Closure on some bad times
I kinda waffled on whether or not to put this here because it’s kinda more serious subject matter than I typically involve in this comic and I know “funny video game webcomic takes on serious issues” is always at risk of coming across as really corny and undermining what it’s trying to discuss, but I figure it’s worth laying out exactly what kinda history these two had.
I mean, I feel like it was more or less implied, but hey, there it is if you had any doubts.
That said, not trying to portray Rock as a paragon of good decision making here. This isn’t supposed to be an advice book for how to handle abusive breakups by any means, it comes from a place of personal experience with messy relationship ends and mental illness, the grey area when you can’t cut something cleanly but you need to set hard limits and figure out what amount of interaction (if any) is safe after a period of time for the parties to work on themselves. They’re two people who ended up damaged by similar shit, at various stages of working through it, stuck in each other’s orbit by necessity of circumstance beyond their control, figuring out how they can safely interact and get closure from each other.
And I mean honestly, speaking from the experience of someone with friendships and other such relationships break down over issues like this with no happy ending or closure, it can be cathartic to have a little fictional fantasy situation where two people I can guarantee are going to be civil with each other can talk this shit out.
(Mostly I just wanna explicitly stress I’m not trying to convince anyone to keep in contact with someone dangerous for them to be around here)
I like this, good closure
Huh.
So Tank is like an abusive Ex. But with the key point that he’s actually seemed to learn from his past errors, and is actively trying to become a better person because of them.
Man… feel kinda bad for him. And it makes me wonder what could have been had the two actually made it work, somehow.
Don’t feel bad. Tank can always find someone else who’s wonderful. Or hell, if they wanted to try again, Commander is technically not in a relationship right now, since he doesn’t want to put a label on what he and Jonesy have. On the other hand, even on a level and humane playing field, Commander would apparently have to give up some of his personal domestic dreams to stay with Tank. They might be better off as just friends and that’s still pretty good. Having friends who really get you and know where you’re coming from is always awesome. :)
Nah, he and Commander are done for good, the bridge is burned. Rock will be civil with them, but it was never a healthy relationship. He was so focused on trying to “fix” Tank and make it work he didn’t stop to look at how incompatible they ultimately were. Sometimes ending a relationship can feel like a “failure” so you just want to hang on and wait for it to get better, and it can hurt to be like “No, hard line full stop, this needs to end now, it’s not good for either of us.”
Plus, no matter how much he’s changed, I’d never trust him with -my- kids, and I doubt CMDR Commander (oooo, suddenly recursivitus) would either.
(Really it’s still rather amazing to me Rock trusts Mr. Fish around his kids, to be honest.)
To be fair, Mr Fish has never really done anything to imply that he’s an actual DANGER. He’s dangerous, yes, but so are the guys are the shop.
Aside from eating a whole lot of pokemon…
Pokémon eat other Pokémon, that’s always been true. Doesn’t mean they should never be around anything alive.
Mr. Fish strikes me as like one of those gigantic dogs that can rip your stuff to shreds if they feel like it but will genially put up with a baby a tenth their size tugging their ears.
To be fair, it’s astounding that he trusts Jared with his kids. If he can trust Jared, then Mr. Fish is no problem.
Damn… they’re ex-lovers… they’re siblings… they’re comrades in arms… they’ve got SO MANY CONNECTIONS… this is intense…
Commander’s only siblings are the Raptor dad, the James Bond one, and the girl who looks like a Gerudo. He and Tank are just exes.
Did they all grow up together? Or were they raised separately and only brought together as adults?
They were separate family “units” all raised together, kind of like growing up in a small town and being in class with the same people your whole life
Any time you maybe want to do a long flashback arc about Space Future Super Soldiers School, I think we’d all be totally okay with that.
… Now I sorta want similar summaries for the rest of them, too, those are great haha.
“Are just exes.”
