Annotated 39-1
Poor E-Merl. Though his underlying emotion is obviously grief, he has no idea what to do with it and so the rest of his feelings are all over the map: depressed apathy, seething rage, crushing sadness, phony cheer, phony cheer seasoned with seething rage…and that’s all just on this one page.
Sundar may not be the world’s most qualified grief counselor…but he’s not the worst. Unfortunately, part of E-Merl is clinging to his pain, and Sundar’s attempts to get between him and it make him testy.
As a lot of readers noticed, Frigg’s face is unusually patient and sympathetic here. After going through her own mourning period for Rachel, she’s beginning to treat emotional damage as a real form of damage. And her role as a tank is to protect her teammates from damage, when she can. This is a new concept for her, and she hasn’t bought all the way in, but that’s the face of someone starting to change.
Is the pixelated image provided beside the commentary a meta joke about life not being “pointless”? As there are nearly 1.5 million points there? Did I get the joke?
The title of the image is “Life is Pointless”, so I assume that’s what they’re going for. I can find the title on a computer, not sure how easy it is if you’re hand-held.
I believe Life Is Pointless is the game’s title
First result that comes up when I Google “Life is Pointless” is a mental health helpline.
This was a screenshot of a game that I thought GA readers might know, the title of which is the first panel’s line of dialogue.
You know you’re doing it wrong when even Frigg won’t tag along your drunken shenanigans…
I guess Frigg’s already done the drunken shenanigans. If you can measure the grief by the amount of time it takes until it peaks, then Frigg’s drunk-as-fuuuuuuck-bullshit was childrens’ play compared to E-Merl’s.
I think she may just be realizing that. And she has fresh memory of the fact that you don’t get people out of that by “oh come on, cheer up”. Which is why she’s put down her beer and stays quiet. Oh dear, how she’s grown!
That is the most concerned I think Frigg looks in the entire strip.
Yep, I have drinked with this guy before. And he was hurting because of a girl, too (only she didn’t die, she dumped him, but still…) I think I was the Frigg
I didn’t get a Harumph outta that guy!
I really like the positioning of the glass in panel one: the running condensation – specifically the left drip – looking like a tear.