Homophobic Grama

Well, I am officially never coming out to my grandparents.

Ever.

Things got a might bit awkward in here when the news of the progress on the DADT repeal started playing across the TV, the local news station informing us all that the only step left was ObamaLlama's signature. This was something I had already known, of course (I keep up on these things!), so I'm smiling like an idiot. I've been supporting this repeal whole-heartedly for months, and to see it be THISCLOSE is exciting, at the very least. Meanwhile my grandparents are getting more and more sullen, all unhappy at the TV and the knews it brings.

I was slightly obliviouse to their mood, and chattered about how the bill was so close, so close!

To which my grandmother sighed and said, "Yes, it's sad. It's going to make things so much harder on our men in our army."

Oh. Right. This is when I remember my grandmother is homophobic. Stupidly, I plow on with a, "Why?"

"Well, they don't need the gays in there sleeping in the same places as all the men."

The gays. I can hear the obviouse distaste in her voice while she uses such a catch all term. We continue the conversation, while I insist being gay doesn't make people automatic manwhores, she reveals that Norm (her husband, my step-papa, I guess) was come on to by a man when he was in the service. I don't even know how to respond to that, and let the conversation drop.

But now, I keep turning it over in my head, and I can't believe people let one encounter with a douche bag completely colour their perception of all members of a minority. That would be like me justifying racism by the fact I was mugged by a group of black teenagers.

This is disapointing. I'm disapointed in my family.

Keeping fingers crossed, ObamaLlama has to let this one through!

Webcomics

(I know I promised Brandon I'd blog about something else. Sorry, I'll get to that. Eventually.)

I am a Webcomic Person.

Here's a list of what I follow:
El Goonish Shive
Questionable Content
Misfile
Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name
Oglaf
XKCD
Venus Envy
Johnny Wander

And those are just the ones I keep up with on a daily basis. There are many others outside of that list that don't update regularly enough to warrant regular checking. Outside of that I follow One Piece, Bleach, and Hourou Musuko as they come out scanlated online as well. But they're professional comics and don't count towards this topic.

I love comics. For me it's more than just a juvenile form of entertainment, comics are an art form and a window to story telling, a unique way to spread creativity and enjoy a good story. You see people obsessed with good novels all the time, they pick 'em up and just can't put them back down; they may even write their own. I'm that way with comic books.

Wecomics are special. Webcomics are a raw and often first attempt at entertainment; most webcomic artists who made it big never expected to make it. The beginning of webcomics often suck.

Webcomics are an over-time thing. Reading through any large archive you can see the vast improvement these improvised artists and story-tellers undergo. The updating schedule of a webcomic forces the artist/author to draw and write consistently, they are a MINE of practice. So it's only natural that over time such growth occurs.

I'm really bad at explaining all this. But Webcomics are pure magic to me. Fascinating magic.

Anyone can write a webcomic. That's the biggest part. Every successful Webcomic artist out there started as a Nobody With Too Much Spare Time, but then, their comic became them. It became a huge part of their life that they cared about, and then it became something really, really good.

The web is the new indie platform that anyone can handle. Since the comic book artists have discovered publishing online, the field has opened up for countless talented individuals to shine. It doesn't have to be a full-time job any more; artists can reach an audience without professional publishing.

I love being that audience. I love becoming completely enthralled with their story. I love the pure love these comicers put into their work.

I never would have given many of my webcomics a chance if I held them to the same standards I hold professional works, but I don't. I don't need to - this is the internet, these people are not proffessionals, and because of these facts I've learned to give the beginning strips of webcomics the slack they deserve. By rolling out this slack in the beginning I've been able to meet many beautifully fleshed-out characters I would never have given a chance.

Again, I love Webcomics.

Every artist has a story to tell, and the Grand ol' World Wide Web gives them that chance.