Too Fast (strip)

Reading this after hearing about current events irl definitely gives this comic a new layer of context that makes this comic darker than it already was. (This isn't me hating on the comic, just something I thought I'd point out.)

I’m not crying you are

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I’m actually crying. I didn’t expect this first thing in the morning omg

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Yeah, this was incredibly well-done. As a veteran, it definitely hit me in the feels a bit. Anyone that got bent out of shape needs to chill out and realize this is inspired by real events, not your sheltered politically-correct bubble where you’re shielded from ever having to feel uncomfortable

I don't think this strip will even not choke me up.

Airborne. Deepest respect for this strip. There are over 5,000 servicemembers still stationed in Iraq & Afghanistan. Remember them with honor.

This is soooooo sad 😭

I'm so glad to see this backstory. I know how and why it's triggering for many people, but it's also so good to see combat and military animals respected so well. Thank you.

Oh man, that feeling of not being able to move fast enough...

I personally enjoyed it. I actually subscribed because I wanted to see the rest of the post. Early

Just unfollowed on IG and will terminate being a patreon because of this one; I've been a patreon supporter since late 2018 and I can't support after this one. Just a heads up, that if something needs a huge disclaimer that it's not meant to offend. It is in fact, offenseful

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I’m crying for fictional characters now. And for unknown real persons and pups. ❤️

Our little baby kitten is such a grown up now! This is so beautiful 😭💗

So well done. Thank you so much for sharing this part of Brutus’s life with us. Very well thought out and rendered. Move past the haters. Some folks don’t like reality or are just out to make this about something that it isn’t. Well done, I can’t wait to see more!

God this is beautiful but so sad, poor Brutus :'(

Excuse me while I cry 😭

I had to read this again, I didn’t catch the Skull in the gunfire the first time. I feel so terrible for Brutus and his guilt ❤️❤️

Oh that is so sad. The pain lessens but it never quite goes away. Thanks to all who serve and have served.

Well done. I did 20 years in the Army luckily for me never in a combat zone. I was in from 1975 to 1995.

Thank you to all of our military, human and K-9.

Oh god my heart......Please don't ever stop.

the sheer artistry just leave me speechless. The reflection of the rifle in his goggles speaks volumes without a word being written. You're a genius!

My feelings on this comic. You used color so well, the adding of the shadow, I love it. You let the color add to your scenes as if they were more of Brutus' feelings. The shot/drawing, the usage of negative space. Excellent! You took a topic of war, and show what happens (to my limited knowledge) what happens to soldiers and MWDs. Brutus was more hurt, by what happened to his partner, than he was by his wounds. That expression showed it perfectly. At this moment, I'm so glad I support you and proud of you. You've expressed so much, in such a small amount of panels. This is my favorite comic, even it lacks Hugo. I think after you have more time to process, I would love for you to show the sadness of Pixie, of a kitten taken from her family, waiting to be taken to her forever home. The days of seeing her family slowly being taken apart, and then the shining moment. She has her owner find her and knows she won't be alone. I would love to have her sleeping in a shoe or something equally cute. Once again, I will never be able to say this enough, You are brave to deal with the topic of war and much less the soldiers. It's truly sad because soldiers are ordered to do these things. They gave up, their time and sadly many times their lives. To protect us all and not everyone agrees with it. Excellent job, I love how much you pushed yourself and chose a difficult topic of solider/MWD real job. In these hard time, I hope you stay safe and healthy.

I work with The Department Of Veterans Affairs. I won't say what I do with them, but I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly with my Veterans. The things they have seen, the things they have gone through would make most of these people complaining lose their minds. War is not pretty. This depiction is accurate. My partner was blown up twice by IUDs and I've had many more shot at and attacked. If you have a problem with war and the things happening within our military, then quit reading a comic about a MWD. The things that those DOGS have been through, not just the people that handle them, would make your head spin. Lay off of Ben. This comic was a portrayal of a MWD stationed in the Middle East. Where we very truly have troops now. If you don't like it. Move to another country that doesn't have our freedom. Love your comics Ben, keep being awesome.

Drat it my allergies are playing up again, it isn't giving me flashbacks to friends AT ALL!

I'm not crying...Yes I am.

