Be Her Rock 2013-10-18

[jwhouk]

...Yeah, she was, wasn't she?


Notice that Monica's facepaint disappears in the lower panels...

[ChattaStarhawk]

...Yeah, she was, wasn't she?

Um, I do not think Mon's talking about the Tar's crime...

[Dave]

Notice that Monica's facepaint disappears in the lower panels...

Good catch... and it's really meaningful.

The aspect of Monica that's going to be the critical one in helping Georgette heal will not (I think) have anything to do with Jaguar-ness. Nor poiting, Glyph-speaking, astral fire, sub-Titan demigodness, or anything like that.

It's Monica's essential humanity. She's a human woman, one who cares, and who dares to share her vulnerability and woundedness with Jet in order to build a bridge between them.

There are no rocks here, Georgette. Just people. You need not ask anyone, including yourself, to be as unbending as a rock must be.

[DilyV]

... and Monica speaks from experience.... question is... is she referring to the Tar, or something else in her past we haven't been privy to yet? Could the Tar have been a way for Monica to deal with something from her own past that she's kept buried deep inside? Remember Tina telling Monica something about Jet that Monica all the sudden saw in herself?

EDIT

This one is the one I was thinking of.....

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/something-in-myself/

[Atomic]

... and Monica speaks from experience.... question is... is she referring to the Tar, or something else in her past we haven't been privy to yet? Could the Tar have been a way for Monica to deal with something from her own past that she's kept buried deep inside? Remember Tina telling Monica something about Jet that Monica all the sudden saw in herself?

I'm thinking of the time Monica spent in the psychiatric ward in her padded cell. I don' t want to use my imagination. At all.

[jwhouk]

I have an idea, but it would be too much of a mind ####.

[Bathorys Daughter]

Off topic here, but I had been gone from the comic for a while and have been catching up in various forums. One is the Fan Art section. Great and funny stuff there. Anyway, I got to page 60 and came across a video Knight Delight did with the Calendar Machine destruction and Bud fetching Maya from the demon world comics and I just had to mention it here for those of you who don't visit the Fan Art section. He added music and displayed the images from the pages to make it really come alive. It's amazing, really. His post with the link is here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=14&start=1180#p21284. Like he says, the volume is low so you will have to crank it up on your computer. I turned it fully up in Vimeo too. The link to the video itself is:

[Fairportfan]

...and it looks as if both of them are wearing white dresses.

[jwhouk]

White, stained dresses.

[scantrontb]

I'm thinking of the time Monica spent in the psychiatric ward in her padded cell. I don' t want to use my imagination. At all.

the recent movie "Suckerpunch" comes to mind...

[zachariah]

... and Monica speaks from experience.... question is... is she referring to the Tar, or something else in her past we haven't been privy to yet? Could the Tar have been a way for Monica to deal with something from her own past that she's kept buried deep inside? Remember Tina telling Monica something about Jet that Monica all the sudden saw in herself?

I'm thinking of the time Monica spent in the psychiatric ward in her padded cell. I don' t want to use my imagination. At all.

Not sure at all about this. A case can be made either way. I guess we just have to wait until Monday to find out.

[Julie]

... and Monica speaks from experience.... question is... is she referring to the Tar, or something else in her past we haven't been privy to yet? Could the Tar have been a way for Monica to deal with something from her own past that she's kept buried deep inside? Remember Tina telling Monica something about Jet that Monica all the sudden saw in herself?

EDIT

This one is the one I was thinking of.....

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/something-in-myself/

Huh...I always read that as M not liking the part of herself that demands not to be ignored but dimisses others offhand. Maybe there's something more there, but I seriously doubt they had any inkling of Jet's trauma then...so even if M has been raped in the past, I don't think she recognized it that long ago. I kind of feel like she might not have tried to avoid Jet if she'd recognized a kindred spirit with regards to emotional scarring. Usually it's seeing the uglier parts of ourselves in others that makes people run away where when we see shared trauma we cling to each other...at least in my experience that's the case.

All that said, your theory is interesting. I just hope it isn't true. The story arc is painful and sad enough without M having a past rape experience in addition to what happened with the Tar.

