[6.15] Land Spirit
It’s pronounced “Catch-ka”.
Last week I received a message telling me that political commentary doesn’t belong on webcomics. I hope the comment section can remain a comfortable space for everyone, so I’m sorry if I offended anyone’s views or sensibilities. Feel free to tear my arguments apart though, I love a good debate.
Rest assured that this comic itself has never been political, so please continue to enjoy life at camp, where the worries of modern society are far away and irrelevant 🙂
6.15 Transcript
Kiro: Why should I have to answer for what he did centuries ago?
Kechika: I was getting to that.
Kechika: I regret what I did, child. I have watched so many people die since that day.
Kiro: I assume it’s one of those things you can’t undo…
Kechika: There is a way, but no one has succeeded…
Kiro: You don’t feel any remorse for that? I thought better of… what are you, anyway?
Kechika: I am but a simple land spirit. Kechika is my name.
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Hey all, I’m really sorry about the technical difficulties with the site today. I am trying my best to fix it.
In the last panel, why is Kiro’s hair down? I thought it was up in a ponytail.
Yikes, I didn’t even notice. Thanks for catching that!
I’m just getting a white page…
Ok, commenting caused it to show up, lol!
Nevermind, the comic’s fine now.
So there is a way… and Kechika do regret her curse. Looks like they might become allies! I really like the development of this – one more layer added to the story. 🙂
What could possibly be regarded as ‘political’ about your comments ???
It’s your webcomic, comment to your heart’s content. If somebody does not like political, scientific or other kind of comments, they just have to stop reading them.
I do feel like the ‘political’ comment made the page before is relevant in the comic, although the comic itself is not explicitly political (and I don’t need to read the comments if I don’t want to).
We see nature, nearly untouched by industry, protected, in a sense, by the curse, which can be read as a conflict between native and ‘western’, colonial industrial interests. Coal industry tends to eat up land and leave vast holes in the ground which are dead, with no hope to be populated by local flora and fauna in the next dozens or even hundreds of years, while ‘native interests’ don’t judge the land by the value of the oil or coal within it, but by the riches of life within.
‘Politics’ are not only made in parliaments, but in every decision that affects not only myself or is nested in a social context, and some stories we hear, see, read, are ‘less’ political in a sense that it tells stories about a defined group of persons making decisions. Here, we have strong conflicts beyond the decisions of the protagonists. So the political comment complements the comic, and is not a detached, private opinion of the artist.
(Also, I once read a comic where also political statements by the artist were made, and they had a relation to the subjects of the comic, but I felt them to be totally contrary to the story, which gave the whole thing a very odd vibe. This is absolutely not the case here.)
Thanks for taking the time to write this- I just want to clarify that while I don’t wish to use this comic to promote a specific agenda, I do hope to encourage people to think more about the environment (or really any issue that affects them); to form their own opinions and not just follow their chosen political party or media outlet. Especially, I encourage people to question whether the leaders they follow are really serving their interests. In my opinion, a clean environment is in everyone’s interest, no matter how rich or poor.
Now I do have a political party I generally vote for, but if the other party nominated a candidate with a stronger environmental platform, I’d vote for them in a heartbeat.
I was going to mention that but I only saw it on the Patreon, this site hadn’t updated yet and I got busy with work so I never got back around to it >__> <_<
I also like that she's so frustrated with the spirit that she doesn't even know what to call her.
I’m beginning to sorta like Kechika’s eye color. It’s a wonderful looking blue!
Hey Alan, long time reader/infrequent commenter here. I saw and was saddened by that comment the other day too—but please don’t let it cramp your style! There are so few sources of genuine discussion and willingness to exchange ideas these days, but your small forum here is one of them. Sometimes I read the back and forth carefully, sometimes I don’t, but always I am amazed by how genuinely respectful and thoughtful you and many of your respondents manage to be. Political opinion has become this thing of untouchable sanctity, rather than something to be constantly revisited, assessed and interrogated—by the self as much as by others. You genuinely believe in debate and, even more importantly, in dialogue, and that is a beautiful thing. Is it odd to have political discussions in the comments section of a webcomic? Yes; but then so is the idea of a detox camp for internet addiction with talking seals and hair-sniffing eagle people. 🙂
It is not right that we live in a time where we can no longer hear out another’s point of view without our blood pressure rising. I can understand why. Of course it’s hard not to take it personally when we are told “our people” are responsible for some social ugliness. But at the end of the day, if another voting human being believes those things then it’s better we can talk about it. No matter which side we represent, tribalism is ugly in all its forms. Even those who are “right” may also be cruel.
Nowadays many nerves are raw. Don’t take upon yourself the discomfort of others—you didn’t cause it. Rarely have I seen such openness to hearing out and genuinely engaging others of all opinions, with respect and thoughtfulness. I can’t offer much by way of debate because we generally agree, but I like seeing others rise respectfully to the event. That is a valuable and beautiful thing. You have successfully used art to bridge a gap.
“Integrity” doesn’t often spring to mind in the context of a webcomic, but it does with you. To be perfectly honest, there are many many webcomics out there—some with art that I find more appealing or bigger story archives—but one of the reasons yours remains among my only two daily checks (this and inimitable Gunnerkrigg Court, so you’re in stellar company) is this sense of integrity you have about your story, your audience, your desire to engage, and the way all these pieces tie together. You’re just one guy running his own little corner of the universe as he wants to, with kindness and discussion and occasional greenish-tinged characters; and that is frankly a bit inspiring. It is a kind of courage, and I think it’s just wonderful.
