Thoughts on the End of SSSS

[JoB]

I've also noticed this! Minna and the artist for YIH for one. I think the author might've been inspired by Minna, considering the publishing date and, as I've heard but not seen, the appearance of Reynir?

I cannot offhand find a better source than this, but YiH officially is an SSSS-inspired work.

Spoiler: personal thoughts on the topic • show

A handful of people have probably spent a load of money on SSSS books, and I know that's given a few of my friends a lot of conflicting emotions recently. But also how could they have known? [...] It pretty much just comes down to if I'm contributing to giving her a mouthpiece or supporting her financially, which I hope I am not doing

Spoiler: show

Honestly though, I'm not sure whether "LP pays way more bills than still-running SSSS does, why would I ever go back to that?" is a message that we want received, either.

[Jitter]

I think I’ll come back to some of this later, but just a comment on YIH. Jaakko is not Reynir, although the resemblance is striking. He’s a crossover character from Tistow, another fantasy webcomic by Finnish artist Elli Puukangas. MiikkaH (YIH artist) amd Elli have done also also collaborations. Tistow has unfortunately been removed, restarted fom beginning and gone on hiatus in 2020. Anyways Miikka makes it clear somewhere thst they did a character swap so Jahko is in YIH and someone (I think Veeti but not sure) in Tistow, except that the restarted version isn’t there yet.

As mentioned, the resemblance is striking, but then again they all are a bit ”stereotypical red-haired Viking” so it’s no wonder. Jaakko has pointy ears, which apparently has some signifigance that will come to light later. Jaakko is more assertive and decisive than Reynir, and well established in his environment, and also he’s a smith and not a magic-user, so as a character he’s not that similar.

I read somewhere on the Forum, possibly the LP thread, that the relationship between SSSS and YIH has been complicated. Some unfortunate segment of readers had found YIH via SSSS. I don’t know more about this, but I am very sorry to say that Nordic paganism is of interest also to groups who have a very different approach than we do here on the Forum. Luckily we have only very rarely seen attempts to bring that sort of discussion here! This is of course thanks to the long term decisive efforts of the admin team.

[Kevin_Redcrow]

I've also noticed this! Minna and the artist for YIH for one. I think the author might've been inspired by Minna, considering the publishing date and, as I've heard but not seen, the appearance of Reynir? Also, a lot of popular Finnish artists seem to know a great deal about painting nature, but I think that might veer a little too close to speculation. But nature's a pretty big deal in Finland

I get that. In the comic panels which have large rocks and boulders they have these large spots which puzzled me to no end. Then when I saw the music video of Jean Sibelius' Finlandia I went, "oooohhhhh! The spots are lichen!" Ms. Sundberg's rending of that was very, very good. I simply did not know what I was looking at.

Side note, Minna's made it pretty clear that she doesn't intend for other people to complete things she started. I'm fine with that, honestly. But hypothetically, YIH does look visually close

Yeah, it would be too much to hope for.

Eeeeeee... Minna's actions kind of used up any remaining goodwill I had. But she has her boundaries and even if that bunny comic personally insulted someone, she probably wasn't willing to have a debate about it anyway. It's more just energy better spent elsewhere.

"eeeeeee"  --I'm really going to miss "hearing" Tuuri say that!  What I meant by goodwill is how nicely people in the commentariate and forum behave.  I have a sense that Ms. Sundberg and I share the Spikiness Trait. I have to monitor what comes out of my mouth lest I  say something cluelessly offensive.

When the controversy over Emil's racist word in the original dialog was going on, I thought it was simply a portrayal of Emil's cultural ignorance by uttering such a gaffe. At the time I attributed this gaffe to his personality. I recalled how insulting Emil was when he demonstrated how Danish-speakers sounded to him. But I wasn't reading the Forum or the comments at the time.and didn't have the full picture.

The image of the glowering Danes in the background and Emil's guilty expression still makes me smile. In my version, the least that would have happened is Emil would then be running away like hell, with Mikkel intervening and calming people down.

You are correct. She probably would not wanted to waste the time. In my opinion, debating belief systems ranks below, far below; such foolish pastimes as producing and playing video games in terms spending one's time.   

After a brief period of being a born-again christian in my teens, I read up on Eastern religions and philosophy. I would leap into a debate with people "witnessing" at the drop of a hat. My intention was, if they are gonna try to convert me, I was gonna try to deprogram them. As I grew older this desire fell away, and I virtually never have anybody try to engage me with the intent of witnessing. For one thing, I can smell a cue-up to witnessing session a mile away.

