Annotated 27-2
Gotta be extremely careful with the homophobic side of the internet-speak that inspires Frigg’s dialogue, but I think panel 1 works (blame Phil if it doesn’t :-P). It’s a pretty rare usage for her by now (maybe E-Merl’s mild criticism of her back here had some impact), it’s a self-own, and most importantly, it’s pretty clear that this is just her code for “being emotionally vulnerable,” as well as why she hates that.
The orgy with the half-ogre was not rendered anywhere else. I’m sure other cartoonists would be tempted to make it a Patreon exclusive, but it’s very difficult for me to think about our characters with my mental SafeSearch entirely off. I mean, I can do it some or we wouldn’t have any love/sex scenes, but self-restraint is always asserting itself. Which I guess makes me Gravedust, here.
Love the way Frigg’s using that stool; nice detail from John.
Frigg’s last line is probably mostly sincere; her (non-sexual) feelings about GD will come up more than once again before this chapter is over.
Her usage of the word gay is perfectly in-tone. It gave me a hard chuckle. Again.
Frigg’s care for Gravedust as always shown and I like that. Ever since she was impressed with his arrow-possessing powers, I feel. Some of the earliest expressions I can remember are when he got a scratch (by Byron?) in the mirrors room and she went “WHO TOUCHED MY DWARF?!” or when he was writing under the shade of a tree and she was just napping by him.
I wonder if you had the same problem thinking of your characters without “safesearch” turned off with the Fans! cast since, and I may be wrong because it has been such a very long time since I read it, sexuality was at the heart of some characters and storylines.
Not suggesting a degree of hypocrisy I just wonder how that might balance in your brain.
Fans and Penny and Aggie were way more sex-driven than Guilded Age is, partly because their characters were younger on average, and younger people are not only more hormonal, they’re more likely to have sex lives tied to dramatic or comedic possibilities. But even so, we never showed P or V, let alone P in V, directly. We never even gave you an unobstructed view of a boobie.
Now, that was partly because I didn’t want our sites blocked, but I was also following the example of much of what I read. And if you do that kind of thing enough, it starts to become how you naturally approach a sex scene, and it starts feeling weird to imagine a scene where characters are shown with unobstructed nudity. And if you’re not showing certain body parts, there are certain things you can only do by implication.
Hah Frigg’s expression in the insert panel has remained with me always. I’d like to think that John had a chuckle himself while drawing it.
I did!
That’s a hard expression to get right. Several early drawings and a mirror helped. heh
Heh, Frigg remembering the half-ogre’s half-ogre….
Just an FYI, it looks like the “Next” button on the last page leads to the The Night After Axemas Annotated 7 instead of this page.
This should sort itself out by tomorrow. Accidental early half-update.
While I get the… uneasiness regarding the casual homophobia, I still love the first panel dialogue. It’s just a beautiful character moment for Frigg.
Did you change the font in this comment section, or is it just my computer doing that?
If it looks different to you just today, nothing I’ve done. I have noticed it looking different recently, though. Still nothing conscious on my end, but there may’ve been a software update.
There “may’ve” been a software update? Without at least notifying you, somehow?
(Yes, I noticed the font change, too, though without being able to get back to the “before” version, it’s hard to pinpoint.)
Guilded Age is updated via a modification of WordPress, and I’m always a little concerned WordPress will update itself in a way that means a big headache for me (’cause my coding abilities haven’t seen much use in the last decade or so). If the worst that happens is a font change, as long as it’s not to something like Papyrus, I can deal.
“And this one time, at band camp…”
This page reads like a “diary room” interview on a reality show. I’m sure that was intentional. In any case, it’s very fitting.
Aw man, that would’ve been a much better added image there…