1042: Never

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Never
I'll never forget you--at least, the parts of you that were important red flags.
Title text: I'll never forget you--at least, the parts of you that were important red flags.

Explanation[edit]

This comic plays with that some phrases are generally interpreted as communicating positive sentiments, although they strictly are ambiguous.

Cueball is mulling over a previous relationship. Usually when someone says something like "I will never have with anyone what I had with (someone)" it implies that the couple had something so good that it could never be replaced. But when he thinks "Thank God", it is suddenly implied that the relationship was so horrible he's thankful he'll never have to experience it again.

The title text goes along the same line: "I'll never forget you" is usually positive – but then it becomes clear that it is the red flags, the warning signs about the person that they would not be a good fit for a serious relationship and marriage, that he'll never forget. The pond may be a reference to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Skin of Evil.

There is a similar twist in comics 71: In the Trees and 334: Wasteland.

Transcript[edit]

[Cueball staring into a pond.]
Cueball: I know that no matter where I go
Cueball: or who I build a life with
Cueball: I will never have with anyone
Cueball: what I had with you
[Cueball walks off.]
Cueball: Thank god


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Discussion

That'll teach Cueball to date his own reflection. Davidy22[talk] 08:30, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

I see the black liquid as a reference to Armus from Skin of Evil. 108.162.254.148 21:10, 8 February 2015 (UTC)

That's as may be but it makes more sense that it's a pool reflecting the night sky. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 01:08, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

I thought it was a hole he'd dropped the body down....198.41.238.22 17:37, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

You can see his reflection. Beanie (talk) 13:17, 14 May 2021 (UTC)