Friday, May 28, 2010

Flat Stanley as Michael

Click to enlarge
Maybe because of the way I drew the table, I couldn't get Michael not to look flat in panel one (and yes, I did erase, redraw, erase redraw).  Oh, well, maybe it's symbolic of the way Elly tried to steamroll him.  ;)

22 comments:

DreadedCandiru2 said...

Let's break down how badly Elly is broken on a panel-by-panel basis. First off, we have her acting like a damned Coffee Talk whining about haters and picky-faces only to be followed by blithely rejecting 2D Mike's common-sense observation about the impossibility of writing a novel based not on talking to Jim but on listening to Elly's distortion of events. Third, and this is the clincher, I'd say that she was more horrified about the idea of his returning to journalism than being outed.

howard said...

Time travel? Elly's writing. LOL. Nice snark of the new-runs.

Joe England said...

I think your mistake in panel one may be related to his position at the table. He's leaning in such a way that his torso seems to be coming right off the edge, and his right arm is flush against his body. Consider that when people sit down, they usually lean over surfaces rather than pressing against them. If his upper body was further forward and his stomach was further back, away from the table and more in his chair, I think his pose would seem more natural. Also, the apparent perspective of the table itself is awkward. Making the angle more obtuse would "lower" the fourth wall and would suit the position of the characters more.

Joe England said...

As for the dialogue... I like to imagine that each of her little conversations ends with someone saying "Yes, now get the Hell out of my house."

April Patterson said...

Let's break down how badly Elly is broken on a panel-by-panel basis. First off, we have her acting like a damned Coffee Talk whining about haters and picky-faces only to be followed by blithely rejecting 2D Mike's common-sense observation about the impossibility of writing a novel based not on talking to Jim but on listening to Elly's distortion of events. Third, and this is the clincher, I'd say that she was more horrified about the idea of his returning to journalism than being outed.

She wants to own those horses even if she accidentally kills them and beats their corpses.

April Patterson said...

Time travel? Elly's writing. LOL. Nice snark of the new-runs.

Thanks. :)

April Patterson said...

I think your mistake in panel one may be related to his position at the table. He's leaning in such a way that his torso seems to be coming right off the edge, and his right arm is flush against his body. Consider that when people sit down, they usually lean over surfaces rather than pressing against them. If his upper body was further forward and his stomach was further back, away from the table and more in his chair, I think his pose would seem more natural. Also, the apparent perspective of the table itself is awkward. Making the angle more obtuse would "lower" the fourth wall and would suit the position of the characters more.

I think you've nailed it. I knew that table perspective was causing me trouble. Oh, well--live and learn and study perspective. :)

As for the dialogue... I like to imagine that each of her little conversations ends with someone saying "Yes, now get the Hell out of my house."

Hee. I like that! Too bad April doesn't have that option.

Joe England said...

Don't thank me, thank six years of SCAD.
Thinking about it, taking a journalistic approach to this whole incident could be what makes Michael's career. If that many people experienced this collective flashback, he could be the one to spearhead an "investigation" of the incident which would rise to prominence. Of course, he would be one of the very few to know exactly what really did happen, but I'm sure he wouldn't reveal all that. He'd just get people to talk about it and bring it to the public's attention. There are probably many folks who remember a phantom "side year" of reliving their youth, but who just aren't talking about it. After all, they probably consider it an illusion compared to their much more rational ordinary memories.
I would think that unlike the central cast, most people were not aware of being older people in younger bodies. Perhaps because they were not so near to the source of the problem. Maybe those who had lesser awareness remember it less vividly. After all, from their perspective events in their childhood would have played out very similarly. Thus, the time they spent rewound would blend into their regular memories. They might simply feel that for some reason their recollection of that time had become much more vivid, but they would attribute that to a kind of extraordinary nostalgia than to actually having been back in time. If everyone acknowledged this twist in the fabric of reality, there would be massive unrest. So I think most people will dismiss the event as a strange dream in passing. Though Michael's article could make them question that.