Absolutely brilliant. :) <3

To quote my dad: "He's not allowed to be sad and grounded in reality. 😥" Please don't take that as criticism or anything. This was just what my dad said after reading it because it was so sad and tugged at all of our heartstrings. This...poor Brutus...this was amazingly well done. I love it but every time I read it, it brings tears to my eyes!!!

my dad is in the military and did 3 tours in afghanistan. if any other canadians are here, you might recognize the "highway of heroes". when a soldier is killed in action, they are taken back home and their casket is driven down the highway of heroes. i stood and watched probably 30 different repatriations in my life since i was little. thankfully, my father was never driven down the highway of heroes but i had to watch his friends and their families go down there. this comic was made very tastefully and it is unfortunately a reality of how it was and still is for soldiers. this impacted me more than i thought it would. thank you for being respectful of all types of people in this comic, it's a very difficult topic for most people

I know I was asking for my heart to be broken but I didn’t expect my heart to drop that fast. I’ll be right back, gonna go cry in a corner and cuddle my own Pixie and Brutus 💜

Ben, thank you so much for this. You bring a lot of light into our lives.

This made me emotional. Brutus has been through a lot, but I like to think that Pixie helps him heal. Thank you for giving us his side of the story, and for taking such good care of him as your character. ♡

*hugs for everyone*

Well, I cried. I wish I could hug Brutus ❤

Sad backstory but I love grown up pixie so much

Pixie's face in the second to last.... Thanks for doing this. 💞

Well... Finally we have an answer. I'm just gonna wait the reaction from Instagram people

Y U DO DIS? ;-;

I'm crying so hard right now 🥺😭😭❤❤ so beautifully done

Thank you for this ❤

This brought me to tears 😭❤️ Beautifully done

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Damn you why must you make us cry. 😭 It was awesome though! My husband just got out of the Marine Corps this year and we enjoy reading your comics together.

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Thank you ❤️

God dammit I swore I’d keep it together... ❤️💔😢

Well shit now I’m crying

Brutus truly is one of the goodest bois. 15/10

Righttttt so the militants carrying guns head into an Arab home and suddenly the Arabs are the "bad guys".... Man you lost a follower today...don't get me wrong I've been a huge fan of your comics for over a year now, but there was a more politically correct way to frame this. There was no reason to include race here, which is already a huge problem (depicting Islam as terrorists), there was absolutely no reason to. I'm truely very offended.

Damn onion cutting ninjas!! Right in the feels!

Powerful and beautifully drawn! Thank you.🌹

So, now... do we understand that this strip... from day one... has been one big metaphor for our military... and how we interact with them when they return home from service? Be kind to these people. Many of them have been through a tough time.

Amazing. Thank you for sharing this with us <3

😢 very well done

the "life goes on" clip is so gorgeous <33

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So beautifully done. I served in the Navy and the marines on my ship had a couple of Dogs with them aswell. Also, not to be 'that guy', but Brutus is missing his muzzle scar in the first panel with pixie...

@mason brimberry I saw it to on the forbidden app. It really infuriates me that he would claim it as his own

My heart... 😢😢😢

She's grown so much.

I’m sobbing, that was well done. Thank you.

Their not the ones that look like the bad guys though.. just saying. Awesome comic either way!

My heart.

My brother is currently deployed and just sent us a picture of their recently assigned four-legged soldier. He looks so much like Brutus, I had to take a deep breath. I hope their unit has a safer deployment. My heart goes out to everyone! Thanks, Ben! I'm glad we got to learn more about Brutus!

Ahhh my heart! 😢❤️

Awfully dusty in here 😢

God damn who's cutting onions? That hit like a brick

:'-(

Well now I’m crying at work

I just joined to see this and now I'm in tears

Oof. Right in the feels. And yeah, time passes, and it hurts less... but it's always there.

I’m crying 😢

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I’m in the us army infantry and this hits home bro

This actually made me cry it was so good!!

This is reality. And it is just like that... it's sad but it happens a lot... thank you to rise awareness on the matter

Hey uhh this got uploaded to iFunny pretty quickly. Just wanted to let you know.

A harsh reality, but reality nonetheless. This was a great portrayal of such situations.

It was clear that this comic would cause discussion. It’s very difficult to portray but I think you did it well. 👍🏻

Thank you. ♥️

🥺 my heart 💔💔💔

MY COLD BLACK HEAR!!!!

:(

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Virginia

My heart 😭😭😭😭

That was heartrending. Thanks for giving us this backstory.

Lost my fiance last year and this comic was posted on what would have been his 29th birthday. Thank you for this.

that was so sad, thanks for the story, amazing

Thank you.

That's ok... I WANTED to cry this morning...

Semper Fi

OK 2 things:

As a veteran who left friends behind, thank you. Well done. All I can say right now.

I lost my husband five years ago. I don't know that it hurts less. Just not continuously or quite as often.

Waaaaahhahahahaaaa!

Teared up the first time I read through... And the second time... And there's no PTSD treatment for dog (and very limited for human veterans) either! :(

life goes on :(

Why am I crying at 3am right now

:'-(

Totally shouldn’t have looked at this before the school run. Teary eyes first thing 😭

Full of empathy and compassion, a beautiful piece.

