A Short Comic I Made About My Experiences As A Seasonal Worker, And The Way Places Change You.

The cover page for a digital comic. A trailhead information board stands in a lush green forest, with a trail map, and two signs pinned to the wood. The text on the signs read: "BY BECKETT JONES" and "THE TRAVELER'S WARNING."

Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page include a work boot, a leather-bound journal, a compass, and a colorful rock bracelet.

The first panel is a Forest Service gate on a dirt road, slightly ajar. The road goes out of sight into leafy green shadows. There is one wooden sign nailed to a tree, and two white and green signs secured to the gate. The text on these signs reads:
"TRAVELER, STOP!
IF YOU TAKE THIS ROAD YOU WILL BE
FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED
FOR BETTER OR WORSE."

The second panel is a crumbling concrete barrier on gray, driving rain. There are evergreen trees in the background. There is a hand symbol pointing to the right engraved into the barrier, and text that reads:
"YOU WILL RETURN FROM
THIS JOURNEY
IRRECOVERABLY ALTERED
IN WAYS"

The third panel is a waterfall with conifer trees, behind a glossy red sign with "no swimming"white symbols. White text on the sign reads:
"YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND
BEFORE YOU UNDERGO
THIS TRANSFORMATION."

Two comic panels on an off-white background. An espresso machine portafilter is pictured in the negative space in the page.

The first panel is of a red rock slot canyon, with a rushing green river at the base. A rusted yellow sign stands in the water, with a flash flood symbol and text that reads:
"NO ONE ON EARTH
WILL UNDERSTAND THE
METAMORPHOSIS"

The second panel is a wooden sign hanging from the eaves of a roof, in front of a snow mountain scene. Stars twinkle in the night sky. Warm red text on the sign reads:
"EXCEPT THOSE WHO EXPERIENCED IT
WITH YOU. THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU." There is an arrow symbol and two foamy mugs also depicted on the sign.

Two comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page include a key ring, a pocketknife, a stuffed toy bluebird, and a bandana.

The first panel is a road with a center stripe in a sagebrush plain, with big orange clouds in the sky. A coyote slinks across the road. A big green highway sign with white arrows reads:
"MAY CEASE TO TRULY KNOW YOU.
WALKING BACKWARDS
WILL NOT HELP YOU"

The second panel is of a high alpine wildflower meadow, with a glaciated Mount Tahoma in the background. A wooden stake reads:
"WALKING FORWARDS"

Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page include a headlamp, a trowel, and a plant sprig in a ziplock bag.

The first panel is a wildfire sunset above a barbed wire fence surrounded by blooming fireweed and evergreens. An orange wildfire hazard sign reads:
"IS INEVITABLE
YOU CANNOT STAND STILL"
A gray jay sits on the top of the sign, eyeing the viewer.

The second panel shows a dilapidated wooden shack, covered in moss and white and orange mushrooms. Evergreens and leafy undergrowth surround the structure, and a Pacific gray tree frog sits on a leaf in the foreground. Text carved into the wood reads:
"YOU MAY NO LONGER RECOGNIZE
YOUR HOME"

The third panel is a chinook salmon run in a green forest. Underwater reeds flow on the river. A white sign nailed to a tree trunk, with water symbols and text that reads:
"IT CANNOT STAND STILL
EITHER."

Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page including an ammonite fossil on a leather cord, a green nalgene, a peach, and a pulaski.

The first panel shows a gray ocean storm, with waves crashing against big, dark rocks. A tsunami hazard zone sign reads:
"IF YOU SURVIVE THIS"

The second panel shows a round orange bouy floating in a sea illuminated by bioluminescent plankton. Stars glitter overhead. Text on the bout reads:
"YOU WILL BECOME PART OF A WORLD"

The third panel shows a pair of dolphins in the water, adjacent to a white boat. A red sticker on the gunwhale reads:
"THAT DOES NOT YET EXIST"

Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page include a pair of sunglasses and a machete.

The first panel shows a dessicated greater frigatebird cradled in the branches of a tree on a sandy shoreline. Pink flagging has been tied to a branch, and black handwriting reads:
"IF YOU DIE HERE"

The second panel shows a blacktip reef shark swimming on a coral reef. And underwater sign affixed to steel chain shows a skull and crossbones, and text that reads:
"YOU WILL COME BACK"

The third panel is a GPS unit held up to the sky, showing a GPS track and text that reads "WRONG." Seabirds fly overhead.

Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects shown the negative space of the page are a snickerdoodle cookie and hale koa flowers threaded on a string.

The first panel shows a pair of hands holding a sooty tern with a radio tag. Another pair of hands write in a notebook, and handwritten text on the page reads:
"TRAVELER
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED"

The second panel shows the leg of the sooty tern, which has been fitted with a birdband.

The third panel is a pair of fingers holding the birdband so that engraved text faces the viewer. The text reads "AND NOW YOU MUST GO."

A short comic I made about my experiences as a seasonal worker, and the way places change you.

li lianhua's final letter to di feisheng

i hear the official eng subs weren't great so here's my own attempt at a translation (under a read more bc fuck it's Long)

edit: translated qiao wanmian’s letter to li xiangyi as well, which mirrors this one!

十年前

Ten years ago,

东海一决

during the duel of the eastern sea,

李某蒙兵器之利

this unworthy Li made benefit of whetted blade

借沉船之机与君一战犹不能胜

and capsizing boat whilst battling thee but was yet unvictorious.

君武勇之处

Thy martial prowess and valiance

世所罕见

are unexampled in this world.

心悦诚服

Mine heart delights in it, and by mine own will yields to thine eminence.

今事隔多年

The affairs of today are by many years separated.

沉疴难起

By pains alone would a lingering malady be cured.

剑断人亡

The sword hath broken—the man hath perished,

再不能赴东海之约

and can no more honour the accord to duel by the eastern sea.

谓为憾事

Such is the cause for most sincere regret.

余感念君所赠之忘川

I recall in deepest gratitude the flower of oblivion bequeathed by thee,

然终有负君之所望

yet did forsake all thou hadst longed for in the end.

江山多年

The rivers and mountains of this land have many years endured,

变化万千

their changes reckoned in the tens of thousands.

去去重去去

Partings upon partings, farewells upon farewells;

来时是来时

the coming times shall be the coming times.

方多病习我之功法

Fang Duobing hath been studied in my skills,

资质上佳

and his own endowments of the utmost excellence.

不暇多日

Shouldst he not keep idle days,

定不在明月沉西海之下

he shall surely be not beneath the bright moon sinking into the western sea.

君今无意逐鹿

Thou hast not now any desire to pursue the throne,

但求巅峰

but instead to seek the height of skill.

李某已去

This unworthy Li hath since gone;

若君意不平

if thy desire be not appeased,

足堪请其代之

he shall suit, shouldst thou bid him succeed me.

李相夷绝笔

Thus end the last words of Li Xiangyi.

footnotes

i've translated this letter into (my best attempt at) early modern english to try and reflect the formality li lianhua is writing in. also because he uses 君 for di feisheng throughout, which is a literary second-person pronoun, and i wanted to emphasise that. i know thou is actually the informal pronoun, but given how archaic it sounds in comparison to you, the actual formal pronoun in early modern english, i thought it a better fit. (for all the feihuas out there: 君 was also used by women to address their husbands, so actually i thought the informality might work in my favour here LOL)

if you saw this post before, you might have noticed that my translation of the third and fourth lines changed slightly lmao. ty to @/presumenothing for the reminder and ofc my fav @/bat1lau4can4 for talking through it with me and being the 文言文 expert i need <3

for the purposes of my goal in the above footnote, i've had to take some creative liberties in my choice of vocabulary. for example: unexampled is not quite an accurate translation of 罕见, which actually means rarely seen.

i phrased 心悦诚服 as mine heart ... yields but that's a somewhat liberal interpretation of the phrase lol. there is a heart in it; it's just maybe not the thing that's yielding, to be precise. close enough imo though!

江山 literally translates to rivers and mountains but is often used as a metaphor for a country as a whole, hence my translating it as the rivers and mountains of this land.

grammar is not as important as Vibes.

逐鹿, which i've translated as pursue the throne, literally means to chase the deer, and stems from the 《史记》 / records of the grand historian.

绝笔, rendered here as last words, specifically refer to the last words written by one before their death.

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asathorin

1 year ago