Would You Like to Be a Hero? - mek reads The Property of Hate

[Fetian]

It's time for me to reread TPOH again, and I'm gonna do it in here!

[Fetian]

The hook (ha ha) of this comic is so good, page one just grabs you right off the bat. What is going on? Why is there a TV man in this child's bedroom? What does 'being a hero' mean to him? How much danger is this child in (a lot) and how aware are they going to be of that danger (not enough for a very long time)?

TV-man is very eager to get going, in a way that's easy (especially in retrospect) to read as desperation. Ecstatic that the child hasn't asked any questions and hoping to cut off any opportunity to do so. Immediately, however, we get a hint that the child is not prepared for this -- does TV-man reconsider his choice of hero at all? If he does, he doesn't do anything about it.

When I first read this, this scene came across as cute and relatable. There's a lot more to it, now.

Here are the questions, but none of them the questions the child should be asking. Or, rather, none of them the way they should be asked. TV-man brushes them off but does leave us one to chew on -- what is it that makes him the very worst monster? Spoilers, it might have something to do with inviting children to come with him on dangerous adventures. On the other hand -- perhaps we could interpret his statement another way, perhaps he's the worst at being a monster.

[Fetian]

I'm not going to be posting every page of the comic, only ones I have something to say about, so if you happen to want to read along you should do that on the site. We're on page 9, now.

In between that post and this, tv-man takes the child up a stairway into the clouds, in a scene directly inspired by Mary Poppins.

We have one of their names!

We... kind of have the other's? This is as good as we're going to get, so this is what we're going to call them from here out.

God, the art in this is gorgeous, and it's just going to get better.

It's notable to me that we can't really see RGB's expression in the second page, here -- once you know The Code, you learn that RGB very much wears his emotions on his sleeves, and I think that we'd be learning something if we could see that. As it is, we have learned that Hero is in rather immediate danger upon coming to this land. A little further in, we will know that there is very little leeway here for Hero to acclimatize to things. This is the deep end, because everywhere here is the deep end.

This page shows what I'm talking about! The colours on RGB's screen bleed when he experiences emotions relating to those colours -- the main bleed here is red, which is anger (perhaps, more accurately in this case, irritation?), but he's also bleeding yellow (fear -- startled?) and cyan (sadness). An interesting combination that hints a little toward some kind of backstory. Obviously you don't need a chart to read his emotions in this case, his body language tells us well enough that he's surprised and annoyed. Sadness, though, where could that be coming from I wonder?

Anyway, just a clear example of what's going on with his face.

 
They reach a lake, where RGB tells Hero they may rest. "Is it safe?" Hero asks. "Safe-er," RGB replies, and then asks, "do you dream?"
Hero responds in the affirmative, RGB says, "then we'll be fine", and they both go to sleep.

Oh This Guy

The character designs in this are so good, and they too are only going to get better.

Feels rather The Last Unicorn, but I can assure you this butterfly is much less charming.

We haven't had much chance to see Hero's personality, so far, but we do get reminders that they are a child, and do childish things.

It does seem that sometimes RGB just leaks every colour -- maybe he drools in his sleep.

RGB takes a moment to wash his face (giving a particular close-up on the red bleed, which we will also see shortly is more prominent, now, than the other bleeds), when Hero calls for him.

I am getting the impression that RGB is not good with children. Pro-tip: Don't tell children you wish they were dead, even if they draw on your face.

Oh, Hero gets gendered here! I didn't think they were -- oh, wow, looking at Mod's tumblr they just straight up use she/her pronouns for Hero. I feel like I'm being Mandela Effected. I could have sworn Hero's gender was left ambiguous, but more fool me, I suppose. I will adjust going forward.

Anyway, getting more information on the kind of world we're in, now!

Welp.