UPDATE 2: Fixed! Thanks, Marc! And thanks to Andrew for pointing it out.
UPDATE: Due to a glitch, a future strip showed up here for a few hours. Unfortunately, the glitch also erased the actual strip. So, I’ve had to resort to the thumbnail you see above. It’s kind of small, but at least this is a silent strip, right? As soon as I can get ahold of Marc and get his copy of the strip, I’ll upload and replace promptly. Thanks for your patience.
ORIGINAL POST:
Um… Merry Christmas, everybody?
You should know that I do not look at the calendar when I plan out a chapter. I had absolutely no idea we’d be ending 2013 with this dark, dark strip and that it would be the last before the break. Great cliffhanger though, right?
See you on Wednesday with a special Christmas extra! To those of you who aren’t so into Christmas, I promise it will be fun anyway. Also, Guest Strippin’ Xmas schedule on Wednesday.
….Ouch!
I’ll let someone else more capable of expressing this moment reply in my stead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyaDlIirJnw
For some reason, I’ve seen the other Godfathers, but not the third. I think the bad reviews keep putting me off. This may be the wrong reaction (judging by the comments below the video, it certainly is), but I found that scene unintentionally hilarious. That’s a cartoon version of grief.
Which, of course, makes it the perfect response. Well done.
…this isn’t a cliff hanger. And I’m inclined to question what purpose this particular death serves the story. While it’s all well and good to have a death that is horrifying and pointless, it loses something in a character like Tom. Looking back over his personal arc the word that comes to mind is “expendable”.
As things stand you’ve left Tom where he began.
He may not be a key character in the story per se, however, his death will have a massive impact on the captain, his newly resurrected ex-wife and, perhaps most importantly, on Percy. This might even cause a falling out between Zurida and her son, whom we know to be very powerful, as Zurida is, indirectly, cause of Tom’s death. And that might easily shift a lot of allegiances in this already convoluted plot. Care about Tom or no, I’d very much call this a cliffhanger.
Hey, Professor! Love your comment. Always great when someone offers a different point of view.
You’re right that Tom didn’t exactly get to complete his arc as a character (which, as anyone who’s ever had someone taken from them too soon can tell you, is what happens–that’s the unfair part of it all), I wouldn’t say he’s just as he started. He got his mom back, and he got a brother. So there is that. But yes, Tom didn’t get to finish what he started. That’s part of the tragedy.
devilflamejr offers some good points about why, from a story perspective, this death certainly serves a purpose. I’d like to offer one more. Tangerine moved on Zurida in an effort to save his sons. That he ended up killing someone else’s son–his friend’s, no less–in the process has got to have a HUGE emotional impact on not only him, but Cap. He compromised his personal values to do what he thought was the right thing and it ended up more horrible than he could have possibly imagined. This is one of things I’m most interested in as a storyteller–the impact of choice.
There will be fallout.
But I don’t in any way mean to take away from your perspective. Any death of any character should be held up to the highest storytelling scrutiny.
I try to reign in my auto-contrarien nature, but I disagree across the board here. This is a cliff hanger in every sense of the word. What is Cap going to do? What’s Percy’s reaction going to be? Tangerine? Speedy?!
Tom is the last thing I think of when I think expendable. He is a touchstone for many of the main characters, including Jerry and Dr. Rocket. His personal arc may end where it began, but he’s a story element that many characters have bounced off of and will continue to do so.
As a character, he’s one of the few that we can identify with as readers because he’s like us: a powerless observer to many of the major events that have set things in motion. Also, it says something that one of the casualties in this arc is one of the only true innocents, with the exception of his mom. I’d actually be hard pressed to think of a character whose death could be more relevant to the other characters than Tom, aside from Cap himself.
The helmet, it does nothing.
Damn, this was a harsh turn of events for everyone. Ms. Missile and Cap lost Tom…again… and Tangarine gets to feel very responsible for the death.
I wonder now if as a side effect of the laser blast the hand is now fused to his arm and he must learn to live with it.
Now that would be cool. Not for Tangerine, of course. But it’s a cool idea.
