The End of the World As We Know It - A1 Prologue

[dmeck7755]

Some of the comments are interesting (especially what we know now heh!)

Someone commented that Iceland is usually a safe location for those plague games (I used to play plague inc, and always made an effort to hit the island nations...). Though it is a logical "safe site"

One of the comments that someone wrote about the hole in the pants was he was wearing 90 year old pants (Could be!! My head cannon is people would definitely scavenge old clothes, sunglasses.  Especially if the were still wrapped and made of non-natural materials.  That stuff will last forever..)

An MS. Iceland is so smug.. grrrr

Plus a lot of speculation on Reynir (aka Braidy..I hate that name)

[NightMareMage]

Totally did not almost post this to the Prologue Y0 and chapters 1&2 page. No, not me!/s

I found this comic through TV Tropes and only started reading it early last year. This is my second read through and it was fun reading your thoughts as I went along. Since I am late to this page, I am just going to cluster my thoughts together. It’s kinda long and I mostly avoid things that I think were covered.

General:
There was some discussion about race in SSSS, being the complete lack of POC. I would like to point out the lack of queer people and disabled people as well, though there are people with glasses and later some unspecified neurodiversity. And of course, people who are not immune. 

I forgot how funny the first three parts are at times.

On second read, you have to wonder how the rash illness changed these characters and what ripple effect they had on the main characters.

I have no idea how old Veeti or Mia would be here. Around 8?

Norway: 2-11
Apparently a French fan translation thought that Sigrun Larsen was a man.

How much cursing is in SSSS? Sigrun is called an ass and much later a little Tuuri called her brother, “piss-head.” Is there more?

Am I the only one who thought that Gunnar's surprised face on page 5 made him like a touch drunk or a bit high (or a skosh possessed/j)? Something about how his eyes are drawn look that way to me.

Aksel's grandmother called him, "puppy" and "birdie." These are uncommon terms of endearment and I think that's pretty cute!

People change and with what the characters survived they definitely would have. Assuming Aksel and Sigrun's romantic relationship was healthy, she would have to stop being a "bit of an ass" or whatever it is she is doing because it is more than that. She could dial it back because others need her too or even because of the emotional toll of what would come would have on her. Aksel could be a person for her to confide in. And I kinda doubt emotional vulnerability is something Sigrun is good at. Aso, he would hopefully harden a bit (as it would be easier to cope) though that does not inherently mean that "teasing" would be easier to handle.

I wonder how much Gøran and Ingrid changed with time and what Trond thinks of his parents.

When I first read page 11 I thought that the sea was going to immediately over take everyone here. I had miss read the last panel. I forgot when or how I realized my mistake.

Denmark: 12-35
This is my favorite section of the prologue. I just love Michael and Signe.

On page 13 we see what nations closed borders first. I wonder how Japan and Madagascar fared. Also, I somehow mistook the Madagascan flag for Belarusian flag for a moment, which vexes me because how did I even manage that?

It’s good that we got an info dump here and not in the first part. The pacings better that way.

Signe gives no cares and that’s beautiful.

On page 18, the drawn-on mustache…. And then on TV they mention the possibility of a cure. Oof.

On page 19 marijuana is brought up. Someone here asked if page five was the only mention of alcohol so this stood out to me. Then on page 21 there’s mention of being high and it sounds like high on something strong.

I like to think that catastrophizing runs in the family and Mikkel did not inherit it but is used to dealing with it. (Maybe his twin, Micheal, is prone to it.)

I don’t like how weight is discussed on page 22, I’ll leave it at that. The introduction to Signe’s soft side is still nice though.

Finland: 24-35
Oh, and I like the idea of Kaino being the Kade!

I don’t like the discussion on disease on pages 24-25, but again, I will leave it at that.

On page 25. Is the man shocked to find that he was the rash or has he been hiding the rash? I think it’s the former but who could say.

Page 29, panel 4. AKA the greatest thing I have ever seen in my life!

Page 30. Ah, neuroses. That definitely runs in the family.

Everytime I hear of crazy survivalists they have canned food, not frozen. I don’t think that was the smartest decision from Eino and Tuuli. They also forgot to put a toilet in the fallout shelter. Still, I am sure that those two will feel even more validated when things really hit the fan.

Misu-Misu is going to have a belly ache from the pizza. (And she can not be found on page 629.)

Eino and Tuuli are… odd but I’m not sure if them trying to hide things from Veeti is evidence of bad parenting or if they are doing this because of the situation and it is not stranded from them.

Ensi’s birth could not have been pleasant for Aino (and I mean that by the standards of childbirth.)

