Looking at the commentary from 2002, wow, that’s a self-absorbed thing to say, as if pregnancy is only scary for the guy. There’s going to be a lot of this where I look back on my own work and regret some things, but instead of erasing or ignoring it I’m going to point out where I was wrong to think that. This is one of those cases. Maybe there are individuals who do use pregnancy to manipulate people but it’s really wrong of me to make a gross generalization like that. Also, the comment in the header of the strip is kinda gross, like I’d rather die than take responsibility. It was said to try and invoke humor, but fourteen years later I look at it and think, whoa, that’s really not the right thing to say at all.
Heck, everything seems tame in these early strips. I used blankets to cover up the naughty bits, something I wouldn’t have restrained myself from doing now. It’s funny when you look up from how deep you’ve gone down the slippery slope to see how innocent it really was when you started.
The inspiration? Well, besides it being a pretty standard set-up and punchline, I had my share of partners who used the “my period is late” manipulative ploy when things in the relationship were going sour. It worked too.
I remember reading this when I was a teenager. I’m glad to see you’re still around and writing. I know you were struggling with health issues back then.
I see how your thoughts have changed over the years. I still find this work to be funny. It might not seem original anymore but that will happen as time passes and things become normalized.
I have to agree with your first comment in 2002, I’m glad your mentality has changed for you personally but this is spot on. I like how you left off a reaction panel for him that way we can imagine that ourselves.
Unfortunately when someone says it at the end as a surprise (and this still happens) it usually ends up violent. I like the light heartedness though.
moral of the story, don’t second guess yourself! This was and still is awesome.
Thank you for the kind words. There are a number of strips I would definitely not do nowadays, the trans strips and the rapey strips being the ones I kinda cringe at nowadays.
Dude, take a joke. It was your own joke, anyway. Coarse humor is rare to find, so better it be in a comic strip than said to someone’s face. Its rarity gives it value. Since people are so PC nowadays, it’s hard to find humor without some kind of political or ethical message.
Any joke that perpetuates a stereotype is not humour but a slur. I’m not sure how “taking a joke” applies in this situation, since I’m not the target of this, but I would never ask anyone to “take a joke”, saying that means one’s own feelings are more important than anyone else’s.
Came back to the site after what it must have been at least 10 years, during a bookmarks-cleaning-session on Chrome. I’m very happy you’re still active and I now I can’t wait for future updates. Took the chance to say that because I mainly wanted to comment about how happy I was to see this answer, you have all of my respect for this.
As a trans woman myself, I do find this strip’s punchline very offensive, as it perpetuates the stereotype that trans people “used to be” something else and changed, when the reality is that we were always the same gender internally, it’s just that the bodies we were both with didn’t reflect that.
I applaud the author, both for acknowledging that he regrets this strip, AND for not censoring or removing it. Many people insist on whitewashing the past, but it’s much better to learn from our past mistakes, not hide them. One suggestion is you could add a “trigger warning,” but given the extremely adult and (by design) offensive nature of many of these strips, it’s probably not necessary. ^_^’
Correct. XY = XY no matter what. Can’t change that.
Obviously can’t change being a terf either
Also as a trans person, I do find this strip’s punchline very offensive, and very funny. We are not exempt from being made fun of. I think everyone here should get off their high horses and come in terms that this was just a joke.
I’m LIVING for the character development in your commentary
The years haven’t been kind to many of these strips.
I think you should rather see it that your jokes contributed back then to paving the way to where we are now.
What may now seem like a slur might before have been the only possible way to bring up a topic to free it from its taboo. It’s a different time.
We shouldn’t judge it for what we know now, but for what it meant and communicated in the context when it was said. That applies to general awareness as well as to your own specific learning.
Eh, I think they’re still awesome.
Yeah a few of the older ones (like this one) don’t hold up too well anymore. As someone who’s been reading your comics on and off for the last decade though, I’m really pleased that you can acknowledge that and admit that you’d change things if you could. Very few people can admit they’ve messed up in the past even though that’s a sign they’ve grown. I’m really looking forward to seeing more SL comics from a more updated perspective
Actually a number of them don’t hold up very well and I’ve often thought about removing those strips entirely. It’s probably a good reason why I don’t pay so much attention to this strip anymore, I tend to cringe whenever I look at some of this work. Some of the strips are OK but there are a number which are sexually violent or discriminatory that I wish I hadn’t done.
That’s understandable. Try not to be too hard on yourself though. You could get rid of them if it’d make you feel better or you could leave them to show how you and your art have changed over the years. You could even make updated versions of the ones that can be adapted with better endings and maybe link those in the comments of the older ones
Currently I’m working on other comics so I’m not terribly keen on updating or changing the work, especially when those other comics are income-generating and this one is only income-consuming. I would only bother if I knew that this comic had some kind of future, but right now investing time into it to fix it isn’t much of a priority.
