I’m writing this in the past before I went to Anthrocon! I hope I had a good time! I’m sure I did! Here’s a new page of Skin Deep! I hope you are enjoying this scene as much as I’m enjoying drawing it.
I’m writing this in the past before I went to Anthrocon! I hope I had a good time! I’m sure I did! Here’s a new page of Skin Deep! I hope you are enjoying this scene as much as I’m enjoying drawing it.
45 Comments
Did my browser mess up or is there no picture?
I don’t think its just you, I’m having issues too
Not just you. I think there was an issue uploading the comic.
2:45AM CST. Still no comic.
I’ll check back in at Noon.
I see a comic at 9:45am EST
I see it now! You might want to check again.
Is it just me, os is Alec a bit of a giant wanker?
Always has been. And *that’s* a ‘him’ problem.
Pretty sure Alec just sees that response as confirmation of a job well done! B-)
Good to know I was right about him then!
Nah, fuck that noise. That’s othering, and the “just using the language, ain’t a curse word” is bullshit. It’s clearly a loaded term that rings heavy with prejudice.
Well, he is somewhat right in what he says – but he has a most obnoxious way of being right.
“it is not a curse word, it just describe things as they are”
is quite close to what real world racist claims, hiding plenty cruelty and negative association in the secondary meaning.
And in this case, the ethymology is against him anyway : a monster is something that is shown (monstrare) to other as abnormal, quite distinct from the “without a medallion” he pretend the word mean.
So no, here Alec is not right in his claims, nor in his behavior
There kind of is a deadline, in the same sense that any rapidly-shrinking minority culture on the edge of society is bound to a deadline if anyone wants to record their existence and complexities. So yeah, the bugbear can go stick his head in a honey jar and shut the heck up
BEEES.
Those are some serious aeroplane ears he has there.
I dunno about lions, but Ike’s expression is the dog pause before attack look – ‘this is your last warning’. Ears back, wrinkled lips, and then the lift to show teeth.
I have a feeling Ike was enjoying himself (relatively, at least) before Alec interrupted.
Look at him, relaxing, so very relaxed!
Of course by Alec’s definition it’s up to Michelle to *decide* who is a monster and who isn’t, once she learns how to make new medallions!
I don’t think most people are aware that’s a possibility at this stage.
Yeah, her choices will certainly unsettle some people’s long-held convictions and expectations – which is probably a good thing, though! ;-)
Monster definitely seems like a slur in this universe? It’s a word used to ‘other’ and diminish a group of people, to make them feel lesser, to imply that what they are is shameful.
I very much agree with this – We see the effect it has on even children during Observe & Reverse with how Eleanore was treated. “Usually when I introduce myself, people either get scared or yell at me or tell their kids not to talk to me!” So being called a monster most definitely rings like a slur, something to be shunned and driven away or somehow altered(The docked tails on poor Stat and Wal). Harpies seem to get one of the easiest deals in the whole thing(The one sub-species aside), treated as regular members of society with no extra strings beyond “You can’t leave the Avalon and need to stay hidden from human eyes”, possibly because they’re also the MOST human looking.
That’s stated to be more of a Wonderland/bandersnatch specific thing based on the reader questions responses.
Nuh uh, I wouldn’t drink that. I saw the conjuring trick there, bub, I dunno *where* that glass has been.
Fascinated by Alec simultaneously getting very tetchy and defensive while acting like he’s the chillest guy ever. Kinda like how he’s aesthetically “alternative” but actually very in line with what’s traditionally expected of his kin. Guy contains some very annoying multitudes. It intrigues me.
Alec strikes me as actually trying to help Ike relax, but is doing it in the most aggravating way possible. Like a Sheldon except without the crazy intelligence.
Replace “monster” with something else, and it becomes more apparent that Alec could be trolling, here, or perhaps somewhat insincere. This makes me take a second look at his relationship w Ike. One can mean well, and even lend a cuppa sugar, but still be lowkey not great. Maybe he realizes, maybe not. Look forward to how it unfolds.
I feel like this was Alec’s way of trying to walk it back when he realized he’d gone just a step too far.
I know I’m the odd one out here but I get where Alec’s coming from. In the culture of the Avalon it’s an accurate, descriptive word. It’s what they are. It’s what Ike is. It’s what Ike’s MOM is (and I bet Ike would agree with that).
It’s also just a word. It only has any power if Ike allows it to have power. By bristling and snarling he gives it power and meaning that can be wielded against him.