I’m not crying 😭

Hey....que triste. 😓

Tearing up at 6h18 in the morning. Sad story ☹️

I mean seriously? You think it's correct to show that some soldiers went to someone's house pointed weapons to the family in THEIR house and people who live there are the bad guys? Is it the propaganda level are very common in US?

Oh my. This made me tear up <3

The emotions hit hard on that. Beautifully done.

Who's cutting onions?

Well done. Made me cry. Makes me feel for the real world mwds. Love to all the puppers out there ❤

This one is deep in the feels. Great story and hope you continue on it. But mannn this one got me emotional.

Bless the real life MWDs out there. Here's hoping they all find a happy home after their service.

It's so sad that I had to give my brutus plush a hug ;-; but great job making it!!

Well done, sir.

Aaaand... I cried. 😢💔

I WASN'T READY FOR THAT!!!! I WAS EXPECTING PIXIE TO BE CHASING A RABIT OR SOMETHING

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Absolutely amazingly effective.

Intense.

I want to say thank you for this one. We have all wanted to know "what happened" with Brutus but it must have been hard to do this story. Not only was there some level of expectation for this story but also the guarantee that it would have to be Much more violent than we have seen with Pixie and Brutus before. Thank you. You did and have always done a wonderful job with Brutus's story. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Whoa…that was nuts

I knew and I’m still crying 😭😭

I knew and I still feel choked up...

Brutus thinks he's been helping Pixie but the reality is that it's Pixie who is the helper all along.

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Wasn't expecting it to be more of a backstory about the scars, ngl. I also feel like the lady and old man probably weren't with the guy that got Sergio. Still, a damn good comic.

Oof. Right in the feels 😭😭😭

Oof. Who is chopping onions?? I'm crying so much right now. Wonderful job on the backstory.

Thanks for telling the hard parts not the just funny ones. 😻😻

Oh, my heart

What did Sergio forget in that country if I dare to ask

This is so sad :( You did a wonderful job, my heart hurts

This is amazing. So sad but so well told. The skull in the gunshot really added a powerful undertone

Hold on while I pick up the shattered pieces of my heart....😭😭😭😭

This was really hard to read, but I loved Pixie and I feel that her actions of laying next to him in silence is perfect and just what Brutus needs. Im crying because even though this is a comic and the characters are fictional, the emotions are not. There are many people who have these emotions- and not all of them have a Pixie, which is just heartbreaking.

This made me so sad; what a beautiful backstory - you did it so much justice. <3

Oof

Oh Brutus, my heart hurts for all your IRL counterparts. 💔

Such a powerful story.

T.T

Oh wow! Not only did we find out how Brutus got hurt but we also finally see how he lost Sergio. So sad!

I was wrong. I wasn’t ready. Take it back. 😭💙

<3

And now my gf and I are crying during dinner :P

My heart 💔😭😭

Speechless 🥺

As weird as this is gonna sound, i like how... ordinary this was. Like, no secret mission, no huge ambush, no great offensive, just one of many missions that ended in blood. It really gets across how even a relatively small event like this has enormous ramifications.

pixie laying next to him got me 🥺😖

I didn’t want to cry today, but that’s okay.

Ohmygod, I'm SOBBING and my dog's getting upset and licking all my tears.

Thank you for sharing the backstory. I knew it was going to be tough to read, but I still wasn't fully prepared for it. I want to give Brutus a big ole hug now.

DAMN, this shit's fucking dark. Was the backstory just meant to be one strip or is this a series?

Aww poor pup!!

I'm not suppose to be crying right now

Still crying. Amazing. And heartbreaking.

Awwwwwww, poor Brutus! I love the reflection of the AK on his goggles, and the skull in the muzzle flash. Will you continue the story, show us how Brutus healed? Mental and physical scars? I would love to see the progress, perhaps as a short montage strip?

I am at work and now I am about to cry. Brutus is a good good boy

That's okay, I didn't need my heart. I'll just go cry into my coffee now. Brutus is a very very good boy

GODS MY HEART BE STILL

Ugly crying right now

That is a tough strip to create and read.

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Wow.

My heart just broke 💔

He protec, he attac, but most importantly he make bad boi arm a snac.

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My heart :( poor baby

*sobs* Poor Brutus!! I knew it was bad, but I still wasn't prepared for it. I'm surprised Pixie didn't climb on top and hug him.

F word. I’m crying and my 2 working dogs are doing a heckin concern.

Oh Brutus 😢 he’s such a good boy.

Thank you

Poor Brutus.

That was amazing and ima go cry now

A beautifully sad comic, truly.

WHO. IS. CUTTING. ONIONS. 😭

Broo my heart

Wow, I had tears, this is sad, but great job. I liked it.

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Im not crying......you cant prove a thing

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