I don’t think anyone saw this coming. A lot of the discussion about Lucas 2.0 being a womanizer just went so far out the window that it’s going into orbit.
Whislt it fits its a stretch to say “we’ve known”. Most would just read that as the nudity being gross (which it would be int hat context) and then Ethan simply suggesting balancing out the genderness to make it seem not so leechy.
Also regarding the womanizer thing, the fact he is into guys doesn’t really change that angle, he’s just a manizer? instead.
But I think it is great that it is just something we know because of some dialogue. Its not hammered in or treated as anything special. I think thats great, simply because I think thats just how it would be for friends that know each other for a long time.
Not quite. Ethan is hunched over as bit in his panic. And based on how everyone is standing sort of adjacent to each other, looking at the body shapes, I think a bit of it is forced perspective in the artwork.
There were a whole bunch of toxic comments by homophobic people who didn’t realize it was an April fools day joke, and Tim said he was tempted to make Lucas gay just to stick on to the homophobes (I think Tim’s comment was in the book version).
I had to double check the date of this comic to make sure it wasn’t history repeating itself. Good to see some diversity 😀
I so wanted Lucas to be bi/gay in this universe, and I’m happy.
chill
6 years ago
Now I’m laughing even harder at the guy who was complaining that Lucas is a misogynist because of that pen analogy. Definitely can’t be a misogynist if he wasn’t talking about women! ?
Also a chuckle or two at the people yesterday saying “that’s it? Give Tim his beer back”
It’s a bit less applicable in this case since we now know he was not using it as a slur against a DIFFERENT group or cause, but actually referring to his own group.
It doesn’t exclude him, but it does mean that his pen comment is no longer is a derogatory statement about the other sex, and there is now no evidence to support him being a chauvinist. Chauvinism is the belief in one gender’s superiority over the other. If Lucas is referring to the same gender, then even if he might be acting superior to another person, he is no longer acting as if his gender is superior to another gender.
You can’t assume he doesn’t his gender is better than the other. I mean, he in fact likes his gender more than the other so much he’s dating his own gender.
Or Tim is just fucking with the people who are so uncomfortable with gays and that seeing a single gay fictional character in a webcomic ruins their whole day. Whatever the case I can’t wait to see next page. Maybe Rachel just leaves and wishes the others an happy evening while laughing at the situation whereas Ethan is dying inside due his own panic? XD
because nobody ever changed their perception on whether they were gay/striaght/bi I guess?
Critic
6 years ago
Sigh. Does their have to be a gay character in everything these days? I mean the whole LGBT spectrum is around 2-4% of the population but because they are so overrepresented in media these days most Americans think its nearly a quarter of the population.
So long as there is hate, there will be a need for people to fight back against it. And the best way to combat hate is to humanize the target through inclusion. Full points to Tim for not being afraid to join that fight.
But is this a stand against hate? or a force feeding of a topic that has been basically reduced to virtue signalling? Its Tim’s comic he can do whatever the hell he wants but to me this is kind of the same thing as when they rebooted Allan Scott as gay in the DC comics. Its contrary to what you know about the character from before and makes it come across as a cheap grab for attention and controversy. If they had made Scott gay it would almost fit better because we as an audience wouldn’t have known from the… Read more »
No. Question it and you hate it. Blind acceptance is the only thing a jarring number want because they don’t want to be labeled as a “hater” themselves.
My first question would be…so? Even if we don’t question the rather shaky logic, your conclusion is that this makes people overestimate the amount of people that are gay. So? I feel like because you believe this is such a horrible thing, you fail to explain why it even matters. As Tronha mentioned, when you break down the actual numbers, it’s not nearly as exaggerated as you say. And one thing that doesn’t tell you is that those characters often don’t get treated equally when it comes to their romantic life. Sure, a show might have a token gay character,… Read more »
Shaky logic? Don’t get what is shaky about it but whatever. And you right Homosexual relationships are treated differently because they make large portions of people feel uncomfortable and if you feel uncomfortable watching or reading a particular type of media you will stop being a consumer of it. And media needs consumers to pay the bills. When 19 out of 20 of your viewers aren’t going to be able to relate to that particular struggle its sometimes not worth putting it in the limelight. This is the reason LGBT activists try to link up so hard with racial minority… Read more »
I think what Critic failed to say properly is that in order to be “better represented”, they need to be represented appropriately. When an audience has preconceptions about a character, it can be jarring for them to find out something like this, and it certainly feels cheap to some of us – that it is a move to grab attention and to start a discussion (or flame war, depending on how this shakes out), and ultimately connects more eyeballs to advertisements. As stated, it’s Tim’s comic, he can do what he wants, especially in a reboot. But it is neither… Read more »
Okay, THIS reasoned and well-articulated comment I will reply to: I am aware that the audience may have pre-conceptions about the characters, but the entire POINT of the reboot is that I am not beholden to those pre-conceptions. They weren’t super heroes previously, didn’t live in a city previously, Scott wasn’t in a wheelchair previously, etc. I am sorry that you feel it to be “cheap”, but I have been writing Lucas as a gay man since I put pen to paper on this new continuity. I saw no reason for it to come up explicitely until there was a… Read more »
Tim, thanks for replying, and your points are very well made. Lastly I just want to state that I don’t think you’re intentionally shoving anything down our throats; this is just how I feel as a content consumer when it seems like a lot of media sources these days are arbitrarily picking someone to be “the gay one”, like you said. Introducing a LGBTQ+ character can be done tastefully and not tastefully, and IMHO your execution here falls somewhere in the middle of the two. Also, SmCaudata, I was using SJW as a blanket term there, which may not have… Read more »
I’ve read this comic on and off for years, never posted, and I completely agree with Tim, it just felt natural. My reaction on reading the comic was “oh $#!@ I wasn’t expecting that, ha!”.
It shouldn’t have come up and been in your face, it wasn’t ‘teased’ (or ignored either) it just was. Shouldn’t it all just honestly not matter? In your day to day life, it shouldn’t matter. It should just be the way things are or aren’t. No need to advertise, no need to run around screaming what you prefer, just live and let be.
Thanks for putting it better then I could Longtime.
Tim again its your comic yeah we expect the characters to be a little different but there was ALOT of focus on Lucas last series about his girl problems which covered most of his major arcs and was his longest running storyline. To change something so defining about him several arcs in makes it very jarring. Hope that is understandable.
“force down someone’s throat”, “SJW”, “virtue-signaling”
I see the dumb-internet-reactionary-that-hates-when characters-happen-to-not-be-straight-white-male lingo in full force here.
The problem isn’t that some character happens to be gay. The problem is you. Shut up or go away.
