Woot, first comment for once! The expressions in this page are very well-done :3 And I love how out of everything Pinter said it was the double use of normal that she blew up at xD
“Your lack of vocabulary DISGUSTS me, Pinter. Actually, it ENRAGES me. RRRRRrrrrrrrr”
Just so you know, the RSS for this site doesn’t seem to be reacting to new content promptly. I really need to know precisely when I should blow off work for The Meek :)
“Oh new page! better click to re- wait, what?! is tha-how long ha… NECK COLLARS!! OEMIGAWD!” my reaction to realizing something in your banner. Now its time to read the page!
Also: will the question when Angora is going to get some clothes (which cover her whole body) finally be answered? Check back next week, same time, same place…
I know that I’m probably the only one here, but just as I didn’t like Soli (call me old-fashioned, but there’s something about an ignorant thief who steals from old-age pensioners and then gets all in-your-face indignant when their victim dares to call her ‘ignorant’), I equally find Angora terribly annoying.
It’s the same problem, I guess. Here’s a girl who blithely assumes that anyone she encounters will drop anything they are doing to help her, but who will then start shouting at them when they dare to object to her presence or pushiness. I mean, what gave her the right to enter his tent, whack him in the face with a branch, start pootling his possessions and then, when he, exasparated, makes a remark about her hair (the least of her shortcomings, really), she’s all in his face, shouting how her hair is wonderful, somehow twisting reality, making out that HE is the rude one, while in fact he didn’t force himself on her territory, her body and her possessions.
I just can’t stand that kind of near-narcissistic self-centeredness, guilt-tripping and projection.
I agree with you about both Angora and Soli, and I think that the things that make them terrible people are the same things that make them terribly interesting characters.
Angora’s a teenage girl, though. Being self-centered, narcissistic, manipulative, and needy is par for the course, especially for someone who’s just interacting with the real world for the first time.
Oh, and yes, while I agree that (some) teenagers are needy, self-centered, narcissistic and manipulative – it is the reason people find (most) teenagers obnoxious after all – I find the level of adoration for Angora (and Soli) in the comments… disturbing.
It’s like with Soli. When she clobbered the old geezer she was robbing across the face with her (heavy, metal) gun and he stayed unconsiouc for the rest of the episode, the people on this forum went all, “woot, woot! Ain’t she cool! Yeah baby, that’s what happens when you insult The Soli! I want to marry Soli and have her babies!” and I went “What?! No!!! Robbing people and hitting them is not ‘cool’, it’s horrid!”
Strangely enough, when Luca and Phe had their (loud) argument, the same people who loved Soli’s violence and Angora’s self-centered neediness, started to shout ‘abusive husband’ when I figured that two people that love each other might very well have a loud argument, especially when one of them lived through a holocaust and the other tries to convince him to make peace with his camp guards.
I feel totally out of sync with most readers, apparantly, and I wonder wether it’s just me…
Probably differences of maturity. Also maybe you’ve been less susceptible to the current drum beat in the culture that all men are violent lecherous louts while women in all contexts are awesome.
Personally I have to trust that Helmer knows what she’s doing, and Soli, et al. will be key to the story at some point. Since I thought chapter three was bore and bought the main story to a screeching halt.
I ‘d like to know what you’ve been reading, because as far as I’ve seen men are still dominant in just about everything, fiction included, and usually as the hero. And I think there’s been a lot of portraying women as either dependent or victimized.
Yeah, I remember the pistol-whipping scene, and I also remember the people saying “Well I guess you’d want to see YOUR grandparents pistol-whipped too huh”.
No. No they don’t. Usually people can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Yes it’s not morally sound, but the fact that it’s not rooted in reality is relevant, and I don’t think any of the people who read that page went home to beat up their grandfather.
*rolls eyes* Yeah, well duh! I know the difference between reality and fantasy too, you know. It’s why I enjoy the comic. But weirdly, as I said above, nobody went “Yeah Luca, sock the argumentive b*tch in the teeth” during the ‘fight’ scene between Luca and Phe. Instead there were lots of people calling Luca ‘abusive’ for shouting at Phe.
I guess it’s one of those reverse sexism things. A girl harassing a guy and then shouting at him is funny, but a man shouting at a woman is creepy/scary/wrong, while a young man robbing and clocking an old woman is Wrong with a capital W, a young woman doing the same to an old geezer is apparantly hi-la-ri-ous.
I think it’s okay in the context of a comic. People who read the comic probably aren’t pro-abuse or pro-crime, I think they are just reading this less literally than you are. Obviously if this were a documentary they wouldn’t be saying the same sorts of things. Hopefully your annoyance is as colored by the context as their reactions are :3
I second that. For one thing, in novels or comic books, I quite like the scoundrel types. You know, the “we steal from the rich and give it to ourselves” with “no killing code”. Think Locke Lamora. I was reading the comic as it was, so it was a suprise to me that Soli was a woman – and I liked her just as much before.
Now, both Angora and Soli are purposefully portraited the way they are, it is not a case of failed writing. The author totally manages to do them justice. And I love that, and I long for a character development, because I think this selfishness will provide a wonderful conflict as their story will revolve about bigger stuff than themselves. Conflict is good for drama.
Think of it from this perspective; Pinter is probably the only person that Angora has met (outside of the monastery) that has helped her (or hasn’t chased her through the jungle to take advantage of/ knife her) and she’s putting him through the ringer. I can’t speak about Soli, but everybody has their reasons.
Great art, great facial expressions! Keep the good stuff coming!
Thank you! I think that’s the most accurate assessment of why people in this comic do the stuff they do… I try to avoid “because they are bad” and “because they are nice,” mostly it is “because they have good reasons.”
Sorry, I don’t get this from Angora at all. I don’t see her as self-centered, I see her as naive. She has no idea how people normally interact and, therefore, takes it for granted that people would help her. She doesn’t understand that most people are cynical and self-serving, looking out for number one and uninterested in helping another human being. Pinter is doing a good deed, yes, but she doesn’t get that what he’s doing is out of the norm. Not to mention Pinter seems to be withdrawing from alcohol addiction at the moment.
From one point of view it may seem she’s being rather ungrateful to poor, old Pinter. But from the other she’s only reacting to how she feels most people behave in the world.
shit, you mean this is going to be a story that will progress and have like, character development and stuff? my opinions of these characters might change along with them, as they grow? whaaat
I think people like needy characters such as Angora because for one thing we identify with them and for another people want to be needed. A guy like me would very much appreciate having a girl who needs him.
Is she still a twit if she has no idea that dressing that way would provoke bad people to accost her? Is it her fault for being naive? or is it the fault of the people who would commit the crime?
How is someone who’s spent her entire life living in the woods with a giant axylotl (sp?) as her only companion supposed to know that most women go around clothed? So far all the other humans she’s met are men and they have all been fairly spartan in the wardrobe department.
She has lived in a human community before. It’s not specified in the comic, but it’s on the wiki. They didn’t encourage her to run around naked, either.
While that is true you have to keep in mind that the Monastery where she lived is basically a colony of pacifistic jungle hippies and while they didn’t encourage her strange behaviour it seems they just let her be after a while. In any case there is no indicator that a) Angora has experiences with the rest of civilization and b) knows that men would do horrible things to her because of her lack of clothes.
Yup. And you should be able to walk around in the worst part of any town with a million bux falling from you pockets without getting robbed too, but then there is reality.
There’s victim blaming, and there’s common sense. Obviously, Angora has little of the latter, judging by her initial interactions with Pinter. She didn’t seem to know what was wrong with not having clothes. In turn, Pinter doesn’t seem to know why she doesn’t think there’s something wrong with a lack of clothing.
For comparison’s sake:
VICTIM BLAMING: “Stupid bitsh should’nta yelled at me. Sho I hit her. Bitsh. *hic*”
COMMON SENSE: “This idiot is drunk and just started yelling, quite loudly, at someone he just knocked over because he was staggering drunk. Clearly, I should aggress him.”
Obviously, this is a very basic example, and there are many, many ways for it to go, but it must be said: if you’ve not been taught which end of a knife is dangerous, it’s not your fault when you get cut. In this case, they’re both holding it by the blade, and until one of them gets nicked there won’t be any proper conclusion.
Unless, y’know, they sat down and talked it out like civil people, but civility and anger don’t tend to walk hand in hand.
I’m detecting some anti-nude sentiment here.. s’makin me uncomfortable.. bad enough some commenters here seems to think being naked gets you raped. Hopefully Angora tells him to shove it up his ass about what’s civilized.
Being promiscuous makes people assume you’re rather promiscuous.
Clothing could be an indicator, but it could also be a fluke, or a culture, or NEVER something to judge someone by.
There’s the simple fact that the male mind (which I’m quite well versed in, being that I have one) generally tends to follow between one and three core processes, around which everything else hinges:
1) I’m hungry.
2) I’m tired.
3) BOOBS!
