The Rematch

[johnguilyard]

Hey guys, me again, I swear I'll join in discussion and not just post my own work.
But this has been my quarantine project. I ended up drawing 23 pages, the first 6 are below the cut,
and the whole story can be found here

Comments

[deh_tommy]

Holy smokes, this is superb! I love that page of the Hare going down the apartment complex.

Do you think the PETA in this universe has the same kind of... questionability that has in real life? And I’m not sure I understand the ending message. Still, great job!

[johnguilyard]

haha I think PETA is probably similar in this universe and for better or worse, sill something that this Fox News would oppose and even group along with Pitbull Lives Matter as enemies of their audience.

Likewise, the moral of the story is that slow & steady only wins the race in the specific way it won before. haha Jane Gray in the next comment puts it in words better than I do.

[janegray]

Really happy to see this, because OMG YES THANK YOU!

The slow & steady moral never made any sense to me. The turtle didn't win because he was slow & steady, he won because his opponent massively underestimated him and practically handed victory over to him on a silver platter. But that only works once.

Rather, the "don't take victory for granted, because if you are overconfident, those who are more dedicated than you will slip under your radar and kick your butt" moral makes much more sense. It's not an inspiring take starring the turtle, it's a cautionary tale starring the hare.

[johnguilyard]

Thank you so much! haha I worked pretty hard on this in the last month and this is the kind of reaction I was hoping to see.

I added so much more story about the tortoise just to show him becoming how the hare was, and it was annoying to draw but makes the Hare working towards his goal that much more meaningful haha.

[megaspork]

I don't know, the moral I got from it is slow and steady on its own doesn't mean squat without perseverance. Like it is a cautionary tale on the hare don't get me wrong, but at the same time the hare uses the tortoises own philosophy to better himself. If that makes sense?

[junipepper]

I don’t know. When my daughter was about 7, she won a swim race—individual medley—where you have to do all four international standard strokes, in a prescribed order, with prescribed transitions (different for each stroke). She finished last. But everyone else was disqualified for one technical violation or another (that happens a lot in swimming; it’s much more technical than most people realize). So she got first place. She was a child, but they do this same race at every level of swimming including Olympics. Slow and steady does win the race, in some circumstances. Academics, for instance. (And if you also have a sloppy, show-boating, overconfident opponent, you’re lucky.)

I think the lesson was always supposed to be, do things right. Don’t be sloppy, show-boating, and overconfident.

[strejdaking]

Damn it, I was looking for stuff that will make me LESS depressed. Figured it was gonna be about hare realizing he doesn't need to prove anything, that the experience helped him and let the turtle win. Oh well. Your art is gorgeous.
EDIT: Sorry, that was rude. I wasn't trying to criticize your story you made in your own time and shared for free for not being what I wanted it to be, just wanted to express my mindset at the time. Everything kinda sucks lately.

[deh_tommy]

Yeah, I was a bit unsure of the ending (mainly because the Hare is a bit of a jerk whose selfishness and lack of humility are seemingly rewarded for the sake of his bruised ego), but to be fair the Tortoise started to let the peer pressure of the rematch get to his head thus putting him in a position similar to the Hare in the original fable, and the race apparently didn’t gain much traction so the only person the Hare really had to prove himself to was himself.

The ultimate message, I think, is a reaffirmation of the original’s, just with the animals flipped – “do your best”, “keep enough pride burning inside to fuel you, but not so much to burn you down” and (as janegray so wonderfully put that) “don't take victory for granted, because if you are overconfident, those who are more dedicated than you will slip under your radar and kick your butt”.

[strejdaking]

Yeah, they do mention people not gettign the context it not going to becoem a big deal, even with hare breaking world record. I figured it would mean Tortoise presumably ruined his reputation and lost everything, but I see that may not be the intended implication.

Though, that does seem to mean the story isn't meant ot be a tragedy but uplifting, especially with gut-punching "Till truth and talent claim their place at the end" and.... Look, I really don't wanna be an asshole about a well-drawn fanfic a guy just shared with others, so I should just shut up.

If it's alright, I would love to hear from you what was your intention with the ending Johngulyard!

[johnguilyard]

hmmm, well if there was more of a feel good ending, yeah the hare would come back and finish the race with the tortoise, that being said I leaned a lot more on the tortoise towards the back half and focused on the art over story. If anything, before the 6 months later with the tortoise I would include a page or two about the hares development but unlike the tortoise, he doesnt have his a sloth to be his robin so he mostly monologues and it wouldve been out of place to introduce a new relatioship for him when I was trying to stick to 22 pages.

if anything, while drawing, i rewatched HBO's east bound and down where a lot of the time it ends with him having a monologue despite his questionable actions. This is an adaptation of a 4 page story from a satire book that is honestly a little mean spirited. but Jane Gray is right with what i was going for, like the hare does get better and he thanks the tortoise, but I couldve shown more to that process. haha

[tcampbell1000]

This was a lot of fun!

[roguefankc]

OMG I love this! Do you plan to sell this? I wish to support you for your work and I'll buy a hardback copy if you plan to market it as one!

[johnguilyard]

I really appreciate it! I'm currently not in the market of selling any comics because this story isn't written entirely by me. I did print a few copies of this and my other comic togive as gifts and to hold a physical item!

[tripodeca113]

Well that was a gem.

[miramira]

I love the sloth assistant. Like, what's his backstory?

[johnguilyard]

Lazlo - he was a pun on lazy susan. The short story only mentioned that the tortoise had a spokesperson. The spokesperson was originally gonna be a snail, but having a tiny snail as a character would've effected how I drew background and 'extras' haha

But since this is in new york, he probably lives in brooklyn and commutes to the city, he works for a nonprofit but makes decent money because he's an assistant as well, but like not enough to live in manhattan. haha I just wanted him to be a friendly and earnest guy, who really believes in slow and steady initiatives but is also friends with the tortoise, and really believes in him.

That's it haha not much of a backstory.
I kind of made things as I went... so like parts could have been better or worse, but like I didn't really design page or panels until the day I drew them haha

[junipepper]

Impressive.