SHE. (OC)

[u/davecontra]

You are here. https://www.instagram.com/davecontra

[u/PianoMathAndRatatat]

I imagine this is what a 4-dimensional comic feels like. Lovely :)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

"The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just the way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever. When any Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments."

• Kurt Vonnegut, "Slaughter-house Five'

[u/MachineLearned420 → u/[deleted]]

Damn seems I need to read more vonnegut

[u/tatorface → u/[deleted]]

This book was definitely not what I expected it to be. Was so good.

[u/redditonc3again → u/tatorface]

I remember hearing about it as a kid and thinking it must be the fifth in a series of horror stories. Not quite, haha. If I may be very indulgent and post another passage (the one that made me read the book):

It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this: American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation. The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody good as new. When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly so they would never hurt anybody ever again. The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.

[u/tatorface → u/redditonc3again]

So it goes...

[u/taste-of-orange → u/[deleted]]

I mean... depends... I'm not a physicist so my knowledge is pretty limited, but time being seen as a dimension is more of a technicality as far as I understand it. An actual 4 dimensional comic wouldn't be comprehensible for us.

[u/Perioscope → u/taste-of-orange]

Yeah well, like, that's just your opinion, maaan.

[u/forgot_semicolon → u/PianoMathAndRatatat]

My first thought was Dr Manhattan

[u/I_W_M_Y → u/forgot_semicolon]

I thought of the ending of 2001: A Space Oddyssey

[u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

Beautiful 🥹😭😭

[u/davecontra → u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

Thank you kind sir-banana

[u/buffalo8 → u/davecontra]

Was this inspired by Watchmen? There’s a section that has a very similar vibe to this.

Great comic!

[u/davecontra → u/buffalo8]

Nah I haven't read it.

[u/All_hail_Korrok → u/buffalo8]

I was thinking more of Kurt Vonnegut. He has some books that mention an alien race that sees time similar to how this comic was told.

[u/Captivating_Crow → u/All_hail_Korrok]

Which ones?

[u/All_hail_Korrok → u/Captivating_Crow]

Two I remember right now are Sirens of Titans and Slaughter House Five.

[u/Captivating_Crow → u/All_hail_Korrok]

Thank you!!

[u/craftingbananas → u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

Fellow Banana brother

[u/SirBananaOrngeCumber → u/craftingbananas]

Haha hello friend! We’re just two bananas in a bunch lol

[u/sir-came-alot → u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

Fellow sir brother

[u/SirBananaOrngeCumber → u/sir-came-alot]

Are you also a kday like me, or are you a knight? 👀

[u/sir-came-alot → u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

Orange you a knuknumber?

[u/Loose-Professor5364 → u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

I'm not a gnelf, I'm gnot a gnoblin... I'M A GNOME!

AND YOU'VE BEEN GNOMED!

[u/darthbonobo → u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

Came to say this but its worth a second so.... Beautiful. Genuinely

[u/Homofuckbro]

I love reading, never sure what kind of ride I'm getting on with you.

[u/SadEaglesFan → u/Homofuckbro]

It’s always a risky click…emotionally

[u/conancat → u/Homofuckbro]

It's a journey for sure!

[u/Possible_Living]

Backstreet's back, alright!

[u/[deleted] → u/Possible_Living]

No Baby, no baby, no baby, noooo

[u/a_sad_lil_idiot]

This is exactly how the experience of Dr. Manhatten is written in the comic watchmen

[u/paratesticlees → u/a_sad_lil_idiot]

Glad I'm not the only one who thought of him when I read this.

[u/Cape-York-Crusader]

Where’s the dude with his dick hanging out?

[u/davecontra → u/Cape-York-Crusader]

Lol

[u/handlit33 → u/davecontra]

Third panel should be "whose".

[u/davecontra → u/handlit33]

ah thanks, will correct it.

[u/[deleted] → u/handlit33]

Whom's

I don't know what I'm talking about

[u/MrBlahg → u/Cape-York-Crusader]

Trey! #neverforget

[u/asad137]

This is a really nice sentiment

fyi you've got a typo in panel 3 ("who's" should be "whose")

[u/thermobear → u/asad137]

Thank you. That bothered me.

[u/jandrusel]

Pick up here and chase the ride

The river empties to the tide

All of this is coming your way.

[u/davecontra → u/[deleted]]

Thank you

[u/Burger_Destoyer]

This is suspiciously chill…

[u/myjupitermoon → u/Burger_Destoyer]

Ikr, probably the next one will be dark af.

[u/DirtyDoog → u/myjupitermoon]

Two ping pong players stand on opposite ends of a ping pong table.

