Happier Times
Chapter: Season Nine
Characters: Lee
I don’t know if this page will land with all of you the way it landed with me when I wrote it and then illustrated it, but it left me in a bit of a state for a myriad of reasons.
Lee is going through a lot, like most of the cast, and he is more than a mustache-twirling villain. I hope what I have planned lives up to expectations.
Thank you all for reading through these arcs that are away from the table and more about the characters. It means a lot to me that I can tell both kinds of stories.
Oh. Oh man. I didn’t even realize.
Also: Pops’ hair was EPIC level…
To see what has befallen those glorious flowing locks… nothing else that occurs in this story will trump that sorrow.
No! I can’t feel bad for the villain… awh… he was so innocent t back then… damn it Brian… hit with the feels
Damn it, Patterson, how dare you make me *feel* things, especially in regards to an ostensible villain.
Curse you!
I do hope the family can reconcile eventually. As bad as he has been he hasn’t been unreasonable. This looks to me like an son trying to live up to the legacy he sees of his father and surpass it. He flat out offered a place in the store for his brother and to toss out the real villain at Sam’s say so. If I’m remembering right not just a place but basically for him to run it and to become the silent partner. I think that showed a concern for his family even back then. Lee isn’t good at showing real emotion I think, it likely has made him a good business man but it alienates those around him who expect it from him. Even that picture only holds a half smile and the body language of someone only half interested. My guess is he compensates with gestures he feels show his appreciation. “here I’ve got this much bigger nicer building with a better set up, you can have this store and leave the old one behind.” Refusal was probably seen similar to someone working for months on an awesome home made gift (after all, it takes a long time and a lot of work to line up that kind of investment and set up) and having it tossed in your face as worthless. That much hurt was bound to come out as anger. Unfortunately he’s backed into where he is because of the situation. I’m not sure how much he’s invested but staying here indicates this is his top level most heavily invested property right now.
All just theory and probably an overly long analysis.
TLDR version, Lee is an incredibly well written character like all these but his complexity is of a lot of interest to me. Keep up the good work.
Brian “emotional trama every Friday” Paterson Strikes again
Aww man….. I don’t even know what to think anymore.
I’m pretty sure the only moustache-twirling villain is that elf whose name wasn’t actually Higgins, but I don’t remember his name.
Also Dove, except I don’t think he could grow enough of a moustache to twirl.
People are flawed, fallible. They make mistakes, they do dumb things in the name of emotion and ego. That’s human. They can still be well-written, and these guys are, for sure.
Even if I disagree with the choices or actions of the characters, I’m still invested in seeing what happens to them, and that’s the true power of the author. 🙂
Lee is/was a Metallica fan? Well now I can’t hate him, come on Brian
Page loading error.
It’s all blurry and wet ;_;
You’re thanking us for reading these arcs? No man. Thank YOU for writing this and giving us this tale to enjoy. And don’t worry if the story takes us away from the table for extended times.
For me, the worst stories are when someone tells the storyteller what to say. Tell us the story you want to tell. Trust me. I’m here. I’m invested. I’m along for the ride.
At this point Im more interested in the story of the people then the one at the table. The acutal dnd is awesome dont get me wrong. But, I am very much about this slice of life nerd drama. Brian is doing this soo right
Agreed! The dnd is great but the characters are what keep me coming back.
100% agreed. I don’t think I articulated that well enough. Thank you for saying that. The gaming is always fun to read, but your world building with these developing characters is fantastic. I WISH I knew an old school gamer like Pops when I was growing up. Maybe I’ll be one in my dotage.
I just hope Dove gets his comeuppance. And the rest of them live happily ever after.
That a can see, he still care his family, but anger is focus to the store.
Why on earth should it be a cliché when the story has 3 gay characters? If they were all stereotypes I might agree with, but Trevor, Lee and Dallas are vastly different characters who are also in no way defined by their sexuality (except for maybe Trevor, who has always been a bit of a stereotypical gay character). There is quite a bit of range when it comes to our 3 gay characters, and if you just think that 3 is already too much, may I remind you of all our confirmed straight (or at least bisexual, who knows) characters? We’ve got Sam, Amy, Brett, Jeanie, Charlie, Pops, Brett’s Mom and Dad, Mel and surely a bunch of other characters that I forgot. If you consider this and still think that 3 gay characters are too much, I really don’t geht where you’re coming from, mate.
you mean Grey, the douche bro? and isnt he Dove’s Cousin on top of it?
