Glad to see all the discussion for the last scene :D I was kind of expecting the touchy issue of religion to spark some debate and as long as everyone remains civil and respects each others’ beliefs, I’m more than happy to let the discussion continue!
As the author of this lil’ tale, knowing that I have an audience of varying tastes, morals, and beliefs, I enjoy treading on unknown ground and seeing what kind of reaction I get. When The Pocalypse started, I wanted it to be purely comedic, making the monsters of the world more of a joke than a threat. Then, I started noticing serious apocalypse-related feedback and I found myself adapting my original idea to something with a little more drama, but still keeping Joe, well, Joe :D I was happy to find that I felt more comfortable writing this way, without having to come up with something funny for every scene. Then I started with the cliffhangers and expanding the plot to introduce some of the other enemy species and characters, while trying to make everything fit together. I’ve received feedback every step of the way and I couldn’t be happier to see where the story has gone :D It would be completely different if it wasn’t for all of you and your feedback!
Chapter 7 is another one of those “hey, let’s try this and see what happens” moments. As a Christian myself, being raised Christian and having a 100% Christian family, I feel that Christianity is something I know about, personally. I know what kind of discussion and arguments can come from a religious household and while Oscar’s family’s situation isn’t exactly based on a true story, I can somewhat relate to what they’re going through. I know the extremes that stubbornly hold their ground and close their minds to even the most respectful discussion. But, I also know that even the most religious and devout people can be open-minded about their spirituality and faith. I’ve been through every sacrament that my religion has to offer – except for the priest and near-death ones, of course – and I am, and always will be, open and willing to listen to every belief system that a person may want to talk to me about, from atheism to agnosticism to satanism. I’m also very interested in Buddhism and its values. I’ve done some reading on Buddhism and it really does speak to me and I do agree with a lot of its teachings. I also understand and agree with a lot of aspects of atheism. I believe in evolution. I believe in science. And, I personally don’t believe that I’m any less of a Christian for doing and believing in any of the above. I respect all of your beliefs. I’m glad you’re all strong enough to discuss them in an open forum while still being civil. I know the internet grants all of us a level of anonymity, but I still respect you all for letting us know what you believe and for letting me know what you think about Chapter 7 so far. I’m sure the religion discussion will continue throughout this chapter and I hope you all continue to respect each others’ beliefs, even if they differ from your own :D
When I was thinking about how to start Chapter 7, I knew it had to be about Andy and Cross and that they had to run into something that would reveal and develop more about their characters and relationship. Originally, the survivors at the Harbour were going to be an idyllic group of hopeful people that Andy and Cross were going to viciously chow down on, making us sad that a group of happy, innocent people were killed, so close to leaving Hammerston on their boat. But then I thought, “Nah, let’s make things more interesting and deep. Let’s throw God in the mix.” So, after creating the Harbour, the characters, and animating the scene, I held my breath and published Scene 1. And, here we are now :D
Who knows, maybe Andy and Cross will still chow down on this group. Maybe they won’t. I don’t know what I had in store for this group because I was so focused on their beliefs that I didn’t think about their future. I figured I would take this chapter one scene at a time, like I’ve done with other chapters. So, getting feedback and ideas from all of you has definitely shaped this scene and possibly the next few. But, who knows? The feedback from this scene may push the next scene in a completely new direction! That is just the nature of this beast I call The Pocalypse and why I love making it with all of you, not just as an audience, but as fellow authors with your own experiences, your own beliefs, and your own stories to tell :D
Enjoy Scene 2 – “Rotters”!
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@Joe Well then you might be happy to note that you will probably get a new trope in your comic’s tvtropes page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AmbidextrousSprite :D
@Kulta
The internet is the perfect place to discuss controversial subjections. While ease of access and anonymity might prompt some to troll or flame, it prompts others to be more truthful than they might in public if they fear the consequences of their beliefs when given in public. The internet is one of the last places you can have a truly honest debate with little chance of others holding back their beliefs out of fear of reprisal.
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@Booieann
At the very least you aren’t blatantly hypocritical and illogical like some who will vehemently insist that there is no God, it’s not possible for there to be a God, and you shouldn’t believe its possible for there to be a God; while at the same time telling you that you shouldn’t make an assumption that there is a God after just stating their assumption that there isn’t and can’t be a God.
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@Another Edward
I just lost the game.
@booiean- Actually, agnosticism isn’t really referring at all to whether you are a theist or an atheist. It simply refers to whether or not you believe there is proof one way or the other. One could be an Agnostic Theist who believes in god, but also believes there isn’t proof that there is a god, and there are also Agnostic Atheists, who don’t believe in a god but don’t really think there’s any proof of that.
On the other hand, you have Gnostics, who believe there IS proof for their particular view. So Gnostic Theists believe there is proof there’s a god, and Gnostic Atheists believe there’s proof there isn’t a god.
So really, the modern use of agnostic is kind of a misnomer. A lot of people do use it to suggest that they aren’t really sure what to believe. And that’s really only semi-right.
@another Edward ……….Srsly?
@Willy – speaking as an atheist who reads a lot of blogs, etc. written by atheists, I think that most self-described atheists with a well-thought-out position fall under your ‘Agnostic Atheists’ category. We have no proof that no sort of god exists. However, the null hypothesis states that we would generally assume nonexistence, unless sufficient evidence is presented which counters that. Since there is no generally-accepted evidence, and since “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” I default to the assumption that there is no god, while accepting that it hasn’t been proved logically. But it is like not believing in unicorn-like beings on Neptune; we haven’t proved that there are none, but that doesn’t mean that assuming their existence is as reasonable as assuming their nonexistence.
