This took so much longer than I had anticipated. But here it is. Happy New Year everyone! Only great comics in ’12! (Starting now.)
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Great insight! Happy new year to you too! 😀
I’ve been having these same thoughts go through my head lately. I am impressed more and more with your ability to express these thoughts so clearly with every new comic. We all know what needs to be done in our life to acquire certain wants and needs. It’s the ability and will to actually go out there and change who we are as a person to achieve these things. We just need to keep moving to keep our balance in life.
excellent stuff! Philosophy with illustrations. Happy New Year to you too.
You. Just. You’re fucking brilliant, y’know?
Happy new year to you, too.
The gradually setting sun and growing snowstorm in the background really make this one for me.
Another life changing strip from Akimbo. I hate the guy.
IMHO, this is the best from you so far. I would make it compulsory in schools or stuff
I love this comic, one of your best sir.
Love it. This is one of the less cynical and more helpful comics I have seen posted here. Mind you, I think the cynical ones are hilarious and necessary… 🙂
This comic has a really positive message that I feel like anyone can relate to. Keep up the good work!
They’ve almost always been great comics!
Oh man, this is just what I needed. This fucking rules, and it looks gorgeous too.
Who else reads this and wishes they had close friends who constantly had fascinating philosophical viewpoints?
Maybe I’m just not trying to find some hard enough.
Reminds me of the Little Johnny joke when the teacher asks how many birds are left on the fence after a farmer shoots one. Trent doesn’t seem to have the right answers, but I like the way he thinks.
The color work on this comic is superb. I don’t know how long it took you to complete this one, but it was worth it. The colors do so much to move the monologue along. Great job.
By the way, I love that their ladyfriend went to pick up Trent’s litter. That shit drives me crazy.
Perfect! Couldn’t have said it any better. Keep up the great work, words and characters.
Love the contrast between the beauty of the scene, and the ugliness of Trent’s words. Drunken nihilistic psychology is always so compelling at the time. http://sahasrara.deviantart.com/art/clinical-psychology-276445906
I was trying to say something just like that, Justin. Thanks for finding the right words.
Actually I’ve thought about it, and I’m not sure ‘nihilistic’ is quite the word for it. Trent’s a jerk, so I probably couldn’t see past that. He’s this strip’s Hobbes, really. Truth can be stinky, but I love how that’s balanced out by the beauty of the scene, and the cute gesture of picking up the tossed bottle.
I completely agree with Joshua about the color; it’s great.
This is amazing, the whole series is amazing. Seriously, best stuff I’ve read on the *whole* internet. Keep it up.
This is a wonderful comic. Absolutely amazing.
With reviews like these, I’m amazed we aren’t seeing more akimbocomics.
Great great great
I think this comic accurately reflects the process of b’s comic development.
http://formalsweatpants.com/journal/2011/12/19/trolley-roger.html
It appears that the author of this comic wants, quite badly, to bring to form thoughts and feelings like the ones expressed here. It is my hope that he maintains the will to do so.
Willpower and identity are things I’ve been giving a lot of thought to lately. Thanks for the timely insight. 😀
[also, Roger in Inner Critic Troll is totally subtle-spam. Better trash it.]
Hello? Is there anybody in there?
It’s long weeks like these that make me worry b has driven his car off an icy hill or is stuck working 14 hour days at the factory. My eyes are starting too look like Onan’s; blankly staring into the dead of space, searching for a reason, alone.
Here’s hoping everything is going well for you. Even if you don’t have any new comics ready, you should let us know how things are going. You still going to school or is it all working right now?
Here’s echoing good ol Jonny. Minus the ‘should’. Do what you will akimbo, my thumbs are up.
Thanks for the comments, everyone! I’m still alive, Jonny. All school; no work. I want to find more time to work on comics every week but I’m spending 100% of my time studying and I’m still not getting the grades I want. Hopefully some Curious this weekend and some Onan next weekend. You guys rule! Thanks!
Any way to get a print?
yes, i would like a way to buy prints as well.
you thrill me man. had a sort-of breakup with this girl who I liked who lived foreverly far away. threw me into a real slump, but you and winston always make the day I find a comic by one of you guys a good one. you guys help people, so you have my thanks mr. B.
A harsh dissertation on willpower. Nice.
FUCKIN LOVE YOU MAN!! EVERYTIME I FEEL DOWN AND DECIDE TO CATCH UP ON ESAD, YOU JUST MAKE MY DAY MAN!! screw politicians, preachers, public speakers, democrats, advisers, big time corporates with astoundingly innate coercive skills and traits and pretty much every other brainwashing, propaganda filled pretenders out there.. your one person i would like to just sit down with, get mildly blazed and have random yet meaningful conversations about life. peace
@Justin
Were you saying that Trent is Hobbes the philosopher or Hobbes the comic character, because I’m getting a really strong Bill Watterson vibe of this comic.
I’d say that philosophically this comic is strongly rooted in Schopenhauer and possible Nietzsche. Schopenhauer proposed eliminating desires as a means of liberation, and Trent seems to agree with his position that Chole could improve her situation by realizing that her desire to be pretty is a desire to be accepted which can be reformed.
The subsequent exchange is perhaps the most revealing as Trent illustrates the limits of his philosophy as he confesses that achieving what we “want” (as defined by Trent) does not make us happy. Which really brings us to ask how does one define a want if not in terms of happiness? Is it what you expect will make you happy? Is it the simple and tautological definition that what you want is what you want to do? If so then the claim that you are doing exactly what you want is trivial.
Obviously, regardless of the philosophical rigor involved in Trent’s thesis it holds a lot of salience which is echoed by the readers here, this one included. So keep up the good work!
Breathtakingly beautiful sunset, and absolute truth. I’m blown away by this comic.
This comic can’t be “truth”, as some commentators are claiming; it’s too contradictory. Worrying about things you can’t change is a waste, but we all have the lives we want? What if there are aspects of your life you don’t want, but can’t change for reasons beyond your control? Trent is just another drunk douchebag unable to see beyond the end of his own nose.
Well, shit, it turns out you already covered that in comic 193. Last comment says it’s awaiting moderation so could you just delete it instead? I’m going through your archives backwards and I’m utterly wankered right now.
Wow. Just wow. This kinda reminds me of calvin and hobbes. Wow
this comic is pretty popular on 4chan
@Will – I think Trent is speaking only of those things you do have control over, and making the point that much of what we’ve surrounded ourselves with is due to our particular order of priorities, and that by changing those priorities, we can consequently change those things.
This was the first one of these comics I ever saw, posted somewhere else on the Internet. I loved it. And now here I am archive binging on the night before Thanksgiving. Feels about right.
Saw this somewhere on the internet. I am now a fan. Brilliant.
try telling that to African war victims who get their hands cut off…
For some reason this is my favorite comic by you, it just really resonates with me and just gives me a feeling of relief and reassurance. I’ve thought about it countless times throughout 2013 during times of stress and depression.
Thinking about getting “You have exactly the life you want” tatted somewhere 🙂
Love this comic, it inspires me so much! I even have a printout of it on my wall, but it’s kinda lame. Do you, by any chance, sell posters of it? I would buy a poster in a second 🙂