I, for one, am a huge fan of the Bettie Page Municipal Library. The rest of the world creeps me the fuck out, but the library is awesome.
Also, seeing the books fall off the shelves in panel three makes me think, “Damn it, you guys, I just spent the past hour shelf reading, and now I have to come back and put everything back in order!”
So yeah–high five Nerd and Hank, high five. Keep on being your nerdy selves.
BTW–when I say this world creeps me out, I don’t mean that as an insult or a judgement, I mean that in the sense that “Whoa, this in an interesting sci-fi dystopia and I enjoy over-analyzing the gender and sexual politics and taking them to their logical conclusions.”
Totally understood. Hell, it creeps ME out. I was hesitant to do the world entirely because it raises a TON of creepy stuff. I was VERY worried about the high five thing here, honestly, but knowing Hank and Nerd, they’d do it, even if I never would. Strange how that works, when you get in a character’s mind.
Yes, leaving this world to go back to being hunted by DE and his band of unMerry Men & Dog LOL
Is it just me finding it so odd (though I am sure future storyline will bear this out) that of all of the potential people to get some, it turns out Billie, Hank and the Nerd got their rocks off?
Okay, I’m not trying to be dumb or troll, but I don’t get the references in panels #1 & #2…Anyone care to explain it or point me in the right direction?
No worries, and you’re not dumb, they’re fairly obscure.
Risa is the Star Trek “pleasure planet” where it’s implied that constant sex and merriment occur… Lexxor is a planet where Lex Luthor went to be worshipped as a God (which, of course, was soon screwed up by Superman, unintentionally).
I don’t understand why the high five would be sexist on any world*. Does the high five somehow change the situation from not being sexist to suddenly being sexist? Couldn’t the women high five each other as well? If they are as pleased with the situation as the men are, wouldn’t they have a good enough reason to do so?
* Not counting that special world/dimension where high fives are always sexist. And racist. And so on.
Well, there’s all kinds of connotations with high fives and sex, buried culturally right now.
If you’re talking about two friends being like “All right, awesome! Good times!” Then I’m with you, and that’s the spirit of what this is supposed to be between these two.
What the Nerd is worried about as being sexist, to my mind, is that whole awful scenario in porn where guys will sometimes do something awful that denigrates women and celebrate with a high five, which he (and for that matter I) want absolutely no association with, as opposed to healthy expressions of fun.
The truth is, there’s probably scant connotation, but the page (in my intention, anyway) would call attention to the awkwardness that comes as a guy/gal from trying to decide how one celebrates sex when it comes easily, or when it happens in an awkward situation, or when all willing partners are in situations they’ve never been in before, or when, like we have now, there is a society that is sensitive (rightly) to the fact that women have been treated like garbage through the centuries in many cases sexually, and fearing feeding that.
There are all kinds of angles, but those are the ones I was considering when I made Nerd reluctant.
Hank, however, is confident, and suffers from no such worries, because in his thought process he believes that if intentions are good, all should be forgiven. I tend to share that, most of the time, but then, I’m not as nervous and socially maladroit as the Nerd.
Presumably, whatever rendered most of this world infertile doesn’t apply to the out-of-world visitors. The rape-world folks are gonna be kicking themselves when they realised the ones they let leave were NOT shooting blanks.
I like how “naked bibliophiles” is a tag.
I, for one, am a huge fan of the Bettie Page Municipal Library. The rest of the world creeps me the fuck out, but the library is awesome.
Also, seeing the books fall off the shelves in panel three makes me think, “Damn it, you guys, I just spent the past hour shelf reading, and now I have to come back and put everything back in order!”
So yeah–high five Nerd and Hank, high five. Keep on being your nerdy selves.
BTW–when I say this world creeps me out, I don’t mean that as an insult or a judgement, I mean that in the sense that “Whoa, this in an interesting sci-fi dystopia and I enjoy over-analyzing the gender and sexual politics and taking them to their logical conclusions.”
Totally understood. Hell, it creeps ME out. I was hesitant to do the world entirely because it raises a TON of creepy stuff. I was VERY worried about the high five thing here, honestly, but knowing Hank and Nerd, they’d do it, even if I never would. Strange how that works, when you get in a character’s mind.
LOL Methinks they are about to leave this world. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Yes, leaving this world to go back to being hunted by DE and his band of unMerry Men & Dog LOL
Is it just me finding it so odd (though I am sure future storyline will bear this out) that of all of the potential people to get some, it turns out Billie, Hank and the Nerd got their rocks off?
Okay, I’m not trying to be dumb or troll, but I don’t get the references in panels #1 & #2…Anyone care to explain it or point me in the right direction?
Otherwise, great work Neal 🙂
No worries, and you’re not dumb, they’re fairly obscure.
Risa is the Star Trek “pleasure planet” where it’s implied that constant sex and merriment occur… Lexxor is a planet where Lex Luthor went to be worshipped as a God (which, of course, was soon screwed up by Superman, unintentionally).
Hope that helps!
I don’t understand why the high five would be sexist on any world*. Does the high five somehow change the situation from not being sexist to suddenly being sexist? Couldn’t the women high five each other as well? If they are as pleased with the situation as the men are, wouldn’t they have a good enough reason to do so?
* Not counting that special world/dimension where high fives are always sexist. And racist. And so on.
Well, there’s all kinds of connotations with high fives and sex, buried culturally right now.
If you’re talking about two friends being like “All right, awesome! Good times!” Then I’m with you, and that’s the spirit of what this is supposed to be between these two.
What the Nerd is worried about as being sexist, to my mind, is that whole awful scenario in porn where guys will sometimes do something awful that denigrates women and celebrate with a high five, which he (and for that matter I) want absolutely no association with, as opposed to healthy expressions of fun.
The truth is, there’s probably scant connotation, but the page (in my intention, anyway) would call attention to the awkwardness that comes as a guy/gal from trying to decide how one celebrates sex when it comes easily, or when it happens in an awkward situation, or when all willing partners are in situations they’ve never been in before, or when, like we have now, there is a society that is sensitive (rightly) to the fact that women have been treated like garbage through the centuries in many cases sexually, and fearing feeding that.
There are all kinds of angles, but those are the ones I was considering when I made Nerd reluctant.
Hank, however, is confident, and suffers from no such worries, because in his thought process he believes that if intentions are good, all should be forgiven. I tend to share that, most of the time, but then, I’m not as nervous and socially maladroit as the Nerd.
There! Overthought! Heh. Hope that helps.
Presumably, whatever rendered most of this world infertile doesn’t apply to the out-of-world visitors. The rape-world folks are gonna be kicking themselves when they realised the ones they let leave were NOT shooting blanks.