The Wapsi Emotional Roller Coaster

Moderators: Bookworm, starkruzr, MrFireDragon, PrettyPrincess, Wapsi

Post Reply
User avatar
Tenjen
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:09 am

The Wapsi Emotional Roller Coaster

Post by Tenjen »

One thing I like about the comic and its characterization is how well it pulls off emotional turmoil and pain. Not to mention how it can so suddenly switch to bad scenario's that it leaves us with emotional whiplash. Even very effectively sucker punching us with emotional situations at times.

A number of moments stand out to me. I’am mostly saying all this for the sake of catharsis and having to vent these terrible emotions SOMEWHERE

*******Lots of Text*******

Shelly thinking about her sphinx training and staying strong, immediately followed by clawing her man. What followed was pretty much the worst case scenario. All the body language depicted really made the scene.

The "dream" sex assault, especially when Monica came out of it and Tina's reaction to what happened. Then the revelation in the 2nd dreamscape about both her and Georgette's past. Makes you see Monica’s past and present personal hang-ups (and fears of being institutionalized again) in a new light (go ahead and read the comic again and when her personality problems are brought up, keep in mind the new bit of info about her time there and how THAT is the source of these problems)

Shelly and the Time Forest. Really had me going there. The brutal detail of what happens to Shelly_1, her desperation as her body started shutting down after thinking she's had a job well done (whiplash!). not to mention what Final_Shelly had to go through all those years there and the failed visits from herself. I had to go through those pages over and over to process it properly.

Phix's reaction to accidently (and brutally) killing Monica. Gruesome detail of the death aside, Denial (right in the face of reality) and shock are not commonly attributed characteristics we associate her with, which goes to show how horrific a reaction she was having to the situation. It also revealed the depth of the affection and love she has for Monica (which we knew of but never got to directly see), we can now see that "pumpkin" is not just a word she throws around casually, its a personal term of endearment. She was at the cusp of descending into a full mental breakdown.. And lets not forget the relief and joy she conveyed later when Monica reformed. She was just happy that somehow, in an existence that she jadedly views as bitter, harsh and unforgiving, a terrible mistake of hers has somehow been undone.

Shelly's reaction to the revelation of her mother. She doesn't scream, or event, she doesn't rage. She just goes utterly quiet, leaves to a secluded spot and becomes contemplative. Which was much more worrying given that anyone with an ounce of empathy knows how deep an issue this is for her (her entire mother trauma) . IT also helped convey just how much she's changed and developed from how she was before. I'am happy to see her develop past it not only wholesomely but in a direction

The whole accidental bud/boyfriend teleportation where Monica was made to think they had slept together.

Need I even mention the events surrounding the neutralization of the calendar?

Jin becoming mortal and immediately attempting to surgically graft a new orifice in her head through use of flintlock. The consequences that followed, (both the realistically depicted aftermath of the looks and physical state of someone who broke their nose and ribs that bad and) the situation with her boyfriend. And oh my god him appearing later in a gruff unshaven state. Heart. Strings. Plucked.

Tina breaking down after Nudge’s removal. Just one page with huge implications and meaning behind it. They've worked hard to live in their human body, become entrepreneurs with their own shop and make people happy and positive every day with "sunshine blown up their butt", out of a sense of integrity and desire to do good. Her life even got better with friends in mutually close and caring relationships. And BOOM, they nearly lose it all in a fraction of a second, blindsided by their direct apex predator out of nowhere and have a VERY close and unexpected near-death experience. Having a giant hand slam you down and a fist the size of you by something you fear on an instinctual level (which has threatened you before quite potently) swing at you and instead pass right through you to punch one of you out is about as close to Near-death experience as one can get. (without the benefit of healing/resurrection powers). Her reaction to nudge later made sense, though still bad ofcourse.

***************End Emotional outbearing**********************

And so many others that I wont bring up cause iam seriously being TLDR right now.

Wapsi Square has been an emotional roller coaster of massive pain and joy and unexpected sidecuts. I love the new characters and iam not bothered by the time costs incurred by handling such a huge cast. I have plenty of patience, cant follow so many webcomics without it. (hell iam even still waiting out on Blip)

I adore this comic for the world its taken me to and the emotions it either imbues or inflicts upon me. Its enormous variance, host of characters, hard to nail genre, slices of life with adventure and the supernatural, I love it all.

TLDR version?

Dem Feels! Dem Feels!

and to make this more than an emotional gushing just by me. What affected YOU the most in Wapsi? or, What brought out the most emotion in you? or, Personally struck a cord?
credit to Aoi Heart on DA
Image
User avatar
Dave
Posts: 7584
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Mountain View, CA, USA

Re: The Wapsi Emotional Roller Coaster

Post by Dave »

Tenjen wrote: And so many others that I wont bring up cause iam seriously being TLDR right now.
Not TL at all, Tenjen! I'm definitely agreement with your thesis here - the richness of the emotional lives of the characters is a big part of what I find so amazingly addictive about Wapsi Square. Paul's "bootlegger turns" can be quite amazing.
and to make this more than an emotional gushing just by me. What affected YOU the most in Wapsi? or, What brought out the most emotion in you? or, Personally struck a chord?
There are several which come prominently to mind.

I first "came in" on the strip during one of the incidents you mentioned... the death of Shelly-1 in the Time Forest, and Shelly-sphinx's return to "normal life." The "lost in the Forest" sub-story simply blew me away. We saw only fragments of it at the time, but it was clear it was a Heroic tale worthy of Joseph Campbell... questing, terror, loss, sacrifice, and revelation all rolled into one. I eventually commissioned the "Time in the Time Forest" drawing as a way of honoring Shelly's story and sacrifices... hoping to capture how it might have felt for her, being lost and alone for so very long. Needless to say, Paul did a beautiful job of it!

Monica's terrified breakdown after she saw Phix in a bloody predatory rage, and Euryale's gentle compassionate comforting, as if Monica were a child awakening from a nightmare.

Brandi's quiet, almost whispered re-telling of her kidnapping by the Lanthian priests, and how she accidentally killed a child while defending herself. "My job was to protect them."

Jin and Alan's reunion, once Alan realized that Jin did want to live out a normal life as a mortal.

Monica, breaking silence about how she had been raped in the mental hospital. "In all that time, I have never told any of my friends. Nobody. It was the one thing I could control in my life. But if opening up will help you, if I can let you know that you're not alone, I will help you walk through the darkness." I wept.

I've bought a number of Paul's strip drawings over the past couple of years, and the ones I find myself bidding on are usually of these sorts of moments... not the pinups (although those are fun too), but the incidents of emotion and revelation, which seem to form the framework around which the story of Wapsi Square grows so beautifully.
User avatar
Tenjen
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:09 am

Re: The Wapsi Emotional Roller Coaster

Post by Tenjen »

Monica breaking her silence struck a cord with me too. I know of many such examples where a family and/or friends had no idea for ages till someone else needed help or a trigger occurred. (or in two such cases, the family/friends said something MASSIVELY stupid and derogatory about some such case in the news )
credit to Aoi Heart on DA
Image
Post Reply