Uncanny Likeness 15
Chapter: Uncanny Likeness
Well that didn’t end well.
Next week a brand new short comic will be posted in this space. It’s some of my best work yet and I think you’ll really like it! Also, from some time on Sunday to some time on Tuesday of this upcoming week, there will be a sale in my online store. Most things will be half off! Ebooks will be pay-what-you-like! Shipping still costs the same, though.
Thanks for ending on an ambiguous note. Sometimes it’s nice to read stories that don’t leave all the threads tied up.
Huh. Well, ambiguous I guess, but it doesn’t feel like a story.More like the first couple scenes of one. What can the reader take from this…sketch? That in this imagined future some people will be just as emotionally distant as they are now? And they may sabatogue attempts by those that love them to find replacements for their withheld affection? Hardly a mind-blowing reveal of human nature. I thought this might be an exploration of how a technology with (the appearance of?) empathy might alter this ages-old dilemma.
Not to be I guess.
I only voice my disappointment because I hold your stories in such high regard and – selfishly – look forward to every new and beautiful imagining you present.
(Btw, have you considered setting up a Patreon account? I currently support several artists – including webcomic artists – and would certainly be interested in supporting your work.)
Patreon has been on my radar for a while, and yeah, I do plan on setting one up for myself. I’ve been waiting until I start my next big long-term comic to do it, though. I want to attach it to a specific project as much as possible. That’ll be several months out, yet.
In JD’s defense, I should point out that this story is not quite a decade old. I’m sure there are points where he cringed while re-posting it, because everyone has “Oh, man, what was I thinking?” moments when reviewing their old stuff.
Literarily, it stands pretty well as a short story. It probably could be expanded into a novella-length piece, or even a novel, but I don’t think that would improve it. As it is, it’s open to multiple interpretations of theme and plot. There’s the theme of withheld (or deferred) affection and jealousy that you mention. However there’s also the question of the father’s questionable judgment that so closely parallels so many slave-owners’ actions (and is made all the more creepy by the Yoko’s reactions that mark her as a programmable toaster at best and an innocent, barely-sentient victim at worst).
There are numerous themes that can be read into this little tale, probably more than I can spot, which is pretty amazing for a 15-page one-shot comic. In my view, JD deserves applause for his ability to lay down such a subtly complex story without succumbing to the temptation to pad it out and limit it to his own single meaning.
Gracie grows up, spends rest of life looking for Yoko (;_;) oooohhhh, the sads
Oh no! That is so sad!
well, this was reminding me of that one twilight zone episode with the robot grandmothers, except now I’m kinda worried about that robot.
what happens next gosh darnit! is she not more than merely a sex-bot?
I don’t know what happens next! Nor do I know for sure if Yoko is actually more than she seems. I mean, I know I’m the author and all, but what’s not on the page is often as much a mystery to me as to anyone. And when it’s not a mystery to me but still not on the page, I often will refuse to tell.
Call it the Schrodinger’s Cat school of comic writing. 😉