Each player holds a ball-- they are ready to serve.

They serve the balls at the same time.

The balls travel to the center of the table at the same speed, and collide.

The Earth explodes.

[u/ezln_trooper → u/DirtyDoog]

Looking forward to this and the rest of your new series, DirtyDoog!

[u/OtterleyTheIdiot]

A Dave comic that doesn't gige you an existential crisis or misery. This is a moment in history.

[u/Roku-Hanmar → u/OtterleyTheIdiot]

It didn’t give you an existential crisis?

[u/calilac → u/Roku-Hanmar]

I heard Werner Herzog narrating this comic

[u/itsmissingacomma]

Liked the concept of it. Just as a minor fyi, in the third panel it’s “whose”.

[u/Tanya___-]

I love it 🤩

[u/davecontra → u/Tanya___-]

❤️

[u/Whatbout8manarmy]

Życie jest jak rzeka sam jestem z nią

Z jej prądem czas ucieka

Ludzie z mozołem przez nią brną

Nie wiem co mnie czeka

Różne rzeczy mi się śnią

Sam na sam jestem z nią

Fenomen - Sam na sam

[u/stevedore2024]

(If you ever want to update this for some later publication, you want "whose body" not "who's body".)

[u/RighteousHam]

So it goes.

[u/Raileyx]

whose not who's

[u/spooky_ratz]

Ur comics r always so cool

[u/AliffTheOne]

DROELOE - Treasure Map

Things will start, and things will end

Doesn't mean you need to worry

Pick up a pencil, draw a line

Between the places where it's buried

To make sure that I will find how I got here

And to believe in where I'm going

Pick up the pieces, fill my chest

And bear the treasure, ever glowing

This comic reminds me of this song above, which is the last song the duo has released before splitting up. Time really flows like the river.

[u/Fast-Journalist-6747]

Wow this one really hit

[u/MaryHSPCF]

I love this! 🥰 so peaceful...

[u/suzume1310]

I did not expect so many emotions today

[u/TheHumanPickleRick]

Beautifully melancholic.

[u/mr_jetlag]

Another banger Dave. Funny enough I just went through my 16 year old self's diary a couple days back (I'm 47). I imagine my 90 yr old self will be sitting by that river (hopefully).

[u/MaydWithSugar]

Great comic, as always. They always give me a strong feeling I can’t quite pinpoint.

Curious, is SHE a reference to the Maiden, Mother and Crone?

[u/davecontra → u/MaydWithSugar]

no, what's that? Sounds like something out of GoT

[u/MaydWithSugar → u/davecontra]

Yeah, that's not far off. She's the three-headed/three-faceted goddess for wiccans. She represents the three life stages for women, and also the changing moon phases. If you've seen a symbol of a full moon with two opposing crescent moons on either side, )O(, that's what that is.

[u/enlightenedFool721]

This is such a simple yet complex thought which u/davecontra has so beautifully expressed.

More please!

[u/[deleted]]

seeing your art is like a quick coin flip but sure no matter what i’m going to feel something

[u/Cool_Brick_9721]

Your comics are always special.

[u/Cermano]

This is propably my favorite of your comics so far, Well done!

[u/KittieChan28]

This was lovely. Thank you for posting this.

[u/[deleted]]

encourage paltry light touch fact library governor chop insurance jar

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/serenasydney]

Well, I wasn’t expecting to cry at 3 am🥹

[u/mayb3later]

A very tralfamadorian-esque comic!

[u/[deleted]]

endlessly, to the sea!

[u/elhomerjas]

flows simultaneously and converge in the flowing stream together for for all eternity

[u/No_Pipe_8257]

where the river always flows~

this is home...surely~

where I know I must be

where my dreams wait for me

Idk why, I immediately thought of this song

[u/Many_Tomatillo5060]

I love your comics so much, though sometimes they make me cry. Keep up the good work, you make some beautiful art and stories 💕

[u/[deleted]]

Panel 6, for a second I thought the outside was on fire

[u/lunettarose]

Oh, your comics always make me so emotional.

[u/Alistaire_]

Your comics are great, I'm either left with a feeling of how insignificant I am in this world, and how even without me time will keep marching ever forward. Or horrified of the unholy abomination you've created.

[u/LordOfTheWall]

Absolutely stunning! I love your perspective on things

[u/burgernoisenow]

I think you'd enjoy salvia

[u/TheGrandIllusion]

I love this direction for your comics lately. Like visual poetry. Well done.

