AWA – Page 155 – Kidd Commander!

AWA – Page 155

by Aria on March 31, 2019 at 5:26 PM

Chapter: A Wretched Analog

+22

in places they can’t find we’ll hide out

(oh that kind of medication)

Tech Mage

I love the imagery, but god if I am only barely understanding where Ulrich’s mind ends and reality begins. Not to mention the specifics of what silverspeak really is.

To clarify, seems like Monty has something along the lines of plant control, and makes wacky chill-out nano-pollen to keep his city in check; Ulrich’s ~~lover~~ ~~mistress~~ person of interest keeps appearing mentally to keep him in check and warn him about the apparently self-destructive nature of being a false teller, which is the polar opposite of the sticks and stones proverb.

Tell me if I’ve gotten anything wrong, unless the confusion is intended at this point in the comic?
- Chromoid
  
  I’m still struggling to figure out Silverspeak myself. However I’ve learned over time that Aria is usually pretty good at tying these loose threads together pretty tightly when the time is right, so I wouldn’t worry to much! 😉
  - Aria
    
    I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT. I’ve always HATED when stories build up a cool mystery and then “leave it open to your interpretation~”, so all this artsy junk aside I AM going somewhere concrete with all of this haha. I’m doing my best to make it satisfying when we get there.
    - Mike South
      
      Hearts, just a whole comment filled with hearts and hearts and hearts and hearts. <3
- Aria
  
  Hehe you’re not alone, everyone in the discord was confused too. The short answer is You’re Right! Ulrich was freaked out about being drugged again so he asked Bel, who might or might not actually be there, to help fight it off. This is why he’s magically not concerned with it anymore even though he just walked through the Scary Plant Hallway, and that’s the only information majorly relevant to the current arc.
  
  Everything else on this page, like most of the shit that happens around Bel, is setup for later Ulrich stuff and it shouldn’t make sense yet. I know a few folks like to read kc and connect yarn on their pinboard, you might be able to put together some idea of what’s going on if you’re the type who would comb through the archive to try to put all the Ulrich scraps together BUT mostly I just hope people will roll with it when things get Weird and that the art is fun to look at even if it doesn’t seem to mean anything yet hehe.
  
  This part is maybe a little too much about how the sausage is made for some folks, so read ahead at your own risk I guess!
  
  I really really like the idea of the focal character having the power to actually warp the narrative, which is common in prose but maybe slightly more difficult in visual mediums because it’s immediately more apparent when something is Off. The whole idea of commanding is literally just deciding you want the world to be different and yelling it into existence pff. In kc we’re usually relying on Phineas’ perspective to color the whole comic (the overarching themes of willpower and ambition and, like, defiant self-agency that manifest to some extent in all the main characters), but this is an ensemble cast, so sometimes we change abruptly to other perspectives. An easy example of this was chapter 18 centering around Agatha; characters glitched out with no explanation, most of the color palette was harsher and more sterile, things in the background were largely limited to what Agatha found important, and in the meta we watched a whole lot happen TO her while she was shuffled from event to event because she has no real agency. We asked at the beginning how Phineas was communicating directly and never got an answer because Agatha didn’t get one, and she wouldn’t chase it, u feel me?
  
  SO, ULRICH: Ulrich is a smart guy, and he is reasonably sure there can’t be a lady following him around whispering in his ear. But he sees her, and she does influence him whether or not she is real, so when he has his little episodes we also see her looming behind people or reaching out of mirrors, and we see flowers where there shouldn’t be. Ulrich isn’t entirely sure where his reality starts and ends either, so when he dominates the narrative things get murky for us too. The extent to which he’s losing it at any given time is going to be indicated to him and to us by the people around; so far, we’ve seen Phineas respond with concern, Agatha respond by ignoring it (the cameras on the last page show he was much less lucid than he might have thought) since she was there to calm him down the way she did with Selena on this page, and Rook back on Hazard’s ship, where he was apparently pretty on top of things because she didn’t seem to notice anything during the entire conversation.
  