Sorry for the essay; I’m an ex-lawyer turned writer so I take debate seriously (and am verbose). Whatever you decide, I hope you know that there’s at least as many of us silently appreciating your efforts as there are loudly proclaiming offense and departure. (And as an audience member—you’re not forcing anything on us. We can always just choose -not- to read the comments section.)
Haters gonna hate 🙂 You do you.
I appreciate reading your thoughts! This may be theoretical of me, but I think comic readers are in general one of the more open minded groups of people on the internet, and are always happy to give advice and help each other out.
I’ve changed my political beliefs quite a few times, on pretty much all the major issues, as I learn more about them. Sadly, these days we seem to live in a low-information society, where the media works to maintain people’s loyalty to political camps, rather than provide an independent voice. No one really understands what “single-payer healthcare”, “gun control”, and “border security” even mean, let alone how they work (these are of course US-centric issues but any country has its own controversial issues). So people end up using their own imagination, which is then skewed further by partisan media.
Thus, I believe there’s room for negotiation on nearly all issues. Nearly. We can build whatever kind of society we want – authoritarian, libertarian, socialist, whatever – but ultimately everything must operate within the limit of natural resources. Honestly, I’m as angry as they come regarding the environment, but anger won’t get us anywhere good.
Don’t hesitate to comment in the future- I enjoy reading everything!
(also, I’m pretty sure Gunnerkrigg was the first webcomic I ever read, and still read it to this day 🙂
hey, I got here by reading gunnerkrigg court too! Also, once I have enough ideas, I’m going to start my own webcomic!
not sure what it’s gonna be about though.
> In my opinion, a clean environment is in everyone’s interest, no matter how rich or poor.
I’m pretty sure that people feel it’s in their interests to have an exploited environment — therefore fertiliser run-off, mining waste, vehicles going from A to B, burning stuff, repurposing previously wild land…
An ad I saw a while ago: “Whenever a forest is cut down, the GDP goes up. Whenever someone gets cancer, the GDP goes up [health-care spending]. Help save the world: teach economists to subtract!”
Oh my god, apart from the logical issues, just – yikes. I live in a country where the automotive and lignite industry is very strong, and still they would never dare to write something misanthropic like that on billboards.
Some things are worth saying, even if you draw fire for them.
…I prefer if the comment section isn’t political, even if it’s something I agree with. There’s tons of comments on this page saying how “a good debate shall never be quenched” and so on, and that’s fine, just please not directly under the webcomic.
I can certainly understand and relate to not wanting political debate with your webcomics, maybe you come here for the visual beauty of the comic alone. Most webcomic comment sections that I frequent are not political, nor discussing any deep issues at all, just minor comments directly on the content of the comic. And I enjoy the break from the deep stuff.
But the most valuable webcomics, to me, have been those that more or less directly address deep issues and invite thoughtful discussion. Those can give you new perspectives and greater understanding. Especially Leftover Soup and Think Before You Think comes to mind.
I don’t understand or know much about politics. But I do understand and know much about technology and science, I know how stuff is manufactured and about the origins of the materials and a thing or two about the environmental impact thereof. I understand how the economy of scaling up comes about, simply through my knowledge of manufacturing and process technology and my reasonable proficiency with numbers. I welcome these discussions and hope to contribute, respectfully and with an open mind.
I believe that any respectful and open-minded discussion, regardless of subject, should never be regarded as offensive at all. However I also acknowledge that I am not always open to deep, technical or outside-my-comfort-zone discussion, I am often tired and out of will and brainpower. But in such case I just skip the comments and come back to them later. That’s not the right state of mind in which to be interacting with people over the internet anyway.
Thank you for your observations! The great thing about the internet is that no matter what we believe, there’s a community out there for it. That is also the most dangerous thing about the internet. That’s why I hope this comic never becomes an echo chamber for anything specific. I have strong opinions about the environment, but I don’t wish to drive away people whose opinions are different. After all,
my revenue depends on having as many readers as possibleas a social species, alienating people is never a good thing.I also feel distressed and confused by the distrust in science in my country that seems to be growing even in the middle of a pandemic. This is a problem that will ultimately be solved by a vaccine, not by 10,000 people overrunning the beach or ingesting cleaning detergent. (You mentioned you’re from Sweden, so FYI, the president of the United States suggested drinking Lysol as a COVID cure, and some people took that seriously, and I am not making this up.)
But I’ve been a skeptic too, and admittedly, there was a time I didn’t believe climate change was real. Yet by just paying attention to weather patterns over the last 10-15 years (as I have quite religiously), it doesn’t take a scientist to conclude that things are changing greatly compared to the last 100 years. And even if climate change isn’t real, it’s hard to deny that extracting and burning fossil fuels isn’t disastrous for human health and the environment on a local scale.
By the way I’ve enjoyed reading your comments on the previous pages. I always appreciate criticism and speculation.
It’s impossible to create a community that is welcoming for everyone, but it’s still a dream of mine (and not one I thought about when I started this comic). Hope you continue enjoying the comic!