SSSS Read-Along: Chapters 0-10 [Finished]

[yuuago]

One of the best ways to survive a SSSS chapter break is to re-read the comic!

How it works: Every few days, a separate subthread will be posted to this entry for each chapter. Read the chapter, post your thoughts! Let's survive this chapter break together.



Read-along schedule:

April 09: Prologue - Thread
April 11: Chapter 01 - Thread
April 13: Chapter 02 - Thread
April 15: Chapter 03 - Thread
April 17: Chapter 04 - Thread
April 19: Chapter 05 - Thread
April 21: Chapter 06 - Thread
April 23: Chapter 07 - Thread
April 25: Chapter 08 - Thread
April 27: Chapter 09 - Thread
April 29: Chapter 10 - Thread


For discussion unrelated to the re-read, head over to the Discussion Post.
Flat view - 1st page: http://ssss.dreamwidth.org/3059.html?view=flat#comments
Flat view - Most recent page: http://ssss.dreamwidth.org/3059.html?view=flat&page=100#comments

Comments

Chapter 07

[(Anonymous)]

Pages 301 - 363
Thoughts?

Re: Chapter 07

[letizia]

It's been a year since I started reading SSSS! And it was during the early pages of ch. 7 so this is very good timing for a re-read. :D It was probably the previous day when I started but caught up on pg. 304, I remember staring at the tile floor when I realised there was no next page.

This is a melancholy chapter, but it always feels a lot warmer than the themes and the colours suggest. I like the "quiet rainy day" feeling of it, even if their quiet day does include dreamworld horrors and an encounter with a dog beast.

311 - I really like Sigrun's expression reading the map.

313 - Feel free to shoot if you see one. A beast, that is. So, it's okay to use firearms because it's daylight and because they're in a crap building where trolls won't nest? The situation was different in ch. 5 when shooting was the last resort. There has to be some solid logic behind this.

315 - And I used to think I liked intelligent women. :P

316 - But she knows the important stuff in their world.

330-334 - This is probably still the most we've ever seen Lalli talking. Maybe. I like his attitude...

Then there are the sad dog scenes and the sad cat scenes, and fine soldiers who all care about the cats (and even the dog) each in their own way. I tried so hard! A lot! Earlier! Oh Emil.

I'm still wondering what's going on in Lalli's head on the last page, the only time ever he seems to be loss at words. :>

Re: Chapter 07

[(Anonymous)]

That Emil says "I tried so hard" here is interesting because earlier in Chapter 1 (http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=107) he says something similar! What does it say about his character, and how does that jive with the rest of what we understand about him?

Re: Chapter 07

[(Anonymous)]

Better to make an attempt and fail than to not do anything at all?
Which isn't a bad philosophy, really.

this is 90% mages and i regret none of it

[(Anonymous)]

I have so many questions about Reynir's experience in the dream space. He clearly has his own area, so the boat seems pretty odd.


The waterfall makes me think of Tuonela in Redtail's Dream. Though nobody ever said the spirit space isn't closely related to where spirits go for the rest of ever. And sleep/dreaming and death are pretty closely related in ARtD. Is that a theme in Finnish myth?


I'll never get over how much love seems to go into rendering environments.


Guess it stands to reason his walk-on-water trick only works in the void. Lalli's space, Lalli's rules? God, I love his tree fortress.


328: AYYYYYYYYYYYYY. I love how Onni goes from ">(" to ";A;" at the drop of a Tuuri's name. What a dour fuck, can we keep him.


332-333: Faces really say it all, don't they? God, what a good set of pages. So much said with so little.

ONE MORE THING

[(Anonymous)]

So the beast dog can be in the dream space and be physically real at the same time. Kind of like the absorbent ghost we saw in chapter 10, huh. :|a

Re: this is 90% mages and i regret none of it

[yuuago]

The waterfall makes me think of Tuonela in Redtail's Dream.

Do you mean the one on this page? It does look Tuonela-like. Though I think it's actually supposed to be a Norse allusion (flat world etc).

And sleep/dreaming and death are pretty closely related in ARtD. Is that a theme in Finnish myth?

I thiiiink someone else might be able to answer this better, but - in short, yes. I think. For instance, if your soul escapes while you're dreaming, you're gone; that's why there is the soul-bird/sielulintu to protect it. Also, IIRC, trance/dream is one of the ways to enter Tuonela (though I'm not sure if there's a specific bit of literature where this comes from - none of the Tuonela-journeys in the Kalevala involve it, but it's a thing that I've seen come up a lot).