Kill6BillionDemons II: The Successor's coming will be followed by 108 burning threads

[Gez]

I like how they're given translation brackets because they're speaking English.

[Rydiro]

I like how they're given translation brackets because they're speaking English.

I like how she rescued him first, and then he rescued her.
Or at least he's currently trying to.
I think this level of (mutual) responsibility is rare in modern stories, a thing I like about Allison. Its wholesome.
Not as wholesome as Cio watering her plants and loving Allison, but still.

[wingnutx]

She's made a decision.

[Rydiro]

She's made a decision.

True to herself, a questionable one. It was perfectly fine stuff.

[lord_khaine]

The mouseover text is hilarious xD

[Anarchic Fox]

I was unhappy with the comic for a span, but the recent sequence has renewed my enthusiasm. Of course we knew Alison would decide to leave, but it was a powerful moment nonetheless.

[wingnutx]

I think we are about to see Jadis unchained.

[lord_khaine]

I am confused why Allison didnt want her Bionics though.

[Rakaydos]

I am confused why Allison didnt want her Bionics though.

They arnt her power. She cant push them beyond their limits with an act of will, and at the level she is operating, it doesnt matter if she actually has the limbs or not.

[Gez]

They arnt her power. She cant push them beyond their limits with an act of will, and at the level she is operating, it doesnt matter if she actually has the limbs or not.

It's not a question of whether or not she can use her powers with them, why couldn't she use them? Her power is theoretically limitless.

No, it's far more primal than that. She explained it here:
https://killsixbilliondemons.com/com...-167-to-4-168/
The prosthetics Jadis gave her made her return to a state she had left. But it's a trap, she cannot move forward if she lets others carry her backward. Her whole scene is about staying true to her nature even if that makes her suffer. Rejecting the bionics is the ultimate expression of that.

[JavaScribe]

I've seen several stories treat getting scarred and increasingly crippled as if it was a form of character development. I can certainly admire the tenacity it takes to overcome that kind of adversity, but it kind of bugs me when being crippled is treated as if it were in itself a positive thing, as if healing would be a bad thing. Kinda like the situation Durkon's mother has chosen to be in.

[BRC]

I've seen several stories treat getting scarred and increasingly crippled as if it was a form of character development. I can certainly admire the tenacity it takes to overcome that kind of adversity, but it kind of bugs me when being crippled is treated as if it were in itself a positive thing, as if healing would be a bad thing. Kinda like the situation Durkon's mother has chosen to be in.

Yeah

So, symbolically, what's happening is that Jadis is presenting Allison with an option to, basically, disengage and wait for the end, "healing" defined as "Returning to being who she was before she was hurt", the prosthetics erase the damage, and Allison can avoid confronting the world out there. Trying her hardest to pretend that the bad thing never happened, since facing it is futile.

symbolically, pulling out the prosthetics is Allison deciding to move on, to face her trauma again in hopes of maybe finding a better place past it. Healing as forward motion instead of regression.


Which, okay, powerful symbolism. Maybe something to be said there about confronting one's trauma.

But literally, Allison is ripping out very useful prosthetics to, I dunno, make a point? Acknowledge she was hurt? Reject Jadis's offer to sit around the temple waiting for the universe to end?

[sihnfahl]

But literally, Allison is ripping out very useful prosthetics to, I dunno, make a point? Acknowledge she was hurt? Reject Jadis's offer to sit around the temple waiting for the universe to end?

Because it was imposed on her, instead of by her consent.

They were given with the intent to make her try to ignore the outside world. Be content. She's physically as she was before she took her first step in Throne. On Jadis' terms.

So she will get her own prosthetics in the future... or find a way to heal herself. But on her terms, by her choice.

[Dragonus45]

Being a keyholder demigod divine whatever she is she is pretty far into the real of "the body as a metaphorical vessel" territory, add in that in this universe symbolic gestures like this are also literally real plues I don't think this will have any effect on her in a functional way so it it all makes sense.

[Rydiro]

Allison is getting experienced here, her questionable decisions caught up to her in only four pages.
Thats efficiency.
Allison/Comic is still awesome.

[wingnutx]

Alright, Maya and Inky dealing death.

[Fjolnir]

Alright, Maya and Inky dealing death.

And looking Fly AF while doing so.

[sihnfahl]

Ah, Allison, so close, but yet so far from the right question.

And Meti casually making stick to sword is just icing on the cake.

