[Camp Comic] Friday, March 25, 2016 - Combustion

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[Camp Comic] Friday, March 25, 2016 - Combustion

Combustion

http://campcomic.com/comic/302

Read the full story here

briguy

This comic plays with my emotions so much.
I feel for Linus. His emotions are completely reasonable. He's been a saint putting up with Malachi for as long as he has without saying anything.

But poor Malachi. His face. The art is so fantastic in this one. His face crushes me.

At least his long, girly hair is back. That ponytail just wasn't working for him.

Man in the Mists

Kitty wants to know if it has to leave too.

Anon von Zilch

Thanks for the spoiler, Man in the Mists…

briguy

Spoiler tags are working on the forum for me (there is a big red message saying spoilers are broken on the main PA forum index) but they are still broken on the campcomic page. It is tagged, it wasn't intentional, just a problem with the forum software it looks like.

But since comments are newest first:
DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE CAT! SPOILER TAGS ARE BROKEN!

zdanee

Wow! Linus actually prevented a fire! Give that boy a medal! And give Malachi a haircut while you're there.

Christian LeBlanc

I feel like I've been yelled at, and done the yelling, at the same time.

poipoigirl

Yeah Linus was a little justified. Malachi was not listening to him and respecting his feelings on the matter. There are better ways to bring kids into the place and should be more on his terms. Esp since he takes care of the whole thing.

Capt19

I don't think that's the first time someone said that to Malachi. Maybe his parents?

Gaufrier

I like how Malachi looks like his original design in the last panel, almost like he's reverting back to before he had friends and his level of confidence at Weedonwantcha

Tibxero

Oh man CAPT19.......damn that didn't even occur to me until just now. I know that when I was growing up I was a Malachi. I wanted nothing more than to make people like me, and I always managed to do it in such a way that it had the exact opposite effect. Panels 8 ,9, 10, and 11 were my childhood.

As far as the story goes, then yeah, Malachi has heard that before. Most likely from other kids but DEFINITELY from his parents. In fact you can tell he's heard it so much he knows exactly what's about to happen. At some point you just accept that your "attempt" has failed. He doesn't question it or wonder how it went wrong. He heard the thing he was so desperately trying to avoid, he dropped the act, and accepted his fate.

Linus was 100% justified, but I can look at Malachi and know exactly how much it hurts.

nero_phantom

CAPT19 and TIBXERO, the idea that he's heard it before isn't exactly what's so cold about it. Think about the exact words- "I don't want you here." Not only is it a harsh thing to hear from someone Malachi looks up to, but in general it's probably one of the worst things to hear in a camp full of unwanted kids and unwanted things. The camp is the only place where they're wanted, and Malachi respects Linus enough to want to be wanted by him.

leadingzer0

Were this a real Lord of the Flies scenario, Linus would be out on butt now. Or even just regular life.

Tibxero

@NERO_PHANTOM no no I get it, and the sad part is I have literally heard those exact words while at camp, which I was placed at because I'm sure my parents needed a break (I take full responsibility for that). I know EXACTLY how painful it is. What you're not seeing is the slow, writhing death of any self worth he'd managed to accumulate since the last time this happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

briguy

@Tibxero , man, you're going to make me cry.
I'll go back in time and beat them up for you.

ShamrockSeraph

Since I'm Catholic and this is Holy Week, this felt to me like Jesus in the Temple when everyone turned it into a marketplace. (Linus is Jesus in this metaphor) I'm pretty certain that this was not the intention and I really don't want the comment section to devolve into a religion argument, but I'm seeing a lot of parallels here that I can relate to.

Sarge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONN-0uoTHI

Peter Rogan

ShamrockSeraph: I didn't see the parallel before but now I do. That's an interesting dimension to what Linus had to say, and I think it's valid. No argument. I appreciate the perspective you have brought.

PUNisher

I don't know if he means literally, but if Linus really did build the library, that just adds a whole other layer of validity to his argument.

KittLee

Flashback time?

Calrose187

I'm not sure who to feel bad for.

Senno

It's about time.

Kaitensatsuma

It'd be something if Malachi at least you know...talked to whats-his-face about what he was going to do.

Man in the Mists

Sorry about spoiling the cat, didn't realize spoilers were that badly broken.

Christian LeBlanc

We say "justified," but there's also the idea that Linus shouldn't have kept this bottled up so long that he crossed the line when he exploded.

Of course, when you're Linus' age, you wouldn't be aware of that. A lot of grown-ups aren't even aware of that.

Gigime

Damn, bravo Katie and Adam, you actually made me feel sorry for Malachi. This comic has always had a knack for hitting feelings, but this one was harsh. Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for Linus also because he is justified in his actions.

The transition in the last four panels though, esp with the 100 yard stare in the second to last, hits home. All he wants to do is make people happy and be their friend, when things go wrong he'll just try harder next time.

When that road to insanity finally ends he'll be like Linus and will put all his feelings into inanimate objects because they can't tell him he's not wanted. At least that's how I did it.

moriastar

For those that said he didn't tell him his ideas. He did, and Linus had a chance to tell him flat out "No you can't do that, go fix it." Instead, he beat around the bush with very light " Um are you sure that's a good idea?" instead of flat out telling him he didn't want that. Malachi obviously came around enough that Linus should have known better than to be anything other than straight forward.

Does this excuse Malachi? Of course not. What he did was not right and was not in respect to what a library was to be. But even with adults I have seen this. Even in NORMAL libraries where the higher ups get so focused on the numbers so they can keep their budgets, they forget a library's mission.

I'm hoping that someone will call both of them on their stuff. But I don't think that'll happen.

LostNinja

briguy wrote: »

This comic plays with my emotions so much.
I feel for Linus. His emotions are completely reasonable. He's been a saint putting up with Malachi for as long as he has without saying anything.

But poor Malachi. His face. The art is so fantastic in this one. His face crushes me.

At least his long, girly hair is back. That ponytail just wasn't working for him.

I don't know, I'm going to miss Malachi's douchebag club promoter hair. It was starting to grow on me.