I see what you did there.exe
I’m a guy who has at various times been called on to be a shield for others. And yet I also have been a victim and through some pretty bad times. So to see this. The very commandeer simply owning the supportive role, the fact that physical strength insn’t the decider of who ended up abused, the The complete lack of malice or resentment but also a complete lack of bullshitting about what it was… to despite it all, despite the need to protect oneself to also simply want the best for someone you care about… this is a beautiful comic.
I’m glad it was good for you. It’s not something you see represented much, and I certainly found it pretty intense (in a good way.)
I just recently got out of a toxic relationship with an abusive partner (they never hit me, but emotional abuse is still abuse). This page is amazing. If I had the tears for it, I would be crying right now. I would like my ex to learn from their mistakes like Tank seems to have. I would like to have enough space and time to learn to forgive my ex if they do learn from their mistakes. Thank you so much for making this comic.
Yeah, weird conflicted feelings here. My first thought was “gosh it’s nice of Rock to be so understanding and chill about the whole thing,” and then “…If I met a woman who still hung out with a guy who put her in the hospital, I would think she had serious Stockholm syndrome.”
But…I dunno. It seems different but I don’t know why? Maybe because Commander seems like a big tough guy who can take it, but that doesn’t actually justify anything, does it? Especially when Tank is so big and tough he makes Rock look like Jones.
Maybe it’s just what you said. Rock’s been through a lot of the same shit that left Tank so messed up; he managed to keep himself sane and stable, but he knows what it was like and how easy it is to slip over that edge.
It’s uncomfortable being reminded that a sweet, loving person and a psycho abuser can sometimes be the same person.
I think on one hand it’s like, legitimately a character flaw of Rock’s that he feels so duty bound to help people he’ll put up with much more than he should, on the other hand it kinda comes from my personal experience interacting with people who will lash out and hurt others either physically or emotionally as a by-product of mental illness, and knowing “okay you are a human with feelings who needs love and support, but I also need to know how to set hard limits with you to minimize my risk of being attacked by you.” also experience with dealing with that shit a decade-plus later, how it changes your perspective, how both parties have grown as people and look back at the situation. And that’s not to say it’s always this amicable, there are people who hurt me in the past I still have nightmares about dealing with to this day, I’d never have a friendly chat with them on a park bench about where things went wrong. But there are others I feel like I could, or would want to, just to see where we’re both at now.
It’s knowing when people are bad for you, or you’re bad for them, and how much of someone’s burden you can safely shoulder before you have to set hard limits to protect yourself.
I think it’s a situation that’s kind of uneasy, it’s not a one-size-fits-all thing, and I tried to make it as sincere as possible to the kind of people both of these characters are and what they’ve been through as tastefully as possible.
Whoa, simul-response. One that certainly trumps what I had to say about all this, for all kinds of reasons.
Thank you. This helps a lot. I don’t regret leaving him, but I do wish it had gone differently. He was the victim far more than I was, a selfless and charming young man who just couldn’t handle his stress and insecurity in a healthy way.
I offered to get him help, but he couldn’t handle seeing me without having me. I blocked his number. If he needs to reach out to me, we have mutual friends. I think. I hope.
It probably hurts the most because I saw all of the red flags, and brought them up by name. Jealousy, control, communication, conflict resolution – I legitimately thought we were working it all out until he got piss drunk while on some heavy duty medication (without telling me, of course, so I had no idea why 3 beers and 2 shots of fireball were doing this to him) and let it all boil over.
I’m scared he’ll hurt himself but I can’t let myself check. I just have to keep my eyes forward and take another step.
I think it’s kinda okay cause of how well adjusted the two of them seem to be. Specially Rock – he’s demonstrated that he’s stable enough and capable enough of making certain types of good decisions and being a good enough judge of character that we trust that his decision to keep hanging with Tank is a measured one.
The way that this conversation plays out reinforces that – it’s not one tinged with emotional hooks, or codependence or anything problematic – like whatever bygones may not be forgotten, but they’re certainly forgiven. For whatever reason it may be.
These guys may not have figured out much in their lives. But from how it looks, they’ve figured out THIS, at least.
