After you’re born, marriage is the next biggest transformation to happen in life. By that I mean that there are biological stages one goes through, but you’re still the same person. No big paradigm shift, and that includes if you get a job, finish school or invent something amazing. Nothing kicks over the chess board of your life like getting married. Two people become one. A loner becomes a partner. A promise like no other is made. Marriage isn’t something to fear, I actually fear for people who never mature into it rather than those who go for it even with disastrous results.
The next big transformation is becoming a parent. In my case, I became a father some ten years ago. If marriage is a jump across the river, becoming a father is a jump across the Grand Canyon. When my daughter gasped her first breath I could almost hear a switch flip in me where I went from being a man to being a leader. It’s the greatest change I’ve ever experienced, and I don’t anticipate many more significant paradigm changes outside of death, which is the final exam.
Like marriage, fatherhood was never scary to me. Not being a father became a far bigger threat. When being single is scarier than being married, you’re probably ready for the change. When being childless is scarier than having children you’re probably ready for another change. But that’s where the similarities end, because when you’re ready to die, it probably isn’t your time yet.
Last week Nnewts averaged about 400 visitors a day, with a spike at the Wednesday update being around 1400 unique visitors! That’s double the traffic from the launch just two weeks before.
I feel like you might be downplaying the scariness of fatherhood to convince your readers politically. Katherine is doing a great job with the magic, by the way.
Awesome work! I love the character design!
I am about to see a daughter come into this world and join my son, and it’s still scary – even more so than the first time, as I love my son so much…”How can I love her the same without taking love away from him?!” I wonder in the dark. I fear only that I will fail to raise them to love, learn and hold fast to their convictions while respecting and loving other people. Yeah, I put love in there twice. It’s that important.
Yay! A Nnewt family!
Maybe by the time this webcomic is finishing up I’ll have a whole family of my own.
Just kidding.
But I think this is going to take a LONG time.
Go Herk! Go!
Beautiful page indeed. 4 pages in and we’ve already got a lot of heart in this comic – very impressed.
Ending a marriage is just a big a step as starting one. Luckily my second one is going much better.
I also became a father some 24 years ago, and am soon going through another profound transition, as this September all of the kids will be out of the house, and it will be time to discover what my wife and I are going to be now that our kids are grown.
great page, and thanks for the words of wisdom.
So far this has a very different tone than Ratfist. We’re four pages in and no jokes yet! Also I don’t think I’d be wrong in calling this one more “kid-friendly”.
Your commentaries under the pages are inspiring. It is the best kind of magic to love and be loved.
Thanks for all the nice compliments everyone!
As always, I love seeing where the Fatherhood theme enters your works!
Great commentary too! Can’t wait to see the whole thing…
Aww (would’ve made that a longer aww but it hits the spam filter if you have more than two) baby amphibians are the cutest. That’s why everyone loves axolotls.
As usual your views mirror mine perfectly @_@ except I’m set firmly in the “nobody wants to marry me and bear my young” camp for the time being.
Totally enjoying how you’re putting one page a week out, but you’re including your thoughts on the page and the sketch. I feel like I’m part of process. Thanks for creating a new comic experience for me.
Thanks, I am Larva! (aren’t we all larva?)
The blog posts and the work in progress for each page is my apology for only doing a page a week. Every week you get to read a page, read a post, see the process, get an update on traffic, and come participate in the comments section. That’s the show we’re putting on here.
Hey Doug, I appreciate all the effort you throw into this. This one especially with your thoughts on the bottom hit me. I do anticipate the next. Beautiful work!
Interesting thoughts. I’ve long been convinced that marriage and fatherhood are two major steps that were planned for us human beings in order to better understand God’s love. Each one is a step further away from the self, requiring increasing sacrifice but also offering increasing fulfillment.
Anyway, for a very long time I’ve feared having children: am I mature enough to raise a child? How could I afford it? How much freedom will I be giving up, possibly for the rest of my life? Now, at long last, I think I can feel that beginning to change. The thought of never having children is beginning to haunt me; though I’m still frightened of the responsibility, that fear is starting to lessen in the face of the alternative.
Devin, our culture raises us to fear giving up anything, sacrificing anything, and denying ourself.
I could, of course, give a lot of selfish reasons to this generation for why they could have kids too; you get to see what your genes will look like in the next generation, your child will be there to take care of you, your self image as a leader and confidence will improve… but there’s really no fooling people into seeing that having kids is a necessary but selfless act.
Enjoying the comic so far, Doug. And looking forward to seeing where it goes. I also really like seeing the sketches and reading your thoughts. I’m super fascinated with the creative process… sometimes it seems more interesting than the final product. I’m sure in this case both will be worth following.
Very nice, so far; stylistically, I’m reminded of Vaughn Bode’s Cobalt 60 from back in the 80′s, which I still love today. Very nice to see that that style still exists.
Nas, we had the very same thoughts before our second daughter was born. You’ll be happy to know that it’s completely possible to love a second (and a third!) just as much.
I disagree, especially with the implication that marriage and parenthood are somehow necessary steps in maturation. I, for one, have every intention of remaining childless on a permanent basis. I don’t like kids, don’t want kids, don’t wish to contribute to overpopulation, and don’t think I’d make a good father anyway. As for marriage, it’s an artificial institution. I may conceivably find someone I love and want to live with, but I don’t think I’ll ever understand the need to have an intensely personal life decision ratified by the government – and frequently organized religion – in a gaudy, expensive ceremony with a hundred attendees. If you do, more power to you. I just don’t get it.
C’mon Herk! Let’s go!
So, how long until you stop posting this story online and try to sell us the book?
I liked that so much with ratfist!
i’m neither married nor have children and yet i look forward to both with no fear at all.
I spent the weekend camping with the family! We made little bird traps, and my friend, Ryan, joined us and taught me how to throw an axe! Lots of bluebelly lizards around, but no amphibians.
Hey Doug just wanted to tell you how happy I am that your making another Web Comic. Your work has been part of my life since the EWJ days and it always makes me happy to see you putting out new and interesting things.