Parker was at the door. You were all wrong, except those of you who were right.
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I underestimated Parker’s resourcefulness. Denny looks profoundly sullied from letting her through. Maybe the loud knocking noise was Parker, not Denny like I figured.
That, I did not see coming by a long-shot. Somehow I was carrying this idea that Parker could be both obsessive and lustful as reguards Stasia, but not at the same time.
Great work, Bobby and Eisu! I love how shocked Guy looks at Parker’s scheme. It’s like he’s thinking; “Who are you and what did you do with my best friend?”
Denny’s a security guard, right? I know this is just a comic, but we have a security guard at the theater where I work, and if it looked like someone was even THINKING about punching him in the nuts, even as a ruse, they’d find themselves being hurled out a second story window.
And as for Parker’s plan, if Guy doesn’t blow up at her and tell her to forget it, I’m guessing Stasia will.
Im asking myself whats the more weird thing that Parker said to Guy. That they should blackmail a Popstar to a threesome (happy raep), or that she told him that she won’t look at him. unsatisfying 3some ever.
Yeah, it’s a bit cringe-worthy. Not setting up anything actually — moment’s over. Minor spoiler: It of course won’t actually work — Guy wouldn’t even tell Stasia about it. Conversation’s over.
not really sure what to say here except awsome page as always
I probably would have given some sort of sarcastic responce like:
“Let me get this straight, you want me to ask the woman to whom I have been married for all of X hours and whom I haven’t slept with if my best friend could join in on the first night? And ontop of that, if she refuses you want me to threaten her career? Gonna have to think about that one!”
It’s like that awkward moment in Chasing Amy, when he thought the way to fix everything was to have a threesome. Of course, that one didn’t involve blackmail; but it definitely went terribly wrong.
Well, that I think removed much discussion until the next page… so, I know I’m being SUPER greedy now, but “NEXT PLEASE!”
Sorry, I don’t mind the update confusion at all, in fact part of the reason I keep coming back, apart from the comic that I can’t get enough of, is the guesses at what will come next, and the discussion about the reality of the guesses…
This definitely lowered my opinion of Parker a bit. I still like her craziness earlier, but this…this wasn’t the same kind of cute/demented obsessiveness that all her earlier actions had. I just don’t like her as much now.
Could I request no more even minor spoilers? The uncertainty and speculation adds to the anticipation while waiting for the next update… It is the positive aspect of having to follow the story in fits and starts. I know I could just not read the comments, but that’s one of the other pleasurable things here. Reading the various uninformed speculations enhances the wait by creating more possibilities to imagine, exactly opposite to the way that reading a spoiler reduces them.
“Parker went to punch between his legs and he jumped up in fear as she punched/knocked on the door between his knees.”
Note that I don’t consider that a spoiler — I really like how you clue us in with funny explanations for what has already happened, especially since we don’t have to believe them
This page made me laugh out loud… XD Especially the last textbubble from Parker and Guys face. This is absolutely priceless.
But wow, either Parker is totally confuzed and pumped up because of the current situation or she’d really go to unbelievable lengths as a fan XD
I think I just inhaled my apple… WHOLE when I saw that. I choked so hard my sister was about to call 911. That was soooo unforeseen. Absolutely love the comic but that was just like, “I’m so going to hell for laughing at that”
>.
Aww, please don’t be mean to me, bugstomper. If you are reading this, make sure you imagine a girl to be saying all of this in a friendly tone with an occasional bit of sarcasm thrown in for humor, not spite. That’s my way of saying I am not at all trying to be mean, but it’s really hard to figure out because you can’t hear my voice as I’m trying to ’splain myself here. Actually, if you want to pretend I’m evil, go for it. I can’t stop you.
I like the minor spoilers. Just don’t read them if they’re there. And don’t give any excuses like, “I have to read everything.” I like to read everything, too, but it’s very obvious that we’re in the minority. But you can give the, “I read it by accident because the spoiler warning was too close to the spoiler.” Why not guess for a while, then look at the spoiler? That’s what I like to do. There’s still a lot more guessing involved, like how the conversations are going to play out in the next page. I start by guessing everything on my own. If I’m done guessing, I look at the spoilers. If I’m not, I don’t and I hope nobody else repeats the comment. And if someone does, oh, well. There’s a lot more to guess, especially the stuff that is not explained on the next page. If you have an imagination, spoilers shouldn’t have to spoil anything! They should help you add to and refine your guesses.
Anyway, I also like to keep bugs alive and unsquished. They are really fun to shove in front of people’s faces. Pwease stop stomping the bugs. They’re cute, too, in their own ways.
I agree with the “no more spoilers” request, they’re impossible not to read if you hit that post… one of the main things which gets me hooked on a webcomic for a long period of time is the “not knowing what’s going to happen next” factor.
OMG! That is the most awesome strip ever. I knew it would eventually be coming, but mayn, Parker is a trip. She’s literally ready to get down on her knees and beg him. XDDD
I think my brain switched off for a while when Parker suggested a threesome, and blackmail too. And she says it like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
IMO the reason we’re all so disappointed in Parker (me included) is coz this ruins our image of Parker as a crazy but not too insane fangirl.
Parker, how could you??
That was so unexpected! I found it so funny, and Parkers face is so serious, I can’t help but feel sorry for her. But that face she has in the blackmail part is so so evil. If I were Guy, I’d call Denny to take her away.
Ha ha, oh my god! I did NOT see that coming. Take THAT, anyone who thinks this comic is predictable. Not that I know of anyone who thinks that. Just… in case? Eisu, your art is amazing. Guy’s expression in the last panel is awesome.
The damn Wiki for “Marry Me” insanely says that it’s predictable — “Despite its early life span so far, and its ‘predictable’ story . . .” Doesn’t make any sense to me. Lots of other errors on there too, but oh well.
Love the comic great story. What parker is sugesting…… No way that parker is even gonna think about it. I hope he say just four word: “Denny throw her out” even if she’s a friend, asking something like that is just too pathetic.
I am half expecting Guy to call Denny over and have Parker forcibly removed from the building. But only half. I’m just hoping that Stasia doesn’t ask Guy for an explanation. He seems a little too honest to lie and lying now would hurt his ability to give Stasia the advice she needs later.
Parker comes off a little less lovable from this, although I’ll admit the impact of the scene in the movie could be drastically different depending on how the actress playing Parker delivers her lines.
blaugh, i’m sick of parker by now, her fan girl tactics are gettin on my nerves…plus she’s dragging down the story momentum
wish denny had clocked her >:)
I don’t see why everyone is hating Parker for this. I thought it was quite in line with the character Bobby gave her. You have to keep in mind that she is a crazed fangirl who will do anything (including take on Denny) to get to Stasia. Parker also knows Guy pretty well, right? They are best friends after all. She knows there’s no chance of this ever working. At the same time, she has to try SOMETHING. This is her idol we’re talking about. I think Parker doesn’t believe it will work at all. She 1) wanted to see Guy’s reaction - and it’s about what she thought it’d be, but she had to check 2) is hoping that through this she and Guy might think up something else that would actually work, and 3) is holding out a tiny bit of hope that Guy’ll break his normal mold and say yes. By my thinking, Parker’s like, “If it never actually HAPPENS, it not blackmail. So what’s the harm of just asking?!”
All that to say I was able to laugh at Parker’s antics w/out seeing her as losing a ton of lovableness. She no less lovable, just a lot more fangirl.
Like many other people I too have lost a lot of my respect towards Parker. I was shocked that she would say this. That she could want something that inconveniences Stasia. “Inconveniences” is such a weak word now…
And as to “I won’t even look at you”… like as though that would change anything.
Well, anyhow. I still like the comic. But I wish she didn’t say this. Now I look forward to the next update even more, because I have to find out what happens, I have to see if she can get back the respect I had for her. If she can get back her dignity. Okay, bad word… she never had any of that. But she was, in a zealous and chaotic way, honourable. I wonder if she can get that back.
Parker only wants to have sex with Stasia.
Stasia only wants to have sex with Guy.
Guy may not want to have sex with anyone.
And NOBODY wants to have sex with Parker. (Denny?)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That was amazing! I laughed so hard! Guy’s expression in the last panel is great! The last line is brillinat!!! “…AT ALL!” XD
“Bobby — if there are errors in the Wiki, can’t you edit it and make corrections? (Like you have time for that…nevermind!)”
I sadly do have time for it, but just don’t like messing with stuff like that — not a big enough deal. Don’t want to edit the page for a comic that I write either — would be weird. Also, the page will probably be down soon anyway for being non-notable or whatever, so doesn’t matter.
Oh, /Parker/.
[//shakes head.]]
But I’m inclined to agree with Beth Anne- Bobby’s been setting Parker up as a crazy, obsessed fangirl, right?
To me it sounds like something a crazy obsessed fangirl would say.
Poor, poor Denny.
Although I’m sure he’s used to being called a Troll.
Not very many people actually /like/ bodyguards.
T.T
Hmmm…I do loves Parker, yes, but…this creeped me out, a bit.
….it’s still phenomenally hot, since I’d take Parker before Stasia, but hey.
What can I say? Obsessive fangirls=A Winner Is You.
“I say anesthetics are more the thing she’d need right now.”
Oh jeez. XD You get a high-five for that! *High-fives Andy-o*
“blaugh, i’m sick of parker by now, her fan girl tactics are gettin on my nerves…plus she’s dragging down the story momentum
wish denny had clocked her >:)”
*Gasp* That’s so mean. ;_; I ♥ Parker… I’ll admit that she’s a little less of a cutesy-cuddly fangirl because of this page, but she’s still cool.
“Makes you wonder about Guy’s feelings for Parker.
She’s his best friend…
He puts up with all her crazy hijinx…
He’s not making moves on a beautiful woman, especially with Parker nearby…”
I dunno, -=2=-. I don’t think you should read so much into that… I mean, best friend, yeah. That doesn’t say he likes her that way, though. Puts up with her hyjinks… Again, that’s just something you do for your friends, y’know? And of COURSE he’s not hitting on Stasia with Parker nearby. Parker’s in crazy-love with Stasia. Would you hit on the guy/girl your best friend’s in love with? (You gets points for thinking outside the box, though.)
How is it that when sex is mentioned by a character, he/she loses respect? Just like the time when Guy asked is he and Stasia going to have sex tonight… I mean, they’re married (or at least they think they are), that was a valid question… and now, we have a crazy fangirl who is absolutely obsessed with Stasia and is a lesbian, so of course, being super attracted to Stasia to the point that she’d do a sign that says “Marry Me”, obviously she also wants to… well… try and get Stasia to bed, and now she sees and opportunity for her to do so and knowing Parker, is it so unbelievable that she’d actually try to go for it? I mean, the woman peed her pants and she’s found as funny but suggesting a threesome so that she can get Stasia in bed with her is disrespectful?
I don’t think it’s the sex that people find disrespectful. I think it’s that she’d blackmail Stasia to get it. That isn’t many degrees off rape, really. I mean, I know Parker doesn’t think of it that way, and that she is just obsessive and wacky, but that doesn’t really change much.
Anesthetics? Try a sedative and/or straightjacket!! ^^
Truly amazing work!! Although I keep wondering what’s keeping Guy from (a) calling those Nice Young Men In Their Clean White Coats, (b) switching Parker’s espresso for decaf or (c) slapping her in the face, screaming ‘PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, WOMAN!! *whap* EVERYBODY’S LOOKIN!!’ LOL
Even though Parker gave me the skeeves in this one, I luv her anyway.
Well, I love the page, and it made me laugh out loud ( I had to hide it as a coughing fit so the boss wouldn’t find out. >_> ).
Oh Parker, you crazy, obsessive fangirl, you.
On a side note, I finally got around to reading Eisu’s No Pink Ponies. Good Lord, I love you Eisu. XD
Eisu: I think it’s just that sex is a controversial thing… then again, so is lesbianism. XD But sex is like, “Whoa, scandel!” y’know? It’s just the way the general public views it. I don’t think many people actually lost respect for Parker so much as they think she’s gone down a little on the nice-girl-o-meter… or… something. I’m too tired to word things, so hopefully you can put it together from that. XD
(If it makes you feel any better, I still ♥ Parker.)
I’m willing to give Parker the benefit of the doubt, THIS time, because of the likely tense situation. If she were to feel bad about this afterwards, or later, that would make me feel better about giving it to her.
Hmm, interesting tidbit: the wiki page no longer says it’s predictable. (wasn’t me that edited it, btw, I just noticed it when I was looking at it)
Anyway, I’m another lurker-by-nature, but this page definitely deserves a comment. “It won’t be awkward AT ALL.” This made me love Parker just a little more… what a devious little brat XD
I never had a huge amount of Parker (but I do not dislike her). Crazy fans always scare me. Anyway, the idea of Parker wanting to have sex with Stasia; that’s fine for her character. Parker suggesting blackmail to have sex… again, it suits the character, in my mind, but it does lose a little of my respect. Basically, blackmailing Stasia into a threesome would be considered rape. Even if Stasia agreed to the threesome, she was threatened into it. But, then again, if Stasia was into that sort of thing, and there was no blackmail threat, there is no rape.
And Guy trying asking about sex (which he doesn’t seem to care about anymore) was fine with me. He thought they were married, so it actually made the question cute, in a way. I agree with Valerie, though; most of the people who lose respect are the ones who find sex too negative or controversial.
“I think it’s that she’d blackmail Stasia to get it. That isn’t many degrees off rape, really.”
“Basically, blackmailing Stasia into a threesome would be considered rape.”
These comments are ridiculous. Just because Guy used the word “blackmail” doesn’t mean this would really be blackmail in the true sense of the word, and it’s not anywhere NEAR rape. Most logical people would think the smart thing for Stasia to do to help her career is to get rid of Guy instantly. It’s only her insane brain that makes her think that staying married to him forever is what would be best for her image. (And how big of a deal is what’s best for her image??? That means she should have SEX that she doesn’t want just so the public might see her in a better light???) She doesn’t know the guy, just met him tonight, but you think it amounts to rape for Guy to say that he’d “leave her” if she doesn’t have a threesome with he and Parker? Total nonsense. How is it rape when all Stasia would have to do is say, “Um, BYE, this sure made my decision easy”? This would not be blackmail and it wouldn’t even be remotely close to rape, and it’s obviously not going to happen anyway.
Valerie: It’s not the fact that Parker wants to have sex with Stasia - it’s the fact that she’s willing to blackmail her into it and threaten her if Stasia doesn’t go through with it. In most developed parts of the world, that wouldn’t just be considered unethical - it’d be criminal. It’s not even remotely comparable to peeing on herself, or making a ‘Marry Me’ sign - as much as those actions exhibited a scary level of obsession, they didn’t hurt anyone. This one does.
It’s like watching a five year old kid mimic his favourite wrestling star. It’s cute and funny when he’s wearing his underwear on the outside of his pants, and even when he’s cutting up the curtains to make a cape. It’s not cute or funny when he practices out his moves on his two year old sister.
Bobby: The pertinent point is that Parker believes that Guy has sufficient leverage, and is trying to get him to use it. It doesn’t matter if she’s delusional, and her ridiculous suggestion would never work - the fact is that she’s willing to threaten Stasia in order to get something out of her.
“It’s not the fact that Parker wants to have sex with Stasia - it’s the fact that she’s willing to blackmail her into it and threaten her if Stasia doesn’t go through with it.”
Parker has absolutely nothing to threaten Stasia with. Parker can’t control what Guy does. Guy is the person who at least has SOMETHING (sort of, not really) to “threaten” Stasia with, and he’s said nothing about actually threatening her — he looks shocked by Parker’s suggestion. Parker has no power here whatsoever, so she can’t make any threats.
“In most developed parts of the world, that wouldn’t just be considered unethical - it’d be criminal.”
Total nonsense. You’re saying it’s criminal to want to have sex with someone.
“. . . as much as those actions exhibited a scary level of obsession, they didn’t hurt anyone. This one does.”
Once again, Parker has absolutely ZERO capacity to hurt Stasia, unless she were to maybe punch her in the face, which she obviously doesn’t plan on doing.
“It’s not cute or funny when he practices out his moves on his two year old sister.”
Not making any sense again.
“The pertinent point is that Parker believes that Guy has sufficient leverage, and is trying to get him to use it. It doesn’t matter if she’s delusional, and her ridiculous suggestion would never work - the fact is that she’s willing to threaten Stasia in order to get something out of her.”
Don’t understand. No matter how “crazy” Stasia might seem, she clearly has at least some brain in her head and isn’t completely retarded. There’s obviously no way in hell that Stasia could possibly get to the point where she thinks, “OK, I absolutely HAVE to have sex with these people right now.” No way in hell, and this is obvious to anyone who has read the story so far and has a brain in their head. You’re saying you can actually picture a scenario where Guy tells Stasia that he’ll break up with her if she doesn’t have a threesome and then you can also picture her responding with “Oh crap, guess I have to!”??? I just don’t understand this whatsoever, don’t know where you guys are coming from. It also should definitely not be assumed that Parker actually believes that Stasia would do this because of the threat. Most likely she thinks there’s a 99% chance that it wouldn’t work WHATSOEVER, but in that 1% chance of it actually working she’d think that it would work because Stasia actually likes Parker and wants to have a threesome with her and Guy. It wouldn’t be because she feels like they have sufficient “leverage,” in Parker’s mind, but this is just a way to get the ball rolling on that basically. It also could just be a test for Guy to see how he’d react — that’s at least part of it. Parker knows almost EVERYTHING about Stasia and she knows that Stasia isn’t retarded enough to actually think that she’d HAVE to have sex with them because of this. Only the stupidest person in the world would think they’d have to over this situation.
Eisu: How is it that when sex is mentioned by a character, he/she loses respect?
Oh, it is not the mention of sex, it is begging for it. Begging is sort of a declaration of bankruptcy: it is made clear that no value considered as adequate will be offered in return. That’s not an attractive proposition for something as personal as sex.
Alright I’m retarded I forgot you couldn’t type the less than sign.. :-/
This is how the rest of my comment was supposed to go:
EISU I heart you (I followed you here from No Pink Ponies which is also awesomely hilarious).
I think anyone who is offended by Parker on this page is just taking her antics too seriously. It’s not like Stasia is dumb and pliable, if Guy were to even go along with Parker’s crazy ideas.
“It’s not even remotely comparable to peeing on herself, or making a ‘Marry Me’ sign - as much as those actions exhibited a scary level of obsession, they didn’t hurt anyone. This one does.”
See, first, you pointed this post to Valerie, when the poor girl said nothing of this (the comparable to pee-ing or Marry Me sign), it was me who said it… secondly, what I was saying was that Parker is a lesbian who’s willing to do a Marry Me sign for a straight woman, is it so hard to believe that she wants to have sex with Stasia? And yeah, her method of wanting to have sex with Stasia might be with a “leverage” from a friend, but hell, she said so herself, Stasia’s not into that, so a window of opportunity for a threesome is open, she thought she’d take a chance… and thirdly, no one is threatening anyone yet. She’s asking GUY to ask Stasia, she didn’t threaten Stasia even so no one is threatened and no one is hurt so seriously, how does this go into the whole “disrespectful cos it’s rape” thing? It’s an obsessed fan (keyword: obsessed) who wants to sleep with her idol, that’s all there is to it… her situation is different than say a straight guy who’s obsessed over Stasia, she’s a female who likes her own gender and the person she likes “don’t go that way”, so she has to try certain other unorthodox methods if the window of opportunity opens itself… it’s not really that disrespectful or hard to figure especially since we know that Parker’s crazy… this thought, logically speaking (well, logical in the Parker sense) should be crossing her mind…
Bobby: I’ll start from the end of your reply, since my response will address issues relating to the beginning.
“It wouldn’t be because she feels like they have sufficient “leverage,” in Parker’s mind, but this is just a way to get the ball rolling on that basically. It also could just be a test for Guy to see how he’d react — that’s at least part of it. Parker knows almost EVERYTHING about Stasia and she knows that Stasia isn’t retarded enough to actually think that she’d HAVE to have sex with them because of this. Only the stupidest person in the world would think they’d have to over this situation.”
The problem is that none of that really comes across in the strip itself. Very few people who have commented here have seen the logical jump between Parker’s words and the rationalisation you have accorded to her. It requires the reader to not only have faith in your ability as a storyteller (i.e: assume that the basis of the story, Stasia’s insistence that she stay married to Guy, is actually going to be handled rationally), and in the intelligence of your cast (i.e: ‘nobody’s dumb enough to believe that, therefore Parker/ Stasia can’t be dumb enough.’)
I think you’ll find that neither will be particularly common so early into the comic/ movie. People have been saying that they can’t wait until the next strip to ‘redeem’ Parker because they accept that there could be a reason beyond the obvious for Parker’s actions, but they just can’t see it. You act as though the reasons you accorded to Parker above should be transparent and obvious to all who read the comic, yet out of all the people who’ve commented, how many have seen through the apparent blackmail plan to the motivations you mentioned? You say that ‘it wouldn’t be because Parker thought they had sufficient leverage’ - well, that’s what Parker says to Guy.
This being the case, I’m going to respond to the rest of your post disregarding your explanation, just based on what I was able to glean from the comic itself:
“Parker has absolutely nothing to threaten Stasia with. Parker can’t control what Guy does. Guy is the person who at least has SOMETHING (sort of, not really) to “threaten” Stasia with, and he’s said nothing about actually threatening her — he looks shocked by Parker’s suggestion. Parker has no power here whatsoever, so she can’t make any threats.”
Yes, of course - but Parker believes she’s got power. Or rather, that Guy’s got the power, and that he’ll harness it on her behalf. Her apparent _expectation_ is that if Guy goes to Stasia and tells her to have a threesome, Stasia will be forced to acquiesce. It doesn’t make a difference if her reasoning is flawed, and if her idea is the most ridiculously idiotic proposition imaginable - it’s making people uneasy because it shows that she’s _willing_ to indulge in blackmail and to disregard the feelings and desires of the person she ‘loves’ in order to get what she wants out of her. Not that she has, or even that she will, but that she’s capable of it. She _believes_ she has leverage, and she _believes_ that Guy can blackmail Stasia into a threesome, and she acts on those beliefs. The fact that Guy refuses her, and that the idea isn’t a workable one to begin with, is really beside the point as far as her character is concerned.
“Total nonsense. You’re saying it’s criminal to want to have sex with someone.”
I’m saying nothing of the sort. I’m saying that it’s criminal to blackmail someone into sex, and that Parker was (apparently) willing to do so. Hence, Parker is capable of criminal actions.
Eisu:
“he’s asking GUY to ask Stasia, she didn’t threaten Stasia even so no one is threatened and no one is hurt so seriously, how does this go into the whole “disrespectful cos it’s rape” thing? It’s an obsessed fan (keyword: obsessed) who wants to sleep with her idol, that’s all there is to it… her situation is different than say a straight guy who’s obsessed over Stasia, she’s a female who likes her own gender and the person she likes “don’t go that way”, so she has to try certain other unorthodox methods if the window of opportunity opens itself… it’s not really that disrespectful or hard to figure especially since we know that Parker’s crazy… this thought, logically speaking (well, logical in the Parker sense) should be crossing her mind…”
I’ve gone into that already - it’s NOT rape, but it’s making people uneasy because it’s only one step removed from it. I.e: If Guy actually went through with it, and Stasia agreed out of a real fear for her career, it would be. Hence the reason why people are getting uneasy - it tells them that this character’s obsession extends beyond the cute and cuddly into the sinister.