Gender dynamics plays into it too, though – but that’s “just” cause of how systemic that shit is. But I’d still say if we’d had a female character as capable, stable, experienced and adjusted as Rock is, here – it wouldn’t be *quite* so problematic if we find she’d chosen to keep associating with someone she had an abusive past with.
My GF’s ex knocked her out once, and they are by no means on good terms, but that is actually the one thing she completely forgives him for , because he was having a horrible reaction to psychotropic meds that did pretty much the opposite of what they were supposed to do at the time (he unfortunately treated her like shit in other ways that are completely unquestionably on him though).
Tank is the equivalent of the really bad bipolar guy who’s finally on the right meds (including the risk of downward slide when you get it in your head that you should stop taking the meds). You don’t have to forgive that person, of course, but you can see now that they they are acting like the person you fell for again just how much of it might have been a misfiring brain and that can make it easier to see them positively.
I think “not generally a good idea to hang out with punchy exes” should be “not generally a good idea to hang out with punchy exes who aren’t cyborgs with a very obvious ‘fixed’ wiring setup and even then this is a very specific situation”. Because doing that in real life is how Punchy Ex gets a foot in the door or access to your new life and children.
I mean, props to Commander for being super (soldier) over it and amazingly emotionally stable, but no-one do this. You may love someone who hurt you that badly, but even if you don’t care about the potential of being killed during a relapse, it generally doesn’t help their recovery to tease that you’re in reach. If they reach a better place, they can make a better life: you can care abut them but you don’t owe them so much as a hug. Not even if you’re 6′-odd of muscle.
Very glad Tank didn’t beat up anyone else, but yeah, that’s a cyborg-spacefuture kind of result where the wake-up of being left led him straight to counselling and made him mostly a better person who’s safely talkable-to after a few years. Clean breaks, people, whatever your orientation. I’ve seen far too much damage from the resurgence of old habits post-“but he’s better now”. Please. Someone who attacked you when they loved you best is rarely going to improve when they love you less.
I’ve mentioned in a different comment, but this comic comes from firsthand experience dealing with people I care about who have lashed out and hurt me to me for reasons related to chemical imbalance, as well as being there for friends who have been through similar situations. Sometimes there aren’t clean solutions, sometimes they’re people that you want to be able to help or are stuck in proximity to due to any possible number of factors, but you need to learn how to how to set hard limits to protect yourself.
What those hard limits are can vary case to case. Some people I keep tabs on from an appropriate distance and interact with when it’s safe to do so and I know they’re keeping up with their meds to make sure they know I’m still there as long as they take care of themselves, some people I have nightmares about and will never interact with again by choice.
I hit ‘random’ on MGDMT sometimes, just for fun, and now you’re no longer here to play the dismal game of ‘competing life experiences’ with: I was talking about a RL situation, too. I’m sure your personal judgement is rock-solid, but what happened to a friend’s kid as a result of trusting someone that proved unworthy of it is why I went ‘ahh…don’t get too chill with unstable exes that know you’re off-limits’ all those years ago. It’s likely no-one will ever read this, but just in case.
I just realized that Tank choosing to mess with his wiring has strong comparisons to both an IRL person going off their meds because they’re tired of the side effects, and an alcoholic relapsing and having a drink or three. You’re sick of feeling this way and it’s so easy to feel better, at least for a little while…
yep.
yeah.. I mean I was in such a situation as the abusive part. The situation made me change- so I don’t precribe this “forever fuckedup” idea, but on the other hand I have also experiences via another person where the abusive part did not change- in that case all form of distance are super important, because statistcs show the most people becoming victim of dv-related homicide do it after they leave..
So I get werps position because in cases where it is clear cut, where you have someone who doesn’t change, who hasn’t changed but pretend to, seeking contact can be massively dangerous.