Also got to love how the same guy who “isn’t homophobic” will explain how “Homosexual relationships […] make large portions of people feel uncomfortable” (large portions of people meaning, here, him, of course…).
Can we please be adults here and keep the conversation civil. If you would prefer me to use different terminology that is fine. I am sorry if it came across less tactful then I intended but this as be a fruitful discussion so far let us not derail it with baseless name calling okay?
Wow, nice small hints.:D
It’s great to know this was planned from the start of the reboot.
Some archive binge is now required to check on more. hehehehe
Yeah, sure, use different terminology, but even the base underlying concepts are wrong. Writing a gay character in a story isn’t virtue-signalling, and the problem isn’t just the use of the specific expression “virtue-signalling”, it’s the assumption that the only possible reason for writing a gay character is to *pretend* to care about gay people. Here is a tip: only ever use the expression “virtue-signaling” for people whose professed virtues align with your own, and you’ll be much more likely to use the term correctly. “This free webcomic that I pay nothing to access and that nothing force or even… Read more »
Okay a couple of things to start. One your combining Longtime and My posts which while we seem to have similar points of view are not exactly alike. I never used the SJW term for Tim so please do not to attribute that to me. And your right Writing a gay character isn’t virtue signaling. Turning a previously straight male main character into one kinda is. That’s the disconnect. I think it was a bad choice when they did it with Green Lantern E2 and I think it is a poor choice here. And I did not use force down… Read more »
Critic, Lucas was never a straight man. He only came into existence 4 years ago and he’s always been gay. If you want me to think this isn’t about your biases, then you’re going to need to link me to similar statements you made about the virtue signaling of including a disabled person in the comic.
Critic, I’m combining your posts because I didn’t single anyone out in my first message and I did hit reply on one of Longtime Lurker’s message. In that first message I pointed to a bunch of expressions, so now I’m explaining, for each one of them, why they are wrong. Changing a character from straight to gay in a reboot isn’t virtue signaling. Unless you have no idea what virtue signalling means, which I highly suspect you do. Let me quote Wikipedia : “Virtue signalling is the conspicuous expression of moral values done primarily with the intent of enhancing standing… Read more »
After these comments I have to admit they simply don’t make much sense. The idea is that it’s jarring for a character to “turn gay” that once wasn’t… however the same commenters seem to have no issue with the same character just randomly being a super hero. So the argument here that it’s a break from the previous story narrative that forms a personal disconnect as a reader rings somewhat hollow. As in essence you’re saying you can relate more to someone suddenly flying about on a controller arrow, than someone who just happens to like someone of the same… Read more »
You made a good jab at Hollywood me thinks…a VERY good one 🙂 But sometimes putting a spotlight on something makes it seem more “commonplace” at least for a while…
Otherwise we are all trying WAY too hard…this was supposed to be a comic…or maybe A SITCOMic…lol
From what I can find via some brief Google-fu, about 4% of the population is LGBTQ+, though that jumps to over 7% among millennials, the population that is most likely to actually read webcomics (source, with its own citations: https://www.thedailybeast.com/just-how-many-lgbt-americans-are-there). If 4.8% of TV shows have LGBTQ+ characters (per Trondha), then that’s actually right, population-wise. But as Zelphair pointed out, many of those characters are not treated equally, in terms of their relationships, as heterosexual characters in the same shows. So any form of storytelling media that treats LGBTQ+ characters normally, just as it would heterosexual characters, ought to be… Read more »
You do know there’s a good chance that Lucas isn’t GLBT (pokemon puns :D) right? It is perfectly plausible that he made a joke of getting a date in less time than it takes Ethan to do a chore and Andrew here is just a good friend of his.
I can somewhat understand what you mean in the sense that sometimes it feels like there is a token GLBT character, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t the case.
While I’m personally against the massive over representation in popular media due to everyone cashing in for the cheap views, I can understand that it’s an artists right to express their political views through their works, and that large personality differences are basically a staple for interesting stories so it doens’t bother me too much. That said, I stopped reading questionable content about a year ago because literally (the real use of the word) every single main character was lgbt. And I just could no longer relate to any one. So as one of the last web-comics I’ve been reading… Read more »
Gay people aren’t over representated by the media. Statistically they make up 4.5% of media characters and most recent studies have the self stated population of LGBT people at 4.1%. All of those studies accept that this number is in all likelihood low and not representative due to people being unlikely to self identify as LGBT when asked for a study. Maybe not throw around terms like over represented, if you don’t know if people really are. Don’t get me wrong their are groups that are totally over represented. For example in the UK, black characters are massively over represented.… Read more »
Specifically GAY people are over represented. Not LGBT. The entire category might not be over represented but just gay people are. Also the specific numbers about representation from surveys are mostly off. For example the number of gay people drop from around 3% of the population to 0.3% of the population depending on how you phrase the question. When I specifically talk about gay people I’m referring to people who are only attracted to members of the same sex and no one else, and have been involved in at least one relationship with a member of the same sex. I’m… Read more »
I think that in this case simply looking at the percentage isn’t that useful. Whilst the percentage may match the general population, the fact is that with the majority of those gay characters their sexual preferences are played up as a massive part of their story and character, so much so that it often becomes their defining trait in a lot of shows, this is what makes them an over-representation, not so much on the pure numbers but on the amount of time and effort in many shows to establish and keep going over the fact that they are gay… Read more »
You know what? I can’t explain it. Maybe it was the way he said and repeated “superfluous girl” as if there were extra girls that made me think that Ethan was expecting that Lucas would bring a girl. Maybe it was the fact that he got so nervous when Lucas arrived with Andrew, even though on the next panel he’s already normal that Lucas brought a guy.
It only happened in the first read. I’ve read it a few times and I’m not sure why I got that impression. It didn’t make sense for Ethan not to know.
yeah it was the superfluous girl bit, thought going back and re-reading there never was a specified gender for Lucas’ date and now I feel a bit of a fool XD still got the old iteration of the characters on the brain.
I’m assuming this is not a surprise to Ethan (he’d be panicking regardless), but it’s certainly a surprise to me!
AntiType-JarJar
6 years ago
Let me ask, just because a guy shows up with another guy, why is it almost always a “he is gay” assumption? I am a straight male, and I have straight and gay male friends that I hang out with. Nothing “goes on” but there is always a stigma that if two guys go out in public together they “must be gay”. Every hear of stereotyping? Can’t it just be two guys? two friends? Why does who a person sleeps with have to dictate how they appear to others in public?
Actually he might have just been texting Andrew and saying “Hey, Ethan got a date to a restaurant and asked for me to come with him, want to hang out?”
