[1506] Bye, Annie.

[mynie]

I wish we'd been introduced to some of the Year 9 folks prior to this point. Would have had some idea of what Annie's getting into. Man, when I think of that chapter where Kat and Annie were so happy to share a room again. It's the worst.

[rafk]

Apr 27, 2015 8:04:31 GMT Goatmon said:

I had to do this.

Perfectly expressed.

I'm certainly intrigued by where this is going, and have no expectation that status quo be restored within a week. Or ever.

I'm willing to reassure the particularly nervous that Tom is neither writing out Annie nor her existing classmates nor the Forest. And that the remaining chapters will not just be Anthony stomping on Annie's face forever.

[speedwell]

Apr 27, 2015 7:11:26 GMT ctso74 said:

<snip>
Still not getting the apple on the chapter's title page. "Doesn't fall far from..." doesn't seem to fit too well.
<snip>

I've long been intrigued how much the mysticism in the comic is like the writings of William Blake. I have a mind to share the following Blake quotes:

Regarding Anthony's attitude toward the Forest (in this quote the tree might represent Antimony):

"To the Eyes of a Miser a Guinea is more beautiful than the Sun & and a bag worn with the use of Money has more beautiful proportions than a Vine filled with Grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the Eyes of others only a Green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all Ridicule and Deformity, and by these I shall not regulate my proportions; and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, So he Sees. As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers..." Letter to Revd. Dr. Trusler (1799)

Regarding Anthony's obsession with Surma's death and how he (apparently) blames his daughter (in this quote the tree might represent Anthony):

"…some say that Happiness is not Good for Mortals & they ought to be answerd that Sorrow is not fit for Immortals & is utterly useless to any one a blight never does good to a tree & if a blight kill not a tree but it still bear fruit let none say that the fruit was in consequence of the blight." Letter to William Hayley (1803-10-07)

But let's take comfort in a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

“Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas. Defeat may prove to have been the only path to resurrection, despite its ugliness. I take it for granted that to create a tree I condemn a seed to rot. If the first act of resistance comes too late it is doomed to defeat. But it is, nevertheless, the awakening of resistance. Life may grow from it as from a seed.” Flight to Arras

[sherni]

Their faces... the saddest faces!

Chapter end? That's just.... AAAUUUGGHHHH!

Well, on to the next chapter. This is going to be resolved, one way or another.

Apr 27, 2015 7:04:03 GMT bedinsis said:

I'm a bit curious of Tom's annotation:

"This has been an important chapter and something that we've been anticipating in the comic for a long time."

Whom're the "we" in the sentence?

Maybe us? Or maybe writing this chapter has caused Mr Siddell to snap and he's started referring to himself in the third person.

Apr 27, 2015 7:18:52 GMT Chancellor said:

Apr 27, 2015 7:11:26 GMT ctso74 said:

Year 10 biology is going to be SO awkward. I imagine they were going to dislike him as a teacher anyway, but now they'll just hate him.

Still not getting the apple on the chapter's title page. "Doesn't fall far from..." doesn't seem to fit too well. Maybe, the bonus page will enlighten. Or it will be the Joey and Chandler bots grieving over the loss of their new roommate.

I hope that Mr. Carver isn't too attached to the idea of sitting down. I have a feeling just about every conceivable surface will soon be copiously tack'd with the intent of wreaking wrath on his backside.

Maybe it symbolises the Biblical apple that led to Adam and Eve falling from grace? Too far fetched?

Just tacks? I'm thinking epically failed biology experiments, chemicals blowing up, live specimens getting loose (with Paz's help) and so on. They are a pretty creative bunch. Maybe that will be the bonus page?

EDIT:

Apr 27, 2015 9:06:08 GMT bedinsis said:

"We" is first person; you're thinking of the plural form.

Whoops. Yes, that's what I meant.

[bedinsis]

Apr 27, 2015 8:46:14 GMT sherni said:

Maybe us? Or maybe writing this chapter has caused Mr Siddell to snap and he's started referring to himself in the third person.

"We" is first person; you're thinking of the plural form.

[karl]

I think it was a suitable place to end the chapter. Like a pit stop during the race.

Also, I'm pretty sure that the "us" refers to Mr. Author and the apple he was holding and talking to while drawing this chapter. Sometimes you just need an assistant that can be eater when desired. That also explains the title page (the page with the apple). Mystery solved.

[madragoran]

Regarding the "we" bit in Tom's comment. I have had a question for a long time. In certain of the last pages of chapters there is a girl with white hair explaining things. Do we know who she is and what is her connection with Tom?

