Annotated 2-7
Phil had various ideas about coming back to “one hand clapping” as a theme during Payet Best’s final scenes. Would he lose an arm in the final battle and clap by giving some young musician (maybe Tiny Tad here) a high-five? Or maybe just the high-five thing without the mutilation? In the end, there wasn’t really room in the story to lampshade it, but we did give each of his hands a solitary gesture that could be considered applause as he made a joyful noise.
After Bandit’s subtle appearances on the previous two pages, here we have the first “first encounter” between two of our main characters, and it’s the two who will never be in the same place at the same time again. I can’t say that we anticipated that exactly: in one early outline, Best was going to become violently jealous of Bandit, since she was his “replacement,” and they would have had a fight, with Best actively working to promote HR’s interests.
But this might be a test of how you define “first encounter.” Best is not really aware of Bandit as more than a voice in the crowd; if he knew what she was up to, he’d put a stop to it. Having citizens robbed in his presence doesn’t burnish his heroic image; stopping a thief would. Bandit puts on a show of interacting with Best, but she’s really just using him. He soaks up all the attention in the room like a sponge, leaving her free to thieve quietly. Her next bit of thievery, though, will attract a lot more attention.
For someone whose world coexists on the internet, you’d think he’d be more aware of what one hand can accomplish. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Oh ho ho~ heck yeah I feel you, brother!
Hot Pockets!
Mmm… please demonstrate this, Champion of the Fuzzy Peoples.
The first time through with these scenes, I had the impression that Best and Bandit were partners in working the crowd in that tavern. Interesting to hear that you were trying to convey something else entirely. That certainly looks like Best is shooting her a knowing look in the last panel…
So what was the deal with Best randomly going off on this Sky Elf tangent? Is it just because he likes messing with people? Is he jealous of Sky Elves because they’re not “shit”? Did you ever intend to elaborate on Best’s attitude towards Selves?
Basically he’s saying “Some questions seem deep, but are just useless”, as to deflect the question why he’s still hanging around there and not going on quests (which IS a good question).
Incidentally one can clap with either hand independently.
Turns out, if you make a fist bending just the bottom two joints of your fingers, the tips can be made to hit the “heel” of the hand with enough force to produce a distinct clapping sound.
That and it leads into his simile on the next page.
I’d forgotten they appeared together in this scene. For a good portion of the story, once we knew that Best had been a manifestation of one of the human players, I thought that Bandit was the new character created by that human to replace Payet Best.
(It became clear later that this was not the case, just noting what I’d assumed at the time)
You know, I was rather surprised to see this riddle in this context, but Best is technically right about its implications as a paradox. It’s just the philosophical implications he’s missing; it can be interpreted many ways, but one of them makes a very good point about some goals requiring teamwork and therefore association with others.
The other implication is the essential substance of Zen philosophy, which in at least the sects I’m familiar enough with, the rejection of self-motivated action can be a desire and therefore become a self-motivated action.
To which I’m sure Best would have the same reaction he did above :D
How is a high-five one hand clapping? There are two hands involved. Unless the other guy refuses to participate, in which case it’s not really clapping.