In a society of low-class people (who, I believe, seem to learn their societal taboos more often by punishment than by example), men who have not seen a woman’s presence cannot be expected to maintain a sense of logical civility.
It’s something like why you don’t go hassling with a bear’s lunch while it’s eating: you’re gonna lose a finger or two at least.
The difference here (in keeping with the analogy) is that Angora didn’t know what the bear wanted with the food, or what the food is, or that the bear was a bear and not just a big pudgy kitten. She doesn’t perceive the threat, and as with many things, what you don’t know can indeed hurt you.
Urgh. No edit function. I really should re-read my posts prior to posting more often.
I was going to expand upon the three core processes matter to explain that it’s more indicative of the primal instinct of humans than anything else. The men in question are hardly “cultured” individuals. I’m not making excuses for their behavior, but like a parched man before water, if you put a naked woman in front of a (fairly uncultured) man who has likely been cramped up with a bunch of other guys for an extended period, his brain is going to take a back seat to his urges.
“…men who have not seen a woman’s presence in an extended period of time…” was the intended phrase there, as well.
Yeah but that just isn’t true. The least civilized people are the least reactive to nudity. It also happens the least civilized people come from the warmest parts of the world, possibly because you don’t develop as many ways to control the world around you when it’s providing all the food you need, but… I’m sure that’s coincidence.
> Being promiscuous makes people assume you’re rather promiscuous.
You’re talking about what *should* be the case in a right world. Don’t confuse the “is” with the “should”. What people assume is an *is* statement, that people are wrong to assume that is a *should* statement.
I love the facial expressions as well. The colors are excellent too, but their fingers just bother me, it looks like they’re broken or made of some bendy material.
Geez! Sure Angora’s not got the handle of how to treat other people yet, but Pinter’s being a stressed twat as much. …and yes, I love the expressions. Pinter’s specially.
Poor poor Pinter. He’s trying so hard not to lose the last vestiges of control keeping his temper in check. Were I him, I know I’d have lost it far sooner, what with the sopping wet and the (assumed but more than likely) high humidity while traipsing through the dense jungle with an obnoxious do-nothing-but-talks-your-ear-off girl trailing behind him. As usual, your expressions are amazing, and I absolutely love the face Pinter is making in the second-to-last panel while he’s counting her faults on his fingers. It’s absolutely priceless.
Sidenote: I was rereading the archives and 3.40 seems a bit blurry? fuzzy? not as high quality as the rest of the pages. Almost made me go cross-eyed when I came to it yet when it was posted way back when, I don’t remember it being that bad. Just figured I’d let you know in case it’s something easily fixed on your end.
Yeah, that’s the page that I saved over the psd file for, it’s difficult for me to find time right now to finish it again! There’s about 4 hours left in it so you’ll just have to wait until I have a moment, haha.
There’s nothing like seeing the same characters months later to show how vast the improvement in your art has been. (Not that your art was even remotely bad in the first place.)
I love that almost hesitant, cautious-sounding “Yeah?” Angora does. Like, ‘suddenly he’s answered one of my questions, but he still sounds cranky…is the answer you want…yes?’
i was afraid you weren’t ever going to show angora’s nipples. i didn’t think it was feasible to tell a story visually about a girl who doesnt wear shirts, and not include the nips. on the other hand, it’s also pretty nice you’re not focusing on them.
carry on.
I have a sort of bigger version at the Tumblr, I could give you a better one if you want though! Leave a comment if you do, I’ll make that for you when I get home B]
Ah great art as ever, atmospheric, and great expressions from Pinter.
I don’t understand why some folks are saying ‘poor Pinter’ and acting like Angora is giving him abuse? I like Pinter and appreciate his crankiness so far but I mean. Angora’s said virtually nothing in the few pages and he has been continually grumping at her! She’s been taking it better than I thought she would up to this point.
I think her age has a lot to do with how she acts, she acts younger than she is and she already is quite young really. I think that’s part of the general air of innocence and naivety she has.
Well, I’d be pissed at waking up to someone robbing me, then having to save said thief from rape, then getting nattering in my ear that I wasn’t helping them in the most convenient way for them possible.
She wants to keep going, but can’t figure out how to do what she did again…. hand her the machete and let her do the grunt work for a change, to see how easy grunt work is.
She’s offended that someone would tell her that she’s bad for doing something harmless :B From Pinter’s perspective it seems terribly irresponsible, but for her it is more like deciding to wear or not wear a necklace or something.
You’d think that after that episode with Kiz and the Gangbangers (hey, they sound like a rock band!), she’d get a clue by four.
Maybe Pinter ought to tell her. “Honey, remember those guys that chased you and hurt you? What do you think they wanted?” Or, “The only people using that road are loggers that haven’t seen a boob that wasn’t on the chest of a fat foreman. If they see you with clothes on, they might get ideas. If you walk butt naked among them, they will think Christmas has come early, take you and gangbang you until you bleed from every orifice. And then they will pause a minute and do it again. Yes, it’s Wrong of them. Yes, it’s Not Nice of them to judge you on your dress sense – or lack of it. But thems the breaks. So, there is the road. Go ahead. Hope your magic plant thingie kicks in when you need it, or you’re fucked. Literally.”
Well, she did take a clue. She put pants on. The men she saw were running around bare chested, so obviously, she thought, pants are obligatory. She seems very innocent in that matter.
She might be even pissed off at Pinter, because, you know, I did what he told me and got dressed up and he still complains!
Another reason Pinter’s so mad: with a naked chick around him all day and yet totally untouchable due to attitude, Pinter’s gotta be blue balling like crazy.
> with a naked chick around him all day and yet totally untouchable due to attitude, Pinter’s gotta be blue balling like crazy.
Uh, I seriously doubt it. For starters, when nudity becomes habitual, horniness is orthogonal to its presence. And Pinter was pretty uninterested in her nudity even from the beginning. You don’t even see his eyes move to her naked bits.
Secondly, I think that Pinter may be gay; I felt something like that was being implied in the first chapter when an other guy implied he wasn’t a “real” man.
Hahah poor Pinter and his FUUUUUU face <3 I really do feel for him although I think he's hitting his head against a brick wall in this discussion.
I was rather amused by the earlier comments on this situation that rabidly sided with angora or pinter as to Who Is Right. They're both on edge. They're having an argument. Neither I'll guess are feeling particularly rational at the moment out in the rain and muck and whatever they say back and forth, it doesn't mean Angora's an ungrateful privileged brat or that Pinter's an oppressive boor. They are both just being well…human.
YEEESSSS. HUMAN! Thanks for saying it, gardenia! I see Angora as naive and a bit ungrateful, Pinter as in an awkward situation and a bad mood. Neither of them is making any attempt at understanding the other’s point of view, so of course they’re hurting each other. But neither of them is a bad person, either. They’re in exceptional circumstances. I see the same with all the characters here, especially Soli. They have reasons for what they do–maybe not good ones, and maybe they’re aware of this fact–but the reasons are there. I can just watch and hope they begin to learn to do the right thing.
My first comment btws. ^^ This comic is one of my favorites~ever! For all the reasons I just stated–the characters are so delightfully human. Nobody is bad, but everybody’s horrible sometimes, and we get to see exactly why. To the author (not sure what I should call you): your characterization is dead-on. I love them all to death already!
I find it interesting to see these debates about the characters and what the do (or what they think they SHOULD be doing), but the best part I is that the chapter is already laid out in sketches. I enjoy the comic so far and it’s nice to see the reactions in the comments, but I’d hate for the feedback to alter the story’s path :C Some disapproving remarks will always stick with the artist after all, subtly or otherwise.
Fantastic pages! Also wish you much fun on your vacation. :3
Kinda surprised by the victim-blaming mentality in the comments. Seriously, do you guys really think clothes would have stopped Kiz and his buddies? They were a group of men hunting a girl through the woods. Clothes wouldn’t have done shit to diffuse the situation. /facepalm
As I’ve said above, seeing her with clothes on might give them ideas, but seeing her butt naked meant – in their depraved minds – that Christmas had come early.
No, it shouldn’t matter what you wear, and no, the woman ‘didn’t ask for it’ when she wore a short skirt/high heels/sexy blouse/whatever. No woman ‘asks for it’. Even prostitutes who want to have sex with men (for money) and dress provocatively don’t ‘ask’ to be raped. Rape is violence and nobody asked to be molested. I know that, you know that.
But knowing all this, would you go butt naked to a job interview at a bank? Would you sing carols at church butt naked? Would you walk butt naked into a Hells Angels pub and blithely ask, “is this the way to Albequrque?”
Nope, of course not. Social convention and good sense would prevent you from making those mistakes. One hopes.
There is a reason why Soli doesn’t go around butt naked, dealing and stealing. For one thing, nobody would take her seriously. Walking without clothes among the clothed, make people look *vulnarable* and an easy pick.
