5 Sept 11: Some other ideas

[Ozaline]

and Jason haven't it corrected it yet? Some possibilities:

1. They don't intend to (like others, I'm hoping that's not the case, but it's their strip in the end and they don't have to do anything we ask them to).

guessing this is the case, since T also made it sound like he didn't think this was worth making any kind of point over.

I found it problematic as well, but I think it speaks highly for the comic and the fandom that people can discuss freely that this upsets them and no one is being dismissive of their concerns or berating them.

That speaks volumes.

[Bo Lindbergh]

The character design reminds me of Chin-Kee in American Born Chinese (https://lawarehouse.wikispaces.com/file ... hinkee.jpg), and that is NOT a good thing.

For those unfamiliar with American Born Chinese: cousin Chin-Kee is the personification of every offensive Chinese stereotype in existence and thus deliberately drawn like that.

[Fruitbat44]

Now if Duane's wife/girlfriend/date/random women he's just bumped into, does turn out to be Min Jung . . . well IMHO that would be seriously cool.

It's clearly a sign that P&A fanfic has become canon. In Fanficland, Duane and Yun Sung are both super-powered individuals (the Alphabet Avenger and the Phiery Phoenix, respectively), and as with DC and Marvel superheroes, it's not uncommon for people in that line of work to date.

And there we have it. Duane's partner's honour has been upheld.

Back in 2008(?) Jerrbear and Stratburst kicked off a collaborative fanfic which they very kindly let me join in on; I wrote Duane in as decidedly badass individual, although he was unaware of just how badass he was. He didn't have a beard though.

Though in the alternate universe (or alternate-alternate universe) where Penny was a holocaust survivor, Duane's name was reviled as the one responsible for the collapse of civillisation . . .

[Mo]

Um seriously, am I the only one who knew it was Jack straight away? From the flow of the comic alone nothing else made sense, not to mention his hair colour and comment about graphic design would not have matched Stan or any other male character at all. Plus, K-A and Michelle are talking about Jack while looking in the direction little Jack is running towards, which panel three shows is clearly Jack.

He doesn't look like Stan. At all. Longer hair yes, but not blonde and not Stan-style.

[Louisa]

But Stan's not blonde either. Looking especially at the front bits of the hair in panel 3, it does look very Stan-style to me. And you could just as easily suggest that K-A and Michelle are looking at little Jack while talking about little-Jack.

On the other hand, the speech implies Jack more than Stan. But the appearance is more Stan than Jack. So I'm confused as to who we're seeing here.

[neru]

/facepalm at Jason.

Once again, shoddy artwork is causing people are misreading your art as per usual. I KNOW that the art wasn't meant to be offensive to anyone, but just looking at it.. GOD.

I'm so glad this comic is at an end, I'm really so sick of the state of the artwork.

[adamiani]

/facepalm at Jason.

Once again, shoddy artwork is causing people are misreading your art as per usual. I KNOW that the art wasn't meant to be offensive to anyone, but just looking at it.. GOD.

I'm so glad this comic is at an end, I'm really so sick of the state of the artwork.

...
While in this particular case I was irritated by the picture, I'm really very pleased with Jason's work in general, and I just thought I should chime in to say that, if people are starting to pile on here.

[Mo]

Huh, always thought of Stan as blonde because his hair is usually lighter than Jack's in the black and white strips.

[Fen]

HEY GUYS. DUANE HAS A HOT GIRLFRIEND. LOOKIT THE LITTLE STUD! MROW.

Should have been the point of her.

I can't help but think T. and Jason would have caught a lot less flack if she were a hot white chick rather than a hot black/Asian/IDon'tKnowWhatSheIsAndItScaresMeWahhh chick. More reason to go with whitebread or what you know rather than risk giving offense, I guess.

But doesn't it kind of make sense to have his long-term-enough-to-bring-to-the-reunion hot girlfriend be a muslim? You know...like him? Having her Mongolian(for example) makes sense. And since there is only a limited amount of space dedicated to this reunion(thank god, cause every panel is just begging for extended discussion), instead of showing a normal girl or showing her wearing a hajib(which would've stirred even more hate), they just went with the show-that-she's-not-your-average-whitechristianbelleviller as a detail. All's good.

[Doc Harleen]

/facepalm at Jason.

Once again, shoddy artwork is causing people are misreading your art as per usual. I KNOW that the art wasn't meant to be offensive to anyone, but just looking at it.. GOD.

I'm so glad this comic is at an end, I'm really so sick of the state of the artwork.

I'd just like to throw out there that I've enjoyed Jason's art, and the change in artists did not stop my enjoyment of the comic in any way. I look even more forward to the spin-off comic if Jason is involved witht he project.