But in the cases where it isn’t, where people have changed, dealt with their problems or found a way to cope without being abusive to their partners hand haven repeated that behavior and also respect any boundaries (ie jot the people who want you to forgive them now because then they don’t have to deal with their own consciousness, thereby showing they haven’t really fully dealt with the problem.
but no matter what.. this is a comic and characters in comic dont have to do all the perfect anr ight things, they can be messy and imperfect like rock who seems to have a too bg heard for his own good somehow (but that makes him very sympathetic)
so criticizing her bc she decided her characters do what they do just because this may be a bad idea in a lot of cases in RL isnt really helpful, I mean coela isnt saying “hey you have to make good/up” so ..
idk what do you expect to achieve with that criticism?
sometime RL is messy and people change for the better and grow, sometimes its clear and cut and abuser dont stop abusing. thats life.
I think that criticism should be ore directed at those “but faaamily/but appearances” people who want a victim to “stop the drama”; i.e to suck it up and shut up so they can live in peace without needing to be reminded that they tacitly ignore abuse..
Okay, werp, I’m going to try and be gentle because it’s pretty clear you’ve been burnt by someone (or many someone’s) but that’s not an excuse for your all or nothing attitude. People do change. Not often but why should they if the majority never forgives them or give them a chance to redeem themselves? Not to mention, everyone’s situation is different. What didn’t work out for you might work or be worked out by someone else. Honestly, I find attitudes like yours to be just as toxic as an abusers attitude for it’s just as black and white and just as controlling and if that’s how you want to live your life, fine, I can’t stop you but don’t dictate others on what to do in this kind of situation. Coelasquid handled this with a lot of grace and respect and I wish more people could handle these things like Rock did.
I think it works. It still ends with a punchline that manages to convey both the seriousness of the situation and elicit a laugh, so it doesn’t stand out as the serious comic in the middle of a fun crazy romp. Also an important message.
This is… extremely meaningful to me right now. I finally made the decision to cut ties after nearly a decade of marriage to someone with mental illness stemming from their abusive childhood. I really tried everything I can, and dealing with them is a struggle every time it happens. I am so much happier when I am with my kid then when we’re operating “as a family.” I just hope that one day they get their stuff together and can be successful and happy on their own, since our child deserves to have functioning, happy parents in healthy relationships.
I’m really happy for you getting yourself and your kid away from that, it’s hard when it’s someone you have that much history with because you’ve seen the best in them and know how good they have the potential to be, but it’s not worth the downs and it’s not your responsibility to tolerate that behaviour while they try to figure themselves out.
Don’t ever feel bad about occasionally putting personal, heartfelt shit into your comic. Write what you want, and we’ll follow or not. Me? I am a weekly reader, and will remain so. Keep up the great work.
Exactly what Jim said. I’ll be here even if you decide to touch on subjects that I find offensive. (good luck finding one.) And your content is so awesome, feel free to write/draw on what you want!
Sudden thought. Seeing as how he specifically mentions getting punched in his face… is that where Rock’s one tooth went?
Not the tooth, but it is the majority of what left his nose like that.
Woah, so the tooth has it’s own, separate, story? You gotta bring that up at some point in the comic!
It happens in the first 20 or so strips… he punched himself in the face via time travel for reasons that were never entirely clear.
Naw, he’s missing it from the start.
Yes. This very much this. Having had to finally break and run from an abusive end to a 26 year marriage falling apart from mental illness, and that likely would have killed me, that sort of closure was never in the cards, but it’s a nice gesture to hope for a better resolution than many of us received. Thank you for that.
i mean the comic is about toxic masculinity at it’s core and how super macho guys can be pretty fucked up under the super machoness, so even if it’s more serious the theme still fits.
when i was in 8th grade my algebra teacher, while talking about abusive and toxic relationships said “if someone’s in a hole and you try to help them, it’s easier for them to pull you in than for you to pull them out”, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve help, and i think you portrayed that well here, especially with how Rock very quickly put the breaks on the ‘happy relationship nostalgia’ moment.
It always seemed both a denouncement of toxic masculinity and a celebration of the right forms of macho lifestyle. Muscle bikes, leather jackets, weightlifting, big steaks, guns; and then the humanizing pause of ‘you gotta talk about your feelings man’ and ‘I baby coo to my pets’ and ‘be respectful.’