I’ll respond more later — rushing to the Dodger game right now, but gotta respond to this quickly –
“I’ve gone into that already - it’s NOT rape, but it’s making people uneasy because it’s only one step removed from it. I.e: If Guy actually went through with it, and Stasia agreed out of a real fear for her career, it would be.”
LOL. Under no conceivable circumstance WHATSOEVER could this be anything remotely CLOSE to rape. Never. Makes no sense. It’s not one step removed or 20 steps removed. It’s nowhere in the same ballpark. It would just be Stasia being completely retarded and choosing to have sex with people for insanely stupid reasons if that was her reasoning behind it. Not blackmail or rape.
“yet out of all the people who’ve commented, how many have seen through the apparent blackmail plan to the motivations you mentioned?”
Um, most people — all the ones who are saying “Best strip ever!” and such, and who are strongly disagreeing with you and one or two others who say they think it’s horrible. It’s similar to the people who hated Guy just for bringing up the question of wondering if they’d have sex tonight like 20 pages ago. Some people are just really uncomfortable with anything like that, that’s all.
parker’s face in the last panel really gives her a look of desperation, it’s cute. i am still not sure if i love her or hate her, i think i like her character but if she were a person in knew in real life i would be constantly annoyed by her.. or something like that.
i also seriously don’t get why people seem so upset with this strip, i mean really, it’s just silly. but everyone reads things differently, at least they all seem to like the comic no matter what
Wow, you guys. Do we have to have a heated debate on every single page? Can’t we just talk about something friendly? XD
I think the bottom line, though, is that everyone’s going to have a different view of Parker based on how they’re seeing things. Some people will like Parker more because they’ll see this as a funny situation, some people will like Parker less because they’ll think she’s trying to take advantage of Guy/Stasia, some people will like Parker the same amount but will see her character in a new light, etc.
Bobby sir, it’s just how readers understand things, y’know? We all see things differently. If anything important is misunderstood, it’s usually figured out on a later page.
Anyway, for the record, I still ♥ Parker. I’ll admit that I was sliiiightly shocked at her suggesting this to Guy, but that’s because I’ve been viewing her as a “cute and cuddly” kind of person. Her character is still awesome, in my opinion. I just saw another side of her. That’s no reason to dislike someone.
But again, that’s just my point of view on it. Other people may have taken things differently. It’s nothing big, just different minds at work.
I’m fairly sure I understand why people are associating Parker’s attempting to get into bed with Stasia via Guy with blackmail.
Guy says: “And you think I should blackmail her? Don’t you love Stasia? And currently hate me?”
Parker, of course, completely ignores the first part of the sentance; and responds to the way she feels about Stasia by presenting her idea. However, the word “blackmail” has got lodged in our brains due to the weight it carries; combine that with a threesome- another potentially weighty ideal- and that’s where the “blackmail into sex” comes in.
If you actually skip that word, it sounds a lot more like Parker trying to convince her best friend to try to convince his new wife to maybe, one day, have that threesome. Now whilst I’d agree that Parker is trying to apply pressure onto Stasia, at no point did SHE say, or even suggest, that it would be close to blackmail.
However, I must say, I did lose a little respect for Parker here- and I will explain exactly why. Sex is often considered an intimate act, which is- I hesitate to use the word, but it’s late and I can’t think of anything better- almost sacred in the eyes of many. Parker is trying to apply pressure to somebody she supposedly cares about in order to get sexual gratification- with full knowledge that Stasia wouldn’t enjoy it, as she’s “not into that”. She shows less respect for Stasia and her wishes than I would expect from her; and therefore, I lost a little for her as well.
Nothing wrong with wanting to have sex with someone. However, Parker doesn’t really know Stasia as a person yet. So this is coming across as pure lust, not love. I think that a lot of the objections to Parker’s actions here are based on that. (That and the ‘I’m a lesbian, but I’m willing to have sex with you as long as I can have sex with her’ just seems… off.)
I like how both the Artest and Writer defend their characters, but I agree with Bobby and Eisu. We haven’t been able to see the character’s past, or their inner thoughts. We have no idea what they are dreaming, or feeling. Granted, Eisu does a good job with the artwork, but the only one who truly understands the characters is the guy who made them: Bobby.
And Ghost in the Machine, I would call it infatuation, not lust. She’s obsessed with Sasha, not having sex with her. And second, I agree with you. I don’t see Parker going throught GUy to get with Sasha.
(I just responded to Ghost’s because it wasn’t long and ranty.)
I don’t think it was supposed to be about blackmail. I think parker just wanted guy to try to convince her. Not blackmail. He mentions the blackmail not parker. From what I got from the page was this, she ment if u asked stasia for something then stasia would really consider it because she wants to make the marriage work. But we all know that the question will never make it back to the room.
Anyway I think we should just set up one of those “patiently waiting” benches (that I remember valerie mentioning on a diff post) and just relax.
The law is very clear that any kind of coercion (Including blackmail/extortion, and specifically threats to public image) is rape.
Furthermore, blackmail is blackmail if the person being blackmailed perceives the release of the information as a threat to them, and the person doing the blackmailing knows that the person believes the information going public is a threat to them. It doesn’t matter whether the average Joe thinks it is blackmail material or not. (Although it can make jury trials unpredictable if the blackmail is predicated on irrational assumptions). Also, this situation would actually be extortion rather then blackmail, but the same principles apply.
So it doesn’t matter that Stasia should not be worried about the theoretical threat being made. All that matters is that Stasia is worried about this issue, and Parker knows it.
Of course, people tend to suggest crazy things sometimes- especially when life has become weird. So I find it plausible that Parker isn’t really intent on blackmailing Stasia and instead she is just a lot of talk. Which is why most conspiracy charges require an actual act in furtherance of the crime.
So Parker has not done anything criminal yet, but she has suggested something that would be criminal if she pursued it.
That’s just the way the law is. Of course, blackmail/extortion cases are a pain to prosecute so alot of people get away with it- and with the apparent irrationality of Stasia (Pop Star marrying some stranger? Not much sympathy from a jury), I think most prosecutors would decline to make top charges. They’d probably push for a plea deal with a slap on the wrist at best- unless they had some concrete evidence of a conspiracy.
I dont see why Parkers ’suggestion’ surprises anyone. at least 90 percent of a homosexual relationship is sexual, and the ‘love’ for someone of the same sex is usually sexual in nature.
“Um, most people — all the ones who are saying “Best strip ever!” and such”
Basil Fawlty is a hilarious character. He’s still an arsehole. I never said that I didn’t find the strip funny - I just don’t find Parker likeable.
“and who are strongly disagreeing with you and one or two others who say they think it’s horrible.”
One or two others? Try >10 - on a brief sweep through the comments, Zahoe, Kalikajira, Particle man, Tibbar de gniw, Ghost in the machine, Linz, Lord klingsor, Goatboy khan, Jessica, Carny, and Fwizzie have all commented that they’re either been creeped out by Parker, or that they’ve lost respect for her. Add to those posters like Proxess and Christopher Howell, who found the strip funny in spite of an acknowledged creepiness (or perhaps because of it). You can add me to that group.
We’re currently on just over 100 comments, with about 40 individual posters (that’s an estimate - feel free to correct me). You’re looking at a quarter to a third of your audience (those who have seen fit to comment) who seem to have missed your point.
“It’s similar to the people who hated Guy just for bringing up the question of wondering if they’d have sex tonight like 20 pages ago. Some people are just really uncomfortable with anything like that, that’s all.”
I’ve just gone through the strip you mentioned - 3 individual posters found Guy’s question off putting - Russ, Sean and Elliot Kane. Of the three, Russ and Sean seemed to lose respect for Guy not so much because he mentioned sex, but because he was being tactless - something you, Bobby, acknowledged.
You can believe that this controversy derives from ’some people’ being really uncomfortable with anything to do with sex, if you want, but really, you’re missing the point. Do you think the response would be more positive if, instead of asking Guy for a threesome, Parker had asked him to get Stasia to give them lots of money?
Jade: No, I think it has more to do with the fact that Parker first points out to Guy that he has leverage over Stasia, thus being the character to introduce the prospect of blackmail into the strip.
Aye aye, Captain! *Sits on the metaphorical bench*
…Aw, dang it. I can’t sit quietly over this, hang on. *Stands up*
“I dont see why Parkers ’suggestion’ surprises anyone. at least 90 percent of a homosexual relationship is sexual, and the ‘love’ for someone of the same sex is usually sexual in nature.”
I don’t like that comment. I’m female. I’ve dated (and been in love with) a girl. We never had sex, even though we could have. I don’t see why you’re saying that 90% of the love in a same-sex relationship needs to be sexual. If it’s like that for same-sex, it should be like that for opposite-sex, too. It’s not, though. Love is love, thanks much. Love and lust are totally different things. Don’t confuse them.
Now, I’m going back to my nice little bench. Do me a favor and stop the stereotypes, ‘kay? Not cool. *Sits on the metaphorical bench*
I agree with Tim, the reason that I lost respect for Parker wasn’t that she had an actual chance of blackmailing/extorting/coercing Stasia into having a threesome, it’s that she believed there was a chance and was willing - indeed, eager - to try it. Not only that, but she was willing to do so without a thought for Guy and Stasia’s feelings. Now, I can see this being just a crazy, spur of the moment Parker thing, but just the fact that she not only entertained the idea but was willing to give it a try is what made me lose respect for her. Up until now the impression I got of Parker was that of a crazy fangirl, but also a good friend to Guy, and someone who genuinely cared about both Stasia and Guy. This strip really hurt that impression. Now, if she drops this or apologizes later (I hope she’ll apologize, but eh, not my story) it won’t have as big an impact as it does right now. However, seeing as I don’t have any more of the story to go on, right now, I’ve lost respect for her because her behavior is extremely selfish, and out of character, at least for how I had pictured her.
So, no, Bobby, it has nothing to do with me being prudish or disliking talk about sex. I think discussion of sex is normal, and even healthy. It would probably be better if we had a little more talk about it instead of everyone treating it as a taboo subject. It has everything to do with character development and my disappointment with how Parker acted in this situation. Do I still laugh at Parker’s antics, yes. But she’s not as likable right now as she was. Hopefully further strips will change that. This is a great story, and I look forward to the rest of it.
“One or two others? Try >10 - on a brief sweep through the comments, Zahoe, Kalikajira, Particle man, Tibbar de gniw, Ghost in the machine, Linz, Lord klingsor, Goatboy khan, Jessica, Carny, and Fwizzie have all commented that they’re either been creeped out by Parker, or that they’ve lost respect for her.”
It’s definitely one or two others (at the most) who have said this would be RAPE, which is what I was talking about. Did I ever once say that people shouldn’t be creeped out by it??? No, never. I simply said that it’s not rape and could never be rape and that it’s crazy to blow it so out of proportion like that.
“You’re looking at a quarter to a third of your audience (those who have seen fit to comment) who seem to have missed your point.”
That’s nonsense. Somewhere around 1-3 people have said they think it would be rape (possibly only two, I’m not sure), and those people are just insane. It’s perfectly fine for people to be creeped out by Parker here, but to think it’s rape is just nonsense.
Carny, you don’t know the law very well at all. You’re telling me that if some girl had a stick of gum and some guy walked by and said, “Hey, can I have that gum?” and then the girl said, “Only if you have sex with me first,” that would be RAPE if the guy then agreed to have sex with the girl to get the gum? That’s what you’re saying. It’s a very similar scenario here, in terms of how compelled Stasia would be to actually agree to these demands.
Guy’s expression in the last panel is probably his best one ever.
@Bobby and Eisu: Please don’t get yourself too worked up about this. The story’s going along fine as it is (especially seeing as this is supposed to be a one-strip gag). There’ll always be people who start getting wierd viewpoints about these kind of jokes as soon as sex get’s involved. Personally, I don’t think the joke went too far (if something like this would have happened in the real world, someone like parker would have probably tried this way sooner) and you should trust your readership to understand that a little more. Like any artist, you’re not required to explain to us the meaning of your art.
“that would be RAPE if the guy then agreed to have sex with the girl to get the gum? That’s what you’re saying. It’s a very similar scenario here, in terms of how compelled Stasia would be to actually agree to these demands.”
It’s not similar at all; the guy is being offered something that he desires, but which will not be hurt by the absence of. Parker’s whole argument to Guy is predicated on the belief that Stasia would consider Guy breaking up with her as a real injury to her career, and hence be hurt by it. In her own words, ‘[Stasia] thinks it’ll kill her career to break up with [Guy]’. She’s asking Guy to threaten Stasia’s career in order to coerce her into sex. How that is even remotely comparable to a girl offering a guy gum if he has sex with her, I really fail to see. A more pertinent example would be if the girl said to the guy, ‘I recorded you stealing from the school yesterday. If you don’t have sex with me I’ll pass on the recording to the police’.
Rape is differently defined around the world, but I believe most legal systems consider sex under coercion to be a form of rape. If Parker isn’t attempting to get Guy to coerce Stasia into sex, what is she doing?
Now that my brain has recovered from the unexpected freeze, crash, shutdown, and, eventually, hard reboot that your newest installment pulled, here is what I have to say:
At first I thought Parker was just another fangirl.
Then I thought she was a high-level crazy fangirl.
“Rape is differently defined around the world, but I believe most legal systems consider sex under coercion to be a form of rape.”
Yes, and it all depends on the type of coercion. For example, that gum scenario wouldn’t be rape, but it is a form of attempted coercion — just a really stupid attempt, though, similar to Parker’s, with no chance of working unless the person simply wants to have sex anyway. It’s impossible for Stasia to think that it would kill her career if she “breaks up” quickly with the stranger who she just apparently married on a whim. Ugh, we could go on like this for ages — you’re just not going to understand apparently. You’re taking it all WAY too seriously. There could be a million different ways to interpret exactly what Parker might be thinking, but none of those million different ways should have the word “rape” ever enter the picture. Sure, it could be taken to be pretty creepy, fine, but when everyone involved, especially Parker, knows that Stasia is not completely retarded and would never think that she’d actually be forced into doing this and have no choice in the matter, then there’s no way that rape could ever be an issue here. I think it’s practically IDENTICAL to the gum comparison. I mean COME ON, Stasia is SUPER RICH, flies around in private jets, and that’s AFTER giving 97% of her money to charity! It’s not like it matters if her image MIGHT be slightly hurt by not staying with Guy forever. Even if her career WAS killed, who gives a crap? She’s still a millionaire! It’s IMPOSSIBLE for breaking up with this stranger to kill or even hurt her career, really, but EVEN if it did kill it, she’d still be totally set for LIFE. So there’s no coercion. It’s not like she’d be going to jail over this or like she’d be living on the streets after this or like any physical harm would come to her or anything bad AT ALL BASICALLY! If no harm can come to her from this, other than the CHANCE that it might slightly hurt her image (and remember that she said this after she was given advice by her very close friend and sister that the SMART THING TO DO IS END IT WITH GUY RIGHT AWAY), then it’s not coercion and it’s nowhere near rape. Logically, Stasia should want to just end it with Guy right away — that’s what would logically be best for her career and probably for herself too, and her sister has told her this even, someone she trusts. But anyway, yeah, keep thinking it’s rape, no problem.
Wow……….normally I browse through the comments to see what Bobby comes up with….but this time it’s just too much effort to see people arguing with the creator. *sits with Bobby because Bobby is the creator and Bobby is God of this little world*
You just have to love the disgruntled Denny/Wall, and Oh My God, Double You Tee Eff ness of Guy.
Bobby, the point isn’t whether it actually would hurt Stasia’s career, it’s the fact that she believes it, and Parker knows she believes it and is willing to exploit that. What makes something coercion or blackmail or extortion is not the actual damage the threat would do if it was carried out, it’s the damage the person thinks it would do, and obviously Stasia thinks it would do a lot of damage to her career.
If someone is threatened with a realistic looking toy gun into having sex, it’s considered rape. It doesn’t matter that the threat wasn’t and could not be real - indeed, was ridiculous. What matters is the person’s belief that the threat was real, and the person holding the toy gun’s knowing that they believed that and being willing to exploit it.
This is essentially what Parker is doing. Yes, we know that it wouldn’t really hurt Stasia in any major way. That’s not the point, either here, or in court if it went there. In court, it could indeed be considered extortion or coercion or even blackmail into having sex. Which is definitely considered rape in the US. Whether or not it would be considered that would depend on how many people on the jury would look at it like you - that there wasn’t a real threat, therefore there was no rape - and how many would look at it like me, tim, and a couple others - there was a perceived threat, therefore it was rape, regardless of how much actual damage it could do.
I don’t see the reason why so many people are upset. I just took it as Parker knowing that Stasia obviously likes Guy (to some point, or she wouldn’t have married him), probably would have sex with HIM, so as a favor to him she might include Parker in the equation. Sure, she phrased it in terms of “do whatever he wants” or whatnot, but I doubt she’d really blackmail Stasia. I mean - she’s obviously in love with the woman, obviously wants to at least be tolerated by her, and making Stasia unhappy or force her into sex would obviously not be the way to go. I think she’s sane enough to see that. Also, I think in the back of her head she probably knows Guy would never in a million years say yes if it’s a really bad idea, so maybe she’s just suggesting to see how he would react.
It’s a bit like getting upset ’cause one of the characters jaywalked or something. Sure, it’s illegal, in an obscure kinda way, and disrespectful to, uh, people driving cars, and could possibly be dangerous but… does it really warrant public outrage?
Anyway. I thought it was funny, and cute in an insane way. Poor Parker, I hope she finds someone she can devote those attentions to
To all the “rape” people: Listen, I think we should just chill out and take a few deep breathes and watch what happens in the comic before getting all worked up over this one strip. Or, you could just go away and not read this comic at all. Frankly, either way would be better than yelling at its creators constantly.
“Bobby, the point isn’t whether it actually would hurt Stasia’s career, it’s the fact that she believes it . . .”
Huh??? Did you miss the parts where I said about 20 times already that Stasia obviously is nowhere near stupid enough to believe it? Should I quote myself about 20 times right now? Re-read my posts please.
“. . . and obviously Stasia thinks it would do a lot of damage to her career.”
Once again, no she doesn’t. She’s nowhere near retarded enough to think that it would be so damaging to her career that she’d have to allow herself to be “raped” to avoid it. Re-read my posts. Her best friend and main adviser already told her that the smart thing to do is to end it with Guy ASAP!
To get a response like this for the work you two do, you’re obviously doing something right. And I must add that the last line on the page is my favourite thus far. Very amusing.
“Coming to think about it, we’re the people who need those anesthetics, not Parker.”
XD!! *High-fives* Welcome to the bench.
Dragonmage, you should come sit on the bench too. You’d fit in. XD
But, um, as much as I do love this little bench, I have to direct a comment to Bobby…
Bobby sir, you said that there’s no way she’d believe that breaking up with Guy would hurt her career, but didn’t she say something along the lines of “Oh no, must stay with Guy” before? My memory could just be messing with me, so correct me if I’m wrong.
Valerie, she could definitely think that it could hurt her career, but nowhere NEAR to the point of thinking it’s such a dramatic thing that she’d have to have sex with people to avoid it. Her closest adviser told her that the smart thing would be to end it with Guy right away! So it’s not like a DONE DEAL, that it would hurt her career. It’s not like the example Tim gave about someone having evidence of you doing something criminal that you’d go to jail for if it’s released or any crap like that. It’s a guessing game and Stasia, in a crazy moment, had the idea to stay with Guy forever. But common sense tells her it’s probably not the smartest thing to do, as Janny already said. Also, once again, why would she care so much if it hurt her career??? She’s a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE and she gives most of her money to charity. And again, she’s NOT retarded. Only reason for her to possibly agree to this just because of the “hurting her image/career” aspect if she’s COMPLETELY RETARDED. Like stupidest person in the world. And Parker obviously knows that she’s not.
Nearly fell off my chair reading the comic!
As for all the people shouting “RAPE!”, even though Bobby himself has already mentioned why there wouldn’t be any (Parker might be insane enough to think this might work, Stasia ISN’T.), bloody well get over yourselves.
Seriously, wtf makes you think you can see inside of the characters heads better than the person who writes them?
Bobby, people usually care about their careers, whether they have money or not. It disturbs me a little that you’re suggesting a career wouldn’t matter if you have enough money. I mean, yeah, we all wanna be rich. Who wouldn’t? But careers are about things you love doing, not the money you make.
In ths particular case, though, Stasia seems almost sick of her career. So who knows?
Annnd Bobby, as much as I ♥ you, Eisu, and the comic… um, would it be okay to ask that you please use the word “retarded” a little less? Maybe I’m overly sensitive, but my brother and sister both have some problems, so it bugs me when people use it as a negative term so much…
You know that analogy with the gum? It might not be rape, but it’s still sexual assault. Okay, maybe gum is too minor. Let’s substitute in a job instead of gum. A guy wants a promotion but can’t have it unless he has sex with his boss. Now what do you consider it? The gum was a very bad example and had absolutely nothing to do with this case. I am not trying to start an argument with the stupid gum thing, I’m just saying you were a bit hasty with the analogy. It is absolutely nothing like what people are assuming from the comic. Okaaay, moving on.
Even though I do realize that almost no one here is going to change his or her opinion, you have to consider a few points to put some people at a bit more understanding. They’re Bobby’s character’s and he’s going to defend them to his death. We’re all stubborn now and we would like to defend our own oinions. We do understand that Stasia is not stupid enough to go through with this. We seem to get that she’s not really stressed enough to be coerced, either. But that’s not the point. The point is the intent. The way it’s worded. What would hold up in court? Just because the word ‘blackmail’ is used doesn’t mean it’s blackmail. I get that. The point is that Parker wants sex with Stasia. She can only get it through Guy, because he presumably has power (one of the key factors in what most consider rape is dominance) over her. Now, IF (I know she WON’T, but please just look from a slightly different view for the moment) Stasia went through with this, she wouldn’t know the reasons behind it. I’m sure, if she really was stupid, she would just agree with anything that Guy said. Later, if she wisened, the law would be on HER side. Yeah, I do get that she was just told to break up with Guy a couple of times, and that it’s the best thing to do. What I’m trying to do right now is look at it from what Parker is saying, not what Stasia was just informed, and not how we know Stasia would react.
Again, I realize that she won’t do it. But IF everything went as Parker desired, it’s at least some form of sexual assualt or rape or something along those lines. Leave the actual term to the people who got better than a B+ in their college law classes. Parker didn’t intend it as rape, but she is trying to take advantage of the situation to involve sex. There are plenty of people out there who would go through with it in this situation. And, sure, they’re stupid, but that usually means they don’t have the legal capacity to make an informed decision. The consent is not valid because of the duress and the lack of capacity.
In closing, no, Stasia isn’t stupid. Thank you for elaborating on that point and sticking with your characters. Thank you for telling us that Parker didn’t intend to rape Stasia. We get it. We’re stubborn. I know I am. But my mind is also open. Maybe not quite enough for my brains to fall out, but it’s still open enough to take note of what others are saying. Bobby, you just seem like you’re arguing because you love your characters. You definitely have plenty of validity in what you’re saying, but you have to remember that not everyone is basing their thoughts on what will happen or what should, but what could. They’re allowed to think, too. If you didn’t want them to have opinions, why let them think at all? Just give everybody the entire comic script. Or immediately tell everyone that what they are assuming is correct or incorrect about the whole of the comic. Let’s not have anymore mysteries here. Imaginations suck.
