Sea Urchin
Have you ever had any questions about the meaning of things, or why you should plan out your life, or why you shouldn’t, or why you can’t, or the through-line of life that started way before you and will (theoretically) go on long after you’ve gone? If so, Laura asks all of those questions here and many, many more. If not, one of those philosopher dudes once said (paraphrasing) that the unexamined life is not worth living, so you should look into that. This comic is basically one long, uncertain primal shout at the universe and at everything around her and about her inability to get out of her own head. She doesn’t come right out and discover the meaning of life, but that’s not really her concern. This comic is all about exploring her own mind, her feelings of inadequacy and/or not having anything original to say, but then powering through that and being determined to have her own say regardless. It’s inspiring in a lot of ways, and early on there’s a great example of the dangers of answering the “how are you?” question too honestly. Nobody really cares, and there’s rarely if ever any follow-up, but it’s become the thing to say to other humans, so we all go along with it. If any of you work in an office like I do you must have experienced somebody asking you that while not even slowing down as they’re walking back to their desk. It’s a ridiculous thing to say, and it was a joy to see her take it apart. I don’t want to dig into the specifics, as there are a number of really beautiful scenes that you can discover on your own, but her comments about looking for stray cats every time she walked home and that sequence where she tried to work up the courage to pet a dog were fantastic. If you’ve ever unleashed a primal scream into your pillow, this comic will fill a hole in your life that you didn’t even know was there. And, again, if you’ve never thought of any of these things, maybe now is a good time to start? $8
