Might do a certain person some good to remember that. Just saying.
New page, new sketches. Click to see 'em.
I was thinking about weirdness while I colored this page. It seems pretty safe to say that we live in a society that admires individuality to the point that a sizable segment of the population does its best to be unique. But despite that, most people have an inability to achieve any authentic, substantial distinction. I'm not saying that makes them bad or anything. Just saying it's out there. I think the problem is the pursuit of weirdness for weirdness's sake. But whatever.
Anyway, people want to be weird, because weird equals special and special is awesome. It's not the 1950s anymore, and conformity's kinda lost its appeal. But the problem with being unique and standing out is that it's kinda hard. Uniqueness implies that whatever you're up to needs to be something no one's really thought of yet, which basically disqualifies the unimaginative from the legions of the willingly strange right out of the gate. I'm kinda convinced these are the people that buy their individuality, emulating what once might have been unique in an attempt to absorb some of its original qualities. It's the equivalent of dressing up in a deer hide in the hopes that you'll run faster.
And there are people who attempt to be unique by adopting themselves out to subcultures, which is of course just a different kind of conformity, and a lot of them know that, and that's okay, because sometimes it's enough just to be a uncommon conformist, I guess. Again, which is fine.
But every once in a while you find the sort of person that's kind of aimless and agonized and hungry for an identity that they haven't found and they can't find, and they kinda bounce around like a pinball and try everything and never stick to anything. And maybe they don't want to be weird so much as have a purpose apart from what they've seen or been offered.
I dunno where I'm going with this, sorry. This is what happens when I draw Curio.
She was originally conceived as an utter ditz with no redeeming qualities, but I really just don't like that anymore. These days, I kinda actually feel sorry for her. She's a flake, but she knows she's a flake because she's pretty much constantly reminded of it and she doesn't WANT to be a flake. I really have no idea how to write her, sometimes. Really.
More Wednesday.
Spike, did I ever tell you how Templar became my favorite webcomic within two updates of my discovering it? And that I'm almost positive it's the most original serial comics out there, in print or online? And that the day I noticed a link to Templar in the sig of a certain goon, it made my day? And that I'm awaiting my Templar: The Great Outdoors more impatiently than any other book this year, including all three volumes of Flight? And that your rant right here made my day, *again*?
Just throwing that out there.
How has Ben seen Curio naked?? I'm loving the story still. Keep up the awesome! :)
So more tuesday on wednesday?
Will she be eating a sundae?
Has Curio done porn or nude modelling or something like that ? If even Ben has seen her naked, it must be something like that...
Besides that : "Thutmose" and "Ra" ? Did she just make that up ?
No one's see Curio naked. Everyone, however, has seen Tuesday naked. She has that TV show, "Mondays with Tuesday," where she does "freeform naturalist eurythmy." We saw Ben subscribing to it near the end of chapter one, and she was on the phone discussing it with Curio in the first scene of chapter two.
And nope, those two really have the legal, given names of Ra and Thutmose. And Ra isn't even his FULL name, it's just so much worse than that.
Sunny and Moze are Nile, a made up ethnic group and religion. Immigrant offspring, with Old World names and New World lives. I'll be getting into that shortly.
"Sunyy" - ah, I get it! Nice.
I recognize the look in Sunny's eyes, in the first panel. It is the look of rage that can only be inspired by someonewho truly, truly drives you nuts.
I like the way she seems to insist on using everyone's given name. Nothin' like a person trying to be unique at the expense of others...
I like Tuesday, again, already.
... wow, I REALLY should have seen that coming from the moment Tuseday poked fun at Curio about her 'low people' friends. 'If a loaded gun is displayed in the beginning of an act, then someone WILL be shot with it before the curtain drops.'
I want you to know that it's my birthday, and this weirdness rant + Curio's face in the second panel + Thutmose and Ra have just made my day.
Thanks.
I'm most interested to hear about this Nile culture. As I've probably said before, I think my favorite part of Templar is the sheer awesome worldbuilding you've put into it, and I can't wait to see more of it.
As someone with her own flaky tendencies, I can tell you this much: Curio wouldn't know how to write her character either.
Oh damn, am I going to be the only one who comments on the 'weirdness' rant? Looks like it...
I actually got around this problem in a slightly sideways way. I'm 28 now, and a girl, but I spent my teens etc. with a shaved head, the odd piercing, and an unremovable pair of American GI pants of honest-to-God Vietnam vintage (my Dad was an Australian soldier there, he bought them on the black market for a carton of Salems). I was pretty much EXACTLY the girl you're talking about.
I'm older and wiser now, but still (I hope) my own person. Clotheswise, I definitely feel more like my own person. The solution: going generic. No patterns, no pictures on t-shirts (apart from some select webcomics gems), no necklaces, no funny hair. A-line skirts, black singlet tops, basic jeans. Even my sneakers are monochrome.
My point is this: in a world cluttered with subcultures and social identification by clothing, not many folk choose to opt out completely. I don't look like anything in particular when I walk down the street, and that's kind of uniquein itself. The only problem is, generic clothing is really hard to find (supporting my 'generic is unique' argument), so now I'm learning to sew. Only problem with THAT is, decent quality unpatterned fabric is really hard to find too...
cheers, fish
ps. For a few years now, I've also been cutting the labels out of my clothes - just to make sure that my shirts are just SHIRTS, not brand manifestations (try it - you'd be suprised how effective that is).
pps. having said that, I get married next week. My friend is making me a crinoline 4.5 metres around the base, and my shoes, hair streaks, and lips are all the same shade of RED. Screw generic.
I'm with you, fish. I went through a thing as a late teener/early tweener wherein I wore nothing but black for about three years straight. My now-wife was totally crushing on me then because of it. Eventually I figured out that it's easier to express my innate weirdness by looking as 'normal' as possible. One ring, no piercings, NO TATTS, still minimal color in the wardrobe. But by all accounts I look like a solid citizen. Then I start talking. And I enjoy a good laugh at all the poor fools who're going to hit 40 and need to figure tattoo removal and hearing aids into their budgets.
If Curio owns an automobile, I feel safe in saying it's a Scion.
So, what's Sunny's deal, anyway? Does the man enjoy absolutely nothing? He doesn't smile. Doesn't smile at all.
I can't really put it in words, but that's an absolutely intimidating last panel today. When you have a bunch of characters on stage together, all of whom know each other, there's a freakish combinatorial thing that happens where you write the way every character feels about every other character.
Spike, you're absolutely nailing this; the dynamics of Templar's group scenes are amazing to watch, and today you... I don't even know, *quadrupled* the number of visible relationships on panel and carried it out perfectly, and it scares me. Go you.
Fish and Anomie: On the weirdness thing, I've been in that 'no jewellry, no tattoos, no labels, no nowt' phase and have been ever since my teenage years (I'm 27). Curiously, I feel like I missed out on the the whole goth/punk/mod/whatever thing, the whole subculture phase, and I regret it. I suppose I've always been generic in the way you guys are now, and want to be included in some subculture. Maybe I'll get to sixty and join a cult and get some piercings. Hup ;) .
I would not have guessed that Mose could talk all pretty.