The Rematch

April 27, 2020 12:08 PM

The hare's loss loss to a tortoise was an athletic humiliation on an unprecedented scale. But what came afterwards? And what if there was a rematch? A 23 page comic by John Guilyard.
posted by Lorc (14 comments total)

That's brilliant. Thank you for posting it.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 12:52 PM on April 27, 2020

That did not end how I expected it to end.
posted by chavenet at 2:06 PM on April 27, 2020

That is some astonishingly good artwork.

Especially for someone who says he is new to drawing comics, but for anyone. Wow. So many delightful details. The duck profile was one of my favorites.
posted by straight at 3:49 PM on April 27, 2020

I feel like maybe I don't quite get the ending? Is it an allusion to something else? Is there some sense in which Truth and Talent are more generally at odds with Slow and Steady that this is pointing to?

Is the hare supplanting the tortoise at the Slow and Steady Foundation? Appropriating his brand with that new rhyming couplet? Somehow joining / complementing his message?
posted by straight at 4:01 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

So, the tortoise and the hare are now tied at one win each.

I'm not sure exactly what type of tortoise or what type of hare we're talking about, here, so I'm not positive about their relative lifespans. But maybe the tortoise should come knocking for another rematch in about three years?
posted by gurple at 4:03 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

That did not end how I expected it to end.

The disciplined hare rightly won the rematch. However, a better tortoise would have kept going long after defeat was obvious, arriving at the finish line exhausted sometime the next day. A better hare would have been there waiting for him. They could have left together as friends, equals in the ways that matter.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:23 PM on April 27, 2020 [4 favorites]

I got a kick that a sloth was the spokesman for the slow and steady foundation. Cute detail.
posted by Wretch729 at 4:34 PM on April 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

The stairway sequence is another one of my favorite parts, not least because it has this:

I let myself become so intoxicated with aspects of my talent that were rare that I neglected the much more common aspects that were, it so happened, more important. Things like always doing your best. Never take success for granted. Keep enough pride burning inside to fuel you but not so much to burn it down.

posted by straight at 4:37 PM on April 27, 2020 [4 favorites]

I loved the fake 'animalized' logos and the guest appearance by corporate shill/speedster Chester Cheetah (and hope this doesn't get them a C&D order)
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2020

It must be noted that there have been other rematch stories, including two featuring Bugs Bunny; "Tortoise Beats Hare" (1941, directed by Fred 'Tex' Avery) and "Tortoise Wins By a Hare" (1943, directed by Robert 'Bob' Clampett). Notable that these were the only Looney Tunes for many years that Bugs did NOT come out on top, and the directors of both left Warner Bros. to find greater success elsewhere. Possibly because neither toonmaker could convince Leon Schlessinger to give Cecil Turtle his own series.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:25 PM on April 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

oneswellfoop: Falco Lombardi is far more likely to get him one from Nintendo, which is so insane about protecting its IPs that it may have enabled Disney to start relaxing about that kind of thing, now that there’s a new go-to IP Hitler.

Fun fact about Chester Cheetah: when the Tony the Tiger twitter account distanced itself from furries (and ultimately dropped the mascot conceit), the Chester Cheetah account took advantage of the situation and embraced them.
posted by BiggerJ at 10:50 PM on April 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Do you know why this is the scariest fable?

Because it's a hare-racing tale!
posted by chavenet at 12:22 AM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

I shamefully neglected to credit the original author of the story, BJ Novak, in my post. apologies. (And one of Novak's books is visible in the book shop scene in the comic)
posted by Lorc at 12:39 AM on April 28, 2020

> I feel like maybe I don't quite get the ending? Is it an allusion to something else? Is there some sense in which Truth and Talent are more generally at odds with Slow and Steady that this is pointing to?

I didn't quite get that dichotomy, either. I guess the comic was trying to say that the message of Slow and Steady was built on a false premise - hence the opposition to Truth.

But Talent? In many cases Talent is inaptly used to describe the end result of consistent Slow and Steady effort expended over time, when in actuality, Talent is really just a multiplier that wrings more out of Slow and Steady effort. A 10x multiplier is powerful, but 10 x 0 is still 0. Undoubtedly Hare had Talent, but Hare also put in a ton of Slow and Steady effort while Tortoise sat on its laurels.

So... "Slow and Steady wins the race, Till someone stronger takes your place", but I guess that isn't an uplifting message? It also misses the alliteration.

Anyway. It was a wonderfully drawn strip, and well written too. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
posted by theony at 10:55 PM on April 28, 2020