Tim confirmed gay status, so i suppose there is some indication at that…
demoncat_4
6 years ago
at least they all will have something to talk about at diner plus later look back at this and laugh and crazily emily will accept a third date with ethan
danddjosh2000
6 years ago
This arc keeps getting better. Love that you decided to start doing arcs focusing on them outside of superhero roles. Been reading since the beginning and you keep me coming back 🙂
Bio
6 years ago
Everyone thinking Lucas is gay and here I am just thinking that Lucas is so aware of Ethan’s screw-ups he anticipated even THIS.
I feel as you do. Or felt. Before reading the comments, I thought, just like always (more mostly than always actually), Lucas has somehow (seemingly precognitively) figured out that Ethan effed up, and brought a friend in to be the blind date for Emily’s friend (Rachel). Now we sit and wait for Lucas’ date to show up. If it weren’t for the comments I would’ve still been oblivious to that detail until the next comic, when they’re sitting down and eating and Ethan is trying to explain away why didn’t he tell Emily that Lucas was gay. In another comment,… Read more »
Launchpad
6 years ago
Wow, that whole pen convo takes on a whole new meaning hahahaha. Good twist I didn’t see coming.
Stephen
6 years ago
Sidestepping the whole firestorm that is socio-political commentary, I’d like to ask about what this means for the comic. Is Lucas/Kate not going to be a thing? I always liked that arc
Well, all we know for sure is that Lucas has an interest in men, there is no information if that is his exclusive interest or if he plays on both sides. Lucas/Kate could still come into play.
Where do we have conclusive evidence that Lucas “likes” men? So far all that has happened is he showed up as an “and other” and brought a dude with him. Maybe he just wanted some better conversation than that of the train wreck Ethan provides…
It means nothing. Kate doesn’t necessarily exist in the reboot, or if she does, not as Lucas’s girlfriend. Nor was Lilah wasn’t a journalist, and last we saw of Scott he was taking the fall for a genetically enhanced penguin! Take the reboot as its own story, with elements of the characters retained with other elements changed.
@Jane I’d like to point out that Lilah had a job in 1.0 before she was a professional gamer, and we were never told what it was. So she *might* have been a journalist before. Which then means that Lilah could be the second most similar character between 1.0 and 2.0 right after Ethan. This is of course assuming that Lilah is also a gamer in 2.0
I suspected/hoped this would happen, and I can’t tell you how delighted I am that it came to pass. Well, I could, but it’d be a wall of text and nobody’s here for that. So just… thanks. A lot.
Dragonfly
6 years ago
Just have a fivesome. Problem solved!
Diego C F Alvarenga
6 years ago
Now the “You arte not my type” line sounds a little bit hurtfull. Its not you , its me.
Eric C.
6 years ago
This is getting good! Plot twist with so many ways it can go from here! I dig it.
Minho Jeon
6 years ago
Oh I am very impressed. Love the idea of Lucas being gay and Ethan having completely accepted it despite many of his social….shortcomings. Please keep it going, Tim!
Egz
6 years ago
Did not see this coming, awesome.
SiliconWolf
6 years ago
Huh. ……wait a minute! What happens in this universe if Ethan gets a concussion? Will Lucas suffer insanity backlash? If he does, how will he play Angry Birds? ….Does that even work with guys? Tim, better research moob physics.
Hmm… No reply from Tim? Bummer. Well, you know what they say: “Better to have tried and failed then never to have trolled at all.”
Dan
6 years ago
Emily’s face in the last panel makes me think she knows EXACTLY what’s going on here and is planning to enjoy every moment of it.
John
6 years ago
Good for you man. Nice job.
T.J.
6 years ago
Thanks for including a queer character, Tim. It really means a lot to me as a long, long, long-time reader who is also queer to see some representation – in the main cast! – finally.
To all of you who are politicizing this, complaining about LGBT representation, tokenism, SJWs, etc… kindly go stuff it. Queer people aren’t a checkbox, we’re not a political debate, and we’re not a statistic. We’re people, and we deserve to be represented just as much as you do.
You are here. Um… Welcome, i guess? I mean… I don’t see what the big fuzz is all about. Yes, i like girls. I’m wired funny, i like petite things, with small perky tits, and buns of steel. Preferably with a lot of crazy on top. I want to be able to pick her up, and carry her around, without using a fireman’s hold, i want to feel like “I got the power” (He-man) Others like battle-hardened peg-legged sailors. As humans we aren’t exactly able to change our preference on a whim, we were wired one way at birth, and… Read more »
Of course you don’t, “see what the big fuzz is all about,” Mr B. You don’t live with people telling you every day of their life that they don’t, “see what the big fuzz is all about,” because they clearly understand what it means to be different too, since they like girls with little tits, and really we’re all human so who cares, while other people want to literally murder you over who you’re attracted to.
Rachel
6 years ago
I’m mystified by all the surprise. It was clearly signposted way early in the reboot (Tim’s put a link to the first comic, I think, in a comment), and hinted at since. Also not understanding why its such a problem. I thought we as a society were more accepting that the weirdness I’ve seen in these comments.
Straight boys are willfully ignorant of queer context and subtext. Just look at the mainstream male perception of V for Vendetta or Fight Club for all the evidence you could possibly need.
Actually in this particular scenario there is a bit of a background. The reboot seemed to be the same characters in a different point in time. Also different circumstances. In 1.0, many of the Lucas-centric arcs were about how he would get in a relationship and it would fail terribly. Kate ended up being his canonical true love or something and the epilogue has Kate and Lucas with a child named Ethan, presumably theirs. So in other words, Lucas was straight and a portion of his shtick revolved around this, so people are surprised that Tim would make such a… Read more »
Hate to be THAT GUY, but that was definitely not Kate at the end of 1.0. Rather, just the woman that he went on to marry and have a family with post-Ethan disappearance. 😉
Really? Huh, I inferred it was Kate because they were together at that point and Lucas had been with Kate for MUCH longer than…anyone else. Like, ever.
They literally have superpowers now, which is a way bigger change to both the character and the setting, and furthermore, we have no canonical evidence that states Lucas isn’t now and hasn’t always been bisexual. For all we know, his orientation is the same as it’s always been.
ThisGuy
6 years ago
Didn’t expect a homosexual twist. only really threw me off for a second since this actually doesn’t change anything except *maybe* the Lucas/Kate ships.
being a fan of the comic, i can understand why so many are angst over their favourite characters sexuality being changed, but guys don’t be so shallow,and jump to a negative conclusion, it’s just part of the story, a plot twist for the new universe, accept it and move on.
Xolodno
6 years ago
I think a lot of the arguments here are just gay…..
SO in other words, they are Happy arguments!
Yes!
Definitely!
