Meanwhile, the science essays are driving everyone batty.
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I think the adult content pop-ups have been cleared up. Several other webcomickers on Facebook had the same problem, apparently stemming from the Ink Outbreak box that used to be on my sidebar. I’ve removed it and re-enabled my other ad services and… well, we’ll have to see if the issue is cleared up. As before, if anyone continues to witness the innappropriate pop-ups please let me know. However, according to InkOutbreak’s twitter the issue should be cleared up. I’m keeping it off the site for a bit to make certain though.
Very very very briefly considered having Mina hold a grudge about Todd's lashing out previously, but (1) it didn't really feel right for her and (B) there's been enough prolonged grudges by this point, I think.
Yay looks like she’s willing to let that one go as justified frustrations poorly spent. Glad they are still friends *happy face*
Hooray! I’m glad they’re back on good terms. I agree, there have been too many grudges, and Mina would likely understand Todd being upset that his daughter was so traumatized.
Plus, you need at least two potential love interests for a loooove triiianglllllle!
Well, there’s Todd and Mina, that’s 2 parties. Who’s number 3 in this steamy affair?
The ex. Not all participants in a love triangle have equal chances.
I’m hoping Andi gets devoured by a trapdoor alligator from Something Positive. http://somethingpositive.net/sp11222002.shtml
Andi hasn’t managed to get me to like her yet.
If women couldn’t forgive nearly anything the human race would have died out millions of years ago
why is it that only women need to forgive, men get hurt too and just as deeply, we just are not supposed to show it.
Oh Henry, Henry. Haven’t you learned yet that it is always the man’s fault. Even when it’s not his fault, it’s his fault.
Try being married for 20 years. Your perspective will change.
because Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Well there’s no accounting for outliers. My mom’s famous for holding grudges.
Strip 334- pointing and yelling
Strip 337- Todd loses his temper
I’m glad they made up. I’m curious. As to how the situation with the principal will go.
I’m MOST curious about what will become of Andi and Amanda.
Thank you! I was curious! My gosh, I hadn’t realized how long ago that happened.
I’m looking forward to their first date.
There are issues there. She’s obviously more than casual about her religion. If things ever get serious she’ll have to ask herself some very serious questions which will either end with breaking faith with something important to her, breaking it off or asking Todd to convert.
Musleemas can only marry Muslims. Muslim men can marry Jews, Christians and Muslims.
That doesn’t seem quite fair to the women.
She could also be Jewish. Some Jewish women wear head coverings.
She has an Iranian name, and IIRC Dave mentioned he named her after two Iranian women – so if she is from Iran (either born there or born to immigrants from Iran) she is almost certainly Shia Muslim.
What A. Nuran stated is what “the book” say, and those are indeed the rules pretty much in every place where Islam has a major influence on legislation. That said, quite a few Muslims, especially outside these countries, don´t actually give a flip about that sort of thing.
And, yes, it doesn´t seem quite fair to the women. Does it surprise you to hear that the rule was established by men?
I don´t think Mina is particularly strict about such religious matters; certainly the way she stood up to Principal Sackville-Baggins suggests that women being subservient to men does not occupy a central place in her way of thinking. 😉
Oh, there are plenty of strong-minded not at all subservient Musleemas who still take their religion seriously on these matters. I know a few who would only marry their Christian boyfriends when the guys agreed to convert. These are accomplished, strongly feminist women who lived in America at the time.
I think of Mina as on the more observant side because she does full hijab, not just a head scarf.
Of course, since she’s Shia she does have a loophole – Muta’. The Shia have the institution of “temporary marriage”. I’ve known Persian guys who could zip off the formula in about a second.
Something else to consider is that Selkie’s World is obviously not (exactly) the same as ours. Perhaps her faith isn’t quite the same as it would be in ours.
Not going to lie I ship these two!
I thought the science essays were about caterpillars, not bats …
As much as I ship Todd x Mina with the rest of you, I can’t help but feel nervous at the potential results of such a relationship.
It’s not exactly kosher for a parent to date their child’s teacher. That alone is crossing some *serious* ethical boundaries, but let’s also just say that they do date, and Mina subsequently finds out about Selkie’s species. Whole can of worms right there!
I’m sorry to be such a killjoy, especially because I ship these two so much as well! But ethics…………. >_<
You’re assuming she’d be bothered by having a student of a different species, but as she’s nice to Selkie now, I doubt it would suddenly change. Would it bother you?
NO!! If it would I don’t think I’d be reading this webcomic. But maybe I should have elaborated – my bad.
I just meant that sometimes people we think are nice do a 180 if they encounter something “unusual”, for example gays. I have faith that Mina isn’t that type of person, but you just never know.
They could date as soon as she’s no longer her teacher.
Eeeeeeeeeeexactly! 🙂 that’s what I want to happen.
