets all say in it
The father most certainly has almost no rights toward the child even when the couple is married. The mother wins out 99% of the time in the end.
Sad but true , hardly any rights but alot of responsiblities.
So much for gender equality.
Yeah…..this is not the place to get into that topic.
ok, so what I’m getting is that she was all I DON’T WANNA GET FAT! And her mom is all IT’S GOING TO BE OK, Todd(or I) still love you! And then she was all I don’t want to keep the baby, but todd will want to. Then her mom was all. What Todd wants means nothing, you can put the baby up for adoption and have it go to a loving home and so she does. Then Todd is all I will work so I can support you and the baby and us. How are you, how is the baby? and then she tells him the truth. While giving up that baby was the smart thing, she should have told him the SECOND she made the decision, so he could atleast see the kid. Not just sign the papers and THEN tell him.
And I know theres a ton of grammatical errors in my comment and whatnot, but I typed it in a rush and it’s 2:00 am and I do not care.
I was understanding it when Todd rushed in, that he was apologizing for being late, saying ‘I’m sorry, I got stuck at work and then got stuck in traffic! How are you, is the baby okay?’ and Andi doesn’t want to tell him she gave the baby for adoption, possibly (ONLY POSSIBLY) because Todd, being adopted, might have taken it hard, might have made him angry, could have ended with him screaming something like ‘how could you do that, letting our child wonder who his/her parents are, it’s horrible, you never should have done that without asking me!’
So Andi lied and said the baby was dead.
That’s how I’m seeing it, personally.
Man, I’m so glad you cleared that up. That is NOT how I interpreted it at first, and I was really upset. Then I saw your story, reread the comic and realized the truth. Thanks 🙂
I think the older woman is a social worker who probably have seen enough guys skip town that she believed Todd did and convinced Andi that, too. When Andi realized this wasn’t true she felt horrible and that is why she lied about what happened. It seems to me the mother (of a pregnant teenage daughter) would not put on the “let’s adopt the baby out” pressure right after he/she is born after knowing a guy like Todd.
That’s how I read it too.
Agreed.
Dave? Which is it?
Not sure what you mean, but if you are asking about the woman convincing Andi to adopt out, it is indeed her mother and not a social worker.
Oh Andi…(laser guided) karma sucks, doesn’t it?
No… laser-guided karma for Andi would have been Todd had ended up adopting his own kid.
…Let me get this straight. She carried the baby to term, gave birth, and then gave it up for adoption… and told Todd it had DIED?! When that second panel’s speech-graphic says she knew he was looking forward to being a father?
Okay, first I have to state for the record that I’m pro-choice. I’m not one of those people who insist “You play, you pay”, while turning a blind eye to the male’s role in causing a pregnancy (where are the mandatory paternity tests and child support payments for every unwed pregnancy, huh?) It’s the woman’s body and it’s not right for anyone to force her to give birth, just as it’s not right to force a man to give up a kidney for someone who’ll die without the transplant. I think a lot about what Florynce Kennedy said: “If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.”
I also want to state for the record that I’m all for women who know that they’re not ready for or capable of being good parents, giving up their children at birth to people that they know ARE ready to be parents. Heck yes, adoption is the answer! Mother Theresa said it best; the best way to counter abortion is with adoption. (And easily accessible contraceptives, so the unwanted pregnancies don’t happen in the first place.)
But I am SO NOT OKAY with Andi lying to Todd about what happened to the baby. She wasn’t ready for parenthood, okay, but she knew he wanted the baby, so why didn’t she give him at least the option of becoming a single parent? My older brother’s been the sole parent of my niece since she was just a few weeks old, when the birthmother just couldn’t take it anymore and ran off. It was rough, yeah, but he managed, and my niece will be graduating high school this year. Todd was still just a teenager then and no way could he have have raised a kid without his parents’ help, but there’s not a doubt in my mind that they would have helped wholeheartedly. Or he could have agreed with Andi that neither of them were ready for parenthood, and that it was best for everyone if they gave the baby up for adoption instead; Andi will never know now.
The more I think about it, the more I’m amazed that Todd and Andi stayed together for so many years afterwards. A lie that huge always sitting between them, even if Todd didn’t know it was there…
Ohcrap. Ohcrapcrapcrap. Dave, PLEASE just give me a yes or no answer to this sudden, horrible suspicion I have. Is Todd and Andi’s baby not only alive and well, but currently residing at the orphanage that Selkie came from? PLEASE don’t be thinking of the same ironic twist that I just thought of, please…
Oh god Amanda is going to be Selkie’s sister…
Or possibly Heather or Sandy. I’m basing those two off of Todd and Andi’s hair color. Amanda would only be a choice if Andi’s real hair color was brown and not red like her mother’s. But then again, this is a world with sea-people so genetics could be funky in this world.
On what do you base that conjecture? Amanda’s hair is red; so is Andi’s mother’s. In what bizarre genetic twist is there a requirement for Andi’s hair to be brown in order for her to have a red-haired child?
Red hair is a recessive gene, so is blond hair. Which of those two is dominant, if either is, I don’t know. Human hair and eye colours are not as simply inherited as the biology books would have you believe. Also, we don’t really know what Andi’s real hair colour is, since it’s obvious she dyes at least part of her hair.
I think I have an idea just who that child turned out to be… Selkie would not be amused if it is who I think it is.
I think we may be thinking of the same person.
See, THAT is a reason to break up with someone… and not call them… for 4 months and 2 weeks… If I am reading it right? I wonder if Todd even knows the truth.
oooh i see wheres this going she IS amandas mother!!! 😉
I’m still wondering on the time issue. 4 months and 2 weeks, vs the obvious years it has been since the child was born and given up… Eh? Anyone else wonder?
It could also be a possibility that they stayed together for a while afterwards and that he did eventually learn the truth and that’s why he finally left her. Figuring he couldn’t trust her anymore he left and she felt like crap afterwards knowing he might have stayed if she told the truth.
Oh wow. I kind of get the feeling Andi was sort of maybe pushed into the idea of doing it though. While it may have been the right thing for Andi, I really think Andi and Todd should have discussed it during Andi’s pregnancy, and not while she was in Labor, and Todd trying to get to Andi to see how both Andi and his child are doing. To further it, lying about it, that doesn’t sit right with me. Yet on the other hand, telling a baby daddy they can’t see their kid cause the mom gave the baby up to the state for adoption is probably a hard thing to do, specially when he isn’t apart of the decision making process. Also the “I don’t want to be fat” line really makes me shake my head. By the point baby is born, she’d still have to deal with all the bodily changes anyway. So it’s a Piss poor excuse. If anything I’d like to believe that Andi was just emotionally unstable and had post partum depression and feared being a parent at the age depicted in the comic. However, Andi’s mom, should not have said “who cares about Todd.” It was his child too. I would like to see more behind the characters reasoning for doing what she did.
She meant that she didn’t want to be pregnant, not that she didn’t want to be fat.
How long ago did this happen? Would the child be Selkie’s age now? Because… I’m starting to worry that it might be the horrible little redhead (I forget her name just now). If the child should still be a baby, it’s sad… it’s sad… But I understand now why Todd broke things off with Andi.
wow them ending up semi sisters wiykd be an interesting twist later o.o
Oooh…
…man.
I’m a little confused. Is the woman her mother or a social worker talking her into adopting the baby out?
If it’s the second, I think it’s very human for what happened and for her to freak out and lie to Todd afterwards. I don’t think Todd knows about it, but part of why she’s against adoption now has to do with this.
Yes, that’s Andi’s mother.