Now to change the subject: I love this comic. Yay!
“Bobby, people usually care about their careers, whether they have money or not. It disturbs me a little that you’re suggesting a career wouldn’t matter if you have enough money.”
But it’s not only about that, Valerie. It’s a complicated thing. It’s not just because I’m saying she doesn’t need her career — the most important part by far is that common sense says that this would HELP HER CAREER to end it with Guy instantly! As I’ve said 2,000 times now. The only reason I’ve mentioned the aspect of how losing her career isn’t that important is to take it a step further and say that even if it DID hurt her career (which it basically COULDN’T — think about it), that’s still nowhere near reason enough for her to allow herself to be blackmailed and RAPED! You have to look at the entire picture here. Many factors play a role in making it beyond stupid for Stasia to even entertain the idea of doing this just to avoid her image/career being POSSIBLY SLIGHTLY damaged.
“You know that analogy with the gum? It might not be rape, but it’s still sexual assault.”
No, it’s not sexual assault at all.
“A guy wants a promotion but can’t have it unless he has sex with his boss. Now what do you consider it?”
Um, obviously that’s illegal. That’s nowhere near like what was suggested in the comic. The gum analogy is perfect for it, though.
“Again, I realize that she won’t do it. But IF everything went as Parker desired, it’s at least some form of sexual assualt or rape or something along those lines.”
No, it’s definitely not.
“There are plenty of people out there who would go through with it in this situation.”
Huh? There’s no one. Unless they badly wanted to have sex with Parker.
“Bobby, you just seem like you’re arguing because you love your characters.”
Makes no sense whatsoever, completely wrong. I’m arguing because people are saying insanely stupid wrong things (RAPE!) and I’m correcting them.
“You definitely have plenty of validity in what you’re saying, but you have to remember that not everyone is basing their thoughts on what will happen or what should, but what could.”
Doesn’t make any sense. I’m also talking about what could.
“If you didn’t want them to have opinions, why let them think at all?”
Shaking my head, don’t know what the heck you’re saying. I can choose to not let people think now? Wow!
“Or immediately tell everyone that what they are assuming is correct or incorrect about the whole of the comic. Let’s not have anymore mysteries here. Imaginations suck.”
No clue what you’re saying. Ask a specific question and I’ll answer it.
jesus god.
I’ve been reading some of the comments and rape? Parker is crazy but she would NEVER forcibily rape stasia. She says herself, that she is in love with stasia so obviously she wouldn’t want to hurt her, but apart from that - it’s a joke! I seriously doubt Parker would actually go through with any blackmail or hurt Stasias career in any way and i SERIOUSLY doubt stasia would allow any blackmail like that because come on- the blackmail itself is stupid! Guy leaving Stasia wouldn’t affect her career anymore than it does him being with her.
It’s a joke! Argh!
Hello, I’ve enjoyed this comic so far, but I do have to agree that her last statements have lowered my respect for Parker. Bobby, you said that it might help Stasia’s career if she ends it with Guy, but I don’t think she believes that yet or she would have already ended it. It is clear that she would much rather avoid having a threesome than to end it with Guy, but ending it with Guy is still something she does not want to do, but would be forced to do if Guy pressed it. I don’t think the consequences of what she is being forced to do matter as much, whether it be to end it with guy, lose a large sum of money, lose a stick of gum, or get physically injured. Regardless of what the consequences are, the person forcing those consequences believes that they have enough leverage to make them do what they want.
For example, if a mugger pulled a knife on someone and demanded their wallet, the mugger is hoping that the person will consider the consequence of being stabbed sufficient leverage to give up their wallet. However, if that person had a black belt in karate, they might easily be able to disarm the mugger, so it could be stupid for them to give up their wallet. The point being regardless of the perceived threat or what actually happens, I have now lost respect for the person holding the knife for attempting to commit robbery.
In this case Parker has not committed rape and is not going to. However if Guy does what Parker is asking him to do, then no matter how poor the attempt is, they are still attempting to rape Stasia by forcing a consequence, no matter how small, that Parker is hoping will be sufficient leverage to get her to have sex with them. So whether you want to call it asking Guy to use some form of leverage to assist her in a poor attempting to force Stasia to have sex with her, it is still asking to attempt it that has caused me to lose respect for her.
I understand some characters are not meant to have the most respect and that losing respect can make characters more interesting, especially if they try to redeem themselves. It just seems to me by the way you are defending your characters that this loss of respect was unintentional.
I think the basis of the arguement here is the people who think that Stasia is “retarded enough” to think that her career is in danger enough that she would HAVE TO have the threesome in order to keep Guy and Parker there, and then people who think that Stasia would have her wits about her NOT to do something as stupid as think that a threesome could save her career.
“I don’t think the consequences of what she is being forced to do matter as much, whether it be to end it with guy, lose a large sum of money, lose a stick of gum, or get physically injured. Regardless of what the consequences are, the person forcing those consequences believes that they have enough leverage to make them do what they want.”
I don’t know how many times I’m going to be forced to say this, but there’s no way in hell Parker actually thinks she has significant leverage under any circumstance to make Stasia do this. I’ve said this like 20 times and it should be obvious by now. I’ve explained it in massive detail. I’ve said that Paker more than anyone else even knows that Stasia wouldn’t be stupid enough to think she’d have to do this.
Also, it should be made clear again that there’s no chance in the world of either scenario here “ending Stasia’s career.” She’s getting huge publicity out of this either way and it’s not like it’s hugely negative — she’s just seen as a little wacky, but it’s not like she hurt anyone or did drugs or anything illegal whatsoever. She just married some stranger, and she’s getting tons of press about it. None of the options (ending it with Guy now or staying with him for a while or staying with him forever) would greatly affect her career, really, and certainly none of them would drastically hurt her career. So there’s nothing about “saving her career” here — no, nothing like that.
Wow people got heated up about this. I just thought it was funny and made me laugh, although I seem to be one of the few who simply doesn’t give a damn about parker. I’m much more interested in guy and stasia.
But honestly, we’ve seen that parker can be a bit silly and not think things through before she proposes them. I read this as just another example of that. She wants Stasia and has “Brainwave” and immediately runs off to blurt it out to Guy.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I often have really stupid and sometimes not always nice ideas that I don’t realise are as bad as they are until I stop and think.
Stopping and thinking isn’t something I’d give parker much credit for… she doesn’t seem to be the type.
The point I and several others have been trying to make is that whether or not Parker even believes that it will work, the fact that she would suggest it is what has made us lose respect for her. Obviously from the comic she is not doing it in a joking kind of way, she’s at least saying it in a way to make Guy take her seriously. Seeing it from Guy’s viewpoint, especially as he doesn’t know Stasia, it’s basically asking him to force the woman he just married into having a threesome. Which, from what I have seen of Guy and can infer from that, he would at least consider wrong.
I’m not trying to tell you how you should do your comic. I’m not saying Stasia would go along with it. I’ll concede that Parker may know that Stasia would not go along with it. All I was trying to do was explain why I lost respect for Parker because of this.
As a reader, I don’t know everything about the characters that you do. There’s still a lot of development happening. I was explaining that based on what I’ve seen, and how serious Parker seems in this comic, Parker was seriously asking Guy to do this. That’s wrong. Whether or not it had a snowball’s chance in hell of happening does not make her suggesting it less wrong. That’s my opinion, and when this gets made into a movie, that may be some people’s opinion when this part happens. Granted, they’ll get the rest of the story a lot quicker, but they still might lose respect for Parker because of it.
I’m sorry you don’t feel that we have a right to differ in opinions on this. I wasn’t trying to argue or tell you how to do your story. It’s your story, I’m not going to try to change it. I was just explaining why I lost respect for Parker since you seemed surprised that anyone reacted negatively to it. Now, I’m out of this conversation, because it seems to have degenerated to the point of close-minded flaming. I still love the comic, and look forward to the rest and the movie.
“You’re telling me that if some girl had a stick of gum and some guy walked by and said, “Hey, can I have that gum?” and then the girl said, “Only if you have sex with me first,” that would be RAPE if the guy then agreed to have sex with the girl to get the gum?”
No, that is not what I am saying. I think the disagreement we are having is based on that fact that I see a difference between a bribe and a threat. Apparently you don’t. Threats are coercion, bribes are not. The guy would not be guilty of rape- although he would technically be guilty of prostitution.
The point is that if Guy was to go to Stasia and tell her that she had to participate in a threesome or else [insert threat here- including threats to her perceived public image] that would be extortion. Now I suppose Guy could just ask Stasia for what Parker wants and leave the threat unspoken- but the fact that Parker suggested that Guy use his “leverage” would make it extortion, just unprovable.
Another possible disagreement is that you don’t see Guy as having an obligation to stay married to Stasia. Thus making the situation more like your gum scenario.
Under traditional legal interpretations of marriage, Guy would in fact be violating his obligations to Stasia. However, modern legal interpretations of marriage have significantly altered, leaving the obligations rather murky. This may give you a valid point, though it is premature to say as only you know the future outcome of the legal dispute.
People still tend to expect people to follow traditional obligations of marriage- which include not threatening a messy and embarrassing divorce unless the wife consents to a Threesome. In many parts of the USA, that could be considered rape if there are additional perceived damages. (Also, it could only be rape if Stasia submitted, if she refused it would still be criminal extortion- which is the main crime I was considering in my previous post). I have conceded that given the peculiar nature of the situation, an actual conviction (assuming everything took place as in Parker’s scheme) is very unlikely. Mainly because half the jury would take the position you are taking.
Furthermore, you have now stated several times that Parker knows this will never work. As I stated in my first post, I saw that as very possible, but that still left Parker’s statement as rather creepy. You ought to understand though that only you know the content of Parker’s mind, others don’t. They are speculating. (Which is probably what you want as a hook to bring people’s interest into the story).
I do not think Parker has done anything criminal. Nor did I find her comment something to freak over- my response was closer to Guy’s. After thinking about it I would just have to think to myself: “We all say stupid stuff, Parker can’t be serious”. Which I think is what you intended.
The only reason I even responded was because the debate was moving away from the specifics to some generalities about rape and blackmail. And I am pretty certain that sex demanded with extortion threats are rape.
Furthermore, if Parker was not just speaking crazy talk, and really tried to pursue this then it would be criminal intent. Making threats to get sex is not a small matter. Just planning to make threats to get sex is a big issue.
I doubt we are really that far apart on this. I think most of the disagreement is driven by perspective.
I wasn’t going to reply any more, since it seems quite evident that you don’t get the point that I’m trying to make. However:
“I think it’s practically IDENTICAL to the gum comparison. I mean COME ON, Stasia is SUPER RICH, flies around in private jets, and that’s AFTER giving 97% of her money to charity! It’s not like it matters if her image MIGHT be slightly hurt by not staying with Guy forever. Even if her career WAS killed, who gives a crap? She’s still a millionaire! It’s IMPOSSIBLE for breaking up with this stranger to kill or even hurt her career, really, but EVEN if it did kill it, she’d still be totally set for LIFE.”
In your analogy, the withholding of the gum lacks any kind of capacity to actually harm the boy. Unless he suffers from some kind of mental disorder (in which case, by the way, the girl WOULD be liable to find herself in trouble for sexual abuse), he would realise that there are many other ways for him to obtain the gum, and that really, he isn’t going to be hurt if the girl withholds it from him.
What Parker is suggesting is something entirely different. She wants Guy to threaten Stasia’s reputation and her career - things Stasia does not consider could be maintained through any means other than staying married to Guy. It doesn’t matter how rich Stasia is, or whether her life could still be good in the absence of her career - the fact is that her career and her reputation are important to her (just look at the way she reacts to Bernie). Who gives a crap if her career were killed? I dare say SHE would give a crap - the same way Mel Gibson would have given a crap if his career had ended with his anti-Semitic outbursts last year.
I like most of what Carny posted. You’re good at explaining. I know I’m not.
I was comparing the gum and work promotion things with each other, not the comic. Object of value, trade of sex for object of value. Same thing, even though the object in each case is less or more valuable. The desire for the object in question depends on the person and, sometimes, his or her mental capacity.
I was contrasting the gum with the comic. “It’s a very similar scenario here, in terms of how compelled Stasia would be to actually agree to these demands.” Yes, agreed. But that’s about all that I agree with.
“I’m sorry you don’t feel that we have a right to differ in opinions on this. I wasn’t trying to argue or tell you how to do your story. It’s your story, I’m not going to try to change it. I was just explaining why I lost respect for Parker since you seemed surprised that anyone reacted negatively to it.”
You obviously haven’t read my posts. I’ve said very clearly that it’s perfectly fine and normal for someone to lose respect for Parker after this, but I’ve also said that it’s nowhere NEAR rape and that it’s crazy to call it rape or even attempted rape.
“What Parker is suggesting is something entirely different. She wants Guy to threaten Stasia’s reputation and her career - things Stasia does not consider could be maintained through any means other than staying married to Guy.”
Whazahuh??? Um, you haven’t read my posts or the comic apparently. Did you see the part where Janny said that the smart thing to do is end it with Guy right away? Stasia can and does think that she has tons of other good options than staying with Guy forever — she simply suggested the idea of staying with him forever in a moment of insanity. Anyway, once again, it’s exactly like the gum scenario.
“It doesn’t matter how rich Stasia is, or whether her life could still be good in the absence of her career - the fact is that her career and her reputation are important to her (just look at the way she reacts to Bernie). Who gives a crap if her career were killed? I dare say SHE would give a crap - the same way Mel Gibson would have given a crap if his career had ended with his anti-Semitic outbursts last year.”
How many times do I have to explain that there’s no chance in hell that Stasia could possibly think that her career could be killed or even badly hurt at all if she ended it with Guy? Once again, for at least the fifth time now, the only reason I explained that it wouldn’t matter if her career ended is in comparison to allowing herself to be RAPED over it — she’s a damn millionaire already. It’s not like she needs it THAT BAD in order to allow herself to be “raped” over it, that is all! Obviously she cares about her damn career! Jeez! It’s not very hard to understand this, people, wow.
Well, for one thing, I nearly died of laughter on this page. My mom started staring at me like I was going to have a seizure. And secondly, those who say that they think less of Parker, I mean come ON! Who hasn’t wanted to scream at the top of their lungs “I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES!!!!” or the male equivalent to their favorite singer in concert? And the perfect chance arose!!! I can’t say I blame her. It was damn funny!
I think it’s rather interesting that people have gone into a frenzy over something that is intentionally ridiculous. Do they realize they sound as crazy as Parker while actually trying to be serious? I understand rape is a very weighty issue, but not when a fictional comic is put in the wrong context by people who are easily offended. I can respect people’s opinions about losing respect for her, but the rape issue is over the top.
Ah well, I guess the most I can say is: Bobby, you’ve done a magnificent job with the writing of the comic, and Eisu, you do brilliant artwork.
I think this is more of a case of people talking past each other than a heated debate or frenzy. I don’t think I saw anyone tell Bobby what he did was wrong, but more along the lines that we perceived Parker as doing something inappropriate and our reasons we saw it that way. For instance, I think I made a pretty good case for Parker asking Guy to force sex with Stasia. All I’m told is that I’m crazy for thinking anything along those lines. It is not clear, in at least this page of the comic that there is no seriousness in what Parker was asking, but even if she is not serious about it at all, that means she is still flippantly suggesting rape for shock value. I personally find that sort of humor to be tasteless, but that is just one opinion out of many. Please understand that I am not offended and I still enjoy this comic overall, I just saw a side of a character that I didn’t like.
“I don’t know how many times I’m going to be forced to say this, but there’s no way in hell Parker actually thinks she has significant leverage under any circumstance to make Stasia do this. I’ve said this like 20 times and it should be obvious by now. I’ve explained it in massive detail. I’ve said that Paker more than anyone else even knows that Stasia wouldn’t be stupid enough to think she’d have to do this.”
Yes, it is not significant leverage, but it still is leverage. If Parker knows that Stasia would never do it, then she shouldn’t have suggested it to Guy. If she risked going past Denny, to interrupt Guy conversation with Stasia just to see what type of reaction she could get out of him, then she is just a big jerk. Maybe there is another reason to why Parker would do this that I have thought of.
“It’s completely insane to call it rape. Makes no sense on any level.”
Yes, bobby, you’ve said asserted that before, but you have not shown me where my logic is wrong. To reiterate, Stasia would currently rather be in a relationship with Guy than to end it with him, so the relationship has something of value to her. If Guy threatened Stasia that she would lose something of value to her if she did not have sex with him, then he would be attempting to rape her, regardless of how valuable the thing she would lose is to her. A wise rapist would try to pick to threaten something that their victim valued highly, such as their life. Poorly choosing something that the victim does not value highly lowers the potency of the threat, but at no point does in no longer become a threat as long as the victim values it. So Guy saying that he would withdraw his relationship if she does not do something would be an attempt to threaten her if the relationship has something of value to her, and since it does, the threat is actualized. Since that something is sex, it is an attempt at rape. Since Stasia does not value the relationship highly, it is still a poor attempt at rape, but still nonetheless an attempt at rape. Therefore, Parker suggesting that Guy do this is suggesting an attempt at rape. Whether or not Parker is serious about the suggestion or thinks it would never work does not change what she is suggesting to Guy to do. As you said, Parker is not serious about it, so it looks to me like she is suggesting to Guy that they use their leverage to rape Stasia in order to get the WTF reaction she got from Guy. I’m all for yanking a friend’s chain, but I believe there are limits and what Parker did crossed that line, so I lost some respect for her.
I may be a little tired, but I think the logic flows, and it does make some sense me. I’m hoping at the very minimum you can see where I’m coming from and just disagree with me. It would be even better if you could tell me why and where you disagreed with me.
“As you said, Parker is not serious about it, so it looks to me like she is suggesting to Guy that they use their leverage to rape Stasia in order to get the WTF reaction she got from Guy.”
LOL! Just laughing up a storm over here. Anyway, more madness. So crazy.
“It would be even better if you could tell me why and where you disagreed with me.”
Um, what? I’ve said why somewhere around a TRILLION times so far, in massive detail.
“I dont see why Parkers ’suggestion’ surprises anyone. at least 90 percent of a homosexual relationship is sexual, and the ‘love’ for someone of the same sex is usually sexual in nature.”
Okay, this is actually not on the topic of the comic at all; but it wound me up, so I have to say something.
You, sir, are an idiot. Instinct drives us to sleep with a member of the OPPOSITE sex to continue the species (although I am in no way saying that that is all their is to a heterosexual relationship.) Where’s the instinctive drive to sleep with a member of the same sex? Oh wait- there’s none. Therefore, homosexual relationships are often driven NOT by sexual urges, but often by emotions. Okay. My thoughts there. Moving on.
“Example: “Hey stasia, so how about for our honeymoon we have it a threesome with parker. It might be fun.”
Not: “Oh you don’t wanna sleep with me and parker, fine then I’m gonna break up with you so your career will be over. HAHAAHAHAH.” ”
I think that pretty much sums it up. Parker isn’t asking him to threaten Stasia in any way- not that it would work, but we’ll ignore that for a moment and focus on the conversation here.
I think what Parker is trying to say is that Stasia may actually listen to Guy’s suggestion; whereas if Parker suggested it it would never even be considered.
Ok, liked the strip, commented, it was funny, but man… discussion (!)
My biggest problem with this debate is B.C.’s overuse of the word *insane*. Which makes him sound less reasonable than everyone except the guy who said homosexual relationships are 90% sex-based. This in spite of the actual merits of B.C.’s arguments. Basically, I think you’re doing youself a disservice, B.C.
But to take it further, I think the confusion here - or the impasse - where we’re talking a crossed purposes, and why B.C. seems to find other people’s arguments ‘insane’ is that 1) Parker doesn’t *really* intend to blackmail Stasia into sex, 2) Guy would never go along, 3) They don’t really have any leverage, and 4) even if they did, Stasia would never go along with it, making such an act impossible from several angles.
The problem with this is, *if* Parker had leverage (a sex tape, proof of tax fraud, etc) and *if* she really wielded it in an attempt to coerce Stasia into sex, then (even if she failed) it would be attempted rape. It would be foolish to agree to have sex with someone who was trying to control you, but just because you agree doesn’t make it not a crime. Does that make sense?
To use the gum scenario -
A girl offers a guy some gum but demands sex in return. Guy = dumb, or Guy = has sex & some gum. (yay!)
but
A girl offers a guy some gum but demands sex in return. For some reason, guy needs gum in the next minute or he will DIE. (glands?) Guy has no other way to acquire gum. Guy does not want to have sex with girl. Guy = dies, or Guy = has unwanted sex & lives. At this point the lawyers would have to make arguments as to whether this is a case of rape or prostitution.
The classic concept of rape is man physically forces himself on woman, or offers the ultimatum - acquiesce to sex or be hurt/killed.
So, you can make it an agreement, or a deal - sex in return for life.
Now replace “life” with “gum” and it sounds dumb, but the equation is the same.
Replace it with “I’ll ruin you” or “I’ll kidnap your kid” or something and it’s not so silly.
Anyway, this is all going nowhere, I’m rambling
It’s not that I think Parker would actually go through with any sort of blackmail or coersion, far from it - I think on her part it’s the equivalent of a joke in bad taste - she’s not joking, per se, but she’s not serious - she’s desperate and presented with a (seeming) opportunity she would never expected, and maybe she’s hoping there’s a chance Guy & Stasia would agree willingly, or else she’s just getting her feelings off her chest.
But to say that blackmail, even predicated on bogus pretenses, and failed, and utterly ridiculous, would be ‘insane’ to be equated with rape is taking it too far.
Off the mark, maybe. Debatable, sure. But ‘insane?’ Come on. If you take that position, you’re saying anyone who gives in to blackmail is a willing participant in their situation - whether they give money or sex, whatever. Yes, they agree - under duress - and maybe that’s not advisable, or smart, but there’s still a crime being committed, even if they ‘allow’ themselves to be victimised.
I could probably edit that mess into a coherent thought but I haven’t the time, sorry.
“My biggest problem with this debate is B.C.’s overuse of the word *insane*.”
Just to warn you, I will no longer be allowing insanely stupid posts like these where people waste all our time by complaining about the way I say things instead of simply talking about the comic or about what I’m actually saying. So annoying.
“Which makes him sound less reasonable than everyone except the guy who said homosexual relationships are 90% sex-based.”
I don’t give a crap if it makes me sound less reasonable to morons who think Parker is raping Stasia, and don’t compare me to that idiot. I’ll use “insane” as much as I want and the rest of your comment was just repeating the same wrong crap that others have said over and over again already. I’ve already explained in detail how you’re wrong. You can’t understand it and you think my points are somehow hurt by my use of the word “insane.” Also, if anyone responds to this comment in a complaining manner, disliking that I called certain people “morons,” for example, they’ll be banned from the comments.
That’s fine I’ll bring some fried chicken and a salad. Might as well make it a picnic.
Chicken for u meat eaters and salad for the non-meat eaters.