Clothes are since thousands of years one way with which people express their status, ability and desirability. Clothes, face and body paint, feathers in the hair and stars and stripes on the sleeve, all these things communicate a zillion different things. Clothes are communication. One dresses different when going out on a date than for going on a job interview, and one dressed different entirely when hanging around at home with nobody to impress but the cat.
If Soli, dressed in her ‘don’t mess with me’ outfit, had wandered among Kiz and his buddies, would they have chased her like they did Angora? Maybe. But when Soli bargained her horses away for entrance into the city with a bunch of creepy bandits, they didn’t sexually harass her, but would they be so accomondating with Angora?
I happen to hate nijabs and burqas which cover up every inch of their bodies. But if I ever have the misfortune to wander around in, say, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, I will cover myself head to toe, as much as I disagree with it, because I have no wish to be beaten in public, to be arrested, raped and/or killed for being a ‘deviant woman’. Yes, it’s not fair, yes, it’s insane, but yes, these things happen and I know it.
So no, I’m not blaming the victim, especially not since Angora has no idea what messages she unwittingly broadcasts to the sex-starved and unsophisticated male mind. But now that she does know (or should know) that the people she now wanders amongst might become violent when seeing a nubile naked girl, she should take Pinter’s advise, as Pinter seems to know the people (and their ideas about ‘proper’& ‘normal’ behaviour) better than she does.
First off, this is not about you or me. We obviously have different experiences and thus wouldn’t go around naked cause WE know it’s inappropriate in OUR culture(s). But Angora doesn’t know the customs of the society she’s stumbling into.
You are saying that you are not blaming the victim but insisting that Angora has to police her clothing (or lack of) to avoid being raped IS the very essence of victim blaming. She comes from a colony of nature loving pacifistic hippies. She doesn’t know shit about sex-starved unsophisticated male minds.
Yet still you’re commenting that Angora should instinctively come to the conclusion that these men were hunting her because she didn’t wear clothes. This is bullshit – they were hunting her because she was a girl. They would’ve also hunted her if she was fully clothed. Cause that’s what rapists do. Kiz explicitly said he hadn’t seen a woman for months and that’s why he wouldn’t give up the hunt.
Pinter on the other hand has lots of experiences with society. Of course he knows better – that’s why they’re having this argument right now. I can agree with your point insofar that you want her to wear clothes because of social convention – but NOT to avoid being raped by guys like Kiz.
> They would’ve also hunted her if she was fully clothed.
No, you don’t know that.
> I can agree with your point insofar that you want her to wear clothes because of social convention
Why would I want to defend that social convention? I’d be all in favor of having her be nude if the *only* negative consequence is that it offends people’s social conventions. Social conventions should be offended from time to time.
The reason that she shouldn’t be nude is in fact the reason whose mention offends you — that it may make her a *target*. That it may have negative repercussions on HER. That we (and the characters too) live in a shitty world, where deeds that you should be allowed to do without negative repercussion do in fact have negative repercussions.
Call it victim-blaming if you will, call it embezzlement or arson or genocide for all I care of how you call it. The point remains that advising people to be cautious is GOOD. Advising them how to be cautious is GOOD. Being cautious helps save people’s lives.
“Don’t take rides with strangers”
“Don’t tickle sleeping dragons”
“Don’t walk naked through the streets of a nation whose menfolk will tend to see that as an invitation to rape you.”
And if she goes naked and gets raped as a result of that, she would have every right to scream to people like you “Why didn’t you *tell me* it’d be unsafe to act like that?” What response would you possibly give “I didn’t want to victim-blame, so I preferred to let you get raped instead of warning you”?
Don’t confuse “is” statements about what is safe or unsafe to do, with “should” statement about what would be safe to do in an ideal world.
I find the best place to draw clothed people are places where they are forced to wait; Line at the grocery, coffee shop, bus stop, etc. You’ll get a lot of passive poses — unless they’re particularly antsy people, or the queue is moving along briskly — but plenty of clothing variety and figures.
I used to draw folks on the train. The “trying not to stare” bit led to some amusing sequences in which I drew people only when they weren’t looking, so that every time they looked back there was a more and more accurate picture of them in front of me.
Bein’ a creeper on the train. Good times, good times. (I’m a rather small woman, so maybe not too creepy, but yeah.)
sooooo… as much as I adore this page, my nitpicky self is bothered by the fact that Angora’s eyebrows have always had at least some thickness and were green, until now… she looks different without them :/
Wait, why do so many people feel sorry for Pinter again? He was sitting on his ass being drunk and feeling sorry for himself as far as I can tell, seems like being dragged on an adventure was probably an improvement. I like the character, mostly because I don’t feel sorry for him at all and I find his current frustration to be hilarious. I think he’s excellent Butt-Monkey material. Angora is a great character too. Its hard to decide who is my favorite of the main three. Angora is adorably innocent, Luca has sexy sexy sideburns, and Soli is awesomely androgynous. As you can see, my reasons for liking characters are completely justifiable and backed by impeccable logic.
Yes, he said “normal” twice – perhaps that is because it is twice as imortant as the other words. If you want to go normal places without being harrassed by “normal” people, you need to act as they do. “Different” means the same thing as “target” to an uncivil mind, and many people ain’t all that civilized, whatever they might claim. That is the point Pinter is trying to make. Dunno if he’ll be lucid enough to get it across, though.
Interestingly, I just finished a book (“The Speed of Dark” by Elizabeth Moon), where one of the main themes was what level of difference is ok for society, and how much should a person need to change to fit in. Since individuals, even ‘normal’ ones, vary widely. A quote from it: “Normal is a dryer setting.”
Good book, of course – she’s an awesome author. :)
I’ve read that book, it’s really good. Some observations the main character made could have been mine from long ago. I do not share his disorder, but I was the nerd girl, had trouble to fit in, and I’ve even tried to find out if I have some kind of autism or other disorder to justify/find clues to cope. Apparently, I don’t. Nerd girl is not a DSMIV disorder, it’s just different. Fortunately there are other nerds with a need to socialize, beep, problem solved. Turns out normal is a dryer setting.
Loving the comic so far. Though I do dislike some of the characters, the fact that I care enough to dislike them shows that you really know how to pull in your readers. Also, about the nudity vs clothed argument, it’s hardly an argument, more like an opinion…so don’t beat down on a dead horse, yah?
It’s not uncommon :B The actual color in real life (ha) would likely not be as bright, but I get to take some artistic liberties because I am super cool.
I like how this page is prompting a bunch of conversations about how socially acceptable nudity is, and whether or not it is the thing that gets a woman raped… I feel like everyone is taking the issues out of context. Nudity is obviously not socially acceptable wherever Angora and Pinter are (country/town/camp-wise, so disregarding the fact that they are currently in the middle of a jungle), and the guys at the beginning were probably after her because she is female and ALSO because she was naked, but Angora is oblivious to their motives.
Anyway, love the comic, love you, Pinter is adorable, good luck with stuff.
Unfortunately Puritanical morals associate nudity with promiscuity. That is what Pinter is trying to say, but he would have to begin by explaining to her the concept of morality from the perspective of his “civilized” life. The sad part about that is that she is perfectly beautiful and innocent without the need for rules like that. She is far more civilized that he could ever be.
You know what would be hilarious? If Pinter gets butt-naked to prove a point. A little role-reversal and we’ll see if everyone’s still humming the same tune. XD
I just want to take this opportunity to point out that, if Pinter had a full beard, he would be my husband’s cartoon clone. I won’t pretend that it doesn’t disturb me a little.
…But my guess is that Pinter will sport a rather fine mustache, while the husbeast’s Cherokee ancestry sadly prevents him from experiencing the full flower of fine facial hair. I never thought I’d be grateful for his poor endowment in the mustachio department.
That can happen in real life, more common that it’s just the areola that’s the same shade though. But I’m guessing it’s artistic license, much like how their lips are also not colored or that you can’t see eyelashes.
actually nope…women’s areolas darken after they have had children or other hormonal changes…a teenage girl like herself would most likely be lighter-colored in that area :)
Since we’re on the subject of areaolae, yes, they could be dark but some people have naturally light ones too? But mostly I didn’t think it was super necessary to color them in that panel.
This just keeps on getting better and better. The expressions, the colouring, the drama, the intrigue. It’s simply a feast for the mind and the imagination.
And man I am ANXIOUSLY waiting for the answer as to WHY she doesn’t wear a shirt! I’m staying tuned.
How come nobody is making a big deal of the fact that she *used* to wear clothing back in the memories when her grandpa(?) died?
Obviously, she’s either fallen under the bad influence of bad people who want to make her unsafe or she’s just consciously being unsafe in order to get raped. Poor lumberjacks, falling into the guise of this scheming green haired bitch.
Golly, I just had this weird dream where they were both on some weird plains with few trees and Pinter had passed out and Angora was tricked into opening consecutive gates by a shape shifting leopard!
