Annotated 41-16
Pacing glitch…OR READER BONUS? Not sure why we elected to make this one specifically a double-sized entry, especially since the first half of the page ends on such a natural point for a cliffhanger. I think we could’ve joined the second half of this one to the next page instead. Oh, well.
Boy, we’re getting so much mileage out of “pal” in this chapter that I feel vaguely guilty for not using it a little more often between Chapter 5 and here.
Byron seems to have engineered his own particular “bubble heaven” here (“someplace where I can be happy and not harm anyone!”). But it’s already plain as the nose on his face that this afterlife is colored by awareness of his curse. And it’s sad in a different way that his idea of heaven is one of isolation. After dying with the knowledge that he’d be used as a berserker vessel yet again, his “happy ending” is to be apart from anyone he could hurt, not to be surrounded by the loved ones who populate his memories.
RENT-FREE? It truly IS heaven!
I’ve been killing myself to pay for rent and all I had to do was kill myself to get it for free. I’ve been had.
Of course it’s rent-free – someone Zerked the owner of record
While it IS sad that Byron’s idea of heaven is isolation I’m at least glad that he gets a heaven. I was a bit surprised at that at first, because of how he thinks of himself.
But it makes sense with what you said earlier. If the souls of the bad people know, deep down, that they deserve punishment, then Byron’s soul, despite all his self-loathing, should know deep down that he deserves to be happy.
There is a beauty to that type of afterlife.
It’s not really a heaven, as it looks to me. Byron is very obviously in denial. He’s not actually enjoying it. This is part heaven, part his personal hell. But he’s happy to be in his personal hell alone, not hurting anyone.
I find it really hard to guess what kind of material the red stuff is.
When I was seeing the berzerker spirits in earlier parts, I imagined they were basically made out of flames. Then Gravedust dived into one of them, which made it look like it was at least not entirely solid, but now it seems like it’s not particularly flexible but has sharp tips, and I already know the next page is going to show a different property of this material (and also make me feel rather uncomfortable).
I think in some way it’s totally fine that the properties of that stuff are not especially well-defined to readers because it’s unknown to everyone else, too, and it’d probably be tedious to establish these things in a few pictures without getting too explicit and distracting from the main action, but … actually it’s fine. This is scary stuff, this red stuff. Don’t get close to it, kids!
This scene reminds me of Star Trek: Generations (1994) so much! This is essentially Captain Kirk’s version of heaven, except Kirk’s on a horse. (Coincidentally, it was Shatner’s own ranch.)