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Cbar is non-binary, by the way. They/them. I know not everyone sees these notes, so that was probably easy to miss.
This whole sequence ended up being more violent than I intended. It kind of got away from me. I had planned this out before the beginning of the season, but in drawing the last few strips I just added way too much blood. The result is… uncomfortable. Of course, its meant to be a hard sequence. But now that its on the page I feel like its a little too much. I try to keep violence in this serious cartoony (even when its serious), but I guess if you add enough blood anything gets upsetting. I think I’ll be more conscious of this in the future.
D:
(But this is Reaper exciting)
You should have known, Marah. Partial decapitation is NOT decapitation.
Wow, Cbar is… sturdy.
Ow. I don’t think they’re happy with you right now, Marah.
Weel, that is what ‘hard to kill’ looks like 🙂
Just checking: Jake, you are aware that you’ve had a change of president, and everything around ABCDQ+, wokes, non-binaries and all of that is not a trend anymore, right? I suppose that most of your fans are not pro- all of that either. I personally don’t mind, but some probably might. Your characters are good as they are, without you explicitly commenting on their… specifics.
I mean, I AM Non-Binary. Nearly everyone I know is some form of LGBTQ+, including most of my family. We exist. We’re not a trend. Just because the idiot half of my country elected a man who has famously and proudly been a bigot for my entire life doesn’t mean I’m going to change what I do. I have no interest in catering my creativity or life to bigots. My characters are who they are. Being non-binary or gay or trans or black or Chinese or disabled is part of that. You can’t leave that part out, anymore than you can leave the male out of male characters. Why would that even bother anyone? Why would anyone object to that at all? Is there any actual reason outside of bigotry?
Additionally, many of my characters are based on real people, and I wouldn’t ask them to leave that part of themselves out. That would be insane. Who would do that?
I’m glad that doesn’t bother you. If it bothers anyone else, my comic isn’t for them. They can fuck off.
Lurker here. Goddamn right.
If it’s worth mentioning, only 32% of the electorate voted for Der Trump. More people STAYED HOME – or couldn’t vote than voted for EITHER Candidate. So despite blatherings about “landslide” or “mandate” .. this is Minority Rule
To be fair? Jake didn’t start this when “woke” became a trend, it was here from the start I think? So even though “wokeness” is soon to be in the dumpster of history, his characters will remain “as is”. Which is fine. I read a ton of yuri manga, it’s a delicious flavour, eh?
At least he didn’t tell half his audience they weren’t welcome here, this time. I didn’t comment for what, 2 years? It felt bad every time I’d come read a chapter, remembering that.
Well, to be honest my feelings haven’t changed. But as long as people can be civil they’re welcome to stay.
I also really don’t think it was “half” my audience. As far as I can tell I only lost about 10% of my readership.
I’ve been reading this comic since nearly its beginning and I wonder how you think anyone who is put off by LGBTQ+ inclusion has made it this far and is just now suddenly surprised and appalled.
Like, they haven’t really been all that subtle with it.
Well, I must have been blind, even though I’ve been reading this for… like, 11 years now? 12 years?
The only subtle mention I have caught before was the Pi-rat captain and his… partner. Was there anyone else, really?
Well, I don’t really focus on which characters are LGBTQ+, despite what some people say. It usually doesn’t come up in the story at all, so it can be easy to miss. I wouldn’t blame anyone for not noticing. Aside from your example, I think the most prominent one is Gene’s transition in Season 8, which was barely mentioned at all. And in the case of some characters, its never been outright stated because it just wasn’t important to events (although it is important to the characters). But if you’re interested, here’s an incomplete list of LGBTQ+ characters in Modest Medusa:
Modest (Has boy hair. Not entirely sure what that means yet, but the idea was purposely introduced as a queer allegory)
Jake
Marah
Jenny
Deb
Prince Dragul
Vargas the Hunter
Cbar
Captain Jaspar
First Mate Roland
Every Fairy
Gene
Ms. Kohli
Several other minor characters too, especially those based on real people.
How would Marah know their pronouns?
She probably doesn’t? Why would you think she does?
“Did they break my arm” – first panel
“They” is a standard way to refer to anyone. That’s not knowing someone’s pronouns. That’s just English. You know that, right?
Prior to the last few years, singular they was used in English to refer to an abstract person (If someone calls, tell them to call back.) or to some definite person whose sex is unknown (knocking “Hark, how they knock! Who’s there?”). It was not used to refer to a single person physically present, in view of the speaker. The pronouns used to refer to someone in the third person have traditionally depended on the sex of the person being spoken about, which is not usually difficult to tell in person. “They” used to refer to a single person physically present derives from the standard of third-person pronouns depending on the personal gender identification of the person spoken about, which is itself a new practice.
