toris blog

Her story started as a sad, isolated teenage girl who hated herself, her environment and the people in it. She was so empathetic that other people's sadness made her own worse, and so she asked 'why are there no happy people?' in 'Solitaire' since school and its misery affected everyone around her too. But a year and a half after the events of Solitaire we have this panel. Tori is sitting with her friends at university and has an outburst in the library. At school, Tori felt alienated from everyone in her own friend group, but then she came to uni and found her own people. What's more, she's doesn't feel obligated to put on a front in the presence of her new friends, whereas in 'Solitaire', Michael explicitly says that the two of them have to put on a pretence to appear 'normal' like a 'posh suit for dinner'. But in this scene Tori allows herself to fully feel and display her emotions and is completely unapologetic about it. Also, her established empathy from 'Solitaire' let's her be happy for Michael's success here. What could have been her 'weakness' in Solitaire (empathy) became a source of joy for her. Moreover, Michael, the person who she was so reluctant to form a relationship with ended up being the person who brought her so much joy in multiple ways. This entire panel completely contrasts to Tori's depression, alienation and reservation at the beginning of 'Solitaire' and it is so beautiful to have seen her evolve- even if only in snippets throughout the comic.

me:

"I'm a girl"