Curses
Believe it or not, this one comes from a place of compassion.
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Port Sherry
Weird and wonderful comics
I have spent a few enjoyable days reading your comics here. Thank you, it was a really pleasant experience!
Thank you Stan, happy you liked them!
I’d like to know a little more about the backstory, if you don’t mind. I adore your comics and found laughter and consolation from many of them, but this one hits close to home, not in a good way. My daughter died a few months ago. And she was also born in 2012. You’ll understand if I feel uncannily the comic is meant to me though logically I know it’s not. I would really appreciate it to know what you mean by coming from a place of compassion.
First of all, I am very sorry for your loss. I can’t even imagine. And I’m sorry this comic brought up pain for you. I don’t believe the meaning behind it will apply to you, but here’s the whole story behind this comic.
“Curses” was inspired by an old Australian horror movie called Kadaicha. It’s a mix of Nightmare on Elm Street and Poltergeist, in which an apartment complex was built on top of an aboriginal burial ground. Many years later, a curse would begin to kill the descendants of the people who built it. The teens quickly figure it out, but their parents and authorities, despite the obvious supernatural nature of the deaths, refuse to believe them. That is essentially the backstory of panel 1.
There is a scene later in the movie, in which the main architect (whose daughter is next) and the chief of police really can’t deny anymore what’s happening, which got me thinking: what if something like that happened in real life, in my city? What if it’s truly evident that a magical curse is killing the children? Would the police, the media report it as such? Would anyone admit it, even if they had absolute proof? Of course not: they would make up a plausible story for all those deaths and never speak of it again.
So it was hard for me not to find parallels between the situation and every time a person’s worldview or set of beliefs have been stronger than the safety or well-being of the people they love, on a micro or macro scale. Take your pick: anti-gun control, anti-vaccination, Covid denial, denying blood transfusions because of religion, shunning or denying care and support due to “lifestyle” choices…
The compassion part was that… going back to that scene on Kadaicha, I actually sympathized with the father. He was being asked to believe something that didn’t fit at all with his worldview, that seemed absurd and superstitious. And just like the dad says on panel 3, “if I am wrong about this…”, then everything you knew, everything you were sure of is now up for grabs. How is that not mind-breaking? Not that it excuses harming your loved ones, but I must believe there is some self-preservation of the mind going on to avoid starting from square one as to where you stand in the universe.
So I think it’s important to consider how hard it is to fight back against years, even decades of nurturing when we ask for a change of heart. If we want an actual transition, not just shunning and proclaiming our superiority, we have to provide safe passage and a welcoming environment where people can land onto. “What if I’m wrong” and “Three little pigs” deal with this same topic.
I’m truly sorry for what you’re going through. I wish you light and better days and, in my minuscule way, hope I can bring you one or two smiles in the future, with all my love.
–Pedro
Thank you for the explanation. I think I understand where you’re coming from, especially with the connection to “What if I’m wrong” and “Three little pigs”. My own experience, which I know is not everyone’s, tells me that losing one’s child is so earth-shattering and so irreversible that if I were the father in the last panel, instead of “I can’t”, I would be saying, all too late, “I will.” Or, at the very least, I would be asking, “Can I?”
Thank you for this, and all your work. I occasionally showed some of your comics that are age-appropriate to my daughter back then, and those are good memories. Even if she’s not here with me physically, I look forward to returning to this website for more.