Sorry for another “finish it later” strip gang. Got sidetracked with some last minute errands and need to get some sleep before work tonight. So… finish it later! XD
-EDIT- Finished!
I now have an urge to make up nicknames for the other cast members.
I like the touch of the glove in Amanda’s pocket.
Is he really referring to Amanda and Selkie as “Tantrums” and “Lawsuit”? I’m assuming it’s due to the current situation and not everyday nicknames?
Even then, the administration in this school is pretty abysmal.
I read it as let the act of trantrum go fro right now and focus on preventing a lawsuit (from selkie’s dad obviously). I didn’t see it as nicknames, but i suppose that could be it. though it seems out of character for the principal…
of course i read the transcript after…
That is also how I read it.
From Amanda’s swear symbols, I guess the last two are “go to Hell, fish”, the cross could be “Christ”, but I can’t figure out the first one.
She is clearly saying “Silly Cross Burning Fish”.
She said “Dumbass goddamn fish
first one i’d think is “stupid”
This is only what i Think Amanda is saying
Face symbol – i hope you stay sick
Cross – Hope you die (?)
Fire – go to Heck
Fish – you stupid fish
I read it more simply: “stupid god damn fish”.
That sounds pretty good, but then, why would it need “censoring”?
Simply put, that’s the way Dave does it. It keeps us guessing (I think he gets his thrills reading our interpretations), and we have lively debates on what they mean.
Besides, it’s fun!
I am gonna go ahead and confirm that Benjamin Geiger did indeed get my intended interpretation. I made Stupid and Fish censored because I thought it would be more fun to just see Amanda spewing a string of colorful pictographs instead of interspacing them with words.
And as Medic has surmised…. I do derive a cheap pleasure from watching the “figuring out” stage. Tried to make these more accessible than the last round of debate over the Gender Signs though. 😀
I would have never have figured it out. I gave up, I just write it off as generic swearing.
Haha, I always interpreted it as you thinking that children were actually on the internet reading your comic. Guess not :p
Actually several readers have told me their kids read the comic, or they read it with their kids. It’s made me a little more self-conscious about the swearing than I used to be, but I still think that if/when things get more dramatic than comedic, the censors will have to be shut off.
Because children don’t hear or use swear words.
I simpathise, jarman, but it does make a differance. Even if a kid is used to swearing, being exposed to censored media can get across the idea that its not always ok.
That’s what parents are for. People keep forgetting that.
Parents appreciate these little things that help out in big ways.
Thanks Dave.
You’re welcome, although to be honest, I’ve been thinking that censoring “damn” may be a bit unneeded. It’s not really any worse than “crap”, which Selkie says constantly. I do like the pictographs in this specific instance though, as it lightens the tone just a pinch.
That’s how I read it as well. I actually kind of like this form of swearing. It makes more sense than the swirls and punctuation from print comics.
Which would make it: I hope you die from that sickness and go to hell, stupid Fish(-Face)
NO, focus on the little bully literally in front of your face, or the very ill child, not the “lawsuit”. Man this administration sucks.
Loved the can-you-figure-out-the-swear thing again!
Sometimes in a trauma situation like this when someone stands a serious chance of injury or worse, it’s valuable to address things in their concentrated form for shock purposes. The students at the school thanks to lousy administration are in fact racking up a huge lawsuit for our protagonist and her dad. So instead of saying take care of Selkie or take care of the ill child, you shock her to attention by saying take care of the lawsuit.
Heartless? Yes. But sometimes you need a sledgehammer to make a house.
Perhaps by “lawsuit” he does specifically mean the sick kid. In other words, “kids run around screaming stuff all the time and it’s not a medical or legal emergency, so let’s focus on the thing which is, indeed, a medical and possibly legal emergency”.
Maybe I’m just cynical, but I’m pretty sure it’s just metonymy. The principal knows (and fears) that, given what we know about Selkie — and what we, and they, don’t know — that she could be easily injured, or bullied to a point where the school is liable. Since she’s associated with lawsuits, “Lawsuits” becomes a sort of metonym. (The connection between Amanda and “Tantrums” is a bit more direct.)
In other words, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the nicknames shown here are used in less stressful times.
I had a thought about the pictograph cussing while working last night I feel like sharing.
The pictographs are fun to draw but they also have the effect of making the swearing more “comical”. I feel like if there is a need for swearing in a more dramatic scene, the censor bleeps may need to come off because a dramatic scene filled with pictographs juts wouldn’t work at all I think.
(Despite the rage face and the betrayal of secrets, I had every intent of Amanda’s swearing to be comical in this strip and not “dramatic”, hence the pictographs.)
Kill your darlings Dave. If it is needed for the story, you must do what you must to make sure it works. In the dramatic situation, yes, take away the swear censors. Though until needed, keep them for comedic effect yes.
I do find the pictographs more fun, but I usually find swearing in the middle of a dramatic scene adds little and takes up space.
On the other hand, swearing is like all language, a very regional and nuanced thing. I like how you’ve handled it in pictographs and without pictographs in the past, so don’t expect much outrage from this reader.
I thought of it as a mini-game in the middle of the comic.
I came up with ‘Crazy’ instead of ‘stupid’
But whatever. Your comic sir, do it as you like.