For those that read that bubble as “I don’t want to get fat.” that’s not how I read it. I read it as “I can’t be pregnant!” as in “I never planned for this!” and the second bubble as “I can’t take care of the baby, but maybe Todd can.”
Then her Mom says that Todd isn’t in a position to take care of the baby either, and the rest is fairly obvious.
Now, what one wonders is exactly how long ago did this happen and have we already met the child in question? I have a feeling Rock may be on to something here.
I read the second bubble as “I didn´t want a baby. Todd wanted it.” and the third as “What Todd wants doesn´t matter. Sign the papers. Give the baby up for adoption. That´s what´s best for the baby.”
Upon re-reading it, I’m thinking it’s not her mom, but a social worker asking where the father is and believing (and convincing Andi) that Todd skipped town. Then she talked Andi into giving up the baby as it appeared she’d have no support. If it was just her mom, I think the mom would know Todd enough to give him the benefit of the doubt or would not even bring up adoption right after the birth (moms who want their pregnant teenage daughters to take that route usually push it way earlier in the pregnancy).
Nice idea on the social worker angle, but no that is her mother.
Oh, wow! That makes it worse! Poor Andi. Of course she’ll make a bad decision with a parental figure like that—one who jumps to conclusions so fast and pressures Andi into making her ideal choice for what is one of the most important decisions of Andi’s life. I hate to say it, but I’ve seen this kind fo thing happen before. 🙁
I don’t read it as Andi’s mother being a bad parental figure – I read it as her being rightly worried about Andi’s life quality, if she’s forced to be a parent to a child when she doesn’t want to (even if Todd got the kid, Andi would have to be a parent to it, if she wanted to be around Todd), not to mention the chance of throwing away her immediate career plans. I feel Andi’s mother is trying to make the best of a bad situation – to protect Andi’s interests as well as make sure the baby is well cared for.
As a parent, I have to disagree. Pressuring your kid to adopt their child out (one of the biggest decisions in their lives) right after birthing (one of the most vulnerable point in a woman’s life) is foolish and cruel—especially if the person doing the pressuring *is* a biological mother who has had the experience of undergoing birth herself. This doesn’t mean “well-meaning” parents don’t do it (even with good intentions), but it is still controlling and manipulative.
Something I find very interesting about all this is over the years, Andi’s hairstyle hasn’t changed. Normally, It could be attributed to her not growing up, but it’s still kind of a surprise as even the most wild of punk heads usually change their hair style/color at least once a year. Dying your hair crazy colors and styling it takes a lot of time and part of doing it like that which makes it fun is that you can constantly change it. Maybe it’s symbolic of her forever being stuck in that moment?
eventually Andi is going to have to come clean about this. And Todd’s going to go berserk.
I’m guessing she already did, and that that was the source of their big break-up argument alluded to in past strips.
Ok, I need some verbal translation on this one. Did she have an abortion or did she just give the baby away? I get it that she told Todd the baby had died, but what actually happened?
Actually, now that I look at it more, it seems to me that she didn’t want the baby (or more to the point, she didn’t want to be a parent), but that Todd loved the idea, and her mother told her Todd didn’t need to be part of the decision, and that she could just give the baby up for adoption… am I getting even close?
Yep. Andi did not abort, she gave the kid up.
Some pretty heavy stuff today.
But I’d like to take a moment and say “Wow, rockin’ fashion show for the contest! Kudos to the participants, all of ya!” 🙂
Wait… If Andi gave the baby up for adoption… No, that would be too huge a coincidence. Then again this is fiction. I think we may have just found out who Amanda’s biological parents are.
Think about it. Her hair is the same as Andi’s, and she has the same eye color as Todd. (I think their eyes are the same color, i had trouble finding a large enough picture of Todd to get a good look at his eyes.
… Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaveeeeeeee, I think we need an interpreter, ‘cuz I can’t believe that Andi’s first line was a
‘fat” comment. (Am I just stupid??? T_T)
Hee hee. It’s more of a “I don’t wanna be preggers!”
But if she’s at that point close to giving birth (or else the timeline’s missing a few months), isn’t it a bit moot hope at the time? 😛
Is it just me, or does Amanda (Gah, I feel weird sharing a name with a character) look a lot like Andi? I do wonder if it’s actually Todd and Andi’s kid.
Wrong timeframe. If I read the comic right, this all happened 3-4 years ago. If Amanda were that child, she’d be a preschooler right now, much younger than Selkie.
He answered a question on the previous page confirming that Todd is roughly 26 years old and that finding Andi was preggers was roughly 8-9 years ago. If I read his answer to it right anyways.
that’s what I thought, too.
I know how you feel. My name is Andi. -_- I usually luck out because when they do use the name for a female it’s usually spelled differently. Not this time though and it drives me nuts.
Panel 1: “You will be ok, I love you” “I can’t be pregnant”
Panel 2: “You will be ok” “I don’t want a baby, but Todd is looking forward to being a father”
Panel 3: “I don’t care what Todd wants, give the baby up for adoption to someone who will love it”
Panel 4: “You did the right thing, someone will love the baby”
Panel 5: “I got held up at work, I got stuck in traffic. How are you? How is the baby?”
Panel 6: “The baby died”
I don’t know if she is Amanda’s mother, how often do orphanages take newborns from people who don’t want them? I thought that newborns usually have a better chance of being adopted. Either way, I now like Andi even less…
My initial reaction was liking any even less as well… but on the other hand, she is in clear emotional distress, and we all know how much influence a mother can exert, especially on a minor, and even more so on one in a very difficult situation.
So, the decision in this strip could just be a bout of juvenile foolishness… I mean, who here has never been a teenager? And who here can say with certainty that they might not have done something very stupid in such a stressful situation – even if not the same sort of stupid thing as Andi?
Now, not coming clear about all this for all those years, that´s something different… although I have a lingering suspicion that Andi might have planned to tell Todd the truth, had their talk not been interrupted like that.
That said, I really hope that Amanda turns out to be Andi and Todd´s daughter – both because I was the first to predict it two strips ago, and because I can´t wait to see Amanda´s and Selkie´s faces when they learn they´re practically sisters! 😀
At first, I was going to say “If they haven’t already found out, they aren’t likely to find out given the current situation.” Then I remembered this is a fictional work and the fact that we are learning about the baby being given away at all probably means something is going to happen with it.
the timeframe is wrong for Amanda to be their kid I think but I could be wrong. And I am of the opinion that they were not necessarily minors. I assumed in the first flashback strip that they’d recently graduated. I wonder if Todd found out and that prompted the break-up, but the child had already been adopted into a home which Todd has no way of knowing who it really is…
Dave, the graphic speech bubbles worked brilliantly here…so much emotion & story packed in.
My interpretation is basically the same as everyone else’s, though I’m a bit confused about Todd’s first two speech bubbles: he went to look for the baby and couldn’t find it? got stuck in traffic? Not sure what’s going on there, but the comic today is absolutely wonderful. This is one of the most emotional webcomics I’ve ever seen, and it still manages to be funny & light most of the time. Your storytelling is fantastic!
I think what Todd is saying is “I got stuck at work” (that´s a line of people with shopping carts in the first bubble, and the symbols above Todd must be his “this is so frustrating” emoticon) and “then I got stuck in a traffic jam”. And finally “Are you all right?” and “Where´s the baby?”.
I am horrified that Andi wouldn’t even WAIT to sign the papers. Not even a day? To really think about what she wanted? She was just scared. And her mother was NOT helping her to NOT be scared. That really makes me angry. Even if she did later decide that she really couldn’t be a mom, that she took that right to choose away from him, as a father, makes me SEETHE. If that happened to me, I would NEVER talk to that person again, and would try to find my child.