Well, taken out of context, I could certainly see this as potentially not great…
But, first, Coelasquid was pretty transparent of the potential issues this comic might raise. I think that goes a long way. Especially that she acknowledges that this is a pretty idealized version of interacting with an ex with an abusive past. Mental illness that’s treated (albeit via cyborg-wiring in both cause and part of the fix) is an important sub note here.
I think it’s also important to keep in mind that we saw much earlier in the comic that the Commander’s interactions show a very clear “I care about you but I’m not going to take this shit from you and will ABSOLUTELY call you out on it.” response. He does so with hard limits established and some pretty impressive emotional stability and clarity. That’s important for a number of reasons, personal safety a huge one. Not everyone can do that for every version of this. Either due to physical safety issues or emotional damage. The author acknowledges this.
There are people in my own life with whom I could never do this, and some where I’ve been able to. It depends on a lot of things. Changed perspective from time and from sharing with others is important.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I read the line “I gave you enough second chances to put me in the ER. Didn’t need enough to put me in the morgue.” I hope that all victims of domestic abuse find the reserves to draw that line (also cash, a car, and a safe place to stay).
I’m easily in the camp that enjoys the every-so-often character development and world building strips. It doesn’t have to be a gag a week, you can ground the characters in reality like this and make them nuanced and relatable.
Next week can be the funny gags again, but taking a few every bunch of months to have something touching and serious instead is Never A Bad Thing.
I enjoy the the comics that make me laugh, but this one will stick with me far longer. Just beautiful. Thank you.
it’s gotta be weird for them because of how violent and and disrespectful of boundaries their lives have been. i mean, they were literally created and raised to do violence and have it done to them. htf do you you even deal w that.
This is… really hard for me to engage with. I’ve had serious anger management problems all my life, and while I haven’t -physically- harmed anyone since I was a kid, the possibility has haunted me for decades. This strip really reminds me of how grateful I am to have friends and family who care enough to have stayed with me despite the outbursts. Things have been getting better over the years, in the anger deparment at least, and I owe them a great deal for their part in that.
Remember, we’re looking at the story without knowing anything about you. Most people will see it through their own lens and experiences anyway (while those of us exposed to literary theory in college — or who write our own stories, will go “hmmmm”).
Don’t know if that helps, but I like these strips. It doesn’t have to be a gag a day all the time.
I would like to say that at no time should people ever feel that fictional characters determine their staying or leaving a relationship. There are any number of reasons that you wrote this strip the way you did, and I fully agree that putting something down in artistic form can be, among other things, a way for someone to move through or past something. If people feel that you are justifying or informing others to stay in a bad place, I offer this rebuttal. People CHOOSE to stay in the situations they are in. You can blame everything you like, point the finger in all directions, and say “I was a victim of influence.” but most bad situations that people stay in ALWAYS have the victim JUSTIFY their staying. If you need to justify your actions (and to yourself no less) usually you shouldn’t be in the situation in the first place.
The comment stream pretty well seems to prove that overall, this was something your fans are okay with.
As has been noted, it fits the (sometimes VERY dark!) humor theme, it fits the toxic masculinity theme, it fits the rehab theme which is the core of Commander’s work, it punches (ha) home the symbolism of Tank’s wiring (and attempts at self-rewiring), it puts a very, very solid anchor in Rock’s worries about a ‘normal’ (by his lights, which are clearly not gender-centric) relationship, and it treats a potentially terrifying and painful situation with a heartfelt tenderness that few authors achieve.
Yes, everybody is projecting their own experiences on it, some more positively than others. That’s what we DO with fiction. When we see the hero about to make a mistake, it’s our own backgrounds, our own history which makes us flinch. When we see pain in a character we care about, it’s our own past experiences with pain which decide how affected we are by it.
Humor itself is dependent on the human condition, whether it’s schadenfreude, response to outrageousness, or hilarity at the perverse (in the sense of ‘outside of the natural order, not sexually in particular). You’ve worked all of these into your comics at various points.
Here, not for the first time in this webcomic, but probably the deepest and darkest, you’ve tangled with a very difficult and tragic subject; the overall response has been both understanding and positive, and even, it looks like, potentially reassuring for some people. At the same time, you’ve been careful to clarify that the message is not intended to be interpreted in a way that encourages victimization.
