I posted this back on Bi-Visibility Day, knowing full well that actually all three characters were bi. ……..which is kind of a mixed message for bi-VISIBILITY day, but um uh
oops
i’ll be over here in the bad box
sometimes you gotta tap the sign, i guess
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#dumbing of ageSome people who read Roomies! and It’s Walky! wonder why Joyce is suddenly a fundamentalist Christian in Dumbing of Age. (There’s a thread on TVTropes about it, even.)
The simplest answer to this is that Joyce was always a fundamentalist Christian, but that’s not the best answer. Sure, Joyce was, but so was Danny. And Mary. Even Sal. (If you have a really good memory, recall that when Sal learned her parents were moving, shortly before the Head Alien killed them, Sal ran away to her church youth group.)
I didn’t address a lot of this head-on at the time because, well, *I* was a fundamentalist Christian. So being one was the default. It’s not like Danny and Joyce are going to argue the finer points of the Bible, since they totally agree. It was “normal.” Plus, at the time I didn’t really want to address religion. I thought of it as a boring distraction, not something I could use to make things more interesting. Sal’s abandoning of Mary’s youth group during her Superhero Origin Story flashback was the first time I ever lingered on the idea of religion for more than a panel or two to make a Shortpacked!-esque “Take That” at dirty Pinko Atheist Commie Horoscope Readers. Sal’s implied abandoning of Mary’s youth group, and thus also her God, was a knee-quakingly bold move for me at the time, emotionally. I was afraid I’d get in trouble, or that my pastors would come and break my knees.
So by the time I worked up the courage to address it more, Joyce had already been mind-wiped for a number of years. She didn’t even remember the details of her religious beliefs for a long, long time. She grew and changed emotionally outside of those beliefs, and it wasn’t until she regained her memories (and a trip to her parents’ house) that she tried to reclaim that part of herself. And that more balanced Joyce is the one folks remember, at least where it came to the topic of religion.
Thirteen years removed, I’m merely doing a thorough job in Dumbing of Age of detailing what Roomies! Joyce believed in, since I now have the balls and the panel space to devote to it.
hey wouldn’t it be hilarious if i redrew roomies eric as a super-cool dumbing of age version who’s super awesome and dynamic and has charisma and– oh okay i’ve literally drawn ryan north
You can tell this is a Roomies! Book sketch and not a Dumbing of Age book sketch because Ruth is smiling and happy.
(Booth 1412)
$15K DOA BOOK 2 <— funded
$20K SATURDAY UPDATES UNLOCKED <—funded, starting immediately
$27K ROOMIES! BOOK 2 in black and white <—funded
$32K ROOMIES! BOOK 2 with color Sundays <—aaalllmost there
$42K SUNDAY UPDATES UNLOCKED
$75K multi-page sensuous encounter between canon couple rendered tastefully, for backers only
re: the $75K stretch goal: Kickstarter has a policy against “pornographic materials.” But, like, Smut Peddler was a Kickstarter. So let’s at least write it in nicer words, as I have done? And stand to the side, whistling innocently?
Was rescanning “Is A Song Forever” for Roomies! Book 2, and I finished the first ugly, ugly strip and minimized it and HOLY CRAP 2013 BILLIE UNDERNEATH and I freaked out a bit.
At some point in the past 12 years I apparently learned how to draw.
2001 billie wears the largest-ass scrunchie
A while back I had a “Joyce through the ages” image compilation, and I thought I’d try it with Billie. Billie suffers though, ‘cuz I don’t have any full-body “profile” images of her from her Roomies! days, so I had to cheat and use some panels.
Man, Billie’s kind of all over the place.
Fans of Roomies! will be excited to learn of the return of Danny and Joe’s beanbag chair!
(september 17)
The DoA Book 2 Kickstarter passed $27k, so that means you can add Roomies! Book 2 to your pledges!
Well, some. I haven’t added ones that include the prints and magnet yet. Those reward extras are limited quantities, so I can’t just create those willy-nilly. If the ones available sell out, though, I’ll probably do more runs of those rewards.
Sometimes when I’m processing old Roomies! strips for bringbackroomies.com, other stuff piles up on top of them and I remember I’ve been drawing this guy for over fifteen years.
Sometimes I kinda get this weird form of vertigo when I’m processing old Roomies! strips for the BBR! site and I see old Ruth and current Ruth in the same window. It’s like Jennifer Parker stumbling onto her future self in Back to the Future 2. The universe opens up and swallows my Photoshop whole.
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