Meanwhile, Andi and Amanda’s coats are very lonely back in the exhibition hall.
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Meanwhile, Andi and Amanda’s coats are very lonely back in the exhibition hall.
REEEEEEEEEEEE!
Props to Todd for the immediate honesty, and not trying to sugarcoat it. We’ve been watching this unfold for weeks, but Todd only found out about an hour ago. I’m impressed with his resilience.
So am I. And I like that he said “other” daughter, not just “daughter” as though Selkie is not. Rather, I like that Dave thought to add that detail. 🙂
Agreed. We might all aspire to be as sensitive to terminology as that poor beleaguered father right there.
Ought to go a little ways toward reducing the fallout… on his end, at least.
It was instinctively accepting and inclusive, but that’s how Todd rolls, isn’t it? To Todd, both are his real daughters. We know he means it. It’s something Andi never understood about him.
Seriously Andi, she clearly thinks adoption and parents is all about status.
And what about Thor?
Thor was a powerhouse to be sure, but as far as the old Myths are concerned, Zeus was far more likely to strike somebody with a ‘thunderbolt.’ Thor tended to, despite being associated with thunder and lightning, get up close and physical.
I heard Thor also wasn’t the only norse god associated with thunder, I read somewhere that a certian chariot shot out sparks of lightning as it rode.
I just want to know what she thought Santa was going to do about it.
Maybe she reads Robert Asprin. He has one character who was attempting to call down the wrath of OLD NICK (Satan) on a crowd that was about to burn her for a witch, and she called down the wrath of ST. NICK.
Oops.
Give her a gift. Of electrocution.
hah… the problem with his gifts though…
Some Assembly Required…
it won’t be FAST enough for Andi
Well, Santa used to be Odin at one point. Then Christianization happened to Yule.
*puts on goggles* Meltdown commencing!
Ze goggles, zhey do nuzzink!
HAHAHAHAHA!
That was a good episode…
lol
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/149/554/128772437823264470.jpg
Andi, please for the love of all that is good and decent stop trying to run away and talk to your daughter and tell the bloody truth.
I’m going to give Andi the benefit of the doubt here and guess that she was going to do just that, just not in a public setting for reasons Amanda’s demonstrating here. Todd’s looking like he wishes the Earth would swallow him up right now. Problem is Amanda, like oh so many kids, is smarter than adults realize and figured it all out for herself.
Brings to mind a comic of… For Better or For Worse, I think. The family had flown to a place for a funeral, and were coming back (I got this much from context, I think), and the little girl, April, is playing with a handheld console and chatting about having fun with the kids and/or animals at that place.
And the adults laugh a bit because hey, cute little kid didn’t even pick up on what we were all doing, glad she’s too little to understand.
And April thinks, “You only *think* we don’t understand.”
Because kids really pick up on a ton more than we expect them to, even before their vocabulary is quite up to describing what they understand.
It’s also one of the reasons not to talk down to them while writing stories for children — compare the Care Bears with their “only reasonably well-off white kids need cheering up, let’s ignore all the other woes in the world” setting to the setting of Avatar: The Last Airbender, or even My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, both of which, like Selkie, managed to tackle a number of sensitive subjects without either talking down to or talking over the heads of the kids who were watching it.
I’ll give credit to Care Bears for having some serious plotlines though that the grownups didn’t pick up on – 1st one focused on suicide (in that time, who talked to little kids about depression and suicide?) and in the 2nd movie they actually took on Satan…
I dunno if comparing Care Bears to A:tLA or MLP:FiM is fair; there’s about twenty years of cultural shifts seperating them.
Plus back in Care bears days cartoons were aimed only at small kids and written as simplistically as possible. In ATLA and MLPFIM’s era, cartoons are aimed at the entire family, with layered humor and more complex approaches to writing and subject matter because the goal is to engage Mom and Dad along with Billy and Susie.
I’m not sure how much cultural shifts ought to let older stuff off the hook — I mean, they’re the reason girls had crappy cartoons compared to boys (by and large), but we can still say they were crappy cartoons and bad reasoning that created them — but you’re at least right that there’s no way AtLA would exist without a lot of growth in how people think of animated series.
Kinda like how games are growing up, and tackling issues that no one ever thought they were capable of (and some still don’t). There’s still the Animation Ghetto and a comparable one for games, but they’re less restrictive than they used to be, and enough shows and games are breaking through the barriers that perhaps another generation or so and adults won’t have to hide the fact that they’re watching/playing “kids’ stuff.”
Yeah, I remember that strip. And I remember being that kid when my grandfather died – I was three, and while I didn’t know WHAT was going on, I knew something was VERY wrong. I remain a little sad that my grandmother died before I got old enough to tell her I don’t blame her in the slightest for what happened in the immediate aftermath (she was upset, to say the least), and didn’t at the time.