More info dumps here but they are well spaced and show progression.

Page 34, martial law? Somehow I don’t think that worked out well for the civilians.

How much responsibility do you think Veeti had for young Ensi? Did any of the adults expected of him, did he take to it himself or did he never have responsibility for her.

And what’s a little kidnapping in a crisis between family?/j

Sweden: 36-45
Mai’s in the least safe place in the car and there probably is no reason why the bags can’t go in the back, opening up a seat for her. On the other hand, the back of the car with the pets may be the best place for a young child to be kept caim. Plus she could help keep the pets caim as well. The car swerving is why you don’t do this though.

Like Veeti’s parents, I’m not sure where I stand on them hiding things from Mai. Hiding these things from your parents/parent-in-laws is a bad thing to do (and it is) but given their behavior, it may not be an unsympathetic choice? Not that either Stig or Ulrika are great people. Actually it really hard to gage how much of the adult’s behavior is stranded to them and how much is just the stress of the situation.

Based on the thread, it seems people like this section the least but disagree on which characters are in the wrong.

Iceland: 48-55
I recalled this part being sad and it’s still sadder than I remember.

Oh, those poor people. I don’t think they had any idea about what was about to happen but did they even have a chance to know? A chance to even receive a warning? They looked so happy. Excited like they thought they were going to be rescued. Did they just see a big boat and thought that they would help them? Maybe some people thought that Iceland would take people in if only they made it to them?

The ship’s name, Þór, is the same as Reynir’s middle name.

Page 53. “Árni Reynisson: Thought working for the coast guard would be fun.” Did he think he would have a different job there? Do they hide what they do from the general public?

Árni’s been having nightmares. Think he’s a mage getting prophetic dreams?

And there you have it! Hope this was not too long and that someone got something out of it!

[JoB]

Everytime I hear of crazy survivalists they have canned food, not frozen. I don’t think that was the smartest decision from Eino and Tuuli.

Survavlists usually avoid frozen food because they'd need freezers running off the power grid, and expect that latter to fail sooner rather than later. That doesn't seem like the scenario Eino and Tuuli imagined, or else they wouldn't have picked a boat needing fuel for their escape, or at least used it to get someplace where your "freezers" are just the great outdoors.

Or maybe they were counting on Finland having sparse enough a population that they'd be able to turn to foraging and hunting long before having made much of a dent in their flatphant stacks ...

[Jitter]

NightMareMage, well done posting “late”! This is not intended to be locked reread but open for future discussions too.

Some further thoughts:

I think Sigrun L is a teenager which is why she’s obnoxious now but will grow out of it quickly. She’s also a lot younger when she becomes a mother as there are more generations of the Eides than others (maybe too many generations while there are too few Västerströms). Veeti and Mia look to be around 10 years old, under rather than over 10 so yes, about 8-ish.

I agree, Gunnar looks stoned on page 5! I love Axel and his granny, we “decided” somewhere that Berit fought the Nazis during Norwegian occupation (and that she’s a steel granny, around 90 yo in Year 0).

I love Signe and Michael too! I have written several ficlets about their life in Bornholm. All in all (considering not only them but everyone outside of Iceland), the choice of mates became severely limited very fast, so people may have set up families with partners they merely tolerated. But Signe and Michael’s story I’m sure is full of love!

I don’t like the Sweden part either. The scene where Stig leaves the pennies as payment for the newspaper is perhaps the most touching bit in the whole prologue for me, but it’s not enough to save the otherwise irritating chapter. Everyone except maybe Mia is behaving so badly - although I’m sure having the apocalypse fall on you may be a tad stressful. This is the first part where they know they are running from something at least extremely serious, even if they haven’t yet realized it’s the actual EOTWAWKI.

The Icelandic coast guard ship is in existence today, the name is Thor in Icelandic letters. I think Arni had joined the coast guard before the Rash, and then ended up with a slightly different job description. I, and I know some others too, tend to think the Icelanders were warned what’s coming and how seriously they must react to it. There is a living community of Asatru there today, and a new temple of Odin (actually consecrated after 2013 which is the estimated Y0) so they would have had a high priest to tip off. And maybe to lend a hand to in pushing the entire government to agree.

I’m sure Japan as a whole is gone, far too many people and too connected. Some small isolated islands such as the Okinawas may be different, at least if in-country travel was stopped too. Madagascar is harder, it s less connected but is teeming with mammal life. We don’t have any information on how the grosslings fare in the Tropics. In the North, winter is important but maybe the is some other natural phenomenon there that would be useful?

