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Added 2016-07-04 03:40:50 +0000 UTCI decided this was best delivered at once, but that does require a break! I'll be back July 18th.
This was a difficult scene to handle. We always want absolution for a person, especially one as troubled and flawed as Elan. But villains and the injustices they bring about often deny us that satisfaction. I'm not sure Elan found his peace in the end. He's reaching for that badge - for some meaning - right until his fatal moment. Do you think he made the most of the time he stole? Or was it all for naught? Did he make a difference to Elka and Toma? Did he make any dent at all in the troubles of this troubled town?
Perhaps he did. Perhaps he healed his heart entirely independent of any Black Tongue pymary. But the surgery was bloody. And the patient won't survive.
Comments
I concur with John. (Though waaaaaayyy less eloquently.) Elan was brave, in the end. His choice saved some lives, might indirectly save even more. Being remembered for one’s deeds doesn’t particularly matter, in my opinion. Everyone’s gonna die eventually, someone can only be remembered so long. After that, it’s just a retelling of a story, and eventually that’s lost, too. What matters is what happened, what you did, who’s lives you impacted. What happened is that he saved people from injustice. Even without being remembered, even without a badass final scene, Peaceguard Elan Aled was a hero.
Hannah
2016-07-05 16:26:17 +0000 UTCThis.
Ashley
2016-07-05 14:28:08 +0000 UTCHere's how I look at it: Elan was doomed from the moment we met him. I mean, everyone is in some sense, but he clearly was not someone who had a lot of time left. He had a choice to make about what to do with that time. He could have just run off. Either a little bit before this shit went down, with the prostitutes, or earlier; he could have ditched Elka. He could have turned his back on Toma. He could have lit out at any of a dozen moments. If he had, he'd probably have lived a little longer... and the world would have been a little bit worse. Instead, he chose to stick around and use the last of his life to do something worthwile. Dying a hero isn't always the best thing; being a hero and surviving is a much better trick, really. But that isn't an option everyone gets, and when Elan made his choice, he stayed a hero and went down for it. And he died in a way that isn't even going to earn him a statue or a place in the history books; as far as he knows, he's going to be a footnote about traitors that died during a magical accident in a shitty podunk town. He died heroically with no expectation of anything, not even in posterity, and there's something admirable in that, something we can respect and admire. What people do when they will receive no reward tells you a lot about them.
idonotlikepeas
2016-07-05 13:46:04 +0000 UTCElan was a favorite minor character of mine. I knew he'd die before the end of this chapter (he actually lasted longer than I expected), but he went down fighting. That's all I can hope for in a comic like this.
Rosewaver
2016-07-05 03:28:50 +0000 UTCI think Elan did fine in the end. Even though perhaps he really does not realize it himself. I appreciate that you made him go down really quickly, it was realistic. And I must say, I really liked the role corrupt cop lady played in this scene. She was an antagonist for so long and now she fights suddenly against people much more horrible and even inadvertently helps Elka to escape. That was a good twist of fate. I feel really bad for squidhat lady though. She's so unsuspecting and so doomed. :'-(
Reed Copperstrand
2016-07-04 19:22:39 +0000 UTCAs always, this comic strikes right to the heart (no pun intended, in this case? Errr...) This actually made me cry a bit so I consider it a success from a gutwrenching point of view!
Samantha H
2016-07-04 14:56:58 +0000 UTCPoor Elan. :( But I think he found his personal absolution, in two halves. When people he idolised, in Toma and Elka, treated him like one of the team and trusted him with serious stuff. He might have thought the first time was an accident or borne of necessity, but hell, he 'fessed all to Elka and she still didn't despise him. You can see how that made him feel back on page 42. It was enough to make him do something brave and possibly silly in the end. You made me like him, damn you. Love your work Ashely. ;)
Jeremy Ball
2016-07-04 11:59:31 +0000 UTCI think Eland preferred his latter day adventures to the conditions immediately preceding... even if he didn't end up with everything he wanted, he was at least still in the process of making strides in the right direction, and I think that's satisfactory, in the end.
matt
2016-07-04 07:40:27 +0000 UTC