So much foreshadowing!!! The lost one will know the way… The woman who cries but sheds no tears… The man who hates in the name of love… Pinter is obviously lost in more ways than one. There’s something bothering him that we don’t know about. Whether it’s something to do with his dad and trying to live up to expectations, I don’t know, but i believe we will find out later. Ooooh. Luca is an excellent candidate for villian!! The manipulation… Luca is going to have fight between good and evil… And Soli. What do people have against her??? The woman who cries but sheds no tears…. Stop letting men lead you by the nose… sacrifice… This woman has obviously been through a lot… And I can see she’s been hurt by somebody. Something happened to make her this way-and people can call her ignorant and whatever, but I see something more. I see deeper motives. She didn’t whack that old guy for calling her ignorant. She whacked him because she DOES know sacrifice-and caring for someone more than yourself. All of these characters are so DEEP. And as for Angora… She just saw her “Grandfather” go off in a bloody mess! Give her some slack for goodness sakes!! Anyways… I can tell this author knows what they are doing. Kudos to all the subtext and foreshadowing!! I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I will anxiously be waiting to find out!
So… does anyone else see Legschilla’s head in the second panel, right below the “Okay!” speech-bubble? Part of the tree-line? Two round, glowy eyes staring out at the audience…?
Pleeaase, say you do. I don’t want to be the only crazy one… ^^’
First comment! For me. On this comic. First: Love it. Colors, nifty. Setting, nifty. Characters, nifty. And believable! For those about to inform me that a woman/girl wandering about topless is unbelievable, may I point out that in Texas and New York, at least, it is entirely legal for women to not wear anything above the waist. And more than a tiny amount do so. Or don’t. You know what I mean.
Second: I, for one, hope Angora continues her carefree attitude towards clothing. 1) As a guy, approved. 2) As a nudist, approved. 3) As someone who enjoys a bit of ‘In your eye, society!’ (long as nobody is getting hurt), approved.
One thing that’s been bugging me is where Angora got that pair of pants from, and why she put them on since she prefers to not wear clothes. Considering the fact that she has probably been living in the jungle for quite some time she should be used to the weather patterns by now and would be able to tolerate the cold. Just curious
We saw Pinter give them to her, and the current assumption as far as I can tell is that she’s wearing them because everyone she’s met so far in the outside world has them on. Shirts… Not so much.
thedevilsmartyr: Pinter gave Angora a set of clothes when he first kicked her out of his tent. She’s been wearing them since the following day. As she covered her breasts when running from the tent the first time, I feel as if Pinter’s comments made her just self-conscious enough to wear the pants, but not enough to wear a shirt.
No one who continuously lags between pages for this length of time will ever finish a story as long as she claims this one to be. I don’t want to get further invested in a series with no likely ending. I’m out. Take care.
She should complain. In a secret identity I’ve been writing a web novel (quite NSFW in places, so I won’t post a link) for more than 12 YEARS and I’m still nowhere near finishing. I think everyone who ever expressed an interest in it must be dead by now. Sigh.
Writing without an end usually means writing without a story arc that leads towards its solution. Same for comics. Due to the story so far I’m damned sure that Der-Shing has something in mind and doesn’t tell a story without a goal (says one who writes and draws for a living).
Drawing comics is work. If you get it for free though, don’t wail about missing updates and make the artist mad.
I can’t wait for more, too. But I will. :)
i have to agree with jennifer. i was excited when i discovered “the meek” a couple months ago – what there is of it so far is great – but it seems to be going nowhere. maybe i’ll remember to check back in a year or two…
Hope everything is well with you!
I don’t read every comic every day anyway..l I save the most recent then come back and read a whole bunch at a time, so oftener updates don’t matter as much… Sometimes, Life Interfers ;)
I’ll be back. LOL
Wow why do people even bother commenting on a public forum if it’s a complaint about updates? Go directly to the author, or just leave if you’re really going to. It’s free to read, and no one is forcing you to do anything. Stop being a prat. :P
Regards to the story: I was wondering when Pinter was finally going to get fed up with a few things lol
206 Comments
Woot, first comment for once! The expressions in this page are very well-done :3 And I love how out of everything Pinter said it was the double use of normal that she blew up at xD
Hehe, I wonder if Der-Shing instinctively pulls the faces she’s drawing at that time; must be quite the sight. :D
I’m not sure if it’s the extra rain or what, but the lines on this page are extra dynamic and wonderful!
Oh my goodness that last panel of Pinter made me giggle. You have a gift with gestures and expressions.
Nuuuuuu, Pinter, why are you trying to cover them up? :(
>:[_________}
Is that your “I-just-lost-faith-in-humanity!” or your “Philistine!!!” face?
“Your lack of vocabulary DISGUSTS me, Pinter. Actually, it ENRAGES me. RRRRRrrrrrrrr”
Just so you know, the RSS for this site doesn’t seem to be reacting to new content promptly. I really need to know precisely when I should blow off work for The Meek :)
Love, love love this comic
At least Pinter decides to take care of that elephant in the room.
Took him long enough.
Pinter’s been trying to get her to put clothes on since he met her. XD
Funny, most men I know are always trying to do the opposite.
No way.
for some crazy reason as i was reading this i actually heard the sound of rain in my head >.<
Me too :)
I just noticed, the favicon is gone.
“Oh new page! better click to re- wait, what?! is tha-how long ha… NECK COLLARS!! OEMIGAWD!” my reaction to realizing something in your banner. Now its time to read the page!
I think Pinter doesn’t like rain.
Also: will the question when Angora is going to get some clothes (which cover her whole body) finally be answered? Check back next week, same time, same place…
AH, THERE we go. I totally was expecting everyone to act as if Angora’s toplessness was no big deal.
Maybe it is no big deal. I actually share Angora’s attitudes about clothing :P
Hahahaha oh my god
These faces are simply the best. Just another reason why I love this comic.
B:
The last two panels are glorious. I love these two so much :)
Dersching, Y U NO USE MEMES?
Memes aren’t needed to make things funny you know.
“You said ‘normal’ twice!” BOOM!
Don’t PO the druidess in a rainstorm, lightning may follow.
So…she’s decided against taking the road, then. Got it. :}
Izzat right?
I love pinters face SO MUCH, in the second last panel!! Ha ha!!!
He’s such a great charatcer! So is Angora!
XD Oh my god, the expressions on this page are fantastic.
Pinter’s face in that bottom panel is the most hilarious face ever. xD Love it <3
Imagine she’s just trolling the dude all along
“U mad, Pinter?”
I know that I’m probably the only one here, but just as I didn’t like Soli (call me old-fashioned, but there’s something about an ignorant thief who steals from old-age pensioners and then gets all in-your-face indignant when their victim dares to call her ‘ignorant’), I equally find Angora terribly annoying.
It’s the same problem, I guess. Here’s a girl who blithely assumes that anyone she encounters will drop anything they are doing to help her, but who will then start shouting at them when they dare to object to her presence or pushiness. I mean, what gave her the right to enter his tent, whack him in the face with a branch, start pootling his possessions and then, when he, exasparated, makes a remark about her hair (the least of her shortcomings, really), she’s all in his face, shouting how her hair is wonderful, somehow twisting reality, making out that HE is the rude one, while in fact he didn’t force himself on her territory, her body and her possessions.
I just can’t stand that kind of near-narcissistic self-centeredness, guilt-tripping and projection.
I agree with you about both Angora and Soli, and I think that the things that make them terrible people are the same things that make them terribly interesting characters.
Angora’s a teenage girl, though. Being self-centered, narcissistic, manipulative, and needy is par for the course, especially for someone who’s just interacting with the real world for the first time.
Oh, I agree that they are interesting & stuff. I love the comic! I just don’t love some of the characters :-)
Oh, and yes, while I agree that (some) teenagers are needy, self-centered, narcissistic and manipulative – it is the reason people find (most) teenagers obnoxious after all – I find the level of adoration for Angora (and Soli) in the comments… disturbing.
It’s like with Soli. When she clobbered the old geezer she was robbing across the face with her (heavy, metal) gun and he stayed unconsiouc for the rest of the episode, the people on this forum went all, “woot, woot! Ain’t she cool! Yeah baby, that’s what happens when you insult The Soli! I want to marry Soli and have her babies!” and I went “What?! No!!! Robbing people and hitting them is not ‘cool’, it’s horrid!”
Strangely enough, when Luca and Phe had their (loud) argument, the same people who loved Soli’s violence and Angora’s self-centered neediness, started to shout ‘abusive husband’ when I figured that two people that love each other might very well have a loud argument, especially when one of them lived through a holocaust and the other tries to convince him to make peace with his camp guards.
I feel totally out of sync with most readers, apparantly, and I wonder wether it’s just me…
Probably differences of maturity. Also maybe you’ve been less susceptible to the current drum beat in the culture that all men are violent lecherous louts while women in all contexts are awesome.
Personally I have to trust that Helmer knows what she’s doing, and Soli, et al. will be key to the story at some point. Since I thought chapter three was bore and bought the main story to a screeching halt.
