Ye Olde Pet Peeves

It's not like I was hoping for an apology from Skipping Out creator Eric Schlegel. But I'm still disappointed to see that after all the hate I - and a handful of others, on Tumblr - directed at their trans hate fest earlier this year.. has had zero impact. If Schlegel saw it, he's made no mention, and there's definitely been no note on trans issues that might make things somewhat better or more understandable. Meanwhile, the comic is drudging on in its usual style. The strips are less and less frequent in coming, and the characters and plot are going nowhere. Oddly, the header keeps changing now and then even if there's no new strip.

Another comic that never changes is Questionable Content. Actually, there was a rather ambitious and successful visual thing with the camping trip a while back, but out of the main characters, only Marten was there. I just don't feel much for Padma or her niece or this new guy whatshisface. It almost seems like Jeph Jacques gets sick of his characters and discards them to show us some new people. The new characters are then faded out into a small role or disappear completely, while new ones take over. In fact, the only real exception seems to be Hannelore. This has been going on since the beginning of the strip. (See also: Sven, Jimbo, Raven, Penelope, Tai,  Faye's sister, Marten's band, etc.)

It's been my pet peeve for a long time, but I've really almost quit reading QC. Its incoherent time frame and narrative structure has gone on for so long that it's become a thing. It's like, the QC style, and this is not a style I particularly like. Either Jacques is not my kind of author, or he doesn't know at all what he's doing with the comic.

Calling Out the Transphobia in "Skipping Out"

My boyfriend wrote this, and I really think it says it best. Skipping Out is a gay comic, and while it has been confusing and unfunny in the past, it has always been tolerant. It seems like it has stepped out into territory where artist Schlegel doesn't feel comfortable and is willing to take swipes at trans women. That's just no ok. 

The trans woman character is portrayed terribly in basically every aspect. She’s drawn atrociously - why is he giving her an more exaggeratedly masculine facial structure than the cis men in the comic? And her name - Kevi with no ‘n’ - har har, she just took one letter off her “real” name! I feel like the way he’s making her so violent and mean/sassy is a way of showing how unfeminine she is. “Real” women don’t beat people up or act like anything other than demure flowers, AMIRIGHT?

What we have here is something very similar to the semi-regular butch dyke barista of the strip. She is bulky, masculine, chain-smoking, rude, will grab you by the collar if you want to order anything but regular coffee. Poor innocent Skippy is always being pushed around by these scary women. The misogyny is loud and clear.

Maybe it's time I stop reading this strip. It's obviously not going to improve, and it just makes me mad. 

Sick Day Ranting.

Called in sick today, so I might as well rant about comics I haven't liked lately. Ahem.

Skipping Out the gay comic is suddenly making fun of trans...gendered people? -vestites? It's problematic on many levels. I can't tell where this is going, partially because the comic moves so slowly and you never know where it's taking us (and sometimes it just goes nowhere). There are many stereotypical things going on here already: "Kevi", the hair, the sassiness, the fact that the trans part of town is called "Trannytown" and their food is "Trannese". Schlegel may have been going for "Chinatown", but the word "N***ertown" comes to mind equally fast. Why is Skippy so horrified to go out to "Trannytown"? Are we supposed to identify with him (trans people are scary) or with the other characters (trans people are a fun and exotic other)? The comic already features a butch dyke barista who obviously hates not just men, but people in general. The main characters are gay, so they're a minority, but they are still cisgendered white men, and this privilege should be acknowledged. "Tranny" is a term reclaimed by some trans women, but I'm not sure if it's OK for cis gay men to use it just like that.

Courting Disaster! It's that comic about how men - ha ha - are so different from women! Ha ha! You see, men are nymphomaniacs and women are bimbos with giant boobs! And all of their interactions can be summed up in one-panel comics! Hahahaha, oh mercy! Somebody tell this artist it's actually 2011.

Ctrl+Alt+Del is too boring for commentary. Just saying, it's "Most popular" at the webcomics list, and has been going on forever and has a bunch of paid content but who reads it anymore? It's like it's not even trying.

Questionable Content takes us to the bar where guys leer at hot chicks and nothing happens. I tell you, this Marten/Dora breakup really perked things up. Yawn.

Not a huge fan of this Question Duck. The question is a little too "celebrity joke" to be timeless and unanswerable. But so far, it's the only Question Duck I haven't liked, so I'll forgive this.

Monday Familiars

I was going to do one of those "browsing through Webcomics List" posts, but the list is down, once again. Well, I've always got my favorites...

Brainless Tales: Concatenate. Cats will not let you do that though! At least mine won't. As soon as you touch the tail, it gets all rigid. Try to make a braid with another tail, and he'll bite you. I guess it would be too adorable to be real...

I may have said it before, but I worry about James Kochalka when I see strips like this. But maybe we all get those moods. The point is, he chose to cuddle with Oliver, and that's beautiful.

Regular sex puns and flirtation - unfunny. Flirtation dissected scientifically by Hannelore - FUNNY. More of this please.

The true meaning of superbowl, according to Sinfest. I shouldn't read this strip when I'm hungry. *goes and fries some bacon*

Is this gay comic anti-trans? Or is it just some gay man in-joke? Is it talking about transsexuals or transvestites? Huh?

Thank god for Rooster Tails. The real super hero - binary challenging gender identity! Could. not. be. more. awesome.

A Cranky Comics Reader

I'm in a bad mood today, so I intend to complain about any comic that rubs me the wrong way. Grrr! Let the hating begin!

Questionable Content is back to the old boring stuff: two characters talking about a third character and sex. I don't think I've ever laughed at the sex jokes. They just seem somehow too purposeful, like "isn't it cool and daring that I talk about sex in this way?" Also, I dislike Tai, perhaps more than any other character. It seems like she was brought on just to be the Wild Sexy Lesbian Who Has Wild Sex Adventures With Other Girls. As a bisexual I say boo-urns. I'm sure such girls exist and read the strip, but it could just be a cheap way to lure in young guys who like to imagine hot chicks making out.

Skipping Out has our titular hero, Skippy, returning home. He promises to be a new man. Well, that might bring some life into the strip. The old format reads way too much like Garfield. Skippy even looks like Jon, with his baby blue shirt. Mattie is the Garfield, the rude and snarky one, while Skippy is the Jon, the responsible yet loserish one. Laird is the Odie, dumb and blonde. This bugs me to no end. I also dislike the way you can't navigate with "previous"-"next"-"first"-"last" like with most comics. You have to go through the comics page, where you can't even click on individual strips, but rather get clusters. Also - the strips are tiny and compressed, so the banner actually looks better. I'd like to like this strip, but it's making it very hard. The "s-smite the homo" one is funny, actually. That's about it.

I only realized today that Bellen isn't going to be updating anymore, ever. :( I loved this comic and its depressing, yet somehow funny ponderings on life. This is the third beloved strip that dies, after The Perry Bible Fellowship and Animals Have Problems Too. I have a lot of respect for artists who quit while they're ahead, but it still makes me sad. Box Brown has a new comic, linked to on the Bellen page, but I'll look at it and write about it on another day. I'm in a bad mood today so I wouldn't want to spoil that.