#709-714 – i want nothing

Good gravy, you guys! That's all the updates for September. Thanks for waiting for this big chunky one. AND GUESS WHAT. It's probably the last B&W comics you'll see for a while, because we HIT OUR PATREON GOAL! I'm very excited to be doing comics in color in October, so thank you for pledging. If you still haven't contributed to the Patreon campaign, there's still time to help! If the total dips below $2400 we won't be able to fund the color project, anymore. Plus I lose a couple hundo to credit card/Patreon fees, so every extra bit helps.

77 thoughts on “#709-714 – i want nothing

  1. Oh my gosh this speech is beautifully flawless

  2. Hanna's first Stoner-Disney-Princess song is as existentially troubling as I imagined it would be 🙁

  3. Hamlet? Nah. Hanna.

  4. oh my goooossshhhhhhh

  5. In this update:
    Hannah becomes a Disney Princess.

  6. Fantastic art and writing. Well Done!

  7. This was well worth the wait. More than worth the wait.

  8. Was
    Was that a musical number?

  9. Did anyone else try and sing this like a Disney tune?

  10. Okay… Who else sung that???

  11. Holy god that's gorgeous

  12. lol, Is this a Disney-style musical number about suicidal thoughts? Hannah even does suicidal depression whimsically.

    1. …..suicidal depression isn't exactly what I gathered from this; I thought it was just a craving for simplicity – minimalism, like iPods. http://www.octopuspie.com/2007-06-22/018-chandeli

    2. I… I read this with a disney princess style soundtrack in my head. Like wasshername in enchanted. its so in my head its creepy.

    3. I didn't get "Suicidal", so much as "Desperately Craving An Escape". She can't get high, and is dealing with unfiltered, unmedicated reality for the first time in a long time… so she did what any sensible person would do, and sang a musical number.

    4. Somehow, I pictured more of Mr Burns' "See My Vest" than the Disney numbers…

      1. Which was a spoof of "be our guest" from Beauty & the Beast, so still a Disney number.

  13. I don't claim to know much about these things, but it sounds like Hanna is going to become a Buddhist.

  14. Holy cow. Does the amount you have to pay out to Patreon rise as your donation level rises?

    1. yup, they collect a bigger fee. And a lot of small credit card transactions get eaten by their own fees. The most efficient way is if someone pledges more, or pledges a small amount to a bunch of different campaigns (we all share the fee!)

  15. This is fantastic. I can see an Octopus Pie musical working wonderfully.

    1. So down, with a rollerskate solo with eve.

  16. My mind refuses to let go of my conviction that this number be set to "Go the Distance." And I'm okay with it, man.

  17. The intersection of the search for nirvana and Mary Poppins.

  18. This was above and beyond worth waiting for, and I'm not sure there is anything in the verse that will stop me from putting music to this.

  19. I see it more as she wants to be by herself nowhere and with nothing, rather than ending herself. Though I could have the wrong perception!

  20. It is a well established fact that any woman with a free day off in the city is in want of a musical number expressing her feelings.

  21. Well done! Dr. Seuss would be proud!

  22. Is that set to "Pure Imagination" in Willy Wonka perhaps?

  23. Damn…I mean…wow…normally, I'm the type of person that doesn't donate to anything because I make $10 an hour and live in the overpriced rental rip-off that is Boston. But after this comic, I'm whipping out my debit card. I'm already broke, but I can get broke-er for this masterful art.

  24. Being able to empty your mind is such an important skill, and one that I've had to focus on a lot this year. So many things are there to grab your attention in our world, and it's easy to feel overwhelmed when your mind is already great at feeling way too full, like gears grinding themselves endlessly down. So yeah I love this impromptu musical number by Hannah. A bit of silence is damn important for the mind.
    In terms of the comic itself I hope this is a bit of an epiphany for Hannah, cause it could easily just be very sarcastic, like a descent into madness. She's been in a bad place in the current story arc, so hopefully this will be some sort of turning point.

