20-05-13 Put this behind us

[Vielfras]

If it isn't your tastes, that's fine, but just to note, it took 40 strips to introduce the three principals in Ma3. Matt and Dylan wouldn't become part of the strip fully for a while even though they were introduced in that period too. You should also remember that SDB is a spinoff, so that doesn't mean that the authors are going to automatically assume that you know their characters from Ma3. Even at that, Dillon and Amber are being tweaked here and are being presented a little differently than they were in Ma3.

But, if you don't like how things are in another ten or twenty strips, well, there's no shame in that either.

True. I guess I still see the two as one, and probably will for a while.

I wouldn't mind SDB focusing more on relationships then the sex. It's hard to do in Ma3 as the cast has grown a bit to big for that but the spinoff could still center around the dating part.

But that lot had virtually nothing to do with Amber's misidentification of "Yuki"! It was all about Amber regarding Gary (somewhat justifiably) as abused, and Yuki as withholding sex. The misidentification was Amber mistaking DiDi for Yuki, which produced one strip and one frame of jokes. Criminal waste of a good gag, if you ask me.

I'm not sure, but did Amber have an appearance in Ma3 since we last saw her? Because if my memory serves me right that joke can still make an appearance.
She could even be the one who interrupts Didi's long awaited orgasm.
Amber not only believes that Didi is Yuki, she also thinks that Didi is bi and doesn't know that Gary broke up with Yuki but instead believes that he confessed his love to her. So finding Peggy and Didi on Gary's bed wouldn't come as a surprise to her but as chance to set things straight.

I doubt it will happen, but as we still don't know the time frame of SDB so it not impossible.

Meanwhile, among other things, we also have the old video tapes that Zii promised to show Gary when he got to second base, Zii's extended program of watching Transformers episodes, Sonya's failure to challenge Zii over her misleading recommendation of Gary, Gary's date with Senna and his studies under Takeru, DiDi's possible submissive tendencies, Zii's suggestion that she should talk to DiDi about her orgasm problem, and the small matters of Eulice and Robb. Some of those may actually come back into play one day; anyone want to run a book on how many?

But that's what books 8,9 &10 are going to be about

Which is why she spends the entire of today's strip trying to get rid of a recent memory, wincing, yelping, and screaming. Even by Ma3/SDB standards, that's really not very sane.

Would you not be doing the same if you saw what she did? Because I would. And as understanding as I try to be to people's kinks, fetishes and sexual orientations I can't say I would have reacted as well as Ruby has...

Ruby seeing her sister in a porno has changed her. There's no doubt about it. I'm just stating that except for saying "boys are yucky" she's perfectly normal!(In Ma3/SDB standards that is)
She is educated, ambitious, well mannered and has no problems what so ever of interacting with the opposite sex. Could you have said the same about Gary?...

Ruby brings up the subject and is bitter about it because it's the first tie she had met her sister in person since that happened. She doesn't want to be around Amber but I think the reason for that is the whole "favorite child" part and not the "I've seen your porn" thing.
Anyone who is not a saint, and has lived for a long time being compared to someone who people assume is perfect but you know better, and not be able to do anything about it would be bitter. Very bitter.

That's like "not taking into account" Gary's geekiness.

Not taking into account Gary's geekiness, at the very start, would have left us whit a hollow shell. While Ruby stays an interesting person even if you take her "trauma" away.
Reading thisand thiswithout knowing anything about her past, and its still funny and interesting. It doesn't make Ruby seem as less of a character just a different character.

I never took her "trauma" as anything important so when reading I never even consider it. Its only when I read the forum that I'm reminded of that fact and by then its to late and I can't see how her past affected the joke. (This made more sense in my head )

[Bloody Vikings]

and has no problems what so ever of interacting with the opposite sex.

I don't know if miss "I hope he keeps his pervy man-hands to himself" is really flawless at that...

[Spidrift]

I'm not sure, but did Amber have an appearance in Ma3 since we last saw her? Because if my memory serves me right that joke can still make an appearance.

It could. However, with the way that the Gary/Amber plot developed (or rather, largely failed to develop), and with Amber now off in another comic, I don't especially expect that it will.

One proviso there: if Giz and Dave are still playing by the bookends rule that they previously set themselves, there's a fair chance that Amber will make a guest appearance in Ma3 #750. If she does, yes, there's some chance that the misidentification joke will come back for one last encore. We'll see. I just don't think that it'll happen.