So thanks jade for understanding what I said.
And I thinks its cool to have ur opinion on things but some of u people are takin it too far. I mean come on if ur gonna say she wants to rape stasia and the creator himself tells you no she’s not then I think u should listen to him and leave it at that.
*Ignoring the (kind of mean) posts that the arguing people wrote*
Andy-o: Only if we can have chicken at the BBQ. I’m Kentuckian, it’s a requirement. XD
Captain: *GASP* You don’t like yoohoo?! Omigosh. o_o;; But oh well, you like pepsi, so I’ll let it slide. XD And you’re bringing the chicken?! YESSSS!! You’re like, one of my favorite bench-buddies ever. XD
(Figured we should talk about somethin different.)
I read this comic on my phone. I have a sidekick 2 with the internet. The screens about 3 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches.
So its a little strain on the eyes. But that’s what I get for not havin the internet at home.
Oh and in my proffession I have to deal with a lot of crackheads. I swear, its pretty random and sometimes creepy.
Anyway,
Thanks valerie for being ur best bench buddy.
I think were gonna need some music. I can bring some alice in chains.
Obviously we are not going to agree or come to any understanding, so I’m just gonna shutup on the whole rape/blackmail issue.
I must say though that I’m quite confused by the vehemence coming from you Bobby.
I’ve seen other people on other issues be quite insulting to you personally and you just shrug it off.
Now alot of people feel strongly about this issue- issues that deal with sex and “blackmail” usually bring strong emotions from people. I haven’t read all the comments, but most of the ones I have seem to have directed their angry feelings at Parker… not at you.
As for my comments, I thought I had been trying to engage in a friendly debate. I simply presented my viewpoints and tried to explain why I disagreed with yours, while recognizing why you see it the way you do.
So I am very confused as to why you are taking this so personally.
Understand, I’m just trying to point this out in the hopes that we can all back away from this and just let things cool off. I don’t think this debate is that big a deal.
Carny, your comment doesn’t really make any sense and is just a total waste of time, just complaining about the way I say stuff instead of actually debating the merits of anything.
“Understand, I’m just trying to point this out in the hopes that we can all back away from this and just let things cool off.”
How in the world would whining about me taking things too personally get us to back away from this and let things cool off??? I take nothing personally and I’m getting sick and tired of people assuming wrong shit about me and trying to read my mind. I simply am very annoyed by people who continue to repeat the same wrong stupid crap about how Parker is RAPING STASIA — just total NONSENSE, and then they ignore everything I actually say except for the parts where I call people “insane” — they jump on that and say my points are meaningless because I called an insanely stupid person insanely stupid. Anyway, many bannings will happen shortly if this total nonsense persists.
Andy-o, there’s no alcohol in a yoohoo.
Its a chocolate drink. But I don’t like how it tastes. I think it tastes like half cup of chocolate milk mixed with half cup of water.
And don’t ask me what I think of the mocha yoohoo. YUUUUCKK.
Captain: Ahhh, yes, music! We will ROCK OUT on this bench!! XD And wow, crackheads. o0 What are you, a drug-dealer? XD
Andy-o: What? Noooo!! It’s a chocolate drink. XD
Bobby sir: I didn’t really get whining out of Carny’s post… It seemed to me like he/she was just trying to reasonably explain things. You can’t really get the tone of someone’s voice with text.
Captain again: Oh, ew, mocha yoohoo is gross, I agree with that.
Valerie: you know what I went back and read my post and thought, “man there gonna think I’m a drug dealer.” Hahaha.
No valerie I am not a “street pharmacist” I own a mini-mart in sacramento. I’m near a bus station so I get to see all kinds crazy $#!%.
Not even 5 min ago I had some crazy guy just tell me he was gonna kill me. I don’t take most of that crap seriously though so its not really a big deal.
Its when they start makin a mess that really bothers me.
Arigatou Kalikajira, should be quite tasty. Back to the comic/comments, I am not sure what makes me laugh harder, Parker’s case of temporary insanity coupled with rabid fangirlitis, or the posts that are screaming “RAPE!” every chance they get.
I think I speak for several people here when I state that you would have to be, as Bobby has stated, insane to think that Parker believes that she has a chance of this idea going through. She knows Stasia quite well, she also knows Guy better than anybody present. Do you honestly think that she is seriously thinking that this could work? If so, I have to tack on another entry to my list of things that make humans stupid. It is my guess that she was probably just tossing the idea out there, either as a joke, or to get Guy to lighten up a touch.
Finally, I have to say, love the comic, and Guy’s jaw drop is just perfect. Bobby, Eisu, both of you are doing an admirable job on this comic, and I would bet money that this idea will be a phenomenal success. Now to wait for the next page ^_^
“LOL! Just laughing up a storm over here. Anyway, more madness. So crazy.”
I glad that you found amusement in what I had to say. *rolls eyes* I think you are a talented comic writer, but I am disappointed your inability to at least see things from my perspective that I have tried to lay out as clearly as possible. I think both the people who say it was nothing and the people who say Parker was suggesting attempting rape have reasonable positions. It is not clear exactly why Parker said that such as if it was just fan girl nuttiness, but if you take a step back and think about what she just said, the implications of it are inappropriate whether she was serious or not.
Looking at this situation it is obvious we are talking past each other. You have refused to acknowledge my position and claimed that I am crazy despite the fact that you have not addressed my logic. You have brought up objections to my position that are irrelevant, repeated those objections, which are still irrelevant, and then claimed that that has somehow addressed my position a trillion times in massive detail.
I have said quite a few times less than a trillion *rolls eyes* that objections along the lines of whether Parker is seriously considering rape are irrelevant because they do not change what she suggested, only what she meant. What she suggested is that they use leverage to try to force Stasia to have sex with them, which I call rape. Please take this moment to laugh heartily and roll around on the floor a few times. *rolls eyes* You can call is something else if you’d like – it’s still not pretty. This next part seems to fly over your head too…it does not matter what leverage or how compelled Stasia feels to bend to it as long as it is leverage. Since Stasia would currently rather stay with Guy than break up and she would be forced to break up with him if Guy pressed it, it is indeed leverage. For example, attempting to pry open a safe with a pencil would never work and would be incredibly stupid to do, but it doesn’t change the fact that it would be using leverage to attempt to force open a safe that would never give.
What Parker meant by what she suggested can be something completely different. You have insisted that she was not serious at all, so the only other conclusion I can come up with is that she just meant it to be a big joke on Guy. Given what she did to get past Denny and that she interrupted Guy and Stasia, who really need some time alone, just to play a joke on Guy that involves forcing his new wife to have sex with them, I’m surprised more people haven’t lost respect for her. You might have a different thing she meant by it in mind, but I doubt it is anything that will be much of an improvement. I’ll admit that Guy’s reaction to the “it won’t be awkward at all” line was amusing, but I Parker went way too far to get there.
More total nonsense from Soyeong. Once again, I’ve responded to that a trillion times. You’ve failed to read or comprehend it. *rolls eyes, you’re banned*
What is going on…..did no one read the word ‘ALLOW’ when parker was asking guy, that means consent….not rape. And really….Bobby knows his characters, why are people arguing?
“And wow, Jade. *High-fives* You’re my hero. Lessthanthree goes here.”
Ehehe, thanks. I’m not sure if it was my comment on homosexuality or on the comic’s controversy; but either way, I’m not complaining. ^_~
Can we have some nice steak at the barbeque everyone seems to be arranging? And ale. Proper, fine English ale. I’ll bring that.
Back on topic, I think people are getting far too stressed over this. I mean… It’s one thing to discuss, or even debate; but it seems some of these comments are beyond that. O_o;; Thus, I also sit on a bench, and will respond if anything catches my eye.
Although I’m bringing my rabbits. Bunnies on leads? Rocks. Just no stickin’ them on the barbeque, y’hear?
First, I love the expression on Guys face. I see a three panel spread with Parker staring at him desperately, and Guy standing there in total shock, followed by Guy glaring at Parker and saying something like “Get some sleep” and walking off, followed by strict instructions to Denny not to be disturbed by her again and a door slam in her face. This is not an attempt to write your comic, really! Why mess with perfection? It is just, how so I best say this, what I am expecting? My thought is that to save Parkers feelings, Guy would give her time to cool off, and possibly yell at her in the morning. FYI these comments should not be taken as a suggestion, I wouldn’t dare try to write your script for you. It is just a bad habit of fans to try to add to something that they like so much, see how many people write versions of Sherlock Holmes, and you will see what I mean.
Hey this is the first time I have commented on the comic and I’m absolutely loving it! Great storyline by Bobby and artwork by Eisu. I think Parker is great, absoulutely mad! But where on earth did people get that she wanted to blackmail and rape Stasia? She doesn’t say anything of the sort! She was just suggesting that Guy asks Stasia about having a threesome and he was the one that mentioned blackmail, not Parker. And Parker didn’t mean it as blackmail, she probably knew the idea wouldn’t work and just wanted to see Guy’s reaction. Which btw was very funny lol not a happy buni is he?
And where did the whole rape thing come from anyway? Again nothing of the sort was said. People always jump to the wrong conclusions these days…
Anyhoo now that I have said what I wanted to say i am going to got sit on the bench with the others. It should be fun waching everyone else go bananas arguing over something that isn’t true XD lol
You have a full blown picnic over here don’t you? lol much better idea that ranting and raving about something that is complete twoddle
So many people can make a fuss because of something redundant as this comic strip. If you would use your time and energy in doing something… more productive, the world we know today would be something more wonderful place to live on.
I guess, too many people are enjoying the anonymity of the world wide web and do use it for wreaking havoc.
Dear fellow readers,
If you think this is already “rape” and you are trying to show us the moral aspects of this comic strip, why don’t you spread your word far and wide about the destruction of our planet? Why don’t starting a petition against the poverty for the less developed countries in the world?
What this has to do with the topic? Nothing. Like this whole crying about “rape” and “hatred against Parker” has to do with the evil in the world.
Its a quite harmless comic strip. And to be honest… anyone could have seen this coming. I have always seen Parker as more then a…”dedicated fan” and didn’t really expect less.
Bobby Crosby didn’t wrote this story on purpose to make people angry or to show them what anyone should do if he is married to a super star. I have read the comic and I was laughing. And I believe this was the true purpose behind it.
Waste your energies on other things. Cultivate yourself, help others, but pissing people of with such an over - reaction… its pretty sad.
Yes, I am not very proficient with the English language, bite me.
Bobby, Eisu…
Please, forget it and try to ignore them.
I will still go on and read your stories and look on Eisu´s arts with awe.
Seriously, I had more faith in the human world and now I don’t know what to think. THIS kind of behavior is precisely why I steer clear from forums and similar environments around the Internet. It’s either someone making it a personal crusade to feel “King/Queen of the Internet” and, on another example, albeit more specific, people failing to see what the author has explained three thousand times and embracing their theory as unique and without error.
How many times, readers, have you said under a lot of stress or disappointment: “I’m gonna KILL this guy!” — “Fuck you!” — “I’m going to pound you in the ass with a bat and a barbed wire!”? Okay, maybe the last one is quite unique for me… but, as I see it, a lot of people say things when they’re stressed and that they would never, ever perform. (like realizing your crush, your passion and your reason to go fan-crazy is married to your best friend instead of yourself, WITH your own sign that YOU made and that COULD HAVE gotten you something — alas, the fact is Stasia isn’t for that but anyway, you know what I mean).
Alas, I read it again and I don’t see why the hell everyone went nuts about something like this. As far as I see it, “Moral Crusaders” are the only ones who would go crazy over this instead of enjoying the comic for what it’s supposed to do: entertain.
Captain: H’oh jeez. o0 I’d be scared to death if someone said they were gonna kill me. ._. What, was he trying to rob you or something?
“Ehehe, thanks. I’m not sure if it was my comment on homosexuality or on the comic’s controversy; but either way, I’m not complaining. ^_~”
Mostly the homosexuality thing. XD
“Thus, I also sit on a bench, and will respond if anything catches my eye.”
Yay! Welcome to the bench!
“Although I’m bringing my rabbits. Bunnies on leads? Rocks. Just no stickin’ them on the barbeque, y’hear?”
BUNNIES!! Awwww~ ♥
Andy-o: Awww, my friend in Canada says that they don’t have it there, either… Yoohoo’s one of the best perks of living in the US, I suppose. XD And nah, I won’t argue too much, I guess. I’m fairly eclectic (is that the word?) in music. As long as it isn’t country. >_O
Yeah, I actually snorked a little at this one. Guy’s facial expression is PRICELESS. Although it seems to me that Stasia might be into that sorta thing…I mean, she did just marry a complete stranger because she felt like doing something weird, right? Maybe that’s just me and my twisted logic. But I can’t WAIT to see the next update!
Valerie, no he didn’t try to rob me. I’ve never been robbed (knock on wood).
Just some drunk homeless guy.
I get to see a lot of crazy stuff around here.
Hmm lets see…. One time I helped a guy who fell and started having a siezure. I was luck my brothers were there cause they helped kick everyone out and call 911 while I made sure the guy didn’t bite his tounge off, or hit his head on the coke machine.
Just the other day some crazy guy tried to rush me so I grabbed him by his jacket and threw him out. (I made sure he hit a couple walls and a door before he got outside.)
but anyway I could write a book with all the stuff that’s happend to me.
Valerie,
I don’t live in the same area of my store. I have to drive for 20 min before I get there.
But I work 10hrs a day 7 days a week so I guess I do live there.
But really its not too bad. That kind of stuff doesn’t always happen. Most of the time its nice and quite.
Andy-o thanks for the beer. Hey ur from norway right? So do u listen to black metal? I don’t really care for it.
Wow, so much controversy over a fictional comic, over something that was even pointed out wasn’t going to happen. o.O Maybe your time could be spent doing something else rather than arguing over possible rape or not which Bobby even pointed out that there would be no threesome? It wouldn’t surprise me if all the arguing tempted Bobby to actually put the threesome in.
Honestly, this is a good comic, and every strip is usually entertaining in some way, shape, or form. Parker pretty much contributed to at least half of that entertainment. Please keep up the good work! :]
I was never serious about the bunnies. I just like yanking people’s chains sometimes. Would you like a salad, a stir fry, or something else (All vegetarian)? Are you vegan? If so, I can cut out all animal products. Anywho, your rabbits are safe.
Pk, I admit this whole “rape/blackmail/disrespecting Parker thing has given me a case of deja vu regarding some posts made a few comics ago that Bobby actually went back and deleted because they were so pointless. ANYways, I don’t think Parker is really truly willing to blackmail Stasia, she’s really just pointing out Guy’s current power and hoping that he’ll be willing to help out his “best friend” fulfill a freaky fangirl dream. Although all the fans who visist the forum where Parker made her 20,000th post probably already thi8nk that she got in Stasia’s pants because Parker neglected to mention that she was /wearing/ Stasia’s pants, not necessarily “in” them as the modern connotation insinuates. Overall, very interested in seeing where this goes…
“Although all the fans who visist the forum where Parker made her 20,000th post probably already thi8nk that she got in Stasia’s pants because Parker neglected to mention that she was /wearing/ Stasia’s pants, not necessarily ‘in’ them as the modern connotation insinuates.”
Well… This comic is officially not-very-safe-for-children (I’m not saying anything IS going to happen, but the mention of threesomes… Is very unchild-friendly. :o)…
July 5th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Hahah best strip ever
July 5th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
So fu*king wonderfull. Best strip yet.
July 5th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Stupid dubble post
July 5th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I underestimated Parker’s resourcefulness. Denny looks profoundly sullied from letting her through. Maybe the loud knocking noise was Parker, not Denny like I figured.
What in the world did that girl do?
July 5th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
That, I did not see coming by a long-shot. Somehow I was carrying this idea that Parker could be both obsessive and lustful as reguards Stasia, but not at the same time.
July 5th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Parker went to punch between his legs and he jumped up in fear as she punched/knocked on the door between his knees.
July 5th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Ouch, poor Denny. D: Good thing he can jump.
Great work, Bobby and Eisu!
I love how shocked Guy looks at Parker’s scheme. It’s like he’s thinking; “Who are you and what did you do with my best friend?”
July 5th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Denny’s a security guard, right? I know this is just a comic, but we have a security guard at the theater where I work, and if it looked like someone was even THINKING about punching him in the nuts, even as a ruse, they’d find themselves being hurled out a second story window.
And as for Parker’s plan, if Guy doesn’t blow up at her and tell her to forget it, I’m guessing Stasia will.
July 5th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
“You were all wrong.”
Except for all the people who thought it was Parker.
July 5th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Right now, I have Guy’s expression in panel 6.
Haha, Parker can’t be serious of course.
Right?
July 5th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Greatest page ever.
I can’t stop laughing, and I’m at work.
July 5th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
two words: desperate fangirl
HAHAHAHA *falls over cackling
July 5th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Im asking myself whats the more weird thing that Parker said to Guy. That they should blackmail a Popstar to a threesome (happy raep), or that she told him that she won’t look at him. unsatisfying 3some ever.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
OH MY GAWD
Parkeerrrrrr!! Ahhh!! XD
“It won’t be awkward AT ALL.”
Awww, I ♥ that crazy bitch. XD
July 5th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
What Valerie said! Hehe. That would be the pinnacle of awkward.
July 5th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
HAHAHA!
I ADORE that Parker has absolutely NO shame.
July 5th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
“Parker went to punch between his legs and he jumped up in fear as she punched/knocked on the door between his knees.”
Wouldn’t he hit the ceiling it he jumped? =P
I’m going to die of laughter if Parker manages to get that one through.
“Hey Stasia, I know we’ve only been married for about a day (or something), but would you concider a threesome?”
I bet that’ll do the trick…
July 5th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
holy crap
July 5th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Wow. Why am I not surprised whatsoever. I thought this would come up eventually.
Oh dear, what are we going to do with you, Parker. =)
July 5th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Totally, Andy-o. XD
“Oh dear, what are we going to do with you, Parker. =)”
Give her some chocolate to calm down those hormones. XD
July 5th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I don;t know…for some reason, this made me like Parker a little less.
I just didn’t see her as the type to sink that low.
Obsessive yes…unashamed check…blackmail sex…not so much…
I’m sure Bobby is setting up something wonderful here and that it will flow much less shockingly, but this just made me cringe a little.
Laugh hysterically, but cringe a little, too.
Good job, guys!
July 5th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Yeah, it’s a bit cringe-worthy. Not setting up anything actually — moment’s over. Minor spoiler: It of course won’t actually work — Guy wouldn’t even tell Stasia about it. Conversation’s over.
July 5th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
not really sure what to say here except awsome page as always
I probably would have given some sort of sarcastic responce like:
“Let me get this straight, you want me to ask the woman to whom I have been married for all of X hours and whom I haven’t slept with if my best friend could join in on the first night? And ontop of that, if she refuses you want me to threaten her career? Gonna have to think about that one!”
or at least something like that.
July 5th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
It’s like that awkward moment in Chasing Amy, when he thought the way to fix everything was to have a threesome. Of course, that one didn’t involve blackmail; but it definitely went terribly wrong.
July 5th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Well, that I think removed much discussion until the next page… so, I know I’m being SUPER greedy now, but “NEXT PLEASE!”
Sorry, I don’t mind the update confusion at all, in fact part of the reason I keep coming back, apart from the comic that I can’t get enough of, is the guesses at what will come next, and the discussion about the reality of the guesses…
So ya… I’ll go back to just reading again…
Oh and this did hurt my like of Parker a bit…
July 5th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
This definitely lowered my opinion of Parker a bit. I still like her craziness earlier, but this…this wasn’t the same kind of cute/demented obsessiveness that all her earlier actions had. I just don’t like her as much now.
July 5th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
“Bobby Crosby Says: […] Minor spoiler”
Could I request no more even minor spoilers? The uncertainty and speculation adds to the anticipation while waiting for the next update… It is the positive aspect of having to follow the story in fits and starts. I know I could just not read the comments, but that’s one of the other pleasurable things here. Reading the various uninformed speculations enhances the wait by creating more possibilities to imagine, exactly opposite to the way that reading a spoiler reduces them.
“Parker went to punch between his legs and he jumped up in fear as she punched/knocked on the door between his knees.”
Note that I don’t consider that a spoiler — I really like how you clue us in with funny explanations for what has already happened, especially since we don’t have to believe them
July 5th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
My reaction to Parker’s reaction:
BL%^DY H$&L!!!
July 5th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Parker’s creepy factor just went up 10 fold….
July 5th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
This page made me laugh out loud… XD Especially the last textbubble from Parker and Guys face. This is absolutely priceless.
But wow, either Parker is totally confuzed and pumped up because of the current situation or she’d really go to unbelievable lengths as a fan XD
July 5th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Every straight guy’s fantasy… lol.
I like how everything just happens to Guy, and he’s just a hapless passive protagonist, but I hope that he actually does something definitive soon.
July 5th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I think I just inhaled my apple… WHOLE when I saw that. I choked so hard my sister was about to call 911. That was soooo unforeseen. Absolutely love the comic but that was just like, “I’m so going to hell for laughing at that”
>.
July 5th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
can anyone say “side comic” purely on this incident in some fan board somewhere… or to any extremist
an RP based on this one
ROFL
you two have done it again
congrats
July 5th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Aww, please don’t be mean to me, bugstomper. If you are reading this, make sure you imagine a girl to be saying all of this in a friendly tone with an occasional bit of sarcasm thrown in for humor, not spite. That’s my way of saying I am not at all trying to be mean, but it’s really hard to figure out because you can’t hear my voice as I’m trying to ’splain myself here. Actually, if you want to pretend I’m evil, go for it. I can’t stop you.
I like the minor spoilers. Just don’t read them if they’re there. And don’t give any excuses like, “I have to read everything.” I like to read everything, too, but it’s very obvious that we’re in the minority. But you can give the, “I read it by accident because the spoiler warning was too close to the spoiler.” Why not guess for a while, then look at the spoiler? That’s what I like to do. There’s still a lot more guessing involved, like how the conversations are going to play out in the next page. I start by guessing everything on my own. If I’m done guessing, I look at the spoilers. If I’m not, I don’t and I hope nobody else repeats the comment. And if someone does, oh, well. There’s a lot more to guess, especially the stuff that is not explained on the next page. If you have an imagination, spoilers shouldn’t have to spoil anything! They should help you add to and refine your guesses.
Anyway, I also like to keep bugs alive and unsquished. They are really fun to shove in front of people’s faces. Pwease stop stomping the bugs. They’re cute, too, in their own ways.
July 6th, 2007 at 12:13 am
I agree with the “no more spoilers” request, they’re impossible not to read if you hit that post… one of the main things which gets me hooked on a webcomic for a long period of time is the “not knowing what’s going to happen next” factor.
July 6th, 2007 at 12:19 am
OMG! That is the most awesome strip ever. I knew it would eventually be coming, but mayn, Parker is a trip. She’s literally ready to get down on her knees and beg him. XDDD
July 6th, 2007 at 12:48 am
I think my brain switched off for a while when Parker suggested a threesome, and blackmail too. And she says it like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
IMO the reason we’re all so disappointed in Parker (me included) is coz this ruins our image of Parker as a crazy but not too insane fangirl.
Parker, how could you??
And poor Denny, he looks so annoyed. xD
July 6th, 2007 at 2:16 am
Lmao! Love Guy’s jawdrop in the last panel! Priceless!
