okay, but for real now

depending on genre, fantastical elements are approached in different ways

in much of the ~speculative fiction~ umbrella - sci fi, fantasy, superhero stories, blah blah blah - there's prolly an answer to how it works, and knowing the answer can help people deal with the challenges they face

for example, one of the characters in the 1999 Mystery Men movie, Invisible Boy, can make himself invisible when no-one (including him) is looking at him

like, obviously, that's funny - like, how do you even know

but also that's the rules, that's how it works, and that's how he saves the day later in the movie

in that story, knowing how things work is how you win

...but in other genres - something something magical realism? - how it works is simply not considered interesting

if Hobbes is a person, a walking tiger who can demolish Calvin at snowball fights, you can make humor and story out of it

if Hobbes is a toy, a plush animal that Calvin plays with, you can make humor and story out of it

if none of Calvin's magical nonsense is real, then he's a kid, using his imagination to create stories that feel real

but also for a lot of kids, especially neurodivergent kids, toys are a kid of real which matters

but also Calvin isn't real, none of this is real

Hobbes makes sense to us, reading a newspaper comic, because a kid and his tiger friend makes sense, and a kid and his tiger plushie makes sense, and living in a different world than the people around you makes sense

and if you want to tell a story with that? choose which one you want to tell

Someone turned us on to Trying Out Marriage With My Female Friend by Usui Shio (aka Onna Tomodachi to Kekkon Shitemita) and it's extremely adorable!

Minor content warning for hospitalization (spoilers inside for those who wish to skip it)

In Chapter 7 ("It's alright, I can endure this"), Ruriko has pain of increasing intensity, which she downplays because she doesn't want to ruin Kurumi's day ... but this means that it is only when Kurumi gets home that she learns her wife is in the hospital. (This is thanks to the couple's mutual friend Kuroda, who realizes upon calling that Ruriko is very sick and takes her.)

Ruriko's pain turns out to be appendicitis - fortunately a minor case, but she has to be on antibiotics through an IV for three or four days, time which is skipped over fairly quickly. The main thing that occurs here is Kurumi being distressed that Ruriko didn't tell her ("that ... that makes it seem like we're nothing more than friends...") and telling Ruriko, "There's nothing more important to me than you, Ruriko" when explaining that Ruriko should have told her and it wouldn't've been a bother.

(Instead of being able to verbally acknowledge this, Ruriko notices Kurumi's wet hair and tells her that she shouldn't forget her umbrella - "I don't want you to catch a cold." Kurumi accepts this as just the kind of person Ruriko is.)

Ruriko is discharged on page 00074, near the end of Chapter 8 ("What's important to me").

(Also, content warning for food - it's a recurring thing throughout - and occasional alcohol.)

This is slice-of-life in the most lovingly mundane form: the protagonists navigate chores, purchases, and differing dispositions, and the feelings and questions that spill out from these day-to-day things.

...but they also deal quite directly with amatonormativity. Their marriage does not fit the cultural model of romance and sex that surrounds them, but it also does not fit the model of "just friends" that they initially assumed it would. They care quite intensely about each other, are desirous of each other's company, and do their best to support each other through struggles small and great. Their approach to the whole affair feels much in the vein of relationship anarchy: dissecting their feelings and making decisions based on what works for each of them, finding where their joys lie and celebrating that in the face of the obliviousness of others, and talking to each other.

I don't know if their relationship as of now is more queerplatonic or ace romantic, and I don't know if the author plans to remain in this space for the rest of the story's run or to portray its metamorphosis into something else. But I do know their relationship is healthy, and nuturing, and sweet.

It's currently serializing in Japanese - Chapter 22 came out this month, looks like.

Via elynne: the real story of the autism-vaccine saga, in easy to read and visually attractive comic form.

ladibug21 has asked me questions five, and answers five I bring!

(If you'd like me to ask five questions of you to know you better, just say the word. Yes, this is a meme.)

1. Given your answers to the recent LJ Question of the Day, what's your favorite breakfast? Are you a savory or sweet breakfast person? Where is your favorite breakfast place?

Some day ... some day ... I will find the breakfast-spot where they know how to cook an egg over medium instead of over easy.

For the meantime, I believe hotcakes, eggs, and bacon at the Vienna Inn are pretty good, when I get the chance. Hash browns are a little much.

2. Are you a fan of the winter Olympics? If so, which is your favorite event? If not, why?

Not a big fan, really - my interest in spectator sports seems to start with baseball and pretty much peter out there. I think it would be cool to learn cross-country skiing just because it's useful, but, given my current lattitude, a ham radio license would be a higher priority.

3. What's your favorite comic or printed cartoon?

Online right now, it's just about a dead heat between Kaspall (a very metafictional fantasy suspense novel) and Dead Winter (a post-satirical zombie apocalypse bildungsroman). Offline, I would have to decide between my childhood love, The Adventures of Tintin, English translation (a bit of a wandering-the-earth series), and the books I've become interested in more recently, such as Sandman Mystery Theatre, Transmetropolitan, and Invincible.

I think I would go for Dead Winter and Tintin, respectively, and would hate to choose between the two.

