Book One, page 49
bravo1102 on July 20, 2017
Ivar can cook. He also doesn't have much use for women not even for sex. Not only Searsha has a same-sex thing going on. It was always the intention to have Ivar just not be into women. I can't call him “gay” just the same as Searsha cannot be called a “lesbian” because those terms are from our world. There may be an island of Lesbos (or a much larger version in the relatively shallow Mediterranean) but Strabo won't exist for another 9000 years or so. Yes, this is supposed to be antediluvian existing during the 35,000 years modern humans supposedly existed before civilization. It's part of the so-called Ice Age world. The nearby continent is based on a map of Ice Age Europe.
Anyway, Ivar may have a romance or not as there are a couple of other male characters who have no use for women. They exist and it's shrugged off in this world. Patriarchal society hasn't quite ossified yet. God is still the Mother. Women aren't property yet to be traded between dominant males. The Norse see women differently and acknowledge two equal worlds that come together in marriage but otherwise rarely see eye-to-eye. Whereas in Narthatheia it's an “equalitarian” culture or at least supposed to be. There are still nasty people who just use others regardless of sex. I read all the same books as Fallopian Crusader and even took some Women's Studies courses back in the 1980's. ;)
Thank you for putting up with the rant yesterday but that feature really set me off. And the comments about it? Really? Give me a break. Just because it's drawn it gets a pass. There's some great graphics here but they're not drawn so I might as well go play with my dolls and leave the grown-ups to worship their traditional media seemingly just because it's the traditional hand drawn medium and not any kind of alternative multi-media whatever. Thanks.
I am so getting bitter. But haven't I a right to be? Please Allow me to enjoy the small solace penning such venom provides.
But remember my tongue is in my cheek and I don't really feel this way. At times it's just fun playing the cynical curmudgeon. I should do a comic about that. No one has really done a cynical enough curmudgeon in my view.
—–
On the original version of this way back in 2008 someone wrote:
“Just checked out your book. You put a tremendous amount of work into creating your photosets. I really am impressed. I'm a little less enamored with your lettering, which tends to not follow established left/right/top/bottom tradition, and takes up too much art space. Clearly this is a labor of love for you, and I appreciate the effort. I also wonder how you get your models to pose so well in all the action sequences! Now, put together a story that really grabs my interest.”
This individual's own comic honestly is crude even in comparison to what I would be doing in the final draft of Attack of the Robofemoids.
Robofemoids must have blown his socks off, Mask of the Aryans left him gasping for air, Interstellar Blood Beasts put him into silent awe and Tales of SIG left him senseless on the floor in a puddle of his own drool. In my dreams anyway. But of course he never commented again on anything I ever did. According to his last page he did some fanart for plymayer way back when. Of course nothing I ever did was worthy.
However, his comment pointed me in the right direction and lit a fire under my ass to get better. The way my work is considered by a great many I still might as well be back nine years ago with that crude stuff from the first few pages of Go a Viking! or even Attack of the Robofemoids I have looked at re-doing AotR but I'd rather instead continue with the next installment. It's my dream to shanghai some artist into drawing the whole thing or at least drawing the characters rather using than the dolls.
And no, despite the fact that I can draw and have drawn, I can't do more than three to five pages without severe cramps and crippling pain in my hands. I barely managed to do a three panel comic strip with stripped down, nearly abstract art and had to stop after 15 strips because of the pain. So I'm stuck with this.
AmeliaP at 8:21PM, Feb. 18, 2018
Hahaha, when a compliment turns into an offense XD
KimLuster at 9:51AM, July 21, 2017
Who knows what will catch attention...?!! I remember when I got featured several years ago... I was only at page 30ish or so of the Godstrain, and I was absolutely stunned I got featured. While I thought my story had promise (why even bother putting out a story if you don't believe in it yourself?), I thought my art was severely lacking, surely not worthy of being featured!! Honestly I was a little embarrassed by the attention, and was nervous about too many people starting to look at my 'crappy work'!! :D Still, I was honored, and I truly think it gave me more drive to get better!! So... I'm not at all quick to judge whether something is 'deserving' of a feature or not!! I think if we could ever figure out what's gonna 'catch the eye' (or ear, for music), we'd know a lot more about the human mind!
