Idrisah's mom has not seen her kid in years, or even had a realtime phone call with her.
Happy 200 pages! This one is, uh... less fun than the 100 page milestone comic.
109 pages left to go, aaaaaaaAAAAA I CAN DO IT
Transcript
Idrisah's mom: We just want to see you. It doesn't have to be at the reunion. I only have so many years left in this world. I want to spend more of that time with my daughter.
Idrisah turns downward, crushed by guilt and regret. She has sunk down into a squatting posture on the side of the road.
Idrisah's mom: I know your work is important to you, but if it won't even give you time for that... I miss you so much. Please visit soon.
The message ends and the options for delete, replay, and record pop up. Idrisah immediately presses record.
Idrisah: I'm sorry, mom. I miss you too.
She ends the recording and holds her face in her hands. Gillie walks up and looks down at her, hands on her hips.
53 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 200”
Glimby Plimberton
109 pages left?? Is RTTS only 309 pages long??
Stray Cat
The first book is. I am told that there are four books planned in total, at least for the moment.
Jay Eaton
This is book one! There’s more books after this!!! I am going to be drawing this thing for like 20 years!!!!
SIGSTKFLT
Real *Kill Six Billion Demons* energy here.
Eux
oh, man, this panelling, idrisah’s pose and posture…this is MASTERFULLY done, jay!! happy 200 pages!
The Opossum Witch
Guilt-trippy? Yeah.
Malicious manipulation? I don’t think so.
I can only imagine how scary it is to have your only child so far away from you and trying to communicate with them only to have radio silence. I moved 1,500 miles away from my mother and it took a lot of work and trust to get to where we are today communication-wise. Being a wormhole gate and a 2 week flight away with 6+ minute delay for calls sounds terrifying!
Stray Cat
I’ve been sharing this comic with a few friends. The reaction to these last two pages? Simply, “Ouch. Too real.”
SheTheTDE
In my mind, those kinds of comments fall under manipulation.
Adrienne
I imagine for people who have experienced trauma, honest communication and manipulation can look pretty similar… but until/unless we find out Idrisah’s mother has been manipulative or abusive in the past, I think it’s safe to imagine this is just a mother telling her daughter how much she would like to see her again. She is influencing her child, she is asking her child to do something in order to maintain their bond, but it doesn’t seem nefarious to me, it seems like love.
Enai
Yeah. “Manipulation” is not just a word for “trying to convince somebody to do something you want”, or “showing $feeling, in this case disappointment”.
SheTheTDE
I call it manipulation because it’s the same structure as blackmail. That “if you don’t do what I asked, this thing you don’t like might happen, but I trust you’ll do the right thing.” format that you see villains using in movies. “If you don’t come to this party I might die only remembering you as a distant ungreatful daughter but I trust you to make the right choices.” Like f**k you, if my mother said that I’d definately not go but I don’t live in a post scarcity scifi future where people can afford to move out so she sees me all the time. I’m sure she is a good person but it IS still manipulation when you tell someone that it’s their choice but there will be consequences for not choosing the way they want you to.
Adrienne
Gonna be honest here, if we didn’t have stipulations in relationships, we couldn’t have relationships period… And a lack of boundaries with loved ones isn’t going to serve you
MissZena
In defense of Idrisah’s mom here, her daughter is taking a job on a space colony where if something goes wrong theres a chance everyone is getting sucked out into the vacuum of space or exploding or what have you
It’s the equivalent of someone working on the International Space Station and then just ceasing contact with anyone on earth, it’s going to make people freak out a little bit and start wondering if there was some kind of accident that no one has noticed yet because space is massive and it takes actual years for stuff like a star burning out to be seen from earth
Yeah Idrisah has her reasons for being anxious about family reunions and feeling uncomfortable going to one but her mom ALSO has plenty of reason to freak out a bit when her daughter just stops talking to her for ages while working on a distant planet where the list of potential things that could go wrong (both major and minor) are like a mile long and she would have no way of knowing if anything happened or not
This is just the boiling point of what happens when you choose to avoid a tough discussion and try to ignore it instead, people are going to get upset or feel hurt
thegriffin88
But then there was my Mom standing outside my building which has an intermittent black hole 🕳️ and freaking out that I was dead while I was watching stupid meme compilations until her call got through.
