Annotated 49-5
FB: HR may be literally devouring a world, but Shanna’s sarcasm is biting enough that it could probably handle a continent or two.
I mean, for serious, Shanna’s jokes are usually an effective coping strategy (and usually one of her more endearing qualities). But that half-crazed face she’s flashing in panel 3 is the face of someone leaning a little too hard on “humor” and losing her balance anyway. I’ve seen that happen to actual comedians in mid-performance: the anger at the world that motivates their jokes swims to the surface until the jokes are no longer funny and the “comedy” becomes pointless. (Lewis Black is interesting in that light: he’s very aware of the dividing line between humorous anger and humor-smothering anger. The thrill of watching him is watching him look like he’s going to cross it, without ever quite doing so.)
It falls to Xan to steady Shanna and move their actions (and the scene) forward. His own remote perspective is welcome. As a programmer who sometimes struggles with “human things,” he is far closer in personality to HR than Shanna or Carol. And yet, with his last two lines, he demonstrates why he will never, ever be HR.
Joke’s on HR when he realizes nobody turns on PvP Flag.
I always loved this last panel because it’s such a succinct takedown of everything HR has been trying to accomplish since entering his own game. God mode is by far the least interesting thing you can do with a game, after all.
I love that it turns out the five have access to the same level of “hacks” that HR does — but nobody besides Frigg had managed to access them as of yet.
It also shows that neither Shanna nor Xan quite understand what’s going on here (yet). It’s not about the boss of a gaming company enjoying his own game while cheating — although it’s funny to think of it that way :)
Angry comedians no longer funny. Good point. Can be observed.