Letters to the Editor
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Subtle
Maybe I'm a little slow this morning, but it took me two readings to get the irony that the astronomer -- knowing the fate of the Earth but refusing to give humanity its freedom of choice by denying it that knowledge -- states that *he* would choose not to know about his impending death. The butler merely gives him what he (perhaps falsely) claims he would desire if he was faced with imminent death. The fact that Lay adroitly places the pair in a well-provisioned rocket ship means that they do not face Earth's imminent demise. In a sense, the butler becomes the scientist one step in remove by delivering (albeit more actively) the unexpected fate that the obviously detatched scientist sees for Earth. We can also conjecture that the servant is using the occassion to do something that he has long wanted to do. It's subtlety like this that makes me wonder if I've possibly missed the point of some of Carol's more esoteric/absurdist strips. Maybe not, but still one of Ms Lay's stronger efforts.