At long last, we reach the final showdown in Strong Female Characters Battle Royale. We started with eight glorious challengers and have made it to the final two: Violet Crawley vs. Jessica Fletcher: I am proud to say that both of these ladies feature the arse-kicking attributes of a champion. But first, let us not
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The dialogue in today’s strip is absolutely real. I heard it at a local Burger King several months ago (which just goes to show how long I’ve waited before uploading this).
Basically, the manager of this particular Burger King is a fast-food stereotype: short, overweight, balding, pasty, and greasier than the hamburgers. The poor guy was probably in his mid-thirties but looked like he was ten years older. His staff consisted entirely of teenagers, and it was easy to see that they didn’t take this guy seriously.
Generally speaking, my vintage trumpet, a Bach Stradivarius, has been an obedient, often delightful, and even comforting companion. She—no way around it, it’s a she—has never complained about being shut up in her case and ignored for days, or for being treated as carry-on luggage, or for resting bell down on a stand that sticks up into her gut… Just pick her up, jiggle her three valves, blow a few warm breathes into her mouth, and she’s ready to go. It’s true that on occasion we’ve had our little spats, disagreements over, say, triple tonguing (which she hates) or sorting out the low C sharp which stubbornly refuses to stay on pitch. “It’s not me,” she says, “it’s you!” To which I respond by flushing her out with soapy water.
Recently, on a gaming news site that’s been irrelevant for months, a story was posted about how a young lass who was seeking companionship through one of the many online dating services felt that while she identified herself as a gamer, stated she needed to keep the fact a secret (why this site is irrelevant to gaming). Her reasoning? She wanted a potential suitor to see her as something more than a person who’s extremely adept at handling a joystick (yay double entendres!) So, in an online environment, where many of the users are socially awkward, and trying to find some way to establish a rapport with someone, she opted to leave out nearly 90% of what guys could easily connect with her on. Which led me to one, very simple truth which is this woman, is simply not a gamer.
Today’s strip is all about fire! I wanted to create a strip with Ben and Winslow having a seemingly normal (or what passes for normal in their world) conversation, oblivious to the flames that had suddenly burst to life on their heads. And then at the end, I would hit you all with a profound message or something. See what I did there? I’m educating you through laughter and flammability. And that’s not an easy thing to do. I’m sure my Nobel is already in the mail.