July 6th, 2007 at 2:37 am
“Give her some chocolate to calm down those hormones. XD”
LMAO!
I say anesthetics are more the thing she’d need right now.
xD
July 6th, 2007 at 2:42 am
That was so unexpected! I found it so funny, and Parkers face is so serious, I can’t help but feel sorry for her. But that face she has in the blackmail part is so so evil. If I were Guy, I’d call Denny to take her away.
July 6th, 2007 at 2:44 am
Ha ha, oh my god! I did NOT see that coming. Take THAT, anyone who thinks this comic is predictable. Not that I know of anyone who thinks that. Just… in case? Eisu, your art is amazing. Guy’s expression in the last panel is awesome.
July 6th, 2007 at 2:47 am
The damn Wiki for “Marry Me” insanely says that it’s predictable — “Despite its early life span so far, and its ‘predictable’ story . . .” Doesn’t make any sense to me. Lots of other errors on there too, but oh well.
July 6th, 2007 at 2:58 am
Love the comic great story. What parker is sugesting…… No way that parker is even gonna think about it. I hope he say just four word: “Denny throw her out” even if she’s a friend, asking something like that is just too pathetic.
July 6th, 2007 at 3:21 am
Well umm, it was kinda predictable…. I don’t know how you all didn’t see it coming at some point but meh.
On a happy note, it had me laughing so hard I cried. First time thats happened in a while
July 6th, 2007 at 3:24 am
It won’t be awkward at all; yeah, right!
July 6th, 2007 at 3:47 am
Okay, THAT one made me actually like Parker.
July 6th, 2007 at 3:58 am
I am half expecting Guy to call Denny over and have Parker forcibly removed from the building. But only half. I’m just hoping that Stasia doesn’t ask Guy for an explanation. He seems a little too honest to lie and lying now would hurt his ability to give Stasia the advice she needs later.
Parker comes off a little less lovable from this, although I’ll admit the impact of the scene in the movie could be drastically different depending on how the actress playing Parker delivers her lines.
July 6th, 2007 at 4:06 am
LMAO best Guy strip ever! Nice to see he’s already looking after his lil’ woman ^____^
July 6th, 2007 at 4:54 am
blaugh, i’m sick of parker by now, her fan girl tactics are gettin on my nerves…plus she’s dragging down the story momentum
wish denny had clocked her >:)
July 6th, 2007 at 5:54 am
Huh…
Makes you wonder about Guy’s feelings for Parker.
She’s his best friend…
He puts up with all her crazy hijinx…
He’s not making moves on a beautiful woman, especially with Parker nearby…
July 6th, 2007 at 5:59 am
… oh my GOD
July 6th, 2007 at 6:51 am
*giggles*
July 6th, 2007 at 7:09 am
I don’t see why everyone is hating Parker for this. I thought it was quite in line with the character Bobby gave her. You have to keep in mind that she is a crazed fangirl who will do anything (including take on Denny) to get to Stasia. Parker also knows Guy pretty well, right? They are best friends after all. She knows there’s no chance of this ever working. At the same time, she has to try SOMETHING. This is her idol we’re talking about. I think Parker doesn’t believe it will work at all. She 1) wanted to see Guy’s reaction - and it’s about what she thought it’d be, but she had to check 2) is hoping that through this she and Guy might think up something else that would actually work, and 3) is holding out a tiny bit of hope that Guy’ll break his normal mold and say yes. By my thinking, Parker’s like, “If it never actually HAPPENS, it not blackmail. So what’s the harm of just asking?!”
All that to say I was able to laugh at Parker’s antics w/out seeing her as losing a ton of lovableness. She no less lovable, just a lot more fangirl.
July 6th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Like many other people I too have lost a lot of my respect towards Parker. I was shocked that she would say this. That she could want something that inconveniences Stasia. “Inconveniences” is such a weak word now…
And as to “I won’t even look at you”… like as though that would change anything.
Well, anyhow. I still like the comic. But I wish she didn’t say this. Now I look forward to the next update even more, because I have to find out what happens, I have to see if she can get back the respect I had for her. If she can get back her dignity. Okay, bad word… she never had any of that. But she was, in a zealous and chaotic way, honourable. I wonder if she can get that back.
July 6th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Not awkward at all?
Try awkward *squared.*
Parker only wants to have sex with Stasia.
Stasia only wants to have sex with Guy.
Guy may not want to have sex with anyone.
And NOBODY wants to have sex with Parker. (Denny?)
July 6th, 2007 at 8:12 am
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That was amazing! I laughed so hard! Guy’s expression in the last panel is great! The last line is brillinat!!! “…AT ALL!” XD
July 6th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Bobby — if there are errors in the Wiki, can’t you edit it and make corrections? (Like you have time for that…nevermind!)
July 6th, 2007 at 9:00 am
LMAO!!! Parker is such a spaz…. she called my d-dawg a troll!!!
my poor Denny…
July 6th, 2007 at 9:05 am
I have a feeling Guy is very not interested…
July 6th, 2007 at 9:51 am
“Bobby — if there are errors in the Wiki, can’t you edit it and make corrections? (Like you have time for that…nevermind!)”
I sadly do have time for it, but just don’t like messing with stuff like that — not a big enough deal. Don’t want to edit the page for a comic that I write either — would be weird. Also, the page will probably be down soon anyway for being non-notable or whatever, so doesn’t matter.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Oh, /Parker/.
[//shakes head.]]
But I’m inclined to agree with Beth Anne- Bobby’s been setting Parker up as a crazy, obsessed fangirl, right?
To me it sounds like something a crazy obsessed fangirl would say.
Poor, poor Denny.
Although I’m sure he’s used to being called a Troll.
Not very many people actually /like/ bodyguards.
T.T
July 6th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Sorry I cant leave a very interesting post, I’m currently in fits of giggles over Parker xD
July 6th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Parker definitely has a one-track mind. Not satisfied with being in Stasia’s pants, she still wants to get into Stasia’s pants!
July 6th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Hmmm…I do loves Parker, yes, but…this creeped me out, a bit.
….it’s still phenomenally hot, since I’d take Parker before Stasia, but hey.
What can I say? Obsessive fangirls=A Winner Is You.
July 6th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
This was great. Guy’s expression in the last panel is priceless.
July 6th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
yes yes YES! BWHAHAHAHA!
July 6th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Gah. I started laughing so hard I had trouble breathing. Lordy.
I love the expression on Guy’s face. Priceless.
July 6th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
“I say anesthetics are more the thing she’d need right now.”
Oh jeez. XD You get a high-five for that! *High-fives Andy-o*
“blaugh, i’m sick of parker by now, her fan girl tactics are gettin on my nerves…plus she’s dragging down the story momentum
wish denny had clocked her >:)”
*Gasp* That’s so mean. ;_; I ♥ Parker… I’ll admit that she’s a little less of a cutesy-cuddly fangirl because of this page, but she’s still cool.
“Makes you wonder about Guy’s feelings for Parker.
She’s his best friend…
He puts up with all her crazy hijinx…
He’s not making moves on a beautiful woman, especially with Parker nearby…”
I dunno, -=2=-. I don’t think you should read so much into that… I mean, best friend, yeah. That doesn’t say he likes her that way, though. Puts up with her hyjinks… Again, that’s just something you do for your friends, y’know? And of COURSE he’s not hitting on Stasia with Parker nearby. Parker’s in crazy-love with Stasia. Would you hit on the guy/girl your best friend’s in love with? (You gets points for thinking outside the box, though.)
July 6th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
How is it that when sex is mentioned by a character, he/she loses respect? Just like the time when Guy asked is he and Stasia going to have sex tonight… I mean, they’re married (or at least they think they are), that was a valid question… and now, we have a crazy fangirl who is absolutely obsessed with Stasia and is a lesbian, so of course, being super attracted to Stasia to the point that she’d do a sign that says “Marry Me”, obviously she also wants to… well… try and get Stasia to bed, and now she sees and opportunity for her to do so and knowing Parker, is it so unbelievable that she’d actually try to go for it? I mean, the woman peed her pants and she’s found as funny but suggesting a threesome so that she can get Stasia in bed with her is disrespectful?
July 6th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
(just so you know, that wasn’t an angry post, it was a for real curious post)
July 6th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I don’t think it’s the sex that people find disrespectful. I think it’s that she’d blackmail Stasia to get it. That isn’t many degrees off rape, really. I mean, I know Parker doesn’t think of it that way, and that she is just obsessive and wacky, but that doesn’t really change much.
July 6th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I’m not gonna say I expected what parker said, but I will say I liked it.
I think it went fine with her character. Goofey ass s#!%, but still with her character.
Now to wait for his response. Which will be interesting.
July 6th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Anesthetics? Try a sedative and/or straightjacket!! ^^
Truly amazing work!! Although I keep wondering what’s keeping Guy from (a) calling those Nice Young Men In Their Clean White Coats, (b) switching Parker’s espresso for decaf or (c) slapping her in the face, screaming ‘PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, WOMAN!! *whap* EVERYBODY’S LOOKIN!!’ LOL
Even though Parker gave me the skeeves in this one, I luv her anyway.
July 6th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Well, I love the page, and it made me laugh out loud ( I had to hide it as a coughing fit so the boss wouldn’t find out. >_> ).
Oh Parker, you crazy, obsessive fangirl, you.
On a side note, I finally got around to reading Eisu’s No Pink Ponies. Good Lord, I love you Eisu. XD
July 6th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Eisu: I think it’s just that sex is a controversial thing… then again, so is lesbianism. XD But sex is like, “Whoa, scandel!” y’know? It’s just the way the general public views it. I don’t think many people actually lost respect for Parker so much as they think she’s gone down a little on the nice-girl-o-meter… or… something. I’m too tired to word things, so hopefully you can put it together from that. XD
(If it makes you feel any better, I still ♥ Parker.)
July 6th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
I’m willing to give Parker the benefit of the doubt, THIS time, because of the likely tense situation. If she were to feel bad about this afterwards, or later, that would make me feel better about giving it to her.
July 6th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Hmm, interesting tidbit: the wiki page no longer says it’s predictable. (wasn’t me that edited it, btw, I just noticed it when I was looking at it)
Anyway, I’m another lurker-by-nature, but this page definitely deserves a comment. “It won’t be awkward AT ALL.” This made me love Parker just a little more… what a devious little brat XD
July 6th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
I never had a huge amount of Parker (but I do not dislike her). Crazy fans always scare me. Anyway, the idea of Parker wanting to have sex with Stasia; that’s fine for her character. Parker suggesting blackmail to have sex… again, it suits the character, in my mind, but it does lose a little of my respect. Basically, blackmailing Stasia into a threesome would be considered rape. Even if Stasia agreed to the threesome, she was threatened into it. But, then again, if Stasia was into that sort of thing, and there was no blackmail threat, there is no rape.
And Guy trying asking about sex (which he doesn’t seem to care about anymore) was fine with me. He thought they were married, so it actually made the question cute, in a way. I agree with Valerie, though; most of the people who lose respect are the ones who find sex too negative or controversial.
July 6th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
O_o wow, that’s . . . i dunno what that is but what weirds me out even more if i know some people who would probably say something similiar.
July 7th, 2007 at 2:10 am
“I think it’s that she’d blackmail Stasia to get it. That isn’t many degrees off rape, really.”
“Basically, blackmailing Stasia into a threesome would be considered rape.”
These comments are ridiculous. Just because Guy used the word “blackmail” doesn’t mean this would really be blackmail in the true sense of the word, and it’s not anywhere NEAR rape. Most logical people would think the smart thing for Stasia to do to help her career is to get rid of Guy instantly. It’s only her insane brain that makes her think that staying married to him forever is what would be best for her image. (And how big of a deal is what’s best for her image??? That means she should have SEX that she doesn’t want just so the public might see her in a better light???) She doesn’t know the guy, just met him tonight, but you think it amounts to rape for Guy to say that he’d “leave her” if she doesn’t have a threesome with he and Parker? Total nonsense. How is it rape when all Stasia would have to do is say, “Um, BYE, this sure made my decision easy”? This would not be blackmail and it wouldn’t even be remotely close to rape, and it’s obviously not going to happen anyway.
July 7th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Valerie: It’s not the fact that Parker wants to have sex with Stasia - it’s the fact that she’s willing to blackmail her into it and threaten her if Stasia doesn’t go through with it. In most developed parts of the world, that wouldn’t just be considered unethical - it’d be criminal. It’s not even remotely comparable to peeing on herself, or making a ‘Marry Me’ sign - as much as those actions exhibited a scary level of obsession, they didn’t hurt anyone. This one does.
It’s like watching a five year old kid mimic his favourite wrestling star. It’s cute and funny when he’s wearing his underwear on the outside of his pants, and even when he’s cutting up the curtains to make a cape. It’s not cute or funny when he practices out his moves on his two year old sister.
July 7th, 2007 at 2:24 am
Bobby: The pertinent point is that Parker believes that Guy has sufficient leverage, and is trying to get him to use it. It doesn’t matter if she’s delusional, and her ridiculous suggestion would never work - the fact is that she’s willing to threaten Stasia in order to get something out of her.
July 7th, 2007 at 2:47 am
“It’s not the fact that Parker wants to have sex with Stasia - it’s the fact that she’s willing to blackmail her into it and threaten her if Stasia doesn’t go through with it.”
Parker has absolutely nothing to threaten Stasia with. Parker can’t control what Guy does. Guy is the person who at least has SOMETHING (sort of, not really) to “threaten” Stasia with, and he’s said nothing about actually threatening her — he looks shocked by Parker’s suggestion. Parker has no power here whatsoever, so she can’t make any threats.
“In most developed parts of the world, that wouldn’t just be considered unethical - it’d be criminal.”
Total nonsense. You’re saying it’s criminal to want to have sex with someone.
“. . . as much as those actions exhibited a scary level of obsession, they didn’t hurt anyone. This one does.”
Once again, Parker has absolutely ZERO capacity to hurt Stasia, unless she were to maybe punch her in the face, which she obviously doesn’t plan on doing.
“It’s not cute or funny when he practices out his moves on his two year old sister.”
Not making any sense again.
“The pertinent point is that Parker believes that Guy has sufficient leverage, and is trying to get him to use it. It doesn’t matter if she’s delusional, and her ridiculous suggestion would never work - the fact is that she’s willing to threaten Stasia in order to get something out of her.”
Don’t understand. No matter how “crazy” Stasia might seem, she clearly has at least some brain in her head and isn’t completely retarded. There’s obviously no way in hell that Stasia could possibly get to the point where she thinks, “OK, I absolutely HAVE to have sex with these people right now.” No way in hell, and this is obvious to anyone who has read the story so far and has a brain in their head. You’re saying you can actually picture a scenario where Guy tells Stasia that he’ll break up with her if she doesn’t have a threesome and then you can also picture her responding with “Oh crap, guess I have to!”??? I just don’t understand this whatsoever, don’t know where you guys are coming from. It also should definitely not be assumed that Parker actually believes that Stasia would do this because of the threat. Most likely she thinks there’s a 99% chance that it wouldn’t work WHATSOEVER, but in that 1% chance of it actually working she’d think that it would work because Stasia actually likes Parker and wants to have a threesome with her and Guy. It wouldn’t be because she feels like they have sufficient “leverage,” in Parker’s mind, but this is just a way to get the ball rolling on that basically. It also could just be a test for Guy to see how he’d react — that’s at least part of it. Parker knows almost EVERYTHING about Stasia and she knows that Stasia isn’t retarded enough to actually think that she’d HAVE to have sex with them because of this. Only the stupidest person in the world would think they’d have to over this situation.
July 7th, 2007 at 3:40 am
The facial expressions in this comic are priceless. On this page, pretty much every panel is hilarious.
July 7th, 2007 at 4:54 am
Awesome. Love Guy’s face in thelast panel ^^
July 7th, 2007 at 5:06 am
Eisu:
How is it that when sex is mentioned by a character, he/she loses respect?
Oh, it is not the mention of sex, it is begging for it. Begging is sort of a declaration of bankruptcy: it is made clear that no value considered as adequate will be offered in return. That’s not an attractive proposition for something as personal as sex.
July 7th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Like the world would belive a _CRAZY_ fangirl claiming to have a threesome with Stasia (if that ever happened)
xD
July 7th, 2007 at 9:47 am
I’ve been reading this comic for a while but this is the first time I’m commenting because.. this page made me laugh so hard.
EISU I
July 7th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Alright I’m retarded I forgot you couldn’t type the less than sign.. :-/
This is how the rest of my comment was supposed to go:
EISU I heart you (I followed you here from No Pink Ponies which is also awesomely hilarious).
I think anyone who is offended by Parker on this page is just taking her antics too seriously. It’s not like Stasia is dumb and pliable, if Guy were to even go along with Parker’s crazy ideas.
I can’t wait to see what happens next!
July 7th, 2007 at 11:29 am
*spits out tea*
I love Guy’s face in the last panel
July 7th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Holy f…!
Parker seems to be reaaally desperate! Oh, god! Please never let this path of joy end. And Guy… his expression is really priceless. Awesome!
July 7th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
“It’s not even remotely comparable to peeing on herself, or making a ‘Marry Me’ sign - as much as those actions exhibited a scary level of obsession, they didn’t hurt anyone. This one does.”
See, first, you pointed this post to Valerie, when the poor girl said nothing of this (the comparable to pee-ing or Marry Me sign), it was me who said it… secondly, what I was saying was that Parker is a lesbian who’s willing to do a Marry Me sign for a straight woman, is it so hard to believe that she wants to have sex with Stasia? And yeah, her method of wanting to have sex with Stasia might be with a “leverage” from a friend, but hell, she said so herself, Stasia’s not into that, so a window of opportunity for a threesome is open, she thought she’d take a chance… and thirdly, no one is threatening anyone yet. She’s asking GUY to ask Stasia, she didn’t threaten Stasia even so no one is threatened and no one is hurt so seriously, how does this go into the whole “disrespectful cos it’s rape” thing? It’s an obsessed fan (keyword: obsessed) who wants to sleep with her idol, that’s all there is to it… her situation is different than say a straight guy who’s obsessed over Stasia, she’s a female who likes her own gender and the person she likes “don’t go that way”, so she has to try certain other unorthodox methods if the window of opportunity opens itself… it’s not really that disrespectful or hard to figure especially since we know that Parker’s crazy… this thought, logically speaking (well, logical in the Parker sense) should be crossing her mind…
July 7th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
I think Guy might lose his jaw before the night’s over, poor man.
Parker’s logic never fails to astound me.
July 7th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Bobby: I’ll start from the end of your reply, since my response will address issues relating to the beginning.
“It wouldn’t be because she feels like they have sufficient “leverage,” in Parker’s mind, but this is just a way to get the ball rolling on that basically. It also could just be a test for Guy to see how he’d react — that’s at least part of it. Parker knows almost EVERYTHING about Stasia and she knows that Stasia isn’t retarded enough to actually think that she’d HAVE to have sex with them because of this. Only the stupidest person in the world would think they’d have to over this situation.”
The problem is that none of that really comes across in the strip itself. Very few people who have commented here have seen the logical jump between Parker’s words and the rationalisation you have accorded to her. It requires the reader to not only have faith in your ability as a storyteller (i.e: assume that the basis of the story, Stasia’s insistence that she stay married to Guy, is actually going to be handled rationally), and in the intelligence of your cast (i.e: ‘nobody’s dumb enough to believe that, therefore Parker/ Stasia can’t be dumb enough.’)
I think you’ll find that neither will be particularly common so early into the comic/ movie. People have been saying that they can’t wait until the next strip to ‘redeem’ Parker because they accept that there could be a reason beyond the obvious for Parker’s actions, but they just can’t see it. You act as though the reasons you accorded to Parker above should be transparent and obvious to all who read the comic, yet out of all the people who’ve commented, how many have seen through the apparent blackmail plan to the motivations you mentioned? You say that ‘it wouldn’t be because Parker thought they had sufficient leverage’ - well, that’s what Parker says to Guy.
This being the case, I’m going to respond to the rest of your post disregarding your explanation, just based on what I was able to glean from the comic itself:
“Parker has absolutely nothing to threaten Stasia with. Parker can’t control what Guy does. Guy is the person who at least has SOMETHING (sort of, not really) to “threaten” Stasia with, and he’s said nothing about actually threatening her — he looks shocked by Parker’s suggestion. Parker has no power here whatsoever, so she can’t make any threats.”
Yes, of course - but Parker believes she’s got power. Or rather, that Guy’s got the power, and that he’ll harness it on her behalf. Her apparent _expectation_ is that if Guy goes to Stasia and tells her to have a threesome, Stasia will be forced to acquiesce. It doesn’t make a difference if her reasoning is flawed, and if her idea is the most ridiculously idiotic proposition imaginable - it’s making people uneasy because it shows that she’s _willing_ to indulge in blackmail and to disregard the feelings and desires of the person she ‘loves’ in order to get what she wants out of her. Not that she has, or even that she will, but that she’s capable of it. She _believes_ she has leverage, and she _believes_ that Guy can blackmail Stasia into a threesome, and she acts on those beliefs. The fact that Guy refuses her, and that the idea isn’t a workable one to begin with, is really beside the point as far as her character is concerned.
“Total nonsense. You’re saying it’s criminal to want to have sex with someone.”
I’m saying nothing of the sort. I’m saying that it’s criminal to blackmail someone into sex, and that Parker was (apparently) willing to do so. Hence, Parker is capable of criminal actions.
Eisu:
“he’s asking GUY to ask Stasia, she didn’t threaten Stasia even so no one is threatened and no one is hurt so seriously, how does this go into the whole “disrespectful cos it’s rape” thing? It’s an obsessed fan (keyword: obsessed) who wants to sleep with her idol, that’s all there is to it… her situation is different than say a straight guy who’s obsessed over Stasia, she’s a female who likes her own gender and the person she likes “don’t go that way”, so she has to try certain other unorthodox methods if the window of opportunity opens itself… it’s not really that disrespectful or hard to figure especially since we know that Parker’s crazy… this thought, logically speaking (well, logical in the Parker sense) should be crossing her mind…”
I’ve gone into that already - it’s NOT rape, but it’s making people uneasy because it’s only one step removed from it. I.e: If Guy actually went through with it, and Stasia agreed out of a real fear for her career, it would be. Hence the reason why people are getting uneasy - it tells them that this character’s obsession extends beyond the cute and cuddly into the sinister.
July 7th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I’ll respond more later — rushing to the Dodger game right now, but gotta respond to this quickly –
“I’ve gone into that already - it’s NOT rape, but it’s making people uneasy because it’s only one step removed from it. I.e: If Guy actually went through with it, and Stasia agreed out of a real fear for her career, it would be.”
LOL. Under no conceivable circumstance WHATSOEVER could this be anything remotely CLOSE to rape. Never. Makes no sense. It’s not one step removed or 20 steps removed. It’s nowhere in the same ballpark. It would just be Stasia being completely retarded and choosing to have sex with people for insanely stupid reasons if that was her reasoning behind it. Not blackmail or rape.
“yet out of all the people who’ve commented, how many have seen through the apparent blackmail plan to the motivations you mentioned?”
