On the topic of recent tweets sent out by the Giant

[...]

If you haven't read the apology by The Giant to Reader Who Emailed That They're Not Buying My Book Because I Recently Included a Gay Character, it's in the bottom corner. Honestly, I think it was hilarious. Of course, this may be the result of my questionable sense of humor and this is actually not funny at all. What do you think?

[littlebum2002]

Awesome. I love it

[Terrador]

Anyone who'll deprive him/herself of something they once enjoyed because ~omg the gays~ deserves all the ribbing they can get.

And apparently, they didn't notice the guard in Cliffport, or Nale's experimentation! I'm not counting Sabine, because it's not confirmed that she's seduced any women. Or V, for that matter!

[Jaxzan Proditor]

That is excellent! So, I guess they were just ignoring all the other gay characters?

[brian 333]

{Scrubbed}

[BaronOfHell]

they didn't notice the guard in Cliffport

Exactly. What I really like about that scene is that it makes a lot of sense in the context. While I cannot give any examples here and now, I've the idea that too often people are mentioning they're part of minority X/Oppressed Y despite it has no relevance at the moment they mention it, merely to score points with the readers.

[oppyu]

That is excellent! So, I guess they were just ignoring all the other gay characters?

Yes, how could we forget Cliffport Guard One Strip Gag. He's essential to the comic.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Yes, how could we forget Cliffport Guard One Strip Gag. He's essential to the comic.

Well, the Giant only said character, not recurring character.

[Bulldog Psion]

I wonder, do these people randomly quit reading other comics when someone is shown driving a white car, when they personally prefer red cars?

Or do they ragequit when someone is shown eating a vegetarian salad? Or conversely, tucking into a Big Kahuna Burger?

Do they send offended messages when a tub of chocolate ice cream is shown, as opposed to mint?

Their outrage makes no sense to me. I hope that the door doesn't hit them on their way out to their cave to sit there pouting and sucking their thumb.

[Keltest]

I applaud the Giant for his calm response to criticism, especially stupid criticism. Also, I for one always appreciate biting sarcasm.

[BannedInSchool]

I wonder, do these people randomly quit reading other comics when someone is shown driving a white car, when they personally prefer red cars?

Hrm, well if we look at it as finding something offensive in a comic, then what if instead of a positive depiction of gay character in a comic there, in some comic, were a really offensively negative depiction? Would ceasing to patronize that comic for propagating that image and writing a "not cool, bro" email be more understandable in that case? I'm not defending finding Bandana offensive here in this particular case, just the possibility of objecting if a comic one otherwise enjoyed slipped something really not right in (pick your offense).

[Ron Miel]

I don't follow tweets. Can someone give a link, or quote the message.

[BannedInSchool]

I don't follow tweets. Can someone give a link, or quote the message.

The left side of the forum page here has a Twitter pane below the "Site Navigation" pane, at least for me. I don't know if you might have turned it off in forum options somehow.

[DaggerPen]

Ron Miel could be on mobile, as I am rn, where no such sidebar shows. (Mobile also makes quoting it cumbersome, though, sorry.)

After manually navigating to his twitter, though, well, a hearty chuckle was had, let me tell you.

[Ron Miel]

Ah yes, I see it. I usually have the entire sidebar hidden. Thanks.

How long has tweets been part of it?

[Seerow]

Ah yes, I see it. I usually have the entire sidebar hidden. Thanks.

How long has tweets been part of it?

Since the forum redesign I think.


Anyway, does anyone want to refresh my memory on gay characters in the series, since it is currently topical?

[Grey Watcher]

Since the forum redesign I think.


Anyway, does anyone want to refresh my memory on gay characters in the series, since it is currently topical?

The only two I'm aware of off the top of my head are the Cliffport prison guard and Bandana. And possibly Vaarsuvius and Inkyrius, depending on what their sexes and/or genders are.

Trying to remember if there was somebody in the Empire of Blood or something.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

The only two I'm aware of off the top of my head are the Cliffport prison guard and Bandana. And possibly Vaarsuvius and Inkyrius, depending on what their sexes and/or genders are.

Trying to remember if there was somebody in the Empire of Blood or something.

There were two lesbian Paladins in W&XPs. Arguably, Sabine counts. There's also Haley's Latent Bisexuality. Admittedly, there aren't many, and not all of them play important roles, but there were definitely non-heterosexual characters before Bandana.

[Ron Miel]

- Elan's curiosity about the belt of gender changing
- Elan's implied experiments at band camp
- Haley kissed a girl once. More than once
- Haley has a latent bisexuality persona
- V's ambiguous gender and sexuality
- Belkar's ambiguous attraction to V
- Nale's implied experiments with Sabine shape shifting
- Gay cop/ jail guard
- Sabine coming on to Miko
- Captain Bandanna

Any I've missed?

[Charity322]

Everyone probably has found the sidebar by now, but I'm reposting it anyway because the response is so brilliant!

Rich Burlew @RichBurlew

Had I been more proactive in offending your sensibilities, you could have stopped reading years ago. It won’t happen again, I assure you.

Rich Burlew @RichBurlew

Dear Reader Who Emailed That They’re Not Buying My Book Because I Recently Included a Gay Character: I deeply apologize for waiting so long.

XDDD

[malloyd]

Or do they ragequit when someone is shown eating a vegetarian salad? Or conversely, tucking into a Big Kahuna Burger?.

For this one, I bet the answer is yes. That is an issue people do have strong emotional opinions about.