Andi might have handled the questioning from Amanda a bit better with just a bit more time as Mom, but what with everything…poor Amanda (and Andi, to a lesser extent).
That’s how Narnia was written too. Even as an adult, I LOVE re-reading Narnia, because CS Lewis used language that children could understand, but there’s SO MUCH good stuff in there, even for adults.
One of my favorite parts of Narnia is the entrance of Eustace Scrubb, who had read “all the wrong books.”
It was such a significant idea so simply put, that facts and figures and data about the real world did not create character and backbone and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
Lewis also wrote about “men without chests,” on the same subject, where value-neutral school systems fail to create in the students the sort of nobility that would benefit the nation: “We scoff at honor and are surprised to find traitors in our midst,” among other things. But he managed to explain that concept implicitly through the character of Eustace.
Yeah.
“Once there was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” That’s one of the best opening lines of any book, IMHO.
OMG! I’ve been saying that forever! So true!! If Eustace can redeem himself, anyone can. (Provided the author wants them to, of course, and I think Dave has *plans* for Andi…)
Meh, don’t knock the 80s cartoons. No matter how crappy people think they are today, they gave at least some kids the building blocks they needed to explore their own issues. A couple years ago I re-watched Voltron and couldn’t believe how much it sucked but that was one of my personal favorites – I just rewrote everything inside my head with a strong female lead instead of the idiot princess…I had just forgotten how much I had to re-write. Ditto He-man – that one was ready made for exploring abuse issues and a lich corresponds really well to the dysfunctional abusive mindset that can be passed down generations.
I love the dual sided strip. Is that “Reee” Selkie’s actual scary-shriek or just a sound effect?
I think that the vocal chords that are capable of the screech might give different noises when surprised with something they don’t like. Kind of like ours do only slightly less about social stuff and armcry raising, slightly more about making a fearsome noise to ward off predators directly. Both have both instincts, I’m speaking of… predisposition to either. I bet underwater that noise could be heard from quite a ways off.
I took it as more of a stiff “Eeeep!” in Common.
It’s a small version of it.
I love it. It’s a neat little reminder that she’s not human and has different visceral reactions.
I read it as one of those Family Guy-style “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-?”
Now I find myself wondering if Selkie knows anything about the child Todd “lost” as a teenager. It’d be a BIT of a buffer to Selkie’s shock, anyway.
Todd: facing the truth & consequences.
Andi: doing her best to avoid ’em.
Perfect split-screen contrast. Beautiful, Dave.
And I now realize that I have been conditioned by facebook to a worrisome level when my first reaction to reading your comment was to look for the like button.
It’s not just Facebook, I was looking for the same thing, due to most other webcomics I comment on, working with Disqus.
Yup.
Though at least Andi’s not denying, and she’s not trying to squelch Amanda’s freakout. Sometimes, the kid’s gonna scream and all you can do is not abandon them while they do it. (…usually they’re a bit younger, and pre-verbal, but it’s the same principle, really.)
I have hope for her! 😀
Yep. Andi, I know you’re not in much shape to give a better explanation than that one, but really you should have thought this through more before now. You really, really should have.
This quote from Archer has been popping into my head while expecting Amanda to learn the truth about who Todd is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1wzRSBIMy8
We love you, Krieger.
Does anyone else find the word “sweety” odd? I always spellie “sweetie.” “Sweety” just looks like sweaty to me.
Wow, “spellie.” What the hell, self.
I find it a bit odd, too, it has been spelled “sweetie” earlier in the cartoon.
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie211/
Also, Keisha is spelled Kiesha in the cast, here, twice, so I guess it’s not a typo. Did you change your mind, Dave?
https://selkiecomic.com/cast/
It should be Keisha, yes. I’ll correct that, thanks.
I’d go for “sweetie” as well. Some words seem natural with the -ie ending and unnatural with the -y that’s natural for most words. Like, say, zombie.
Though having that be the first one to come to mind might point out the type of games I play (7 Days to Die, Left 4 Dead, and Minecraft).
I’m using spellie from now on. For reasons.
I may have just auto-piloted it wrong. I’ll correct the typo tonight when I finish the shading.
If you do, keep in mind that this is the third time “sweety” has been used in recent pages. The first time I figured it was just a typo, the second time I figured someone else would say something, and now here we are.
I think the spelling “sweety” is used more often in the comic, unless you’ve changed it since my last re-read. It’s a less common variant than “sweetie”, but it is a real spelling.
Wanna have a spelling rant? He calls her HUN, often. Since it is short for HONEY, it should, logically, be HON. Of course, many people, seeing HON, would pronounce it like JOHN, so HUN makes more sense. But still, it’s the wrong word. HUN is Atilla and his little bowlegged barbarians, not your daughter that you love.