(thumbs up)
There goes Amanda being stupid again. Just when Selkie was trying to understand you. Welp, forever alone for Amanda XD
It’s understandable why she’d be angry this time, at least. Someone she, if not despised, then thought she was better then knows an intimate secret about her, one of her best friends told that secret about her to that person, and I’d imagine right now that Amanda is feeling very betrayed, and very unguarded. It’s like inspecting the walls of your fort, and realizing the guards took a break last week.
Best guess, at any rate. Not a psychologist, I’m afraid.
A good analysis, nonetheless.
I actually want to see Truck get suspended and possibly expelled for assaulting another student. Unfortunately, even though Selkie was just defending herself many schools have to put in the “no tolerance” policy that would suspend them both. It’s obvious Truck assaulted her first though, as many students and two adults saw.
So, the policy would have both suspended, though Truck was the aggressor? Hardly seems fair to punish the innocent.
Yep. ‘Tis the nature of zero-tolerance (aka “zero-thought”) rules.
“Fair” isn’t the object. “Unambiguous” is. We can’t have people in positions of authority exercising their own judgment, can we? /s
The best Zee-Tol policies are the ones the staff bend. When i was i middle school, a student trying to start a fight walked up to me and socked me in the stomach. i folded like i worked at a dry-cleaners. the three witnesses (my friend, the aggressor and myself) all agreed on the course of events, but the Policy required that the victim be punished too… they must have provoked somehow. my punishment? taken out of classes for the day, and kept at In-School Suspension. end result? i got a day to learn at my pace, finishing the day’s coursework in two hours, and spent the rest of the day reading a novel. the next day, all of my teachers agreed that the Policy was wack.
I once went to a school where the student handbook (I shit you not) said, “… A child’s self defense is to go to an adult.”. If you ask me, most ‘no tolerance’ fighting policies are nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to give the adults a chance to play the hero.
In many cases it is smart to go to an adult when the crap goes down. Unfortunately, and what these people miss is that sometimes the crap goes down too fast to get an adult. It also doesn’t prepare children for the adult world where sometimes one must defend oneself. You sometimes can’t go get the authority and must go downtown yourself. I’ve dealt with my share of those situations.
Uh-oh — once again, Amanda’s problems take a backseat to Selkie’s. So much for improving their relationship!
Also, a friendly tip, Dave: Women who wear the hijab usually also wear long sleeves (as you know) as well as long shirts that cover their backside region 🙂
She might be wearing the long shirt under her jacket. It is snowing, so wearing warm outfits is a must, and they might not have a long snow top.
This exactly. Why does this poor little girl always get back seated so often? It’s no wonder she acts out the way she does, when none of the adults seem to give two ****s about the poor thing.
I think we should start with the woman who gave birth to her.
Makes me feel bad for Amanda.
Panels 3 and 4 are excellent. I love the body language you’ve conveyed, with Selkie guarded, apologetic and slightly scared, and Amanda’s slumped shoulders as she realises who betrayed her confidence.
An interesting detail is that Selkie hasn’t actually said anything that indicates a breach of confidence. What Heather told Selkie was “the Sandersons brought Amanda back to the orphanage”. She didn’t mention, and Selkie didn’t ask about, abuse.
Given that Amanda lives in the orphanage, it’s a reasonable assumption that something happened with/to her parents.
“I don’t like seeing anyone being brutalized. It reminded…. I just don’t like seeing it.”
“… were you going to say that it reminds you of being brutalized yourself? In fact, since you are a resident of an orphanage and therefore there was a problem with your parents… does it remind you of being brutalized by your parents?”
It really doesn’t require any violation of confidence, just a smart child’s grasp of human psychology.
Of course, Amanda doesn’t care about that.
Poor kid.
ive always disliked the many zero tolerance policies ive seen but ive also disliked the idea of a susspension. if a child is a repeat offender then whats the point as they actually enjoy the free day off. rather ive surmised a punishment more suitable for such things as violence…..
just make a mandatory boxing team or judo team and any one who is the aggressor in the fight must be on it and in every tournament for the rest of the school year.
my school had a dreaded fix for free day off that ironically was only used for lesser crimes, they called it in school suspension, u sat in a room from school open till school close, if u were lucky they let u read or do homework instead of JUST sitting there. it was terrible
I entered the wrestling team to learn how to defend myself better. I think there should be a combat team like that for anyone that wants to learn to protect themselves better.
But then again, I’m also not a fan of “a child’s self-defense is an adult” in the end because of time issues at times. So I’m bias.
I always thought the punishment of a suspension was that it forced the parents to take time off of work or otherwise arrange care for their child for the day. It makes a point to their guardians about the seriousness of the situation.
I don’t like the idea of teaching aggressive kids to hit harder or grapple better.. I do think putting them on a sports team or something involving regular exercise is a good idea though. Something that teaches teamwork and allows the kid to work out emotion has to help.
that panel 4 face looks very close to the art style of similar reactions in Goblins (linked below)
I really dislike how adults treat Amanda. No one seems to get the amount of pain she’s gone through.
I love Amanda’s flying pigtails <3
So many anime flashbacks…
“Derp”-“t”-“end of ‘Backdraft'”-“fish factorial?” Kids really have obscure curses these days…
Tantrums VS Lawsuits
Tantrums: Daddy, when can I ruin peoples lives?
Lawsuits: When you’re older.
Then we all learn that Tantrums CAN ruin peoples lives.
And that Tantrums were not so different from sudden Lawsuits.
Like Suing for a car accident the company wasn’t involved in.