Long John

The tagline for the comic since the beginning has been the same: “Losing every thing changes everything.” There’s a very specific syntactic choice going on there, with the space between “every” and “thing” in the first half of the phrase. Obviously, if that space weren’t there, the meaning doesn’t change that much; losing everything does change everything, but that’s now the point I’m trying to make. When I’ve been interviewed about it, most close the gap between the “every” and the “thing” because, as much as I try to emphasize it in conversation, it’s really something that is clearer on the page. But, to me, it’s a crucial distinction.

Here, Long John finally has––for once and for all––his things back. But what do they matter anymore? What does matter after all that he has gone through. These things have changed now that he has them again, which means that everything has changed for him. It’s splitting hairs, for sure; but in my eyes it’s an important hair to split.

Thumbnail drawing for this page. Click for larger version.