And hey, at least some characters' hairstyles are different! I think the only thing that confused me was Jack's ring being on the wrong hand. Otherwise, it would have been an absolutely perfect linking of the two characters between panels.

[magga_rae]

As a long (long long loooong) time lurker, I felt I had to register just to share a revelation that struck me (and also a bit of light relief from the whole 'Duane's Date' debate. When I first saw Duane, I, like many others, had the same 'DAMMNNN he lookin' fine' reaction, and then I realised that he really, really reminded me of someone...and then it hit me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

Not quite the future I'd envisioned for Duane, but hey, you don't argue with the man when he's on a horse.

[Bo Lindbergh]

OK. Six-years-later Duane is now officially "Duane on a horse".

[billytea]

HEY GUYS. DUANE HAS A HOT GIRLFRIEND. LOOKIT THE LITTLE STUD! MROW.

Should have been the point of her.

I can't help but think T. and Jason would have caught a lot less flack if she were a hot white chick rather than a hot black/Asian/IDon'tKnowWhatSheIsAndItScaresMeWahhh chick. More reason to go with whitebread or what you know rather than risk giving offense, I guess.

But doesn't it kind of make sense to have his long-term-enough-to-bring-to-the-reunion hot girlfriend be a muslim? You know...like him? Having her Mongolian(for example) makes sense. And since there is only a limited amount of space dedicated to this reunion(thank god, cause every panel is just begging for extended discussion), instead of showing a normal girl or showing her wearing a hajib(which would've stirred even more hate), they just went with the show-that-she's-not-your-average-whitechristianbelleviller as a detail. All's good.

Mongolia is only 3% Muslim; I'm not sure if they're widely represented in the ethnic Mongolian peoples (certainly possible, there were Muslim Khanates in history), or if it's predominantly practised today by Turkic minorities, as in China. There are East Asian Muslims of course (one of my classmates, in fact, is a Muslim from Tianjin, near Beijing); but I don't know that this choice of race is the most obvious route if the intent is to communicate 'Muslim'. I'm pretty sure there are substantially more white Muslims than East Asian.

To be clear, I don't see any contradiction or issue with T and Jason creating a character who is both East Asian and Muslim (assuming she is); it's just on the question of whether the one suggests or implies the other. (Or perhaps the Other. )

[TCampbell]

No, I'm not going to ask Jason to seriously change the look of Duane's girlfriend. Because I am strongly against the notion that when some readers write in and say "offensive!" your first reaction should be "erase! Delete! Never happened!" Rather, you should look at the work again and decide what you find off-message and what you want to stand by. (I'm much faster to react when readers write in to point out inarguable errors in logic or storytelling.) If I'd followed reader knee-jerk reactions with "Cyndi and Charlotte" that story would've ended up being a lot less powerful.

You also need to take the entirety of reactions into account. I mean, I can't emphasize this enough: some of you thought she was a stereotypical Asian, some of you found her unstereotypical, and some of you didn't even realize she was supposed to be Asian. I mean, does that sound like a clear mandate for change to you? Are we supposed to reduce the "Asian signifiers" and yet somehow also increase them?

Because, I will admit, her race is of mild significance in that it shows Duane continuing to date well outside what narrow-minded people would consider "his own kind" (be that black or Muslim) yet he didn't end up with a "Penny" or "Charlotte" either, with all the baggage that implies. And again, she looks like real women to me.

The one thing I am considering changing is the squint. Even though my first reaction to it was that it was adorable, I have to wonder if such a minor alteration would quiet the flapdoodle without making me feel like a sellout. Might change that. But I refuse to treat this as the Great Race Crisis of 2011, in any case.

[bunnymadeofdust]

No, I'm not going to ask Jason to seriously change the look of Duane's girlfriend. Because I am strongly against the notion that when some readers write in and say "offensive!" your first reaction should be "erase! Delete! Never happened!" Rather, you should look at the work again and decide what you find off-message and what you want to stand by. (I'm much faster to react when readers write in to point out inarguable errors in logic or storytelling.) If I'd followed reader knee-jerk reactions with "Cyndi and Charlotte" that story would've ended up being a lot less powerful.

I may have posted once in the whole of several years following P&A and I have to say I was not offended. I got the gist of her smile. And I completely agree with not changing it and your thoughts on it. I would actually be more upset if you did change it. I don't see the problem at all and just like whoever else mentioned. Duanate is about the same color as him on my screen as well.

It almost seems like T and Jason are being bullied into changing something of their own creation that the outside world should have no say about at all and that is the most angering part to me, so many are doing the "YOU BETTER REDRAW IT" poka.