Um, most people — all the ones who are saying “Best strip ever!” and such, and who are strongly disagreeing with you and one or two others who say they think it’s horrible. It’s similar to the people who hated Guy just for bringing up the question of wondering if they’d have sex tonight like 20 pages ago. Some people are just really uncomfortable with anything like that, that’s all.
July 7th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
loved the strip (as per usual)
parker’s face in the last panel really gives her a look of desperation, it’s cute. i am still not sure if i love her or hate her, i think i like her character but if she were a person in knew in real life i would be constantly annoyed by her.. or something like that.
i also seriously don’t get why people seem so upset with this strip, i mean really, it’s just silly. but everyone reads things differently, at least they all seem to like the comic no matter what
July 7th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Wow, you guys. Do we have to have a heated debate on every single page? Can’t we just talk about something friendly? XD
I think the bottom line, though, is that everyone’s going to have a different view of Parker based on how they’re seeing things. Some people will like Parker more because they’ll see this as a funny situation, some people will like Parker less because they’ll think she’s trying to take advantage of Guy/Stasia, some people will like Parker the same amount but will see her character in a new light, etc.
Bobby sir, it’s just how readers understand things, y’know? We all see things differently. If anything important is misunderstood, it’s usually figured out on a later page.
Anyway, for the record, I still ♥ Parker. I’ll admit that I was sliiiightly shocked at her suggesting this to Guy, but that’s because I’ve been viewing her as a “cute and cuddly” kind of person. Her character is still awesome, in my opinion. I just saw another side of her. That’s no reason to dislike someone.
But again, that’s just my point of view on it. Other people may have taken things differently. It’s nothing big, just different minds at work.
July 7th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
I’m fairly sure I understand why people are associating Parker’s attempting to get into bed with Stasia via Guy with blackmail.
Guy says: “And you think I should blackmail her? Don’t you love Stasia? And currently hate me?”
Parker, of course, completely ignores the first part of the sentance; and responds to the way she feels about Stasia by presenting her idea. However, the word “blackmail” has got lodged in our brains due to the weight it carries; combine that with a threesome- another potentially weighty ideal- and that’s where the “blackmail into sex” comes in.
If you actually skip that word, it sounds a lot more like Parker trying to convince her best friend to try to convince his new wife to maybe, one day, have that threesome. Now whilst I’d agree that Parker is trying to apply pressure onto Stasia, at no point did SHE say, or even suggest, that it would be close to blackmail.
However, I must say, I did lose a little respect for Parker here- and I will explain exactly why. Sex is often considered an intimate act, which is- I hesitate to use the word, but it’s late and I can’t think of anything better- almost sacred in the eyes of many. Parker is trying to apply pressure to somebody she supposedly cares about in order to get sexual gratification- with full knowledge that Stasia wouldn’t enjoy it, as she’s “not into that”. She shows less respect for Stasia and her wishes than I would expect from her; and therefore, I lost a little for her as well.
Just my thoughts.
July 7th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Nothing wrong with wanting to have sex with someone. However, Parker doesn’t really know Stasia as a person yet. So this is coming across as pure lust, not love. I think that a lot of the objections to Parker’s actions here are based on that. (That and the ‘I’m a lesbian, but I’m willing to have sex with you as long as I can have sex with her’ just seems… off.)
July 7th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
I like how both the Artest and Writer defend their characters, but I agree with Bobby and Eisu. We haven’t been able to see the character’s past, or their inner thoughts. We have no idea what they are dreaming, or feeling. Granted, Eisu does a good job with the artwork, but the only one who truly understands the characters is the guy who made them: Bobby.
And Ghost in the Machine, I would call it infatuation, not lust. She’s obsessed with Sasha, not having sex with her. And second, I agree with you. I don’t see Parker going throught GUy to get with Sasha.
(I just responded to Ghost’s because it wasn’t long and ranty.)
July 7th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Seems like a sound plan to me.
I kinda feel bad for Parker. Does that make me a bad person?
July 7th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
I agree with valerie and jade.
I don’t think it was supposed to be about blackmail. I think parker just wanted guy to try to convince her. Not blackmail. He mentions the blackmail not parker. From what I got from the page was this, she ment if u asked stasia for something then stasia would really consider it because she wants to make the marriage work. But we all know that the question will never make it back to the room.
Anyway I think we should just set up one of those “patiently waiting” benches (that I remember valerie mentioning on a diff post) and just relax.
July 7th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
I’m afraid I have to disagree with you Bobby.
The law is very clear that any kind of coercion (Including blackmail/extortion, and specifically threats to public image) is rape.
Furthermore, blackmail is blackmail if the person being blackmailed perceives the release of the information as a threat to them, and the person doing the blackmailing knows that the person believes the information going public is a threat to them. It doesn’t matter whether the average Joe thinks it is blackmail material or not. (Although it can make jury trials unpredictable if the blackmail is predicated on irrational assumptions). Also, this situation would actually be extortion rather then blackmail, but the same principles apply.
So it doesn’t matter that Stasia should not be worried about the theoretical threat being made. All that matters is that Stasia is worried about this issue, and Parker knows it.
Of course, people tend to suggest crazy things sometimes- especially when life has become weird. So I find it plausible that Parker isn’t really intent on blackmailing Stasia and instead she is just a lot of talk. Which is why most conspiracy charges require an actual act in furtherance of the crime.
So Parker has not done anything criminal yet, but she has suggested something that would be criminal if she pursued it.
That’s just the way the law is. Of course, blackmail/extortion cases are a pain to prosecute so alot of people get away with it- and with the apparent irrationality of Stasia (Pop Star marrying some stranger? Not much sympathy from a jury), I think most prosecutors would decline to make top charges. They’d probably push for a plea deal with a slap on the wrist at best- unless they had some concrete evidence of a conspiracy.
July 7th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
I dont see why Parkers ’suggestion’ surprises anyone. at least 90 percent of a homosexual relationship is sexual, and the ‘love’ for someone of the same sex is usually sexual in nature.
goodness
July 7th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Bobby:
“Um, most people — all the ones who are saying “Best strip ever!” and such”
Basil Fawlty is a hilarious character. He’s still an arsehole. I never said that I didn’t find the strip funny - I just don’t find Parker likeable.
“and who are strongly disagreeing with you and one or two others who say they think it’s horrible.”
One or two others? Try >10 - on a brief sweep through the comments, Zahoe, Kalikajira, Particle man, Tibbar de gniw, Ghost in the machine, Linz, Lord klingsor, Goatboy khan, Jessica, Carny, and Fwizzie have all commented that they’re either been creeped out by Parker, or that they’ve lost respect for her. Add to those posters like Proxess and Christopher Howell, who found the strip funny in spite of an acknowledged creepiness (or perhaps because of it). You can add me to that group.
We’re currently on just over 100 comments, with about 40 individual posters (that’s an estimate - feel free to correct me). You’re looking at a quarter to a third of your audience (those who have seen fit to comment) who seem to have missed your point.
“It’s similar to the people who hated Guy just for bringing up the question of wondering if they’d have sex tonight like 20 pages ago. Some people are just really uncomfortable with anything like that, that’s all.”
I’ve just gone through the strip you mentioned - 3 individual posters found Guy’s question off putting - Russ, Sean and Elliot Kane. Of the three, Russ and Sean seemed to lose respect for Guy not so much because he mentioned sex, but because he was being tactless - something you, Bobby, acknowledged.
You can believe that this controversy derives from ’some people’ being really uncomfortable with anything to do with sex, if you want, but really, you’re missing the point. Do you think the response would be more positive if, instead of asking Guy for a threesome, Parker had asked him to get Stasia to give them lots of money?
Jade: No, I think it has more to do with the fact that Parker first points out to Guy that he has leverage over Stasia, thus being the character to introduce the prospect of blackmail into the strip.
July 7th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Aye aye, Captain! *Sits on the metaphorical bench*
…Aw, dang it. I can’t sit quietly over this, hang on. *Stands up*
“I dont see why Parkers ’suggestion’ surprises anyone. at least 90 percent of a homosexual relationship is sexual, and the ‘love’ for someone of the same sex is usually sexual in nature.”
I don’t like that comment. I’m female. I’ve dated (and been in love with) a girl. We never had sex, even though we could have. I don’t see why you’re saying that 90% of the love in a same-sex relationship needs to be sexual. If it’s like that for same-sex, it should be like that for opposite-sex, too. It’s not, though. Love is love, thanks much. Love and lust are totally different things. Don’t confuse them.
Now, I’m going back to my nice little bench. Do me a favor and stop the stereotypes, ‘kay? Not cool. *Sits on the metaphorical bench*
July 7th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
I agree with Tim, the reason that I lost respect for Parker wasn’t that she had an actual chance of blackmailing/extorting/coercing Stasia into having a threesome, it’s that she believed there was a chance and was willing - indeed, eager - to try it. Not only that, but she was willing to do so without a thought for Guy and Stasia’s feelings. Now, I can see this being just a crazy, spur of the moment Parker thing, but just the fact that she not only entertained the idea but was willing to give it a try is what made me lose respect for her. Up until now the impression I got of Parker was that of a crazy fangirl, but also a good friend to Guy, and someone who genuinely cared about both Stasia and Guy. This strip really hurt that impression. Now, if she drops this or apologizes later (I hope she’ll apologize, but eh, not my story) it won’t have as big an impact as it does right now. However, seeing as I don’t have any more of the story to go on, right now, I’ve lost respect for her because her behavior is extremely selfish, and out of character, at least for how I had pictured her.
So, no, Bobby, it has nothing to do with me being prudish or disliking talk about sex. I think discussion of sex is normal, and even healthy. It would probably be better if we had a little more talk about it instead of everyone treating it as a taboo subject. It has everything to do with character development and my disappointment with how Parker acted in this situation. Do I still laugh at Parker’s antics, yes. But she’s not as likable right now as she was. Hopefully further strips will change that. This is a great story, and I look forward to the rest of it.
July 7th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
“One or two others? Try >10 - on a brief sweep through the comments, Zahoe, Kalikajira, Particle man, Tibbar de gniw, Ghost in the machine, Linz, Lord klingsor, Goatboy khan, Jessica, Carny, and Fwizzie have all commented that they’re either been creeped out by Parker, or that they’ve lost respect for her.”
It’s definitely one or two others (at the most) who have said this would be RAPE, which is what I was talking about. Did I ever once say that people shouldn’t be creeped out by it??? No, never. I simply said that it’s not rape and could never be rape and that it’s crazy to blow it so out of proportion like that.
“You’re looking at a quarter to a third of your audience (those who have seen fit to comment) who seem to have missed your point.”
That’s nonsense. Somewhere around 1-3 people have said they think it would be rape (possibly only two, I’m not sure), and those people are just insane. It’s perfectly fine for people to be creeped out by Parker here, but to think it’s rape is just nonsense.
Carny, you don’t know the law very well at all. You’re telling me that if some girl had a stick of gum and some guy walked by and said, “Hey, can I have that gum?” and then the girl said, “Only if you have sex with me first,” that would be RAPE if the guy then agreed to have sex with the girl to get the gum? That’s what you’re saying. It’s a very similar scenario here, in terms of how compelled Stasia would be to actually agree to these demands.
July 8th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Guy’s expression in the last panel is probably his best one ever.
@Bobby and Eisu: Please don’t get yourself too worked up about this. The story’s going along fine as it is (especially seeing as this is supposed to be a one-strip gag). There’ll always be people who start getting wierd viewpoints about these kind of jokes as soon as sex get’s involved. Personally, I don’t think the joke went too far (if something like this would have happened in the real world, someone like parker would have probably tried this way sooner) and you should trust your readership to understand that a little more. Like any artist, you’re not required to explain to us the meaning of your art.
July 8th, 2007 at 12:48 am
“that would be RAPE if the guy then agreed to have sex with the girl to get the gum? That’s what you’re saying. It’s a very similar scenario here, in terms of how compelled Stasia would be to actually agree to these demands.”
It’s not similar at all; the guy is being offered something that he desires, but which will not be hurt by the absence of. Parker’s whole argument to Guy is predicated on the belief that Stasia would consider Guy breaking up with her as a real injury to her career, and hence be hurt by it. In her own words, ‘[Stasia] thinks it’ll kill her career to break up with [Guy]’. She’s asking Guy to threaten Stasia’s career in order to coerce her into sex. How that is even remotely comparable to a girl offering a guy gum if he has sex with her, I really fail to see. A more pertinent example would be if the girl said to the guy, ‘I recorded you stealing from the school yesterday. If you don’t have sex with me I’ll pass on the recording to the police’.
Rape is differently defined around the world, but I believe most legal systems consider sex under coercion to be a form of rape. If Parker isn’t attempting to get Guy to coerce Stasia into sex, what is she doing?
July 8th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Now that my brain has recovered from the unexpected freeze, crash, shutdown, and, eventually, hard reboot that your newest installment pulled, here is what I have to say:
At first I thought Parker was just another fangirl.
Then I thought she was a high-level crazy fangirl.
NOW I THINK SHE’S JUST CRAZY!!!
July 8th, 2007 at 1:24 am
Dear god… there is more text here then there was in my most recent essay on Virginia Wolfe…
This was awesome.
July 8th, 2007 at 2:32 am
“Rape is differently defined around the world, but I believe most legal systems consider sex under coercion to be a form of rape.”
Yes, and it all depends on the type of coercion. For example, that gum scenario wouldn’t be rape, but it is a form of attempted coercion — just a really stupid attempt, though, similar to Parker’s, with no chance of working unless the person simply wants to have sex anyway. It’s impossible for Stasia to think that it would kill her career if she “breaks up” quickly with the stranger who she just apparently married on a whim. Ugh, we could go on like this for ages — you’re just not going to understand apparently. You’re taking it all WAY too seriously. There could be a million different ways to interpret exactly what Parker might be thinking, but none of those million different ways should have the word “rape” ever enter the picture. Sure, it could be taken to be pretty creepy, fine, but when everyone involved, especially Parker, knows that Stasia is not completely retarded and would never think that she’d actually be forced into doing this and have no choice in the matter, then there’s no way that rape could ever be an issue here. I think it’s practically IDENTICAL to the gum comparison. I mean COME ON, Stasia is SUPER RICH, flies around in private jets, and that’s AFTER giving 97% of her money to charity! It’s not like it matters if her image MIGHT be slightly hurt by not staying with Guy forever. Even if her career WAS killed, who gives a crap? She’s still a millionaire! It’s IMPOSSIBLE for breaking up with this stranger to kill or even hurt her career, really, but EVEN if it did kill it, she’d still be totally set for LIFE. So there’s no coercion. It’s not like she’d be going to jail over this or like she’d be living on the streets after this or like any physical harm would come to her or anything bad AT ALL BASICALLY! If no harm can come to her from this, other than the CHANCE that it might slightly hurt her image (and remember that she said this after she was given advice by her very close friend and sister that the SMART THING TO DO IS END IT WITH GUY RIGHT AWAY), then it’s not coercion and it’s nowhere near rape. Logically, Stasia should want to just end it with Guy right away — that’s what would logically be best for her career and probably for herself too, and her sister has told her this even, someone she trusts. But anyway, yeah, keep thinking it’s rape, no problem.
July 8th, 2007 at 4:15 am
Ahh, this comic’s great. Great story, better-than-average art, funny strips etc. I can’t wait to see the next page.
July 8th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Coming to think about it, we’re the people who need those anesthetics, not Parker.
xD
*Wanders off to the metaphorical bench*
July 8th, 2007 at 7:43 am
Wow……….normally I browse through the comments to see what Bobby comes up with….but this time it’s just too much effort to see people arguing with the creator. *sits with Bobby because Bobby is the creator and Bobby is God of this little world*
You just have to love the disgruntled Denny/Wall, and Oh My God, Double You Tee Eff ness of Guy.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Bobby, the point isn’t whether it actually would hurt Stasia’s career, it’s the fact that she believes it, and Parker knows she believes it and is willing to exploit that. What makes something coercion or blackmail or extortion is not the actual damage the threat would do if it was carried out, it’s the damage the person thinks it would do, and obviously Stasia thinks it would do a lot of damage to her career.
If someone is threatened with a realistic looking toy gun into having sex, it’s considered rape. It doesn’t matter that the threat wasn’t and could not be real - indeed, was ridiculous. What matters is the person’s belief that the threat was real, and the person holding the toy gun’s knowing that they believed that and being willing to exploit it.
This is essentially what Parker is doing. Yes, we know that it wouldn’t really hurt Stasia in any major way. That’s not the point, either here, or in court if it went there. In court, it could indeed be considered extortion or coercion or even blackmail into having sex. Which is definitely considered rape in the US. Whether or not it would be considered that would depend on how many people on the jury would look at it like you - that there wasn’t a real threat, therefore there was no rape - and how many would look at it like me, tim, and a couple others - there was a perceived threat, therefore it was rape, regardless of how much actual damage it could do.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Ok! I’ve got the solution! Let’s call the authorities and make Parker go to jail! That’ll solve things… raper!
Jesuschrist… it’s an alternate universe people, she’s just proposing something… If I propose someone’s death, I’m not a murderer!
July 8th, 2007 at 10:09 am
I don’t see the reason why so many people are upset. I just took it as Parker knowing that Stasia obviously likes Guy (to some point, or she wouldn’t have married him), probably would have sex with HIM, so as a favor to him she might include Parker in the equation. Sure, she phrased it in terms of “do whatever he wants” or whatnot, but I doubt she’d really blackmail Stasia. I mean - she’s obviously in love with the woman, obviously wants to at least be tolerated by her, and making Stasia unhappy or force her into sex would obviously not be the way to go. I think she’s sane enough to see that. Also, I think in the back of her head she probably knows Guy would never in a million years say yes if it’s a really bad idea, so maybe she’s just suggesting to see how he would react.
It’s a bit like getting upset ’cause one of the characters jaywalked or something. Sure, it’s illegal, in an obscure kinda way, and disrespectful to, uh, people driving cars, and could possibly be dangerous but… does it really warrant public outrage?
Anyway. I thought it was funny, and cute in an insane way. Poor Parker, I hope she finds someone she can devote those attentions to
July 8th, 2007 at 10:26 am
I love Guy’s shocked face in the last panel
To all the “rape” people: Listen, I think we should just chill out and take a few deep breathes and watch what happens in the comic before getting all worked up over this one strip. Or, you could just go away and not read this comic at all. Frankly, either way would be better than yelling at its creators constantly.
July 8th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
“Bobby, the point isn’t whether it actually would hurt Stasia’s career, it’s the fact that she believes it . . .”
Huh??? Did you miss the parts where I said about 20 times already that Stasia obviously is nowhere near stupid enough to believe it? Should I quote myself about 20 times right now? Re-read my posts please.
“. . . and obviously Stasia thinks it would do a lot of damage to her career.”
Once again, no she doesn’t. She’s nowhere near retarded enough to think that it would be so damaging to her career that she’d have to allow herself to be “raped” to avoid it. Re-read my posts. Her best friend and main adviser already told her that the smart thing to do is to end it with Guy ASAP!
July 8th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
To get a response like this for the work you two do, you’re obviously doing something right. And I must add that the last line on the page is my favourite thus far. Very amusing.
July 8th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
“Coming to think about it, we’re the people who need those anesthetics, not Parker.”
XD!! *High-fives* Welcome to the bench.
Dragonmage, you should come sit on the bench too. You’d fit in. XD
But, um, as much as I do love this little bench, I have to direct a comment to Bobby…
Bobby sir, you said that there’s no way she’d believe that breaking up with Guy would hurt her career, but didn’t she say something along the lines of “Oh no, must stay with Guy” before? My memory could just be messing with me, so correct me if I’m wrong.
July 8th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Valerie, she could definitely think that it could hurt her career, but nowhere NEAR to the point of thinking it’s such a dramatic thing that she’d have to have sex with people to avoid it. Her closest adviser told her that the smart thing would be to end it with Guy right away! So it’s not like a DONE DEAL, that it would hurt her career. It’s not like the example Tim gave about someone having evidence of you doing something criminal that you’d go to jail for if it’s released or any crap like that. It’s a guessing game and Stasia, in a crazy moment, had the idea to stay with Guy forever. But common sense tells her it’s probably not the smartest thing to do, as Janny already said. Also, once again, why would she care so much if it hurt her career??? She’s a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE and she gives most of her money to charity. And again, she’s NOT retarded. Only reason for her to possibly agree to this just because of the “hurting her image/career” aspect if she’s COMPLETELY RETARDED. Like stupidest person in the world. And Parker obviously knows that she’s not.
July 8th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Nearly fell off my chair reading the comic!
As for all the people shouting “RAPE!”, even though Bobby himself has already mentioned why there wouldn’t be any (Parker might be insane enough to think this might work, Stasia ISN’T.), bloody well get over yourselves.
Seriously, wtf makes you think you can see inside of the characters heads better than the person who writes them?
July 8th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Bobby, people usually care about their careers, whether they have money or not. It disturbs me a little that you’re suggesting a career wouldn’t matter if you have enough money. I mean, yeah, we all wanna be rich. Who wouldn’t? But careers are about things you love doing, not the money you make.
In ths particular case, though, Stasia seems almost sick of her career. So who knows?
Annnd Bobby, as much as I ♥ you, Eisu, and the comic… um, would it be okay to ask that you please use the word “retarded” a little less? Maybe I’m overly sensitive, but my brother and sister both have some problems, so it bugs me when people use it as a negative term so much…
July 8th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
You know that analogy with the gum? It might not be rape, but it’s still sexual assault. Okay, maybe gum is too minor. Let’s substitute in a job instead of gum. A guy wants a promotion but can’t have it unless he has sex with his boss. Now what do you consider it? The gum was a very bad example and had absolutely nothing to do with this case. I am not trying to start an argument with the stupid gum thing, I’m just saying you were a bit hasty with the analogy. It is absolutely nothing like what people are assuming from the comic. Okaaay, moving on.
Even though I do realize that almost no one here is going to change his or her opinion, you have to consider a few points to put some people at a bit more understanding. They’re Bobby’s character’s and he’s going to defend them to his death. We’re all stubborn now and we would like to defend our own oinions. We do understand that Stasia is not stupid enough to go through with this. We seem to get that she’s not really stressed enough to be coerced, either. But that’s not the point. The point is the intent. The way it’s worded. What would hold up in court? Just because the word ‘blackmail’ is used doesn’t mean it’s blackmail. I get that. The point is that Parker wants sex with Stasia. She can only get it through Guy, because he presumably has power (one of the key factors in what most consider rape is dominance) over her. Now, IF (I know she WON’T, but please just look from a slightly different view for the moment) Stasia went through with this, she wouldn’t know the reasons behind it. I’m sure, if she really was stupid, she would just agree with anything that Guy said. Later, if she wisened, the law would be on HER side. Yeah, I do get that she was just told to break up with Guy a couple of times, and that it’s the best thing to do. What I’m trying to do right now is look at it from what Parker is saying, not what Stasia was just informed, and not how we know Stasia would react.
Again, I realize that she won’t do it. But IF everything went as Parker desired, it’s at least some form of sexual assualt or rape or something along those lines. Leave the actual term to the people who got better than a B+ in their college law classes. Parker didn’t intend it as rape, but she is trying to take advantage of the situation to involve sex. There are plenty of people out there who would go through with it in this situation. And, sure, they’re stupid, but that usually means they don’t have the legal capacity to make an informed decision. The consent is not valid because of the duress and the lack of capacity.
