PTC 23-04-19 Marketing genius

[Giz]

New PTC! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/marketing-genius/

[LegendaryKroc]

Uh... I guess the art looks nice?

Sorry, this comic just isn't sparking any emotions with me. Not the genuine interest of MA3 or the visceral hatred of DC. I'm in the SDB-zone right now.

[Linnah]

Ramona is the LGBT+ ally we love and deserve :amen:

[OllieOrOlly]

Got to give credit to Ramona for being as patient as she was - Aaron eavesdropped and then barged into someone else's interview, then in a self-aggrandising manner tried to pitch his "skills." Regardless of whether he actually has any talent or if he is as hapless as appearances seem, interrupting an in-progress business meeting would get anyone fired.

Otherwise, I'm in agreement with Kroc. Art is still really good, but I haven't really got any emotional investment in anything yet. Still, I'm okay with some neutral ground for the beginning, rather than deal with the frustration of other, to be diplomatic, less engaging projects. That said, hopefully the neutral ground will pave into genuinely engaging territory when the plot - whatever it may be - gets going. I mean, the comic store doing a self-publishing thing seems like a story starting element, however, it feels more like the background narrative for the human drama of more personal plots that aren't quite apparent yet.

[brasca]

So unlike Gary, Aaron’s butt monkey status is deserved.

[Spidrift]

I'm classing Aaron as not only a geek, but a teenage geek -- so he hasn't developed even the minimal social awareness that male geeks have to acquire by around the age of 20 if they aren't going to become sleazy, annoying lifetime shut-ins or hopeless jerks. And despite the geek fandom, these comics do not treat hopeless geeks of that kind with more sympathy than they deserve. Remember, even Gary admitted to having been an active troll in his younger days.

So the best one can hope for Aaron is that he'll grow out of this nonsense, eventually. Though in the meantime, he may well serve this comic as a butt monkey who, yes, doesn't evoke much sympathy from the audience.

Meanwhile -- gosh, Ramona is a lot more assertive and self-confident than on her first appearance in SDB, isn't she? That's either general character development, a self-confidence boost from hanging out with the yaoi club and getting laid, or just recent plots calling for a more active character.

[Spidrift]

Ramona is the LGBT+ ally we love and deserve :amen:

Do you mean an ally to LGBT people, or an ally for other people within the LGBT community?

[Valkog]

Ramona is the LGBT+ ally we love and deserve :amen:

Do you mean an ally to LGBT people, or an ally for other people within the LGBT community?

What's the functional difference? If I remember correctly, isn't Ramona intersex? That would put her under the LGBTAI+ umbrella, I think.

[brasca]

Meanwhile -- gosh, Ramona is a lot more assertive and self-confident than on her first appearance in SDB, isn't she? That's either general character development, a self-confidence boost from hanging out with the yaoi club and getting laid, or just recent plots calling for a more active character.

Maybe she asked Ruby for some business advice or dare I say she’s an investor in this? I’ll take any excuse for her to return as a frequent guest.

[worldshaking00]

Yeah, I am finding little investment so far with these characters as presented so far. Ramona takes things seriously that need to be taken seriously, from what we've seen before. As to Ramona being more assertive, she is probably also significantly more comfortable right now in 'her' office. Location matters. Plus she has her 'boss' hat on. Aaron needed that kick to his posterior at least a strip ago; wait your turn young geek.

In fact, the constant interruption of Aaron is really detracting from the introduction of the new character Zadie. On the surface Zadie seems like a straight-laced character who has just been dropped into Crazy Central... or maybe at the corner of Crazy and Rude Streets. As a reader, I feel like I am on the verge of drowning in a lake of stale brackish (but surprisingly comfortably warm) water, and Zadie is the fresh air I am trying to get to. If she is to be introduced, please give her the opportunity to explain herself and to have Ramona explain what role she is to be hired for. Fully. The comedy gags and stereotyped rudeness will find a way to insert themselves into the dialogue. As it stands, I think I understand Aaron more than enough to want him kicked out of the comic shop until he apologizes for his outburst(s).There'd be some character growth!

As to Aaron's double standard between yuri and yaoi, once again Aaron is filling 'that' stereotype. To quote Aaron, "blech!" While I am certain that there might be some differences between the forms, the core concept is homosexual love. Aaron seems to have fallen prey to loving lesbian porn (like Gary did; probably because of twice the amount of boobies) but not appreciating gay male porn for what it is (probably because of lack of boobies and/or too many penises without an acceptable amount of boobies also in frame.) Yaoi might just not be his bag, but I feel he's too immature (both emotionally and sexually) to be more rational on the subject. His freaking out at being caught wearing the shoujo outfit only reinforces/exemplifies his immaturity. Not to mention, dissing yaoi to Ramona is a sure way to get some hate thrown his way. Learn to pick your fights, Aaron.

Is it Thursday yet?

[Fluffy]

I'm classing Aaron as not only a geek, but a teenage geek -- so he hasn't developed even the minimal social awareness that male geeks have to acquire by around the age of 20 if they aren't going to become sleazy, annoying lifetime shut-ins or hopeless jerks.

