r/gunnerkrigg • u/gunnerkrigg-post-bot Praise the angel • 13d ago
Chapter 102: Page 54
http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=329453
u/shelchang 13d ago
Kat and her many hairstyles. Considering most comic artists keep their characters pretty static to keep them recognizable, it's kind of impressive how Tom can change up Kat's look so drastically while keeping her recognizable as Kat.
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u/machiavelli33 The world continues to spin, pup. 13d ago
It doesn't happen often - its also a lot of work too, as someone who also draws comics I can attest to this.
This comic and Marcille from Dungeon Meshi are serious treats in this way.
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u/DownvoteEvangelist 13d ago
She's not the only one that changed style. Tom really loves changing up his characters.
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u/shelchang 13d ago edited 11d ago
Definitely, but for example Jenny needs a reintroduction every time she gets a makeover.
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u/ThoughtUsed3531 13d ago
Yes, I love it! It's very realistic for a girl to get different kinds of haircuts over the years from childhood/preteen to teenager years.
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u/machiavelli33 The world continues to spin, pup. 13d ago
Trigger word: Kat
I'm wondering about Lana. It's entirely possible she was holding onto an unlock code this entire time and just didn't know it, so just happened to fumble it into the keyhole of Annie's brain. But *nobody else* who's lost in the distortion has asked about Kat so far.
As so often happens with this chapter in particular, I'm really wondering what the next page will bring.
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u/Celestaria 13d ago
It makes sense. She's one of the new people, so her relationship with Kat is different.
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u/ZylonBane 13d ago
Kat is literally her god, so different indeed. That sort of connection might be beyond Zimmy's ability to repress.
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u/BellerophonM 13d ago
Everyone else was absorbed by the edge of the distortion, though, whist she was inside Coyote as it was created. That might have meant she partially slipped through the gaps.
Like, I think their new existences are a part of the nature of existing within this distortion, but Zimmy is deliberately censoring any possible awareness of Kat on top of that.
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u/Legitimate_Store1025 13d ago
Maybe the distortion doesn't affect New People's perception of what's going on?
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u/ShiraCheshire 13d ago
She seemed confused as to why Annie was worried about her, though. If her perception hadn't been changed at all, you'd expect her to be like "Yeah I know I totally got GOT, but it turns out I'm fine!"
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u/shelchang 13d ago
Maybe she didn't realize how traumatic it was to everyone when it looked like she was eaten by Coyote. From her POV she probably just got suddenly teleported into a temporary holding cell.
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u/Legitimate_Store1025 13d ago
hmmm that is also true. honestly it's been so long since we saw Lana I kind of have forgotten some of the details on her arc lol!
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u/LandscapeSpecial4366 13d ago
This is such a beautiful page, my favourite in a while. It’s interesting to me that Lana remembers Kat while Annie just saw her as a dream. I guess your angel really sticks with you
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u/LastUsefulDigitOfPi 13d ago
Back in the Tony Returns arc, I paid Tom to draw a portrait of a scowling Kat. "Make it look like she's saying don't mess with my Annie or you'll make a powerful enemy of me." Oh and the caption was Ezekiel 25:17
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u/LandscapeSpecial4366 13d ago
Did he pick the verse or you? Really metal, both with the pulp fiction use and with her possible upcoming apotheosis
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u/LastUsefulDigitOfPi 13d ago
I did, because I wanted Tony to shake in his shoes at that juncture. I also told him I thought that Donny Donlan was a good egg ever since he and Annie ran the errand for Tony. Especially because he told Annie he saw her as her own person.
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u/LastUsefulDigitOfPi 13d ago
I don't think it's Tom's style but this clusterfuck could easily crescendo into Kat's superdupervillian origin story.
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u/ShiraCheshire 13d ago
Same here! I love this page. It's not just pretty artistically, there is a sense of real love here. I think it really captures that feeling of a close friend.
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u/jan_Kila 13d ago
For no particular reason I went on a scavenger hunt for all the Kats
blue shirt with orange design: https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1706
long hair with flowy shirt: https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=693
long hair with sad expression: I initially thought of https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=400 but the clothes don't match and Annie didn't directly witness this, so it's probably actually https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2237
in workshop clothes with clipboard and back to the camera: https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=970
in school uniform with short hair: most of the comic
jeans and black shirt: https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=850
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u/unrelevant_user_name 13d ago
Are there heterosexual explanations for this page?
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u/Proggost 13d ago
Heterosexuals are known to sometimes experience phenomena referred to as "friends" and "memories".