I ‘d like to know what you’ve been reading, because as far as I’ve seen men are still dominant in just about everything, fiction included, and usually as the hero. And I think there’s been a lot of portraying women as either dependent or victimized.
Yeah, I remember the pistol-whipping scene, and I also remember the people saying “Well I guess you’d want to see YOUR grandparents pistol-whipped too huh”.
No. No they don’t. Usually people can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Yes it’s not morally sound, but the fact that it’s not rooted in reality is relevant, and I don’t think any of the people who read that page went home to beat up their grandfather.
*rolls eyes* Yeah, well duh! I know the difference between reality and fantasy too, you know. It’s why I enjoy the comic. But weirdly, as I said above, nobody went “Yeah Luca, sock the argumentive b*tch in the teeth” during the ‘fight’ scene between Luca and Phe. Instead there were lots of people calling Luca ‘abusive’ for shouting at Phe.
I guess it’s one of those reverse sexism things. A girl harassing a guy and then shouting at him is funny, but a man shouting at a woman is creepy/scary/wrong, while a young man robbing and clocking an old woman is Wrong with a capital W, a young woman doing the same to an old geezer is apparantly hi-la-ri-ous.
@Jrue Sh*t, nobody else did that? Now I just feel stupid.
I think it’s okay in the context of a comic. People who read the comic probably aren’t pro-abuse or pro-crime, I think they are just reading this less literally than you are. Obviously if this were a documentary they wouldn’t be saying the same sorts of things. Hopefully your annoyance is as colored by the context as their reactions are :3
Just goes to show you what kind of people read this comic, I suppose. Where was that person who made the “I-just-lost-faith-in-reality!” face?
I second that. For one thing, in novels or comic books, I quite like the scoundrel types. You know, the “we steal from the rich and give it to ourselves” with “no killing code”. Think Locke Lamora. I was reading the comic as it was, so it was a suprise to me that Soli was a woman – and I liked her just as much before.
Now, both Angora and Soli are purposefully portraited the way they are, it is not a case of failed writing. The author totally manages to do them justice. And I love that, and I long for a character development, because I think this selfishness will provide a wonderful conflict as their story will revolve about bigger stuff than themselves. Conflict is good for drama.
Think of it from this perspective; Pinter is probably the only person that Angora has met (outside of the monastery) that has helped her (or hasn’t chased her through the jungle to take advantage of/ knife her) and she’s putting him through the ringer. I can’t speak about Soli, but everybody has their reasons.
Great art, great facial expressions! Keep the good stuff coming!
Thank you! I think that’s the most accurate assessment of why people in this comic do the stuff they do… I try to avoid “because they are bad” and “because they are nice,” mostly it is “because they have good reasons.”
…and that’s a big part of why I love the comic/the storyline/the characters 8D
Sorry, I don’t get this from Angora at all. I don’t see her as self-centered, I see her as naive. She has no idea how people normally interact and, therefore, takes it for granted that people would help her. She doesn’t understand that most people are cynical and self-serving, looking out for number one and uninterested in helping another human being. Pinter is doing a good deed, yes, but she doesn’t get that what he’s doing is out of the norm. Not to mention Pinter seems to be withdrawing from alcohol addiction at the moment.
From one point of view it may seem she’s being rather ungrateful to poor, old Pinter. But from the other she’s only reacting to how she feels most people behave in the world.
Although isn’t this still near the beginning of the comic? The Meek (in its entirety) is going to be long. Time will tell how Angora and Soli change.
Hell, if you look at Woody from Toy Story from just the first part of the first movie, he’s honestly a pretty damn unlikeable guy.
I’m not arguing that Angora might not be annoying, but I am saying that I almost somewhat expect that of her character at this point.
shit, you mean this is going to be a story that will progress and have like, character development and stuff? my opinions of these characters might change along with them, as they grow? whaaat
I think people like needy characters such as Angora because for one thing we identify with them and for another people want to be needed. A guy like me would very much appreciate having a girl who needs him.
Poor Pinter. He does his best to keep the ungrateful twit from being gang-banged and all he gets is abuse.
Is she still a twit if she has no idea that dressing that way would provoke bad people to accost her? Is it her fault for being naive? or is it the fault of the people who would commit the crime?
^THIS.
How is someone who’s spent her entire life living in the woods with a giant axylotl (sp?) as her only companion supposed to know that most women go around clothed? So far all the other humans she’s met are men and they have all been fairly spartan in the wardrobe department.
She has lived in a human community before. It’s not specified in the comic, but it’s on the wiki. They didn’t encourage her to run around naked, either.
While that is true you have to keep in mind that the Monastery where she lived is basically a colony of pacifistic jungle hippies and while they didn’t encourage her strange behaviour it seems they just let her be after a while. In any case there is no indicator that a) Angora has experiences with the rest of civilization and b) knows that men would do horrible things to her because of her lack of clothes.
:\ Because one’s state of dress is directly connected to whether or not they are “gang-banged”…? That sounds like victim-blaming, to me.
Yup. And you should be able to walk around in the worst part of any town with a million bux falling from you pockets without getting robbed too, but then there is reality.
There’s victim blaming, and there’s common sense. Obviously, Angora has little of the latter, judging by her initial interactions with Pinter. She didn’t seem to know what was wrong with not having clothes. In turn, Pinter doesn’t seem to know why she doesn’t think there’s something wrong with a lack of clothing.
For comparison’s sake:
VICTIM BLAMING: “Stupid bitsh should’nta yelled at me. Sho I hit her. Bitsh. *hic*”
COMMON SENSE: “This idiot is drunk and just started yelling, quite loudly, at someone he just knocked over because he was staggering drunk. Clearly, I should aggress him.”
Obviously, this is a very basic example, and there are many, many ways for it to go, but it must be said: if you’ve not been taught which end of a knife is dangerous, it’s not your fault when you get cut. In this case, they’re both holding it by the blade, and until one of them gets nicked there won’t be any proper conclusion.
Unless, y’know, they sat down and talked it out like civil people, but civility and anger don’t tend to walk hand in hand.
Isn’t driving rain always the backdrop for things being said out of anger?
The expressions in this page alone make me laugh XD
I’m detecting some anti-nude sentiment here.. s’makin me uncomfortable.. bad enough some commenters here seems to think being naked gets you raped. Hopefully Angora tells him to shove it up his ass about what’s civilized.
Yeah, it’s kind of interesting to hear this kind of reaction :B
Being naked makes people assume you’re rather promiscuous.
Being promiscuous makes people assume you’re rather promiscuous.
Clothing could be an indicator, but it could also be a fluke, or a culture, or NEVER something to judge someone by.
There’s the simple fact that the male mind (which I’m quite well versed in, being that I have one) generally tends to follow between one and three core processes, around which everything else hinges:
1) I’m hungry.
2) I’m tired.
3) BOOBS!
In a society of low-class people (who, I believe, seem to learn their societal taboos more often by punishment than by example), men who have not seen a woman’s presence cannot be expected to maintain a sense of logical civility.
It’s something like why you don’t go hassling with a bear’s lunch while it’s eating: you’re gonna lose a finger or two at least.
The difference here (in keeping with the analogy) is that Angora didn’t know what the bear wanted with the food, or what the food is, or that the bear was a bear and not just a big pudgy kitten. She doesn’t perceive the threat, and as with many things, what you don’t know can indeed hurt you.
Urgh. No edit function. I really should re-read my posts prior to posting more often.
I was going to expand upon the three core processes matter to explain that it’s more indicative of the primal instinct of humans than anything else. The men in question are hardly “cultured” individuals. I’m not making excuses for their behavior, but like a parched man before water, if you put a naked woman in front of a (fairly uncultured) man who has likely been cramped up with a bunch of other guys for an extended period, his brain is going to take a back seat to his urges.
“…men who have not seen a woman’s presence in an extended period of time…” was the intended phrase there, as well.
Yeah but that just isn’t true. The least civilized people are the least reactive to nudity. It also happens the least civilized people come from the warmest parts of the world, possibly because you don’t develop as many ways to control the world around you when it’s providing all the food you need, but… I’m sure that’s coincidence.
> Being promiscuous makes people assume you’re rather promiscuous.
You’re talking about what *should* be the case in a right world. Don’t confuse the “is” with the “should”. What people assume is an *is* statement, that people are wrong to assume that is a *should* statement.
I love the facial expressions as well. The colors are excellent too, but their fingers just bother me, it looks like they’re broken or made of some bendy material.
Geez! Sure Angora’s not got the handle of how to treat other people yet, but Pinter’s being a stressed twat as much. …and yes, I love the expressions. Pinter’s specially.
Poor poor Pinter. He’s trying so hard not to lose the last vestiges of control keeping his temper in check. Were I him, I know I’d have lost it far sooner, what with the sopping wet and the (assumed but more than likely) high humidity while traipsing through the dense jungle with an obnoxious do-nothing-but-talks-your-ear-off girl trailing behind him. As usual, your expressions are amazing, and I absolutely love the face Pinter is making in the second-to-last panel while he’s counting her faults on his fingers. It’s absolutely priceless.