4. What do you plan to do once you're done with school?

I think at this point it is abundantly obvious that teaching is in my future.

5. What are your feelings on Valentine's Day?

Is that today?

On the one hand, I don't like obligations, but on the other hand, I tend to forget to do things I should if I don't have a reason and a date. On the gripping hand, I'm single (sighs!).

...well, that's all. Now to throw on some clothes to rush for the library booksale!

(Or rather, because I was incapable of not reposting this.)

Today was a fun day! In between eating Greek with my dad and sis, playing tennis with my brother, and playing Left 4 Dead ... with my brother, I had a chance to drop by the comic shop near campus for Free Comic Book Day! Besides the first trade paperback of Transmetropolitan and the next in sequence of Powers, I got a half-dozen even sample comics, and read them all.

(I also go Book 1 of The Essential Starchild in the mail, but I haven't read it yet.)

Going down the list in order - first, the trades:

( Transmetropolitan 1 )

( Powers 5: Anarchy )

Then the free samples:

( Gold Digger #101 )

( Owly and Friends! )

[entry truncated for lateness of hour - remaining four tomorrow.]

Dropped by the comic shop in College Park today - I just read Issue #1 of Transmetropolitan (h/t Blake Stacey), and was jonesing for some more.

Unfortunately, Vol. 1 is out of print. Not Vols. 2, 3, 4, whatever, just Vol. 1. Great timing, Detective Comics - I'm proud of you.

So proud, in fact, I got two other DC-subsidiary books while I was there - The Plain Janes (a Unshelved recommendation that I, who read it on the bus, wholeheartedly second) and Global Frequency Vol. 1: Planet Ablaze (also Warren Ellis, but I mainly got it because of the movie that didn't get made). Oh, and I got Whiteout, Vol. 2: Melt (because I got Whiteout, Vol. 1, which because of Free Comic Book Day 2007, which because of Wings of Change, which eventually because of Dad=zhurnaly emailing me a link to Mark Sachs and I'm cutting this off before we get ridiculous).

So, a fun evening, even before the lasagna zhurnaly's got in the oven downstairs. Rawk aut!

*sighs*

Two solutions, right?

(Yes, I brute-forced it.)

May 5 Is Online Comics Day!

Every year on this day, Internet comic makers and fans get out to help build community in and build awareness of the world of great comic strips and graphic novels that people make available online. Many are free, many others inexpensive; some serials, some short stories, some daily gags, some personal journals; some beautiful in their artistry, others amusing in their sloppiness; some with millions of readers, others only a few loyal fans; and all available to anyone, anywhere in the world.

If you are already a fan, go ahead and tell your friends to take a look around today. If you aren't, then check out these links for some of my personal favorites - you may find something new and wonderful you've never seen before.

(Comics marked with an asterisk (*) are teen-safe. Or, well, teen-safe enough for the newspapers - use your own judgment.)

Online Comics Day 2007 - http://www.comicsday.com/about/

The hub for this year's celebration of comics on the Internet.

Freefall - http://freefall.purrsia.com/ *

A silly yet serious hard SF comic, following the crew of the Savage Chicken as they work towards fame, glory, discovery, and not getting blown up on and near a newly terraformed planet.

Schlock Mercenary - http://www.schlockmercenary.com/ *

The galaxy-spanning hard science fiction epic of Tagon's Toughs, a crew of mercenaries, as they run from the law, blackmail and double-charge their clients, and set off interstellar wars.

A Miracle of Science - http://project-apollo.net/mos/ *

The complete story of a government agent assigned to apprehending sufferers of Science-Related Memetic Disorder - mad-scientist disease - and the member of the Martian group intelligence he's partnered with.

Dicebox - http://www.dicebox.net/

A beautifully-illustrated graphic novel about a pair of interstellar itinerants in a futuristic world.

Get Medieval - http://get-medieval.livejournal.com/ *

The zany adventures of a group of outcasts hiding on a primitive planet in an minor spiral arm of an average-sized galaxy - that is, fourteenth century Earth.

Bruno - http://www.baldwinpage.com/bruno.html

A down-to-earth story about a confused young woman wandering through life, seeking meaning. Complete story.

Freebird - http://www.freebirdcomic.com/ *

The story of an ex-housewife wanderer leaving her old life to start anew in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Planet Karen - http://planetkaren.girl-wonder.org/

The optimistic and good-spirited graphic diary of Karen Ellis, goth and comic artist in England.

Malfunction Junction - http://www.malfunctionjunction.net/

The pessimistic and irreverent (and hilarious) graphic diary of Matt Milby, artist and gas station attendant in Columbus, Ohio.

Kaspall - http://kaspall.xepher.net/

The fantasy tale of inhabitants of a town built on a swarm of dimensional portals as a supernatural mystery unfolds.

Mnemesis - http://www.graphicsmash.com/comics/mnemesis.php

The complete story of two people waking up in an odd afterlife with no memory of who they were. Exciting and tragic, with a unique look.

Unofficial Online Comics Day poster by Robin Zimmermann - please copy and distribute!

RTF file.