1 The whole AI/free will thing gets really spooky when you sit and think about it too much.  There is so much potential for civilization-ending disaster going on on that little colony that sometimes I wonder if the title isn't supposed to be black humor.

But then, is Schlock really any different?  Silly situations bookended by conspiracies, genocide, and the occasional destruction of an entire galaxy.  Sometimes, it's best not to look too closely, because it can get depressing to consider all the ways future centuries could seriously stink.

2 But even those "comic detours" provide character development.  For example, the chase ending at the "Planetary Pie Reserve" was hilarious, but in it we saw Florence questioning if she truly had free-will, the discovery of robot police who are indistinguishable from humans until they take off their helmets (Turing test anyone?), and so on.

By they way, thanks for introducing me to Freefall a while back in one of your earlier posts.  It's one of the highlights of my web-surfing each week!

3

I've come to the conclusion that Sam is really Cthulhu, or a cut-rate version of same. Sam is a force of chaos, a source of disorder, and directly or indirectly he is going to bring about the complete destruction of the existing order on that planet. But he's not cruel or evil; I would categorize him as Chaotic Good.

And I think that someday we're going to get to see Sam without that suit.

The single greatest thing he ever did that we know of, as part of his ongoing efforts to sow chaos and disorder, was when he hacked the computers at Ecosystems Unlimited in order to get Florence thawed and shipped down to the planet. She is Lawful Good, but the law she serves is not the will of Ecosystems Unlimited. She serves a higher, more abstract law.

Sam recognizes that Florence is, despite herself, a creator of chaos and that's why he is uncharacteristically generous towards her.

Things like stealing the Reset Vial and giving it to her gratis. It serves his purposes to have a way for her to escape the orders of Ecosystems Unlimited. It makes her a wildcard, and Sam likes wildcards. Wildcards are the essence of chaos.

4 We will never see Sam without his suit, I hope; no artistic rendering could possibly do him justice. People around him react very badly, in a universe where alien contact is fairly common. I suspect Sam's hideousness is at least part psychic -- people wouldn't react to a mere photograph of his "face".

Frankly, we're too used to Cthulu now. Seriously, once you've seen the Alien and the Predator, what could be worse? A face full of tentacles is nothing.

If you saw the movie Cloverfield awhile back, it featured another Cthulu-like alien. The director was canny about not showing his alien until the very end, but when he did -- meh. Just another big, tentacled blob.

Then there's Captain Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribean movies, probably the best Cthulu based character I've ever seen. I thought he was moderately repellent when I first saw him, but within five minutes -- meh.

Dr. Zoidberg of Futurama is, in my opinion, another Cthulu inspired character, but played for laughs. (And I believe that yet another critter from the Lovecraft mythos also appeared in that show, as a neglected bride of that guy who tried to marry Leela. My understanding is that her portrayal there was very much canon, but in context, she was just another jilted bride with the wrong number of eyes.)

We're very jaded.

"Sam recognizes that Florence is, despite herself, a creator of chaos and that's why he is uncharacteristically generous towards her."

Well, that, and the fact that she has a very toothy smile.

Everything else about Sam and Florence: very nice analysis. Exactly why I come here.

5

Freefall frustrates me sometimes, because it seems to move so slowly

Don't all webcomics?  Girl Genius has taken what feels like the last two years to describe what feels like a few hours.

 

6 The ones that don't have a plot line don't cause that kind of frustration, like Awkward Zombie. She updates even less often, but it's always a pleasure when she does so.

7 I wonder if it makes sense to think of Sam as an anarchist?

8 My guess is "not really."  Anarchist kind of has its own connotations.  Sam seems to be less about destroying order, and more about triggering a change between one ordered state to another.  He's more like the classical trickster of myth, in that sense.  Chaotic, but not fundamentally destructive.

( Usually )

9 Steven, regarding your comment #6, I guess I should've said not I was only talking about what I will suddenly refer to as "soap-opera" comics, i.e. those with a long-term plot. Regarding 7, I dunno, I think chaos and anarchy are probably fairly orthogonal or maybe even somewhat contradictory. Sam is more the grown-up and possibly destructive (although notice we never see massive mayhem like burning cities as a result of his shenanigans) version of Calvin's "I try to make everyone's day a little more surreal."

10 So... Sam is Coyote with tentacles (Loki is probably too malevolent to be a good fit)?

11 It's true that Sam isn't vicious.

12

In fact I'm pretty sure Sam regularly talks about how much fun it is when stuff gets destroyed, and he never seems to take particular care of anything, but somehow, he just doesn't break stuff.  That's some pretty strong kung fu.