i found ssss during the end of adventure II (from an advertisement on flight rising, of all places), so i never got a chance to participate in the fandom in its peak. even so, i have a lot of thoughts and feelings about the comic that have been stewing in my head. it feels right to set them free here.
i could tell at first glance the story was very much to my tastes - the post-apocalyptic winter setting, the unique artstyle, the focus on language, and so much more, it was unlike anything i'd ever seen before, and very much like something i'd been wanting to see and lacking in other works. and so i decided to save it for later, for when i feel ready to delve into something new to be passionate about. this "later" turned out to be when i was going through some dark times in my personal life, and i stayed up several nights binging the entire comic from start to most recent page (it was around the final confrontation with the kade, i think).
i was hooked. it was everything i hoped it would be and more. i loved the art, i loved the atmosphere, and i especially loved the characters and their interactions. Lalli, particularly, is very dear to me. i myself am autistic, and i'd never seen a character so openly display such familiar mannerisms without being judged or "fixed" by the narrative or other characters. it felt like a breath of fresh air when i hadn't realized i'd been holding it. seeing the team bond and face the horrors of the silent world together did wonders to lift my spirits when i was feeling so low. i had a couple issues with the story - mostly the worldbuilding and how eager to forget itself the world seemed (i mean, 90 years? that's nothing in the face of history) - but i didn't care, because what i loved about it was just so much stronger and brighter.
then i got to adventure II and it started falling apart a more and more. like many others, i noticed the comic lose steam. i didn't much blame the author for any art changes (making comics is exhausting!!), but the story started to feel... hollow. empty. uninterested in itself. i know now, but at the time i didn't understand why so many cool concepts and plot threads that had been set up were quietly dropped, why the characters didn't seem to even interact anymore, why the death of one of them seemed to not affect anyone, why the creeping, ever present horror of the silent world was replaced by... three bears. i was a bit in denial. i wanted to love adventure II like i loved adventure I, still feeling the buzz of excitement from binging it in just a few days, but that feeling was quickly crushed when i learned about the author's newest work and the motivation behind it. it made everything click into place, and one morbid curiosity induced cartoon animal comic read later, i was back in that dark pit that ssss originally pulled me out of. i'm not sure it makes sense for me to be affected so deeply, when my experience with the comic was so short lived, but i suppose i can't tell the heart how strongly to feel about something.
since then i've gone back to revisit the story, read it again with a clearer mind and knowledge of where it was going. i looked at it with an analytical lens, picked apart its themes and details in my head. it could easily be considered a hyperfixation, i think. i mulled over the story and all the potential for where it and any derivative works could have gone, like nervously turning over a smooth pebble in your pocket to calm your nerves, over and over. i read through the (very impressive) library of fanworks, and of course, this forum. it took a whole lot of anxious second-guessing, but i finally made the decision to join, to not keep all of that (and wow, this is much more than i even realized i could write, i hope it isn't too much) inside my head.
i'm here now. i don't know how much i have to contribute, if anything, but i want to try. because ssss and all that it's inspired deserve better than to be forgotten.
