Chapter IV: CCXXXXVIII

[spqrblues]

Sometimes the end is not quite the end.





 

Comments

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

The drapery breaking the panels is just gorgeous.

It's the end of the world, please queue up for more paperwork... Organization does have a calming effect.

Dr. Phil

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

In Rome, you don't even get to have an apocalypse without a witnessed form copied in triplicate.

[zeus67.livejournal.com]

Actually the more chaos there is, the more red tape you find.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

I love the body language and the expression on the face of the younger guy handling the paperwork. Papyrus-work. Wax-tablet-work. Whatevs.

And the little details - the little kid who's just out of toddlerhood, looking up as if to say "uppy?" The young woman with her back to us, whose elaborate hairdo shows through her diaphanous veil. Your crowd scenes are a thing of beauty.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Maybe the years of commuting packed into crowds has been useful after all :)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

:D But it's true, your crowd scenes are great.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

::insert blushing thank-you here::

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

This panel brings to the fore of my mind something I have been wondering about the eruption: what do we know about the civic/governmental response? What happened to all the displaced survivors? Some of them would have been impoverished freemen, some impoverished upper-class people, and slaves I suppose would either make a break for it or become the property of distant next-of-kin?

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

It's said that the new emperor pulled out all the stops for disaster relief, distribution of unclaimed wealth, and exhortations to the gods.

It's not coincidence that this webcomic began soon after Katrina. (So long ago...)

Imperial relief

[zeus67.livejournal.com]

Just in case, the new emperor was Titus. He made a relief fund by expropriating the lands of those who died with no heirs and even put his own money on it.

Of course he did it to gain popularity since he was not liked at this time.

Re: Imperial relief

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I believe in the option that he actually cared about the devastation of the people who had become his responsibility. Aside from his upbringing and the ingrained concept of the paterfamilias (in this case for a broader family than just his own), he had been a military commander charged with the wellbeing of his men too. If he just wanted to curry favour, I wonder if he would have stripped his personal wealth and possessions so completely in dealing with the succession of crises during his rein.

All open for discussion. Ruthlessness, calculation, and sense of duty can go together, of course.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Gosh, this scene reminded me of Katrina. (I worked in one of the shelters.) it was the first thing I thought of, after I pried my eyelids open from having closed them while the page loaded, that is.

I may have had a massive reaction to the last few updates...

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to have churned up any difficult memories! But I do admire you for working in the shelters.

[corvideye.livejournal.com]

Yes, lovely drapery. I love how Iusta's robes in the first panel flow into the background of the second. Also, as a costume geek, love the detail of the two vertical stripes on the tunic of the man on the far right (also the body language of those two figures, extremely expressive).

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Is it odd that I have a little back story in my head for some of the anonymous people in the crowd scenes...?