The Fall
One year ago, on the first rare snowfall of the season here in Nashville, I fell off of my attic ladder and crushed my knee to the point of being “one step short of total knee replacement”, as the surgeon told me. I could not walk. I could not drive. I could not sit at my desk and draw. I had a ton of metal rods and screws in my leg and I was stuck in a recliner, which is not as awesome as it might sound. I felt isolated from my life and trapped in my own home.
After a while, I entered physical therapy and began the process of learning to walk again. It was a difficult time, but I came out on the other side. I can walk again and while difficult to think about at times and sore in the cold months (like now), the experience did inspire several strips (which I did manage to write down) and now, we arrive at this strip. I try to find humor in most things and this is no exception.
The upcoming arc means a lot to me. It is personal and one of the more autobiographical tales I will ever tell. I need to tell it.
I hope you enjoy what comes next.
Super STOKED. Looking forward to it!
Is it me, or is the site looking different?
It’s not you – the WordPress upgrade broke ComicPress.
OHHHHH. OHH WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DRAW THAT ANGLE AND MAKE THAT ONOMATOPOEIA?!
It’s also a Palindrome!
“Knowing is half the battle!”
Is it possible for a webcomic to cause physical pain? I felt that and I’m not even there.
Ouch, man….
Oh gods, I’ve had both knees dislocated and one had that angle. I want to vomit just from the remembered pain of that angle.
…. ouch… I hate the bone breaking sounds and sights.. this is going to be a painful read, not as painful as I assume the actual injury was, but damn.
Brian, tell what you need to tell and I’ll be over here cringing in sympathy.
James V.
Yay! Site’s back.
And ouch >.< I sorta suspected this was what was going to happen when I saw Monday's comic.
I hope it is enjoyable for us, and at least a little bit therapeutic for you.
I see it more and more, the more I read online comics that being one of you guys is dangerous π I’m a cop and I don’t know as many people that have gotten them selves injured as much as writes\drawers :ΓΕΎ
You beat me, Kirby.
I had to see today’s and the immediate thought was “This is going to be a very personal one.” Then I read the post.
Looking forward to the story as a fellow member of the Leg Full of Meccano Club.
NOOOOOOOO!
Brian!Sam! <3
That just looks painful….. atleast you made it through the pain and can walk again.
Now for the comic: Poor Sam. First he’s not sure of who to bring into the group, embarrassed Carlos (even though Sam is the ONLY one who saw it) in front of his grandmother, learned that Mel is leaving, and is missing Brett so much that he’s making excuses just so he can try to get him to come back sooner.
This boy is just having a bad string of luck. Did he get cursed by someone? Step under a ladder? Break a mirror?
Looking forward to seeing how he works through all this while having to get his knee fixed as well. You work through what needs to be worked through, Brian!
BWA HA HA HA! Did he step under a ladder…
Sorry that was especially funny, to me, given the comic today
I remember the “after” picture, which looked like you had jammed a Meccano set in your knee. I still cringe at the thought of that…
I trust that you will give this macabre story the dignity it deserves, while nevertheless filling it with as much toilet humour as you possibly can π
I don’t understand. I see legs at those kind of angles all the time in my Marvel and DC superhero comics? π
Well, a leg can stretch to that kind of angle without damaging it, it’s if you jam it to that position suddenly that you’re in real trouble.
My ****ing phone froze on the second pannel and now I have sypathetic pain in my left knee
Is it bad that I knew that is what this comic was about before I even read your notes?!
Oh and also,
FUCKING OW!
HRNG.
oh. my. god. I had to look down at my knee after looking at that to make sure that the pain I was feeling was sympathetic and not real.
I actually shouted…
This comic makes my knee hurt.
Mine too. *irk*
So wait a minute.. this comic hasnt been fiction at all has it? You really did meet the Dungeon Master and are close friends with Santa Claus arnt ya?
And his therapist is a Lich, and he has magical real life DM powers.
ALL TRUE
sounds boring get more interesting life gosh
Congratulations, Brian, you effectively portrayed this in such a way as to cause sympathetic psychosomatic pain in many of your readers. I am now going to go and hide for a few days until a less hrngh page is up.
It was bad enough hearing it from you in the author’s notes before, now we get to see it too? Ouch. Mad respect for persevering through what must have been blinding pain. I look forward to seeing this story (although I feel bad for Sam that he had to suffer this on your behalf). π
cheers,
Phil
“I hope you enjoy what comes next.”
Well… ‘enjoy’ might be the wrong word.
Gaaaaaaaaah nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope noooooooope. I can already tell this arc is gonna be brutal.
On an unrelated note, that last panel could totally be a punk rock album cover.
Third panel just put Sam on the naughty list. Or at least, moved the needle that way.
Considering who Santa is, I really doubt it.
I was going to say that. xD I feel like Sam has a great big “Put up with my s***” boost on the nice list.
I feel your pain. Motorcycle accident had me shear off and shatter the top of my tibia. I was afraid to look at it for two days as I lay in the hospital bed waiting for surgery. Three months in a wheelchair with traction bars through my leg and a halo for my knee. On the plus side, I decorated my leg with garland and battery operated twinkling lights for the family Christmas celebration!
The 4th wall! Not the 4th wall!
“I felt isolated from my life and trapped in my own home.” I know that feeling. While I never had any severe leg injuries, when I was 12, I had a head injury so bad, I was legally dead for 6 minutes. My skull was fractured in 5 different spots, and I had 6 blood clots in my brain. I couldn’t so much as sit up from my bed for 2 weeks. When I finally could, I had to walk with an IV in my arm for another 2 weeks, and spent the rest of the school year only going for a few hours a week. I know how hard it is to go through something like that, and stay sane.
I am definitely messed up. That knee angle didn’t make me cringe at all, since my knees do that all the time. Thanks, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome… Now if it had gone BACKWARD, I would have yelled so loud the neighborhood would have wondered what was wrong.
Still, knee injuries suck, so I’m not taking away from that at all!
Oooh. Fuck. I shuddered at that. I think it’s good of/for you to do something like this. Good job man.
I feel you, I shattered my knee (paralyzed below my knee now), Pelvis, arms, and more. Learning to walk again sucks, the isolation sucks more. It’s annoying that winter which I love, and the rain which I love beats me up now.
I’m glad you were able to make something positive artistic out of it. For my at home physical therapy, one day (after the Simpsons episode where they were on the run in the South) I picked up one of my knives and some wood and started whittling. I then started whittling for physical therapy. It’s great being able to turn pain and suffering into art.
I’m still at home 90% of the time though when I’m not working. Work drains me something awful. Isolation sucks.
I hope you’re able to keep on the mend, and keep using the experience to fuel your art.
That really hurts. I’d rather go for a live circumsion rather than that.
Decades ago, climbing down from a counter while wearing only socks, I slipped and broke several ribs against the counter edge.
Never again shall I climb on anything higher than a shoebox wearing just socks.