2007/02/17 (Abel) That's quite a welcome

[superluser]

She knows.  That's not the reaction of someone who is surprised at something unexpected (like finding someone without his wings), but of someone who knows that it's come time to face the music.

[Aisha deCabre]

Holy...poor Abel, he looks utterly wept-out...

And I dunno, a mother's first reaction might be to the mood that her son is in.  A consoling comfort before noticing that the wings are gone.

[Boog]

Oh dearie me, did you leave your appendages at school again young man?

Really well done page. Abel's expression is really... Expressive. It portrays the overall mood really well. Usually, in DMFA, the emotional expressions are exaggerated in some way for the sake of comedy. The seriousness of this one's sort of an interesting contrast, from a "I've-been-paying-too-much-attention-in-art-class" perspective.

[Kenji]

Is it just me, or does Abel's hanging hair give him the look of "running makeup"?

[superluser]

And I dunno, a mother's first reaction might be to the mood that her son is in.  A consoling comfort before noticing that the wings are gone.

I know my first reaction to seeing someone zoned out like that wpuld not be ``Jonesing jellybabies and Jerk chicken on a Jamocha shake!  You look like crap!''

It would probably be more subdued, encouraging Abel to be calm.  Unless I were freaking out, myself.

[Zedd]

He looks like hell for a person...... They always have regretets for being alive *sounds like someone familer*

[Starcat5]

...wow. You can tell from a glance that he's been mentally scarred for life. 

[Schol-R-LEA]

Something just occurred to me, and while it has probably been mentioned before here, I only just realized the answer to the mystery of Abel's parentage:

His mother never cheated on his father; Abel's father is a being, not an incubus as I (among others I assume) have been thinking.

It's his mother who is the succubus.

A nice sort of succubus, one presumes, but still, she's the one who is the cubi, not some putative extramarital lover. And what's worse, I suspect her husband doesn't know the truth.

She's been keeping the truth from Abel all along, figuring that she would have years -even decades - before she had to tell him, possibly long after his father is gone. But if he's now suddenly showing up able to shapeshift, she can only assume (not knowing about the amulet) that he's figured out the truth, and is scared because of that, not because he's just had a harrowing life-and-death experience she knows nothing about.

This is going to be messy.

[superluser]

Is it just me, or does Abel's hanging hair give him the look of "running makeup"?

I think it's the dark lines under the eyes.  That does indeed look like running eyeliner.  Amber's used the same technique in the past.

Really well done page. Abel's expression is really... Expressive. It portrays the overall mood really well.

Agreed.  Take note, aspiring artists--large eyes looking slightly down and slightly walleyed.  Slack jaw.  Raised eyebrows.  Serious business.

His mother never cheated on his father; Abel's father is a being, not an incubus as I (among others I assume) have been thinking.

It's his mother who is the succubus.

I think you're forgetting this emoticon:

[Stygian]

Messy, yes, but certainly not in that way. Am I going to have to pull that one on cluelessness again?

Oh, and personally I think that Abel looks better without wings... but not like that. And where did his braid go? His hair just looks tied in now. And I suppose he's wearing the medallion in a hand. Meaning he'll probably drop it, and the headwings will go poof...!

[Schol-R-LEA]

I gather that this has been beaten to death here already, then, and the argument throughly refuted. I withdraw my statement, then.

[Zedd]

And anthor note..We dont know who the cubi parent is so shush your faces for now and watch and read

[Sienna Maiu - M T]

I've always simply adored that sort of expression. The kind that says, "I'm horribly-horribly broken. Hold me, but don't get too close."

Yes.

[Distracting]

I've always simply adored that sort of expression. The kind that says, "I'm horribly-horribly broken. Hold me, but don't get too close."

Yes.

Abel's? I thought his was more of a "My mind is shattering. Can you help me stay sane without getting too close to me?" This strip makes me really wonder what's gonna on next comic and how Abel's day may or may not get better or worse.

[superluser]

I gather that this has been beaten to death here already, then, and the argument throughly refuted. I withdraw my statement, then.

No offense intended, sir.  You may actually be right.  Amber's done defter misdirection before.  It's just that this comes up a lot, and the rest of us can recite the entire discussion from memory.

Just wanted to get that response out of the way.

[Madd the Sane]

Poor poor Abel.  He will never be sane again. 

There's not a lot we can get from May's reaction, other than shock.  After getting over the fact that Abel looks like he's been through the ringer, she will notice that somethings missing.  And then go into hysterics. 

[Goatmon]

I think the initial shock is from seeing his wings missing, although even if he still had them, his face says plenty. 

Poor Abel.    *Hugs*

[Jim Halisstrad]

I would have thrown a pie at able




I'm tired.

Itchy, tasty 41

[Valynth]

My reaction wouldn't be so cartoony, it'd be more like: "What the heck's wrong with you?...."  After he explains:  "Okay, yer friends are dead, what do ya want me do about it?"

'Cause I'm blunt like nobody's business.  Plus he's gotta learn to deal with tragedy on his own.

[Tapewolf]

Superb.  Just superb.

**EDIT**
And he certainly has been running.  Probably not all the way, though as Superluser pointed out in an earlier thread.

[Yugo]

Poor Abel. He looks broken beyond belief. -hugs the abel- That expression is superbly well done.

[Feather Dancer]

Poor Abel, he almost looks like my "flu face" last week If it wans't for the fact he'd probably scream or have a nervous breakdown I'd offer him a cookie.

[Regal]

She knows.  That's not the reaction of someone who is surprised at something unexpected (like finding someone without his wings), but pf someone who knows that it's come time to face the music.

That's the reaction of a loving mother to her son coming home looking like death warmed over with parts of his body missing.

[MT Hazard]

It's the haunted 'I've got nothing else' look physical and emotional drained, he might not even see his mothers there for a moment, just stare into space and slowly slide down the door.

[Narethlian]

It's the haunted 'I've got nothing else' look physical and emotional drained, he might not even see his mothers there for a moment, just stare into space and slowly slide down the door.

Let's not forget he'll probably drop the amulet in that time and all four wings appear from nowhere as he curls up into a fetal position.

-Nar

[Sunblink]

Wow, poor Abel. =/ He definitely looks like nothing short of traumatized, and I don't blame him. Especially after all he's been through... and something tells me (well, and so does the storytelling pattern) that things are only going to get worse. Maybe not filled with death and destruction, but full of emotional devastation, which is only adding gasoline to the flame.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[bigj]

I think Abel's Momma is going to have to come clean about something. Either her genealogy or Abel's real parentage, because his Cubi-hood is something apparent now, and you don't catch Cubi from toilet seats. Unless it's a Cubi shapeshifted into a toilet. But that's just weird. 

[Manawolf]

Or a doorknob.

[superluser]

That's the reaction of a loving mother to her son coming home looking like death warmed over with parts of his body missing.

Actually, she may not even notice that he's missing wings yet.

Look at panel 3 in A28.  Abel's wings don't extend above his head, and sometimes they can be at least partly obscured by that head.  The fear response would result in wing contraction, making them smaller and lower, anyways.  She would probably have, at some level, noticed that he's leaning directly on the door, though.  So would Abel.

I think that most mothers learn not to freak out when something happens to their kids, or else the kids freak out, and then it's all bad.

Of course, now she knows that she's going to have to explain things and she's freaking out because she knows that things are going to be very bad for her.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

You're assuming she has an answer, there, superluser. After all - it may be that, as far as she knows, she -has- been faithful to Cid.

Which then, of course, makes the entire discussion even messier...