Let’s not go into a 10 comment long debate over etymology!
wHYsoBonkers
6 years ago
guys its just a comic cant we all enjoy it the way Tim wants to tell it, i honestly dont give a rat bump about Lucas being gay,bi or straight, seriously just remember the reason u continue reading the comic, its to have a good laugh and enjoy the ride…. see how it pans out. Its like u interruption a fella telling a joke halfway just because u hate his character of the joke being gay… geez let finish reading it and focus on the joke instead?
Carey
6 years ago
So is Lucas gay, or is he just so socially adept that he knew Emily would bring a second, so Lucas covered that with a second of his own and he’s actually playing “food taster”? I’m sorta confused.
Question: what was actually written on the hats? It didn’t look like a MAGA hat except for coloring. I think someone had read the wording as something about ice cream?
I dunno
Now that I think about it they are too blurry to be legible- you only see MAGA because it is white writing on red hats and it isn’t explicitly different. So maybe it WAS ice cream XD
It’s not the most comments, but it is probably in the top 5 and is one of the highest where the conversation was…fairly civil. The comments seem to be 30% WaitsoisLucasGayI’mconfused 10% Discussions on what signals someone being gay within a comic 15% WhyisLucasGayArgh (Including the replies to that one comment) 10% random 35% Applause for Tim.
Numbers may be skewed due to me not counting each and every one
Nick Chambers
6 years ago
Some day in the future, a comic like this will be posted and nobody will say a word about the character’s sexuality. Won’ t that be grand?
That day will never come. But the day that people say little more than “oh hey, new character! Nice!” or “Hm, this explains a lot” and not “Sigh. Does their have to be a gay character in everything these days?”
In some medias it can get a bit annoying that writers just make character scream his or her sexual preference (be it gay or straight), when it really doesn’t add to the story. That being said I really don’t get the hate this comic is getting. Yea Lucas was kind of ladies man in last storyline, but doesn’t that just make this even more epic twist? I mean Tim pretty much played with our presumptions that Lucas was straight, and it made the punchline of this comic hilarious and unpredictable without being offensive to anyone. All I really wanted to… Read more »
Namrepus
6 years ago
So I just wanted to comment on the use of some of the statistics and percentages above; LGBT characters should absolutely be over-represented compared to actual statistics. The idea is to normalize the idea of someone’s sexual or gender orientation. The whole reason there is such a struggle for equal rights around the world is due to the fact that if someone is “different” it’s a spectacle. They’re some kind of outlier. It’s weird. It’s “not right”. Yet really, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it aside from the fact that it’s not accepted by some people. That’s it. We’re… Read more »
I think you got it backwards. it should be glossed over like the rest of relationships of other characters. as the over representation is the same as calling it the exception to the belief instead of letting it be the norm. if it is the norm let it be the norm your not normalizing a culture by over exposing it you are simply shoving it in peoples faces and saying this is the norm. its a common misconception that making the plot point of what girl I should date or i asked this girl on a date that its more… Read more »
Bit of both; it is worth putting emphasis on the reveal like any other relationship would. Not constantly on the scene all the time, but not permanently on the back burner.
ArdentSlacker
6 years ago
I think anybody bitching about “virtue signalling” is vice-signalling.
Anatak
6 years ago
Honestly I kinda thought Lucas also foresaw Ethan kinda screwing up, and just figured he’d bring a friend. Obviously I see now that he’s gay haha. Definitely a little unexpected (despite the supposed hints in previous comics), but it’s not a big deal. I don’t really like the douchey side of him still haha, and it seems amplified now that he’s gay, but it’s just who he is. Shouldn’t affect the feel of the overall comic at all.
ArthurRex12
6 years ago
Okay, I have to say I didn’t see this coming. Normally I get annoyed when people make characters gay who were previously straight (Sulu in Star Trek Beyond comes to mind) mainly because the way it’s usually done is superfluous and unnecessary for the story at large. THIS, however, is how it really should be done. This actually affects the story and sets up a joke that I found pretty damn funny. What I’m not quite clear on is that it seemed as if Ethan was trying to set Lucas up with a GIRL, not a guy. So did Ethan… Read more »
ice man was very jarring. alan scott was done well though sorta
Him.
6 years ago
Anyone else notice that there are actually only like 3 comments threads (Comment+all replies) that are upset about Lucas being gay? Most people are either applauding Tim or are confused because they can’t tell whether this means Lucas is gay because they haven’t finished reading the comments.
5/5
24
I don’t think anyone saw this coming. A lot of the discussion about Lucas 2.0 being a womanizer just went so far out the window that it’s going into orbit.
We’ve known for ages:
https://cad-comic.com/comic/analog-and-d-pad-04-03/
Good one.
Whislt it fits its a stretch to say “we’ve known”. Most would just read that as the nudity being gross (which it would be int hat context) and then Ethan simply suggesting balancing out the genderness to make it seem not so leechy.
Also regarding the womanizer thing, the fact he is into guys doesn’t really change that angle, he’s just a manizer? instead.
But I think it is great that it is just something we know because of some dialogue. Its not hammered in or treated as anything special. I think thats great, simply because I think thats just how it would be for friends that know each other for a long time.
Open mouth, insert foot. Eh, Ethan?
I just noticed everyone is the same height.
Not quite. Ethan is hunched over as bit in his panic. And based on how everyone is standing sort of adjacent to each other, looking at the body shapes, I think a bit of it is forced perspective in the artwork.
so, who’s the fifth wheel?
basically Emily’s friend? Because Lucas is gay?
Very concise explanation.
He could be bi and date the both.
or is he?
Rofl
Ok, this setup is comedy gold. 😀
Also, cool twist. 😉
Welp, if it turns out this universe’s Lucas is in fact gay or bi, that will be something I never saw coming. Nice twist!
Either Lucas is gay/bi or he just didn’t want to go on that date.
Interesting, I remember from way back in 2006 there was an April fools day joke where Tim swapped the clothing of the characters https://cad-comic.com/comic/swirly-sensation/
There were a whole bunch of toxic comments by homophobic people who didn’t realize it was an April fools day joke, and Tim said he was tempted to make Lucas gay just to stick on to the homophobes (I think Tim’s comment was in the book version).
I had to double check the date of this comic to make sure it wasn’t history repeating itself. Good to see some diversity 😀
You are rigth, good catch! And what a memory! 😉
https://web.archive.org/web/20060829003321/http://cad-comic.com:80/news.php?i=1065
Now the jokes about pens have more senses…
I so wanted Lucas to be bi/gay in this universe, and I’m happy.
Now I’m laughing even harder at the guy who was complaining that Lucas is a misogynist because of that pen analogy. Definitely can’t be a misogynist if he wasn’t talking about women! ?