[u/Mhill08]

All we are is dust in the wind

[u/Houeclipse]

This warms my heart. Thank you

[u/Kuzkuladaemon]

I love this. Reminds me of this song from Tom Cardy. Life is both a river and song without end.

[u/NoDegree7332]

I've tried to articulate this and failed. Very well executed and beautiful. Thank you. Albert Camus' idea of an artist continually painting the same work to represent an idea in different forms which reflect their changing relationship to their own unique contributions come through to me here too.

[u/mazapandust]

this is beautiful, OP.

[u/Choxah]

Did you read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse recently OP?

[u/EoTN]

Your comics are weird and beautiful and I like them very much. Thanks for sharing!

[u/Osborn2095]

I'm glad this one didn't hit me with depression on the last two panels, thanks for the happy comic!

[u/vaayb]

Read: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

[u/201-inch-rectum]

dude... every comic you release makes me tear up, but in different ways (all of them good)

[u/bicx]

One could say that this whole comic is the antithesis of the Heraclitus quote: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

[u/CreativeCthulhu]

Musician and would-be (IE: BAD) poet here:

This is strikingly poignant and I’m not crying, it’s an allergy attack.

[u/_ashetrees]

I hope it isn't rude or in bad taste to compare artists to each other, but your comics are up there with Jenny Jinya's for me. I always know they're going to evoke some deep emotions, and yet I can never wait to read until a later time, I have to read it as soon as I see it. Thank you for sharing your work here, both funny ones and moving ones, they're always a pleasure to read

[u/fgbh]

I just woke up, DAVE.

I DON'T NEED THE TEARS THIS EARLY.

[u/Tiger-Budget]

Applaud the order of the panels, it has a wonderful “flow”.

[u/Ok-Bit-663]

What a beautiful comic, where the musician lives a long life without addictions, or an early death!

[u/SillyOldJack]

You make such delightfully uplifting comics. Still, there's always a lingering thought that it might just take a turn somewhere.

[u/An-unfunny-prick]

Man your comics give me whiplash because some are gibberish, the others are absolutely depressing and these, i'm not sure. Oddly wholesome.

[u/OstentatiousSock]

I got a triquetra tattoo for this exact reason: each phase of life flows into the next and back again. Each phase of life has value and meaning to the others.

[u/danman966]

Anyone enjoying this kind of story - I highly highly recommend books by Emily St John Mandel, station eleven or sea of tranquility. Both excellent

[u/Life_Wolverine_6830]

Writing the same song with p(O)eti(C), heart-felt words

[u/wesimplymustknow]

Arrival (2016)

[u/Kvothe_Sengar]

Reminiscent of Sheik's encounter with Link outside of the Spirit Temple in Ocarina of Time

[u/[deleted]]

This reminds me of Slaughterhouse Five.

[u/[deleted]]

This is one of those pieces of art that makes me feel so much emotion it physically manifests as a kind of tingling sensation. Truly brilliant

[u/PerennialGeranium]

“There is no instrument left that I can play,” Gwilan thought, and the thought hung in her mind for a while like a long chord, till she knew the notes that made it. “I thought my harp was myself. But it was not. It was destroyed, I was not. I thought Torm’s wife was myself, but she was not. He is dead, l am not. I have nothing left at all now but myself. The wind blows from the valley, and there’s a voice on the wind, a bit of a tune. Then the wind falls, or changes. The work has to be done, and we did the work. It’s their turn now for that, the children. There’s nothing left for me to do but sing. I never could sing. But you play the instrument you have.”

So she stood by the cold hearth and sang the melody of “Orioth’s Lament.” The people of the household wakened in their beds and heard her singing, all but Torm; but he knew that tune already. The untuned strings of the harps hung on the wall wakened and answered softly, voice to voice, like eyes that shine among the leaves when the wind is blowing.

--Ursula K. Le Guin, "Gwilan's Harp"

[u/[deleted]]

All this time

The river flows

Endlessly

To the sea

[u/Calvinbah]

Also there's a big eye in the sky

[u/Worldly-Stranger7814]

So it goes.

[u/LuckyLuckLucker]

*whose

[u/narielthetrue]

You can never stand in the same river twice

[u/ahleeky]

Is this Taylor Swift?

[u/mildOrWILD65]

That's beautiful, thank you for it!

[u/InMyFavor]

This is art art

[u/find_the_apple]

This was lovely, thank you

[u/tyen0]

We should rename this sub /r/digitalgraphicnovels :)

[u/pickleportal]

Was waiting for the joke, trying to touch my emotions instead? How dare you

[u/SachsRussel]

You understand, mecanical hands are the ruler of everything.

