ANAKIN NEEDS HELP

Expect jokes about childhood trauma, loneliness, fear, repressed desires, and violence.

[anakinneedshelp]

Since the Clone Wars is coming back, are you going to revive this comic?

I didn’t realize it was back till I saw this message. I still have the whole ‘lost season’ to watch. I do miss channeling Anakin. I’ll see what I can do. 

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Moving on.

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Since I finally updated the comic yesterday, here are some long overdue responses to asks....I love hearing from readers, don’t let my crazy response time deter you from writing in!

Given my affinity for emotionally shattered Star Wars antiheroes, it should not be a surprise that I really really like Galen Marek.

I think if the fabric of time and space ripped and the result was the Clone Wars-era Anakin of this comic meeting Galen Marek, and they didn’t just immediately start killing each other....I think Anakin would be pretty weirded-out and unfriendly with Galen. But only because Galen is too real! Galen is on the outside what Anakin is like on the inside - trapped, unhappy, anxious. Anakin doesn’t like that part of himself, and he wouldn’t like seeing those qualities so rawly expressed in Galen. And for those keeping score at home, Darth Vader is the one who actually MADE Galen like that so...it makes tragic sense that if Anakin was face-to-face with his future student/slave, he would be like, “Ugh, you’re terrible and being around you is making me uncomfortable, please leave.”

Thank you!! I think what happened to Shmi in AoTC and her death scene was really over the top as far as Terrible-Fates-for-Women-Close-to-Heroes go, at least by Star Wars universe standards. But even though I thought the way it was done was exploitative, the part of me that loves Anakin’s pain (because I relate to it, and humor is how I deal with emotional pain!) appreciates how her gory, easily-preventable death gives Anakin the shock to the system to really get the dark side train a-rollin. 

I think you’re right to say Anakin’s self-perceived failure to protect his mom directly relates to the way he wants to protect/control/smother Padme, because after his mom Padme is the only really emotionally intimate relationship he’s had. However, I would say it’s not just the women in his life that feel the effect of his controlling/protective behavior - in Anakin Needs Help, some/a lot of the humor comes from the idea that Anakin feels very responsible for the life of ANYONE he cares about, including 

Obi-Wan:

http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/123861660324/need-to-know-basis

Artoo: 

http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/147513414719/practical-precaution

 ...and Qui-Gon, in retrospect!

http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/134233524449/this-episode-of-anakin-needs-help-is-extra-long

Thank you! It makes me laugh too. Every time I write Yoda into a comic and have to draw him, I think “It’s not going to be as cute and funny as last time” but it seems to always work out XD

Here’s a list of all his Anakin Needs Help appearances, for your convenience and enjoyment:

S1E2, “Rising Malevolence”

S2E1, “Holocron Heist” (one of my favorite comics)

S2E3, “Children of the Force”

S4E11, “Kidnapped”

S4E17, “The Box”

S5E19, “To Catch a Jedi”

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Line cut from panel three: "I'm the chosen one, what's to explain?!"

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Reining it in.

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Lessons from the chosen one

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I love this ask, it’s funny, painful, and true. And yes, I think Obi-Wan dies a little inside every time Anakin mentions Qui-Gon. The situation between the three of them is just so exquisitely sad, I work it into the comic when I can because I think it’s at the root of Anakin and Obi-Wan’s whole F’d up relationship.

I mean...here’s young Obi-Wan, the super senior of the Jedi Temple, who probably loves being a student and wishes he could just be Qui-Gon’s padawan forever. Then one day, surprise, all Qui-Gon actually EVER cared about was finding the chosen one, and once he finds him, he can FINALLY stop wasting his time with frivolous matters (training Obi-Wan) and get down to the actual core of his life’s work. But then double surprise, he gets killed, Obi-Wan can’t save him, and all Qui-Gon has to say to him as he dies is “Don’t forget about the chosen one, he’s literally all I care about.”