ETA example www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=394

[Cleo]

I've loved this chapter. Do you know why? Because I feel like I've been thrown off a cliff into the absolute unknown but I have complete faith in Tom that he knows exactly what he's doing. He's a goddamn beautiful storyteller, he knows his craft and he's never failed to satisfy us. I know some people aren't cut out for slow updates but show a little trust that Tom has a plan and let the story unfold.

I can't wait to see everyone come through for Annie and more mysteries to be solved. Also, nice do Winsbury.

[arzeik]

And thus, one of the most (if not the most) touching and heartbreaking chapters so far comes to an end. I have to say that it's been really sad at times and I reckon that some people might have had a hard time reading it. But it has also been hurtfully beautiful, and it has been able to rouse emotions in a degree I didn't think a comic could (or wouldn't, if I hadn't read the former 50 chapters). So I cannot wait for what comes next, whatever it is.

That said, it kind of amuses me how some people continue to complain about the direction the story is taking. Of course, to each their own. But I cannot help but think that this is not how reading works. You like it or not, you enjoy it or not, it makes you sad, angry and occasionally depressed or not. But trying to convince or influence the author to write something closer to our likings, something that makes us uninterruptedly happy, is in my opinion plain childish.

[jospanner]

I've been following since what... late 2008? This is the first time I've just not been into a chapter. The pacing of this in the overall story arc is a real "wtf". It feels so out of place. It pretty much needs to be a dream sequence or something for this to work, but now we're at the chapter's end and there's no sign of that happening. We've just seen the destruction of most of the main character with about as much grace as CTRL+ALT+DEL's miscarriage plot.

I mean normally I don't bother whining about this sort of thing but this is so out of character for this comic I just feel I should come out of the shadows and say something. If this is actually going somewhere then the audience's patience is being tested.

[kefka]

Apr 27, 2015 10:00:25 GMT arzeik said:

And thus, one of the most (if not the most) touching and heartbreaking chapters so far comes to an end. I have to say that it's been really sad at times and I reckon that some people might have had a hard time reading it. But it has also been hurtfully beautiful, and it has been able to rouse emotions in a degree I didn't think a comic could (or wouldn't, if I hadn't read the former 50 chapters). So I cannot wait for what comes next, whatever it is.

That said, it kind of amuses me how some people continue to complain about the direction the story is taking. Of course, to each their own. But I cannot help but think that this is not how reading works. You like it or not, you enjoy it or not, it makes you sad, angry and occasionally depressed or not. But trying to convince or influence the author to write something closer to our likings, something that makes us uninterruptedly happy, is in my opinion plain childish.

It's because they've been in denial all along (mind control! it's a dream!).

This is definitely my favourite chapter so far. Life isn't always happy.

[quark]

Apr 27, 2015 9:51:57 GMT Cleo said:

I've loved this chapter. Do you know why? Because I feel like I've been thrown off a cliff into the absolute unknown but I have complete faith in Tom that he knows exactly what he's doing. He's a goddamn beautiful storyteller, he knows his craft and he's never failed to satisfy us. I know some people aren't cut out for slow updates but show a little trust that Tom has a plan and let the story unfold.
 
I can't wait to see everyone come through for Annie and more mysteries to be solved. Also, nice do Winsbury.

His hair goes up again! Let's be friends!

But I agree - the storytelling has been very good (even if slow-paced) up to this point. So I don't think it'll take a sudden plunge in quality now. The change has been extreme, but we'll wait. Annie did get saved after falling off The Bridge, so... there's hope. 

[arf]

Apr 27, 2015 8:14:54 GMT meltea said:

Had I known this chapter was coming, I would have waited and queued up two chapters to read in an afternoon, it would be much less painful that way. Unless something worse is up ahead.

Know how you feel. I'd have certainly recommended doing that to anyone just starting with this chapter.

[Jelly Jellybean]

I am fairly certain that this was the first and only page in this chapter that includes Paz and Matt among the other students.


"I'm really happy for all the people who have come along for the ride..."

When I read this part of Tom's comment, I thought Annie could say this about both her three years at the school and riding away in the carriage.  In both cases, Kat was the only person who was with Annie.

[arf]

Apr 27, 2015 10:02:00 GMT jospanner said:

I've been following since what... late 2008? This is the first time I've just not been into a chapter. The pacing of this in the overall story arc is a real "wtf". It feels so out of place. It pretty much needs to be a dream sequence or something for this to work, but now we're at the chapter's end and there's no sign of that happening. We've just seen the destruction of most of the main character with about as much grace as CTRL+ALT+DEL's miscarriage plot.

