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Giz has a couple of events on the trot, so we won't be getting much more plot for a while.

http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/at-nycc-2018

Wow. Flying across the bloody continent twice in two weeks. That's rough. Take care, Giz, safe trip and happy conning.

And one of them is NYCC, so the border issues are fixed.

Can we expect a SDCC next year?

Re: The "When Yuki met Zii" flashback update.
Ah, yes, Zii was always a horrible, horrible person. Not judging her for her ridiculous libido (though, it is a bit excessive), but rather for her early example of abandoning people close to her*, and utter lack of professionalism.
It isn't anything new, but it is interesting to see an older story again after some time (also, art was always good, though it is impressive to see how much more polished and lovely the artwork is now compared to then), which reiterates how Zii was actually worse than her more recent mishaps; so, her terrible personality has remained consistent, however, the fact that she eventually develops a sense of remorse - even a little - shows how she has improved incrementally. Granted, probably not enough, but she was originally a completely callous cow.
I guess "that's the joke," yet it is insane how she seems to believe the "sex, sex, and sex" had in anyway declined; perhaps it had a bit due to the fact when her band collapsed, she no longer had a position of power from which to exploit people - even if they are more than willing, it is still exploitative behaviour on her part.

*Yes, Yuki was overly clingy, however, that doesn't justify how Zii just abruptly ditches her because she (Zii) misses the dick. Suppose Zii's running away from difficulty rather than actually confronting or addressing it is one of her character flaws, but it hasn't gotten much better, really. Aha

Looking at this plot again, I think that the big evolution has been from near-pure comedy to something a little bit more character-driven. What we’ve got here is Zii behaving like a total sex maniac, which from a realistic viewpoint makes her an irresponsible idiot, but it’s just comedy so there’s no point in judging. Even her vague awareness of her own fault in the last frame is really just a punchline. These days, the writers are at least trying to make her a bit more of a plausible character, so if she looks like an irresponsible idiot, it means something.

Plus, this was written as (a) a retrospective explanation of the situation at the start of the comic proper, so it had to explain everything that Zii and Yuki had said about their past in a few pages, and (b) a print volume filler, so it had to deliver a complete story and a laugh or two, in the limited space available. That’s a big constraint.

I personally can’t really blame Zii for her midnight flit, though. She wasn’t just looking for peen, she was escaping a dangerous lunatic. Sometimes, ya gotta know when to walk away, know when to run.

Good points, Spidrift. Although, I can still blame Zii for fleeing, or, if not that, the fact that she was so subservient to her lusts that she hooks up with people without even the simplest attempt to get to know them; I know it defeats the purpose of "no strings" bang buddies, but since Zii is able to perceive someone well enough to seduce them, then she should be able to sense if they have deep-seated issues.
While it is clearly a comedic overview, I can't help but think that Yuki's intense phobia would've been brought up early enough for Zii to realise she should make some distance before Yuki got even more attached to the point at which we first see her in the story proper - an obsessive stalker. Suppose that is another of Zii's flaws in that her libido clouds judgment, so she never thought of consequences, which lead to the whole Sonya thing, too; though, an annoyance with Zii is that she did eventually realise the significance of consequences, yet still surrendered sense for sex.

Anyway, on a tangent, it does give credit to the comic that it did manage to evolve from simple sex slapstick into a genuinely interesting comedy and drama that can inspire such lengthy analysis, if not simply audience engagement with the story.

I'm not really sure I care much about how Zii met Yuki. I think previous updates provided a good guess at how they met, so this feels a bit redundant. And also, this ending feels a bit abrupt.

Those previous updates may well have referenced this sequence, if subtly. And if the ending seems abrupt, it’s because the start of the comic and various Zii/Gary strips follow directly on from this.

Mind you, it also reminds us of the days when Gary was almost promising to act as Zii’s conscience, before that idea got dumped and Gary’s long phase of gutless nebishdom ensued. I’ve commented before that Ruby sometimes ended up doing what Gary was seemingly intended to do, when the comic started.

I really need to get the older volumes for these special features, but if I did this strip wouldn’t be new to me.

It’s more proof of how Zii’s sex drive has negatively affected her music career. If she picked a drummer based on talent she wouldn’t have blown her shot at the bigtime.

To be fair, she reckoned that Yuki was at least adequately talented. She just failed to filter for psychosis.

Yes, but we didn't get to see if the other two drummers were as underwhelming in the audition as they were in bed. Zii picked Yuki on carnal interest alone and even though she was talented enough to play her psychosis destroyed her first big break. It's possible Guy Eight Times or Mr. Bukakke were better.

We’re trying too hard here, really. Like I said before, in a strip as old as this one, produced under the constraints of print volume filler, the joke is all that signifies.

Woot , Nipples

brasca wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:29 am

Yes, but we didn't get to see if the other two drummers were as underwhelming in the audition as they were in bed. Zii picked Yuki on carnal interest alone and even though she was talented enough to play her psychosis destroyed her first big break. It's possible Guy Eight Times or Mr. Bukakke were better.

I have to agree. This is another case of Zii letting her libido do most of the thinking. Even if Yuki's talent did have a role to play, if Zii had been really serious about the band, she would have conducted interviews of the non-sexual kind.

Psst. Dude. That’s the joke.