October 13th, 2017
13 Oct 2017 · page 739 of 1306
In her own way.
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Verity Cunningham
Comments (50)
Events
ThoughtBubble
14 Nov 2026 – 15 Nov 2026
Harrogate Convention Centre
Manchester Megacon
31 Jul 2027 – 1 Aug 2027
Manchester Central
Awww
Well said and quite right, Verity. Benjamin keeps going despite all obstacles in his path. It is his grace. :')
At the start of this chapter I didn't really care about either of these characters, but now I'm enjoying them more than anything else! (And I'm really enjoying everything else).
"If I heard anyone else saying that about you, I'd destroy them!" Yeah, I remember some green fox getting hit by a sandbag.
OK, Vee, the 5th place in my top list is yours, as I promised. :)
It's remarkable that swirls of mist "try" to catch Ben's legs as he succumbs to his funk and how clear is the space around him in the next to last panel.
Yes, the swirls in the next-to-last panel look like they've all had to suddenly let go!
Notice the lantern in panel 8. You made it, guys. That's all it took.
Covered a lot of ground since panel 6, din't they?
Vee... You are great! REALLY great!
Sometimes you need empathy, other times you just need a good mental slap upside the head. And Verity is obviously the woman for the latter.
Well, you do need empathy to realise one need a good mental slap just now. And Verity felt there's something wrong with Ben even before Sid told her about Pride. Wolfe, empathic and kind-hearted as he is, didn't.
Good point - it was Vee who asked "Did I miss something in there?" Wolfe must have been too caught up in his own worries about Mal to notice it.
Wait, what mental slap? These are inspiring words of encouragement! Delivered forcefully, sure, but she's wise to out-dramatic Ben. In this situation Verity is worth ten of those well-meaning people who want to encourage you but feel like they have to make sure not to put you under any pressure at all, so their "encouragement" comes across wishy-washy and ineffectual. I much prefer Verity's fierceness.
"Wait, what mental slap? These are inspiring words of encouragement!"
The same thing :D
As Mal put it: "Even I know that is just a posher word fer the same thing" ;)
[http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/june-13th-2014/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/june-13th-2014/")
But "slap" sounds like she is doing something in a mean or painful way, which she isn't.
The encouraging words come after the mental slap, because those words would not be heard otherwise.
Look at panel 4. Verity is down right ticked, and she actually yells at Ben. That anger continues in Panel 5, complete with "I would destroy" anyone who would talk about Ben the way he's talking about himself. It's beyond forceful, and "HOW DARE YOU" isn't encouragement. It's "would you wake up and listen to yourself?!"
Sometimes you need a shake. When it happens, it has to come from someone who can actually connect with you. Mal or Harry couldn't have connected. Verity would, and it's partially because of Ben's relationship with her (which is almost like a big sister to little brother), and it's partially because that's Verity's strength.
> "HOW DARE YOU" isn't encouragement
But it is a sign of Vee's deeply caring about Ben as he sees she's going to protect "his favourite cousin", even from himself. It means something, for someone having yelled "I have no friends!"
Yay, Verity comes through!
Verity multi-classed into Bard I see.
Yes! Go, Vee! Ben might not listen to/believe this from anyone else (if Wolfe had tried, for instance, Ben would have thought he was just being nice out of pity), but he's known Verity all his life, and he knows she speaks her mind and doesn't go in for softening the truth.
Also, "How dare you talk that way about my favourite cousin?" is a perfect thing to say here. Ben needs to be reminded that you should value yourself the way you would someone you like and respect. (And the startled expression on his face in panel 5, like it had never occurred to him that anyone would feel that way about him...)
"The only way to fail is to quit."
Nice job, Vee!
Verity is the best. Verity may stay.
I absolutely LOVE the emotional arc you're putting Ben through here. Ben is somebody that I empathize with A LOT, and this is just... UGH, YOU ARE DOING SO RIGHT BY HIM AND I LOVE IT OKAY.
Thank you! I am glad to finally be arriving at the payoff after being a jerk to him for so long, it's agonising!
If I may. I love the visual story telling of him almost being literally consumed by the yawns of sloth until Vee literally broke those foggy chains with her words.
You definitely may, thank you :3
you are very welcome. been reading since darken so i am a big fan of your work and story telling.
me too!
Yes, if present trends continue, that does seem to be the likely outcome.
