So after Ohayocon, where we nearly drowned in Homestuck cosplayers, I was forced to admit it to myself. There must be something to this Homestuck thing. I haven’t really had time since Ohayocon to breathe, however, let alone to get myself mired in as complicated a fandom as Homestuck seems to be, so I was putting it off. And then I found myself laid over for several hours in Narita Airport, and decided the time had come to do the deed. I’m not finished yet (I’m only up to Act 3 as of writing this), but I figured I’d share my Homestuck findings with you, dear reader, and tell you that it’s not as scary as it seems.
I love fairy tales. Who doesn’t love a good fairy tale? No one, that’s who. Fairy tales have a simple structure, usually only employing the most necessary of details to get to the real meat of the story. They usually use flat, stock characters—the beautiful princess, the heroic lad, the evil witch, the noble king. Fairy tales are meant to be told, and to be adapted to the storyteller’s whims. The Grimm brothers collected hundreds of stories, though we only hear about a handful: Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin, Hansel and Gretel… But what about all the other stories?
Enter Erstwhile, a webcomic that sheds light on the equally wonderful though often forgotten other tales from Grimm. Co-Creators Gina Biggs, Louisa Roy, and Elle Skinners are members of Strawberry Comics, a studio that’s mission is to promote women in comics and the much-ignored genre of love and romance in the medium. Each story adapted by Erstwhile has its own artistic style. My favorite is All Fur, a retelling of Allerleirauh, also known as Thousandfurs. It’s shockingly dark and tells the story of a brave princess who works hard and courts the prince in her own way. Others adaptations include The Farmer’s Clever Daughter, Iron Hans, and Brother and Sister.
So if you love fairy tales (check) and love supporting lady-comic-artists (check), check out Erstwhile, the fairy tale comic.
Girls With Slingshots is written by Danielle Corsetto, who before writing GWS full time wrote and drew The New Adventures of Batboy for the infamous (and now defunct in its paper form) Weekly World News magazine. GWS follows the adventures of Hazel Tellington and her circle of friends as they navigate the problems of young adulthood. It even has its own TV Tropes page.
Hazel is the proverbial straight-(wo)man, in more ways than one. She’s largely unlikeable due to having commitment issues, communication issues, Peter Pan syndrome, and unacknowledged issues with drinking so much alcohol her pet cactus speaks to her in a Scottish-Irish accent. The most striking thing about her character, however, is that she is woefully ignorant of anything but straight sexuality. In her longest-lasting relationship, Corsetto gave Hazel the traditionally masculine stereotype of using the relationship for sex, communicating through sex, while her boyfriend wanted to talk about “feelings” and their long-term plans.
But Hazel’s long-suffering friends are what keep people coming back to the strip. Her best friend Jamie experiences a crisis of sexual identity, identifying as straight, then a lesbian, then bisexual, then rejecting the idea of labels all together (after coming to the conclusion of being a bisexual, romantic lesbian). Notably, Corsetto explores the many definitions of virginity by having Jamie cling to the “technical virgin” definition. Jamie’s girlfriend Erin is asexual. Maureen and Jameson meet online and get married. Maureen’s sister Melody is deaf, which presents its own set of issues when she begins dating a hearing man. Hazel’s good friend Darren is a gay drag queen. Clarice works at a “bookstore” (read: porn store), moonlights as a dominatrix, and dreams of becoming a librarian. Hazel’s boss Thea (who is black) is a lesbian and contracts an STD.
Corsetto does her research to ensure that many of her characters are as fair as possible to their diverse backgrounds. At the same time, she plays with stereotypes, at times embracing them for comedic effect, while at other times allowing her characters to be deeply flawed (causing general uproar in the comment section). I highly recommend you check it out.