  I like unreliable narrators, and I like how in real life and in other mediums we don’t always bother establishing what’s real because the eyes we’re looking through think their perspective is The Real One. It gets weird and confusing, but it’s also a lot more fun imo. So yes! You’re right where you should be.
  
  incidentally, if anyone was interested in some more vague character data, i might suggest checking out the soundtracks sometime
  - Sandman366
    
    Don’t even think I have yarn for a pinboard, nor do I think I even have a pinboard…..more just along for the ride and maybe sometimes try figuring things out. Just touristing my way through the show is usually fun enough! 🙂 But sometimes (usually during an archive binge so it’s all fresh) it’s nice to try predicting stuff.
    *clicks read mo-* holy shit what
    
    Huh. Not sure I woulda noticed some of that being so intentional and focused on a per-character basis. Obviously sometimes things get focused differently, but it being because it’s more how that particular focused that character would see things is also pretty cool….(if maybe sliiiiiiightly excessive…..heh.)
    
    (Of course, now I’m wondering how many pages of notes you have, how many different categories these notes are on…and for some reason I almost wonder if you have a pinboard with yarn just for what you’re pretty sure people have figured out. (Probably even noted by who figured it out.) I….probably should say you might put too much effort into all this…..but the effects, while subtle, come across brilliantly, soooo…..eh, fuck it. Carry on!)
    - Aria
      
      Doing things to excess is my favorite way of doing things!
      - caribouchat
        
        Maybe this kind of excess is the mark of a good artist? I like the concept of “chef d’œuvre”: it has the meaning of “perfect piece of art” in current french, but it was originally (and still is as far as I know) the work a “compagnon” made when he had finished learning his craft and became a master. A work intended to show his mastery of the craft, usually something big, that took a lot of time and patience to make.
        And someone famous (I don’t remember who) said: “Un chef d’œuvre est reproductible”. You can make it again, because it’s not just inspiration, it’s hard work, every piece of it is thoroughly thought out, and the big picture is clear to the artist at all time.
      - Aria
        
        ooh what a neat idea. I’ve only been at the comic game for five years so I’m still technically a baby, but I have always said Stubborn is the most useful thing an artist can be. The only reason people stick with a slog like a comic and make any progress is they’re too obsessed to quit haha
      - Amaaré
        
        The literal translation there would be “masterwork” i.e. the work an apprentice produces to show they now have the skills to be a master of their craft, though that meaning has been lost over the years and a lot of people don’t realise that’s what a masterwork was.
      - caribouchat
        
        actually, “chef” in “chef d’œuvre” means “head” I think, “head work”, meaning main work, or maybe first work.
      - Amaaré
        
        Neat.
  - Chromoid
    
    O.o
    
    I don’t think I’ve ever encountered someone who puts as much effort into telling a visual story as you do. And it shows. Thanks for explaining the perspective bit. Looking back on it, I kinda subconsciously picked up on it every time the perspective changed, but I never quite fully realized it was all 100% intentional.
    
    I’m gobsmacked. You’re amazing.
    - Aria
      
      Ah thanks man <3 In the interest of transparency, any artist will (or should) tell you sometimes it IS an accident when things fall into place, but I always thought that happens as a product of getting the pieces lined up in the first place. If you're diligent and take good care of your story it will take care of you back, in a weird way
Demon

The unspoken emotion here, is just beautiful to absorb. Annoyance, arrogance, (over?)familiarity, barely contained worry(Not meeting eyes when right up close…)

Good GOD you are talented and skillful as a storyteller.

Thank you.
- Aria
  
  Thanks so much <3 I've been waiting to get to this stuff for a real long time
Sandman366

Silverspeak is…supposed to be some kind of weak-ish (or maybe just subtle?) mental influencing thing via talking, right? Wonder if some of the Bel mental self-protection is supposed to be partly a result of (possibly unintentionally?) using it on himself. (If that’s even possible.)