21-04-09 Nerf ball

[Nibler]

gees, let's not turn this into another "people will do what they see/hear in comics/music/movies/video games/etc"
No one will go shoot people in the streets after playing GTA, no one will take a gun to school and shoot their teachers/clasmates after listening to Marilyn Manson, and people wont molest/rape random people on the street cause they saw it in a comic, unless there's something wrong with them initially.
Yes what Gary did would be wrong in the real world, yes much of what Zii has done would be wrong in the real world, but a comic is almost as far away from the real world as you can get, it stops existing the second you stop reading it. I wouldn't want to be friends with Zii or Gary in the real world, but that's impossible anyway so that is not a concern.
It has only been like a week at most in comic-time, they might change, or not. You can enjoy it, or not.

as for "rooting" for Gary, I never did that, from the strip where it was revealed that he was a virgin I've been thinking "the longer he stays a virgin and the more frustrated he gets the more fun I will have". It's not about the characters for me, its about the hilarious situations, which in many cases wouldn't be hilarious in real life, but that's whats great about comics/movies/video games/etc.

[chelonianmobile]

@the haters: Then, y'know, don't read the comic?

I would love to see what the people who think Ma3 is offensive would make of a personal favourite comic of mine, called Concession. That comic takes things that even I would normally find ultrasquicky and makes them hilarious. (See the argument between two of the characters about whether one of them doing inappropriate things with a preteen was more disgusting than the time the other committed bestiality.) Or, for that matter, Something Positive, which isn't quite so extreme but uses the dead baby comedy far more often.

[Don Alexander]

And while we're at it, Sexy Losers!!!

I personally think it's utterly hilarious, but the ideas within it are not for everyone, no...

[CassSpaz]

First of all, I really appreciate the quick response from Dave and Giz. I totally see where both of you are coming from.

But this really makes me uncomfortable on a level that the other examples previously provided didn't. The others I thought, "Wow, haha, that's kind of fucked up." This made my stomach churn. I had to walk away from the computer because it was actually distressing. I don't know why. I think this is the first comic where there's a clearly unequal power balance - if you just load up the page and look at it, Gary seems completely sober and Yuki is very obviously passed out. With the DiDi situations, it's been established that DiDi is an Amazon and if she didn't want Zii or Gary on her, she would have no problem just picking them up and taking them off of her with the ease that a parent picks up a child.

I don't know, I'm a rape survivor and I've been groped in a similar situation where I was sleeping at a friends house after a party and woke to her brother feeling my chest, and I think that a comic that advertises itself as a warm, funny, sexy and spicy comedy should contain sexy jokes that survivors can laugh at.

[chelonianmobile]

CassSpaz: It does. Just don't read the ones that don't. Not every joke is going to hit a bullseye with everyone. And I must say the situation with DiDi would have made me uncomfortable if it involved actual people because DiDi clearly didn't realise that Zii might have had any kind of sexual intentions. (For that matter, that's why I find it hard to like DiDi as a character at the moment. Naivete of that level is only endearing when Captain Carrot or someone under twelve does it - obviously the under-twelve-year-old showing it in situations that don't involve groping, excuse backtrack, but you see what I mean. But I keep reading because I look forward to her gaining a bit more savvy.)

Oh, while we're listing offensive comics; Suicide For Hire. I think with a title like that it needs no explanation.

[Bear]

Okay.... the subject ends here. The fact was it was a joke in a comic that uses exageratted situations to convey its comedy. Anyone that read the previous strip would get that it was a lead on from that and that the timespace, as pointed out by Giz, has been barely 3 seconds.

The fact that people are taking it completely out of context shows that despite the changes to the strip to make it clearer, some readers still just aren't getting this. While I realise that to some people a similar situation would not be funny, in the context given of Gary believing he is dreaming as the situation is too absurd for him to be real, and then trying to replicate a sensation that his lack of experience couldn't possibly know how it felt, clearly leads into how this strip evolved. As pointed out before, given the context and the time-frame of barely a few seconds, Gary, while having commited a stupid act, did not set out with the purposeful intention of 'Oooo.. an unconcious girl! Lets molest her!' But rather 'Okay, I'm handcuffed to an unconcious girl, this can't possibly be real. Let me check...'

Anyone who can't get that clearly doesn't bother to read the strips properly and are here to just try and cause trouble and controversy where there is none.

If you don't like the humour of the comic, you very welcome to not read it. But don't come here and act trollish because you've completely misunderstood a situation and would rather scream 'Rape!' then listen to reality.

Topic locked.