She didn’t want to be a parent but knew Todd DID want to be a parent, and that’s her mother there pressuring/guiding her into that decision. Basically “you won’t have to worry about anything, if you give the baby away” – for someone who very much doesn’t want to be in the situation, the easy way out may really have been the easy way out.
And in cases of non-official unions, I think the law still says it’s up to the mother.
Also, gotta say I seriously dig Linda’s sweatshirt design, I think you should put that in somewhere 😛 (and no, I’m not Linda!)
Overall, pretty dang selfish of her. She could have let Todd have his own child, but SHE didn’t want a baby. She could have been honest and told him that, but SHE wanted Todd, too. All she cared about was what she wanted in the end. I don’t like her character at all, being a liar and selfish when it comes down to the wire.
Exactly.
I don’t blame her for being selfish about her own future (giving the baby away), but lying about it to Todd… well, I haven’t liked Andi yet and this comic doesn’t make me like her either. 😛
Well that’s just it, isn’t it? It’s not just her future, so I can definitely blame her. She could have given Todd the baby and still had her future without said baby, she just was too selfish and dishonest. The only points she gets from me is that she actually decided to have the baby and not kill it. Which actually, is a lot of points, but this is really an infinate system of points I’m working with.
I’m throwing mine in with the boat of their bio kid is in the comic, but I don’t think it’s Amanda. It appears as if the baby is blonde. Heather has Andi’s green eyes, Todd’s blonde hair, and Andi’s nose.
Well, Heather has Andi´s eyes and Todd´s hair, and with Amanda it´s the other way around.
I have to say, I think you pretty much lost me here with the story. I realize the “Selkie World” isn’ the real world. But it has so far been overall similar. There is just NO WAY the “gave up the baby in secret and lied to the father” scenario could have happened unless Todd was really, REALLY absent – not late from work absent. Like away in another state and not speaking to anyone absent, and even then it would have been pretty hard.
For one thing, it’s illegal – I am pretty sure it’s illegal everwhere in the US, though I could be wrong. For another thing, doesn’t Todd demand to know from the doctor, what happened? Or shout in grief and draw attention to himself, so that someone informs him what has happened? Doesn’t the baby have a funeral? Doesn’t the truth ever come up EVEN ONCE in how many years of relationship since then?
And if it goes to the place of Amanda is the baby, it gets even harder to swallow. I mean, isn’t a healthy infant the “Gold Standard” of adoptable child? It’s a pretty neat idea, considering how similar Amanda and Todd are (remember he was a really angry, nasty kid too, before his family adopted him) but it makes no sense.
I fear that this story arc just isn’t holding together for me right now – even in a world with Fish People.
Well, how do the laws apply if the parents are underage? We saw from the last strip that high school was still a factor for them. Either they just graduated or possibly they were just in summer vacation when she got pregnant. If she and/or he were under 18, IIRC, the laws would probably listen to the mother’s parents more than the father. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for her parents to say “Pfft, his rights ended the night he knocked ya up” and leave him completely in the dark.
As for baby = Amanda, yeah that’s a stretch. But we don’t have any solid proof to go on, so it’s all guesswork right now anyhoo.
I think I can help. I once knew a couple that were pregnant. The Father was always around, and wanted very much to be a Dad. However, this baby would have been the second child the baby mom gave birth to. She’s pro life, but under the circumstances, young age, made dumb mistakes the first time around she admitted to family and close friends (I dated her brother this is how I know) that she did not want another kid. Where I live, if you start looking into families while you are pregnant, with the help of legal adoption workers, you can find good homes. I kind of get the feeling that perhaps the mom did all the leg work, and then pushed for it when Andi was in Labor. Look at the comic. She’s already in the hospital, showing signs of waiting to get birth. So even if she “didn’t want to be preggers” (Thanks dave, for clearing that line up.) She already was, and then Todd is stuck at work, and then stuck in traffic. All it takes is for Baby Mommy to sign the papers and the doc will whisk the child away without even letting a mom see the kid they gave birth too. They then show the adoptive parents and or the worker from the adoptive agencey which child is to be put up for adoption. This kind of thing happened with the couple I knew. And dare I say it, the baby father, decided to search out his daughter, with help from the agencey and now the adoptive parents allow him visits and send pics and celebrate her b day together. Meanwhile the girl? She ended up giving her first kid to the Other baby dad because she just couldn’t hack being a full time mom, and HER Mom who did all the work was old and frail and ill.
Not to mention states that have “Baby Moses” laws. In some states, if you have a kid and decide you don’t want it or can’t handle being a parent in the first few months of life, you can leave the baby at any fire stations, hospital or other building with one of the placards.
Once they verify it’s the birth mom giving them up, there are *No* questions asked.
It was meant to keep scared teens from abandoning babies in alleys or unsafe locations if they couldn’t handle parenthood or didn’t want their baby. It ends up running the risk of taking the father’s rights away. If he’s aware of what happened, I think he can petition and regain custody, but it’s hard.
The abandoned babies are usually adopted very very quickly. –as in sometimes adopted by the hospital staff handling the intake forms.
THIS.
She lied to the docs and said the dad was not in the picture, I think. Then, I also believe Todd DID find out about her lies. There is no way he would react as he has shown, shouldering off Andi, if he HADN’T found out. My 2 cents.
Aaaaand that’s where you’re wrong. It actually happens quite a lot.
Wait… I’m a bit confused. Did she give the baby up for adoption, and then tell Todd that the baby died?
Because then… My question is: Is it possible that one of the kids in the orphanage where Selkie was is actually Todd’s biological child? Because that would definitely be a shocker… Because Todd was what, eighteen? Seventeen?…. And I’m guessing he’s in his early 30’s now… Hell. XD Nevermind, my maths were off.
…. How do I pass the spam protection questions? XD
Another thing. I love all the designs, the Merry Lurker jacket idea made me giggle. <3
And anyway, I think that if the child is in the comic, I think it'd be Heather. I think it would be… Interesting, to say the least.
And Amanda would FLIP. HER. LID. If she found out that not only did Heather have parents, but she was also Selkie's step-sister (ish). 0.0
And Selkie would be PISSED OFF. XD
And as for Andi… I'm not sure how I feel about her. She's… A liar. But she was trying to do the best thing at the time. She was in a hard place… I mean…. I dunno. We'll see what happens~
Oh, and I think Todd probably figured out that the baby didn't die. Because he's accused Andi of being a liar, hasn't he?
This also puts her ‘babysitting’ comment into perspective.
Todd tells us that when he wanted to adopt, Andi made the comment to him that adoption is like ‘babysitting’. Maybe because of the guilt she obviously feels about having given the baby up and lying to Todd over it, she wants to think she can find their child one day, in her mind the new family is only ‘babysitting’ the child.
It’s wishful thinking on her part, probably, but it’s something she seems to want to believe.
Oh man this is a really excellent idea! I love consistency like that.
That would fit, I’d say, yeah. That and… trying to distance herself. Adoption is actually more emotionally stressful on the biological mothers, statistically, than abortion. (Google adoption psychological effects. Add “breaking the silence” — and read all of that hit, especially the edits at the bottom — for a perspective.)
Andi has been trying to tell herself she did the right thing — and perhaps with little or no counseling for the loss of her child — for who knows how long. It’s no surprise she’s kinda messed up on the whole topic. 🙁
Okay, pressured into it or not… Not giving Todd the chance to even see his child once before it was gone was just plain cruel. Lying about the baby dying was even crueler.
I no longer sympathize with Andy in the slightest. She may not have wanted to lose him, but she should have known that as much as he wanted a baby, lying to him like that would cause her to lose him anyway.
