I was 21 in 2008, and I'd been a fan of Ctrl Alt Del since near it's beginning. I was a huge web comic fan in general, and I got intensely emotionally invested in them, even the silly ones.

This strip hit me exactly as he intended it to. It resonated with me I guess because of my brother and sister in law going through a miscarriage shortly before. Either way, it had a powerful impact on me and I didn't see this "tonal shift" as a problem. That's kinda dumb if you ask me, lots and lots of comedies have serious moments.

Anyway, I didn't know this meme until a few years ago and it always makes me sad. It's dumb, I know.

I'm super sensitive to negativity, which is why I was always a lurker in reddit, I always got shat on whenever I shared anything, to the point that I'd just delete my account and hide from the internet for a while.

squaresinger@feddit.de · 12 pts · 3y (1 reply)

Tbh, the "tonal shift" had been happening for a long time. This was not out of the blue at all. It was only unexpected for the "A comic must and can only be funny" crowd.

Serinus@lemmy.ml · 10 pts · 3y

It felt more like he was trying to exploit the concept for attention and popularity in the most tone-deaf, transparent way possible.

I still think it was more of a business decision than anything else.

Vengefu1Tuna@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 3y

This is art.

elxeno@lemm.ee · 20 pts · 3y

Losst

Skaryon@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 3y (2 replies)

... I don't get it

jiji@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 3y

It’s a reference to the meme “Loss” linked in this comment: https://sh.itjust.works/comment/805300

foggy@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 3y