For all her self-aggrandizing and teasing, Vee is very good at noticing when the people she cares about are seriously down, and at at giving this kind of... aggressive support. Most obviously with Ben so far, but look at how she greeted Harry in the beginning of this chapter (and so, she fills one of my favorite character types)
I wonder if Harry took her on as a partner not because of her gizmos and gadgets, but because she's VERY good at reading people. Wolfe, Sidney, Florrie, even Harry would probably try to empathize and be kind, which would only read to Ben as "Oh, I'm THAT much of a charity case...." Vee, on the other hand, recognizes that getting ANGRY with him for being wrong is much more helpful, much as she knew that the best thing she could do for Harry was get her focused on the goal and return at least some sort of normalcy to the situation (ie Vee being full of herself).
Vee needs a pair of those pointed red sunglasses for this and the long red cape :P She totally nailed the Kamina Moment.
Two things: I love the detail that, as each one succumbs, the mist starts to swirl around them like it's physically grabbing them.
Second, it's interesting how each character has a different crack for Sloth to get in: Wolfe is an easygoing, go with the flow kind of guy, so it's all too easy for him to just decide "Yeah, sure we can stop." Sid has the talented-but-undisciplined thing going; it's difficult for him (and me) to keep plugging away at a task where progress isn't more-or-less immediately obvious. Ben has the whole depression/self-loathing thing going; like me, he's vulnerable to assuming he's not going to be capable anyway, and therefore concluding that there's little point in trying.
I wonder if we're going to see a scene where he as to shore up Vee.
The thing with the ensnaring mist is particularly effective in panel 3 here - not only is it grabbing Ben, but the swirls really emphasize how he's spiraling into the Pit of Despair.
(Somehow, the angle of that shot and the curl of mist behind his head make him look kind of like he did when he had a ponytail...)
Oh, I hope he won't get this ponytail anymore! When he did cut it, despite the unfortunate circumstances causing it, it was, for me, some symbole of first changes in him, of getting inner freedom - by freeing his hair from an elastic band.
Definitely! As I commented a while back, the haircut makes him look younger and less buttoned-up, nicely illustrating the effect that hanging around with Mal and Wolfe has had on him.
Yep. Don't forget guilt. Crippling guilt is crippling.
Believe me, I'm very familiar. Especially recently. </vaguebooking>
I find it interesting that the anime Black Clover started airing right in time for this part of this arc.
"My magic is never giving up!"
Yeah, go Vee!
Hummm, could there be a reflash/summoning of Wraith? So many possibilities and options.
All that needs to be done is poke Vee's buttons just right...
One of the things I absolutely love about this page is how it shows Sloth not just as "laziness", but how classically Sloth also covered problems like "despair" and "depression", which often gets overlooked these days.
Widdershins in general, in addition to being a masterfully drawn and written work of art, has always been amazingly good at portraying the Deadly Sins in more nuanced, insightful and well-informed ways than almost any other media I've seen.
The fact that it does the very clever thing of letting us get to know a diverse cast of people, and then later on shows us specific scenes where they act out elements of the Sins, really helps ground the concept, makes it more 'realistic' and relatable.
I've long been impressed by this comic, but this page really hit it home for me. Much applause : )
So many lovely comments this page, thank you!
Mr Thackerey didn't seem very happy to see Ms Cunningham when she first turned up. Do you think this is the first time he's realised that she doesn't hold him in complete contempt?
I don't. One reason for that it was Verity whom Ben said to "I can't believe I just sat and did nothing!" in the Theatre.
I think he remembers their mutual care, friendship from their childhood and still loves Vee. I think he wasn't very happy this time just because he knew Vee always was rather intense and authoritarian in her habits (much more than himself), and he didn't want his colleagues (actually subordinates) see her patronizing him.
Now let's see how Ms Barber motivates O'Malley...
I've been wondering about that. On the one hand, Mal tends to respond better to gentle handling, but on the other hand, getting his temper up might be just the thing to jolt him out of his lassitude.
A boot to the butt might be effective. Or, if Ms Barber still had the musket, a butt to the boot.
I had a friend a long time ago who met any self deprecating comments you made with, "how dare you say that about my friend!" and it is shockingly effective. :)
Sometimes Vee is just... just perfect
I keep finding myself going back and re-reading Widdershins because of all the sneaky foreshadowing in the background and dialogue! It's such a wonderful read but it sure does hamper my productivity! :P
I'm glad Ben is recovering somewhat about his self-esteem because when looking back, he's actually been quite courageous and helpful! He's just less flashy about it. He ran back into a burning building to desummon Sloth (and was the only one who could do it in that situation), breaks and enters into a private property with Mal to investigate Voss, adapted to Mal's Sight within a day enough to know how to get help from malforms (specifically to keep a mansion from exploding), directed Mal's first time manipulating energies, and earlier in this chapter he took over for Izzy in teaching the binding spell and summoning circles to Mal (again, the only one who could do it in this situation because Sid isn't so good with the technical magic stuff)!
you can do it ben I believe in you