[Anarchic Fox]

I'm happy with recent plot developments, much more so than I was a hundred pages ago. I still think this comic glorifies violence while preaching nonviolence, but maybe that tension is part of what makes it what it is.

[wingnutx]

It preaches non-violence?

[BRC]

I'm happy with recent plot developments, much more so than I was a hundred pages ago. I still think this comic glorifies violence while preaching nonviolence, but maybe that tension is part of what makes it what it is.

It preaches non-violence?

I wouldn't say it preaches non-violence so much as it preaches that violence is stupid while also portraying it as rad as hell.

A Comic that preaches non-violence would have to show characters practicing non-violence and getting good results out of that. I don't think anybody in the comic practices non-violence in any real way. The closest we get is, say, Early Cio or Allison in the Pyramid who have kind of checked out and stopped engaging in wider affairs.


The point it seems to go for is that Violence, which can also be seen as a stand-in for the accumulation of Power, is not a path towards happiness or satisfaction. The Demiurges, who have all achieved Peak Violence, are for the most part deeply unhappy. The one big exception seems to be the dragon, who has escaped that fate through senility. Mottom and Salami Dave both seek to give up their positions, Incubus sits terrified that somebody better at swords than he is will take it all away, Jadis is a puppet of fate, barely a person at all, and Jagganoth won't be happy until he destroys literally everything that can be destroyed.

That said, there are a lot of bad things that get stopped by somebody throwing a punch.

The comic's stance is less "Never throw a punch", and more "You'll never be able to fight your way to happiness". But also "Fight scenes are fun to look at".

(Although I guess White Chain did fight her way to happiness in a very real way, so I dunno).

[tyckspoon]

There can be several simultaneously true things the comic is proposing. I wouldn't say it is recommending 'non violence', as such - rather, it's a composite statement: A, Power is the ability to exert your will on the world and B, Violence is a particularly stupid choice of method for demonstrating Power and will not achieve the goals you think it will.

.. unfortunately an awful lot of people never get past Violence, and if somebody is going to commit Violence upon you then you must be able to perform a minimum level of Violence yourself in order to resist them. So while our protagonist party must then necessarily be proficient in Violence, at the same time in order to realize their goals they also must realize that this is a crutch to be discarded, not the end goal.

(basically if anybody in the story is to be taken as 'correct', it is Meti and her 'The sword is a stupid, ugly thing that will not bring you happiness. Go be a farmer.' comments.)

[Anarchic Fox]

BRC and Tyckspoon described what I perceive in a much more nuanced way than I did.

I'm thinking of stuff like early White Chain praying for forgiveness for the violence she's about to commit, or Meti's teacher claiming that the sword is a useless tool that only fools value. So "preaches nonviolence" is a poor description; maybe "often uses nonviolence for characterization" would be better.

[Vahnavoi]

The comic is all about paradoxes and this particular paradox is found and discussed in plenty of real philosophy, especially in context of martial arts and warfare. Why is it that in pursuit of non-violence, you have to learn how to commit it on others? Why is it that in order to defend yourself, you have to become something others would wish to defend against? Why would you prepare for war if you wish for peace? Why put yourself at risk of pain and injury if those are what you wish to avoid? Why learn how to wield a sword if it leads to the realization that it's an useless chunk of steel and you are an idiot for ever picking it up?

[sihnfahl]

And now Allison finds out HOW she got to where she was...

[Anarchic Fox]

Oh, a Spiderweb Software fan! Have you tried Queen's Wish?

A friend of mine has been gushing over Trigun, reminding me that it's a comic with a similar tension between violence and nonviolence.

[wingnutx]

How did Allison lose her leg? She had two when Maya saved her and Jadis showed up.

[Avaris]

How did Allison lose her leg? She had two when Maya saved her and Jadis showed up.

Amputated as a result of injuries sustained and necrosis https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/boi4-127/

[Anarchic Fox]

How did Allison lose her leg? She had two when Maya saved her and Jadis showed up.

She ripped the artificial arm and leg off when rebuking Jadis.

Would someone remind me which part of the story Rayuba was in? I don't remember what they're talking about in the current strip.

[InvisibleBison]

Would someone remind me which part of the story Rayuba was in? I don't remember what they're talking about in the current strip.

Rayuba was Solomon David's capital, where the tournament and the fight with Jagganoth happened. Specifically, they're talking about this incident, where Incubus tried to kill Allison and Maya stopped him from doing so.