Also a chuckle or two at the people yesterday saying “that’s it? Give Tim his beer back”
Yeah, I definitely didn’t see this one coming. And yeah, looks like my fears of Lucas being a chauvinist were wrong. My face is a bit red today.
So what is it exactly about being gay that excludes you from being chauvinist?
Match point to Noitatohtori
It’s a bit less applicable in this case since we now know he was not using it as a slur against a DIFFERENT group or cause, but actually referring to his own group.
It doesn’t exclude him, but it does mean that his pen comment is no longer is a derogatory statement about the other sex, and there is now no evidence to support him being a chauvinist. Chauvinism is the belief in one gender’s superiority over the other. If Lucas is referring to the same gender, then even if he might be acting superior to another person, he is no longer acting as if his gender is superior to another gender.
You can’t assume he doesn’t his gender is better than the other. I mean, he in fact likes his gender more than the other so much he’s dating his own gender.
I am going to assume you mean that last line sarcastically.
Well technically it doesn’t as a chauvinist is a person who believes one gender is better than the other, but it does remove most evidence about it.
What it doesnt do though is remove the evidence that he’s a bit of a twat.
He’s a misterogynist. Nice twist though. Makes for a fresh storyline to go with.
This storyline is completely bonkers. I literally have no idea what’s going to happen from strip to strip.
I love it.
By the way – forgot to mention earlier, but I like the name of the restaurant. 😀
I can’t wait for the dinner itself. I wouldn’t even wonder if Lucas goes home with both Andrew and Rachel when this is over. XD
My guess: In a surprise twist, Lucas goes home and Andrew and Rachel are the second couple.for the date.
Sorry man, Tim has confirmed Lucas is gay
Or Tim is just fucking with the people who are so uncomfortable with gays and that seeing a single gay fictional character in a webcomic ruins their whole day. Whatever the case I can’t wait to see next page. Maybe Rachel just leaves and wishes the others an happy evening while laughing at the situation whereas Ethan is dying inside due his own panic? XD
because nobody ever changed their perception on whether they were gay/striaght/bi I guess?
Sigh. Does their have to be a gay character in everything these days? I mean the whole LGBT spectrum is around 2-4% of the population but because they are so overrepresented in media these days most Americans think its nearly a quarter of the population.
*there
A study about us Tv shows calculated that 4.8% of series regulars are lbgt so a little over what reality shows
So long as there is hate, there will be a need for people to fight back against it. And the best way to combat hate is to humanize the target through inclusion. Full points to Tim for not being afraid to join that fight.
But is this a stand against hate? or a force feeding of a topic that has been basically reduced to virtue signalling? Its Tim’s comic he can do whatever the hell he wants but to me this is kind of the same thing as when they rebooted Allan Scott as gay in the DC comics. Its contrary to what you know about the character from before and makes it come across as a cheap grab for attention and controversy. If they had made Scott gay it would almost fit better because we as an audience wouldn’t have known from the… Read more »
No. Question it and you hate it. Blind acceptance is the only thing a jarring number want because they don’t want to be labeled as a “hater” themselves.
Critic, I’m with you 100% on this comment and the one above.
You start to lose me with your below comments, though.
My first question would be…so? Even if we don’t question the rather shaky logic, your conclusion is that this makes people overestimate the amount of people that are gay. So? I feel like because you believe this is such a horrible thing, you fail to explain why it even matters. As Tronha mentioned, when you break down the actual numbers, it’s not nearly as exaggerated as you say. And one thing that doesn’t tell you is that those characters often don’t get treated equally when it comes to their romantic life. Sure, a show might have a token gay character,… Read more »
Shaky logic? Don’t get what is shaky about it but whatever. And you right Homosexual relationships are treated differently because they make large portions of people feel uncomfortable and if you feel uncomfortable watching or reading a particular type of media you will stop being a consumer of it. And media needs consumers to pay the bills. When 19 out of 20 of your viewers aren’t going to be able to relate to that particular struggle its sometimes not worth putting it in the limelight. This is the reason LGBT activists try to link up so hard with racial minority… Read more »
Is this really the hill you want to die on?
So to better represent LGBT people, they should just… barely be represented at all?
Ironically probably yes.
I think what Critic failed to say properly is that in order to be “better represented”, they need to be represented appropriately. When an audience has preconceptions about a character, it can be jarring for them to find out something like this, and it certainly feels cheap to some of us – that it is a move to grab attention and to start a discussion (or flame war, depending on how this shakes out), and ultimately connects more eyeballs to advertisements. As stated, it’s Tim’s comic, he can do what he wants, especially in a reboot. But it is neither… Read more »
Okay, THIS reasoned and well-articulated comment I will reply to: I am aware that the audience may have pre-conceptions about the characters, but the entire POINT of the reboot is that I am not beholden to those pre-conceptions. They weren’t super heroes previously, didn’t live in a city previously, Scott wasn’t in a wheelchair previously, etc. I am sorry that you feel it to be “cheap”, but I have been writing Lucas as a gay man since I put pen to paper on this new continuity. I saw no reason for it to come up explicitely until there was a… Read more »
I think using “SJW” in any argument shows your view and it makes any attempt at logical reasoning thrown out the window.
These are fictional characters. This is a reboot of the series. There have been other “jarring” reveals that likely didn’t make you or Critic upset.
I think you should ask yourself why simply seeing something that is inclusive makes you think “SJW.”
Tim, thanks for replying, and your points are very well made. Lastly I just want to state that I don’t think you’re intentionally shoving anything down our throats; this is just how I feel as a content consumer when it seems like a lot of media sources these days are arbitrarily picking someone to be “the gay one”, like you said. Introducing a LGBTQ+ character can be done tastefully and not tastefully, and IMHO your execution here falls somewhere in the middle of the two. Also, SmCaudata, I was using SJW as a blanket term there, which may not have… Read more »
I’ve read this comic on and off for years, never posted, and I completely agree with Tim, it just felt natural. My reaction on reading the comic was “oh $#!@ I wasn’t expecting that, ha!”.
It shouldn’t have come up and been in your face, it wasn’t ‘teased’ (or ignored either) it just was. Shouldn’t it all just honestly not matter? In your day to day life, it shouldn’t matter. It should just be the way things are or aren’t. No need to advertise, no need to run around screaming what you prefer, just live and let be.
Thanks for putting it better then I could Longtime.
Tim again its your comic yeah we expect the characters to be a little different but there was ALOT of focus on Lucas last series about his girl problems which covered most of his major arcs and was his longest running storyline. To change something so defining about him several arcs in makes it very jarring. Hope that is understandable.
“force down someone’s throat”, “SJW”, “virtue-signaling”
I see the dumb-internet-reactionary-that-hates-when characters-happen-to-not-be-straight-white-male lingo in full force here.
