Chapter 9 Header
KimLuster on July 19, 2014
So… nudity in a teen-rated comic… I figured the Godstrain is rated PG-13 on a movie scale and you can show nudity if ‘tasteful’ and in a ‘non-sexual’ situation. Personally I think the US is a little skewed in that kids can watch people getting blown up on Saturday morning cartoons, but God forbid they see a nipple… Anyway, I felt this page's rip-off of John Roddam Spencer Stanhope's ‘Temptation of Eve’ fell within the allowed boundaries of PG-13 nudity (DD Admin, if I'm wrong, let me know and I'll replace this image).
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I won't bother trying to explain how this chapter image metaphorically ties into the story at large, but I do have a thought behind it. If anyone has their own theory I'd love to hear it - I like being psychoanalyzed :)
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Thanks for reading everyone!
skyangel at 12:44PM, Feb. 3, 2015
woo hoo boobies! I have to say yours look better than the originals too! :)
KimLuster at 6:23AM, July 23, 2014
(cont.) I'm not of the opinion that 'everything' goes. I just think more of the responsibility should fall on parents. The government isn't mummy and daddy...! And... this is the first time the comments section for a page has grown big enough to warrant splitting into two sections... Yayyyy!
KimLuster at 6:19AM, July 23, 2014
@PaulEberhartd: Well thank you! :) I guess we just don't give people (including teens) enough credit. We all really know when something is being gratuitous, exploitative, and/or purposefully titillating. It seems when we overly try to 'protect' our children, it makes things more forbidden and often more tempting. Take the 'War on Drugs' in the U.S. - ever since it really started back in the 80's (the 'just say no' campaigns, ramped up spending on narcotics division), drug usage and arrests and actually increased, exponentially so. I really don't think that's what they had in mind.
PaulEberhardt at 4:34AM, July 23, 2014
I love these art parodies. Just when I've thought they can't get better and better, that's just what they do. :)
PaulEberhardt at 4:34AM, July 23, 2014
I think that's quite an OK amount of nudity. These people shouldn't make such a fuss about it and should rail against the glorification of violence instead (not violence in general, mind, as long as it's clear that violence is very bad and usually hurts). When I was twelve or thirteen, all my friends and I already knew perfectly well what a naked woman looks like and why grown-ups get so excited about them (just what it had to do with birds and bees still eluded us a bit). My point is, if these ratings really were about "protecting" kids, they'd be a pretty futile measure - but none of them grows up to be sexually disoriented or in any other way deranged, so it's OK. Anyway, this is art, and that's another category altogether, and the difference should be clear to anyone who doesn't get his cultural input from TV only.
KimLuster at 4:25AM, July 23, 2014
@plymayer: Thanks! I've actually looked at a second place, but just haven't taken the plunge. I will... eventually... and certainly will should this site fall permanently. Gah... I'll look into doing it.
plymayer at 10:39PM, July 22, 2014
If you did start it over there I'd follow both places. (give me a chance to reread / get some things I did not the first time )
plymayer at 10:38PM, July 22, 2014
Love your comic and of course will continue to read it here. You should consider perhaps mirroring it some where else as well. Maybe over at Comic Fury? http://comicfury.com/index.php Just in case something should suddenly happen to DD.
KimLuster at 4:40PM, July 22, 2014
@jgib99: Thank you :)
jgib99 at 4:29PM, July 22, 2014
Very well done (and tasteful). :)
KimLuster at 6:48AM, July 21, 2014
@bravo: lol you're gonna make me spit up my drink :) Thanks!
bravo1102 at 6:02AM, July 21, 2014
Is it temptation, seduction or both? Another intriguing choice for a chapter header and great art. But why is she being tempted by Patrick Stewart? ;-)
KimLuster at 4:06AM, July 21, 2014
@plymayer: Thanks! Yeah, seems like we're all on a common page here!
plymayer at 10:28PM, July 20, 2014
Very tastefully done and chock full of symbolism. Never could understand why you can show a head exploding (very realistically) but not a pretty lady's nipple.
KimLuster at 6:55PM, July 20, 2014
@FC: So, DO use sex as a weapon eh :)
fallopiancrusader at 6:55PM, July 20, 2014
It is interesting to note that by the guidelines of the European film rating body, a film with lots of violence will receive a harsher rating than a film with lots of sex. (I don't know the specifics, but apparently that's the way it skews over there) The documentary "This film is not yet rated" (2006) Has some interesting insights into the technicalities of that process. That being said, it is my opinion that western society has been busy glorifying violence and persecuting sexuality for the last 5000 years, so that particular double standard has some very deep roots. On with the fight!
KimLuster at 6:14PM, July 20, 2014
@Peipei: couldn't have said it better!
Peipei at 5:32PM, July 20, 2014
Gosh, i'm really confused about that as well, how in American society, it's okay for a kid to see someone get decapitated and set on fire while being pushed off of a cliff, but it's inappropriate to see a mom breastfeeding or just a boob, period. Backwards society is backwards x.x. But yea, this is totally tasteful and frightening at that. That's sort of how I do the rules over at DF, i'll only show nudity if it's tasteful xD.
KimLuster at 4:20PM, July 20, 2014
@VinoMas: }:)
VinoMas at 3:48PM, July 20, 2014
Beautiful and Sinister.
KimLuster at 1:52PM, July 20, 2014
@FC: Wow!! Thank you!! The feet... awww yeah... Well, see, my initial pencil drawing, that I'd lay the watercolor on top of, included feet, but halfway through I sorta realized I'd made the leg proportions too short. I'd already may great headway with the head and torso, which meant no do-over, so... I extended the legs at the expense of the feet. You can see I sorta messed that up too as the knee on the right is a bit longer in proportion than the right, which I tried to fix by giving the left an illusion of foreshortening, which... Yeah, I'm still learning haha. As for your inference of the rest of the story from the image - have you been stealing my notes? ;) Won't necessarily say you're right, but every point you mentioned will be addressed.
fallopiancrusader at 12:29PM, July 20, 2014
Wow, what a gorgeous and moving painting! You certainly captured the expression of Stanhope's Eve really well, and the watercolor washes are very crisp.(I feel terrible being a curmudgeon, but I do wish you hadn't cropped off her feet). The Eve reference is quite relevant in the context of this story, since Kimber is now the primogenitor of a completely new, non- human species of some sort. Or at least of a symbiotic species of human and ??? I wonder if Kimber's friends will always feel some primal fear of her, or subconsciously perceive her as a threat. On a very primitive level, she does pose a challenge to humanity's cozy position at the top of the food chain.
KimLuster at 11:08AM, July 20, 2014
My image in the Author notes disappears occasionally and I have to reload it - does anyone know if this is a recurring problem?
KimLuster at 10:54AM, July 20, 2014
@Banes: lol no I used my own love life as inspiration (no apples for me :). Two guesses, eh? You're probably right! And finally, Thanks!
Banes at 8:59AM, July 20, 2014
By the way, this is just gorgeous! Sorry, forgot to say that - I've begun to take it for granted in this comic!