I mean normally I don't bother whining about this sort of thing but this is so out of character for this comic I just feel I should come out of the shadows and say something. If this is actually going somewhere then the audience's patience is being tested.

Tom's comment confirms what I suspected: this chapter has been in preparation for some time, and has been delivered with the same cold, deliberate intent as a scene from Game of Thrones.

A powerful chapter, if not an enjoyable one. The only consolation to take away from it is that the class now clearly accept Annie as one of the group. Which brings to mind the refrain from an old song:

"Don't it always seems to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?"

[youwiththeface]

I'm just waiting to see Parley's and Smitty's reaction. They were closer to her than her classmates and said classmates seemed pretty pissed at Anthony. 

[khazgar]

I think that reading, or even perceiving, this chapter in isolation would be an incredibly bad idea. As Tom said, the reunion with Annie's father has been coming for a while (since practically the beginning of the comic in fact), and the story certainly isn't over - although the 51st chapter (surely a significant number) has marked a major change in the comic.

There are so many unresolved questions here and I'm sure that the next chapter will pick up on some of them. That being said I have no idea where Tom will go from here - although I think that the reaction of several other characters, also including Coyote, is more than overdue.

[keef]

So Tom is using the majestic plural now. Well he is a king of storytelling.

Apr 27, 2015 8:14:54 GMT meltea said:

Had I known this chapter was coming, I would have waited and queued up two chapters to read in an afternoon, it would be much less painful that way. Unless something worse is up ahead.

I wouldn't be surprised if the next chapter is even more depressing. But not reading the comic for a month or more to read a chapter in one go is impossible for me. I'm addicted.

[imaginaryfriend]

I'm looking forward to the new characters that are going to be introduced.

[Earin]

Apr 27, 2015 9:40:48 GMT madragoran said:

Regarding the "we" bit in Tom's comment. I have had a question for a long time. In certain of the last pages of chapters there is a girl with white hair explaining things. Do we know who she is and what is her connection with Tom?

ETA example www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=394

That's Tea.

[AnUpliftedCuttlefish]

Apr 27, 2015 11:34:39 GMT youwiththeface said:

I'm just waiting to see Parley's and Smitty's reaction. They were closer to her than her classmates and said classmates seemed pretty pissed at Anthony. 

Doubly so on Parley's part if - in addition to her being Annie's friend - she feels Anthony messing around with the forest medium could potentially put Smitty in greater danger by angering Coyote.

Unless the Court intends to summon Coyote it'll probably be up to Smitty to go into the wood and tell him what's happened, after all.

Apr 27, 2015 10:03:28 GMT kefka said:

Apr 27, 2015 10:00:25 GMT arzeik said:

And thus, one of the most (if not the most) touching and heartbreaking chapters so far comes to an end. I have to say that it's been really sad at times and I reckon that some people might have had a hard time reading it. But it has also been hurtfully beautiful, and it has been able to rouse emotions in a degree I didn't think a comic could (or wouldn't, if I hadn't read the former 50 chapters). So I cannot wait for what comes next, whatever it is.

That said, it kind of amuses me how some people continue to complain about the direction the story is taking. Of course, to each their own. But I cannot help but think that this is not how reading works. You like it or not, you enjoy it or not, it makes you sad, angry and occasionally depressed or not. But trying to convince or influence the author to write something closer to our likings, something that makes us uninterruptedly happy, is in my opinion plain childish.

It's because they've been in denial all along (mind control! it's a dream!).

This is definitely my favourite chapter so far. Life isn't always happy.

Maybe Kat is being mind controlled, hence her calming down so much when Annie nearly cracked - those mind rays were affecting both of them

I jest, I jest.

[Deepbluediver]

I'll keep reading but I am NOT enjoying this part of the story. Why do you make me sad???
I realize conflict is necessary but if I want to be depressed I'll watch the news.

[madragoran]

Apr 27, 2015 11:57:59 GMT Earin said:

Apr 27, 2015 9:40:48 GMT madragoran said:

Regarding the "we" bit in Tom's comment. I have had a question for a long time. In certain of the last pages of chapters there is a girl with white hair explaining things. Do we know who she is and what is her connection with Tom?

ETA example www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=394

That's Tea.

*feels dumb

[todd]

Apr 27, 2015 8:28:19 GMT mynie said:

I wish we'd been introduced to some of the Year 9 folks prior to this point. Would have had some idea of what Annie's getting into.

