Spiraling

Look, having expectations and standards for yourself isn't a bad thing. But you've got to recognize when your expectations are based on external factors and therefore aren't going to always fit your timetable. Claire's not a Librarian right now not because she messed up, but because openings are scarce. Being hard on herself for that fact isn't going to help anyone or anything get better.

AlexKorobeiniki

We all live in a lava submarine, a lava submarine, a lava submarine

Charlie Lawton

This is me working at CVS earlier this year.

Julie Scott

The best thing about reading these comics here on Patreon is that the "fifth panel" is always Jeph's dog looking up at you. :)

John Pallister

She still has it. Friz is in fact picking me up next Thursday morning to go geode hunting beneath the western pacific rim.

Mad Marie

Ms. Frizzle had one.

I kind of recall having used a mod in years past that allowed one to comfortably swim in lava[1]. It's a little less grand than a lava submarine, but I like the simplicity of it. Though, to be fair, I don't think it was actually all that *simple* to get to the point of being able to do it, since it was near the end of the tech tree of that particular mod, and it was a fairly lengthy tech tree. 1. I mean without dying or even taking damage. I know you can just *do* it briefly if you have enough health normally, but I find that's not very soothing. Other people may have other opinions, and that's fine.

Some Ed

lmao, I want a lava submarine!

Daryl Sawyer

And also, their mom gets it on alternating weekends. She'd be a mess if she couldn't borrow Cosmo's.

Doug DeJulio

I think that Claire and Clinton have only one chill between them. Right now Clinton has it.

Hugh Eckert

These facial expressions are the full range of human emotion.

Bo Blackstar

The lava submarine from the movie The Core…

It’s Jeph tyvm

Miyaa

It's usually a sign of good storytelling in comics that you can tell what's going on even without reading the words. Or rather, it's a sign of the cartoonist making use of the medium.

Rob McBobson

I was pushing 40 before I managed to really be able to be supportive for people I care about in these kind of situations without succumbing to the overwhelming desire to Try To Fix Things.

David Durant

y'know, this comic works perfectly without any words in the balloons, possibly better

jimbo

Been far too long since we saw Dr. Corinne.

Captain Button

Beware, vents involving lava can emit toxic gases...

Captain Button

I liked a lava submarine, but it didn't like me back... 8~~-({

Captain Button

20 fathoms, more or less.

Jeffrey Anderson

How deep does a lava submarine have to dive before it becomes a magma submarine?

Mad Marie

As long as it has a screen door, it’ll be fine.

Mad Marie

Preach it! It’s stupidly difficult to be taken seriously in technical service fields. That mask is both super creepy and super awesome with the orchid btw.

Mad Marie

That would be highly illogical.

Mad Marie

Oh hey, it's me

Valraven

How would a lava submarine be cool, though? Literally OR figuratively? Lava being both really hot and totally opaque.

Ian Wolfe

Marten's doing the wrong thing but he's trying SO HARD at it

Pejo

Thanks for infecting me with that. Really great.

ItseMeeCarsten

I'm sorry, but my brain is now going "WE ALL LIVE IN A LAVA SUBMARINE, A LAVA SUBMARINE, A LAVA SUBMARINE..." over and over again. Damned brain.

Doug DeJulio

Claire, sweetie, you gotta take a breath! You're in full blown panic attack mode, and you need to relax! Take a step back, do a centering exercise or two. Breathe. Slowly!

Grace Kieser

And I think part of the irony of all this is that her mom was mostly having the "oh, I thought" reaction because she knows how much Claire has been wanting a library job and was being happy for her about it because of that. I don't think her mom was reacting that way because of having her own expectations for Claire at all.

Brooks Moses

Well, just as long as it's yellow.

Professor Harmless

Yes, Marten absolutely needed to start this conversation with "Yeah this really sucks, and I think I can see why you feel so miserable about it. Talk to me about it?" You can not jump straight to "Welp! All done now, no problem!"

Clifton Royston

It's been a long long *long* time, but I when I got out of college and moved across the country, the only work I could find for quite a while was temping as a cashier because I had worked a cash register. My then girlfriend and I were on food stamps to make ends meet. That was even with professional computer programming experience - on big iron, at that. Of course nowadays it would be that, minus the food stamps because boo, get a job you moocher.

Clifton Royston

not really that amazing, tho =(

Minzoku Bokumetsu

She really needs professional help. It is nigh impossible to deal with such issues on your own, or even with the help of well-meaning, but clueless people around you.

Evgeniy Semyonov

Amazing how many of life's problems are caused by expectations not meeting reality

M. R.

Let her vent Marten, she'll blow-up which will be sort of a reality reset for her and she will be fine, and probably MORE determined to find a library job.

Shawn K. Younkin

I'm pretty sure Raven has a design for one of those

Bagge

Where's Faye when you need a Vulcan boob-squish?