Anonymous said...

Heck, it was thanks to Elly's brilliant editing and keen literary sense that Mike's novel about a Canadian war bride in the WW2-1960s came off reading like a nonsensical abuse weepie set during the 1800s.

He's right to bash her.

DreadedCandiru2 said...

Anonymous,

He's right to bash her.

He should done so with a cinder-block on a chain.

DreadedCandiru2 said...

Joe England,

If that many people experienced this collective flashback, he could be the one to spearhead an "investigation" of the incident which would rise to prominence. Of course, he would be one of the very few to know exactly what really did happen, but I'm sure he wouldn't reveal all that. He'd just get people to talk about it and bring it to the public's attention.

Most people, as you said, would have very little to talk about; they'd probably think that their memories of the present day were deja vu.

If everyone acknowledged this twist in the fabric of reality, there would be massive unrest.

Followed by a need to exact vengeance on the ungrateful, ill-tempered ignoramus doing the twisting.

Anonymous said...

Um, no. Physical abuse is something I'd never advocate. Elly is thoughtless and selfish. That's all. She doesn't deserve to be physically abused anymore than anyone else would.

DreadedCandiru2 said...

Anonymous,

My solution to the problem that is Elly is to ship her off to that Spanish villa...or anywhere else where they don't speak English. Having no one to talk to would be the best punishment ever.

Anonymous said...

As if we needed any more confirmation that she was attempting to live vicariously through Michael's career. I wouldn't be surprised if she considered herself a ghost writer, just without the writing part. No wonder she felt she could steal his work during her time trip.

So she's visited each of her kids in turn and gone all "Son/daughter/picky-face I am disappoint" at them. And she's talked to her friends and possibly found them less sympathetic than she hoped. What next?

DreadedCandiru2 said...

What's next for her? Probably trying to ask John to his face why he left; she cannot understand that a relationship can break up without another woman being involved so we'll probably spend Memorial Day watching her not get that he simply didn't feel like going through the motions. Even if we don't see that, I can see the muppet-mouthed yell already: "What do you mean, 'I couldn't live a lie any longer?'"

April Patterson said...

What next?

I could tell you, but it'll be more fun to show you. :)

Godozo said...

Joe England: I'm not sure many people would even have ANYTHING in reference to going back in time. Since they themselves would not the target of the spell I would think they didn't notice anything different about their lives. Now if they paid attention to what was going on around them, maybe they'd have known something was up...but nothing drastically wrong with THEIR lives.

Now as for Elly, Liz and Michael, John, Carol and anyone sent back with Elly (by Elly or through accident of relationship), they would definitely have strong markers point them back in time.

Godozo said...

What next?

I could tell you, but it'll be more fun to show you. :)


Don't ask me why I'm asking, but...does it involve Lawrence? Or another dentist "friend?"

John F Jamele said...

I can just imagine Elly "explaining" to Mike her father's war experience- "Grampa got a letter which said he had to go into the army or navy or something, for sure he had to wear a uniform. He went out of the country to fight somewhere else, I think Germans were involved or maybe those mysterious Orientals. I'm pretty sure he had a gun. There was a lot of explosions and people died, but not Jim, I'm positive of that. Then he came back."

Because I can't imagine Elly really siting quietly and listening to Jim's war stories, either. I mean, they don't include Elly at all, so how interesting could they be?

DreadedCandiru2 said...

John F Jamele,

Of course she found Jim's stories boring; she's still a spoiled, mean, selfish child who not only thinks she knows more than she does, she also thinks that the rules that everyone else has to follow do not apply to her.

April Patterson said...

Don't ask me why I'm asking, but...does it involve Lawrence? Or another dentist "friend?"

Nope. :)

April Patterson said...

Because I can't imagine Elly really siting quietly and listening to Jim's war stories, either. I mean, they don't include Elly at all, so how interesting could they be?

She would have heard a distant buzzing sound every time the conversation veered away from "Elly."