Thank you for continuing to occasionally intersperse your humor with more meaningful diatribes. It adds greatly to my enjoyment of this comic, and I’m certain that I’m not alone in that.
Feels and Big Guys: the comic.
This was a very nice arc!
Really loved this weeks comic, really struck a cord with me. I dont know how to really express it…but thank you.
Thanks for this.
It was back in January I had to cut off a relationship with a friend of 6 or so years when our friendship had become something that was actively hurting me and heightening the bad thoughts I’ve been having from mental illness. I don’t think it was quite this bad, but feeling belittled, insulted, being shamed for anything I had an interest in or opinions I had, calling me things I constantly told her I didn’t appreciate or that upset me, being called weird all the time like I was a pet she kept around… Sometimes got to realise when a relationship just isn’t working. I stuck it out for nearly 7 years and I like to think gave it a good go, with plenty of regrets and mistakes myself (especially with ending it) but hopefully will make the next difficult experience easier.
Can’t say it didn’t hurt like hell having a person constantly think you don’t care. Or that you’re replacing them with someone else when you cut them off. I’d hope that anyone would realise if someone is asking to end a relationship that there are serious issues needing to be addressed. It felt like her even thinking that meant she hadn’t taken any of the things that had upset me seriously at all and it was just a “me” problem.
Well. I’m glad rock and tank have had a frank talk without either side dismissing the other. I think its so rare to actually get to bury the hatchet and reach closure. Sure gives me some comfort seeing it portrayed even if I couldn’t do it myself.
On the one hand closure like this would be wonderful, on the other I never want to be in a dark alley alone with my ex.
No matter I am glad these two can be civil with eachother, warms the heart.
I like this a lot. Thank you for sharing it.
man, we already know Rock is a pretty damn burly man but seeing him get dwarfed by Tank ? Holy fuck…
Aaaaah so TANK is the guy who Commander had been with. I was wondering who it was gonna be.
…Huh, didn’t figure tank was his type. Learn something new about Commander Badass every week.
It’s come up in previous comics, he said the used to date in the strip where he’s wiring Tank’s head back together.
I guess I don’t really pay attention that much…
“It makes sense when you realize I’m about as close to a project car as a person can get.” – Tank, paraphrased because I’m not going to look that up right now.
I think I really appreciate that you’re having tank able to come to terms with what he’s done and that he can make his life better. It feels like many people don’t want to think that others can grow and then harbor resentment and that makes it so they can’t heal.
I also Really Appreciate the acknowledgement that even really buff big guys can end up on the receiving side of abuse.
Thanks for the awesome webcomic, Kelly!
What a lovely piece. I always love a splash of realness every once in a while, even if it is a fantasy, everybody does better in the end sort of thing. Need that sometimes. Need it real bad
Is that why the Commander has missing teeth? From this relationship?
Naw something else knocked his tooth out
Wow. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t fully grasp the entirety of the TPIM continuity, but…I missed the point where Tank and Commander were….intimate. And to be fair, things like that keep me reading. Where Machismo IS that punchline, and two dudes can have a relationship, for better or worse….and can be mature enough to move on, and wish eachother the best of luck, even when they reminisce.
That’s what quality writing is like.
It was before the comic began, but was referenced during the Survival Dome Challenge arc.
Props to you for having this conversation in this way among these guys. I love the world you’ve created.
Talking about feelings, owning up to mistakes, and seeking closure are all very manly things – at least, they should be. I love this strip and I’m happy I woke up to this today.
Firstly; please handle whatever subject matter you like, CSquid. Do it without doubt, because you do it right, and there’s certainly enough readers who know you have a firm and experienced grip on what you choose to handle.
Secondly; I actual “whoa’d!”. Which equates to, I guess, a literal lol but silent, alone, with a semi-jaw drop (I never jaw-drop) and a sharp provoke in the head.