  25. This is the best unspoken spoken word piece.

  26. I can actually hear the glockenspiel and bar chimes as she starts singing.

  27. Oh my goodness I want to sing this song. Is it composed already?

  28. Is this to the tune of "Part of your World???

    1. I thought that at first too, but could't get it to fit.

  29. This is so delightfully Seussian, what wonderful language accompanied with the whimsical expressions and dances. I LOVE her expression in panel 13 especially, such crazed happiness at her revelation!

    This is the first time I've commented, but I've been a long time fan. This is a glorious description of one's desire for feeling nothing after feeling nothing but pain and depression for too long. It may bode ill (someone has noted it could be a reference to suicidal thoughts), but if she does something constructive with this revelation, it could be her key to happiness.

  30. Oh, now I know the secret to summon tiny critters to do my bidding. Thanks Mer!

  31. Well, I didn't expect a musical number.

  32. Empty you say…
    Taste the Void you say…
    Let go your earthly tether you say…

    1. "Let go of your earthly tether,
      Enter the void,
      Empty and become wind."

      Hannah had temporarily unlocked an advanced air-bending technique. But then the cute animals re-tethered her. 🙁

  33. *slow clap rising to thunderous applause*

  34. Wow. Just Wow. A fitting end to our colorless existence, a musical number about nothing. Just curious, when did yall realize it was a musical number? Took me until 'Give me zero give me naught' and then I started the strip over.

    And sang it to my empty room.

    Biff's also totally right.

  35. Also, someone get on making a soundclip of this.

  36. Oh man. That hit home.

  37. For God's sake someone get this girl a new drug.

  38. This strip is great, it's heavily reminiscent of History's Strongest Man Kurosawa. The parallels probably aren't intentional but it's very powerful

  39. Damn Meredith don't kill your wrist

    (but if you do it's worth it)

  40. Hey, it's the farmer's market at Grand Army Plaza!

  41. Octopus Pie: The Musical. Coming to Broadway October 2X14.

  42. Goddamit, you always surpreise me, Meredith!

    Your comic is my favourite comic ever (tied with Scott Pilgrim)!

  43. Is this written to an existing tune? I swear the meter is familiar, but I keep trying it against musicals I know, and so far it doesn't fit.

  44. Welp, now my growing dislike of Hannah has turned into concern for her mental health. Well played, Gran. Well played.

  45. Wow, I've never seen a musical in a webcomic before. Bravo!

  46. Disney, eat your heart out.

  47. Whoa… wow…

  48. Meredith, did you have a particular tune in mind for us to sing this to? Or should we write one? (I want to write one)

  49. The looong callout to "Flushing" from "crushing" made my toes curl.

  50. That was beautiful.

  51. The most metal gift of all…

  52. Spoiler for the color comics: The entire cast was black all along. Even Eve. WHAT A TWIST

  53. pretty sure she just became a bodhisattva

    1. Naw, the desire for nonexistence is generally held to be as much an obstacle to Buddhist transcendence as the desire for existence.

      HANNAH YOU MUST SEEK THE MIDDLE WAY

      1. Aw man, and I thought I was being soooo clever with my Buddhism comment. 🙁

  54. encore! encore!!! 😀

  55. Permission listen only

  56. You cannot have nothing, young Hannah. You have an audience, and you have their attention.

  57. Hannah's trying to grab hold of nothing, as if nothing is a kind of something. (Especially in panels 21-23.) That don't woik!

  58. Let go of your earthly tether,
    Enter the void,
    Empty and become wind.

  59. I was thinking of the guy, Marek.
    This is kind of neat: It's not spelled, "Marek", but in Polish cuisine, I think, Mazurek is a type of cake, that is made at some holidays.

  60. In my view: parts of today's comic are very humorous.
    But also, Hannah's dilemma at the end, seems very weighty + ponder-able. Like: I think Hannah seems very confused about what would make her happy- does she want lots + lots of desires, or none, or just some desires? Hm.

  61. I really super want a musical arrangement of this.

  62. Very good idea you've shared here, from here I can be a very valuable new experience. all things that are here will I make the source of reference, thank you friends.

  63. Heard all.of this in my head with a show Disney tune.

    Hannah has a nice voice in there.

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