You hope Aaron is meant to be a teenager, anyway.

[Spidrift]

Ramona is the LGBT+ ally we love and deserve :amen:

Do you mean an ally to LGBT people, or an ally for other people within the LGBT community?

What's the functional difference? If I remember correctly, isn't Ramona intersex? That would put her under the LGBTAI+ umbrella, I think.

She is indeed intersex, and therefore (I understand) in the LGBT+ category by courtesy. (Well, certainly she's QuILTBAG...) I was just vaguely and pointlessly curious whether Linnah remembered that and saw her as an ally for ... someone, or whether the idea was that Ramona is an ally for the LGBT+ community, despite being technically part of it.

(Either of course reflects well on her.)

Meanwhile -- gosh, Ramona is a lot more assertive and self-confident than on her first appearance in SDB, isn't she? That's either general character development, a self-confidence boost from hanging out with the yaoi club and getting laid, or just recent plots calling for a more active character.

Maybe she asked Ruby for some business advice or dare I say she’s an investor in this?

One can hope. But that doesn't explain how Ramona has gone from the shrinking violet of her first appearance to someone willing and able to give Aaron the Order of the Boot.

Aaron needed that kick to his posterior at least a strip ago; wait your turn young geek.

His turn coming up in about, oh, July 23rd 2057.

As a reader, I feel like I am on the verge of drowning in a lake of stale brackish (but surprisingly comfortably warm) water, and Zadie is the fresh air I am trying to get to. If she is to be introduced, please give her the opportunity to explain herself and to have Ramona explain what role she is to be hired for.

Agreed.

As to Aaron's double standard between yuri and yaoi, once again Aaron is filling 'that' stereotype.

He's a heterosexual, (probably) teenage, boy. Yes, it's a stereotype, but not an unrealistic or unjustified one, I'm afraid...

Aaron seems to have fallen prey to loving lesbian porn (like Gary did; probably because of twice the amount of boobies) but not appreciating gay male porn for what it is (probably because of lack of boobies and/or too many penises without an acceptable amount of boobies also in frame.)

To be fair to Gary, when he took an interest in porn, he was honest about what it was for; wank material. (Even if he did get a bit geeky about it, being Gary.) He looked a bit sleazy, but he didn't impose on other people or look hypocritical. Aaron seems to want to pretend that his chosen porn is "art", while dismissing the exact distaff counterpart with a "blech".

Which was also dumb, given Ramona's hire-and-fire powers, but whatever. The boy's just a fool.

You hope Aaron is meant to be a teenager, anyway.

Giz does have a bit of a tendency to write her twenty-something characters as behaving like teenagers of various sorts. But somehow, everything about Aaron's behaviour and appearance says "actual teenager" to me. It's the physical gawkiness, along with the adolescent-grade stupidity.

If I'm wrong, and Aaron is supposed to be in his 20s, then, well, he's the sort of idiot who gets geeks a bad name, isn't he just? Admittedly, one could say that Gary was somewhere in that category on his first appearance -- but he at least had the vestigial social awareness to realise that this made him a failure, and that his teen-style geekiness was a problem that needed fixing.

[rogermart]

As to Aaron's double standard between yuri and yaoi, once again Aaron is filling 'that' stereotype. To quote Aaron, "blech!" While I am certain that there might be some differences between the forms, the core concept is homosexual love. Aaron seems to have fallen prey to loving lesbian porn (like Gary did; probably because of twice the amount of boobies) but not appreciating gay male porn for what it is (probably because of lack of boobies and/or too many penises without an acceptable amount of boobies also in frame.) Yaoi might just not be his bag, but I feel he's too immature (both emotionally and sexually) to be more rational on the subject. His freaking out at being caught wearing the shoujo outfit only reinforces/exemplifies his immaturity. Not to mention, dissing yaoi to Ramona is a sure way to get some hate thrown his way. Learn to pick your fights, Aaron.

As a manga reader myself I agree, yaoi and yuri do have some differences besides the obvious one, but Aaron doesn't talk about how Yagate Kimi Ni Naru (yuri) explores deeply what is the meaning of loving someone, while Delusion Eketel (yaoi) is just a romcom with guy-love (of course, I chose unfairly the examples to emulate what Aaron could've done); instead he goes straight to the classic "guy on guy icky, girl on girl sexy". Hey, yaoi is not my type of reading, but if I tell my fujoshi friend that her favorite genre is trash, I'm gonna get hate, and well deserved.

[Linnah]

Ramona is the LGBT+ ally we love and deserve :amen:

Do you mean an ally to LGBT people, or an ally for other people within the LGBT community?

Oh, I knew she was included! Admittedly I misremembered and instead of thinking she was intersex, for some reason I thought she was Trans (probably confused her for Angel), but I knew she was an ally _within_ LGBT+

[samtheman]

So Aaron is a bit of a insensitive jerk but a lot of teenage boys are insensitive jerks. I'm sure Jung will keep Aaron around anyway until he can get a new counter candy girl unless Zadie is still going to fulfill that role as well. And I'm wondering if or when Ruby will show up in this comic since she's a member of the Yaoi club.