Her 😱
Me 🤪
Oops. Now we laugh about it. Going for crepes today actually!
Peter Jensen
As I understand it, her mom lives in Nexus Jovia, which is essentially a massive space station. I imagine that when you’ve lived there a long time, you stop being particularly concerned about that kind of danger. Also, it would be very well known if anything disastrous has happened to Shikaviil Port, because all communication would be lost. And it seems unlikely at best that if anything bad had happened to Idrisah herself, her mom wouldn’t have been told about it. So despite all the words of being concerned, I suspect she knows on some level that the only real reason she hasn’t heard from Idrisah is that she’s being deliberately ignored. And that’s got to hurt if you don’t know the reason for it.
Robin
Maybe an odd observation, considering the gravity of the pagel’s other content… But I like Gillie’s ‘hands-on-hips’ pose. It’s not body language I immediately associate with ‘concern’, but it fits well. Interesting and unconventional detail!
Counterpoint
I guess her pose is a combination of a bunch of emotions: a part ‘concern for her friend’ is definitely there, part ‘ready for a hug’ (because by golly, Idrisah will need one very soon 🫂…), and possibly some sign language/body language equivalent of ‘ just not knowing what to say’ is in there, too – something that probably doesn’t happen too often to Gillie…
halley
her friend……
Jackie
Gonna be the devils advocate and ask what is stopping Mom (and Dad presumably) from going to Idrisah instead? It’s a two way street Mom you can visit too. Yeah its not exactly an island retreat but I’m sure it wouldnt be the worst thing.
JoB
Hm … according to this page, visiting the other place is a three months’ production. Unless you’re in a spacefaring industry, I can see that being a problem with one’s employer. (He said, after getting officially frowned upon for taking 3.5 weeks in a row.)
Thisfox
When you live in a remote area, you usually are assigned more leave than in other more attractive and close-to-city locations. Add to that that most civilised countries give more generous annual and long service leave than they do in the US, and I expect that the trip is something the company can cope with, and expects of its staff. It is a fly-in-fly-out workplace, after all.
JoB
Yes. That was my point that making such a trip is a possibility for Idrisah, but maybe not for her mom, who lives in bustling capital-of-a-nation-ish Nexus Jovia. 😉
Adrienne
While you’re possibly not wrong, it also doesn’t make as much sense. Travel to Dirtball is probably more difficult if you don’t work there, and once you get there, there’s really nothing to do. If Idrisah visits her family, I assume she can also visit tons of other people, go out to eat, see movies, explore museums, and go to countless parks. On Dirtball, you’ve got scenic launch loop and a patch of grass
Enai
There’s also an array of abandoned factories and a lot of heavy industrial equipment to enjoy, if that takes your fancy*
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*access is subject to terms and conditions
Artor
Imagine them showing up just as Isidrah and Co. are taking off in their freshly-hijacked spacecraft. Would they end up joining the crew, or waving at them as they fly off the end of the mass driver?
lackia
ouchies. this one hit wayyyyyyyy too hard. I’m an east coaster on the west coast from a big sprawling family, and its bad enough when my mother does this to me. And this is a years long situation. Rough! I feel for Idrisah so much. what excellent expressions and body language on this page. Thank you so much for the 200 pages (and best of luck on all the future pages!!!! you’re an amazing artist!)!!!!!!
Spinland
The feels. We just lost my mom a couple of months ago and my dad’s not far behind. I left home in 1979, 17 years old, mainly to get away from them and in all honesty I didn’t do a whole lot in the 45-plus years since to visit them. Now it’s too late on one case, and getting there in another.
Here’s to Idrisah making good on not doing that.
anon
the line between idrisah’s mom being guilt trippy and her just being right is a thin thin line
i know i’m about to like vent-ish post in the comments but its related , my mom is refusing to my grandma (her mom’s) 90th birthday, and i just want to tell her that there is only so much time left and grandma is not going to travel down here, it is (almost literally) now or never
Zidane
Man this page really hit home for me, the dialogue from Idrisah’s mother genuinely made me really emotional as i’ve had very similar conversations with my own mother. amazing work on the paneling on this one as well
MyUniverseinaBox
Also while I understand some folks apprehension to believe that Idrisah’s mum is being genuine, because lord knows emotionally immature parents are SUPER common, I would know.