The problem isn’t that some character happens to be gay. The problem is you. Shut up or go away.
Also got to love how the same guy who “isn’t homophobic” will explain how “Homosexual relationships […] make large portions of people feel uncomfortable” (large portions of people meaning, here, him, of course…).
Can we please be adults here and keep the conversation civil. If you would prefer me to use different terminology that is fine. I am sorry if it came across less tactful then I intended but this as be a fruitful discussion so far let us not derail it with baseless name calling okay?
https://cad-comic.com/comic/analog-and-d-pad-04-03
Wow, nice small hints.:D
It’s great to know this was planned from the start of the reboot.
Some archive binge is now required to check on more. hehehehe
Yeah, sure, use different terminology, but even the base underlying concepts are wrong. Writing a gay character in a story isn’t virtue-signalling, and the problem isn’t just the use of the specific expression “virtue-signalling”, it’s the assumption that the only possible reason for writing a gay character is to *pretend* to care about gay people. Here is a tip: only ever use the expression “virtue-signaling” for people whose professed virtues align with your own, and you’ll be much more likely to use the term correctly. “This free webcomic that I pay nothing to access and that nothing force or even… Read more »
Okay a couple of things to start. One your combining Longtime and My posts which while we seem to have similar points of view are not exactly alike. I never used the SJW term for Tim so please do not to attribute that to me. And your right Writing a gay character isn’t virtue signaling. Turning a previously straight male main character into one kinda is. That’s the disconnect. I think it was a bad choice when they did it with Green Lantern E2 and I think it is a poor choice here. And I did not use force down… Read more »
Critic, Lucas was never a straight man. He only came into existence 4 years ago and he’s always been gay. If you want me to think this isn’t about your biases, then you’re going to need to link me to similar statements you made about the virtue signaling of including a disabled person in the comic.
Critic, I’m combining your posts because I didn’t single anyone out in my first message and I did hit reply on one of Longtime Lurker’s message. In that first message I pointed to a bunch of expressions, so now I’m explaining, for each one of them, why they are wrong. Changing a character from straight to gay in a reboot isn’t virtue signaling. Unless you have no idea what virtue signalling means, which I highly suspect you do. Let me quote Wikipedia : “Virtue signalling is the conspicuous expression of moral values done primarily with the intent of enhancing standing… Read more »
Okay sorry obviously meant “super-heroes AUTHORS who want to write gay heroes” not “super-heroes who want to write gay heroes” lol.
After these comments I have to admit they simply don’t make much sense. The idea is that it’s jarring for a character to “turn gay” that once wasn’t… however the same commenters seem to have no issue with the same character just randomly being a super hero. So the argument here that it’s a break from the previous story narrative that forms a personal disconnect as a reader rings somewhat hollow. As in essence you’re saying you can relate more to someone suddenly flying about on a controller arrow, than someone who just happens to like someone of the same… Read more »
You made a good jab at Hollywood me thinks…a VERY good one 🙂 But sometimes putting a spotlight on something makes it seem more “commonplace” at least for a while…
Otherwise we are all trying WAY too hard…this was supposed to be a comic…or maybe A SITCOMic…lol
From what I can find via some brief Google-fu, about 4% of the population is LGBTQ+, though that jumps to over 7% among millennials, the population that is most likely to actually read webcomics (source, with its own citations: https://www.thedailybeast.com/just-how-many-lgbt-americans-are-there). If 4.8% of TV shows have LGBTQ+ characters (per Trondha), then that’s actually right, population-wise. But as Zelphair pointed out, many of those characters are not treated equally, in terms of their relationships, as heterosexual characters in the same shows. So any form of storytelling media that treats LGBTQ+ characters normally, just as it would heterosexual characters, ought to be… Read more »
Did you perhaps take Chinese History at the University of Iowa?
No need to stand around overanalyzing things
You do know there’s a good chance that Lucas isn’t GLBT (pokemon puns :D) right? It is perfectly plausible that he made a joke of getting a date in less time than it takes Ethan to do a chore and Andrew here is just a good friend of his.
I can somewhat understand what you mean in the sense that sometimes it feels like there is a token GLBT character, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t the case.
Lucas is homosexual. Read Tim’s comment in this same conversation above.
Sorry, I read the rest of the conversation after I wrote that.
While I’m personally against the massive over representation in popular media due to everyone cashing in for the cheap views, I can understand that it’s an artists right to express their political views through their works, and that large personality differences are basically a staple for interesting stories so it doens’t bother me too much. That said, I stopped reading questionable content about a year ago because literally (the real use of the word) every single main character was lgbt. And I just could no longer relate to any one. So as one of the last web-comics I’ve been reading… Read more »
Gay people aren’t over representated by the media. Statistically they make up 4.5% of media characters and most recent studies have the self stated population of LGBT people at 4.1%. All of those studies accept that this number is in all likelihood low and not representative due to people being unlikely to self identify as LGBT when asked for a study. Maybe not throw around terms like over represented, if you don’t know if people really are. Don’t get me wrong their are groups that are totally over represented. For example in the UK, black characters are massively over represented.… Read more »
Specifically GAY people are over represented. Not LGBT. The entire category might not be over represented but just gay people are. Also the specific numbers about representation from surveys are mostly off. For example the number of gay people drop from around 3% of the population to 0.3% of the population depending on how you phrase the question. When I specifically talk about gay people I’m referring to people who are only attracted to members of the same sex and no one else, and have been involved in at least one relationship with a member of the same sex. I’m… Read more »
I think that in this case simply looking at the percentage isn’t that useful. Whilst the percentage may match the general population, the fact is that with the majority of those gay characters their sexual preferences are played up as a massive part of their story and character, so much so that it often becomes their defining trait in a lot of shows, this is what makes them an over-representation, not so much on the pure numbers but on the amount of time and effort in many shows to establish and keep going over the fact that they are gay… Read more »
…maybe!
If they are 2-4% then yes in a comic that has shown over 50 characters at least one of them would in all likelihood be gay.
Granted we didn’t see this coming but I would have thought Ethan would have known if Lucas was gay.
What makes you think he didn’t?
You know what? I can’t explain it. Maybe it was the way he said and repeated “superfluous girl” as if there were extra girls that made me think that Ethan was expecting that Lucas would bring a girl. Maybe it was the fact that he got so nervous when Lucas arrived with Andrew, even though on the next panel he’s already normal that Lucas brought a guy.
It only happened in the first read. I’ve read it a few times and I’m not sure why I got that impression. It didn’t make sense for Ethan not to know.
Well would not one girl be superfluous if none were required?
yeah it was the superfluous girl bit, thought going back and re-reading there never was a specified gender for Lucas’ date and now I feel a bit of a fool XD still got the old iteration of the characters on the brain.