Her mother is even worse for pushing her into that without even letting him see his child.
I also want to ask, considering Todd’s parents adopted so many children to begin with, why didn’t anyone think to give his parents custody of the baby so that Todd could still be in it’s life? That sort of thing actually happens more often than you would think.
Possible scenario is that during Todd’s rebel phase his folks gave him lots of space/he’d moved out and was living with Andi and she never asked/care to know who his parents were or his backstory. Just that he was fun and as recklace as her. After this mind-blowing twist in Todd’s life, he shapes up and goes back home to his parents. Just a theory.
I’m also getting the feeling that Andi’s mother wasn’t the least bit impressed by her being preggers (and/or being preggers without being married) and felt – apparently like Andi – that her becoming a parent so early in life would hurt her career/limit her life choices. So, I understand her and Andi’s stand on giving the baby away. That doesn’t make me think any less of her.
But this adds a whole ‘nother level of cruelty to Andi’s “adoption is like babysitting” comment. So this also doesn’t make me think any better of her.
Wow. I’m with everyone who’s baffled by the dead not adopted lie… I mean, I can kind of see how a teenaged boy would just take the word of his girlfriend and her parents when they tell him the baby died (why wouldn’t he?), and I can see why her parents felt that not telling said teenaged boy the truth was okay (they just want the situation to be over with), and I can see why her parents weren’t willing to just give the kid to a teenaged boy to raise himself (because, let’s face it, how many teenaged boys actually seem ready to raise a baby? Todd may be a paragon of fatherhood today, but he was still just a kid at the time), I can even see where the doctors never enlightened Todd about the situation (after giving birth, I didn’t see a doctor again until our first well baby visit; I can’t see why Andi’s doctor would have hung around after the delivery, and I’m willing to bet that the nurses didn’t say anything because they wanted Andi to “move on”). What I don’t understand is how the subject of adoption never came up until delivery day. I think Todd might even have been okay with giving up his child for adoption if they had discussed it over the preceding months. I kind of wonder how the truth came out, though, because while it does seem a likely reason for an acrimonious break-up, it doesn’t seem like something that would come up in the course of a normal conversation (or even during an argument)…
My God. It breaks my heart when something like this happens and I am sorry to say this but the Father don’t knowing that his child lived after birth is cruel in the extreme.
Would be crueler still to force the biological mother who didn’t want to be a mother, to become one – that would lead her to resenting the child, and THAT can not lead anyplace good.
Dave, I’ve been reading your comic since #36, and I’ve enjoyed it very much. I apologize that I’m going to rant in my first comment.
I had to walk away after viewing this, to calm down. If Andi lied to Todd, there is nothing the character can do from this point on to redeem herself in this comic, as far as I’m concerned; and my reasons are:
I am a birthmom. I got pregnant when I was 16, and had a baby I placed for adoption when I was 17. The social worker from the adoption agency *insisted* that I tell her who the father was, and she made sure he signed off on the papers too, and that was before the Baby Richard case (google it). I don’t keep up with adoption issues the way I used to, but I’m betting things have gotten a little stricter regarding both parents signing off since then.
For Andi to have placed that baby without Todd’s knowledge means she lied, through her teeth, to everyone, for months, about something incredibly important, because of her own desires. Andi hasn’t struck me as a sociopath up to now.
Now, as far as Amanda being the long lost daughter, languishing in a group home: a healthy caucasian female infant is available for adoption, and no one is interested??? Please. My suspension of disbelief is being stretched pretty tight now, Dave.
1) Dave hasn’t said anything about Amanda being the daughter, that’s all reader speculation.
2) The unmarried couples/underage adopt-away thing apparently varies from state to state, and perhaps depends on the social worker’s insistence (not everyone knows exactly who the father may be, for example).
3) Even if it WAS Amanda, we don’t know Amanda’s background story – maybe she was adopted as a baby, but was given away again at, say, age 4 or 5? Not all adoption stories end happily, despite all the checks the would-be adoptive parents have to go through.
Just thought I’d throw this out there. In some states as long as the birth mother doesn’t list the father on the birth certificate he has next to no rights regarding the child. In order to gain any rights to the child he has to pay for a paternity test. If Todd thinks the baby is dead he has no reason to ask for such a test. Andi only had to omit his name from the paperwork or lie and say she didn’t know who the father was and the adoption could go through. Again how stringently they ask for the father’s name and for him to sign off on the adoption can depend on what agency the adoption is going through. Sadly some are a bit more willing to let things slide in order to put an adoption through.
As for the baby turning out to be one of the kids from the orphanage just remember, not all of those kids were dropped off as infants. It’s a stretch but the kid could have been adopted at birth and the adoptive parents died causing the kid to end up in an orphanage after all.
Oh yeah and remember everyone, DAVE hasn’t said that the baby is one of the kids already in the strip. That’s just the twisted plot that a bunch of us would LIKE to see. So, that said, don’t rant at him for it being a poor plot choice until we see what his plot choices actually are! 🙂
I am going to post this in general, instead of targeting a particular comment.
As the story progressed to this scene, I knew it would not read well to some people. I want to be careful what I do and do not say about this scene, in order to not spoil the story but also because I try to maintain a welcoming atmosphere for commentary. I don’t want to become so defensive of this scene and my reasons for including it that I turn people off from commenting on it.
But that being said, if this scene and it’s revelation about Todd and Andi’s past is an off-button for some of you, I can understand that. But I hope you won’t give up on me over this. 🙂
Give up on you? Never! Give up on Andi? … Probably. I have yet to see if she’s learned anything.
THIS. There is NO way I would give up on the comic. I would like to see this particular tid bit of the story evolve and become more clear about the why. The thing most of us have to realize that we are viewers watching fictional characters from a creators mind. We are harsh on the creators, and or the characters, without realizing that that there is still so much more potential and story to tell! So I’m sticking through it! I want to see where this Andi revelation will lead.
Off topic, but it’s really rather disconcerting to see such emotionally heavy material being discussed by a smiling winged green thing.
On topic again, I can see this leading to conflict down the road and it certainly explains more of Andi’s backstory.
These revelations still don’t make me like Andi any better/less, but like I said in the comments of the one before this, she – or maybe her mother – gets a few bonus points on the intelligence score for acting rationally.
Dude, clashes like these may seem like a deterent to you but ive seen here and in other webcomics that it creates a rich story environment. You cant have a rich story without some conflict.
And, Dave, don’t forget; all this is good! Your comic is generating so much interest! I try with Shards to get people more involved because there is at least as much going on in it as with Selkie. It just isn’t as noticeable… yet! Don’t confuse all this blather as hate-posts. We are just very focal on our opinions of Andi, Amanda, and the speculations there-of. What I really want to know is the time frame between delivery and our current present. But we must all remain patient!
One of the signs of good writing is not just the characters people really like but the fact that they have targeted both Amanda and Andi as villains in your story;) You are doing good work, friend:) Don’t forget Shards has taken a little flak for two things: One, for supposedly having a caucasian cast (funny because we have a middle eastern boy, a lion, a tin man, a scarecrow, a construct, and an undead making up part of our cast) and Two being the fact that we gave the White Rabbit a very thick Chinese accent — the two are kind of ironic but I actually envy how much conversation you get for Selkie verses how little we get for Shards. Maybe some day;)
Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. Having likable characters doesn’t make a comic likable. In fact some of the best ones out there have dislikable characters. I actually am enjoying reading this background on Andi. What she did is sad and may be enough to make a lot of people dislike her, but I think it’s human for a lot of young teens to make such “insensitive” decisions—especially when they are driven by fear or manipulative (or even well-meaning) parents. Selkie will continue to be one of my favorite comics as the stories are pretty amazing, the characters are really intriguing, and the art is fun and continues to evolve.