plymayer at 3:30AM, July 22, 2017
//in reply to Bravo // None of that changes that your comics are some of the best on Drunk Duck.
bravo1102 at 10:25AM, July 21, 2017
Five full comics over nearly nine years and nothing. And how many new readers came aboard because if that feature? None of my junk has ever had that. Lots of other absolute garbage had but never ol'bravo or his fucking dollies. Go to t YouTube and watch some Red Buttons at the Dean Martin roasts "nevah got a dinnah" routines. That sums it all up for me.
plymayer at 8:57PM, July 20, 2017
Great page. Now I'm hungry. At work alone and nothing to eat. THANKs.
plymayer at 8:55PM, July 20, 2017
Being featured would great for the ego. The recognition of the work that goes in. Remember the scene in the movie the Right Stuff where everyone knew Chuck Yeager was the best pilot? He didn't get picked because he didn't fit the profile. Bet most of the astronauts who were picked knew they had "his" spot and were damn lucky.
plymayer at 8:52PM, July 20, 2017
Not sure what the criteria for being featured is. Several quackcasts and newsposts have given pointers on how to be featured. I am always happy when one of the comics "I think I've found" ends up there. Sometimes they degenerate after though. Some start to play to the masses and stop being the creative originals they were before the feature.
plymayer at 8:42PM, July 20, 2017
Studied some women in the 1980s too. No formal courses.
bravo1102 at 10:26PM, July 20, 2017
They told me it was a great place to meet girls.
El Cid at 5:28PM, July 20, 2017
'Villain Next Door' was a great webcomic curmudgeon, but sadly the creator Roy Duncan actually followed through on his threats and pulled the comic.
bravo1102 at 7:11PM, July 20, 2017
Sadly missed too.
El Cid at 5:26PM, July 20, 2017
Oh, so you were set off by that latest feature too! Yeah, sometimes I don't know about the folks choosing those things, like sometimes they're just being pretentious and artsy. I mean, it *is* an interesting comic, in all fairness, and I guess they just wanted to show something different, but still!
El Cid at 5:23PM, July 20, 2017
Societies' opinions on what does and does not constitute masculinity changes a lot over time and geography. In some parts of the ancient world, homosexuality was what all the manly men did.
bravo1102 at 5:51PM, July 20, 2017
And they'd often be derided by the cultures that didn't as sissies. Like how Romans would tease someone for being too Greek.
Banes at 9:11AM, July 20, 2017
haha - I love the vigor that Ivar speaks with. I am slowly beginning to cook more, and I think it can be a manly thing to do - but where Ivar's coming from makes sense, too! Don't shove him out of his masculine identity...or he'll shove a spatula up yer ass!
bravo1102 at 5:54PM, July 20, 2017
Just imagine if it really was Arnold Schwarzenegger talking to Hugh Jackman.
bravo1102 at 5:52PM, July 20, 2017
Odinnn!
jerrie at 8:32AM, July 20, 2017
HEY! Ivar! Real men COOK dude! Folks have broken into fist fights over my mac-n-Cheese!
plymayer at 8:44PM, July 20, 2017
If there is ever a DD picnic or get together, you have to make it for us all.
bravo1102 at 7:13PM, July 20, 2017
Maybe you could have a cook off with Ivar.
Jason Moon at 8:21AM, July 20, 2017
Now Ivar is going to be stuck cooking for the group every night
bravo1102 at 7:14PM, July 20, 2017
If he cooks he doesn't have to wash dishes.;)
KimLuster at 6:34AM, July 20, 2017
Nice! I've known several 'manly' men who take pride in their cooking!! So.... does this mean you're gonna keep going? :D I hear you about traditional vs. photocomic! To me it's fairly obvious there's a great skill in what you're doing. Like a movie director/script writer, they don't actually directly produce the art, but there's a reason there's good one vs bad ones! It takes skill and vision to put it all together, assemble sets and wardrobes, create backstories and dialogues... Anyway! I'll always be a fan!
bravo1102 at 7:17PM, July 20, 2017
According to the auteur theory of film criticism, the director is the "author " of a film. Like John Ford or Howard Hawks.