Yeah referring to Lucas’s date as a superfluous girl isn’t even the strangest use of Language Ethan has made this week.
Hey, my food taster died, can I get a new one?
Okay, that was a good twist.
I’m assuming this is not a surprise to Ethan (he’d be panicking regardless), but it’s certainly a surprise to me!
Let me ask, just because a guy shows up with another guy, why is it almost always a “he is gay” assumption? I am a straight male, and I have straight and gay male friends that I hang out with. Nothing “goes on” but there is always a stigma that if two guys go out in public together they “must be gay”. Every hear of stereotyping? Can’t it just be two guys? two friends? Why does who a person sleeps with have to dictate how they appear to others in public?
Lucas literally ‘swiped right’ to find a date for the evening.
Actually he might have just been texting Andrew and saying “Hey, Ethan got a date to a restaurant and asked for me to come with him, want to hang out?”
Also he could be bi. We have no indication stating he isn’t bi.
Tim confirmed gay status, so i suppose there is some indication at that…
at least they all will have something to talk about at diner plus later look back at this and laugh and crazily emily will accept a third date with ethan
This arc keeps getting better. Love that you decided to start doing arcs focusing on them outside of superhero roles. Been reading since the beginning and you keep me coming back 🙂
Everyone thinking Lucas is gay and here I am just thinking that Lucas is so aware of Ethan’s screw-ups he anticipated even THIS.
Upvote. I wondered this myself.
If he did think that far he deserves another superpower. XD
I feel as you do. Or felt. Before reading the comments, I thought, just like always (more mostly than always actually), Lucas has somehow (seemingly precognitively) figured out that Ethan effed up, and brought a friend in to be the blind date for Emily’s friend (Rachel). Now we sit and wait for Lucas’ date to show up. If it weren’t for the comments I would’ve still been oblivious to that detail until the next comic, when they’re sitting down and eating and Ethan is trying to explain away why didn’t he tell Emily that Lucas was gay. In another comment,… Read more »
Wow, that whole pen convo takes on a whole new meaning hahahaha. Good twist I didn’t see coming.
Sidestepping the whole firestorm that is socio-political commentary, I’d like to ask about what this means for the comic. Is Lucas/Kate not going to be a thing? I always liked that arc
Well, all we know for sure is that Lucas has an interest in men, there is no information if that is his exclusive interest or if he plays on both sides. Lucas/Kate could still come into play.
Where do we have conclusive evidence that Lucas “likes” men? So far all that has happened is he showed up as an “and other” and brought a dude with him. Maybe he just wanted some better conversation than that of the train wreck Ethan provides…
Lucas likes men.
Should change the gravatar to a straight dead face!
Denier: “Where do we have conclusi..”
Authority: (o_o) “Lucas likes men.” (o_o)
Be interesting to see where it goes. Lucas was such a luckless fool with women last time. Maybe he’ll do better on the other team.
So what does this mean for Kate?
It means nothing. Kate doesn’t necessarily exist in the reboot, or if she does, not as Lucas’s girlfriend. Nor was Lilah wasn’t a journalist, and last we saw of Scott he was taking the fall for a genetically enhanced penguin! Take the reboot as its own story, with elements of the characters retained with other elements changed.
@Jane I’d like to point out that Lilah had a job in 1.0 before she was a professional gamer, and we were never told what it was. So she *might* have been a journalist before. Which then means that Lilah could be the second most similar character between 1.0 and 2.0 right after Ethan. This is of course assuming that Lilah is also a gamer in 2.0
Lucas 2.0 that is…
I suspected/hoped this would happen, and I can’t tell you how delighted I am that it came to pass. Well, I could, but it’d be a wall of text and nobody’s here for that. So just… thanks. A lot.
Just have a fivesome. Problem solved!
Now the “You arte not my type” line sounds a little bit hurtfull. Its not you , its me.
This is getting good! Plot twist with so many ways it can go from here! I dig it.
Oh I am very impressed. Love the idea of Lucas being gay and Ethan having completely accepted it despite many of his social….shortcomings. Please keep it going, Tim!
Did not see this coming, awesome.
Huh. ……wait a minute! What happens in this universe if Ethan gets a concussion? Will Lucas suffer insanity backlash? If he does, how will he play Angry Birds? ….Does that even work with guys? Tim, better research moob physics.
Bwuh?
Oh. I was certain it was angry birds. Turns out it was Pokemon.
https://cad-comic.com/comic/fight/
Oh well.
But the big question is still: will Tim need to research moob physics?
Hmm… No reply from Tim? Bummer. Well, you know what they say: “Better to have tried and failed then never to have trolled at all.”
Emily’s face in the last panel makes me think she knows EXACTLY what’s going on here and is planning to enjoy every moment of it.
Good for you man. Nice job.
Thanks for including a queer character, Tim. It really means a lot to me as a long, long, long-time reader who is also queer to see some representation – in the main cast! – finally.
To all of you who are politicizing this, complaining about LGBT representation, tokenism, SJWs, etc… kindly go stuff it. Queer people aren’t a checkbox, we’re not a political debate, and we’re not a statistic. We’re people, and we deserve to be represented just as much as you do.
We’re here. We’re queer. Get over it.
You are here. Um… Welcome, i guess? I mean… I don’t see what the big fuzz is all about. Yes, i like girls. I’m wired funny, i like petite things, with small perky tits, and buns of steel. Preferably with a lot of crazy on top. I want to be able to pick her up, and carry her around, without using a fireman’s hold, i want to feel like “I got the power” (He-man) Others like battle-hardened peg-legged sailors. As humans we aren’t exactly able to change our preference on a whim, we were wired one way at birth, and… Read more »
“We are all different. It’s a strength, not a weakness.” ????
Of course you don’t, “see what the big fuzz is all about,” Mr B. You don’t live with people telling you every day of their life that they don’t, “see what the big fuzz is all about,” because they clearly understand what it means to be different too, since they like girls with little tits, and really we’re all human so who cares, while other people want to literally murder you over who you’re attracted to.
I’m mystified by all the surprise. It was clearly signposted way early in the reboot (Tim’s put a link to the first comic, I think, in a comment), and hinted at since. Also not understanding why its such a problem. I thought we as a society were more accepting that the weirdness I’ve seen in these comments.
Straight boys are willfully ignorant of queer context and subtext. Just look at the mainstream male perception of V for Vendetta or Fight Club for all the evidence you could possibly need.
