These two pages of Oms committing suicide in great numbers is weirdly deceptive. The pastel colors bely the fact that these Oms are very xenophobic – earlier in the story, they chased a visitor out of their city by throwing rocks at him. To be fair, he was playing a flute, but that seems like an overly aggressive means of musical criticism. In retribution, the flute player cuts off his own leg and fashions a flute out of the leg-bone, which he uses to create this scene.

(Heavy Metal issue #187, May 2000 – Page 23 The Flute Player by Caza)