In closing, no, Stasia isn’t stupid. Thank you for elaborating on that point and sticking with your characters. Thank you for telling us that Parker didn’t intend to rape Stasia. We get it. We’re stubborn. I know I am. But my mind is also open. Maybe not quite enough for my brains to fall out, but it’s still open enough to take note of what others are saying. Bobby, you just seem like you’re arguing because you love your characters. You definitely have plenty of validity in what you’re saying, but you have to remember that not everyone is basing their thoughts on what will happen or what should, but what could. They’re allowed to think, too. If you didn’t want them to have opinions, why let them think at all? Just give everybody the entire comic script. Or immediately tell everyone that what they are assuming is correct or incorrect about the whole of the comic. Let’s not have anymore mysteries here. Imaginations suck.
Now to change the subject: I love this comic. Yay!
July 8th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
“Bobby, people usually care about their careers, whether they have money or not. It disturbs me a little that you’re suggesting a career wouldn’t matter if you have enough money.”
But it’s not only about that, Valerie. It’s a complicated thing. It’s not just because I’m saying she doesn’t need her career — the most important part by far is that common sense says that this would HELP HER CAREER to end it with Guy instantly! As I’ve said 2,000 times now. The only reason I’ve mentioned the aspect of how losing her career isn’t that important is to take it a step further and say that even if it DID hurt her career (which it basically COULDN’T — think about it), that’s still nowhere near reason enough for her to allow herself to be blackmailed and RAPED! You have to look at the entire picture here. Many factors play a role in making it beyond stupid for Stasia to even entertain the idea of doing this just to avoid her image/career being POSSIBLY SLIGHTLY damaged.
“You know that analogy with the gum? It might not be rape, but it’s still sexual assault.”
No, it’s not sexual assault at all.
“A guy wants a promotion but can’t have it unless he has sex with his boss. Now what do you consider it?”
Um, obviously that’s illegal. That’s nowhere near like what was suggested in the comic. The gum analogy is perfect for it, though.
“Again, I realize that she won’t do it. But IF everything went as Parker desired, it’s at least some form of sexual assualt or rape or something along those lines.”
No, it’s definitely not.
“There are plenty of people out there who would go through with it in this situation.”
Huh? There’s no one. Unless they badly wanted to have sex with Parker.
“Bobby, you just seem like you’re arguing because you love your characters.”
Makes no sense whatsoever, completely wrong. I’m arguing because people are saying insanely stupid wrong things (RAPE!) and I’m correcting them.
“You definitely have plenty of validity in what you’re saying, but you have to remember that not everyone is basing their thoughts on what will happen or what should, but what could.”
Doesn’t make any sense. I’m also talking about what could.
“If you didn’t want them to have opinions, why let them think at all?”
Shaking my head, don’t know what the heck you’re saying. I can choose to not let people think now? Wow!
“Or immediately tell everyone that what they are assuming is correct or incorrect about the whole of the comic. Let’s not have anymore mysteries here. Imaginations suck.”
No clue what you’re saying. Ask a specific question and I’ll answer it.
July 8th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
jesus god.
I’ve been reading some of the comments and rape? Parker is crazy but she would NEVER forcibily rape stasia. She says herself, that she is in love with stasia so obviously she wouldn’t want to hurt her, but apart from that - it’s a joke! I seriously doubt Parker would actually go through with any blackmail or hurt Stasias career in any way and i SERIOUSLY doubt stasia would allow any blackmail like that because come on- the blackmail itself is stupid! Guy leaving Stasia wouldn’t affect her career anymore than it does him being with her.
It’s a joke! Argh!
July 8th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Uhhhgh. My head.
Why people, WHY.
Damn,
Anyway I agree with mihoshik.
Plus I didn’t think rape at all.
I saw it more like she’ll listen to u if u ask kinda thing.
Example: “Hey stasia, so how about for our honeymoon we have it a threesome with parker. It might be fun.”
Not: “Oh you don’t wanna sleep with me and parker, fine then I’m gonna break up with you so your career will be over. HAHAAHAHAH.”
Yeah so…. Anyway I’m gonna go find this bench now.
I think I need a hug.
July 8th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
dude, ya know that form now on ppl will be hoping it’ll actualy happen?
you’re a very cruel person…
July 8th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Hello, I’ve enjoyed this comic so far, but I do have to agree that her last statements have lowered my respect for Parker. Bobby, you said that it might help Stasia’s career if she ends it with Guy, but I don’t think she believes that yet or she would have already ended it. It is clear that she would much rather avoid having a threesome than to end it with Guy, but ending it with Guy is still something she does not want to do, but would be forced to do if Guy pressed it. I don’t think the consequences of what she is being forced to do matter as much, whether it be to end it with guy, lose a large sum of money, lose a stick of gum, or get physically injured. Regardless of what the consequences are, the person forcing those consequences believes that they have enough leverage to make them do what they want.
For example, if a mugger pulled a knife on someone and demanded their wallet, the mugger is hoping that the person will consider the consequence of being stabbed sufficient leverage to give up their wallet. However, if that person had a black belt in karate, they might easily be able to disarm the mugger, so it could be stupid for them to give up their wallet. The point being regardless of the perceived threat or what actually happens, I have now lost respect for the person holding the knife for attempting to commit robbery.
In this case Parker has not committed rape and is not going to. However if Guy does what Parker is asking him to do, then no matter how poor the attempt is, they are still attempting to rape Stasia by forcing a consequence, no matter how small, that Parker is hoping will be sufficient leverage to get her to have sex with them. So whether you want to call it asking Guy to use some form of leverage to assist her in a poor attempting to force Stasia to have sex with her, it is still asking to attempt it that has caused me to lose respect for her.
I understand some characters are not meant to have the most respect and that losing respect can make characters more interesting, especially if they try to redeem themselves. It just seems to me by the way you are defending your characters that this loss of respect was unintentional.
July 8th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Aww, Captain. XD *Hugs* Welcome to the nice little bench of friendly niceness and waiting.
July 8th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
I think the basis of the arguement here is the people who think that Stasia is “retarded enough” to think that her career is in danger enough that she would HAVE TO have the threesome in order to keep Guy and Parker there, and then people who think that Stasia would have her wits about her NOT to do something as stupid as think that a threesome could save her career.
July 8th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
“I don’t think the consequences of what she is being forced to do matter as much, whether it be to end it with guy, lose a large sum of money, lose a stick of gum, or get physically injured. Regardless of what the consequences are, the person forcing those consequences believes that they have enough leverage to make them do what they want.”
I don’t know how many times I’m going to be forced to say this, but there’s no way in hell Parker actually thinks she has significant leverage under any circumstance to make Stasia do this. I’ve said this like 20 times and it should be obvious by now. I’ve explained it in massive detail. I’ve said that Paker more than anyone else even knows that Stasia wouldn’t be stupid enough to think she’d have to do this.
Also, it should be made clear again that there’s no chance in the world of either scenario here “ending Stasia’s career.” She’s getting huge publicity out of this either way and it’s not like it’s hugely negative — she’s just seen as a little wacky, but it’s not like she hurt anyone or did drugs or anything illegal whatsoever. She just married some stranger, and she’s getting tons of press about it. None of the options (ending it with Guy now or staying with him for a while or staying with him forever) would greatly affect her career, really, and certainly none of them would drastically hurt her career. So there’s nothing about “saving her career” here — no, nothing like that.
July 8th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
*Stretches* Maaaan, it’s good to not be arguing. Really, it’s fun. You guys should try it. XD
July 8th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Yeah lets all relax now
The mr. Bobby guy has explained it so people just relax and enjoy.
Btw valerie is there anything to drink on this bench or should I go pick some up?
July 8th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
It’s a comic. It needed a punchline. The threesome was the joke and the last speech bubble was a great punchline. It’s funny. I laughed. Chill out.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I like the bench…
Wow people got heated up about this. I just thought it was funny and made me laugh, although I seem to be one of the few who simply doesn’t give a damn about parker. I’m much more interested in guy and stasia.
But honestly, we’ve seen that parker can be a bit silly and not think things through before she proposes them. I read this as just another example of that. She wants Stasia and has “Brainwave” and immediately runs off to blurt it out to Guy.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I often have really stupid and sometimes not always nice ideas that I don’t realise are as bad as they are until I stop and think.
Stopping and thinking isn’t something I’d give parker much credit for… she doesn’t seem to be the type.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
The point I and several others have been trying to make is that whether or not Parker even believes that it will work, the fact that she would suggest it is what has made us lose respect for her. Obviously from the comic she is not doing it in a joking kind of way, she’s at least saying it in a way to make Guy take her seriously. Seeing it from Guy’s viewpoint, especially as he doesn’t know Stasia, it’s basically asking him to force the woman he just married into having a threesome. Which, from what I have seen of Guy and can infer from that, he would at least consider wrong.
I’m not trying to tell you how you should do your comic. I’m not saying Stasia would go along with it. I’ll concede that Parker may know that Stasia would not go along with it. All I was trying to do was explain why I lost respect for Parker because of this.
As a reader, I don’t know everything about the characters that you do. There’s still a lot of development happening. I was explaining that based on what I’ve seen, and how serious Parker seems in this comic, Parker was seriously asking Guy to do this. That’s wrong. Whether or not it had a snowball’s chance in hell of happening does not make her suggesting it less wrong. That’s my opinion, and when this gets made into a movie, that may be some people’s opinion when this part happens. Granted, they’ll get the rest of the story a lot quicker, but they still might lose respect for Parker because of it.
I’m sorry you don’t feel that we have a right to differ in opinions on this. I wasn’t trying to argue or tell you how to do your story. It’s your story, I’m not going to try to change it. I was just explaining why I lost respect for Parker since you seemed surprised that anyone reacted negatively to it. Now, I’m out of this conversation, because it seems to have degenerated to the point of close-minded flaming. I still love the comic, and look forward to the rest and the movie.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
“You’re telling me that if some girl had a stick of gum and some guy walked by and said, “Hey, can I have that gum?” and then the girl said, “Only if you have sex with me first,” that would be RAPE if the guy then agreed to have sex with the girl to get the gum?”
No, that is not what I am saying. I think the disagreement we are having is based on that fact that I see a difference between a bribe and a threat. Apparently you don’t. Threats are coercion, bribes are not. The guy would not be guilty of rape- although he would technically be guilty of prostitution.
The point is that if Guy was to go to Stasia and tell her that she had to participate in a threesome or else [insert threat here- including threats to her perceived public image] that would be extortion. Now I suppose Guy could just ask Stasia for what Parker wants and leave the threat unspoken- but the fact that Parker suggested that Guy use his “leverage” would make it extortion, just unprovable.
Another possible disagreement is that you don’t see Guy as having an obligation to stay married to Stasia. Thus making the situation more like your gum scenario.
Under traditional legal interpretations of marriage, Guy would in fact be violating his obligations to Stasia. However, modern legal interpretations of marriage have significantly altered, leaving the obligations rather murky. This may give you a valid point, though it is premature to say as only you know the future outcome of the legal dispute.
People still tend to expect people to follow traditional obligations of marriage- which include not threatening a messy and embarrassing divorce unless the wife consents to a Threesome. In many parts of the USA, that could be considered rape if there are additional perceived damages. (Also, it could only be rape if Stasia submitted, if she refused it would still be criminal extortion- which is the main crime I was considering in my previous post). I have conceded that given the peculiar nature of the situation, an actual conviction (assuming everything took place as in Parker’s scheme) is very unlikely. Mainly because half the jury would take the position you are taking.
Furthermore, you have now stated several times that Parker knows this will never work. As I stated in my first post, I saw that as very possible, but that still left Parker’s statement as rather creepy. You ought to understand though that only you know the content of Parker’s mind, others don’t. They are speculating. (Which is probably what you want as a hook to bring people’s interest into the story).
I do not think Parker has done anything criminal. Nor did I find her comment something to freak over- my response was closer to Guy’s. After thinking about it I would just have to think to myself: “We all say stupid stuff, Parker can’t be serious”. Which I think is what you intended.
The only reason I even responded was because the debate was moving away from the specifics to some generalities about rape and blackmail. And I am pretty certain that sex demanded with extortion threats are rape.
Furthermore, if Parker was not just speaking crazy talk, and really tried to pursue this then it would be criminal intent. Making threats to get sex is not a small matter. Just planning to make threats to get sex is a big issue.
I doubt we are really that far apart on this. I think most of the disagreement is driven by perspective.
July 8th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
I wasn’t going to reply any more, since it seems quite evident that you don’t get the point that I’m trying to make. However:
“I think it’s practically IDENTICAL to the gum comparison. I mean COME ON, Stasia is SUPER RICH, flies around in private jets, and that’s AFTER giving 97% of her money to charity! It’s not like it matters if her image MIGHT be slightly hurt by not staying with Guy forever. Even if her career WAS killed, who gives a crap? She’s still a millionaire! It’s IMPOSSIBLE for breaking up with this stranger to kill or even hurt her career, really, but EVEN if it did kill it, she’d still be totally set for LIFE.”
In your analogy, the withholding of the gum lacks any kind of capacity to actually harm the boy. Unless he suffers from some kind of mental disorder (in which case, by the way, the girl WOULD be liable to find herself in trouble for sexual abuse), he would realise that there are many other ways for him to obtain the gum, and that really, he isn’t going to be hurt if the girl withholds it from him.
What Parker is suggesting is something entirely different. She wants Guy to threaten Stasia’s reputation and her career - things Stasia does not consider could be maintained through any means other than staying married to Guy. It doesn’t matter how rich Stasia is, or whether her life could still be good in the absence of her career - the fact is that her career and her reputation are important to her (just look at the way she reacts to Bernie). Who gives a crap if her career were killed? I dare say SHE would give a crap - the same way Mel Gibson would have given a crap if his career had ended with his anti-Semitic outbursts last year.
July 8th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I like most of what Carny posted. You’re good at explaining. I know I’m not.
I was comparing the gum and work promotion things with each other, not the comic. Object of value, trade of sex for object of value. Same thing, even though the object in each case is less or more valuable. The desire for the object in question depends on the person and, sometimes, his or her mental capacity.
I was contrasting the gum with the comic. “It’s a very similar scenario here, in terms of how compelled Stasia would be to actually agree to these demands.” Yes, agreed. But that’s about all that I agree with.
July 8th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
“I’m sorry you don’t feel that we have a right to differ in opinions on this. I wasn’t trying to argue or tell you how to do your story. It’s your story, I’m not going to try to change it. I was just explaining why I lost respect for Parker since you seemed surprised that anyone reacted negatively to it.”
You obviously haven’t read my posts. I’ve said very clearly that it’s perfectly fine and normal for someone to lose respect for Parker after this, but I’ve also said that it’s nowhere NEAR rape and that it’s crazy to call it rape or even attempted rape.
“What Parker is suggesting is something entirely different. She wants Guy to threaten Stasia’s reputation and her career - things Stasia does not consider could be maintained through any means other than staying married to Guy.”
Whazahuh??? Um, you haven’t read my posts or the comic apparently. Did you see the part where Janny said that the smart thing to do is end it with Guy right away? Stasia can and does think that she has tons of other good options than staying with Guy forever — she simply suggested the idea of staying with him forever in a moment of insanity. Anyway, once again, it’s exactly like the gum scenario.
“It doesn’t matter how rich Stasia is, or whether her life could still be good in the absence of her career - the fact is that her career and her reputation are important to her (just look at the way she reacts to Bernie). Who gives a crap if her career were killed? I dare say SHE would give a crap - the same way Mel Gibson would have given a crap if his career had ended with his anti-Semitic outbursts last year.”
How many times do I have to explain that there’s no chance in hell that Stasia could possibly think that her career could be killed or even badly hurt at all if she ended it with Guy? Once again, for at least the fifth time now, the only reason I explained that it wouldn’t matter if her career ended is in comparison to allowing herself to be RAPED over it — she’s a damn millionaire already. It’s not like she needs it THAT BAD in order to allow herself to be “raped” over it, that is all! Obviously she cares about her damn career! Jeez! It’s not very hard to understand this, people, wow.
July 8th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Well, for one thing, I nearly died of laughter on this page. My mom started staring at me like I was going to have a seizure. And secondly, those who say that they think less of Parker, I mean come ON! Who hasn’t wanted to scream at the top of their lungs “I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES!!!!” or the male equivalent to their favorite singer in concert? And the perfect chance arose!!! I can’t say I blame her. It was damn funny!
July 8th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Wow.
I think it’s rather interesting that people have gone into a frenzy over something that is intentionally ridiculous. Do they realize they sound as crazy as Parker while actually trying to be serious? I understand rape is a very weighty issue, but not when a fictional comic is put in the wrong context by people who are easily offended. I can respect people’s opinions about losing respect for her, but the rape issue is over the top.
Ah well, I guess the most I can say is: Bobby, you’ve done a magnificent job with the writing of the comic, and Eisu, you do brilliant artwork.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I think this is more of a case of people talking past each other than a heated debate or frenzy. I don’t think I saw anyone tell Bobby what he did was wrong, but more along the lines that we perceived Parker as doing something inappropriate and our reasons we saw it that way. For instance, I think I made a pretty good case for Parker asking Guy to force sex with Stasia. All I’m told is that I’m crazy for thinking anything along those lines. It is not clear, in at least this page of the comic that there is no seriousness in what Parker was asking, but even if she is not serious about it at all, that means she is still flippantly suggesting rape for shock value. I personally find that sort of humor to be tasteless, but that is just one opinion out of many. Please understand that I am not offended and I still enjoy this comic overall, I just saw a side of a character that I didn’t like.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:09 am
” . . . but even if she is not serious about it at all, that means she is still flippantly suggesting rape for shock value.”
It’s completely insane to call it rape. Makes no sense on any level.
July 9th, 2007 at 2:24 am
“I don’t know how many times I’m going to be forced to say this, but there’s no way in hell Parker actually thinks she has significant leverage under any circumstance to make Stasia do this. I’ve said this like 20 times and it should be obvious by now. I’ve explained it in massive detail. I’ve said that Paker more than anyone else even knows that Stasia wouldn’t be stupid enough to think she’d have to do this.”
Yes, it is not significant leverage, but it still is leverage. If Parker knows that Stasia would never do it, then she shouldn’t have suggested it to Guy. If she risked going past Denny, to interrupt Guy conversation with Stasia just to see what type of reaction she could get out of him, then she is just a big jerk. Maybe there is another reason to why Parker would do this that I have thought of.
“It’s completely insane to call it rape. Makes no sense on any level.”
Yes, bobby, you’ve said asserted that before, but you have not shown me where my logic is wrong. To reiterate, Stasia would currently rather be in a relationship with Guy than to end it with him, so the relationship has something of value to her. If Guy threatened Stasia that she would lose something of value to her if she did not have sex with him, then he would be attempting to rape her, regardless of how valuable the thing she would lose is to her. A wise rapist would try to pick to threaten something that their victim valued highly, such as their life. Poorly choosing something that the victim does not value highly lowers the potency of the threat, but at no point does in no longer become a threat as long as the victim values it. So Guy saying that he would withdraw his relationship if she does not do something would be an attempt to threaten her if the relationship has something of value to her, and since it does, the threat is actualized. Since that something is sex, it is an attempt at rape. Since Stasia does not value the relationship highly, it is still a poor attempt at rape, but still nonetheless an attempt at rape. Therefore, Parker suggesting that Guy do this is suggesting an attempt at rape. Whether or not Parker is serious about the suggestion or thinks it would never work does not change what she is suggesting to Guy to do. As you said, Parker is not serious about it, so it looks to me like she is suggesting to Guy that they use their leverage to rape Stasia in order to get the WTF reaction she got from Guy. I’m all for yanking a friend’s chain, but I believe there are limits and what Parker did crossed that line, so I lost some respect for her.
I may be a little tired, but I think the logic flows, and it does make some sense me. I’m hoping at the very minimum you can see where I’m coming from and just disagree with me. It would be even better if you could tell me why and where you disagreed with me.
July 9th, 2007 at 2:29 am
damn dude just drop it
July 9th, 2007 at 2:55 am
“As you said, Parker is not serious about it, so it looks to me like she is suggesting to Guy that they use their leverage to rape Stasia in order to get the WTF reaction she got from Guy.”
LOL! Just laughing up a storm over here. Anyway, more madness. So crazy.
“It would be even better if you could tell me why and where you disagreed with me.”
Um, what? I’ve said why somewhere around a TRILLION times so far, in massive detail.
July 9th, 2007 at 5:58 am
“I dont see why Parkers ’suggestion’ surprises anyone. at least 90 percent of a homosexual relationship is sexual, and the ‘love’ for someone of the same sex is usually sexual in nature.”
Okay, this is actually not on the topic of the comic at all; but it wound me up, so I have to say something.
You, sir, are an idiot. Instinct drives us to sleep with a member of the OPPOSITE sex to continue the species (although I am in no way saying that that is all their is to a heterosexual relationship.) Where’s the instinctive drive to sleep with a member of the same sex? Oh wait- there’s none. Therefore, homosexual relationships are often driven NOT by sexual urges, but often by emotions. Okay. My thoughts there. Moving on.
“Example: “Hey stasia, so how about for our honeymoon we have it a threesome with parker. It might be fun.”
Not: “Oh you don’t wanna sleep with me and parker, fine then I’m gonna break up with you so your career will be over. HAHAAHAHAH.” ”
I think that pretty much sums it up. Parker isn’t asking him to threaten Stasia in any way- not that it would work, but we’ll ignore that for a moment and focus on the conversation here.
I think what Parker is trying to say is that Stasia may actually listen to Guy’s suggestion; whereas if Parker suggested it it would never even be considered.
Okay. And relax.
July 9th, 2007 at 6:52 am
Anybody ever notice that the further down you scroll, the bigger the comments get?
This place needs a forum…… really bad
July 9th, 2007 at 7:32 am
Ok, liked the strip, commented, it was funny, but man… discussion (!)
My biggest problem with this debate is B.C.’s overuse of the word *insane*. Which makes him sound less reasonable than everyone except the guy who said homosexual relationships are 90% sex-based. This in spite of the actual merits of B.C.’s arguments. Basically, I think you’re doing youself a disservice, B.C.
But to take it further, I think the confusion here - or the impasse - where we’re talking a crossed purposes, and why B.C. seems to find other people’s arguments ‘insane’ is that 1) Parker doesn’t *really* intend to blackmail Stasia into sex, 2) Guy would never go along, 3) They don’t really have any leverage, and 4) even if they did, Stasia would never go along with it, making such an act impossible from several angles.
The problem with this is, *if* Parker had leverage (a sex tape, proof of tax fraud, etc) and *if* she really wielded it in an attempt to coerce Stasia into sex, then (even if she failed) it would be attempted rape. It would be foolish to agree to have sex with someone who was trying to control you, but just because you agree doesn’t make it not a crime. Does that make sense?
To use the gum scenario -
A girl offers a guy some gum but demands sex in return. Guy = dumb, or Guy = has sex & some gum. (yay!)
but
A girl offers a guy some gum but demands sex in return. For some reason, guy needs gum in the next minute or he will DIE. (glands?) Guy has no other way to acquire gum. Guy does not want to have sex with girl. Guy = dies, or Guy = has unwanted sex & lives. At this point the lawyers would have to make arguments as to whether this is a case of rape or prostitution.