(sigh) Rock really is that better guy isn’t he? Like, he don’t need to be scaling Rushmore handless, with a star on his chest, walking away from an explosion to do it neither. He just glows to the Nth then shows you one more spark. I love it.
I think it’s really telling that this comic about absurdly manly people has nonetheless been a valuable resource to me in figuring out non-toxic standards of masculinity.
Pretty sure that’s the whole point of it.
It’s good to see that they can discuss their old relationship without it breaking down. Tank definitely seems to be in a much better state now.
Probably closest Tank could find to Rock is Canadian Guy. But he would probably end up punching him without even messing with the wires if Canadian Guy is annoying toward others as well.
Really unrelated and I don’t know why this off all comics made me think of it, but does Commander ever use time travel to hang out with his grown-up kids? On one hand I think he’d feel like that’s peeking at the presents before Christmas (just ruins the moment when it comes). On the other my dad had me later in his life and I sometimes wonder what it would be like to do certain things with him if we were both physically able to do it (from bar hopping to a big hiking trip or something).
I doubt it. Time travel in this universe just gets messy if you complicate it too much, and it seems like doing that sort of thing would complicate his relationships – one person knowing about shared moments from the past, the other person being too young to have experienced it yet. Whether those moments were good or bad, skipping over them would be losing something vital. He had enough issues even with keeping his appearances linear (i.e. warping out right after a fight with Maddie, returning home immediately after for her when it’s been several months for him – he’s gotten over the anger, she hasn’t yet).
We got to see them once. Turns out Commander’s death-bed wish was to have the Expendables made. http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/let-me-tell-you-a-tale-of-my-people
Feels like a missed chance for Tank to be wearing that scarf the commander knitted him.
The wires coming out the back of his head look like a rainbow ponytail, and I love it
Theres a lot of abusive situations I’ve been in, relationship or otherwise, that I really desire closure like this for. I have gotten it from one and it was so emotionally uplifting for me. Just seeing this comic has made me cry, because it’s everything I could ever want and something I have also gotten.
I have an abuser I never want to see again and no apology would ever be enough, so of course I don’t advocate this for everyone, but I know this comic wasn’t meant to. Like you said, one size doesn’t fit all with this.
I understand the catharsis these fictional stories can give you, and I’m happy you’ve had this.
My current/last relationship in a nutshell.
I feel like Tank might have had a lot to do with what shaped the Commander’s views on what is and isn’t healthy masculinity.
Hmm, I’m glad something like this can happen somewhere, even if it’s fictional. It’s naive to believe that every relationship could end with both parties growing and trying to get better separate, but there is always the potential for it happening. It’s inspiring a little bit, heck I’d even say I find Tank a little inspiring. If I woke up as someone who did the things he did I might not be able to live with myself, then again it does make me wonder if tank messes with his brain sometimes because it’s easier when he’s roided up. Afterall with macho sexist hulk brain there isn’t any guilt. I appreciate stories like this, ones where I can look deeply into the characters and see real human issues there. You did a great job translating those feelings into characters without making the story self-insert of preachy.
Tank DOES mess with his brain chemistry, we saw him do it during the Survival Dome Challenge arc. It’s also why his relationship with the Commander was unsustainable; he’d keep flipping his angry switch and end up using Rock as a punching bag.
How about giving Tank some happiness while also realizing Commander’s worry? during a period where he can’t get back quick enough Jared goes through a supervillian phase which somehow leads to upgrading Tank’s cybers (not more cyborg just stronger) while also hiding the wire’s so he can’t mess with his system
I mean it would show how spot on his worries are by having little Jared somehow take down Tank so that he could work on him when he only has mister fish for smashing. Though in Jared’s case it feels like ruling with beasts and monsters would be his thing with how well he does with them
XXX OOO this is awesome. And yes, I want Tank to develop a healthy relationship with someone, and for us to get to see it, at some point, when the time is right.