And on the other side of the equation...child Anakin is SOLD A BILL OF GOODS. I am saying he is promised one thing, and given another. He thinks he’s going to go learn how to be the most powerful jedi in the universe with the guidance of a warm, wise father figure. He thinks, “FINALLY, someone who will teach me how to use my powers, who will help me be strong, who will believe in me and understand me.” This works out for a hot minute, but then Qui-Gon dies and Anakin is dumped on Obi-Wan, who is not warm, not wise, and who has really only ever looked at Anakin with disgruntled unspoken envy. Where before Anakin seemed to have an advocate who would enable him to do all the things he’d ever dreamed of, now he has a warden who seems to only offer rules and limitations. It’s not he power fantasy he signed up for, and over the next decade Anakin never loses his desire for the kind of power and freedom Qui-Gon planned to give him, although no one ever offers it to him again (except, of course, for the second kindly father figure in Anakin’s life, the good Chancelor Palpatine).

And just for fun (because this is a fun topic, right?!), here are the Anakin Needs Help comics that deal with all this:

Ani and Obi argue passive agressively: http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/51683939582/sad

Anakin sees Qui-Gon in a dream and is cruel to Obi-Wan: http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/93916697534/mean

Anakin has another dream and Obi-Wan is cruel to him: http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/134233524449/this-episode-of-anakin-needs-help-is-extra-long

The most recent comic, that inspired this ask: http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/149277869139/still-trying-to-teach-him-things-still-failing

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Still trying to teach him things, still failing.

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Practical precaution.

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Counterfactual thinking.

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Personal growth.

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Hot = powerful. Anakin is attracted to power.

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TFA SPOILER ALERT!

HUGE Force Awakens Spoilers in my answer and MEDIUM spoilers in the mini comic below! 

So yeah. I did see it. My very low expectations were met and not exceeded. There were a few things that captured my imagination. That just-add-water bread. The way they styled Luke with an Obi-Wan beard and Anakin hair. He looks just like his two dads! Finally, I like that the character of Kylo Ren hit a lot of Anakin notes, and hit them with a more nuanced performance than what we saw in the prequels. I got an emotionally stunted young man whose anger and ambition is driven by fear and insecurity. I’m excited to understand more about Ren’s fall and his (perceived) relationship to Vader. Is it crazy to hope we’ll see a force ghost Anakin in the next movie? It’s my only wish.

Anyway here’s a comic. 

Being a force ghost is a privilege, not a right. 

Note: If you’d like to share or reblog just the comic part of this post, please link back to anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com in some way or another, theeeeeenks.

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This episode of Anakin Needs Help is extra long, So I can’t spare an image slot for the episode info. Here is is: 

Anakin Needs Help is a comic that summarizes episodes of Star Wars:Clone Wars while interpreting Anakin Skywalker as a highly traumatized and hilariously unstable individual. 

 Season 4, episodes 21-22, and Season 5, episode 1.

Closure schmlosure.

(This one took a long time to figure out. Anakin was barely in like three episodes in a row. So my imagination went a little crazy. When it doubt, write emo stuff about the prequels and Qui-Gon.  Anyway. Let’s go, Season 5!)

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That was close! Sorry for the long gap in comics. I have the next one in mind, and I'm planning to write it over the weekend. Thanks for reading!

[anakinneedshelp]

Thank you! It’s always fun when I get Like notifications that start at the beginning of the comic and move up chronologically, I’m like “ooh, someone’s binge reading!” I’m glad the comic holds up when read in rapid succession, since that’s how I enjoy consuming fan content myself.

Thank you both! I THINK these are both referring to this comic:

http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/128155738594/apology-accepted

or possibly the Anakinaversary comic:

http://anakinneedshelp.tumblr.com/post/125082269584/one-step-at-a-time-skywalkers-thanks-again-to

Thanks, it means a lot to me to get notes like this! I hope to keep the comic going for as long as people are enjoying it. I’m very self-depricating about anything creative I do, so hearing that people are actually laughing at these comics is super encouraging. Thanks for writing!

[anakinneedshelp]

He’s really trying to hang on, but they’re not making it easy.