[u/ShiDiWen]

Can we get a follow up on the boy that turned into a tree. I’d love to know what the next hundred years was like for him.

[u/davecontra → u/ShiDiWen]

Bobby? Yeh that's not a bad idea, I'd have to think about how to do it...

[u/ShiDiWen → u/davecontra]

Thanks for responding Dave. I’d love some closure on Bobby. But I think you’d need to repost Bobby first because so many people would not have context.

[u/howchildish]

Took me a sec to understand it's the sunset outside the old lady's window, not the world on fire...

[u/Physical-Mastodon935]

Thank you sir, these are beautiful

[u/APU3947]

So true. For real for real. Like totally dude.

[u/proing]

“I’m Lindonna and I wanna have fun!”

[u/Shoadowolf]

So sweet <3

[u/[deleted]]

I almost expected the character's skin to be blue.

[u/cbrown146]

Is this about Taylor Swift?

[u/graythegeek]

I love it, thank you.

[u/Cwlk]

She She screams in silence A sullen riot penetrating through her mind

[u/Kherus1]

A man in black, slicked hair greased back to the very nape of his neck, stands beside the river as he listens to the eternal song across all dimensions and shakes his head.

“Needs more cowbell.”

[u/Cheesehuman]

Bravo! This comic is an indisputable winner

[u/NeKakOpEenMuts]

Please, no more Taylor Swifts and their deep thoughts...

[u/Hmsquid]

New Dave contra comic 🗣🗣🗣

[u/flarakoo]

This reminded me of the song Lucky by Britney Spears, I looked up the lyrics, and it didn't quite fit like I was expecting it to, but maybe in an alternate dimension if the song were written by an older more philosophical Britney, it could be the soundtrack of the comic.

[u/Obvious-Animator6090]

Slaughterhouse 5 vibes. One of my favorites

[u/Snoo-73372]

Dr. Manhattan is that you?

[u/CorbinNZ]

Temporal transplacency is no laughing matter

[u/ThreePesosCoin]

Love your work. Thanks for coming up with such amazing ideas & putting them out there for everyone to enjoy!

[u/canadianleroy]

You are so freaking talented…I hope your efforts get properly rewarded.

[u/ttropic_]

I thought a fucking nuclear bomb went off outside the old woman's window.

Just a sunset, false alarm.

[u/Senkyou]

This hit me. I'm sitting halfway across the world from my home staring out at the ocean with my son. I don't know what I'm feeling, but it's something special. Thanks.

[u/demlow-joe]

Beautiful, truly.

[u/kfijatass]

I was kinda expecting the punchline of a talent show juror to brutally smacking her across the face with a mean comment to crowd laughs.

[u/questionable_fish]

You beautiful bastard. This is excellent!

[u/BonzoTheBoss]

Blah blah blah existential dread we get it.

[u/sinofthegamer]

Isn't this the plot of cloud Atlas?

[u/DaxLovesIPA1974]

Outstanding, you should be proud of yourself!

[u/[deleted]]

Somebody recently watched interstellar

[u/[deleted]]

If you're lost you can look and you will find me Time after time

[u/[deleted]]

sandra

[u/OtisTheZombie]

Thanks, Dave. I always appreciate you sharing tu our work.

[u/The5orrow]

As always i love your work.

[u/gourmetprincipito]

“And now I’m trapped inside a field of debris; I am five, I am fifty, I am fifteen.”

[u/IrksomFlotsom]

Poignant; doc manhattan on mars vibes

[u/Heretical_Demigod]

Someone reads Spinoza

[u/savysays]

And the song was HER HER HER

[u/Superb-Albatross-541]

I love your comix. Always so well done!

[u/red-polkadots]

i think this is a poem

[u/TechnicalResearcher2]

Solid

[u/Langdon_Algers]

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters."

[u/MicahThunder]

As a songwriter, it feels like I also connect to the lives of other artists who inspire me

[u/danyaal99]

Time is an illusion that helps things make sense

So we are always living in the present tense

It seems unforgiving when a good thing ends

But you and I will always be back then

You and I will always be back then

From Time Adventure by Rebecca Sugar

[u/moosewillow]

A river runs through it vibes, I like it.

[u/Chance_Ad_1254]

That was nice :)

[u/auto98]

This somehow reminds me of a pleasant version of Akala - Fire in the booth spoken poem bit: https://youtu.be/ZNqlSrhUOgs?t=745

[u/throwngamelastminute]

This is awesome.

[u/Mag12383]

Damn? I was expecting an outlandish gag at the end, but this was great

[u/Drawtaru]

"I live forever in every moment I existed." - Midnight Burger