Yes, from a storytelling point of view, what concerned me about Annie having to repeat Year 9 is that Tom would have to create a new set of classmates for her, give them names, designs, characterizations - and make them feel like their own people rather than weak imitations of the familiar faces in Annie's classroom up to this point. (Which could make a good argument for keeping Annie's repeated classes off-stage. As I've mentioned in past posts, the story might focus on Kat for a while now, with Annie being too busy under her father's supervision doing her last year all over again to do much else - and certainly in no emotional state to do much else.)

Tom's certainly pulled a daring step here, of course, with a permanent (or at least, long-lasting) change, though I think from what we've seen of his work already he'll be able to make it succeed - in particular, making his original protagonist all but unavailable for a long time. But the name of the webcomic is "Gunnerkrigg Court" rather than "Antimony Carver", and as long as the Court remains the setting and someone is investigating the strange goings-on in it, the story can continue. (Of course, Annie was the only character who had much interest in the investigating - even Kat tended to let it be - but Tom's probably coming up with ways to remedy that.)

[quark]

Apr 27, 2015 12:47:24 GMT todd said:

Apr 27, 2015 8:28:19 GMT mynie said:

I wish we'd been introduced to some of the Year 9 folks prior to this point. Would have had some idea of what Annie's getting into.

Yes, from a storytelling point of view, what concerned me about Annie having to repeat Year 9 is that Tom would have to create a new set of classmates for her, give them names, designs, characterizations - and make them feel like their own people rather than weak imitations of the familiar faces in Annie's classroom up to this point. (Which could make a good argument for keeping Annie's repeated classes off-stage. As I've mentioned in past posts, the story might focus on Kat for a while now, with Annie being too busy under her father's supervision doing her last year all over again to do much else - and certainly in no emotional state to do much else.)

I agree - Tom invested so much time in characterising every classmate - from Winsbury over Janet to Paz.. I've been re-reading the comic a lot lately, and I'm surprised how early everybody was introduced and how much character development they went through. And, we might not get to know the new classmates at all - Annie's pretty much inside her shell now, and I doubt she'll go out of her way to make friends. And we don't know Anthony's plans, and why he made her move out (if she has to repeat a year, she can't cheat off off Kat any more, and some tutoring by Kat would do her a world of good - so why make her move? Especially since the year 9 dorms are full, so it's extra inconvenient for everybody) - maybe he plans to tutor her himself. Or continue his weird bone-laser-surgery from Divine (I wouldn't put it past him).

[philman]

I think the comments about people disliking the comic because of this chapter are misplaced. If Annie is to be a real heroine, she has to have hardship and obstacles to overcome. Many people (including me) thought that the problems the students faced in the Torn Sea were overcome a little too easily, there wasn't much hardship or challenge there at all. This chapter strips a lot of that back, puts Annie in a really bad position. The chapter has ended early, but the story of how this changes things doesn't stop here. This chapter has had 3 speaking characters, Annie, Kat and Tony, and has ended with the immediate aftermath of Tony's intervention. We have yet to see how the other adults, and how the rest of the court and the forest react to this.

Apr 27, 2015 8:04:11 GMT madragoran said:

While I understand the feeling behind the post (I want to see Anthony Carver face Ysengrin for what he did to Annie)

Personally, I think the forest will not be angry with Anthony at all, the forest is tough, they want a medium who is also tough. If the Medium cannot stand up to her own father, she will have no respect on the forest side anyway. Ysengrin will be disappointed with Annie for failing, not Tony.

Apr 27, 2015 12:47:24 GMT todd said:

Yes, from a storytelling point of view, what concerned me about Annie having to repeat Year 9 is that Tom would have to create a new set of classmates for her, give them names, designs, characterizations - and make them feel like their own people rather than weak imitations of the familiar faces in Annie's classroom up to this point. (Which could make a good argument for keeping Annie's repeated classes off-stage. As I've mentioned in past posts, the story might focus on Kat for a while now, with Annie being too busy under her father's supervision doing her last year all over again to do much else - and certainly in no emotional state to do much else.)

I agree, I don't think we will meet many of the year 9s. They will likely only be seen in the background while Annie and Kat talk or something. I imagine Annie wants to put her head down for a bit now.

On the plus side, we might have Lindsey back!

[TheClockworkCoyote]

Apr 27, 2015 7:18:52 GMT Chancellor said:

Apr 27, 2015 7:11:26 GMT ctso74 said:

Year 10 biology is going to be SO awkward. I imagine they were going to dislike him as a teacher anyway, but now they'll just hate him.