I don’t like the fat “jokes” at all, not in the prologue nor later! It’s particularly irritating because there is a lot more diversity in body shapes here than most other comics, so without the grating comments it could body positive! Now I have to admit even I probably wouldn’t have minded Michael’s comments (at least he’s talking about himself) back in 2014 (I’m big myself, and was at the time too) as the general understanding of fatphobia and body positivity has come a loooooong way since then, but unfortunately the comments were not left to the 2010’s, there are some in A2 as well.

[Suominoita]

Survavlists usually avoid frozen food because they'd need freezers running off the power grid, and expect that latter to fail sooner rather than later. That doesn't seem like the scenario Eino and Tuuli imagined, or else they wouldn't have picked a boat needing fuel for their escape, or at least used it to get someplace where your "freezers" are just the great outdoors.

Or maybe they were counting on Finland having sparse enough a population that they'd be able to turn to foraging and hunting long before having made much of a dent in their flatphant stacks ...

Well, I suppose they have other sort of things too, but of course you begin by eating stuff from the freezer. Also they do kind of have the outdoor freezer once winter comes. Hunting, fishing and foraging is probably also what they plan to do. Eino may have a rifle too. They are heading to their summer cabin on an island somewhere in Lake Saimaa and that's probably equipped to work without electricity or plumbing.

[NightMareMage]

I love Axel and his granny, we “decided” somewhere that Berit fought the Nazis during Norwegian occupation (and that she’s a steel granny, around 90 yo in Year 0).

I love it! I recall earlier that someone thought that her flowers could be from suitors/admirers. She seems to have left quite an impression!

I don’t like the fat “jokes” at all, not in the prologue nor later! It’s particularly irritating because there is a lot more diversity in body shapes here than most other comics, so without the grating comments it could body positive! Now I have to admit even I probably wouldn’t have minded Michael’s comments (at least he’s talking about himself) back in 2014 (I’m big myself, and was at the time too) as the general understanding of fatphobia and body positivity has come a loooooong way since then, but unfortunately the comments were not left to the 2010’s, there are some in A2 as well.

Something clicked for me about the fat jokes. I can think of three in SSSS Adventure 1, in the prologue when Gøran reads the news paper, he confuses a symbel for a pregant women for a fat person, then Micheal is being overly dramatic about the situation while also taking the time to bemoan his appearance, and then much later Tuuri is called fat by one of the Västerström triplets, motivating Tuuri to tell a mean joke that the kids are indifferent to.

The first one is a character making an obvious mistake, then a character being all the more dramatic by taking about his looks, then the out of nowhere bluntness for a child and the opening for a different joke. All of these have a least two jokes going at once. That might be why some people did not see them as fat jokes. Admittedly, if I did not read the discussion some of it would of gone over my head as well. 

These would be easier to overlook if it stopped in Adventure 2, but it did not. The fat jokes I remember from Adventure 2 is Onni calling Mikkel fat. For those ones there is a joke about Onni being rude but, and maybe it's just me, they have more of an air of, "Mikkel's fat, lol." Which may be worse then the more layered jokes.

Well, I suppose they have other sort of things too, but of course you begin by eating stuff from the freezer. Also they do kind of have the outdoor freezer once winter comes. Hunting, fishing and foraging is probably also what they plan to do. Eino may have a rifle too. They are heading to their summer cabin on an island somewhere in Lake Saimaa and that's probably equipped to work without electricity or plumbing.

Laying it out like that, they seem to have a better plan the most (fictional or real world) survavlists I have seen. In spite of some... oversights.

[Jitter]

NightMareMage, I had forgotten the other “jokes” in Adv 1! But I agree with you, they have other points too. And then in Adventure 2 they are just rude, and only about how Mikkel being fat (which he isn’t by A2, in fact he’s ribbed by the time they reach Joensuu) is supposedly humorous.

BTW when I wrote to you how the Swedn part of prologue is the first one when they know the situation is grave was the first time I fully appreciated how the prologue as a whole builds up the fear. When I started reading, I knew this will be a post-apocalyptic tale, so I knew what’s coming. Or, well, I wasn’t sure whether it’s going to be plague or climate at first, with the rain.

But the characters don’t know. So coming to think of it, Minna has built a great sequence: “ha I wish we lose electricity” => “this is SO inconvenient for me” => “let’s humour the crazy relatives and go to ground just in case” => “I have to keep my family safe” => “we must kill the innocent to protect our own”.

I mean I have of course been aware how it gets darker from scene to scene, but I haven’t quite appreciated it like this before.

[NightMareMage]

Jitter, I don't think the prologue can be fully appreciated on first read. And if I had not read the discussion here, I'm not sure I would have click for me.

Though as a say that, seeing it laid out plainly still helps.