And violates norms you I feel strongly about is a perfectly good reason to avoid or abandon a work of art. A useful way to test your reaction to these sorts of things is to mentally substitute something you find personally disgusting for "homosexual" or "abortionist" or "liberal" or whatever the key concept is in the piece you are objecting to or laughing at (I've found pedophile works pretty well in our culture) and see if your opinion changes. If it does, it's the stance on the central issue and not the argument, action advocated or whatever that is the issue for you.

[Rogar Demonblud]

- Elan's curiosity about the belt of gender changing
- Elan's implied experiments at band camp
- Haley kissed a girl once. More than once
- Haley has a latent bisexuality persona
- V's ambiguous gender and sexuality
- Belkar's ambiguous attraction to V
- Nale's implied experiments with Sabine shape shifting
- Gay cop/ jail guard
- Sabine coming on to Miko
- Captain Bandanna

Any I've missed?

Phil Rodriguez, Attorney at Law.

[The DeathKnight]

Hmm, i think what this person has said is appalling, that a comic he loved has been ruined because of a singular character's sexual orientation, something which, as of this moment, has had no effect on either the over-arcing plot, or any side plots. BUT that is MY opinion.

That being said, he did send this to the giant via an email, and the fact that the Giant felt the need to let the whole forum know about it and QQ about it, is also pretty petty on his part, since that's why the anonymous person emailed him. This was HIS opinion, and just because the Giant has a different opinion, doesn't make him much better for telling the whole world this.

Hope people understand this post, but most likely, people will get the wrong message from it. :P

[Zmeoaice]

That being said, he did send this to the giant via an email, and the fact that the Giant felt the need to let the whole forum know about it and QQ about it, is also pretty petty on his part, since that's why the anonymous person emailed him. This was HIS opinion, and just because the Giant has a different opinion, doesn't make him much better for telling the whole world this.

Well the Giant has kept the person anonymous. I think it's a funny tweet. I do hope that ze was the only one. 21st century and all.

[Cantalooping]

I'm kinda with DeathKnight on this one. The email was presumably answered by email in return and the tweets just to tell everyone about it... I don't think they were necessary. It seemed to have been a singular event that didn't really warrant being brought to common attention.
For me, personally, it reeks a bit of showing off.

Then again, maybe I'm just tired of this particular brand of sarcasm.

[The Giant]

The email was not sent directly to me, it was sent to Ookoodook in response to a newsletter email that they sent promoting the new book; it was part of a deliberate attempt to pressure that company into ceasing doing business with me. Ookoodook forwarded it to me. Therefore, it was the email writer who chose to bring third parties into the discussion; I simply brought more third parties in. If he wanted to have a private discussion with me, he should have, you know, started a private discussion with me.

As for why I shared the event, the part that most troubled me was not the fact that the person held such hateful views (which I will not quote here because they don't deserve to be propagated, but went quite a bit further than simply informing me of their dissatisfaction). The part that bothered me was that apparently, this person thought that I was on the same side of this issue until recently. It offended me to think that even one of my readers could think that I supported the sort of bigotry this person was spewing. I made the tweet in order to make it crystal clear to as many readers as possible my position, in the hopes that anyone else who felt the same as this guy would similarly go elsewhere for their entertainment.

EDIT: Also, my apology is actually 100% sincere. I do deeply apologize for not including LGBT representation more prominently, and I do wish that I had made more of an effort to reflect my values in the comic before now. That statement deserves to be made regardless of other considerations.

[The DeathKnight]

This makes me feel better about it. Thanks for clearing that one up, Giant.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

- Elan's curiosity about the belt of gender changing
- Elan's implied experiments at band camp
- Haley kissed a girl once. More than once
- Haley has a latent bisexuality persona
- V's ambiguous gender and sexuality
- Belkar's ambiguous attraction to V
- Nale's implied experiments with Sabine shape shifting
- Gay cop/ jail guard
- Sabine coming on to Miko
- Captain Bandanna

Any I've missed?

Phil Rodriguez, Attorney at Law.

And the two Sapphire Guard paladins in the bonus strips from No Cure... (during New Years night in Azure City).

[Vemynal]

The email was not sent directly to me, it was sent to Ookoodook in response to a newsletter email that they sent promoting the new book; it was part of a deliberate attempt to pressure that company into ceasing doing business with me. Ookoodook forwarded it to me. Therefore, it was the email writer who chose to bring third parties into the discussion; I simply brought more third parties in. If he wanted to have a private discussion with me, he should have, you know, started a private discussion with me.

As for why I shared the event, the part that most troubled me was not the fact that the person held such hateful views (which I will not quote here because they don't deserve to be propagated, but went quite a bit further than simply informing me of their dissatisfaction). The part that bothered me was that apparently, this person thought that I was on the same side of this issue until recently. It offended me to think that even one of my readers could think that I supported the sort of bigotry this person was spewing. I made the tweet in order to make it crystal clear to as many readers as possible my position, in the hopes that anyone else who felt the same as this guy would similarly go elsewhere for their entertainment.

EDIT: Also, my apology is actually 100% sincere. I do deeply apologize for not including LGBT representation more prominently, and I do wish that I had made more of an effort to reflect my values in the comic before now. That statement deserves to be made regardless of other considerations.

As a Gay man myself. Not only do I think you handled the situation well inside the comic strip but your tweets made me want to give you a hug.

[DaggerPen]

As a Gay man myself. Not only do I think you handled the situation well inside the comic strip but your tweets made me want to give you a hug.

Seconded as a bisexual woman.