Still not getting the apple on the chapter's title page. "Doesn't fall far from..." doesn't seem to fit too well. Maybe, the bonus page will enlighten. Or it will be the Joey and Chandler bots grieving over the loss of their new roommate.

I hope that Mr. Carver isn't too attached to the idea of sitting down. I have a feeling just about every conceivable surface will soon be copiously tack'd with the intent of wreaking wrath on his backside.

Hey now, things like tacks on chairs is juvenile and uncalled for!

....because if nothing else, it just lacks creativity and style!

I'm thinking more a gradually escalating competition of sorts in terms of pranks...

Real world sidenote: My father still maintains I'm the reason my second grade teacher gave up teaching after a single year at our school.   ....though, granted, my sister's 8th grade class outdid my own as our fieldtrips were merely cancelled due to class behavior, whereas her class actually gave a teacher a nervous breakdown....

[todd]

Apr 27, 2015 13:19:48 GMT philman said:

I think the comments about people disliking the comic because of this chapter are misplaced. If Annie is to be a real heroine, she has to have hardship and obstacles to overcome. Many people (including me) thought that the problems the students faced in the Torn Sea were overcome a little too easily, there wasn't much hardship or challenge there at all.

I'd thought that as well, but that might have been part of the point. We found out at the end that the real purpose of the Seraphs' scheme was to get Kat excited about her robot project again, which they had succeeded in doing even before the robot rescue party arrived. (Maybe the ship wasn't even really besotted with Lindsey after all, but just acting out a script that the Seraphs had written for it.) The Seraphs could have let the reinforcements defeat them, knowing that their mission had already been accomplished. The "too-easy" rescue might have been a clue as to what was really going on, that the Seraphs were pulling a (please excuse the TV tropes term here) Xanatos Gambit.

(And the rescue had another advantage for the Seraphs. At the end of that chapter, Kat had banished them from her presence - and they had suspected that that would happen when they came up with that scheme. But they need some way of finding out how she's progressing on her project, which won't be easy if they're forbidden to come near her. The solution: have a pair of eyes (or in this case, optic sensors) which *can* monitor her progress, whom Kat likes and trusts. And Kat will be all the more likely to see Robot as a friend after his role in the rescue. So Robot can keep the Seraphs updated; problem solved.)

Since Annie's in a separate dorm, I doubt we'll be seeing Lindsey again.

[TheClockworkCoyote]

Apr 27, 2015 13:19:48 GMT philman said:

Personally, I think the forest will not be angry with Anthony at all, the forest is tough, they want a medium who is also tough. If the Medium cannot stand up to her own father, she will have no respect on the forest side anyway. Ysengrin will be disappointed with Annie for failing, not Tony.

Ysengrin, certainly. The creatures of the ruins, definitely.

....Coyote? Do recall we're discussing one of the major Trickster archetypes here. His standard isn't necessarily "the medium must be tough" but A) "What will fit in best with my current scheme?", B) "What's going to cause the most _fun_?", and most importantly, perhaps, C) "This conversation's boring. Where's lunch?"

Tricksters exist, in part, to openly violate taboos and cultural norms of their own people.

[youwiththeface]

Apr 27, 2015 13:19:48 GMT philman said:

Personally, I think the forest will not be angry with Anthony at all, the forest is tough, they want a medium who is also tough. If the Medium cannot stand up to her own father, she will have no respect on the forest side anyway. Ysengrin will be disappointed with Annie for failing, not Tony.

Unless Tony is in fact mind controlling her. Then everybody will just be as pissed off at Anthony as Kat was. Honestly though, I really wouldn't put it past Tony to be pulling some ethereal stuff after the bone lasers, so who even knows at this point what's really going on between the Carvers.

I also don't understand why so many posters keep saying 'We'll need a new protagonist! We'll have to shift to Kat for a while!' in the new threads. While I don't doubt there'll be shifts in focus to Kat in the future (as there have been nearly all throughout the comic's run) I don't understand why everybody thinks just because Annie's repeating a year and moving out means the comic is sort of...over. It's not like we can't go back and forth between wherever Annie ends up and the year 10 dorms, and it isn't like we didn't have a compelling comic before Annie started going to the woods, or before she met Kat or Reynardine. I'm pretty sure the comic can continue on, even under these crappy circumstances. Besides, depending on how things work out with Anthony, I'm not sure how long this is going to last. A good while sure, but it doesn't feel permanent to me at all. I could be wrong about that, but it's a feeling I've got.