Wow, I really feel like I know Andi a lot better now. Congratulations to Dave for making such rich and layered characters! Not one of them is cliche. I have to say, though, the way some people are treating Andi really pisses me off. From the moment we saw her, some people didn’t like her, and from then on all of her choices have been immature or selfish. I feel really bad for her because in this scene she’s obviously under serious stress and her mother is sort of pressuring her into a decision she regrets. She’s shown signs of guilt for almost all her actions leading up to this, given she was crying as she remembered this, and maybe the reason her hair style or immature dress are the same as when this happened is that she wishes she could go back and change her decision. Emotionally, she’s probably stuck in this moment. And we’re all kind of biased towards todd.
If we never knew who todd was and the story started with Andi, and then we learn she’s trying to get her life back on track and starts by speaking to her ex, who she hasn’t contacted in 5 months and they dated for 9 years, and he freezes her out? Then they finally have a tense conversation about why the relationship went wrong and she comes home and cries? We’d probably have our hearts out to her at this moment, and I bet you half the people here would be calling todd an asshole. Not that I’m totally Pro-Andi. What she did here is awful and cruel, but you have to consider things from every perspective. Who hasn’t made a dumb and hurtful decision they seriously regretted later?
Wow, that comment was way longer than I planned.
I haven’t liked Andi since the beginning – but these revelations don’t make me think any less of her. Or more, for that matter. 😛
I don’t like her and I’d certainly like to see her change before she ended up with Todd (or preferably not end up with him, but make peace), but I can empathize with her character. Even after the horrible things she did, she’s very human, and I know people like her. Some grow up and become amazing people. Some stay children forever and end up burning out before they turn 40. I am really interested in where Andi’s path will take her.
I have to agree with those who have a hard time suspending belief with regard to a possible plot line that has Todd and Andi’s biological baby turning out to be Amanda. There would have to be too many coincidences – I just couldn’t buy it.
Maybe it’s a red herring – Amanda’s so much the obvious choice that we all think that, and then it turns out she’s not. 😛
But you buy a fishgirl? Lol! This is clearly a strange new world, who knows what adopters look for in selkie-verse! Idk who it will be but the idea that we’ve met the kid at some point is highly likely. Selkie goes to a pretty big school, maybe it’s one of the random kids in her class. Remember dave thought up names for all of them? Also jessie was tied in to the story in way that beggers belife. Dating andi’s sister and an helper for selkie’s class, after meeting her at walmart? Unless jessie is a goverment spy keeping an eye on selkie (and that would be soooo cool) there is no way we haven’t meet this kid at least in passing. And i’m ok with that. Lol! That comment got super long!
Okay, I see that the “Amanda is their daughter” theory is popular, but it just occured to me that Sandy is also a redheaded orphan, and one of her eyes is green like Andi’s and the other is blue like Todd’s.
That’s not how heterochromia works.
I know, but carnivorous aquatic people also don’t exist.
I don’t think its going to be any of the kids we’ve seen so far. I think it’ll be someone we see later.
good point
I’ve read through all of the comments so far, but I really need to get through with my own thoughts here.
First of all… I have no idea how Andi could have gotten away with such a lie to Todd over the baby she gave up. Lying and saying that the baby died and them moving on from that point seemed too suspicious.
Unfortunately in my family, a few years before I was born, my aunt/godmother had a seizure toward the end of her pregnancy with my cousin, Tammy. Because of that her placenta detached from her uterine lining (I don’t really know the exact specifics, so pardon if I said or say any noticeable mistakes) and therefore Tammy suffocated and died in the womb and was stillborn. My aunt and uncle/godfather had a funeral for her.
Not only that, as soon as my aunt had given birth they had to create not only her birth certificate, but also her death certificate.
Also… my concerns would have to be the fact that even though Andi was a teenager when this happened, the fact that her baby “died” would have had a much harder, stronger impact on her. Todd must have noticed at some point, whether it was soon or much later after it happened, that he was in more distress about it than she was.
I’m not trying to be a know-it-all here, but these are just my thoughts I’m putting down and trying to process here…
Hopefully all of our questions will be answered in the future and we’ll know what happened after this.
Again, just further proof in my corner that Todd did at some point find out and that’s why he kinda hates Andi now.
So I am a smidge conflicted. The arc reads as though she told him the baby died however in a previous strip she told “freaked” learning he adopted. . . just saying.
In regards to people saying what Andi did is illegal: not necessarily, because Todd and Andi weren’t married when the baby was born. You’d be amazed what a marriage certificate can do. As it is now, though, they were unmarried and he may have had no legal rights to that child unless she said so. Besides, with a woman like Andi’s mother there, I’m FAR less shocked by this than I should be. I can guess where this was going, and I DO feel bad for Andi. She was clearly terrified in these images, and her mother took advantage of that… probably because she (Andi’s mother) was not woman enough to help her daughter with a baby. As a woman who was raised by her grandmother instead of her teen mom, I put the blame mostly on Andi’s mother.
I’m not giving up on this story. Despite everything said about a character and how they act, this is like a play, and the actor can’t stray far from their lines. Even if it’s something I’m uncomfortable with, I’ll stick through it until the end.
It’s a webcomic, not real life. Andi did a stupid thing when she was a kid and she obviously regrets the consequences and accepts them. If she DIDN’T accept them, she’d still be acting like she’d done nothing wrong. She’s accepted them, and is trying to continue on as best she can.
I get that andi was scared and her mom pushed her, but none of that has anything to do with her lie to todd. Maybe on the first she might have been so mad that he wasn’t there that she said the first hurtful thing that came into her mind (and really, who doesn’t drop work and run when their baby is being born?) (I mean it’s not like he was a cop or something, it was wal*mart) but to keep up such a hateful lie for so long, to watch him mourn and say nothing? That’s evil. Nothing excuses that. There’s no way todd didn’t cry over this, how could she have kept it from him?
It’s possible that Andi’s mother did a lot of that – probably kept Todd at an arm’s length for the “grieving period”, too, and then maybe saying that he wasn’t to upset Andi by going into the details of what happened.
Sure, but once she´d told the lie, she wouldn´t just have to admit that she gave their baby up for adoption, but also that she´d lied to him in addition to that. And the longer she´d been living that lie, the harder it would be to tell the truth.
Also, if she convinced herself (or had her mother convince her) that giving away the baby was the right thing to do, she might also have convinced herself that she was doing Todd a favor by lying to him. If he thought the baby was dead, he would grieve, but eventually get over it; if he knew it had been put up for adoption, he´d fret over that, maybe try to get it back, and never give up as long as the kid was still “out there” – so I could definitely see someone rationalizing the lie as being the merciful thing to say. Heck, she may even have convinced herself that giving the baby up for adoption wasn´t her decision, but her mother´s, given how her mother talked her into it. Never underestimate a person´s ability to fool themselves.
I´m not saying that what Andi said was right – just that she wasn´t malicious or hurtful, but instead made two wrong decisions under extreme distress, and since then lacked the courage and maturity to reverse at least one of these decisions and tell Todd the truth.
My interpretation/translation:
(Andi’s) Mother: It’s okay. I love you.
Andi: I don’t want to be pregnant!
Mother: It’s okay.
Andi: I don’t like this, I don’t wanna keep it. But Todd is so happy to be a father.
Mother: Forget Todd. You matter more because you’re a woman (bullcrap btw so much for equality), sign the papers, give the baby away. It’ll be better for it, a loving home.
*then Mother is talking to a doctor*
Mother: We’re not keeping it. We’ll give it away to a good home.