I really don’t think Alec’s doing it to be malicious. It might even be a form of exposure therapy. Isn’t that kind of what bugbears… do? Force you to confront fear and unpleasant truths? Like even in folklore that’s what they are, just things that cause UNNECESSARY fear or distress. Getting one over on Alec is as simple as not allowing him to have power over you.
It’s stupid to not acknowledge the reality of a situation, especially if you think you can’t change it. You confront it, acknowledge it, and navigate it to the best of your ability.
This doesn’t make Alec any less of a needling jerk, let me be clear, but nobody has power over what the world does, only how they respond to it.
Hear, hear. :D
In real world and in fiction both, the people who decide if a world describing them is okay or not are those that it describe themselves.
Going against that is problematic in several ways it is a power play “we define your identity”,
it is a way to lock association in : given how much contact there is between the avalon and the outside, the natural meaning of monster is very relevant there, and monster is not positive.
It is also a way to constantly hit the described with history, remind them of their powerlessness, and prevent any change in the social situation.
‘Cose it is so much meaningful to describe “people without medallions” with such, or even more trendily as P.W.M.s, with all the continued distaste and aversion given to that new tittle, instead working towards word “monster” not meaning something horrible and despicable in modern context, but instead simply a “person without medallion”.
Same way we have many a word for “people of colour” (which white is decidedly not one [also blacks should be mentioned separate too, but in more favourable context), that all are grown to oppose the said no-colour (sometimes even the blacks, which might still be colours in this context) until there are people willing to even vote outright idiots in some ill-informed attempt to not have even more of such shoved in their faces.
Instead of you know, working to why calling someone black, brown, red, yellow, white, green or even orange in derogative way is actually the problem, not the word more or less accurately describing the hue of person’s skin (while a lot of “whites” are way darker than some “blacks” and vice versa…) and how to fix people’s attitude towards certain words, in favour or not.
And not just invent new words to hide from the underlying issues until the time comes to invent a new word, because the second one came to bear the same weight as the first one.
Calling a man a king does not make him any more powerful, no matter how some believe so and other choose not to.
But calling a man Martin, can make him a King, even if a junior one, despite him being bipoc (a fancy way of writing people’s pope, I’m sure).
“It is also a way to constantly hit the described with history, remind them of their powerlessness, and prevent any change in the social situation.”
This is actually ridiculous.
The only reason a word would have this impact on somebody is if they let it. There are some slurs that could be hurled at me and if I ever hear them I’m mostly just confused and then I go about my day. My life isn’t going to be destroyed by some jerk saying something mean to me. I’m not going to suddenly regress in my social role because somebody reminded me of ‘my place’. I’m going to move on with my day and maybe tell somebody else and laugh about it later.
Exchanging words *normalizes* them. This is what removes the power from a word like ‘monster’. Ike practically demands it have a negative connotation, he WANTS to be upset, but back in Exchanges, Eleanor wore it proudly. She wasn’t ashamed of it. It was just a noun. If Alec referred to her as a monster, she wouldn’t flinch, because it has no power over her.
Again: the only thing in life that we control is our reaction to it. You can’t control what somebody else says, and you certainly can’t shame them into silence by telling them that YOU, personally, are offended. Words have as much power over you as you let them have.
this is the same kind of logic people use to justify using derogatory “clinical” terms, and it’s just as awful
Hard to tell if Winnie the Boo here is trying to be a friend but is genuinely bad at it, or if he’s being a pain on purpose.
Oh that’s a great nickname. Love it!
Alec would probably chuckle at that, but hate him being called that in public! 8-)
My, we can’t leave that need unfilled, can we. May I offer the copyright to “Shocky Shaggy”? :-P
You know, if a Bugbear is trying to get you to relax and chill out, you probably REALLY need to relax and chill out.
Reader question for Kory: Are you familiar with the Persona series? And/or with Jungian psychology?
How well would the concept of an Avalon translate into a Persona-universe context?
I want Isaac to grab hold of Alec medallion and say “what happens if I crush this now? You wouldn’t have a medallion, so by your definition, you be a monster. Is that what you’d want to be called?”
I think a lot of them don’t realise how fragile their situation is. There aren’t many spare medallions after all.
Wow, lots of anger in this comments section. Yes, Alec is being kind of a dick, but it’s also clear that he cares enough about Ike to want to break him out of his funk with some teasing. Rhonda literally did the same think in the Kill Them with Kindness Arc, where was all of this anger then?
The difference is this is Alec. Readers have had a lot more time/opportunity to build up resentment for him.
I met you in the dealer room, and you seemed to be having a good time. It’s so nice meeting the people who create the web comics I read.