Remember The Good Times – Chapter 8, Act 2, Strip 114

It seems some newer neurological research actually supports the idea that people might see their life flashing before their eyes when they die – but even long before there was any evidence for it, it was a cherished stereotype in fiction.

Particularly cherished, naturally, in B-movies – since it justifies recycling a huge amount of old footage for the sequence. B-movies don’t actually require a justification to do that, but having one makes it a tiny bit more socially acceptable.

And, naturally, I devoutly and gratefully copy the pattern here. As for the only two “new” panels in this strip, I think the most noteworthy thing is that it’s the first time I use the censorship bar to censor gore instead of genitals…and there was so much of it that it actually took two bars. I’m actually not sure why I did it, because I’ve never held back on depicting gore before – after all it’s not exactly inappropriate for a B-movie. Perhaps I’m just getting old, or perhaps I felt it wouldn’t fit the mood of this particular sequence…although in that latter case I’m not sure how I could have felt that the chibi past!Gregory in front of the censorship bars didn’t spoil the mood even worse. >_>

In any case, Arnold seems to have pretty good aim. One might speculate that his football-shaped head plays into that, like it does for a hammerhead shark…but his eyes don’t actually seem to be any further apart than normal, unlike his ears. So he wouldn’t have superior visual depth perception, but a heightened ability to locate the origin of sounds. ._. Talk about a strange super-power.

His crack shooting has one advantage, of course: By hitting Gregory in the head, he elegantly side-steps all of the issues connected with Gregory’s ambiguous status with regard to zombiism.

More on Thursday.

6 Replies to “Remember The Good Times – Chapter 8, Act 2, Strip 114”

  1. Stress often invokes memory. I forget the author, but some Inquisitor once wrote that, under torture, one can recall with devastating clarity all of one’s past faults or naughty acts, even back to childhood. Having taken a polygraph in 1997 (I was a suspect in a theft because I was nearby when it happened), I can concur. The investigator went off script early and hard, delving into irrelevant issues about my past that I was trying to overcome and become a better person. I’ll never volunteer for that again, but it was my first glimpse into how focused a memory can get when all mundane distractions are removed.

    1. The thing that that inquisitor might have overlooked (as many others of his particular or related professions) is the fact that under torture, one can also recall with devastating clarity past faults or naughty acts which actually never took place. Gregory has a big advantage, in that regards, as a fictional character: his mental images are directly copied from the old strips, so they’re bound to be authentic. XD

  2. And thus another charismatic leader falls. Not to the press, or to legal action… but to treachery and gunplay. Which are admittedly WAY faster.

    I wonder if this is it for Gregory.

    Really, I am excited to see where this goes from here. Because I have no idea.

    1. Yeah, it’s way faster and, more importantly, much more suited to the comic format. Nothing against courtroom drama as a genre, but it would have felt out of place to have several dozen strips about judicial proceedings here, as Gregory’s enemies try to bring him down over his mishandling of tax issues concerning the donations received by his rebel movement. It’s drama, but not the right kind of drama for the medium. XD

  3. Perhaps since this is an anime movie you’re going by Japanese censorship which is more squeamish when it comes to excessive blood and gore (No More Heroes changed the blood from red to black in their version for that reason).

    1. That sounds like a valid excuse – so thank you, I’ll adopt it! XD (I really can’t recall what, in particular, caused me to censor that scene – it was a spur-of-the-moment thing).
      Doesn’t blood always change from red to black over a short while? Perhaps the animators were just too slow. XD

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