Howdy all!
The forums seemed to coincidentally open up at the same time that I started running a Homestuck Book Club for my friends. (We call ourselves The Friends of PT, don't ask what PT is ;) )
We have about 8+ people participating with all varieties of inital Homestuck knowledge: some veterans who were in the trenches in the 2010s, and some people who have elegantly evaded all prior knowledge of our unanimously agreed favorite webcomic of all time.
We're reading 200-300 pages a week until EOA5 where we will take a break (around November, just in time for the anniversary of Cascade!)
I'll be using this thread to doccument our discussions and seek insight on our reading experience through community involvement and suggested supplemental media.
As of today, 8/3/25, we have already read and met for Act 1.
Some highlights of our conversations thus far include the importance of the forum-driven narrative in how Hussie chooses to convey information to the reader.
For example, when the mailbox dealy is flipped up to show Johns mail has been delivered, this is not how the postal system works! One could theorize that maybe Hussie has never received mail in his life. No birthday cards from grandparents, no junk mail, nothing. So he is wholly ignorant to the workings of the United States Postal Service, and this is why Homestuck is the way it is.
But in reality, the purpose of this was to allow John to look out his window and know the mail had been delivered without having to navigate down to his mailbox to find out this information.
Isn't literary analysis exciting?!
So far our members consist of...
Dickwad (me!)
Laserpulse
NightmareFluid
HyperTophat
Jay
PearlTiger
Ttam
wheresthefreakingabaghoul
SunBun
WarpsmithAdam
We will see with time who makes it to the end and who is lost to the twists and turns of the narrative.
We meet today to discuss from "Years in the future, but not many..." to "Years in the Future".
If you have any questions we should bring to the group, or suggestions for supplemental media for our reading experience, please feel free to share!
I look forward to documenting and sharing our insights with the broader Homestuck/MSPA community!
MEETING 2 REPORT: SUNDAY, AUGUST 3RD 2025
Start Point: Beginning of Act 2 "Years in the Future, but not many..."
End Point: middle of Act 2 "Years in the Future"
Attendees: dickwad (me!), laserpulse, HyperTophat, pearltiger, SunBun
I was in charge of summary, and pearltiger wanted to know why when I was doing summary I said "we" a lot. For example, I would say "we are introduced to the Wayward vagabond" instead of "the Wayward Vagabond is introduced".
I didn't particularly notice I had been doing this until she pointed it out, but I do have a reason for it!
The reader and audience as a character and playing with perspective is a huge part of the narrative of Homestuck. As someone who has read it before, I am hyper aware of the 4th wall because it becomes subverted and played with later in the narrative.
Even with the 1st and 2nd act so far, and especially in the 2nd act, what the reader sees and from who's perspective is a key literary device. We are starting so see conversations we've witnessed fro Johns perspective from Dave's perspective. We also see a few conversations from Rose's perspective I know we'll see as Dave later. And wr hardly see anything at all of Jade! I forgot how mysterious she is.
But! We already know so much about her because SunBun pointed out that each of these characters have clear Foils. Distinct interestes, a parental figure with a peculiar decorating style that they're trying avoid, their own sylladex modus and strife specibus. It's easy to learn these new charactefs because they fit so well within the context, the Literary Foils of one another.
Which brings us to another important note of discussion that we touched on, when reading this comic as a child as some of our participants did, the charcaters were really one of the only things that made it into my realm of comprehension. Reading homestuck at 13, I read it! But I by no meands understood it lollolol.
The sylladex moduses (modi?) are one particular note that did not get heard as a child. Now, some of us know a lot about computer science (lazerpulse and HyperTophat especially flet this way) and we get it! And the obscure celebrities and medias, and the snarky horseshit. It's a marvelous thing to have reading comprehension.
Ah and we also read some Sweet Bro Hella Jeff outloud together and that shit makes me laugh. I made the "where do you even get a nut thats that big?" my signature because I feed the rodents and birds in my yard MY SEED daily. they get in-shell peanuts and the chipmunks will put 2 OF MY HUGE NUTS in each cheek and hold A THIRD GIANT NUT in their mouths and it's hilarious. Andrew Hussie didn't know he made that joke for me personally right now, but he did.
Anywho, can't wait for the rest of Act 2, maybe we'll have better attendance next week.