Daniel S

We all live in a lava submarine, a lava submarine, a lava submarine.

Tudza

❤

I want Claire and marten to be happy. AS A READER, I really want marten to have to confront that he can’t just passively tell Claire “it’ll be ok she didn’t mean it”. I don’t want another Dora-style Breakup but I do want this to get Tense.

Someone needs a hug.

Jeff Hartley

Imagine having anxiety this bad....oh wait!!

Kristina

I feel personally attacked by this relatable content

Carin Maja Brooks

... someone make a MINECRAFT MOD FOR IT!

Edward Clayton Andrews

You're gonna need a lot of unobtainium plating for that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_HhiU1mOwU

Auros Harman

Too relatable. My partner is struggling to get consistent work in her field due to misogynistic dinosaurs. Sound engineer BTW

Da Nargh!!

Relatable content as always

Isaac Rivers

I _was_ thinking that events were way too positive lately...

Nulgar

I KNOW A FEW WAYS CLAIRE CAN BECOME AN INTERNET CELEBRITY REAL QUICK!

Yelling Bird

I have had very similar conversations, both with family and myself. Down that road lies madness. I hope Marten can steer her off that path...or at least help her take it at an easier pace rather than the full-steam nosedive she's throwing herself into.

Anthony Gaglianese

Claire can be played by Hilary Swank in the movie!

RoofPig

Seems like red flag for Marten's future again.

Akashimo Hakubi

"Lava is incredibly dense." Just like me!

Dracon Atrox

Sounds pretty gneiss tbh

Magic Chopstick Games

Claire is absolutely diving headfirst into a depressive spiral. I do hope she finds a way to not do that, instead.

Thomas Halpin

Don't we all live in one, really?

Spike

It is basically just not possible to interrupt someone out of a breakdown/freakout, and if you try, you become the enemy. Provide support without validating any untrue or unhelpful positions, disengage if it gets real fukken bad, circle around when the temperature has dropped and the potential explosive energy in the situation has drained off.

Jim Lee

So.... Volcanoids?

If I were in Marten's shoes, I'd point out that Claire seems to be ascribing her own feelings of dissatisfaction with herself to her mom and reading in more than her mom either said or meant, which is unfair to her mom. I'd wait until Claire was completely done talking, though; I'm a bit thick sometimes but I'm not STUPID.

Rob McBobson

Claire no

TubaGinger

I love how the background changes gradually to show that time is passing, but still remains the same to a degree that lets you see how they're moving. Very nifty.

Rob McBobson

Exactly what I was going to say lol

you gotta let her feel her feelings, Marty. there’s nothing helpful to be said rn

JD

WE ALL LIVE IN A LAVA SUBMARINE. A LAVE SUMARINE!

Scott Vogel

Jacques Cousteau ("Jeff") takes you on a Lava Submarine tour on tonight's episode

God, the shoe is going to drop with Martin literally having the job Claire wants, huh.

Mr. Ifrit

All of this joking aside, I really like what Jeph has been doing with the backgrounds and perspectives for the past few weeks of strips. It feels more "life-like" to me, if that makes sense? I really like it. Now lava submarines - I really want one.

But seriously, Claire is, like many, setting impossibly high standards and goals for herself. Iife is a process, focus on what one has, not on a arbitrary finish line.

Michael Boettger

I relate way too much to Claire's struggle 😓

Livy N

I want a lava submarine for my imposter syndrome...

Stuart Telfer

I don't just *Iike* a submarine, I LAVA Submarine!

Todd Perkins

I just want to give her a hug and say she's perfect just the way she is. Can she go to yoga with Marigold and Hanners? Comparison is the thief of joy. (I say all of this as a high achieving phd student who is about to graduate and is terrified of not finding a job - you are hitting a little too close for home Jeph!)

Liz

We all want a lava submarine, a lava submarine, a lava submarine

Poor Claire… I was in that same position years ago, fresh out of college. Couldn’t get a stable office job and stuck applying to everything and anything. Something finally stuck and was doing better mentally, but it was nowhere near my major

KingAtticus

Oof. Poor Claire. I can relate to her pain.

Absentia

If its any help Claire, people generally aren't dense enough to sink into lava. We would normally just sit on top and burn from the extreme heat. Lava is incredibly dense.

Nikki

Boo!!! Hiss!!!! ......(goes the lava)

Damian Paradis

We all live in a lava submarine, lava submarine, lava submarine.

Craig Miller

We have all done this. Some of us have season tickets to this ride.

A lava submarine would be cool. Briefly.

Michael Boettger

The core

doorbender

A lava submarine would not be cool. It would be……soooo hot.

William Hanna

“We all live in a lava submarine!”

Miyaa

Everyone needs a Lava Submarine (imho).

Mad Marie