Character With Past Life and Sh8 Connection Revealed?

[AuraTwilight]

Oh hey, look, skeleton fetus. Consider me sold on this entire comic.

[SilentWren]

You...um....was that all you had to say?

That was it? That was the entirety of what you like about this?

You didn't have anything to say about the past of Silent Hill or any of the other things we've learned so far, you just like the "skeleton fetus?"

EDIT:It looks like an x-ray to me.

[AuraTwilight]

Dude, back the fuck off, of course there's other stuff I like, I'm just pointing something that particularly caught my eye.

[SilentWren]

Hey, come on. It was your turn to get hit on the wrist with the ruler, if you know what I mean.

I'm just saying that everyone's been speculating like crazy about the 8 trailer, and the comic seems to be getting nothing. The most anyone's said about it was in the "New Past Life Images" thread. I know everyone's a little disappointed in some of the comics, but Tom made this one. We know his style. We've even got an exact YEAR and nobody's saying anything.
We even know that the (main?) characters might be bigoted and nobody's saying anything.

Oops. I'M not saying anything....

Um......

I think we might get to see a little of The Cult forming here. Well....I hope so anyway. Having a historical perspective, pre-Alessa is going to be very nice. I don't at all remember when JC was burned, but I'd love it if that were in there.
I'm sure the 'house' will hold some significance, too.
Maybe it was the site of something we know later on.

Idk, I guess everyone got all the speculation out of their systems already?

[Typographenia]

Idk, I guess everyone got all the speculation out of their systems already?

I don't have anything in the way of speculation, but I will say some feelings I have on the preview above.

1. I like Menton3's cover much better at this point (before having read). It's a much more interesting image for a cover, makes me wonder what the story is behind it, and would probably stand out on shelves more. Nothing against the other, it just doesn't really feel like it accurately portrays the contents of the comic, at this point of my exposure.

2. I'm still really bothered by the lack of backgrounds. We have a couple panels with washes for some trees and the last panel is the only one with a background or real environment. I'm really hoping this doesn't continue so strongly in the rest of the comic.

3. The people look really great.

4. What is the purpose of switching between pencils and the more polished look? Is it purely aesthetic or some kind of narrative meaning? Or is it a means of meeting deadlines better? : P

5. The whole "silent hill is a bad place and I'm a mystery man!" comes across rather heavy handed here. It feels too much like you're trying to set the viewer up for something, or he's much like a cartoon villain. Like most of these concerns, though, I feel a need to see the rest of the comic before really making a full judgment.


Interested enough to look for it, but I doubt I could find a copy anywhere locally. I may have to purchase online...

[The Adversary]

>The whole "silent hill is a bad place and I'm a mystery man!" comes across rather heavy handed here.<
My problem is the irreconcilable error (or potential error) that Howard Blackwood suggests when he says Silent Hill is capable of projecting a person's subconscious, as in Silent Hill 2.

[SilentWren]

^Maybe there was still a little somethin' going on with the town even in that year.
I'm sure it'll get explained.
Maybe the NAs had something do to with it.

Anyways, it looks like all of this is going to wind up being canon, so we'll have to make it fit! We'll force it!

@Typographenia-#3--Oh, yes. They look fantastic.

[Shadow]

This is just speculation, but on the second page of that scan, it mentions the Foster's leaving behind a dark past. Now, all of the previous protagonists with dark pasts suppressed them mentally, and Silent Hill forced them to break the suppression. As The Adversary already said, it's generally believed that it was only after the events of 1 that the town gained the ability to draw out people's subconscious itself (I go by the idea that Alessa caused Travis' subconscious to be pulled into the Otherworld during Origins, as some kind of way of paying him back for attempting to save her from the fire to help him get over his demons.) So, maybe the Foster's aren't suppressing their past mentally, they're hiding it from society at large. Again, this is just speculation, I'll have to wait to find out if I was right, but maybe Blackwood knows something of the Foster's past, hence why he says "Funny thing about Silent Hill...it don't worry much 'bout what's on the outside of folks." Admittedly, that could mean subconscious repression, but considering the Foster's borderline racism, maybe it means something else, like not judging people based on their race. Maybe that's involved in the Foster's past - race. Maybe they caused somebody to be lynched, so that's the real reason they're moving to Silent Hill, to get away from their mistake in causing somebody else's death. The 'going to their families house' might just be a cover story.

[The Adversary]

Most people who were lynched were innocent. . . .

[Shadow]

Oops, my mistake.

[The Adversary]

I'm going strictly by who, at the time, were lynched: black people. And for no other reason than because they were black, which, of course, isn't a crime.

[clips]

If the game itself is going to touch mildly on some racial issues that the main character might possibly seem to have, then it'll be interesting to see how they handle it. It'll be a first for the series and possibly for games in general....racial debates are pretty much uncomfortable for folks to talk about in real life, but maybe they'll explore their creative freedom and give us a twisted and substantial story while also giving the player something to think about at the end long after the game is over....

But that is kinda wishing for academy award winning material...and i don't see that coming just yet for videogames...Heavy Rain tried to attemp a really mature and deep storyline, but it just wasn't quite there....it was a good game, but i think it was a tad over-ambitious....i'm hoping this game delivers tho...

[Typographenia]

If the game itself is going to touch mildly on some racial issues that the main character might possibly seem to have, then it'll be interesting to see how they handle it. It'll be a first for the series and possibly for games in general....racial debates are pretty much uncomfortable for folks to talk about in real life, but maybe they'll explore their creative freedom and give us a twisted and substantial story while also giving the player something to think about at the end long after the game is over....

But that is kinda wishing for academy award winning material...and i don't see that coming just yet for videogames...Heavy Rain tried to attemp a really mature and deep storyline, but it just wasn't quite there....it was a good game, but i think it was a tad over-ambitious....i'm hoping this game delivers tho...

I don't know how well racial issues would fit into the general themes and ideas the games present, but I would be more than interested in seeing how such a thing would be handled.
I have to disagree that it would be the first in gaming, though. Maybe it would approach the issue in a much more "real world" way, but many games have dealt with issues of racism before (FFX, Valkyria Chronicles, and even GTA to name a few).

Tangent-
Heavy Rain's story wasn't anything particularly amazing, but the themes were above and beyond what most games present; questioning of authority, unconditional/conditional love, paranoia, trust, and so forth. I mean, there are certainly other games that have done these things better, but I think HR did a great job with their own themes, despite the general consensus on the storyline(s).

[NanayaShiki]

This is very tricky ground to walk. Unlike most comics, we are supposed to be taking this one as canon to the games, right? I'll definitely buy these as they come out if they are building to SH8. It seems legitimately interesting as well, so I am looking forward to them. I just hope this story doesn't try to explain all about SH and whatnot. That runs the risk of both creating inconsistencies and ruining the mystery. But it looks good enough so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

[The Adversary]

>I just hope this story doesn't try to explain all about SH and whatnot<
Silent Hill: Past Life does not attempt to explain Silent Hill, although it does provide some theory-fodder for the Order's primary belief.

After reading it a couple times now, I can dig it, and my previous reservations (as in this thread) are alleviated.

[simeonalo]

It also adds in a lot of information on the belief of :

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

"God"

(notice the quotes)

When you begin to look past the Order information in the comics. Which points a lot to (well, in my view at least):

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

The power of the town not coming from a God in particular, contrary to the Order's belief, which might explain why every "God" fought in the SH games is able to die

because it's just a manifestation like the ordinary monsters

At least, that's how I see it. I don't know. Maybe I'm looking into it too much. Heck, I think I'm wrong anyways.

[DistantJ]

I was sure it was the postman from the beginning!