I mean, that’s not true at all. And I think you know it. You can find unlimited examples in films, novels, tv, comics, magazines, the news, plays, historical records and pretty much anything else (including common every day speech) going back to well before either of us were born. I’ve used “they” in this way my entire life. This is an extremely disingenuous argument, and I have no interest in entertaining it. So either cut it out or leave.
Singular they is used increasingly often, and has historical basis, but some people still oppose it either from the prescriptivist standpoint (it has an “informal” connotation), or else in favor of various neopronouns (feeling that it’s not descriptive enough). That both Marah and Cbar landed on the same word is something of a lucky coincidence.
Well, I don’t think it a coincidence. First, I want to stress again that I’ve used singular they for my entire life. I was taught to use it in school in the 80’s, and that was reinforced as an English and Education major in college. I hear it used on a daily basis. In fact, I don’t remember anyone ever having a problem with it until a few years ago when it suddenly became a rallying cry for bigots. Same as pronouns in general. That doesn’t mean you can’t be pedantic about pronouns without being a bigot, of course. Just as you said. Some people just like arguing about language. But I can see a lot of times those arguments are extremely disingenuous and purposely meant to dehumanize people. Its really shitty. I do want to give people the benefit of teh doubt, but I also don’t want to put up with that stuff. That makes sense, right?
Anyway, I don’t think its much of a coincidence that Marah would refer to someone as “they”, given how common that is. Especially someone whose name she doesn’t know.
Especially since Marah doesn’t know Cbar’s gender. She could make an assumption, of course. That happens all the time. In fact, the reason I mentioned again in the notes that Cbar is non-binary is because a lot of people were referring to them as he or her. Which I understand. Their gender only came up in the notes of one strip, and that super easy to miss. So I thought people might like to know. But, like I said, Marah also doesn’t know. She might just make an assumption (consciously or without realizing it), but she also might purposely decide to not gender someone if she doesn’t know their gender. Not everyone is going to do that, but some people do.
My apologies, I thought the comment below the page was in relation to Marah’s use of ‘they’ in the first panel.
Ah. Okay. I can see that, and how that could be confusing!
The context for the note was a lot of people referring to Cbar as he or she in the comments. This is understandable I think, because it hasn’t actually come up in the comic at all, so unless you read the note where I previously mentioned that Cbar was non-binary, you probably wouldn’t know. And that would have been easy to miss. So I thought I’d mention it again, just so people would know.
I think everyone actually chats a bit more than is shown in the panels, eh? That’s how I “work around it” in my brain.
“He” OR “she” can be used “to refer to a person of unspecified gender”. So the three of them probably had it come up in conversation: picture Cbar holding up a note saying “They/Them” for Marah :> Works for me. (And she’d say “Oh, sorry” even though the two of them are the enemy, she’s a polite young lady!)
Its interesting that in comics sometimes dialogue is representative (as you’re describing).
I like this level of blood for the comic. I’m not put off by it.
We’re in a rather serious section of the story, separate from Modest, so I’m totally fine with a bit more grit.
I like this level of blood for the comic. I’m not put off by it.
We’re in a rather serious section of the story, separate from Modest, so I’m totally fine with a bit more grit. I like the stakes.
About the amount of blood: I don’t find it upsetting, to me the feeling of it being unrealistic is the bigger deal. I imagine maybe 30 seconds having passed since the horn got broken off and while I’m thankfully unfamiliar with injuries like that in reality the amount of blood seems a bit much in that short a time.
How is Cbar hissing? I’d have thought they lost the ability to hiss with the blade in the neck.
That being said, it kind of had to come down to this at some point, the fight against the vampires.. plural. Which makes me worried.
I like to pretend that Cbar is named after C-Bar, one of the best neighborhood bars in Portland. Maybe they used to be a bartender there.
ee has 2 arms! Did not expect that.
Vampires! Need to….cut the head…OFF,
They seem to have taken getting stabbed in the neck personally.
Now they can talk. Well, maybe talking is a bit of an understatement.
Mara clearly is not a killer, how will she get out of this one? Can she call the sword to her?
Marah, why did you stopped? You can look at your arm later, AFTER you slice CBar to seven pieces.
… speaking about which, no, I don’t mind about the violence. It would be weird if this battle would be child-safe.
Relax Mara, they’re just trying to even out those horns!
Your art has evolved so much over the years and I love where its taking you. 😀
Thanks!
This is a violent series of postings, but justified since it’s a violent and serious story arc. We’ve had 1 death so far and foreshadowing of Marah joining Charles in being one-armed.
It’s not nearly as disturbing as Mother Medusa eating one of her children as her daughter cried for mercy. THAT was really nasty 😢 but necessary I suppose.
I think part of what has bothered me a little is that both of these characters are based on real people I know. It weird how that sneaks up on you.