I can somewhat see where you’re coming from, but I also disagree with it because from where I sit, Brian’s rolled the homosexuality into these characters very cleanly and organically. Now, if he had just shoehorned it into their characterization for the sake of having gay characters, I might be inclined to agree that it feels like an Inclusiveness Quota. But the bottom line of that sort of thing is sexuality is in the same category as body type, hair color, speech patterns, and personal dress code- it helps make the character recognizable by accenting their traits and making them individuals, but it shouldn’t be used as a focal point of characterization. Brian understands that, and he executes on it (for instance; Trevor is, for all intents and purposes, everybody’s Sassy Gay Friend, but the fact that he’s gay is an accessory and supplement to his being a walking, talking, sass machine. If he were straight, it wouldn’t change how he acts and the things he says, he would just have a little less impact while doing so). And since Brian does that cohesively, I would say it’s nothing at all like he’s trying to force inclusiveness into his story.
Everyone knows that in order to make things realistic you need literally one gay character, after that it’s just “quota filling”
Plus Lee could be bi for all you know
Panel 1 made me think of my “Gendo Pose” comment on this one:
https://d20monkey.com/comic/now/
And I was like: “Hmm, yeah, close enough!”
Then, while I’m thinking that…
SNEAK ATTACK! Critical Hit! 9999 damage right in the feels! Ouch! 😮
Awesome stuff 😀
I find myself in that EXACT situation more often than I care to think about. I am no villain but I know what it feels like to have that emotional weight trap you into a course of action that you don’t want. The options and the cost of breaking free just seem immeasurable. SO, you carry on and continue in that black sea of regret and remorse, battling yourself as much as anyone else. The relentless hate spiral that you can’t break out of. Thank you for being so capable of putting that to a comprehensible story. This has helped me.
This is why I read your stuff. Your writing has depth and all the characters are multifaceted. Sam isn’t 100% perfect or good and his brother isn’t a totally evil dipshit. I look forward to seeing more about how he got down this road and hopefully things work out for him and Sam in the end if it’s even possible at this point.
Also. No. Brian. Everyone else can go to hell. 🙂
LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH
Every time I do it makes me (cry)
How did (my) eyes get so red?
And what the hell is on (Pop’s) head?
Goddamn feels…
That’s the messed up thing about family, they’re complex, they’re full of Venn Diagrams, and sometimes those Circles overlap into some real dark territory.
Adoration and idolization and love shouldn’t make you jealous of your younger sibling, but if they get the nod that you thought was yours and due to you, then suddenly burning the family legacy seems to be the right and proper thinker error to run with.
It’s not unrecoverable, it’s just damaging and hopefully Lee survives it and grows from it. I’ve seen some horrific things happen when the presumed heir to a legacy is passed over for the proper heir.
As with most things, I think it’s awesome what Brian is doing with the comic and its characters. Deep, yet fun.
I’m getting ready to head out on a on-month, no-internet vacation, so I’ll miss this comic while I’m gone, but before I go…
I just wanted to say that this is a fantastic creation, Brian. As others have said, thank you for sharing it with us. The “at table” and “away from table” storylines are equally outstanding. The characters are authentic. The situations are authentic (Santabattles maybe notwithstanding but who’s to say?). I’m genuinely invested in all of them, and it’s awesome.
I’d put this up against any webcomic on the internet for quality and storytelling. You’ve done a hell of a job here, and I’m looking forward to seeing how everything pans out.
“Thank you all for reading through these arcs that are away from the table and more about the characters. It means a lot to me that I can tell both kinds of stories.”
While your tabletop gaming stories are epic beyond description… You’re “away from the table” stories are epic themselves. C’mon! We have freaking Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus courtesy of your away from the table tales!
Your ability to tell a story – of any kind – is what keeps us (and most certainly me) coming back for more.