Todd: I’m so, so sorry I’m late. The train was delayed on the way back from work, and then I got stuck in traffic! how are you? how is the baby?
Andi: Dead. 😀
or something like that. lots of sensitive subject material lately, Selkie’s shirt being stolen and all (even if it was only by a kid her own age), and now this.
PrinceSS TeDDy out! like a Faust!
Wow! The fact it’s confirmed that’s Andi’s mother makes me feel even more sorry for her. She probably felt like there was no support (and with a mother like that, it’s understandable). Young people who have had no real adult support (or who have parents who are severe manipulators) in their lives are much more prone to make big mistakes when they are young—even when they deep down are good people.
Calling her actions “evil” is harsh. It wasn’t like she was giving the baby up to hurt Todd (I’ve known women who play such sick games) or killed the baby. In fact, it appears she would have kept that baby if she realized Todd was on his way rather than a deadbeat father as her mother planted in her head, and she must have felt pretty horrible to have made such a huge mistake.
All that aside, birthing takes a huge toll on the body, hormones and mind. Some hospitals can be violating too (especially for women who are unprepared to birth). Many women are in very vulnerable states after birthing—all the more so if surgery was involved or the birth was traumatic. This is why everyone should have a doula or doula-in-training (they can be free or very affordable, but most people don’t know about this). A good doula can support both parents and help them protect their rights.
A question about the clothing – For the winning outfit, Selkie has new shoes to match her adorable clothes. Does this mean Todd will have to open a second mortgage? XD
This is a *huge* problem with little girls’ clothing (especially these days). It’s hard to find shoes in neutral colors, and there are a gazillion types of outfits (skirts, dresses, jeans, shorts, skorts, etc, etc…). Even without that in mind, it is hard to own less than 4 pairs of shoes at a time (1 pair of nice shoes for nice events—a must as you don’t want to go kids’ shoe shopping for last minute wedding…or worse, 1 pair of playground-friendly sneakers, 1 pair of boots, 1 pair of crocs/sandals/flip flops). I am embarrassed to say my daughter probably has at least 10 sets of shoes—not including ones I have when she sizes up (though I get the bulk from consignment and outlets). It doesn’t help I’m a terrible shoeaholic. XD
I personally think the baby’s hair looks reddish brown so I could see the Amanda opinions. Especially since Andi’s hair is brown, her moms is red or orange, and Todd’s is blonde. Since blonde hair is recessive it makes more sense for the baby to get the mothers unless there are blondes on Andi’s side.
I know there are exceptions since in my family I’m the only one of my brothers with dark hair and eyes like my parents and they were born blonde and blue eyed which eventually went to light brown and hazel.
Anyways I could see this being a connection between Amanda and Selkie and maybe Todd looking to adopt her too and try to make one big happy family out of it.
All (or almost all to the point as to be statisctically insignificant) Caucasian stock children are born blue-eyed and blonde. It’s like all kittens have blue eyes – the colour their genes say they will have, won’t have developed yet by then.
The youngest of my two little brothers was born with some dark hair on him, it fell out (birth hair usually does) and he was pure blonde as a kid, with blue eyes too. My other brother and I had blue eyes and blonde hair too. The youngest now, as an adult, has dark brown hair and brown/brown-green eyes. Other brother has remained blue-eyed and blonde-haired, I’ve remained blue-eyed, but my hair darkened to sandy-coloured. Both our parents have dark hair, dad has green eyes and mom has blue eyes (and yes we’re a biological family, for unrelated reasons that had to be checked for at one point).
So the eye/hair colour genetics aren’t really all that simple.
I had a worksheet about this from class but I threw it out last month because I thought I’d never use it. Oh, the irony.
Longtime reader, first-time commenter.
I see that many of your readers seem to be falling prey to the unfortunate new idea that the readers of a work have the right to tell the author of said work how that work should or should not be written, due to some politically-correct ideal or catchphrase which they’ve adopted as a battle flag. As a writer who allowed myself to be bludgeoned by such folk to the point where I am no longer capable of writing, I beg you to take such opinions with less than a fraction of a grain of salt. I am loving your strip, your characters, and most of all the complexity of emotion that you have instilled into every comic – regardless of anyone’s “likeability” or “political correctness”, your story feels TRUE, and that is the best kind of story there is.
Those who disagree with your choice of plot or execution are perfectly free to write their own story or draw their own strip with whatever story or style they like. If, in fact, they can. You keep doing just what you do, because it is awesome – and no amount of sound or fury can or will change that.
Thank you.
I agree with the extent that this is their “creative works” and they have a right to do whatever they wish to do, however they wish to and that’s that.
On the other hand, I feel like it’s a author’s obligation to at least listen to and consider complaints, criticism or even simple ideas from their readers. That doesn’t mean any of which has to be implemented, just acknowledged or considered.
The way you come off, it’s basically saying, “Eff your readers, do what you want, they don’t matter!”, if that were the case, there isn’t any reason for the author to even publish any of this content online, there’s no reason for them to share their creative works at all, because it’s perfectly perfect and there’s no reason to get any sort of acknowledgement for their writing, good or bad.
You don’t think that movie directors or television writers take what fans think into consideration? If you don’t at least make some sort of attempt to cater to your fans, you’ll find yourself with nothing but yourself and your ignorant attitude.
With that being said, I visit this site to read this comic on a day to day basis to check for updates and have been overall happy with most of the story and characters.
Admittedly this page was a little hard to follow at first, I had to look at it a few times to gather everything.
Who says it is even being published here for the sake of other people?
Heck, stick just about anything online and sooner or later someone will appreciate it. Nobody need cater to the popular opinion of the mundane masses.
Going to throw this out there–has anyone considered that the baby may be a boy? We’ve been focusing on Heather or Amanda, but insofar as I’m aware a gender hasn’t been specified.
Right… so far I´d say we can conclusively rule out (among the children in the orphanage) only Keisha, Wu and (obviously) Selkie herself. I am *almost* ready to rule out Tony as well, because he has a surname (and thus parents) already, but he might possibly have been adopted and then given up again or taken away from his adoptive parents.
The happiest result for Selkie would be if the kid turns out to be Georgie… just imagine how she´d react if she found out that her best friend is also more or less her adoptive (half-)brother.
Do we even know for sure the boyfriend is/was Todd? I understand why the baby couldn’t be Keisha, Wu, or Selkie, because he is obviously caucasian, but we have no way of knowing that’s Todd, do we?
Yeah, we’re sure it’s him.
O’ the bitter fingers of twisted fate, wrapped aroun’ the neck of innocent youth. Wretched tho the child be, sweet of innocence shall it be. Knowing not of your birth, knowing not of thine death, live as though you shall never cry.
Mother of the Lost, weeping into an imaginary grave, wailing of all lament for the past gone, struggle with thine cursed dreams, dreary and dark, tumult and circle ever they be. Know thine choices be thine own ere’more, thine reprieve slow and shallow.
Father of the Dead, reviled by the mother, curses the past and the distant day, groping for reconciliation within his own soul; give him rest, give him rest, for the day of the Meeting is nigh.
Hands of the Dark, grasping the light of the morn, shrouded in deceit as the webs of lies cross and weave, tangled upon the skein, thy hands, bitter be. Thy horrid breath upon the wind suggest naught, only an ever sleep of blissful days. Yon the hill lay the hole; bury thyself! Accursed be!
I’d swear you do this for a living, yon ogrish poet. 😀
It’s his magic talent.