One question about Tank and the wires in his head–are they there to control him in a way which might be good to be able to shut him down when he gets too violent, or to control him in a “let’s switch on the berserker rage now,” or both, or…? Like, is it a good thing that he can mess with his own wires so he can’t be controlled in a bad way? This also arguably gets into Clockwork Orange territory, especially (spoilers) the way at the end of the book the conditioning is destroyed but Alex decides, of his own free will rather than being forced, to become a more moral and mature person (some chapters are different between the US and the UK version, and I don’t recall if it’s in the movie, but that’s why it ends with chapter 21 and that happening: It’s symbolic of 21 being the age of maturity). Or is it more like someone who needs his meds and should keep taking them as prescribed? I could see it being both, too, which makes it difficult, if the Spacefuture generals or whomever want to keep him stable at some times, but then turn off that stability, all for their own purposes, rather than for his own sake and the sake of people around him, so if he took the wires out forever he’d never be stable at all, but leaving them in means other people can control him, so it’s a Catch-22.
The wires on the back of his neck are just part of the aggro-juice system. Rock stated back in the survival dome arc that he spent a looooonnngggg time jail-breaking Tanks systems so that 1. He can’t be flipped back and forth from stable to “Kratos if he were fused to a main battle tank” levels of aggro and angry against his will or knowledge, and 2. He could play with his mental juices from his arm panel, rather than ripping and flipping the cords manually. In theory, the exposed cords should be totally cosmetic in their exposure. If they were made internal, tank should only fuck with he mentality by computerized means, which might give some introspective stop gap “wait…this says activate the angry juices….am I really wanting that?” If it works like that is hard to say, since he seems to just prefer fucking with his own head from the neck up.
Aw, this hits hard. I have dreams about moments like this with my ex. Moments that can never happen because I know if I ever saw them again, I’d take them back without hesitation. These panels hit me really, really hard.
And you’re right. Even if its fictional, it’s a little therapeutic seeing someone else receive the closure I know I myself cannot ever have.
I thought these two were brothers. Not genetically, but they were both grown and raised by their Uncle Space-Sam.
They came out of different batches.
I also wanted to say, I gotta feel bad for Tank too.
And HEAR ME OUT here. I feel bad, because as Commander said in a previous comic, “He’s actually a pretty cool guy to hang out with when he’s not messing with his head.” meaning to me, he’s not the typical “Super Aggressive Macho” Type by choice. They gave him a taste of it, and it kinda haunts him. The wording of it all makes me think, he’s kinda like an addict. “He gets it in his head that he has to be….” And I realize that THAT is Tank’s choice to do that, and Commander even stops Jones at one point and says “I’m not gonna let you let him off the hook that easily.” And he’s right, but it’s good to see that the guys in this comic can be a shoulder to cry on and a support to each other, even if it’s not the typical weepy, teary eyed, love in (except for that one time with Duke.) It’s still a place that so called manly men can go to relax, do the stuff they feel like doing, whatever that may be, NOT be judged for it, and just get their heads on straight or recover their sanity…or whatever label ya put on it.
Thank you for this one right now. The coincidence of reading it at this moment gives me hope a friend sees the situation she’s in.
Coelasquid handling serious subject is a funny corny way is the best way too handle them this pannel reminds me alot of star trek the next generation
I feel like not enough media touches upon how to properly deal with dysfunctional relationships. Most have them going to the extremes and having things end with one side or both dying for one reason or another (because drama into violence sells more). I’m actually really happy to see that something like this popped into this comic, as it gives both Rock and Tank a good chance to develop and gives us a bit more insight into that previous relationship… not to mention it feels like awhile since we’ve had a story arc, especially one this serious.
As always, keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing more.
As an alcoholic, depressed, and among many things other things…
This hit hard, harder than it should.
So many relationships, friendship, chances and stories ruined.
Now I’m sad. *hugs*, whoever out there needs one, I know I do.
*HUGS*
I can only imagine what their sex life was like. Unless Rule 34 already got to it. Then I can google what their sex life was like.
this is a fkn amazing panel.
You’re writing one of the most mature and relatable comics around. Hell, I’d put this ONE PANEL up there with any issue of Saga.
Thank you for being awesome.
Is there any Commander merch, or MGDMT merch in general available?
Good arc.