Sidenote: I was rereading the archives and 3.40 seems a bit blurry? fuzzy? not as high quality as the rest of the pages. Almost made me go cross-eyed when I came to it yet when it was posted way back when, I don’t remember it being that bad. Just figured I’d let you know in case it’s something easily fixed on your end.
Yeah, that’s the page that I saved over the psd file for, it’s difficult for me to find time right now to finish it again! There’s about 4 hours left in it so you’ll just have to wait until I have a moment, haha.
Pinter’s “Y U NO” face is awesome :D
I’m loving the colours on these pages btw.
Love that 4th panel as well. The expression, color and lighting are so incredible.
His left hand looks so deformed though. xD It’s amusing.
I love the way you shade teeth. Oh the teeth.
Pinter is my new favorite character.
I don’t even care man.
Also:
Pinter obviously has SO MENY WERDS trying to get out at once he can’t even cope.
His expression conveys his frustration perfecttly.
I love the third panel! The colours suit the atmosphere (like they always do)!
There’s nothing like seeing the same characters months later to show how vast the improvement in your art has been. (Not that your art was even remotely bad in the first place.)
Really loving this.
Yeah, not bad, but not where I wanted it either XD I wonder how Chapter 7 will look in comparison to this one!
Chapter 7? Good to know that this won’t be ending any time soon! :D
I love that almost hesitant, cautious-sounding “Yeah?” Angora does. Like, ‘suddenly he’s answered one of my questions, but he still sounds cranky…is the answer you want…yes?’
what a guy. i love pinter.
i was afraid you weren’t ever going to show angora’s nipples. i didn’t think it was feasible to tell a story visually about a girl who doesnt wear shirts, and not include the nips. on the other hand, it’s also pretty nice you’re not focusing on them.
carry on.
Poor guy is trying to make a valid point! but i guess saying normal twice in one sentence is unacceptable. :D
Can I request panel 4 without speech bubbles?
I have a sort of bigger version at the Tumblr, I could give you a better one if you want though! Leave a comment if you do, I’ll make that for you when I get home B]
I would love one!
For times when there are no words and yet so many
Angry Pinter is funny Pinter.
(at least for us to watch)
I’m just really happy to see these two again, it seems like FOREVAR since chapter one!
nothing’s more infuriating than someone saying “normal” twice
Pinter.
I love you.
Well he’s got a point… !
You will come back from Texas wearing cowboy boots and then nothing will ever be the same.
I just saw your note! Are you coming to Webcomic Rampage at Dragon’s Lair as a sekrit guest or whatnot? https://www.facebook.com/events/187909181294724/
Nope! I’m coming here to play Katamari and eat kolaches and do nothing else very important.
Good place to do it! Enjoy!
Ah great art as ever, atmospheric, and great expressions from Pinter.
I don’t understand why some folks are saying ‘poor Pinter’ and acting like Angora is giving him abuse? I like Pinter and appreciate his crankiness so far but I mean. Angora’s said virtually nothing in the few pages and he has been continually grumping at her! She’s been taking it better than I thought she would up to this point.
I think her age has a lot to do with how she acts, she acts younger than she is and she already is quite young really. I think that’s part of the general air of innocence and naivety she has.
Yeah, you’ve hit it on the head. In a few pages it will be more obvious what the bug up Pinter’s ass is.
Oh I thought it was simple, really…Angora has better cleavage than he does and it’s making him self-conscious
:B
I have the sneaking suspicion that he is in detox
Well, I’d be pissed at waking up to someone robbing me, then having to save said thief from rape, then getting nattering in my ear that I wasn’t helping them in the most convenient way for them possible.
She wants to keep going, but can’t figure out how to do what she did again…. hand her the machete and let her do the grunt work for a change, to see how easy grunt work is.
Your expressions are AWESOME!
Tell me, does Angora have something against clothes? Is she offended by his comment that she’s not normal?
She’s offended that someone would tell her that she’s bad for doing something harmless :B From Pinter’s perspective it seems terribly irresponsible, but for her it is more like deciding to wear or not wear a necklace or something.
You’d think that after that episode with Kiz and the Gangbangers (hey, they sound like a rock band!), she’d get a clue by four.
Maybe Pinter ought to tell her. “Honey, remember those guys that chased you and hurt you? What do you think they wanted?” Or, “The only people using that road are loggers that haven’t seen a boob that wasn’t on the chest of a fat foreman. If they see you with clothes on, they might get ideas. If you walk butt naked among them, they will think Christmas has come early, take you and gangbang you until you bleed from every orifice. And then they will pause a minute and do it again. Yes, it’s Wrong of them. Yes, it’s Not Nice of them to judge you on your dress sense – or lack of it. But thems the breaks. So, there is the road. Go ahead. Hope your magic plant thingie kicks in when you need it, or you’re fucked. Literally.”
Crude, but effective. One hopes.
Maybe! I can see a more cynical person thinking that way, but Angora is not that person.
Well, she did take a clue. She put pants on. The men she saw were running around bare chested, so obviously, she thought, pants are obligatory. She seems very innocent in that matter.
She might be even pissed off at Pinter, because, you know, I did what he told me and got dressed up and he still complains!
I was already wondering when Pinter would say something about Angora’s… ya know… bosom…:p
Finding the point. Angora knows how to do it. XD
Another reason Pinter’s so mad: with a naked chick around him all day and yet totally untouchable due to attitude, Pinter’s gotta be blue balling like crazy.
> with a naked chick around him all day and yet totally untouchable due to attitude, Pinter’s gotta be blue balling like crazy.
Uh, I seriously doubt it. For starters, when nudity becomes habitual, horniness is orthogonal to its presence. And Pinter was pretty uninterested in her nudity even from the beginning. You don’t even see his eyes move to her naked bits.
Secondly, I think that Pinter may be gay; I felt something like that was being implied in the first chapter when an other guy implied he wasn’t a “real” man.
Startin’ to see a beard on Pinter, kinda wonderin’ what that’ll look like in a short week or two.
Santa beard? Good for the season yes?
Good for straining soup!
Hahah poor Pinter and his FUUUUUU face <3 I really do feel for him although I think he's hitting his head against a brick wall in this discussion.
I was rather amused by the earlier comments on this situation that rabidly sided with angora or pinter as to Who Is Right. They're both on edge. They're having an argument. Neither I'll guess are feeling particularly rational at the moment out in the rain and muck and whatever they say back and forth, it doesn't mean Angora's an ungrateful privileged brat or that Pinter's an oppressive boor. They are both just being well…human.
YEEESSSS. HUMAN! Thanks for saying it, gardenia! I see Angora as naive and a bit ungrateful, Pinter as in an awkward situation and a bad mood. Neither of them is making any attempt at understanding the other’s point of view, so of course they’re hurting each other. But neither of them is a bad person, either. They’re in exceptional circumstances. I see the same with all the characters here, especially Soli. They have reasons for what they do–maybe not good ones, and maybe they’re aware of this fact–but the reasons are there. I can just watch and hope they begin to learn to do the right thing.
My first comment btws. ^^ This comic is one of my favorites~ever! For all the reasons I just stated–the characters are so delightfully human. Nobody is bad, but everybody’s horrible sometimes, and we get to see exactly why. To the author (not sure what I should call you): your characterization is dead-on. I love them all to death already!
Fantastic art as always, alex!
I find it interesting to see these debates about the characters and what the do (or what they think they SHOULD be doing), but the best part I is that the chapter is already laid out in sketches. I enjoy the comic so far and it’s nice to see the reactions in the comments, but I’d hate for the feedback to alter the story’s path :C Some disapproving remarks will always stick with the artist after all, subtly or otherwise.
Angora, the questions that you did in the first panel are great. Please keep them going.
“You said ‘normal’ twice!”
Best comeback ever XD
Fantastic pages! Also wish you much fun on your vacation. :3
Kinda surprised by the victim-blaming mentality in the comments. Seriously, do you guys really think clothes would have stopped Kiz and his buddies? They were a group of men hunting a girl through the woods. Clothes wouldn’t have done shit to diffuse the situation. /facepalm
Great way of twisting my words, Sabrina!
As I’ve said above, seeing her with clothes on might give them ideas, but seeing her butt naked meant – in their depraved minds – that Christmas had come early.
No, it shouldn’t matter what you wear, and no, the woman ‘didn’t ask for it’ when she wore a short skirt/high heels/sexy blouse/whatever. No woman ‘asks for it’. Even prostitutes who want to have sex with men (for money) and dress provocatively don’t ‘ask’ to be raped. Rape is violence and nobody asked to be molested. I know that, you know that.
But knowing all this, would you go butt naked to a job interview at a bank? Would you sing carols at church butt naked? Would you walk butt naked into a Hells Angels pub and blithely ask, “is this the way to Albequrque?”
