BJ, or Boyd Johnson, thinks himself the ladies man. He couldn't be more wrong, but that doesn't stop him from trying to woo the fairer sex when he can.
Red was a boy until a new genie tried to get Melvin a girlfriend. That's when the genie turned Red into a girl so Melvin could practice talking to girls, and forgot to turn her back before disappearing. Red is hopeful that her situation is only temporary.
Imagine how it is for us, working several strips ahead of what you’re seeing. I love and appreciate all of the comments! This truely has been fun bringing the further adventures of Melvin and the gang to the fans of Jeanie bottle. 😀
I’ve been an anime fan for years. My biggest influence has to be Fred Perry from Antarctic press. I also work in an animated series style. (Warner bros. Batman and superman)
And to Be nerdy. it was a left. Remember from our perspective left and right is reverse.. So she cleaned his clock with a left hook. Which I’m not sure if that’s more or less impressive or not..
“BJ was being a misogynistic pig. He deserved that black eye. ”
Only true if we accept that it works both ways: call him a misogynistic pig, he gets to punch you in the eye.
I’m willing to cut Red some slack right now, because she’s been forced to act against her will.
However, it seems from how these kids were introduced in Jeanie that they are on the cusp of adolescence, and her physical ability to dominate the boys is ephemeral.
I really dislike when that word is used wrong. BJ loves women even if he see them as a sex partner first, there is no indication he hates or distrusts them. As for getting punched in the face violence is not the answer to some one being a insensitive jerk.
Like Jeanie, he just turned into a girl and is just starting down that trail. He only been a girl for maybe a week or so and against his will too. At that age, someone call you a sissy, them there were fighting words. Red hasn’t come to terms with her new identity. She has a tendency to hit first and ask question later, which is a bad policy and can have some blow back on it too.
Because, she kind of like Jeanie here, act first and suffer the consequences later. Which may or may not change later in the series as we move along in it.
Not a pig, a teenage male. Kinda raw, like most boys his age. Coming to grips with a whole new set of anatomical parts and emotions that bears about as much resemblance to what he grew up with as pop gun bears to a 1911.
And on top of that, one his nerdy best friends is now a hot dame. What, he’s supposed to not notice? Cut him some slack.
So, BJ hauling off and cracking Red a shiner would be just good fun? Or does this only work one way?
As I said in a comment elsewhere here, I don’t see how him being a teenage male justifies being crude. I was never that way as a teenager, and still am not as an early-twenties male. Even just in conversations with other guys, I refuse to ever call a girl “hot” or anything like that. Cute maybe, but even that is rare. This may be a personal thing, but I just find it disrespectful to comment on a girls’ looks in that way.
I’m non-discriminatory. If somebody deserves it, then I don’t care who hits who. 😛 Almost seems kind of sexist to me, the whole “don’t hit girls” thing. If they are on approximately equal footing… it shouldn’t matter. But then again, here’s where I’m very different from the norm. I’m a lot more tolerant of violence in general.
He wasn’t being misogynistic. You feminazis, you don’t even know what misogyny is because you have never even encountered it in your whole entitled little petty lives, because you are so entrenched in the opposite (aka female privilege) on a daily basis that when men don’t adhere to your ridiculous double standards and do for you what you would raise an unholy fuss over if you were ever to be expected to adhere to yourself, you call them misogynists. You think a misogynist is any male who shows any sign of sexuality towards females? Or someone who says anything negative to a female, for any reason? Because surely there’s no possible motivation beyond targeting her because she’s a woman, you just presume men just treat each other like royalty amongst themselves and are never a-holes to each other. Well let me tell you something. You certainly don’t apply the same standard the other way around, you call it empowering for women to be BOSSY (though you hate the word), to be confrontational, or to show sexual inclinations. Because you’re nothing but a swamp of double standards and misandry. You want to know what a misogynist is Santiago? A man who detests females. Who doesn’t TALK to them unless he has to, who would NEVER make FRIENDS with them (though he may interact with them and pretend to be their friend if they’re useful to him, as tools), and who probably doesn’t make any sexual advances toward them. Who doesn’t help them if they’re in trouble, who derives satisfaction from their suffering. Who sees and treats women the way feminists see and treat men. Does that sound like the guy in the comic? They’re complete opposites. Now do you know what misogyny is Santiago? Pity this comment chain is over 2 years old, you’ll never see it.
