1189 I Knew It.

Honestly, this should have come as a shock to no one. Brooksie’s leanings are hinted at throughout her pages, and Jess is wildly open about what she likes. These two have a lot in them that is unexpected though. I hope I can do their relationship justice.

Researching lesbian and bisexual stuff on the internet is insane, because, at least in English speaking cultures, they are hyper sexualized. Which must be why straights are so sassy about the subject. In my experience if you mess with someone’s fetish THEY GET FUCKING PISSED. Anyway, it’s all smashed together with porn that’s really meant for straight people. so I had to rely on people I know, bloggers, and scientific literature. As near as I can figure most people have regular lives, not defined by sex, no matter what their orientation is. It’s just not the most important thing. They love each other, go to the store, have dinner, and do whatever like everyone else. You don’t get to choose what turns you on. You get what you get and have to deal with it. It’s a shame we can’t just let people be who they are. it’s nobody’s business but your own anyway. I dunno, I’m not a social justice guy. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking stuff out like that. It just seems like people should be excellent to each other.

As far as the comic goes there will be ups and downs and sometimes hearts get broken. If you can’t handle that then life is going to be very hard for you, and you have my pity. I hope you can come along on the adventure with me. Jo has a lot to go through before her story ends, as does the rest of the cast.

This little interaction was the breaking point for a few people. People who were never going to stick around anyway, but they felt the need to let me know. The webcomic breakup note is something all of us who create get familiar with. I’ve been getting them since before the first story ended. I can’t imagine what it must be like for someone like David Willis, who courts controversy openly.
I’m someone who will tolerate almost anything from a story so breaking up with a franchise is pretty rare. Shortpacked was the last one. I spoke about it at the time. The tone seemed to be getting more and more mean spirited and openly combative toward the reader. Of course I didn’t send Willis a letter telling him it was over between us, that I couldn’t go on like this anymore, I just divorced myself emotionally. That said, I still read it. I’ll probably read it till it actually ends, but I’m not invested in it anymore. Shortpacked ended with Ethan leaving the store for me. I did actually take the time to congratulate Willis on a story well told that time. I felt like there was enough closure for the character I liked most. The one who brought me in.

I then moved on to Dumbing Of Age, which I love much more than Shortpacked, because it’s structure is basically the same as my own work. Work which was created the way it was because it appealed to me. So Willis starting something spiritually similar was nice. The fact that it was set in an alternate dimension, with a cast I was already familiar with in some cases, was just a bonus.

The only other comic that I can think of as having broken up with is PVP. I still look in from time to time, but it feels like Kurtz stopped caring about the work a long time ago. It’s kind of the Garfield of webcomics. Sadly marching on while its creator give his love to new projects. Not that I don’t understand that. If you have a cash cow that you can tolerate leaving to a sad, slow, decline more power to you. Sometimes you need to run something into the ground so you can move on to other things. Feasting upon its corpse like an unholy ghoul. Unfortunately PVP never gave me a stopping point. It just faded away into whatever it is now. Of course I never bothered to tell Kurtz this because I know he can’t care about one fan’s opinion. Not that he DOESN’T he CAN’T. No one can. You have to do what you have to do with your own work. Regardless of one, or even a few people telling you they can’t stand it anymore. Because people never stop telling you that. No matter what it is you do. You can’t please everyone. That is a lesson that is very hard for artists, in particular, to learn. It’s also what makes the ones who are successful seem distant and cold. We have to harden ourselves against people who tell us our work is bad and we should feel bad. Otherwise we’d be in the pits with them creating nothing.