The classic concept of rape is man physically forces himself on woman, or offers the ultimatum - acquiesce to sex or be hurt/killed.
So, you can make it an agreement, or a deal - sex in return for life.
Now replace “life” with “gum” and it sounds dumb, but the equation is the same.
Replace it with “I’ll ruin you” or “I’ll kidnap your kid” or something and it’s not so silly.
Anyway, this is all going nowhere, I’m rambling
It’s not that I think Parker would actually go through with any sort of blackmail or coersion, far from it - I think on her part it’s the equivalent of a joke in bad taste - she’s not joking, per se, but she’s not serious - she’s desperate and presented with a (seeming) opportunity she would never expected, and maybe she’s hoping there’s a chance Guy & Stasia would agree willingly, or else she’s just getting her feelings off her chest.
But to say that blackmail, even predicated on bogus pretenses, and failed, and utterly ridiculous, would be ‘insane’ to be equated with rape is taking it too far.
Off the mark, maybe. Debatable, sure. But ‘insane?’ Come on. If you take that position, you’re saying anyone who gives in to blackmail is a willing participant in their situation - whether they give money or sex, whatever. Yes, they agree - under duress - and maybe that’s not advisable, or smart, but there’s still a crime being committed, even if they ‘allow’ themselves to be victimised.
I could probably edit that mess into a coherent thought but I haven’t the time, sorry.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:33 am
…Whoa… well as much as I’d like to believe what she said surprised me but…. with Parker… ya… poor guy having to hear this… awkward…
July 9th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Let’s just all get some puppy dogs and go to a park, where there’s like TONS of benches for everyone to sit down on.
July 9th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
We have pepsis and yoohoos, Captain. Anything else you’re gonna have to get for yourself. XD
And wow, Jade. *High-fives* You’re my hero. Lessthanthree goes here.
Particle Man: Seems that way, doesn’t it? XD
Dylan: XD!! *High-fives* Awesome idea, man!
July 9th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
“My biggest problem with this debate is B.C.’s overuse of the word *insane*.”
Just to warn you, I will no longer be allowing insanely stupid posts like these where people waste all our time by complaining about the way I say things instead of simply talking about the comic or about what I’m actually saying. So annoying.
“Which makes him sound less reasonable than everyone except the guy who said homosexual relationships are 90% sex-based.”
I don’t give a crap if it makes me sound less reasonable to morons who think Parker is raping Stasia, and don’t compare me to that idiot. I’ll use “insane” as much as I want and the rest of your comment was just repeating the same wrong crap that others have said over and over again already. I’ve already explained in detail how you’re wrong. You can’t understand it and you think my points are somehow hurt by my use of the word “insane.” Also, if anyone responds to this comment in a complaining manner, disliking that I called certain people “morons,” for example, they’ll be banned from the comments.
July 9th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
freakin hilarious!lol
July 9th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
insane?ahahaha!
July 9th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I’ll just assume I failed to make myself understood.
In my mind, I was more supportive than not of B.C.’s position, and only had issue with the way he was approaching it.
Keep up the good work on this comic, guys, because I’ve been enjoying it.
Enjoy your comments.
July 9th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
“We have pepsis and yoohoos, Captain. Anything else you’re gonna have to get for yourself. XD”
I say we start a BBQ.
“Me wants beer, Hurgle.”
July 9th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Pepsi, cool
Yoohoo, barffff I hate yoohoo.
That’s fine I’ll bring some fried chicken and a salad. Might as well make it a picnic.
Chicken for u meat eaters and salad for the non-meat eaters.
So thanks jade for understanding what I said.
And I thinks its cool to have ur opinion on things but some of u people are takin it too far. I mean come on if ur gonna say she wants to rape stasia and the creator himself tells you no she’s not then I think u should listen to him and leave it at that.
July 9th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
*Ignoring the (kind of mean) posts that the arguing people wrote*
Andy-o: Only if we can have chicken at the BBQ. I’m Kentuckian, it’s a requirement. XD
Captain: *GASP* You don’t like yoohoo?! Omigosh. o_o;; But oh well, you like pepsi, so I’ll let it slide. XD And you’re bringing the chicken?! YESSSS!! You’re like, one of my favorite bench-buddies ever. XD
July 9th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
I just wanted to throw this out there.
A lil info on me. (Kinda)
(Figured we should talk about somethin different.)
I read this comic on my phone. I have a sidekick 2 with the internet. The screens about 3 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches.
So its a little strain on the eyes. But that’s what I get for not havin the internet at home.
Oh and in my proffession I have to deal with a lot of crackheads. I swear, its pretty random and sometimes creepy.
Anyway,
Thanks valerie for being ur best bench buddy.
I think were gonna need some music. I can bring some alice in chains.
July 9th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Obviously we are not going to agree or come to any understanding, so I’m just gonna shutup on the whole rape/blackmail issue.
I must say though that I’m quite confused by the vehemence coming from you Bobby.
I’ve seen other people on other issues be quite insulting to you personally and you just shrug it off.
Now alot of people feel strongly about this issue- issues that deal with sex and “blackmail” usually bring strong emotions from people. I haven’t read all the comments, but most of the ones I have seem to have directed their angry feelings at Parker… not at you.
As for my comments, I thought I had been trying to engage in a friendly debate. I simply presented my viewpoints and tried to explain why I disagreed with yours, while recognizing why you see it the way you do.
So I am very confused as to why you are taking this so personally.
Understand, I’m just trying to point this out in the hopes that we can all back away from this and just let things cool off. I don’t think this debate is that big a deal.
July 9th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
“You don’t like yoohoo?!”
What’s that? Is it alcohol in it? xD
And on a lighter note: Bobby, Eisu, keep up the good work.
July 9th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Carny, your comment doesn’t really make any sense and is just a total waste of time, just complaining about the way I say stuff instead of actually debating the merits of anything.
“Understand, I’m just trying to point this out in the hopes that we can all back away from this and just let things cool off.”
How in the world would whining about me taking things too personally get us to back away from this and let things cool off??? I take nothing personally and I’m getting sick and tired of people assuming wrong shit about me and trying to read my mind. I simply am very annoyed by people who continue to repeat the same wrong stupid crap about how Parker is RAPING STASIA — just total NONSENSE, and then they ignore everything I actually say except for the parts where I call people “insane” — they jump on that and say my points are meaningless because I called an insanely stupid person insanely stupid. Anyway, many bannings will happen shortly if this total nonsense persists.
July 9th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Andy-o, there’s no alcohol in a yoohoo.
Its a chocolate drink. But I don’t like how it tastes. I think it tastes like half cup of chocolate milk mixed with half cup of water.
And don’t ask me what I think of the mocha yoohoo. YUUUUCKK.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Captain: Ahhh, yes, music! We will ROCK OUT on this bench!! XD And wow, crackheads. o0 What are you, a drug-dealer? XD
Andy-o: What? Noooo!! It’s a chocolate drink. XD
Bobby sir: I didn’t really get whining out of Carny’s post… It seemed to me like he/she was just trying to reasonably explain things. You can’t really get the tone of someone’s voice with text.
Captain again: Oh, ew, mocha yoohoo is gross, I agree with that.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
*Pulls up a picnic table close to the bench*
Anyone want some steak? I marinated it myself. Also brought some rice for anyone who wants it to go with their meat.
*Sets down a platter of cookies*
Snickerdoodles for anyone who just wants a snack.
*Sits down at the picnic table*
July 9th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Valerie: you know what I went back and read my post and thought, “man there gonna think I’m a drug dealer.” Hahaha.
No valerie I am not a “street pharmacist” I own a mini-mart in sacramento. I’m near a bus station so I get to see all kinds crazy $#!%.
Not even 5 min ago I had some crazy guy just tell me he was gonna kill me. I don’t take most of that crap seriously though so its not really a big deal.
Its when they start makin a mess that really bothers me.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Arigatou Kalikajira, should be quite tasty. Back to the comic/comments, I am not sure what makes me laugh harder, Parker’s case of temporary insanity coupled with rabid fangirlitis, or the posts that are screaming “RAPE!” every chance they get.
I think I speak for several people here when I state that you would have to be, as Bobby has stated, insane to think that Parker believes that she has a chance of this idea going through. She knows Stasia quite well, she also knows Guy better than anybody present. Do you honestly think that she is seriously thinking that this could work? If so, I have to tack on another entry to my list of things that make humans stupid. It is my guess that she was probably just tossing the idea out there, either as a joke, or to get Guy to lighten up a touch.
Finally, I have to say, love the comic, and Guy’s jaw drop is just perfect. Bobby, Eisu, both of you are doing an admirable job on this comic, and I would bet money that this idea will be a phenomenal success. Now to wait for the next page ^_^
July 10th, 2007 at 2:16 am
“LOL! Just laughing up a storm over here. Anyway, more madness. So crazy.”
I glad that you found amusement in what I had to say. *rolls eyes* I think you are a talented comic writer, but I am disappointed your inability to at least see things from my perspective that I have tried to lay out as clearly as possible. I think both the people who say it was nothing and the people who say Parker was suggesting attempting rape have reasonable positions. It is not clear exactly why Parker said that such as if it was just fan girl nuttiness, but if you take a step back and think about what she just said, the implications of it are inappropriate whether she was serious or not.
Looking at this situation it is obvious we are talking past each other. You have refused to acknowledge my position and claimed that I am crazy despite the fact that you have not addressed my logic. You have brought up objections to my position that are irrelevant, repeated those objections, which are still irrelevant, and then claimed that that has somehow addressed my position a trillion times in massive detail.
I have said quite a few times less than a trillion *rolls eyes* that objections along the lines of whether Parker is seriously considering rape are irrelevant because they do not change what she suggested, only what she meant. What she suggested is that they use leverage to try to force Stasia to have sex with them, which I call rape. Please take this moment to laugh heartily and roll around on the floor a few times. *rolls eyes* You can call is something else if you’d like – it’s still not pretty. This next part seems to fly over your head too…it does not matter what leverage or how compelled Stasia feels to bend to it as long as it is leverage. Since Stasia would currently rather stay with Guy than break up and she would be forced to break up with him if Guy pressed it, it is indeed leverage. For example, attempting to pry open a safe with a pencil would never work and would be incredibly stupid to do, but it doesn’t change the fact that it would be using leverage to attempt to force open a safe that would never give.
What Parker meant by what she suggested can be something completely different. You have insisted that she was not serious at all, so the only other conclusion I can come up with is that she just meant it to be a big joke on Guy. Given what she did to get past Denny and that she interrupted Guy and Stasia, who really need some time alone, just to play a joke on Guy that involves forcing his new wife to have sex with them, I’m surprised more people haven’t lost respect for her. You might have a different thing she meant by it in mind, but I doubt it is anything that will be much of an improvement. I’ll admit that Guy’s reaction to the “it won’t be awkward at all” line was amusing, but I Parker went way too far to get there.
July 10th, 2007 at 2:48 am
More total nonsense from Soyeong. Once again, I’ve responded to that a trillion times. You’ve failed to read or comprehend it. *rolls eyes, you’re banned*
July 10th, 2007 at 3:01 am
Soyeong did u not read what bobby said?
I mean seriously do u need to keep talkin about it?
Just drop it.
Or u can just not comment that would be cool too.
Anyway people its getting old.
Just enjoy it
July 10th, 2007 at 3:36 am
Is there anything Parker won’t stoop to?
July 10th, 2007 at 3:52 am
“Is there anything Parker won’t stoop to?”
Yeah, she’d never stoop to rape.
July 10th, 2007 at 5:23 am
LMAO a three some i wont even look at you it wont be okward at all that is pretty okward just reading that
July 10th, 2007 at 5:38 am
What is going on…..did no one read the word ‘ALLOW’ when parker was asking guy, that means consent….not rape. And really….Bobby knows his characters, why are people arguing?
July 10th, 2007 at 5:44 am
“And wow, Jade. *High-fives* You’re my hero. Lessthanthree goes here.”
Ehehe, thanks. I’m not sure if it was my comment on homosexuality or on the comic’s controversy; but either way, I’m not complaining. ^_~
Can we have some nice steak at the barbeque everyone seems to be arranging? And ale. Proper, fine English ale. I’ll bring that.
Back on topic, I think people are getting far too stressed over this. I mean… It’s one thing to discuss, or even debate; but it seems some of these comments are beyond that. O_o;; Thus, I also sit on a bench, and will respond if anything catches my eye.
Although I’m bringing my rabbits. Bunnies on leads? Rocks. Just no stickin’ them on the barbeque, y’hear?
July 10th, 2007 at 6:11 am
First, I love the expression on Guys face. I see a three panel spread with Parker staring at him desperately, and Guy standing there in total shock, followed by Guy glaring at Parker and saying something like “Get some sleep” and walking off, followed by strict instructions to Denny not to be disturbed by her again and a door slam in her face. This is not an attempt to write your comic, really! Why mess with perfection? It is just, how so I best say this, what I am expecting? My thought is that to save Parkers feelings, Guy would give her time to cool off, and possibly yell at her in the morning. FYI these comments should not be taken as a suggestion, I wouldn’t dare try to write your script for you. It is just a bad habit of fans to try to add to something that they like so much, see how many people write versions of Sherlock Holmes, and you will see what I mean.
July 10th, 2007 at 6:34 am
Hey this is the first time I have commented on the comic and I’m absolutely loving it! Great storyline by Bobby and artwork by Eisu. I think Parker is great, absoulutely mad! But where on earth did people get that she wanted to blackmail and rape Stasia? She doesn’t say anything of the sort! She was just suggesting that Guy asks Stasia about having a threesome and he was the one that mentioned blackmail, not Parker. And Parker didn’t mean it as blackmail, she probably knew the idea wouldn’t work and just wanted to see Guy’s reaction. Which btw was very funny
lol not a happy buni is he?
And where did the whole rape thing come from anyway? Again nothing of the sort was said. People always jump to the wrong conclusions these days…
Anyhoo now that I have said what I wanted to say i am going to got sit on the bench with the others. It should be fun waching everyone else go bananas arguing over something that isn’t true XD lol
You have a full blown picnic over here don’t you? lol much better idea that ranting and raving about something that is complete twoddle
can I have a pepsi?
July 10th, 2007 at 8:27 am
What about in a stew? Rabbit stew is very tasty. And how do you like your steak cooked?
*Hands Jade a pint*
July 10th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Wow, I am impressed.
So many people can make a fuss because of something redundant as this comic strip. If you would use your time and energy in doing something… more productive, the world we know today would be something more wonderful place to live on.
I guess, too many people are enjoying the anonymity of the world wide web and do use it for wreaking havoc.
Dear fellow readers,
If you think this is already “rape” and you are trying to show us the moral aspects of this comic strip, why don’t you spread your word far and wide about the destruction of our planet? Why don’t starting a petition against the poverty for the less developed countries in the world?
What this has to do with the topic? Nothing. Like this whole crying about “rape” and “hatred against Parker” has to do with the evil in the world.
Its a quite harmless comic strip. And to be honest… anyone could have seen this coming. I have always seen Parker as more then a…”dedicated fan” and didn’t really expect less.
Bobby Crosby didn’t wrote this story on purpose to make people angry or to show them what anyone should do if he is married to a super star. I have read the comic and I was laughing. And I believe this was the true purpose behind it.
Waste your energies on other things. Cultivate yourself, help others, but pissing people of with such an over - reaction… its pretty sad.
Yes, I am not very proficient with the English language, bite me.
Bobby, Eisu…
Please, forget it and try to ignore them.
I will still go on and read your stories and look on Eisu´s arts with awe.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Just…
… what…
… the…
… hell?
Seriously, I had more faith in the human world and now I don’t know what to think. THIS kind of behavior is precisely why I steer clear from forums and similar environments around the Internet. It’s either someone making it a personal crusade to feel “King/Queen of the Internet” and, on another example, albeit more specific, people failing to see what the author has explained three thousand times and embracing their theory as unique and without error.
How many times, readers, have you said under a lot of stress or disappointment: “I’m gonna KILL this guy!” — “Fuck you!” — “I’m going to pound you in the ass with a bat and a barbed wire!”? Okay, maybe the last one is quite unique for me… but, as I see it, a lot of people say things when they’re stressed and that they would never, ever perform. (like realizing your crush, your passion and your reason to go fan-crazy is married to your best friend instead of yourself, WITH your own sign that YOU made and that COULD HAVE gotten you something — alas, the fact is Stasia isn’t for that but anyway, you know what I mean).
Alas, I read it again and I don’t see why the hell everyone went nuts about something like this. As far as I see it, “Moral Crusaders” are the only ones who would go crazy over this instead of enjoying the comic for what it’s supposed to do: entertain.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:34 am
“Andy-o: What? Noooo!! It’s a chocolate drink. XD”
Tsk tsk tsk… We don’t drink that…. stuff here in Norway (at least I don’t know anyone that does) xD
So… Who’s going to argue with me if I bring Heavy Metal? xD
July 10th, 2007 at 10:51 am
(Listening to “rain when I die” by alice in chains.)
Heavy metal is cool.
I listen to all kinds of metal/rock music.
Except black metal.
I think all music is cool bring what ya like.
(Metaphorical benches/picnics/bbq are cool.)
July 10th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Kalikajira: Yaaayyy, picnic! XD
Captain: H’oh jeez. o0 I’d be scared to death if someone said they were gonna kill me. ._. What, was he trying to rob you or something?
“Ehehe, thanks. I’m not sure if it was my comment on homosexuality or on the comic’s controversy; but either way, I’m not complaining. ^_~”
Mostly the homosexuality thing. XD
“Thus, I also sit on a bench, and will respond if anything catches my eye.”
Yay! Welcome to the bench!
“Although I’m bringing my rabbits. Bunnies on leads? Rocks. Just no stickin’ them on the barbeque, y’hear?”
BUNNIES!! Awwww~ ♥
Andy-o: Awww, my friend in Canada says that they don’t have it there, either… Yoohoo’s one of the best perks of living in the US, I suppose. XD And nah, I won’t argue too much, I guess. I’m fairly eclectic (is that the word?) in music. As long as it isn’t country. >_O
July 10th, 2007 at 10:56 am
“(Metaphorical benches/picnics/bbq are cool.)”
Heck yes they are. XD
July 10th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Yeah, I actually snorked a little at this one. Guy’s facial expression is PRICELESS. Although it seems to me that Stasia might be into that sorta thing…I mean, she did just marry a complete stranger because she felt like doing something weird, right? Maybe that’s just me and my twisted logic. But I can’t WAIT to see the next update!
July 10th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
What? No don’t put the poor likkle bunnies in the stew! Evil person!
Yoohoo? Strange name for a drink that… what’s it like? We don’t have them in England so i wouldn’t know.
Anyhoo howsabout some Lordi for the music? lol
btw, how much food for vegetarians is there?
….Just out of interest how did we get from talking about the comic to sitting on a bench and then to a picnic? O.o
confuzzled much! lol
July 10th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
First off: Enough is Enough….the whole rape argument is inane.
Valerie, Where in Kentucky? Ever hear of Irvine? Can I join the BBQ? I’ll bring some good old fashioned NYS salt potatoes!
Love the comic Bobby and Eisu…adore the comic.
July 10th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
(Put in some pantera’s 5 min alone for andy-o)
Valerie, no he didn’t try to rob me. I’ve never been robbed (knock on wood).
Just some drunk homeless guy.
I get to see a lot of crazy stuff around here.
Hmm lets see…. One time I helped a guy who fell and started having a siezure. I was luck my brothers were there cause they helped kick everyone out and call 911 while I made sure the guy didn’t bite his tounge off, or hit his head on the coke machine.
Just the other day some crazy guy tried to rush me so I grabbed him by his jacket and threw him out. (I made sure he hit a couple walls and a door before he got outside.)
but anyway I could write a book with all the stuff that’s happend to me.
July 10th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Of course you can join the BBQ/Bench! It’s open to everyone wishing to get away from arguments. XD
(Louisville, by the way.)
July 10th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Oh, wow, Captain. ._. Maybe you should move. It sounds kind of unsafe in your neighborhood.
July 10th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
*LOL*
Guy’s face in last panel is PRICELESS!!!
July 10th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
“And nah, I won’t argue too much, I guess. I’m fairly eclectic (is that the word?) in music. As long as it isn’t country. >_O”
I’m no country person myself, but Johnny Cash is the one exception xD
“(Put in some pantera’s 5 min alone for andy-o)”
Thank ye! Have a beer.
July 10th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Valerie,
I don’t live in the same area of my store. I have to drive for 20 min before I get there.
But I work 10hrs a day 7 days a week so I guess I do live there.
But really its not too bad. That kind of stuff doesn’t always happen. Most of the time its nice and quite.
Andy-o thanks for the beer. Hey ur from norway right? So do u listen to black metal? I don’t really care for it.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
“Andy-o thanks for the beer. Hey ur from norway right? So do u listen to black metal? I don’t really care for it.”
Yeah, I’m from Norway. I don’t listen to black metal though.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Wow, so much controversy over a fictional comic, over something that was even pointed out wasn’t going to happen. o.O Maybe your time could be spent doing something else rather than arguing over possible rape or not which Bobby even pointed out that there would be no threesome? It wouldn’t surprise me if all the arguing tempted Bobby to actually put the threesome in.
Honestly, this is a good comic, and every strip is usually entertaining in some way, shape, or form. Parker pretty much contributed to at least half of that entertainment. Please keep up the good work! :]
July 10th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I was never serious about the bunnies. I just like yanking people’s chains sometimes. Would you like a salad, a stir fry, or something else (All vegetarian)? Are you vegan? If so, I can cut out all animal products. Anywho, your rabbits are safe.
*Sets out a pitcher of cold lemonade*
For anyone who is too young/doesn’t drink.
July 10th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Captain, maybe you should get a different job… but eh, that’s just me.
And yay for not eating bunnies! …I can play with them though, right? XD
July 11th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Pk, I admit this whole “rape/blackmail/disrespecting Parker thing has given me a case of deja vu regarding some posts made a few comics ago that Bobby actually went back and deleted because they were so pointless. ANYways, I don’t think Parker is really truly willing to blackmail Stasia, she’s really just pointing out Guy’s current power and hoping that he’ll be willing to help out his “best friend” fulfill a freaky fangirl dream. Although all the fans who visist the forum where Parker made her 20,000th post probably already thi8nk that she got in Stasia’s pants because Parker neglected to mention that she was /wearing/ Stasia’s pants, not necessarily “in” them as the modern connotation insinuates. Overall, very interested in seeing where this goes…
July 11th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
“Although all the fans who visist the forum where Parker made her 20,000th post probably already thi8nk that she got in Stasia’s pants because Parker neglected to mention that she was /wearing/ Stasia’s pants, not necessarily ‘in’ them as the modern connotation insinuates.”
I’m sure that zero of them think that.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Well… This comic is officially not-very-safe-for-children (I’m not saying anything IS going to happen, but the mention of threesomes… Is very unchild-friendly. :o)…
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Guys expression in the last panel == classic
April 25th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Heh…Guy with his 2nd (or 3rd) “WTF” moment so far…and the night is still young.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
‘I wouldn’t even look at you’
‘it wont be awkward at all’
the fact that is totally logical to Parker is what makes her so endearing