Nope, of course not. Social convention and good sense would prevent you from making those mistakes. One hopes.
There is a reason why Soli doesn’t go around butt naked, dealing and stealing. For one thing, nobody would take her seriously. Walking without clothes among the clothed, make people look *vulnarable* and an easy pick.
Clothes are since thousands of years one way with which people express their status, ability and desirability. Clothes, face and body paint, feathers in the hair and stars and stripes on the sleeve, all these things communicate a zillion different things. Clothes are communication. One dresses different when going out on a date than for going on a job interview, and one dressed different entirely when hanging around at home with nobody to impress but the cat.
If Soli, dressed in her ‘don’t mess with me’ outfit, had wandered among Kiz and his buddies, would they have chased her like they did Angora? Maybe. But when Soli bargained her horses away for entrance into the city with a bunch of creepy bandits, they didn’t sexually harass her, but would they be so accomondating with Angora?
I happen to hate nijabs and burqas which cover up every inch of their bodies. But if I ever have the misfortune to wander around in, say, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, I will cover myself head to toe, as much as I disagree with it, because I have no wish to be beaten in public, to be arrested, raped and/or killed for being a ‘deviant woman’. Yes, it’s not fair, yes, it’s insane, but yes, these things happen and I know it.
So no, I’m not blaming the victim, especially not since Angora has no idea what messages she unwittingly broadcasts to the sex-starved and unsophisticated male mind. But now that she does know (or should know) that the people she now wanders amongst might become violent when seeing a nubile naked girl, she should take Pinter’s advise, as Pinter seems to know the people (and their ideas about ‘proper’& ‘normal’ behaviour) better than she does.
Way to miss the point, Marion!
First off, this is not about you or me. We obviously have different experiences and thus wouldn’t go around naked cause WE know it’s inappropriate in OUR culture(s). But Angora doesn’t know the customs of the society she’s stumbling into.
You are saying that you are not blaming the victim but insisting that Angora has to police her clothing (or lack of) to avoid being raped IS the very essence of victim blaming. She comes from a colony of nature loving pacifistic hippies. She doesn’t know shit about sex-starved unsophisticated male minds.
Yet still you’re commenting that Angora should instinctively come to the conclusion that these men were hunting her because she didn’t wear clothes. This is bullshit – they were hunting her because she was a girl. They would’ve also hunted her if she was fully clothed. Cause that’s what rapists do. Kiz explicitly said he hadn’t seen a woman for months and that’s why he wouldn’t give up the hunt.
Pinter on the other hand has lots of experiences with society. Of course he knows better – that’s why they’re having this argument right now. I can agree with your point insofar that you want her to wear clothes because of social convention – but NOT to avoid being raped by guys like Kiz.
> They would’ve also hunted her if she was fully clothed.
No, you don’t know that.
> I can agree with your point insofar that you want her to wear clothes because of social convention
Why would I want to defend that social convention? I’d be all in favor of having her be nude if the *only* negative consequence is that it offends people’s social conventions. Social conventions should be offended from time to time.
The reason that she shouldn’t be nude is in fact the reason whose mention offends you — that it may make her a *target*. That it may have negative repercussions on HER. That we (and the characters too) live in a shitty world, where deeds that you should be allowed to do without negative repercussion do in fact have negative repercussions.
Call it victim-blaming if you will, call it embezzlement or arson or genocide for all I care of how you call it. The point remains that advising people to be cautious is GOOD. Advising them how to be cautious is GOOD. Being cautious helps save people’s lives.
“Don’t take rides with strangers”
“Don’t tickle sleeping dragons”
“Don’t walk naked through the streets of a nation whose menfolk will tend to see that as an invitation to rape you.”
And if she goes naked and gets raped as a result of that, she would have every right to scream to people like you “Why didn’t you *tell me* it’d be unsafe to act like that?” What response would you possibly give “I didn’t want to victim-blame, so I preferred to let you get raped instead of warning you”?
Don’t confuse “is” statements about what is safe or unsafe to do, with “should” statement about what would be safe to do in an ideal world.
srs bsns!
Ugh. It’s the same everywhere you go: want to do things the easy way, got to put on clothes. What’s so great about clothes? Geez.
The fact that the vast, overwhelming majority of people who you would see naked would have you scrubbing out your eyes with steel wool and lye?
Any metal object applied the eyes would do really.
But then the last thing you’d ever see is said naked people! The memory would scar your brain!
I’m in art school. I draw naked people almost weekly.
It hasn’t stopped being weird yet, and you’d be surprised at the variety of places in which people have fat deposits.
I’m really hoping that we can get a clothed model one of these days, because I do feel like my eyes need a rest.
I find the best place to draw clothed people are places where they are forced to wait; Line at the grocery, coffee shop, bus stop, etc. You’ll get a lot of passive poses — unless they’re particularly antsy people, or the queue is moving along briskly — but plenty of clothing variety and figures.
Just be discrete and try not to stare.
I used to draw folks on the train. The “trying not to stare” bit led to some amusing sequences in which I drew people only when they weren’t looking, so that every time they looked back there was a more and more accurate picture of them in front of me.
Bein’ a creeper on the train. Good times, good times. (I’m a rather small woman, so maybe not too creepy, but yeah.)
sooooo… as much as I adore this page, my nitpicky self is bothered by the fact that Angora’s eyebrows have always had at least some thickness and were green, until now… she looks different without them :/
Haha, honestly I don’t remember her eyebrows from chapter 1, I should go back to look! Thanks for pointing that out :3
Wait, why do so many people feel sorry for Pinter again? He was sitting on his ass being drunk and feeling sorry for himself as far as I can tell, seems like being dragged on an adventure was probably an improvement. I like the character, mostly because I don’t feel sorry for him at all and I find his current frustration to be hilarious. I think he’s excellent Butt-Monkey material. Angora is a great character too. Its hard to decide who is my favorite of the main three. Angora is adorably innocent, Luca has sexy sexy sideburns, and Soli is awesomely androgynous. As you can see, my reasons for liking characters are completely justifiable and backed by impeccable logic.
Oh, ~shirt~, mon. XD
Is it wrong to ship these two? I have this horrible urge to ship them.
Yes, he said “normal” twice – perhaps that is because it is twice as imortant as the other words. If you want to go normal places without being harrassed by “normal” people, you need to act as they do. “Different” means the same thing as “target” to an uncivil mind, and many people ain’t all that civilized, whatever they might claim. That is the point Pinter is trying to make. Dunno if he’ll be lucid enough to get it across, though.
Interestingly, I just finished a book (“The Speed of Dark” by Elizabeth Moon), where one of the main themes was what level of difference is ok for society, and how much should a person need to change to fit in. Since individuals, even ‘normal’ ones, vary widely. A quote from it: “Normal is a dryer setting.”
Good book, of course – she’s an awesome author. :)
I’ve read that book, it’s really good. Some observations the main character made could have been mine from long ago. I do not share his disorder, but I was the nerd girl, had trouble to fit in, and I’ve even tried to find out if I have some kind of autism or other disorder to justify/find clues to cope. Apparently, I don’t. Nerd girl is not a DSMIV disorder, it’s just different. Fortunately there are other nerds with a need to socialize, beep, problem solved. Turns out normal is a dryer setting.
Loving the comic so far. Though I do dislike some of the characters, the fact that I care enough to dislike them shows that you really know how to pull in your readers. Also, about the nudity vs clothed argument, it’s hardly an argument, more like an opinion…so don’t beat down on a dead horse, yah?
Jeez,
Pinter is such a puritan. Lighten up, man. I doubt he’d want to go to Burning Man.
Second comment, er, but I was just wondering about Pinter’s tattoo? Is that bright blue a common color for them?
It’s not uncommon :B The actual color in real life (ha) would likely not be as bright, but I get to take some artistic liberties because I am super cool.
I like how this page is prompting a bunch of conversations about how socially acceptable nudity is, and whether or not it is the thing that gets a woman raped… I feel like everyone is taking the issues out of context. Nudity is obviously not socially acceptable wherever Angora and Pinter are (country/town/camp-wise, so disregarding the fact that they are currently in the middle of a jungle), and the guys at the beginning were probably after her because she is female and ALSO because she was naked, but Angora is oblivious to their motives.
Anyway, love the comic, love you, Pinter is adorable, good luck with stuff.
Decoy tells it like it is XD
And thanks!
Unfortunately Puritanical morals associate nudity with promiscuity. That is what Pinter is trying to say, but he would have to begin by explaining to her the concept of morality from the perspective of his “civilized” life. The sad part about that is that she is perfectly beautiful and innocent without the need for rules like that. She is far more civilized that he could ever be.
You know what would be hilarious? If Pinter gets butt-naked to prove a point. A little role-reversal and we’ll see if everyone’s still humming the same tune. XD
How irresponsible >:c Do you want all those hormone-crazed horny women to ravage him?? Though I guess he’d be asking for it, dressing that way.
