Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
More so, I was referring to Tai describing her suggestion as "sh***y" and Dora thinking of sending Faye a gift to apologise. Maybe that was meant to be a joke or even a bit of sarcasm on Dora's part, but to me it seemed like a big overreaction.
Faye was invited out, she didn't like it, she went home; fair enough. No one "owes" each other anything in that situation, except maybe a quick text to apologise for being a little bit thoughtless?
I think we can agree here. This is all a bit of exchanged thoughtlessnesses. Dora and Tai should have thought of a bar being a problem. Fate should have said goodbye (I don't feel it is at all clear if she did), and no one owes each other a fruit basket.

I do appreciate that, but thank you for clarifying it. I still believe that it is somewhat inconsistent with her previous behaviour, where drunk people came back to the apartment with Marten and had a small party also with booze and she was completely okay with it. I'm NOT saying that recovering addicts don't have peaks and troughs where some days are better or worse than others because they absolutely do; I just wish there was some indication of Faye going through that rather than being okay with one and suddenly not with the other, it would make the story flow better and the swings seem less jarring.
You are not wrong. Faye previously being okay with drinking happening around her does seem incongruous, although other people drinking at her home and her being in a bar could quite realistically have different weight (although given her previous problem with home-drinking I'd say it would make more sense for it to be reversed). Jeph clearly writes from the hip, and things become important as he thinks of them. This is a very real limitation of the strip as a whole, and if one wanted to, perhaps critique him on it. I don't think anyone would deny that Jeph has some limitations as a storyteller.

I first heard it as a boxing term - kids' gloves only weigh 6oz, compared to adults 10-14oz, so it's 'nicer' to be hit with them
That probably has more real world resonance form most everyone in the modern world. Nowadays if one were handling something fine, you'd probably use something like disposable latex gloves or the like.

See, I was wondering if I was being unnecessarily cynical - Jeph, recovering alcoholic, writing a comic about how people should always be really nice to recovering alcoholics regardless of their previous actions and offences? I mean no ill-will to the guy in any way, so I accept that I should reconsider that idea. Possible it's that which so irked me in the beginning, for unjust reason.
That would certainly explain the comments like, "How selfish of you, it's not as though Faye is a grown person capable of making informed decisions for herself or anything," and, "Faye is still the same selfish person making bad choices, but we should feel sorry for her because she's chosen to inconvenience herself? That recovering addicts should be treated with kiddie gloves at the expense of our own happiness?" You seem really worried about Faye and selfishness. Why? Because you feel she is actually a bad person, because you feel she is getting special treatment, some other reason?