I’ve been noticing a trend not only on my Tumblr dash, but in the general consensus of the net and its denizens on what the hot topic issue to discuss this season is: sexism! But when is it not sexism, honestly? At least this time there’s a figurehead for our discussions: Tony Harris. Harris, a comic author that has worked for both Marvel and DC, recently has come out saying a whole slew of offensive things that boil down to “hey girls, you can’t actually like nerdy things because you’re a Fake-y McFakerson and I’m on to you and your tricky lying skank ways.”
More importantly though, does it even matter? Let’s, for the sake of argument, say that yes, there are fake nerds and geeks that want in this super special club of fandoms and feels and whatever else there is. Who’s going to care or notice? For one, if they’re attending cons, they’re essentially giving money to support other nerds and geeks. If they’re watching shows, they’re adding viewership ratings that may help keep the show on the air. Literally, the only problem I can see with this is that the lack of knowledge they may have on your fandom of choice may be slightly annoying. If that’s the case, either teach them and help them understand—who knows, you may make a nerd/geek of them yet!—or ignore them and go on your way. It’s. Not. That. Hard.
There Are Some Things You Just Can’t Ignore
But, I’ve completely veered from what I wanted to bring to light for today. This morning, I checked out the webcomic Shortpacked (which we’ve already praised for one of author David Willis’s previous strips) and was completely sick to my stomach, but in a good way, I’m hoping. It seems as though in his latest arc he’s going to tackle this new, unapologetically geeky girl generation through the eyes of Lucy, the newest addition to the Shortpacked line-up and also an unapologetically geeky chick, and her being harassed by someone that looks freakishly like Mr. Harris. Although it’s only on its first page, it’s already uncomfortably hitting close to home. I’m interested to see where he takes it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope it ended in a cosmic dick punch.
It’s Web Crush Wednesdays and today’s Web Crush is Batman and Sons.
Whether you are a Batman fan or not one, you will love this comic. It’s hilarious watching Batman act like a father to all of the Robins, and if you do know anything about the comics, then you will love the jokes poking fun at some typical comic boo tropes and unanswered questions.
My only criticism is that our favorite Batgirls aren’t represented. Black Bat is seen once but that’s about it, but the comic is on going, so it’s not too late for them to make an appearance and the comic is still excellent.
Below are some excerpts from the comic.
That’s it for today, I hope you enjoyed my latest Web Crush!
It began with a comic strip, and has evolved into a blog, a journal, a video channel, a charity, and a convention. It’s Penny Arcade, today on Web Crush Wednesday!
Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik started the Penny Arcade comic on the now defunct loonygames.com before starting their own site. Holkins and Krahulik are now members of a small group of comic authors and illustrators to be able to make a living from their webcomics. They typically post a new strip three times a week, accompanied by blog posts often elaborating on the comic’s subject matter.
The Comic
Having debuted in 1998 and since grown to over three and a half million readers, the Penny Arcade webcomic has few peers in terms of longevity and popularity. It follows the exploits of the often ridiculous Gabe and reasonable Tycho. Always with the flavor of the gaming world, Penny Arcade’s humor and setting ranges from ridiculously abstract to observational commentary. While at times the comics deal with rather esoteric subjects, the day’s blog posting often explains the topic in a concise, straightforward fashion. Furthermore, even when the subject is esoteric the humor is often universal. Penny Arcade’s comedic skill and diversity has given it massive exposure, to the point now that even many of those without even a casual interest in gaming have probably been forwarded a comic or two.