Pinter’d just be playing hard to get, flashing his bare moobs and surliness and hairy sweaty pits around…He knows he wants it, it’s so obvious…
He wouldn’t be fully nude until he took off the hat, which he seems to uncomfortable doing.
You can keep your hat on!
As long as there are strategically placed leaves involved, I’m game. :P
You need to post a new page or you’ll be compiling books of our incessant theorizing on the concept of civilization.
Run Hellmouth! Hide! Now that’s you’ve revealed alexds1’s underhanded plans he’ll need to eliminate you to move forward with them!
lol believe me I’m going as fast as I can XD
I just want to take this opportunity to point out that, if Pinter had a full beard, he would be my husband’s cartoon clone. I won’t pretend that it doesn’t disturb me a little.
Hohoho it would be a shame if Pinter had a full beard in future chapters
O_O Now then that WILL be disturbing.
…But my guess is that Pinter will sport a rather fine mustache, while the husbeast’s Cherokee ancestry sadly prevents him from experiencing the full flower of fine facial hair. I never thought I’d be grateful for his poor endowment in the mustachio department.
By the way, love the coloring in this chapter! :D
Love the dialogue on this page, both the layout of the speech bubbles and the speech itself, so natural in its flow :)
Is the fact that her nipples are just as white as the rest of her skin bothering anyone else? Aside from that it’s wonderful
That can happen in real life, more common that it’s just the areola that’s the same shade though. But I’m guessing it’s artistic license, much like how their lips are also not colored or that you can’t see eyelashes.
*useless fact*
actually nope…women’s areolas darken after they have had children or other hormonal changes…a teenage girl like herself would most likely be lighter-colored in that area :)
Since we’re on the subject of areaolae, yes, they could be dark but some people have naturally light ones too? But mostly I didn’t think it was super necessary to color them in that panel.
they do look off, though :v golly, this is a weird topic of discussion.
mmm nipple
It bothered me, so I slipped a peek at my nips. They’re pretty much the same color as the surrounding skin, so I guess that’s normal!
I want to but then I’d feel awkward after…Oh well!
Yup, I’m normal!
On average they are usually the same color as a woman’s lips after puberty. men seem to be all over the place when it comes to color.
I’ve just looked at mine and they’re definitely pinker than the rest of my skin … I guess it just varies between individuals.
High-five for weird comments! =D
This just keeps on getting better and better. The expressions, the colouring, the drama, the intrigue. It’s simply a feast for the mind and the imagination.
And man I am ANXIOUSLY waiting for the answer as to WHY she doesn’t wear a shirt! I’m staying tuned.
The bittersweet victory of catching up to a comic.
Love it, by the way. The art is fantastic!
How come nobody is making a big deal of the fact that she *used* to wear clothing back in the memories when her grandpa(?) died?
Obviously, she’s either fallen under the bad influence of bad people who want to make her unsafe or she’s just consciously being unsafe in order to get raped. Poor lumberjacks, falling into the guise of this scheming green haired bitch.
And some say Angora’s eyes grew three sizes that day.
I’ve been wondering for a while… do you know what exactly is holding up Angora’s ponytail? An insignificant detail, I know…
A formspring question of that earlier said it’s a little piece of string or something.
Next page will be covered in BLOOOOOD!
Your art has improved so much since we’ve last seen Angora!
I personally don’t mind the no shirt thing she has going on…
i kinda wish she did wear a shirt :P
Golly, I just had this weird dream where they were both on some weird plains with few trees and Pinter had passed out and Angora was tricked into opening consecutive gates by a shape shifting leopard!
So much foreshadowing!!! The lost one will know the way… The woman who cries but sheds no tears… The man who hates in the name of love… Pinter is obviously lost in more ways than one. There’s something bothering him that we don’t know about. Whether it’s something to do with his dad and trying to live up to expectations, I don’t know, but i believe we will find out later. Ooooh. Luca is an excellent candidate for villian!! The manipulation… Luca is going to have fight between good and evil… And Soli. What do people have against her??? The woman who cries but sheds no tears…. Stop letting men lead you by the nose… sacrifice… This woman has obviously been through a lot… And I can see she’s been hurt by somebody. Something happened to make her this way-and people can call her ignorant and whatever, but I see something more. I see deeper motives. She didn’t whack that old guy for calling her ignorant. She whacked him because she DOES know sacrifice-and caring for someone more than yourself. All of these characters are so DEEP. And as for Angora… She just saw her “Grandfather” go off in a bloody mess! Give her some slack for goodness sakes!! Anyways… I can tell this author knows what they are doing. Kudos to all the subtext and foreshadowing!! I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I will anxiously be waiting to find out!
So… does anyone else see Legschilla’s head in the second panel, right below the “Okay!” speech-bubble? Part of the tree-line? Two round, glowy eyes staring out at the audience…?
Pleeaase, say you do. I don’t want to be the only crazy one… ^^’
I love how she has central heterochromia, and how that is the only part of his rant she’s currently objecting to.
it’s been 17 days !!!!!!
Awwww, isn’t it sweet how well they get along?
Oh gosh, I’ve just read up to this point and the comic is GLORIOUS. I think I love all the characters. *squeal*
First comment! For me. On this comic. First: Love it. Colors, nifty. Setting, nifty. Characters, nifty. And believable! For those about to inform me that a woman/girl wandering about topless is unbelievable, may I point out that in Texas and New York, at least, it is entirely legal for women to not wear anything above the waist. And more than a tiny amount do so. Or don’t. You know what I mean.
Second: I, for one, hope Angora continues her carefree attitude towards clothing. 1) As a guy, approved. 2) As a nudist, approved. 3) As someone who enjoys a bit of ‘In your eye, society!’ (long as nobody is getting hurt), approved.
Aaaaaand sorry for ramble!
One thing that’s been bugging me is where Angora got that pair of pants from, and why she put them on since she prefers to not wear clothes. Considering the fact that she has probably been living in the jungle for quite some time she should be used to the weather patterns by now and would be able to tolerate the cold. Just curious
We saw Pinter give them to her, and the current assumption as far as I can tell is that she’s wearing them because everyone she’s met so far in the outside world has them on. Shirts… Not so much.
Pin shoved them at her in Chapter One. And then she the shirt at his face. Kept the pants though…
Well, she threw the pants to, probably. But took them back.
Happy New Year Der-shing!
Happy New Year fellow readers!
Happy New Year Pinter you grump!
thedevilsmartyr: Pinter gave Angora a set of clothes when he first kicked her out of his tent. She’s been wearing them since the following day. As she covered her breasts when running from the tent the first time, I feel as if Pinter’s comments made her just self-conscious enough to wear the pants, but not enough to wear a shirt.
No one who continuously lags between pages for this length of time will ever finish a story as long as she claims this one to be. I don’t want to get further invested in a series with no likely ending. I’m out. Take care.
Your loss.
Can’t wait for more. :3
She should complain. In a secret identity I’ve been writing a web novel (quite NSFW in places, so I won’t post a link) for more than 12 YEARS and I’m still nowhere near finishing. I think everyone who ever expressed an interest in it must be dead by now. Sigh.
Writing without an end usually means writing without a story arc that leads towards its solution. Same for comics. Due to the story so far I’m damned sure that Der-Shing has something in mind and doesn’t tell a story without a goal (says one who writes and draws for a living).
Drawing comics is work. If you get it for free though, don’t wail about missing updates and make the artist mad.
I can’t wait for more, too. But I will. :)
Shadup.
Thanks for telling us, we were all on the edge of our seats wondering.
Get well soon, Der-shing :(
To quote Ashley Cope, “I’ll have to muddle along without you somehow”
i have to agree with jennifer. i was excited when i discovered “the meek” a couple months ago – what there is of it so far is great – but it seems to be going nowhere. maybe i’ll remember to check back in a year or two…
Hope everything is well with you!
I don’t read every comic every day anyway..l I save the most recent then come back and read a whole bunch at a time, so oftener updates don’t matter as much… Sometimes, Life Interfers ;)
I’ll be back. LOL
Damn it Pinter! Why can’t you appreciate a naked girl like a god-damned normal, respectable, civilized, normal guy?
I sure as heck wish the biggest problem in my life was that women refused to wear clothes around me.
I love how that seems to be her only problem with his outburst.
Wow why do people even bother commenting on a public forum if it’s a complaint about updates? Go directly to the author, or just leave if you’re really going to. It’s free to read, and no one is forcing you to do anything. Stop being a prat. :P
Regards to the story: I was wondering when Pinter was finally going to get fed up with a few things lol
*cackles* I’ve missed this. :D
Sorry I haven’t been keeping up but I’m all caught up now, and I’m reading back on it. :)
Gotta love their interactions every time. :)
“Come on! Is it really too much to ask!? I saw you with clothes in your little flashback sequence, what did you do with them?”
Why couldn’t Korra have acted like Angora… Except for the being nude part XD