If that’s a Xanth reference… I always wanted Dor’s talent. Lose your keys? Just ask the desk where they went. But don’t ever ask the toilet how it’s day went. Poor poor toilet…
Well, it’s not my profession… YET. I have aspirations of becoming an English Professor and someday, I want to publish my books. Until that day comes, then yeah I’ll gladly take having Poetry as my magic talent. I got it from a magic seed given to me by a raven that plucked it from the Poe Tree.
Only two years late, but I see what you did there. Very punny.
Wow. We have a second page of comments.
How many times has this happened?
Never!
I think there was a second page of comments for an earlier strip, but that was only after the current page had moved forwards. I remember because I don’t always bookmark the most current page, and was wondering where the comments had gone to, before realizing there was another page.
Battlescared, these are made up people in a web comic, the fact that dave has made us care enough to get upset just shows he can tell a good story. I love how it feels like a supernatural soap. Remember, if people really hated your work they would never bother to comment! Now people keep saying how upset and scared andi must have been and how that excuses her lies…. and maybe it does. But only for the first few weeks (at the most) as far as we know, at least untill the next strip, andi kept this secrect for years! (Timeline is fuzzy at this point, so we’ll see) at best this shows her to a very weak person, at worst it proves all things people have been saying about her. That she seems to regret it has me leaning towards “weak” (after re-reading a few times) either way it’s hard to imagine that she has much to add to any family (harsh, i know) weak or evil, she can’t be trusted!
Also, we don’t know yet if she’s crying over giving up the baby, or over losing todd….
I think she’s a bitch for lying to the father about everything. As a matter of fact, it literally pisses me off, they may have been young, but it’s just another good example of how fathers have literally no rights as a parent in this country, young or old and that needs to change.
Lying would have been the first and last mistake ever if I had found out. You don’t give away my child without at least talking to me about it first. Granted they were young and it was most likely the best possible choice at the given time, but he at least deserved to know up front.
Remember that if Todd had wanted to keep the kid, Andi not, they’d have either had to break up or else Andi would have been forced into the parental role that she didn’t want to. That would have likely led her to resent the child – and a child whose mother resents him/her, will not have a happy childhood.
You can try to rationalize it all you want, it’s still wrong. It takes two people to make a child, it should be two people to make a decision. The fact people even get away with this is an outrage.
How do we know it’s Todd? I’m a bit lost… I don’t keep track so regularly.
Same hair as the last time we saw Todd in a flashback.
Well now there won’t be anyone telling us we don’t have a good reason for disliking her. The final nail in the coffin, she’s not at all likable in my opinion and Todd has full rights to not want to talk to her. The love of your life makes such an important decision without you involved? Then to top it off she lies about it to you so you have no idea? Yeah, she’s perfectly loathsome now.
I want to add, earlier in the strip, Andi told him that he owes her conversation after 9 years and an abrupt cutoff of the relationship with a total wall between them. No Andi, he doesn’t. You owed him a chance to see his child and then talk to him. You STOLE that from him so he doesn’t owe you jack.
Why yes, I have had relationships like this, so I am bitter. Why do you ask?
An author’s “obligation” is to write what is in their heart. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The idea that an author should alter their heart’s truth for ANY reader’s benefit is akin to my saying that you should murder your parents, spouse and children because I don’t like the way they look.
Read and enjoy, read and walk away, or don’t read at all. Those are your choices.
Good art is always a give and take between the artist and the viewer…… if you dont make something viewers will enjoy then why would they spend the time (or money) to read your message/story? Of course dave shouldn’t try and fit every single thing from the comments into the story, if they don’t fit then he ignore all of them! Us commenting and getting excited and trying to guess the plot isn’t a way to bully him, it’s a way to share. Not of the comments i’ve read feel like flames or anything like that.
Okay, first and foremost, Dave can do whatever Dave wants with Dave’s comic, Dave’s readers and Dave’s world; that is Dave’s prerogative, period, end of sentence, duh. I would not presume, in any way shape or form, to speak for Dave, or dictate what he can or should do.
This, in fact, being the point.
The part that bothers me is the stridency of the outrage popping up here and there, the tone, the flavor. I’ve seen it before; I’ve been burned by it before, and known others who have as well. To see this, in any degree, and stand by and say nothing, is to convey the idea that it is acceptable, even laudable. I cannot do this. I will not.
And so I shall speak, again, to say – Hey, Dave? You do whatever the heck you want. BECAUSE IT RAWKS. ^___^ m/
Stop preaching, go find another medium for your soap box.
Yes, thank you jeremy. Exactly. Also, people having opinions and getting into the story? Pretty sure that’s what most writers want.
Unless you were talking to me too jeremy! I don’t normally bother getting this worked up over internet stuff 🙂 and battlescarred? That “duh” you threw in there is the closest thing to being mean that i’ve seen on this site so far. Would that count as ironic?
Dave – Great work, as always. You portray so much emotion through your characters, even to the point where we will hate them. Don’t take what is written personal. Some of us pop our opinions out there so that we can brag later and say, “See, I was right!” It’s a comptetion among ourselves really. To see if we can guess where you’re going next with the story line.
I love the realism, as controversial as it is. These are “real” personalities. I LOVE IT! 😀
For everyone – My wife is unable to get pregnant. We both want a child. However, I make too much many to get financial support to adopt, but not enough to be able to afford it without support. I can feel Todd’s pain in this. Especially if he has found out that Andi lied to him (Dave hasn’t told us one way or the other, so for now I assume Todd believes the child is dead). My personal issues reguarding being a father, affect how I see Andi. I just dislike Andi’s selfishness. I would kill her mother without loosing a nights sleep.
She took advantage of Andi’s physical and emotional weakness to push her own agenda without thinking of how it would affect Todd and Andi’s relationship. She has prevented Todd from knowing his own child (we don’t know gender). And she is responsible for the first real wedge in the young couple’s lives.
Did Andi have to lie about the child, not really. But she was not mentally/emotionally stable at the time and could have been forgiven had she admitted her lie later to him (if she did YEARS later, then I wouldn’t be able to trust her again either).
Now here’s the final kick in the pants. Todd mentioned that they had been fighting more and more as time dragged on. Could the cause of this been her guilt over their child? As someone mentioned before, is her attitude of adoption “babysitting” the only way her mind can accept sending her own child away?
*please note* I make not statements about whether or not sending the child away as right/wrong. We don’t know the dynamics. I know that at 18 I was in no shape financially, emotionally, or mentally to be a father (I’m much older now and not telling my age).
I said before Andi has no sympathy from be because of her callous remark about adoption. This comic just cements that view for me. We’ve not seen enough of Andi to really have an opinion of her. Once Todd’s mom has had enough time to work on him (Mom’s are good at guilt tripping their children – My mom still does it to me!), perhaps he can sit and listen to Andi’s story without all the excessive anger. Todd is definately in the wrong for not letting her explain. In order for Andi to get closure, she needs to talk to Todd. Todd needs to get past the pain/anger so he can hear her out.
BTW, for those of you still stuck on the “I don’t wanna be pregnant,” icon. All my sisters, and every female I have worked with that has been pregnant all say the same thing towards the end. “I’M SICK OF BEING PREGNANT!”
You make a good point about moms there. Maybe this whole situation could be resolved if Andi would sit down for a good long talk with Todd´s mom…?
In defense of Andi’s mom, a quick google search for the average length of active labor for a first child is 12 TO 18 HOURS!!!!
Even assuming she fell on the lower end, Todd’s “stuck in traffic” excuse is total bull unless she went to an out-of-state hospital.
Now then, based on the depiction, I am ASSUMING, feel free to correct this Dave, that Andi’s dad is not in the picture.
So a single-mom is in a hospital room comforting her under-18 daughter who is going through labor for a baby she isn’t even sure that she wants or can even care for. The “sperm donor” (phrase my dad uses for the “fathers” on those 16-and-pregnant shows) was informed when labor started but has not shown up.