Their personalities also seem rather different from their appearance in Jeanie. Red’s more violent, melvins more resrtained and BJ is completely different. Very odd.
Then again in that they were side character, not only that Red has had her entire life flipped upside down on her. So this maybe how they always were and not shown well as side characters that were their and gone for an arc.
Also when we last saw them BJ was hitting on a girl, melvin was trying to patch things up with his cush and Red was being shipped off to an all girls school.
Now I can’t wait to see what she picks to wear. This also seems to indicate her parent’s are the ones who put her in the clothes she is currently wearing… Wonder what her room looks like.. Oh gods did they throw out her Ogre mallet items!?!? THE HORROR!
What even worst than that is. If BACH-MANN chooses to continue down the update of Jeanie Bottle, then Red going to have to walk the cat walk modeling new dresses as her part time job, complete with escorts too.
BJ was being an young adolescent male. His eyeballs and his other balls are pretty much hardwired together and the cabling carries considerable juice. Not quite the same thing as being an insensitive jerk. Red needs to be sensitive to that.
I’ll also note that at this age, there seems to be a biological drive for boys to be a little bit mean to girls as a way to express their new found and not well understood attraction to playmate peers who are now…very different.
“I’ll tell me Ma when I get home
The boys won’t leave the girls alone
They pulled my hair and stole my comb.
But that’s alright till I go home.”
Welcome to the wonderful world of human nature. And it is wonderful, and necessary.
Red gets one free sucker punch to make her point, and given the awful way her parents have treated her. But if she wants Melvin and BJ on her side, she needs to respect them, too.
That said, look up Norman Rockwell’s “The Shiner”, possibly my favorite work of his. This is a girl who clearly gave as good as she got, and is very pleased with the result.
(Also, I just recently realized that the woman in the office is likely Mom, and not the Principal’s secretary or a teacher. Look at her hair. What are the odds she’s remembering herself at that age?)
One more thing about BJ: He’s comparing Red to Red Sonja. A girl, certainly, but a girl who can hold her own in a fight. BJ thinks he’s paying Red a worthy compliment, in terms the Clarence he used to know would have understood.
If BJ had said Red Sonja without the ‘rawr’ or calling her smoking I would agree with your point. But BJ was referring to Red Sonjas figure not her fighting skill.
That’s…too bad. Still didn’t deserve a punch to the face. Consider if the blow had gone the other way over a similar slight. Would you now be defending DJ for having hit a girl?
The fact that Red Sonja can fight doesn’t, in BJ’s opinion, need to be mentioned. That’s assumed. Read the subtext. “You always thought Sonja was hot. You’ve even said ‘RAWR!’ over her more than once! Why are you upset now?”
Look at BJ’s non-plussed expression just before he gets punched. He doesn’t understand why Red’s so angry with him. (and still won’t after he recovers consciousness.)
Red’s allowed to get angry with him. And as I’ve said, I’m cutting her slack because she’s just coming home from girls’ school, and from what she (rightly) considers a humiliating modeling experience.
Still doesn’t excuse outright violence, especially if BJ’s not allowed to hit back. No cutting Red slack if she won’t cut her friends slack, especially since they haven’t had as long to adjust as she has.
Agreed, I’m not saying that she should have resorted to violence as the first means. I’m simply saying as started somewhere, [I forget where] we may be seeing more issues with Red’s gender bodied and male mind.
Then again it maybe more to come of how they may work things out, once Red’s cooled off and BJ relizes the issues with what he said.
And I am not saying BJ would not be allowed to his back. I’m just betting on red winning the fight..