[TheDOCTOR]

When this is all said and done, I think Georgettes "Superpower" will be to advocate for Sexually abused people everywhere, and Monica and Kevin will have to sit down and have a Looooong talk and if Kevin's smart he'll stay by her, be Monica's rock...Maybe use the "M"-word and give her a rock hmmm.

[jwhouk]

I'm gonna go Occam's Razor here. She's talking about what Tar did to her in C-Space.

[zachariah]

I'm gonna go Occam's Razor here. She's talking about what Tar did to her in C-Space.

While that is a good option I wonder about how calm and quickly Monica recovered from her experience. Even though it was in CSpace and by a TAR she then turned into a flaming wreck her bounce back was quick. Concern for Jet was part of it but the event is traumatic. Either Monica has become a very hard person inside in reacting to crisis and attacks, or she has been through this before and helped to recovery. Take your pick.

[kingklash]

Even rocks can crack.

[DilyV]

... and Monica speaks from experience.... question is... is she referring to the Tar, or something else in her past we haven't been privy to yet? Could the Tar have been a way for Monica to deal with something from her own past that she's kept buried deep inside? Remember Tina telling Monica something about Jet that Monica all the sudden saw in herself?

EDIT

This one is the one I was thinking of.....

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/something-in-myself/

Huh...I always read that as M not liking the part of herself that demands not to be ignored but dimisses others offhand. Maybe there's something more there, but I seriously doubt they had any inkling of Jet's trauma then...so even if M has been raped in the past, I don't think she recognized it that long ago. I kind of feel like she might not have tried to avoid Jet if she'd recognized a kindred spirit with regards to emotional scarring. Usually it's seeing the uglier parts of ourselves in others that makes people run away where when we see shared trauma we cling to each other...at least in my experience that's the case.

All that said, your theory is interesting. I just hope it isn't true. The story arc is painful and sad enough without M having a past rape experience in addition to what happened with the Tar.

I was referring to Monica seeing herself in others and being disgusted with what she saw in herself... However some people who have had tragic things happen to them tend to bury them so deep and get so wrapped up in their denial that the incident ceases to exist in every day life... only raring it's ugly head in nightmares. I grant that my view could be reaching, but I just got the distinct feeling that Monica wasn't talking about the Tar... I got the feeling that it took what happened with he Tar to finally get Monica to admit something that she'd buried within herself long ago and finally saw it was time to deal with it and heal both Jet and herself at the same time. Remember, we know Monica has had a horrific past in institutions that has been hinted at, but not fully stated what happened to her.

[jwhouk]

I guess my problem is how retcon-y that would be.

[Mark N]

I guess my problem is how retcon-y that would be.

If all of the original info is still the same then a repressed memory is not a retcon, it is just a deeper look into the characters life. Remember that Paul has avoided all retcons in the past because he has left plenty of threads in place with the characters. I would think that the same will be used here.

[Catawampus]

... and Monica speaks from experience.... question is... is she referring to the Tar, or something else in her past we haven't been privy to yet? Could the Tar have been a way for Monica to deal with something from her own past that she's kept buried deep inside? Remember Tina telling Monica something about Jet that Monica all the sudden saw in herself?

Well, the incident with the Tar would automatically be included in this reference; the question is, is she referring to something else as well as the Tar's attack?

That day when I read through the archive whenever that was, I came to one strip from several years ago that really jumped out at me more than usual (though not literally, thankfully, or I'd probably need a new computer). In it, a conversation was going on about another character (not Georgette), and Monica suddenly made this completely out-of-the-blue comment that just didn't seem to fit in at all and that appeared to imply. . .something. The implication was very vague to me, but it did give a possible impression of some sort of unwanted sexual advances (at the very least) having happened to Monica in the past and having really upset her. I waited through the next few years' worth of comics to see if that was ever cleared up, but it was never mentioned again. Just one completely isolated comment by Monica, not even acknowledged by any of the other characters who were with her.

Maybe this is that little aside coming to the forefront at last. Or it's also quite likely that I'm reading too much into things.

I'm somewhat reluctant actually to tell which comic it was, though, because if that is the case, then Paul seems to have been planning this out for a considerable time and I'd hate to spoil the whole surprise for everybody who has forgotten about it in the interval. Eh, I'll go ahead and link to it, but not actually say which one it is. That way you can decide for yourself if you want to see it.