Actually in this particular scenario there is a bit of a background. The reboot seemed to be the same characters in a different point in time. Also different circumstances. In 1.0, many of the Lucas-centric arcs were about how he would get in a relationship and it would fail terribly. Kate ended up being his canonical true love or something and the epilogue has Kate and Lucas with a child named Ethan, presumably theirs. So in other words, Lucas was straight and a portion of his shtick revolved around this, so people are surprised that Tim would make such a… Read more »
Hate to be THAT GUY, but that was definitely not Kate at the end of 1.0. Rather, just the woman that he went on to marry and have a family with post-Ethan disappearance. 😉
NOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!
You have crushed my hopes and dreams forever!
Really? Huh, I inferred it was Kate because they were together at that point and Lucas had been with Kate for MUCH longer than…anyone else. Like, ever.
They literally have superpowers now, which is a way bigger change to both the character and the setting, and furthermore, we have no canonical evidence that states Lucas isn’t now and hasn’t always been bisexual. For all we know, his orientation is the same as it’s always been.
Didn’t expect a homosexual twist. only really threw me off for a second since this actually doesn’t change anything except *maybe* the Lucas/Kate ships.
I’m confused … what just happened?
A wizard did it
Oh, well, in that case; carry on.
Oh come on, there’s no need to make any character “gay” just for the sake of “diversity”
Why on earth are the words gay and diversity in quotes there?
It’s like you think they’re made-up concepts or something. XD
being a fan of the comic, i can understand why so many are angst over their favourite characters sexuality being changed, but guys don’t be so shallow,and jump to a negative conclusion, it’s just part of the story, a plot twist for the new universe, accept it and move on.
I think a lot of the arguments here are just gay…..
SO in other words, they are Happy arguments!
Yes!
Definitely!
Let’s not go into a 10 comment long debate over etymology!
guys its just a comic cant we all enjoy it the way Tim wants to tell it, i honestly dont give a rat bump about Lucas being gay,bi or straight, seriously just remember the reason u continue reading the comic, its to have a good laugh and enjoy the ride…. see how it pans out. Its like u interruption a fella telling a joke halfway just because u hate his character of the joke being gay… geez let finish reading it and focus on the joke instead?
So is Lucas gay, or is he just so socially adept that he knew Emily would bring a second, so Lucas covered that with a second of his own and he’s actually playing “food taster”? I’m sorta confused.
He’s gay.
Wait, so Lucas didn’t bring a third guy in to make sure Rachel has a date?
Tim, I may be wrong but is this the most comments you’ve ever had?
A hundred? Nooo. XD
Nearly 400 on the one where I joked that the bad guys in Far Cry 5 might be Trump supporters 😉
Why is Emily wearing RED? Is she a trump supporter? What are you trying to say, Tim? I AM SO DONE WITH THIS COMIC.
Seriously though, cant wait to see what happens next. Keep doing what you do.
holy sh*t are you insane? do you have a death wish?!
Question: what was actually written on the hats? It didn’t look like a MAGA hat except for coloring. I think someone had read the wording as something about ice cream?
I dunno
I just looked and I think they just say make America Great again.
Now that I think about it they are too blurry to be legible- you only see MAGA because it is white writing on red hats and it isn’t explicitly different. So maybe it WAS ice cream XD
It’s not the most comments, but it is probably in the top 5 and is one of the highest where the conversation was…fairly civil. The comments seem to be 30% WaitsoisLucasGayI’mconfused 10% Discussions on what signals someone being gay within a comic 15% WhyisLucasGayArgh (Including the replies to that one comment) 10% random 35% Applause for Tim.
Numbers may be skewed due to me not counting each and every one
Some day in the future, a comic like this will be posted and nobody will say a word about the character’s sexuality. Won’ t that be grand?
yes. that day is probaly really far away
That day will never come. But the day that people say little more than “oh hey, new character! Nice!” or “Hm, this explains a lot” and not “Sigh. Does their have to be a gay character in everything these days?”
*that one is coming closer.
In some medias it can get a bit annoying that writers just make character scream his or her sexual preference (be it gay or straight), when it really doesn’t add to the story. That being said I really don’t get the hate this comic is getting. Yea Lucas was kind of ladies man in last storyline, but doesn’t that just make this even more epic twist? I mean Tim pretty much played with our presumptions that Lucas was straight, and it made the punchline of this comic hilarious and unpredictable without being offensive to anyone. All I really wanted to… Read more »
So I just wanted to comment on the use of some of the statistics and percentages above; LGBT characters should absolutely be over-represented compared to actual statistics. The idea is to normalize the idea of someone’s sexual or gender orientation. The whole reason there is such a struggle for equal rights around the world is due to the fact that if someone is “different” it’s a spectacle. They’re some kind of outlier. It’s weird. It’s “not right”. Yet really, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it aside from the fact that it’s not accepted by some people. That’s it. We’re… Read more »
I think you got it backwards. it should be glossed over like the rest of relationships of other characters. as the over representation is the same as calling it the exception to the belief instead of letting it be the norm. if it is the norm let it be the norm your not normalizing a culture by over exposing it you are simply shoving it in peoples faces and saying this is the norm. its a common misconception that making the plot point of what girl I should date or i asked this girl on a date that its more… Read more »
Bit of both; it is worth putting emphasis on the reveal like any other relationship would. Not constantly on the scene all the time, but not permanently on the back burner.
I think anybody bitching about “virtue signalling” is vice-signalling.
Honestly I kinda thought Lucas also foresaw Ethan kinda screwing up, and just figured he’d bring a friend. Obviously I see now that he’s gay haha. Definitely a little unexpected (despite the supposed hints in previous comics), but it’s not a big deal. I don’t really like the douchey side of him still haha, and it seems amplified now that he’s gay, but it’s just who he is. Shouldn’t affect the feel of the overall comic at all.
Okay, I have to say I didn’t see this coming. Normally I get annoyed when people make characters gay who were previously straight (Sulu in Star Trek Beyond comes to mind) mainly because the way it’s usually done is superfluous and unnecessary for the story at large. THIS, however, is how it really should be done. This actually affects the story and sets up a joke that I found pretty damn funny. What I’m not quite clear on is that it seemed as if Ethan was trying to set Lucas up with a GIRL, not a guy. So did Ethan… Read more »
And it turns out I just misremembered the comic. D’oh!
ice man was very jarring. alan scott was done well though sorta
Anyone else notice that there are actually only like 3 comments threads (Comment+all replies) that are upset about Lucas being gay? Most people are either applauding Tim or are confused because they can’t tell whether this means Lucas is gay because they haven’t finished reading the comments.
5/5
So it looks like Andrew is a clothing model – https://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Ascender-Softshell-Jacket-Black/dp/B00HQ4KSGE/ref=sr_1_25?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1522971825&sr=1-25&nodeID=7147441011&psd=1&keywords=spring+jacket
There is only one way this can go from here, Ethan. You’re the third wheel to this double date.
Callin’ it.