Also as stated they’ve been friends longer then we have known him. Perhaps Red, knowing BJ for all that time knows exactly how BJ ment it. As we only have panels to work by tone of voice is missing. So a bit can be changed from person to person depending on how they read it.
I by no means want to argue, I merely wish to discuss ideas and see ho others view things. So if this seems like I am criticizing you for your views or opinions I apologize. You seem very insightful 50srefugee.
@Sol: Not to worry. It’s not really argument, it exploration and debate. I want my views to be criticized, to sharpen them and keep them from getting flabby. Just good exercise, is all.
@50srefugee: I am glad then. I agree and happily explore and debate ideas with you. You have very curious and good insight i often had with comics like this.
I kind of disagree with you 50srefugee. I’m 21 now and at no point in my life have I ever acted like BJ did here. Admittedly I was homeschooled so I didn’t have access to non-related girls during my adolescent years, but even then I refused to even make passing remarks to other people, even to myself, about girls’ looks in that way. And I still don’t. Maybe it’s just that I’m an oddball because of being raised different, but I guess in my opinion it has less to do with being an adolescent male and more to do with culture/parenting/peers that are/is permissive, if not encouraging of that kind of behavior.
I can’t wait to see how red behaves around really buff hot girls. I mean bay is an adult woman and can’t control her emotions around super hunky guys so I’m really curious to see how a TEENAGE girl body effects his young mind when it sees something it really likes. :3
Remember, Red’s just spent weeks, at least, at a girls’ school. She’s been surrounded by girls, some of whom at least were as hot she was. She has likely seen them naked in the gym locker room.
I wouldn’t mind seeing flash backs to that time–and not for the scantily clad girls in the locker room, plenty of comics with that, but to see how Red dealt with them.
And I very much indeed want to see how she and Melvin get along as they become accustomed to Red’s new situation, and as Melvin matures. Could be very interesting.
Agreed flash backs to her dealing with her new life would be interesting. As is the development of the three emotionally and mentally to the new situation. Also kinda curious if their is a possible hormone problem with red. Don’t get me wrong, but male mind female hormones doesn’t seem the best combo, would that affect Red’s way of thinking?
Gee, I sure hope it affects her way of thinking. This is something that bugs me about magical TG stories generally. Either the victim immediately becomes totally girly, or refuses to acknowledge her new state of being. I want to see the adjustment, along with learning to cope with her new role, including social expectations, with a new way of thinking.
Pretending that there is no emotional difference between girls and boys is denying biological reality. Pretending that social norms built around those roles should be rejected is even worse. Won’t happen, and will cause misery to all concerned.
Stories about boys wearing girl suits are beginning to tire me. I want to see a boy learning how to be a girl, with all the strengths, weaknesses, joys and sorrows that implies.
Red should learn to be a girl?! That would be surrendering to the situation! He should resist and find a way to return to what he once was! If at that time he wants to become a girl again, let it be his choice.
I think the solution is a magic ring or something that can switch genders. Have Kazom make it. Red can have a possibly lucrative modeling career and be a guy on his time off.
@heavy: “Red should learn to be a girl?! That would be surrendering to the situation! ”
My personal taste here, I am not making any demands; but I follow enough comics with that approach, including [i]Misfile[/i] and [i]Exiern[/i].
I want to see Red learn, adjust, and accept as much as she can, because I think that provokes a deeper examination of the male and female sexual roles.
I agree I don’t want her to just say, “BOOBIES! Yippee!” *squish squish squish*. I want her to resist. I want her to make mistakes. I want her to come to the understanding that, yeah, being has its advantages, but it has costs as well–just different costs and advantages than males experience.
Most of all, I want her to be happy with herself, whoever she turns out to be. Enough with the angst.
I’m willing to accept some angst. Specially when dealing with society and how she maybe viewed and ogled considering her status as a model, and her new role in female. But Full Angst I agree would not be appealing.