“ha I wish we lose electricity” => “this is SO inconvenient for me” => “let’s humour the crazy relatives and go to ground just in case” => “I have to keep my family safe” => “we must kill the innocent to protect our own”.

[NightMareMage]

I would like to talk about SSSS’s prologue, specifically the first part (pages 1-55).

Many have strong feelings on prologues, some say they are almost a requirement and others think that they should never be used. I think prologues are an often mishandled tool. So how does SSSS fair? Pretty well!

Prologues are a good way to see the past before the real story takes place and that is what this part is for. You get to see the progression of the illness’s affect on the Nordic countries, which provides context. It shows that the world we meet in the story come from our own. This grounds the reader. There is also some foreshadowing here and there.

However, it does come with drawbacks. If you really like some of these characters, you may be disappointed not to see them again. And the biggest weakness is that the opening is slow and can bore readers. You don’t know the main characters, the plot or even the world yet. I know some people left because they were not drawn into the story early on. Still, I think the benefits outweigh the coast. 

Now, I do not blame people who were not interested in SSSS but I have seen people write off the whole thing as bad because they did not like the prologue and that just is not fair.

[Jitter]

NightMareMage, I agree. It’s good that Minna already had a fanbase, or she might have found it challenging to get it rolling at first. I have always liked the prologue, but I came in knowing something and having heard high praise. The situation was very different when the comic was just started.

Still, I think the prologue is a good way of setting the stage, and it does a great job of creating suspense while also keeping it secret what is actually happening. We are currently on Chapter three, and it’s still unclear whether magic is real in the world. The existence of monsters was only just revealed.

She did very well with the prologue. And she did warn everyone that the prologue characters will not be permanent.

[dmeck7755]

NightMareMage, I agree. It’s good that Minna already had a fanbase, or she might have found it challenging to get it rolling at first. I have always liked the prologue, but I came in knowing something and having heard high praise. The situation was very different when the comic was just started.

Still, I think the prologue is a good way of setting the stage, and it does a great job of creating suspense while also keeping it secret what is actually happening. We are currently on Chapter three, and it’s still unclear whether magic is real in the world. The existence of monsters was only just revealed.

She did very well with the prologue. And she did warn everyone that the prologue characters will not be permanent.

Considering this story is quite 'deep'.  I think having the prologue helped immensely.  It is better than dumping people in a world where they'd have to figure out everything.  The prologue also was pretty quick in a sense.  It could have been its own story/comic.

Though when I first came into the comic it was well after everyone was in the silent world, so I breezed by a lot of it.  Only the re-read brought to my attention all of the nifty things I missed, as well as the comments by people.

[wavewright62]

I'm pretty sure Minna forgot about biology when she made the family tree, but I forgive her because it was a massive undertaking in worldbuilding to pack so many character portraits into that space.  Still, we have people having babies at a very late age!

I think Sigrun L is a teenager which is why she’s obnoxious now but will grow out of it quickly. She’s also a lot younger when she becomes a mother as there are more generations of the Eides than others (maybe too many generations while there are too few Västerströms). Veeti and Mia look to be around 10 years old, under rather than over 10 so yes, about 8-ish.

Trond was born in Y23, so I certainly hope Ingrid was age 20 max at Y0!  Therefore I hope all the Norwegians were obnoxious teenagers who grew out of it.  Even so, Ingrid would have been in her 40s when Trond was born.  Sigrun L and Aksel's side actually had the closest to the appropriate number of generations to fit in before Sigrun's birth in Y58!

Torbjorn was born in Year 52, and we don't know whether his brother Torolf was older or younger (or a twin, as some think).  Mia looks about 5-6 to me, but even if she was only 3 she'd have been having her sons pretty darn late, never mind if she'd been 10!  In either case, motherhood after age 50 can be done but usually requires significant medical intervention.  I just think Minna goofed here, is all, and/or didn't want to have to draw a whole cascade like she did with the Madsens and Arni's descendants.

I agree that Veeti looks and acts somewhere in the 8-10 range.  Taru was born in Y49, so I'm hoping Satu was significantly younger than Veeti's late fifties.  Some postulate she's his second wife, which could also fit.

Ensi had her twins at 38 (referencing their dates from the graveyard scene), which is doable.

[Róisín]

Some women do have natural children when well into their fifties. My youngest surviving aunt (who was 100 years old in March) was only 16 when I was born, with me being the child of one of her older siblings. My gran bore that aunt when Gran was past fifty. This has been discussed way back, and apparently several of the Minnions had much older parents than is usual, parents who were also in their fifties. It can happen, it is just uncommon.