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[Jitter]

Yeah, well, here we are, back to civilization. I do NOT believe this was not cut short.

[thorny]

Yeah, she's probably just trying to get out of this.

Let's get out of it with all the remaining team still alive, shall we? -- I hope!

[Róisín]

I’m curious to see whether any one of them is carrying a kade fragment.

[Jitter]

Notice how we’ve gone from “Oh no, it can’t be ending yet!” to “Oh no hope it ends soon, before something gets ruined!”

I’m not seriously worried she would spring a totally horrible ending, but some pretty dim alternatives have been floated on Disqus.

[thorny]

Notice how we’ve gone from “Oh no, it can’t be ending yet!” to “Oh no hope it ends soon, before something gets ruined!”

-- you know, you're right. I'm not sure when I made that shift; but I've definitely made it.

[Jitter]

I also noticed very recently, but then realized I have been thinking that for a while now.

[Superdark33]

SSSS has been part of my life for a long time, and the community has been so dear to me that i have not left it despite being disgusted with the comic and its author for years.

Im not surprised that its about to end with a whimper and no closure, Minna never truly was able to deliver on anything other than art.

[Straffe Recensent]

SSSS has been part of my life for a long time, and the community has been so dear to me that i have not left it despite being disgusted with the comic and its author for years.

Im not surprised that its about to end with a whimper and no closure, Minna never truly was able to deliver on anything other than art.

I'm a bit out of the loop, what specifically are you referring to? I've only ever read the comic ...

[thorny]

Minna never truly was able to deliver on anything other than art.

I'm now imagining what might have happened if she'd been working, as an artist, with someone else who was doing much of the writing.

Most works that update anywhere near as frequently as SSSS (and some that don't) are the work of more than one person. And someone to work back and forth with as to what makes sense and works out well in the overall story and what doesn't, and to explain likely perceptions of others about such things as the Bad Joke Emil incident (and I'd hope to have prevented that in the first place), as well as to take some of the load and therefore reduce exhaustion -- that might have made a huge amount of difference.

Depending, of course, on who the other person was and what their attitudes were.

[Jitter]

Well then. Here we are. I’m sad, but less sad than I thought. I guess I’m also relieved to not have anything completely ruinous happen. Still…

[Vulpes]

Well then. Here we are. I’m sad, but less sad than I thought.

I guess we've had a while to get used to the idea. I feel rather the same. At least she's fine with us applying our imaginations to her characters and settings.

[Lueley]

It's crazy to think after 7 years, I won't be starting my day by checking the new SSSS page anymore.

I'd struggle to do justice to how influential SSSS has been on my life. Minna's aesthetics and characterisation, and the incredibly talented authors on AO3, have both taught me a lot about writing and helped me to develop my own craft. When I started reading the comic, way back around the time that Emil encounters the dog-beast, I was only 14 years old- I'm 20 now. Finding this fan community: a community of likeminded artists, linguists, writers and folklore-lovers (no matter how infrequent I am with posting here or on AO3) helped me be confident in myself and embrace my interests. These days, I'm doing a linguistics and literature degree, fluent in languages I never thought I'd be able to learn, and following my passion for writing. I've got involved with the hiking and wild-camping community in my area, gone on the most amazing adventures, and made friends for life. I can safely say I might have never found this path for myself if it hadn't been for Minna, the community here, and the inspirational characters of SSSS.

So the end of comic is definitely a big moment for me- but I'm not sad about it. I've seen many webcomics drag on too long, have the artist lose passion, have the art and the storyline dry up in quality, and fizzle out. SSSS's endurance and Minna's tenacity have been frankly astounding compared to the norm for most online works like this. We all knew it would have to end at some point, however, and I think it's reached a natural stopping point. Is it sad it's ending? Perhaps. But it's been a fantastic journey, and I wouldn't want to see it spoiled by an author who can't commit to it anymore.
We've all noticed the plot, and the art style, losing their oomph as time goes on. It wouldn't make sense for the comic to continue now that Minna is not able to put the same love and pride into the comic, and I hope she finds a new project that she can put as much dedication and talent into as she did in earlier days with SSSS. Even if I'm not likely to follow her career on after this, I know I'll still keep loving and rereading SSSS, particularly Adventure 1 (I'm less fussed about Adventure 2 haha) and of course I'll still be writing my fanfiction for it. God knows I'm in the middle of writing an epic fic and I'm not giving up just because the comic is ending.

I hope the comic ends well, in a nice cozy way. Also, even if Emil and Lalli won't become canon official, my headcanon will still live strong.