She could even be the one who interrupts Didi's long awaited orgasm.

If DiDi genuinely approaches orgasm with Peggy, then the interruption joke won't be worth using. DiDi's problem will be solved bar some (uninterrupted) effort by someone prepared to put the work in. Interrupting at that point would just be cheap farce.

But that's what books 8,9 &10 are going to be about

I know that you're joking there, but I should point out what a horrible mess that would be. Which is important, because it shows why comics (and TV shows, and any other serial fiction) shouldn't resolve old problems after a certain point. Because it becomes, not a matter of clever foreshadowing, but silly pseudo-fanwank. If the writers dig out something that they (or earlier writers) did that many years ago but then forgot, and start using it again, it doesn't look clever; it just looks like running out of ideas, or pandering to the obsessive fans. It turns the story into its own bad fanfic.

Zombie plots like that have been the ruin of countless superhero comics and also of Doctor Who. I'm actually paying Giz and Dave a bit of a compliment if I say that I think that subjects like Gary's religious upbringing may well be dead and buried by now; I'm giving them credit for having the taste to let the dead stay dead.

Would you not be doing the same if you saw what she did?

I'm old and jaded, but I think that even in my naive and immature adolescence, I'd just have said "Bloody hell, oops, shit, sorry, sorry," or words to that effect, bolted round the corner, and collapsed in some mixture of giggling, blushing, and cringing. Ruby's reactions are actually rather hysterical. She's more or less screaming in fear. That's what says that she's damaged.

She is educated, ambitious, well mannered and has no problems what so ever of interacting with the opposite sex. Could you have said the same about Gary?...

Gary interacted fine with his female boss, and actually managed to be passably polite to both Zii and DiDi when they first showed up on his doorstep. (It was only when the sexual stimulation got too much that he started fainting, and even then he was fairly polite to them once he recovered.) Ruby assumes that men are likely to be "pervy" by default, dislikes the idea of sharing an apartment with one, and reflexively thinks that gay kissing ought to be stopped, even if it is in private. On balance, I'd say that Ruby has worse problems than the early Gary.

Ruby brings up the subject and is bitter about it because it's the first tie she had met her sister in person since that happened.

Really? They evidently haven't seen much of each other, sure, but it's entirely possible that Amber has been home for at least flying visits. It'd look a little strange if she hadn't - family Christmases and all that. We certainly know that they've had some contact, in person or not; Amber knew that Ruby knew about her porn career, and that it was thanks to that party incident.

She doesn't want to be around Amber but I think the reason for that is the whole "favorite child" part and not the "I've seen your porn" thing.

I'd guess that they're tied together. Unless their parents are really excessive about what they say about Amber, the problem would be that they say any nice things at all about her; every time they do, Ruby, knowing about Amber's porn career, would be wincing and cringing inside, but unable to say anything.

Anyone who is not a saint, and has lived for a long time being compared to someone who people assume is perfect but you know better, and not be able to do anything about it would be bitter. Very bitter.

Exactly. And the imperfection she knows about is Amber's porn career.

Reading thisand thiswithout knowing anything about her past, and its still funny and interesting.

The first is a slapstick moment, and the second a goofy comedy misunderstanding; both are made a lot more intense by Ruby's phobic, neurotic mental state (which actually makes each of them much less funny, because they're actually both about a young woman who's far outside her comfort zone by driven towards a nervous breakdown by her sister's thoughtlessness). Each only works as a joke because of Ruby's extreme reactions, which are a result of her past.

For that matter, take away Gary's geekiness and then look at his first interviews with Zii and DiDi. He's an ordinary-looking young man whose house is suddenly invaded by a manic pixie rock chick and a busty sex goddess. The result is, naturally enough, comedy confusion mixed with barely-suppressed lust. Gary's geekiness is central to him as a character, but he'd work fine as a basic comedy figure there even without it.

I never took her "trauma" as anything important so when reading I never even consider it. Its only when I read the forum that I'm reminded of that fact and by then its to late and I can't see how her past affected the joke.

She keeps producing these wild, hysterical responses, which need something like her trauma to explain them. So it's essential to the comedy. But at the same time, because she's clearly so close to a breakdown (I mean, look at the poor girl when she's hiding in the wardrobe), it gives the comedy a dark edge. Seeing her as normal would make her reactions bizarre and takes away the drama.

[Tenjen]

i think dillons already had plenty put in his behind >w>

wait did someone already make that joke?