With such great success over such a relatively long period of time there have been, of course, a few controversies here and there. One such controversy began on August 11, 2010, with a comic making a joke involving rape. As someone uncomfortably close with this subject, the comic does make me feel uneasy. However, this particular comic might be the only concrete example of a rape joke where I actually side with the authors. In fact, I actually laughed despite my firmest attempts to let the hate flow through me. Forgetting the dark and absurdist nature of the joke, two schools of comedy for which I admittedly have a weakness, they are indeed making a statement about something. That statement may not be about rape, but it involves our ability to empathize and sympathize in such situations. Particularly in MMO’s (Massively Multiplayer Online [Games]), quests often involve a noble purpose: feed the hungry, employ the poor, cure the sick, slay the beast, free the enslaved, liberate the raped, et cetera. The problem is that in an MMO, there must always be victims to be saved by the next player. So, after you free a prisoner, kill the warlord, or end an epidemic, within minutes of your victory the environment returns to the victimized state so that the next hero can save the day. The problem is that after saving any day you haven’t really saved anything since it goes back to the way it was. This makes the player feel less concerned about the bigger problem and care only about doing his small part. It breeds that feeling because it’s the only feeling it validates. At times it is worse than that, giving the player a quota of people to save, rewarding you after freeing perhaps seven of the countless enslaved. So the player learns to feel nothing for the hundreds left un-freed – they are someone else’s problem. And that kind of thinking is dangerous. It turns the needy into a problem; they are a liability taken on to leverage yourself to greater goals, namely experience, gold, and equipment. It turns the seven you save into dehumanized credit. Somehow, by making me laugh, I feel as though humanity and relatability has been brought back into the equation. I reflect on all of those left-behind, pixelated polygons and sprites differently after viewing the comic. So, for lampooning this phenomenon with the situation in the strip, a situation which unfortunately is only isolated from the reality of acceptability in games only by the name “dickwolves,” I side with the authors.
The Rest
Penny Arcade, largely thanks to its business manager Robert Khoo, has come a long way from just the webcomic and blog it began as. The PA Report is a journalistic source for all things video games, featuring not only authored editorials but links to quality articles on other sites.
PA TV is the Penny Arcade video channel, currently featuring ten shows, my favorite being Extra Credits. Extra Credits is a very skillfully executed critique and reflection on the state of games and its culture, both present and future. The highly capable team is composed of three industry professionals: chiefly written by the incredibly qualified James Portnow, narrated by the colorful Daniel Floyd, and illustrated by the fast and talented Allison Theus. It is clear that the three of them work very well together, and I have yet to come across an episode which was in any way a miss. Do yourself a favor and check them out. It’s both educational and entertaining.
The Penny Arcade forum is itself pretty impressive. It is relatively friendly, considering how bad many forums are on the net, and a strong sense of community bound by a common interest permeates throughout. This community has come together to do some pretty interesting things in multiplayer gaming, not the least of which was their community mined and built underwater recreation of Bioshock’s Rapture in Minecraft.
Child’s Play is the charity started by Holkins and Krahulik. What it does is send toys and games to children’s hospitals throughout the world. They have shamelessly used the Penny Arcade brand to promote it, and rightfully so. My first exposure to it was as the charitable option on the Humble Indie Bundle. To date they have raised over twelve-million dollars for their cause. I think it’s a great charity, but then its pretty easy for me to imagine a child stuck in a hospital bed, confused and scared, lucky to find any joy or entertainment during their stay. I once spent a long and lonely week in the nearest children’s hospital as an ill child. The Nintendo 64 I was able to play was so important to me, and it led to some very positive memories of what should have been a wholly terrifying and traumatizing experience. Those children’s hospitals which are so far connected with the charity each have their own Amazon wish list for you to donate directly to them, or you can make monetary donations on the Child’s Play website.
PAX, or the Penny Arcade Expo, is a full-fledged video game convention. It is particularly wonderful and dear to the gaming community because E3, the industry’s premier convention, is open to industry professionals and journalists exclusively. So, PAX is perhaps the best way to come together as a community, meet professionals, see the new and the exciting, and play games.
The comics, writing, web series, community, charity, and convention all have a special place in my heart both as a gamer and a human being. Altogether, Penny Arcade is an abundant well of entertainment and passion whose waters I am thrilled to have wash over me.
Note: I didn’t have time today to discuss all things PA, so apologies to The Trenches and the games, and all of the other great things I missed!