Furthermore, although there is no proof that a supernatural being doesn’t exist, we do have fairly strong evidence that specific truth claims made by various religions are false. So although all I can say about atheism over Deism is that I think my opinion is philosophically neater and is more in line with a scientific way of viewing the world, I can say for certain that young-earth creationism (Christians who believe that the earth was created 6000 years ago) is totally ridiculous. To the point where I respect your right to have that belief, but I have little to no respect for the belief itself.
@Zach- I think you’re right. On a universal level, it’s hard for any sane individual to say that there is, in fact, proof one way or the other. But in different contexts, the words Gnostic and Agnostic become applicable in different ways. For example, you appear to take a gnostic atheist view of young-earth creationism. (The respect of the belief or those who believe it is irrelevant.) While those who believe that the Shroud of Turin is totally a thing that is proof of a god subscribe to a gnostic theist view of Christianity.
Please don’t kill them. That would be terrible.
i think you should have a cross stop them at one point but the thing that give it power is not god but hope and any other religious symbol should work as well but this is just to give an idea that won’t hurt any one’s belief.
Yes. It would be a terrible tragedy for these fictional characters to be massacred… Honestly, I want to see how that would play out if every last character introduced here was dead by the end of this chapter. I kind of want to know what Joe would be planning for that. Perhaps this chapter isn’t about introducing new recurring characters. Perhaps this is more about Andy and Cross. I mean, hey, they’ve been short on character development for a while now.
Sweet unity! So far, I’m loving Candace and what’s-his-face.
From what he said, this is about Andrius and Cross. That doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody will get slaughtered, but Andrius did say that they would provide enough blood for the journey, and Cross did seem ready to slaughter them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wound up slowly killing off the survivors along the way and wound up with Oscar and Philip were the last ones alive. Maybe this would cause their views to flip if they survived. Oscar would think that there was no God, while Philip starts thinking that whatever bizarre circumstance it is that gets them away alive is actually God’s doing.
Happy sea creatures will save the rebel guy!
..that,or he becomes a badass Zompire that manages to control the thirst and save the world.
I just started reading this comic and blitzed through the pages in the last few days. I have to say, I can’t wait to see where this is going. This is certainly not a “the good guys have every advantage” story. It kind of reminds me of The Darkest Hour movie. Really cool.
My view on the whole religion problem is that we are all people wandering in the woods. Science and logic can tell us a whole lot about the trail around us, the weather, the soil, plants and animals that we can use to survive, and so on. It can even predict how the weather will change, and where this path might go next. But it can’t forcast long-term. We can’t scientifically study our ‘trail’, and determine whether or not it is going to lead us to the lake we want to camp by, or off a cliff, or just around in circles.
Religion, on the other hand, gives us some sort of map of the forest and the trails. It might not be accurate, and it probably can’t tell us much about how to survive in the woods, but it can give us directions and a new point of view. I think that the best way to work with religion is to look at a lot of different religions, and see what they have in common, what they say that is similar.
For those people who shout “where’s your prooooof?”, I don’t have any. That is the whole point. If we are standing at a crossroad, trying to decide which way to go, we have to take it on faith that whatever map or directions we are using will tell us on the right path. If we wait for proof, we will be sitting around doing nothing for a long time. At the same time, if we rely on religion alone, we will end up like Philip, unable to see what is really happening, and, in the end, unable to survive in today’s world.
@MrBester that happens with a lot of sprites, The Pocalypse or no.
Also, this has kinda hit home with me, in a good way, sort of. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
@Joe are you still working on a flash version of Block hopper?
@Not going to say – Yup! It’s been finished for a few weeks now and we’re just waiting for a good sponsor deal, if we can get one :D We can’t wait forever though, so we’ll be releasing it soon, no matter what we can get!
So suspense….Love your comics Joe!
(I love your comics so much that when you haven’t posted a new episode….I start from beggining.) WAahahaha!!! ^_^
OMG DON’T KILL THEM. I AM EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO THEM NOW. Please don’t say that Andrius is going to say he is the devil. NO. JUST NO.
They’ve been in a comic… for a week… either you’re an hilarious troll or you need therapy. XD
@Willy can’t it be both?
Are you still there?
@Not going to say- Por que nalas dos?
HOORAY!
*holds a dance party where everyone stabs trolls.* :D
@Willy
“Yes, we debated religion in the last panel… but we weren’t even close to debating whether or not religion is a thing that’s true. That’s because… I’ll say it again… WE DON’T CARE, AND WE DON’T THINK IT’S A THING THAT IS IMPORTANT. I think a majority of the people on this site aren’t going to shun anyone for what they believe.”
Denied. Whether any religion or a religion is true or not is something that is of paramount importance. If a religion is true, souls depend on that knowledge. If a religion is false, the entire world should cease wasting time and souls on it.
“Religion is like a penis, its fine you have one, its fine to be proud of it, but please don’t whip it out in public and start waving it around, And PLEASE don’t try to shove it down my children’s throats” and this guy is why this was made.
Hey Joe, thanks for sharing your feelings and beliefs, I may have been a bit harsh with ya last time, sorry about that, we seem to be a lot alike in our beliefs.
I respect all beliefs, but I am a christian, 100% percent, and I would appreciate if you make the character Joe stop condemning God every other part of the chapter and scene. Thank you very much. You have a very creative mind, and I enjoy reading your comic. Its the first time Ive ever seen an interactive comic, so I thought this was amazing! :D