The way this is being framed just doesn’t seem like this is the case. Not seeing your kid in YEARS sounds rough, man. Especially being ghosted by them so you don’t even know if they’re okay!! It’s not like this is a scenario where Idrisah has gone no-contact with her family lol. This is different.
MyUniverseinaBox
This made me tear up a lil bit ngl..
Beans
OOooghhh,,, happy 200 pages,,,
I should call my brothers, I think
beth
Happy 200versary.
Why do I have the feeling Idrisah has a very good reason for not seeing her mom?
0xabad1dea
my interpretation of the situation is that Idrisah is experiencing crushing social anxiety and imposter syndrome from the fact that she’s not fluent in either of her parents’ native languages, which makes her feel like a fish out of water any time she sees her other relatives on either side, and she doesn’t want to explain this to her mother because she’s afraid her mother will take it as a rejection of the family, so it’s spiraled into being terrified to talk to her mother. I don’t think she took a job on this rock specifically because her mother is awful.
ray
if you go back to earlier in the comic, idrisah makes it clear she likes the reunions themselves, but planning them is stressful because of the language barrier, and also she can’t get the time off for it and she’s avoiding telling her mom because she knows it’ll be a hard conversation. this isn’t abuse. this is idrisah facing the consequences of not having necessary but hard conversations, and idrisah’s mom trying to communicate how hurt and shut out being ghosted has made her feel. it’s also meant to show how lonely dirtball is. i’m trying to withhold my judgement but i’m a little annoyed watching so many people jump to the worst possible interpretation of this moment.
Adrienne
I agree with you: it’s really a clear case where people are projecting their struggles directly onto characters, a beautiful thing that can sometimes lead to not-so-beautiful misunderstandings. I once was showing a friend a favorite show about a brother investigating his talented older sister’s murder, which devastated the brother because he was very close to her and looked up to her. My friend, who has a talented older sister, said, “It must be hard for him to investigate because I’m sure he feels a lot of jealousy.” Well, not exactly – but it did teach me something about how people, myself included, can sometimes digest media
cinna
I bet the Runaway’s first stop is gonna be Idrisah’s mom’s place.
JoB
Considering that (as things stand so far) the Runaway will get out of the system seriously strapped for fuel, Ixion HQ is at Nexus Jovia, all three girls grew up there, and IIUC Idrisahs parents still live there, I’d consider that a safe bet entirely unrelated to the family issues …
Oods
I have a long distance relationship with my family and i often feel guilty about it. Its also freeing because i do not want to spend my whole life around them every day. The feeling of freedom from them and relief compounds the guilt sometimes. That is to say, it complicated, maintaining family relationships is hard work, and mood.
Oods
But also the yearning despite separating yourself is what makes space faring scifi so human
hessian
yuuup. just moved out of my family’s place and figuring out my boundaries vs maintaining the relationship is wild. so complex. especially with an immigrant family
Zuorai
SAD SCI FI HOURS
Lilac
yowch !
Duke 1337-O
Poor mama Touati 🙁
Poor Idrisah!
Being stuck so far apart from the people you love is such an awful experience, especially when guilt, shame, avoidance, and frustration get thrown into the mix. Literally 1 (one) good hug and cry with her mom would probably fix everything. If only she had a ship…
ryn
wow this has already been publishing as a webcomic for 2 years, doesn’t feel like it’s been that long!
Adrienne
Moms asking their children to reach out because they miss and love them, a tale as old as time
Syric
109 pages until what?
Jay Eaton
The book’s done!
TotallySomebody
NOO IT’S NOT ENOUGH!!!!
Jay Eaton
There are four books planned 😅
JoB
> There are four books planned
Booked solid, aren’t you. 😀
Paroxysmall
only 109 pages left to go?!?! you CAN do it!!!!
Vinemaple
Also, Idrisah looks great on this page. We read your old tags, Jay… “Someday” is now!