Episode 315: You Could Work a Highly Stoned Cupcake Dress
Hey lovely readers! We’re back with another comic and hopefully no more interruptions.
The past few weeks were super busy at my “day job” — Many of you probably don’t know this? I’m Director of a summer literacy program for teens and preschoolers in underserved communities in Oakland. Pretty neat, right? It’s been a lot of work recently, though, as we prepare to launch this year’s program.
I also had the opportunity to attend this event, hosted by Smithsonian Magazine. I went as representative of Nerd Nite East Bay, a thing I co-host. I got to introduce science superhero Kelly Weinersmith, who gave an incredibly entertaining & informative talk about mind-controlling parasites (Check out her blog and podcast and stuff! She’s cool). Also, there was a hoverboard demonstration!
Just thought you all might like to know what I was up to, since you didn’t get a comic.
I’ll get straight to work on the next one now…
Flame on! You big gay flame.
Paging Bob Mackie! I think a whole new design is in order:
* Try a flame-motif crown- or mitre-inspired head covering instead of that shapeless yellow cowl — or ditch the head covering altogether.
* Go with red and black instead of yellow and red; let’s look like the temperature is already too hot to handle.
* Consider showing some skin: flame cutouts up the sides of the legs? Bare arms? Chest cutout?
* And sure, try sparkles, maybe at the extremities (gloves, boots).
And when he’s got his new outfit, looking fabulous and feeling confident, I predict:
* The other guys will hardly notice the new outfit. That is, they won’t acknowledge the new outfit. But somehow, they’ll find themselves looking at him more often without noticing that they’re doing it or understanding why.
* The other guys will notice the power boost and credit him for the improvement.
* Gynostar won’t get any credit at all. (Except from us loyal readers.)
* Gynostar will be annoyed that his outfit is now better than hers.
* Gynostar will be annoyed with herself for her annoyance at being envious.
I think he should try going Hell Bent For Leather.
I’m kinda worried about where Gyno-Star is going with this; getting a pretty yucky forcing-people-out-of-the-closet vibe…
Yea i’m starting to get that too… PLEASE GS don’t cross the line between encouraging him to be himself and outing. Every time someone is outed a kitten dies, think of the kittens! However i would LOVE to see her recruit him, Dynamo, and Sappho to her own awesomely diverse team!
As established in previous comics, Blaze is already out.
Yeah, he’s on the team so they have a token homosexual.
*face palm* i dont know how i missed that lol
If she’s given up on the “hopeless team” then when does she plan on taking Blaze and Basketball Dynamo to start her own super group? She’s still fighting in their training room.
She just can’t admit that she’s attracted to massive testosterone levels…
She doesn’t know how. She hopes one of the nicer guys will offer to mentor her through it.
LOL
Rebecca,
I can’t quite put my finger on why, but you rock!
It’s amazing how you synergise the lame with the anything but. It pleases me.
jw
Well thanks. I like to think of myself as a real maestro of the lame.
I love your comic but if you are busy teaching people to read and write I don’t mind waiting.
Aw, thank you. I appreciate your saying so. I do try to devote time to both pursuits, but sometimes the education stuff has to take precedence.
It’s just very distracting to stab a robot.
Takes a lot of concentration.
Heh… I saw “You Could Work a Highly Stoned Cupcake Dress” in my RSS feed, and my first thought was, “How did a spam-bot get in my RSS feed???”
Is kelly wienersmith related to zach wienersmith of smbc? Or am I committing the social faux-pas of implying that all you net-comics people belong to one big club?
Interestingly enough, they are married. But I met them through the Nerd Nite connection, not the webcomics connection.
To be fair, “Wienersmith” is a pretty damn uncommon name, so assuming two people with it are related isn’t too implausible.
I have a pet hatred for beauty pageants, but the idea definitely seems to work for him.
Yes! Let your hatred for beauty pageants flow through you! (And yes, I’m aware it could be the other way around too)
It is the other way around. Blaze’s powers appear to work based on how excited/aroused he is. Thinking about things he likes causes them to flare up, thinking about things that he doesn’t like make them weaker.
That seems less ‘Powered by homosexuality’ and more ‘Powered by rage’. She’s being…kinda a massive prick and trying to force him to do something he’s clearly unwilling to do.
He clearly wants to focus on being a hero, not making ‘being gay’ a defining visible aspect of himself. That’s a valid thing.
It’s gone way beyond ‘Trying to help him’ and into ‘Trying to force him to conform to a stereotype of what she feels homosexual people are’. Maybe SHE should get involved in that sensitivity training too.
It’s interesting that focusing on being a hero should mean ignoring or suppressing other parts of one’s identity, don’t you think? It assumes that “being a hero” means not being visibly gay. As if they’re at odds or something.
That’s not remotely what I meant. Someone can choose to have aspects about themselves be visible or not visible in various parts of their life. Saying that someone MUST look gay to be a gay superhero is like saying that a straight superhero must talk constantly about how they like the other gender.
This is ‘Her asking him to be a stereotype’. It’s like, say, putting ‘Black’ in a black superhero’s name just because he should be proud of being black. Someone can be just as gay in a suit and tie as in sparkles.
Gynostar is seeming less and less sympathetic the longer this scene goes on and I’m really hoping she gets comeuppance for being so very insensitive about his choices herself.
Microraptor: Yeah, that one is very much attraction but that just makes it seem like it’s emotional outbursts, rather than the gay superhero being literally powered by gayness.
I knew when composing this story line there was a risk that people might read it that way. I’ve tried to make it clear that Gyno-Star is seeing and understanding the signals in front of her.
Everything you’re saying is extremely problematic, though. First of all, you’re assuming that gender-normative, heterosexual masculinity is a default way of being. It’s not. It’s a performance; it’s a culture. Straight men don’t have to talk constantly about their sexuality to be perceived as straight; their sexuality is implied in the way they dress and move and talk. We know they’re straight because they “act straight.” Please don’t frame it as though a straight expression of masculinity is just a blank slate.
I also have a problem with your use of the word “stereotype.” Gay culture is not a stereotype, it’s a thing that exists. Disliking beer pong and enjoying beauty pageants are two aspects of it. Obviously not every single gay person participates in gay culture in the same ways and to the same extent. But gay people are invisible as gay people unless they behave differently from straight people. The wonderful comedian Cameron Esposito has a funny bit where she says something like, “I didn’t choose to be a lesbian, but I did choose to wear this vest.”
This definitely looks like rage. And not attraction to his teammate’s half-naked, muscled body.
Hmm, so is his thinking: I want to help people. I have a superhuman ability. With some training on how to do things safely and in line with the law, I can be a hero. Who I choose to share my life with should have no influence on this other choice in my life, unless my partner turns out to be a criminal, not male or female.