As the readers, we have a kind of hind-sight into this situation, but at the time, it would have been reasonable for the mom to assume, based on her own experiences, that Todd wasn’t going to show up.
AT THE TIME THE DECISION WAS MADE (important clarification), based on the facts as she knew them, I believe her mom made the right decision to suggest putting the child up for adoption. AT THAT MOMENT, that decision was in the best interests of both Andi and the child. This would give Andi a chance to finish school, possibly go to college and basically grow up to where she could handle the pressures and responsibilities of motherhood. The child would be (eventually) adopted by a family that was ready and looking for a child.
Most of the comments I’ve read here are judging Andi’s decision based on how good of a dad he has been (so far) to Selkie. Back then he was just some punk kid.
Was it wrong for Andi to lie to Todd about the baby? Yes, but it is easy to understand why she did.
But 12 to 18 hours is the *average*. I’ve known women who were in labor for more than 48 hours, and a woman who was in labor – that anyone was aware of – for less than an hour for her first baby, and barely over half an hour for her second.
Being stuck in class/traffic becomes more credible, doesn’t it?
Is it just me, or does it look like that woman TOLD her to give up the child because Andi wasn’t there?
By the by:
I. Can’t. Wait. Until. Tomorrow!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAH! I LOVE whenever this comic updates, you have NO idea! <3 <3 <3
I truly love this webcomic, and the flashbacks with Andi and Todd's relationship are compelling, and deep. I enjoy it!
Keep up the good work!! 😀
Meant to say this before, but i did enjoy the pictogram format, sort of feels like a montage (sp? You know what i mean, there’s one in every sport movie ever) it’d be nice to see again. I think it would show something like a day at the park or a fieldtrip really well!
I have to say…I like Andi even less. It’s not that she gave away her baby, or that she was scared. It’s that she lied. And she KEPT lying. She told Todd the baby died, and I think it means she’s kept lying about the baby being dead for years. Nearly ten years and Todd still thinks the baby died. And Andi certainly isn’t coming clean about it now. The adoption doesn’t piss me off, nor does her mom pushing her to give away the baby…..what annoys me is how Andi not only lied ONCE, but lied continuously. For ten years! Jeeze….
I’m just trying to straighten stuff out in my mind with the story, so please do correct me if I’m wrong on any points. When Andi was in high school, she got pregnant, but she didn’t want the baby. Her boyfriend wanted the baby. Andi’s mother told her the baby could still be born and still be loved by her or someone else. Her boyfriend (do we know it’s Todd? How do we know it’s Todd?) got to the hospital late because he got stuck in class and in traffic. He asks about her, and about the baby. Andi wanted an abortion, and told her boyfriend the baby had died and would have to be aborted. Please clear this up for me if I am wrong!
Now, for my opinions on the matter…. Andi was wrong to lie, and I think she was wrong to want an abortion at all, but I can understand her mental state and reasoning would not have been at their best. I can understand why she would lie under these circumstances. That does not mean I condone it. I don’t. I feel like she should have had the baby and given it up for adoption if needs be. But she felt she couldn’t handle it, couldn’t want it, and couldn’t take care of it, so she made her choice.
That is indeed teenaged Todd. And Andi did not abort. The doctor is carrying away a living crying newborn because Andi’s mother convinced her to give it up for adoption.
I KNEW IT!
Andi’s mother is trying to calm her down during labor and Andi is scared and talking about how she doesn’t want to be pregnant, she doesn’t want a baby but Todd loves babies. Her mother tells her to forget about Todd and that if she signs papers giving the baby up for adoption, the baby could be taken into good hands and find a loving home. She gives birth to the baby the doctor walks away with as her mom urges her to sign the adoption papers for the sake of her child.
Todd arrives and talks about how he got held up at the grocery store (note the carts) and then in traffic. He asks how Andi is and how the baby is. Andi lies and tells him the child died.
I seem to be noticing alot of hostility towards Andi in the comments, I dont really understand it.
What she did in the past obviously hurt Todd, sure, thats unfortunate. But in case you haven’t noticed she’s trying really hard to make up for her mistakes. In an earlier strip she mentioned wanting a child “from her own body” because of what happened.
In Todds defense, he has every right to discontinue their relationship. One way or another there was a violation of trust. Whether he forgives her is his own choice. But it is still a choice he gets to make. Granted, he now has a different commitment to consider; Selkie.
There is no good/bad, right/wrong, there is sadness, and pain, but it’s in the past. The past is the past is the past; nothing will change it.
Andi has obviously grown wiser since that time, I think Todd likely has as well. I dont see any good reasons to hate her for a mistake she aknowledges and is trying hard to make up for.
Maybe I am too biased but her “trying hard” doesn’t cut it. Either that or she just sucks at it. She does not seem wise to me and here is why: Her tone of voice when she spoke to Todd, etc. She can always write him an explanation and attempt at some form of humility or true sorrow to get him to listen instead of jumping on his case. Instead of “Listen to me, dangit! You owe me!”, how about “Why won’t you listen to me? You need to hear this!” In my opinion, from what I’ve seen, she has learned nothing and is still a scared little girl. It’s sad, but no I don’t like the character of Andi any more than I did before.
It’s fascinating, Dave, the reaction from this one strip. Just look at the art, what you were able to convey with no dialogue at all. Wow… I am in awe…
RE: Craig Olsen’s designs.
These are great (and very tight art, too).
One likely problem with the pull-down shirt though: recall Selkie is 8. There’s nothing to hold that shirt up. The first time she jumps even a little, down it’s coming.
That’s going to be the case for several more years, and I note from both the anatomical diagram and the brief peeks we’ve had of Selkie’s mother that while the females of Selkie’s species DO have breasts, they’re relatively small. Very busty women would not be especially aquadynamic, and these people are built to swim.
In short, Selkie’s unlikely to have a sizeable bustline… ever.
Now, on the other hand, a version of that sort of shirt with a string tie round the neck (and I’ve seen those around, I’m sure) would have all the same degree of convenience for her gill-flushing and not have the problem of constantly falling down.
For those who’d like a translation (tho I’m probably a little late to the party):
Mom: It’ll be okay. I love you.
Andi: I don’t want to be pregnant!
Mom: It’s gonna be okay.
Andi: I don’t want to have to take care of a baby. But… Todd loves the idea of having a child.
Mom: forget Tod. Sign the adoption papers. Give the baby to a better home.
Mom: We want to put the baby up for adoption. Give it to a good home.
Tod: I came as soon as I heard. But the train was slow and there was a huge traffic jam. Are you okay? How is the baby?
Andi: …
Andi: It died.
… *Snaps pen*
So you’re telling me that not only did she get pregnant… but rather than abort it, she gave it up for adoption and then lied to him about it?
I cannot hate her any more than I do right now.
Irresponsible, lying, breeder trash!
I wouldn’t just kill her if I came across her.
I’d cut her arms and legs off, cauterise the stumps, chain her upside-down in a room by flesh-hooks with her back to a window and lace fish-hooks with feathers attached through her flesh so every time the wind blew through the room it would tear the wounds open again and again… And I’d keep her on a drip to make sure she remained alive and suffering throughout… and only kill her once she regretted every single thing she’d ever done.
Ok… so I got a little bit carried away there… I know better than to inflict suffering in anger, usually.
But still… unforgiveable. The two acts I hate most in the world are breeding and lying.
Uhm… the winners of the costume contest are all not vissible for me anymore.
I think the links ar broken?
The parts I got were she had a abortion. Then her words basically destroyed the relationship.