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Great artwork. Every panel is perfect.
Here’s to surviving 2018. My new year’s wish is for everyone who reads this strip is able to get the help they need and still be here when 2019 comes.
Thank you for the comment about the artwork — I redid parts of this many many times and still wasn’t happy. I think I’d still be working on panel 3 if it wasn’t for a deadline. This was the first strip I did all digitally, but I’ll aim to get better.
I hope we’re all here come 2019. Beyond depression, I live close to Tokyo so I’m hoping to a year without nuclear war with North Korea.
I’ll second the art comment. Really gorgeous. It gives an extra boost to the strip’s hopeful message.
Hope everyone’s 2018 has more ups than downs.
Thank you .. I feel a little better about posting this now.
You are being to hard on yourself regarding the 3rd panel, it really is well done and looks nice.while the 2nd panel is my favorite all 4 panels
show a real dedication to your art. You should be proud of this strip, and I am certain you will have a lot of strips you can take pride in in 2018. You said in another comment that you have pushing yourself this past year, strips like this one show that the work you are putting into
it is paying off.
I truly hope you and everyone else here has a happy new year (or at least as happy as we able to feel). As for North Korea, I think that they will make a lot of threat and do more testing but that the risk of them shooting a nuke at anybody is very low. Thank you again for all the work you put into helping us better understand our illness and know we are not alone.
I live in the US now, but am from Okinawa where we lived under constant threat of unexploded, unstable WWII ordinance going off. The thought of what’s going on with North Korea scares me a lot more than it does my neighbors. My thoughts are with you and everyone in the region, Clay.
I specifically thought panel 3 looked really good, seemed like a new angle we rarely see and felt really “alive”.
Thank you for the kind words. The angle was chosen because it’s from Robin’s perspective, and I wanted Wren’s speech to feel like she’s actually saying it directly to the reader. I use this trick a lot actually, when someone is saying something supportive they often are looking at or in the direction of the reader.
Good sir, you are constantly getting better at drawing and telling stories in the form of comics. I am so happy that you and your work exists in the world.
They’re so sweet. Thank you for this. <3
Very relatable. As usual, Robin reads my mind…I love these 2 so much.. ♥
they should have their own comic!
They do…I can imagine their own sitcom even. Although, I would freak out seeing a real life Wren.
They’re my favorite characters!
Marcelle Cohen Mine as well. Robin is like my spiritual animal lol ♥
That’s so beautiful.
Your art has gotten so much better, you can really tell in the little moments like these
Thank you for the kind words. I have been pushing myself this year.
You knocked it out of the park with this one. Great message and your art has really come along way. Are you purposely refining your style? It’s all so impressive, honestly.
Thank you for the kind words. Recently I’ve been doing some strips digitally instead of analogue, and having the extra room to work with makes a difference in the final art. Unfortunately it takes a lot longer time, but as I discover shortcuts in the work it will be something I can manage on a weekly basis.
I’m less and less sure that surviving each year is actually a good thing.
I understand how you feel. When I am at a low point and the suicide ideation because suicide planning I have to listen to my family. I may feel like I know better than they do, but I still commit to do as they tell me. Having people around that you trust makes it less difficult to keep surviving.
You really stepped up the quality of art with this strip, especially the 3rd frame (not that you were ever slacking). I look forward to enjoying your pieces more into 2018 and beyond.
Wow. I worked for hours and hours on that third panel and I’d still be working on it if it wasn’t for the deadline and it still looks off to me. Thanks for the kind words, especially for a panel that up until the last moment I was totally considering redoing from scratch.
So beautiful. Thank you!
You never sugar the pill. Thank you.
Thing is, I’m not sure how I’m going to get through next year. It’s just too much. And I want to hurt myself.
Thanks for this one!
I love how Wren gives Robin always a little more hope.
bless you, Satellite Character 09
love this. wasn’t sure i’d make it through 2017, and i’m not feeling any better about 2018.
Of all these excellent cartoons, this one actually makes me feel the most alone. I mean, I know it’s great that other people have positive support in their life, but for me that is lacking.
Every time Wren makes an appearance, I feel I have to say this because people get the wrong idea about Wren. They think that there are Wrens in other people’s lives. I can tell you from personal experience, this is not the case. There is no Wren in my life. I don’t have personal support. I believe the majority of people who suffer from depression suffer in silence alone.
So why Wren?
During the first 100 or so comics, Wren was actually not very supportive. In fact, all the satellite characters were not supportive. My friend Umi made the suggestion that one character *should* be supportive, if not for reality’s sake but to make an example of how to be supportive. This was a good suggestion and Wren’s character made a 180 and become more or less unconditionally supportive. Almost all the satellite characters are still unsupportive and I think generally representative. But Wren exists to support Robin, and to be a model for how to deal with depressed people in their lives. It’s not easy to be a Wren, and I don’t think many people could be.
So whenever Wren makes an appearance, people make the assumption that this is normal. I have never met a Wren, and I probably won’t ever. She is simply a fictional character, someone who exists simply to be a positive figure in a comic that is almost entirely negative.
Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed reply, this is much appreciated. I sort of feel, deep down, that there MIGHT be a wren for me, but it just sort of never really happens. It’s an odd situation, we can all be lonely together.
And yet, in an ironic twist, how many people think that they could BE a wren for someone else?
Well said. This made me feel sad too that there is no wren in my life, but oddly happy at the thought that somebody somewhere could actually have a person like wren in their life! How much easier it would then be to manage depression!
I used to think I’d probably be dead within a year, i.e. that eventually the depression would get so bad that I would kill myself. That was about 25 years ago, and I am very pleased every day that I was wrong.
If you are feeling suicidal, remember that you’re not only making the decision for yourself right now. You have an obligation to your future self to survive. Don’t miss out on the rest of your life.
This strip is so perfect?
I just wanted to share a short story I found that reminds me a bit of these two. 🙂 http://archiveofourown.org/works/13710171
that’s sweet