Visceral page for me. Eve dreams of a wasteland, nothing left – a glaring contrast to her dreams of movement, birth, potential. The dream is dead, she is alone. The sort of comfort she permits Will to give is just a symptom of that isolation. Maybe it’s harmful. Maybe it’s something she badly needs to mourn, collateral damage or not. Will seems okay with carrying her bags for now. And the big horizontal panel just delights. A very classic Octopus Pie feeling, the roommates and their neurosis and diverging priorities right out in the open. |
So no kids for Eve? Ever? I'd never thought about it before for some reason.
I think not necessarily. But the imagined future child she had with Park is gone.
It is crazy to me, what I can miss in this comic while paying close attention. I never saw a child with Park! I saw the child as Eve.
But I'm not sure if I only think that because the figure we thought was Park all along was revealed to be Eve's mother. Since of course there doesn't need to be a single ultimate meaning to the dream–it can have layers. And what is a mystery to the viewer might not be a mystery to Eve. (And vice versa, of course.)
I took the desolate wasteland/desert as both a lack of clear direction in her life and the natural culmination of seeing the dream coalesce in a clear, explanatory way. I find that when a deep, rich mystery resolves itself it can take a lot of meaning with it.
The tension of worrying about what the dream meant is gone. The tension of wondering what her future could be with Park is gone. And nothing has yet materialized to take its place.
This is actually feels deeply relevant to a lot of pandemic life now. Those of us who are presently in economic/career limbo are afraid we will end up in a wasteland. Hopefully we won't have to stay there.
Oh fuck is THAT what that's about
Absolutely love this page too, especially Will’s eyes and that last panel ??