179-186
This cover is such a delight. No one looks like they’re doing a good job.
Lalli is also introduced to the Boots, which seem to be giving him some trouble in the beginning. I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable in such boots!
Any idea of what the boots are or what they are made from?
Interesting observation, Mikkel is not listed as military at all in his character box. I have all the time been thinking he is, among his other trades, also somehow affiliated with the Danish and / or Norwegian military. I suppose it’s because Torb says on p 181 that Sig and Mik will be “your superiors”. When I stop to think about it, this is not a military mission, but it works like it were. They even call Reynir a civilian, which seems to indicate they think of the team as not civilians. How’s this work?
Another response for military Mikkel is probably admiral Olsen and his mention of Mikkel having worked in the base. But of course there are civilian jobs too.
I think this could be something either forgotten about or added later. Or it could be a poor thought out and/or explained detail.
page 182: Mikkel feels entitled to physically grab somebody who obviously doesn't want to be touched, and force Lalli to shake hands with him. A lot of the comments seem to take it for granted that of course he's entitled to do this. Somewhat further down the comments I thought at first there were some people objecting to it -- but no, they're objecting to Sigrun's backslap, not to the forced handshake or to Mikkel's grabbing and holding on to Lalli. In fact, they seem to be praising it.
I didn't read all the comments, and don't know whether anyone did object, later on.
Honstly, I am more surprised that people are bothered by Sigrun's backslap at all. My guess is that Lalli is bothered by the backslap so the commenters were more bothered by that.
Anyway, we start this chapter with some world building. Honestly, when you think about the world in SSSS it’s not great, even beyond the plague and undead monsters. Like the fact that most Norwegians are illiterate. Even Sigrun, who by all indications is privileged. Then there is Iceland which at best neglects to teach history and at worst suppresses information. Sweden has blatant issues with poverty but this one is explored with the Västerström’s. The others come into play in one way or another but they are left, if memory serves, ultimately unexamined.
Page 181 is basically perfect but I can’t read it without thinking about an edit of the last panel. The one where Tuuri asks Sigrun, “You're so tall. How will boys kiss you?” and Sigrun says, “They can’t. They’re unworthy.” I don’t know if that brings it down or makes it better lol.
My understanding is that (irl) Danish is always difficult for Swedes and Norwegians to understand but Danes, depending on their dialect, may be able to understand Swedish and Norwegian.
So Lalli views Sigrun’s smack on the back and Emil’s fist to shoulder bump as hitting. This is due in no small part to his lack of social interaction. But I do wonder if part of his response is due to Tuuri (and possibly others) hitting him at times...
So does no one want to help the Danes retake their land? Does the Danish government not want help? Norwegians join the Cleaners sometimes and I think Mikkel worked with Norwegians in the past. It’s not like it would be unheard of.
But hey, Shouty Man is here! No one can hear their story grievances over him! And with Cattank we have met 7/8 of A1’s main characters./j
I must add that there is so much good characterization and interactions that character is just oozing out of the pages! This started before but it really picks up here and it is why I and (I believe) many of you love this story in spite of problems with it or it's creator.
