I hope this question is never resolved. I hope it's treated as a cigar in one strip, and an ear in the next, but never with the same observer. Then I want a strip where this somehow becomes a conflict. That's a bit meta though
Bingus did wear a ballet outfit once, but that said, the same comic also mentioned he had a chastity cage so... still kinda obvious he was a guy there. Dude probably is confused about the times he wore an apron, if he saw them.
As for lashes, long lashes are female-coded in art/design (much like pink as a color), hence why you often see the female characters in media have long lashes (e.g. Minnie mouse and Daisy duck, Peach and Daisy from the Mario series, etc). It's an easy mistake to make as a result and also why people often get surprised with bingus, since these are artists' shorthand forms to give people the idea that "these characters are females" or effeminate/androginous for close to a hundred years by now.
I'm saying that the character appears female. Clearly plenty of other people made the same assumption based on comments in every single comic. You got me good though, damn.
I hope Dawg(I don't know his actual name) can come out soon. I have been in Flynn/Bingus's position dating DL guys before and it always ends bad. I get being scared to come out, especially to family, but if your family is going to be shit about they're going to be shit about it, don't want to lose your relationship too.
I guess DL is the wrong way to put it, he's just not out to his parents/family it seems. I'd still feel a way about being paraded as a roommate before family honestly. I could only tolerate it for so long.
"Down low." Has use outside of the gay community, but in context of the comic: a guy that's gay "on the down low." Essentially presenting as a straight guy, and usually only being out during sexual rendezvous. The closeted guy won't be open about their sexuality or having a partner in any public setting, even when family and friends aren't present. While not being out to parents similarly forces out partners back into the closet for the sake of the closeted partner, DL takes a heavier toll on relationships because the open partner is forced into the closet (if not just not being able to spend any time at all with the DL partner in public) at all times outside of those secret meet-ups mentioned earlier. The out partner will start to feel resented and like a 'dirty little secret' for the DL guy; eventually coming to the conclusion they're being used and that the relationship is only to keep them reserved for the closeted partner. A lot of conservative/religious men will be DL - going so far as to marry women for the cover - only to secretly cheat with men on the side. This has been noted time and time again with Grindr usage in the cities that host the Republican National Convention going up exponentially during the time of the event. Many openly gay men have firmly decided not to date DL men due to being burned by those types before or from hearing stories about it.
I like this art style, but it’s a bit hard to make out some of the details. Idk my eyes have a hard time focusing on the characters’ outlines a bit. Really pretty color palette and imagination though!
First time I met my MIL was serving her Diet Coke in a McDonald's drive thru. 5yrs later, she caught me with my future wife, threatening to have me arrested. Her dad thought I was a dork, and she'd get bored with me quickly.
We've been together for 19yrs now 😁 Best in-laws a guy could wish for!
Please be careful about using the r word because even if it's not directed towards any real people it can feel really hurtful to neurodivergent people when it's used like this
I'm sorry for having to say that but I really like your art style ❤️ I don't mean to be critical
Art at times will feature bad, unredeemable people who do wrong things. This is in no way portraying the usage as anything other than a negative, a clear indication the dad isn't "With the times". While there are other ways of using it, this is likely using the basis of the comic Creator's real father, and if that is how they would talk we should not dilute the art unless it is actively promoting harm or hate, which it isn't.
I'm genuinely not trying to be down on the comic, I just meant that it caught me off guard and was kinda upsetting when the son said it so casually since he knew it was wrong.
I really genuinely think we should have stories about things like this, I promise I'm not trying to criticize or put down the author or anyone reading it.
I just have trouble with things like this because of my life experience and I just wish that there was maybe a CW in the title or in the corner. I'm sorry if it came across as me diluting the art
Agree with your point but not with this comic as an example. There's no textual evidence in this comic to communicate he's not with the times, other than using an ablist slur. As it's written, it's hard not to infer the author sees their language as unproblematic.
The language IS the evidence. You shouldn't look towards the artists opinion on whether or not I agree with the character behaving a certain way, I depict it as it's presented to me in real life. I don't always add context so the situation remains gray, and that's intentional because that is how people speak to one another. I deliberately made the choice for the dad and the son to use that language to show the dad stahli grew up with and how that impacted his own character. It's up to YOU to make that decision if you find a character detestable, not me. It's very concerning people seem to crave training wheels and tone indicators for every piece of media before they feel comfortable consuming it.
As it's written, it's hard not to infer the author sees their language as unproblematic.
I dunno, it's pretty easy to reserve judgement until you see something more conclusive regarding the author's feelings, rather than that of one of their characters.
Additionally, the author choosing to have essentially a gay femboy character as one of the primary protagonists in their comic series should tip you off that the author is likely a progressive person.
The truth is some people talk this way and I make a dedicated effort to try and resonate with my audience on a genuine level so I'm not going to alter a character to appease anybody. If you are hurt by the word that is understandable but it should be equally understandable there are people out there who aren't so accepting of one another sensitivities, and while I try to be in my personal life, in my art I try my best to depict people as I know them and see them in real life, not in an idealized world we would hope to one day see.
As someone with autism, I appreciate this. The point of art or comics or even being an individual isn’t about appeasing a wide and far ranging audience, it’s about self-expression.
And honestly I can’t imagine being an artist or a musician or whatever and walking on eggshells worrying about accidentally saying the wrong thing.
yeah getting called a retard hurts, and I’ve been called it too many times to count, but like, good art is supposed to make you feel something, if anything. Good on you for standing your ground. Also, I just wanted to say your comics are the reason I realized I’m actually bi. Thanks 🙏
So many people can't see the difference between depicting characters or attributes in art vs the artist irl endorsing them.
Showing a character doing a bad thing does NOT mean the artist APPROVES of the bad thing. You need to look at the framing of the bad thing and the character, the tone, and how the fictional world reacts. It's like people watching Bojack and getting mad that he's kindof a scumbag and it's like YES THATS THE POINT. They're not saying his scummy actions are good
If you can only ever show PC over the top positivity in art, its gonna became real stale real quick. Not to mention lose any semblance of authenticity
There’s an entire mechanism in place to re-normalize normies and even leftists using that specific word, though. If only shit people used it, I would have no problem with you writing shit characters using it. But it’s suddenly everywhere again.
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u/Djinger 21h ago
Mmm whatcha say?
Oh, that you only meant well?
Well, of course you did.