I respect your feelings regarding the comics, but PLEASE never delete them. Sensitive or not (and I’m a HIGHLY sensitive guy), these are just too funny to let go.
You should keep them up as they are proof of your own personal growth. Better, in my mind, to keep them here with your commentary and these discussions with the fans for people to read. It gives us insight into a quirky mind and a reason to look at ourselves in retrospect.
There are a few strips that really need me to go in and add some commentary because they are so bad — looking at the one strip where the boy sexually and physically assaults his mother and she has a disabled child, or the raping siblings in the Dr. Lovetalk thread. What the hell was I thinking when I did those, seriously.
Having lived through assault by someone who was previously assaulted, being able to laugh at this instead of only crying helps me (almost as much as Depression Comics does).
Don’t beat yourself up just because you can conceive of how someone somewhere may be offended by it. Much like the Kimono appropriation ‘controvery’ keeps cropping up. Sometimes things need to be appropriated, or viewed again, to stay alive.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/08/04/commentary/japan-commentary/kimono-cultural-appropriation/
this is art. don’t apologize.
I wish that I knew what I know now when i was younger..
Anyway, I might be a horrible person (“might”.. pfft) but I had a good laugh reading the strip.
It’s not the trans issue so much as the situation for me that’s funny.
I’m noticing an uptick in comments that are more or less insults directed at me, especially from this page. It seems my learning to respect people is far more controversial than I initially would have thought.
All comments have to be moderated by myself, so no one here will see them before I do.
If you feel the need to send some stranger on the internet an insult on the comments page of their site, I will literally give you one second of my time as I swipe right and delete your comment forever. You have wasted more of your time than mine.
You aren’t respecting anybody. You’re paying homage to the concept of a group of people. You’re also talking about censoring artwork that other people enjoy in order to do it. That’s why it’s controversial. Stop framing other people in bad faith while patting yourself on the back, and you won’t get so many insults.
1) This may be a huge surprise to you but a number of artists who have contributed to this comic with their art have come out as trans. These people are also my friends. and I’d like to have their work — made by trans people — on a trans friendly site. So if you think I’m respecting no one, I don’t really care what you think — I am more concerned on what my friends think than what some stranger on the internet thinks.
2) “censoring artwork that other people enjoy” — this is *my* artwork. I can do whatever I like with it, as well as the site itself. It has been suggested by my trans friends to take down the offending strip, and instead I’m keeping it up as a learning moment, and I’m not burying the strip to make it clear that this is not my opinion anymore. So the “censoring” part doesn’t make sense, there is nothing being censored here at all. Everything here appears as it did long ago unedited, the only difference is the image size (all images are bigger now). There is no censorship here. Censoring would be taking the image down or editing it, neither of which happened.
3) I’ve been on the internet since 1990, and local BBSing a decade before that. A few insults by complete strangers won’t bother me, but on the other hand I won’t entertain it on a site that I have to pay for to host.
Never have regrets over somthing you did, if it didnt harm any one. Ive had way worst things ive done and said that i have come to peace with mentally and physically. (The fact that these are just comics, meant to have comically charged shock value) you dpnt get quality content like yours now a days. People are afraid of it. If you only knew half the shit that goes through the every day persons mind, youd be surprised… . The only difference between you and them? A set of heavy brass nuts, and an intrepid out look of comedy. Yes, some or all of your content would make average people cringe, but thats the fun of it!! Whys everything got too be censored, sugar coated???
Just found this content , its a blast to go through! Noticing a lot of hate on this strip tho, regardless these were the kinda jokes me and my uncle used to make wayy back when he was still around
Got led to this series from Reddit after forgetting it for a while, and yeah, it didn’t age well. But I’ve got mad respect for someone who can acknowledge the mistakes they make. I’m trans myself and I made jokes like this when I was younger. Hell, I was really transphobic as a teen. I’m a vastly different person now than I was backed then, obviously– but yeah, ignorance and lack of perspective can cause someone to say some stupid stuff. You’ve got my full respect for being able to come back and reflect on stuff like this from a better perspective.
Thank you for your kind words. I think artists have a responsibility for their work, and I think artists should acknowledge the problems with it. Trans people have my full love and support and I’ll do better in the future. Thank you for sharing.
For what it’s worth I thought this was pretty funny.
I think why this kind of humour wouldn’t be successful in today’s society is simply because everyone’s too easily offended and no one can take a moment to understand that it’s just a joke. Especially when the author has specifically noted their actual attitude in the commentary.
It’s normal for society to change over time, just as ideas that are offensive nowadays might have been common back then.
I like to be able to see such works because they give a glimpse of human history and culture. We shouldn’t just try to forget the parts that are bad or made us ashamed.
Thanks for still hosting your comics!
I gotta say, it’s refreshing to see some see humility as a betterment of the self rather than admitting defeat. I think the growth on display with your commentary is sublime.