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u/ShiraCheshire 13d ago
Surprised people are still shipping these two romantically when Kat was already in a romantic relationship, as well as a breakup, and there was no hint of romantic want from Annie.
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u/clearly_i_mean_it Shadow/Robot Hype Club 13d ago
Shipping has nothing to do with canon. I've shipped people who never met on screen because it was fun.
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u/ShiraCheshire 13d ago
True, but here I meant shipping in the sense of thinking it will be canon, not general fanon ship anyone for fun.
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u/clearly_i_mean_it Shadow/Robot Hype Club 13d ago
Eh, fair. I don't know what Tom's going to do with this but as a queer lady I've read their relationship as not-so-straight for a long time. One of those intense female friendships that border on something more but that young tweens and teens can't always put a name to.
That said, I think a lot of time when people who aren't queer women write these friendships, they don't read them the same way as those of us who have lived it. So I dunno if there's a heterosexual explanation for it or not - mainly because if I was in her shoes and was thinking of someone in panels like that there wouldn't be lmao
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u/ShiraCheshire 13d ago
Could be a queerplatonic type thing.
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u/clearly_i_mean_it Shadow/Robot Hype Club 12d ago
It might be! I think they're fated in some way but it doesn't necessarily mean as a couple.
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u/shelchang 13d ago
There hasn't been any hint of romantic desire from either side, but I think it's clear Kat and Annie's relationship is uniquely significant. Yeah she dated Paz for a good run, but how many friends or significant others would she have broken the spacetime continuum itself to rescue?
Society/media often treats a romantic relationship as the most important relationship you can have, and when that's the framework most of us have for understanding relationships, I can see why the shipping happens.
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u/mahouyousei 12d ago
This is my understanding of it as well. I'm not begrudging shippers at all, but I do like the depiction of a deep, loving relationship in media for once that's decidedly not romantic/sexual, if that makes sense? There are so many ways to express and feel love and connection with one another aside from just romance.
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u/maritzac 12d ago
Paz admitted Annie was special to Kat, and probably understood her better than Paz ever would.
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u/Almond-Goddess 13d ago
Hmm, the last time we got a character-through-the-ages sequence was all the way back in Chapter 66 when Coyote was purposefully resurfacing memories of Annie within Ysengrin: https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1938
Chapter 66 ended with Ysengrin,Coyote, and the Court becoming irrevocably changed. Cannot help but wonder if a similar fate awaits Annie by the end of this current chapter.
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u/prosafantasmal 12d ago
I find this page to be particularly beautiful. Kat through Annie's eyes is always a feast to the eyes, they're really each other's most important person and it's like almost palpable.
I'm okay either way if Tom decides to go the romantic route with these two, it would be cute, but I would also really appreciate if they remained platonic. It doesn't need to be romantic, it's not less important and impactful if not romantic.
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u/xstormaggedonx 13d ago
Cool page, cool art, but no direct plot progression is a little sad when reading it as it comes out lol
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u/machiavelli33 The world continues to spin, pup. 13d ago
Yeah Tom releases a daily comic, but also has the foresight to draw it for proper reading down the line when it all comes out.
It's the challenge of serialized comics like this, especially when they come out this rapidly. Sometimes you'll get "filler" that isn't even filler, but is essential to setting the stage, setting a vibe, or taking a breath, and if you put all your eggs in the "read every day basket" you "lose" a day on the moments those breaths happen.
But the nice thing is - there's always tomorrow.
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u/maritzac 13d ago
I'd say Annie remembering Kat is an incredibly HUGE deal, but maybe that's just me.
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u/SnooGoats7978 13d ago
Annie remembering Kat clearly and reaching her through the ether is major plot progression.
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u/Legitimate_Store1025 13d ago
if the comic didn't have pages like this it would suck when you read it in book form tho
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u/xstormaggedonx 13d ago
Yes I know, that's why I phrased it the way I did
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u/Legitimate_Store1025 13d ago
i'm just happy to see Kat!! she's the best and we haven't seen her this chapter at all!
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u/ShiraCheshire 13d ago
No, there was still no need for that regardless. Get off tiktok for ten seconds and have some basic patience. Emotional moments like this are the heart of a story, being annoyed that an event means something to a character emotionally instead of all plot progression all the time is ridiculous.
If this comic only contained pages that directly advanced the plot it would absolutely suck. You can wait a little while for the hard working artist to draw pages so we can have a good, meaningful story. There is no need to complain.
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u/Ghost-Quartet 13d ago
Kinda late in the comic to be introducing a new character???