Thanks!
One could argue it was Sokol who fired the shot, but I think we can all agree there’s no way Tangerine is gonna take the easy way out of this blame.
Nah, he was the one who triggered the conflict which caused the shot. And it was his metal arm that caused the laser to reflect. Thats a two-fer right there.
I wonder what would have happened if the machine was non-reflective. Would the laser have exploded the device killing everyone in a massive radius. In which case, hurray for the device being shiny. Give the janitor a medal.
A perfectly logical person would just have to say that the death was normal collateral damage and really bad luck (not that the laser hit the arm, that was amazing accuracy, but the reflection).
He literally died by the Tangerine’s hand (forearm, whatever).
I see you’re pulling a Downton Abbey.
Mary/Ms. Missile is never going to be same.
Uh….Opps.
Now this time, Tom’s dead right…as in dead (dead) and not coming back to life right ? š
Let the speculation (if there is any) end… Tom is dead.
Didn’t see that one coming.
That’s the way we like it.
Wednesday’s I was wondering what that thing in the corner of panel 1 was, then realized it was Tom’s helmet. If only I’d paid more attention to the sections on foreshadowing in my literature classes.
It was a pretty tiny clue. I believe John Scobie was the one who figured it out based on that, but most people were right there with you.
By the way, I just checked the record and as of this strip you’ve left 200 comments. There is no prize for this… but congrats!
Dude. Dude!
Dude…
DUDE.
Oh. man… Swifty’s gonna be pissed.
No kidding. So long as he’s not dead, too. Anybody seen him?
Now that’s just mean, Brock!
So, I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the strip isn’t loading. It’s just the Spy Gal Christmas comic, and when I hit the back button it just takes me back to 557. I viewed the miniature version in the archive, but clicking it just took me back to the Spy Gal comic again. I don’t know if it’s a technical issue or just me, but I figured I’d mention it. Maybe Spy Gal’s after me! If that’s the case, I promise I’ve been nice this year! That said, I agree with devilflamejr. Killing Tom was a brilliant touch by Brock. To get his son back only to loose him for real will be shattering to CS. Percy just lost the brother he apparently always wanted. Even Jerry must harbor some kind of affection for Tom. In the end he couldn’t bring himself to actually hurt him. He was the closest thing Swifty had to a child or any kind of family of his own. Tangerine’s actions caused the death of his best friend’s son. The only person who might actually be pleased is Dr Rocket, but it will be short lived when Ms Missile finds out everything that’s happened and it blows up in his face. It’s brilliantly subtle but will have a far reaching impact. I’ll go ahead and place my bet that Sokol probably isn’t going to be around after the next strip. I’d rate his survival chances at “slim to none.” If nothing else, Zurida’s mp a very forgiving mistress and accidentally killing her consort’s son seems like it would be grounds for literal termination. I’m also wondering if the great threat from the other dimension is going to be some sort of “Justice Lord” CS who lost his own Tom.
Not just you, Andrew. I screwed up something major when uploading future strips and I’m trying desperately to come up with a fix. Thanks for alerting me. I had no idea. Your patience is appreciated.
Poop’s gonna hit the fan in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
Now I know a lot of people are saying that Tom may not be the most endeared character to us, which is true we only get at most short bursts of him but you got to remember the character’s in this comic have known Tom his entire life and some have shown to truly care for him. He’s a little nutty but he was the one person no one really disliked except for maybe Dr.Rocket and what father doesn’t hate their daughter’s boyfriend. I mean Tom’s leaving behind a father, a mother, a brother and multiple friends and a girlfriend a good portion of whom were present at his death, when you think about it his death could cause huge waves not seen before in this comic.
All things you say are true. It’s because of all that that I wish there had been a way to get Ms. Missile in there.
………AAAGGGGHHH NO NOT TOM!!!
He just got Tom back what is with you guys!
…sob…
….okay we really need a Swifty Bubbles of light savior moment to go back in time (do it right this time) and fix this messed up reality in the S.F. Universe.
Swifty… I vaguely remember a character by that name.
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