If Mina hasn’t figured out Selkie isn’t human she’s not smart enough to be a teacher. As for dating your student’s father, I’m not sure what’s unethical about it. She’s not dating her student, so the power disparity issues do not apply. In any case, it will only be a few months before Selkie moves up a grade rendering it all moot.
It violates the basic moral/ethical concept of justice, ikr equality.
Teachers are supposed to play the role of the mentor, not the parent or friend; they are supposed to be friendLY and nurturing, but not care for any child more than another or get too close to any of them. When one dates the parent of one of their students, you could end up becoming closer to that student, and may end up treating them differently from the rest of the class.
Basically, you’re introducing bias, where the classroom is supposed to be equal. Same reason that, unless you’re in a situation with a one-room school in a rural area or some other extenuating circumstance, children of teachers are not placed in the same classroom as their parent-teacher.
(We are, of course, assuming that the teacher is doing their job correctly; I know lots of folks here have horror stories of bad teachers/school personnel.)
Source: my sis is in education.
* ikr –> or in ¶1
That said, the ethical issues do disappear once Selkie leaves Mina’s classroom and moves to the next grade, so it’s an easy fix. (And once that happens, you bet your life I wanna see that first date!! :D)
I agree with pyrpyr here. Having been in the education profession myself, I know for a fact that being involved in any way, especially a romantic one, with family of a student is a huge taboo. The only exception to this rule is if the teacher was already a member of the family or relationship before the child became “their” student. Teachers are often held up to a very strict code of perception – even dating other coworkers openly is frowned upon, let alone unprofessional pictures like drinking or dating.
I didn’t think Mina would be biased towards learning Selkie’s a different species. In fact, I would think she’d have to be Helen Keller to not be able to tell. I think the can of worms aspect would be her finding out when it’s supposed to be a “national secret”. What would Agent Brown do if he found out more of the populace is learning about classified information? We know Truck’s Dad and the orphanage head were exceptions, but surely a line would be drawn concerning this.
Yay! While I personally ship Mina and Todd, I really hope they don’t start dating until Selkie is out of her class. It will be easier (and more ethical) if they wait until she has another teacher.
These two need to date so much
OKAY GUYS NOW WE NEED A SHIP NAME
… Tina? Modd? Please be better at this than me >_<
I think I like Minodd.
Maybe Todina
Just think this one is more likely since the combo names always start with the males, and Tina would be just too confusing since it’s also a name.
Uh, no. Plenty of portmanteau couple names for fandoms start with the woman. Just from the X-Men Evolution fandom I can name Romy, Kiotr, Xietro, Rietro, Amyro, Ryro, Rott, Rogan and Jott. And there may be others that I can’t think of offhand.
The S.R.S. Smitakhami?
Has it been confirmed as to whether Todd is wearing an ST: TNG uniform or not? ‘Cause I’m now more sure than ever that he is.
Its an early ST TNG Engineering Department shirt.
http://joeystylesyou.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/starfleet_uniforms_late_2360s.jpg
Mina can ask Todd about his costume…and Todd can ask Mina about hers…
Mina isn’t wearing a costume. It’s been shown multiple times that she wears a headscarf.
Hey Dave just a little bit of constructive criticism.
When lettering your comic it would probably be best to stick to a single balloon placement style unless you looking for a specific effect.
In this strip you have at first the borders being solid and cutting them off and then you have the balloons sitting on top of the boarders for most the rest of this strip. Then in one panel you have a balloon that sits behind the speaking characters. It’s very distracting and make the page look messy.
Anyway love your work and I’ll stop nit picking now.
I didn’t mind the switch from interior to exterior, though you’re probably right that it should be all the same unless there’s a good reason to switch at some point. But that behind-the-characters balloon is because that whole panel is way too squashed.
I’d’ve probably tried to reduce the first panel on that line (Todd feeling bad) and increased the size for the next one so there’s room for the speech. Failing that, put the speech bubble down a bit, so the part of the art it covers up is their clothing, not their faces, and put it in front like it should be.
Another suggestion: Go hit your local library for Scott McCloud’s books “Understanding Comics” and “Making Comics”. Possibly the one that comes between those too (Reinventing Comics), but that’s more about weird stuff you can do with online formats, and the business side of webcomics, and a fair bit more controversial to boot.
But the first and third book are ground-breaking work on the ins and outs of how to best craft comics, from understanding the use of the gutter between panels to the six basic human expressions that get mixed up to create almost every other expression in the artist’s toolbox. They’re great reads and thoroughly recommended.
I should also note that aside from the text bubble, the last three panels work SO WELL in this comic. I love how much use you’re getting out of beat panels. There is an endearing charm to this comic (not even counting the story or the characters) that more than makes up for any clumsiness of form as you work to improve your artistic style.
I haven’t read Mr. McCloud’s books but I’ve heard great things. Maybe I should grab those…
No problem. I sometimes put the balloons under the panel gutters or the characters in situations where they would obscure things too much, or when the balloons stick too far out of their native panel. It’s really more of a situational cosmetic decision than anything.
They’re cute together.
these are adults