😛
Considering Selkie’s power fantasy is to be a Mad Scientist with giant city-crushing death ponies, “hun” may not be too far off.
Great. Now I have this image in my head of sarnothi barbarian hordes riding seahorses into battle… amphibious mecha cyborg seahorses…
I think I might need that on a t-shirt!
This t-shirt should happen, yes. Somebody make it happen.
Also, bonus if it’s like a giant picture of that, with the bottom part of the picture revealing that it’s just Selkie dreaming, a wide and endearing grin on her face.
Only in a dream sequence. We landfolk noticed that a certain sea creature has a head with a similar shape to a certain land creature, and so we ended up naming them “sea horses”, but that doesn’t make them actually suitable for riding. And I wish the Aquaman scriptwriters would learn that, too.
Heh-heh. Nice strip, Dave. Can’t wait to see it colored. And Selkie’s ‘REEEE!’ is freakin’ priceless.
Puts on helmet and grabs popcorn.
This is going to be something that crashes both Amanda’s and Selkie’s world. I have to say that this going to be an interesting few pages of this arc.
Selkie is understandably not entirely pleased with this development but it looks (to me) like she’s making an effort to keep it together because she can see her father is not having the best of times with this right now either.
Amanda, on the other hand, is throwing a *screaming fit*. As expected.
It’s your own fault Andi. You literally screwed this up.
Poor Amanda.
And the bomb lands. Direct hit. Well done, Dave.
Poor Todd. Poor Selkie. Heck, even poor Amanda. But OH HEY look at little Suko, glad to see at least one kid there is having a good time. Also Sai Fen continues to be awesome.
Sai Fen figured it out from context, I betcha. She KNOWS what’s going on. Wise mer-lady!
Points for not dragging it out.
If you can’t get a thunderbolt, Andi, maybe you could get the ground to open up and swallow you…
You go ahead and scream as long as you need to, sweetie.
Next problem: there is no good way to tell this story to a scarred 8 year old. You want to pull the punch as much as possible without lying. Yeah, goood luck.
If I were Andi I’d avoid driving right now. Just sit there and take it, and try to center yourself.
She’s gotta run out of air eventually. Heck, she’s got a history of fainting, you’ve got that on your side 🙂
Who knows, maybe Andi’ll get lucky… according to my parents, when I got really upset I would just let out this really long scream until I ran out of air and passed out.
Let me just say that “Santa?” brought an instant smile to my face.
Likewise. While as an adapted winter demiurge, Santa’s more likely to use hail or hypothermia if he ever needs to smite someone, I love the concept of a thunder-Santa.
that not SANTA making with the thunder… it’s the REINDEER!!!
and i ain’t talking about them and their HOOVES, Either!!
I am incredibly glad Andi is not my mother, but I really like her as a character. And lines like that are exactly why. 🙂
Sorry Andi, you’re just gonna have to deal with this one.
Now that the bomb has hit, I’m REALLY eager to see where we go from here.
I like Andi’s reaction. She knows she fucked up, she doesn’t know a way to make it any better, she is resigned and is not trying to sugarcoat/lessen it the way she did to Todd.
Sometimes an important thing in parenting is admitting you are not in control and letting the child pick the appropriate reaction to that.
I read Selkie’s “REEEEE!!” like the sound effect for when you get spotted in Metal Gear.
She’s gone REEEEE before. Remember when she made her friend from the orphanage piss his pants and things got real embarassing for him?
THAT is the noise. ^_^
amanda looks astounded and horrified for sure, but poor selkie looks like something important just broke inside her head.
Andi, Santa does not strike people down with lightning, he gifts them with lumps of coal. And you girl, are due for one as big as the Great Pyramid of Giza.
At long last the penny drops and the chaos we have long been awaiting begins!
Maybe the fact that Amanda sees family as a sort of status thing means she will feel forced to treat Selkie better. After all, no matter what they do now, they can be seen as sisters in an odd sense. Or at least maybe Andi will thump her on the nose and tell her to treat her better, because the guy Andi really cares about clearly thinks Selkie is worth his love and time.
I doubt it. Look at how she reacted every single other time someone got something that *she* wanted or felt she deserved. Yes, yes, I know we’re all supposed to feel sad for her because what happened to her in the past is terrible, but she comes across as an exceptionally selfish little shit especially when you consider that most of the other orphans aren’t nearly as bad and they *all* have pain lurking in their backgrounds.
My guess is she’ll see Selkie – who she /already/ hates – as an usurper who has unfairly and undeservedly gotten “her” dad.. And she’s clearly gotten her attitude towards things she wants and to hell with anyone else’s feelings from her mother.
This won’t end well.
A tide of Silver Drama
washes over our characters
(All the deities Andrea mentions, at once): “Oh no Andi; you don’t get out of this that easy!”