That said the full acceptance and groping in the span of a few strips loses luster as well and rather quickly. I’rather watch as someone grows into thier role slowly seeing the down and upsides to thier new life and roles.
I am more intrigued by that 50srefugee. I find few comics or mangas or anything cover that well or at all. I am quite curious how that will play into things. I am wondering if you could elaborate on that.
Something else going on here that I forgot to mention. Girls have a completely different set of triggers for sexual attraction than boys do. Roughly, female humans are attracted by status indicators (such as wealth and behavior), while males are attracted to physical indicators (such youth and waist to hip ratios). Much individual variation, of course, and there’s a difference between what people look for in immediate sexual attraction versus long term mate, but that’s the nutshell.
“Hormones” control state of arousal (or not), and tend to be short term.
“Neurological & cognitive” stuff controls attraction, and works over the long term.
So taken that Red has had 15 years as a male then given the body of a female, how do you think this affects him by both hormones an neurological and cognitive wise? I’m curious as to your input.
[Readers should know I follow Misfile and contribute heavily to the Napalm Luck forum there as The Old Grognard, so I’m not coming to this cold. I also have started pitching in at Exiern.]
A great deal depends on exactly how the spell works, and that’s something I expect will be revealed as a part of the story.
But my assumption is that Red now has the neurological and cognitive setup of a fifteen year old girl, but retains the thoughts and habits of a fifteen year old boy.
Therefore, I’d look to see her gradually shift her perspective to that of a girl, as her software, if you will, adapts to the new hardware.
There’s some peripheral drivers that might cause some migration glitches until all the cross wiring gets untangled. Want to have your mind blown? Look up the current research on the deep anatomy and enervation of the clitoris. It’ll probably blow Red’s mind when she starts exploring it.
The other question, which is dependent on the whims of Luna and TBM, is whether Red retains her boyish interest in girls, or if her orientation shifts so that she’s attracted to boys.
Personally, I’d like to see her shift to boys, but not my choice, and I’m fine with whatever we’re given.
Should be noted, though, that while boys can easily elect to stay out of the mating dance, because they can choose to NOT EVEN ASK, girls can’t, especially the hot ones, because like it or not, they will get attention. This is going to be especially hard for Red, who has not had fifteen years of society simultaneously protecting and courting her. (Her own parents have been giving her a crash course in unwanted attention, and shame on them for it.) She’s going to have to learn everything from scratch, and unlearn a great deal more.
Here are the fundamental rules of the human mating game:
1. Girls control the bottleneck reproductive resource (literally), and it is very limited. Boys control supportive commitment.
2. Members of each sex who are overly free with the resource they control lose the respect of the opposite sex.
3. Men are disposable. Women are perishable.
The boys have a lot to learn to. Nerds have elected, for the most part, to withdraw. Fine, says society, they are useful in other ways. But they don’t get laid much.
What Red represents to them is a friend-who-is-a-girl, and who, if they don’t piss her off too badly by making too many assumptions about having privileges, can tell them what she is experiencing as a girl, and what bothers her and what attracts her.
If there is never another whiff of magic in this comic (HA!) I will be happy to watch this dynamic play out.
So is ti possible her software as you put it would not run right with the hardware? And oe to affect the other as to not run properly? [and I love misfile and Exern. Though Napalm luck I have not heard of before. I should give that a look.
It was an all Girl school. They tried to get him in before this time, but they would not take him. But, now he a girl and they took him or her. She didn’t want to go.
For the most part, it a boarding school, because, most of the girl that go there can’t get there by walking there or have any other way to get to that school without boarding there too.
It’s been confirmed by Words of the Gods that it is nearby, so Red doesn’t board there. Essentially no time has passed since CD finished up their arc in Jeanie Bottle.
Locker room or not, it would definitely be interesting to see her in all girl situations, as a contrast to her usual all guy friend situation. Given the sometimes cutthroat behavior among girls, it would be interesting to see how a geeky guy manages in that situation.
I said, “Remember, Red’s just spent weeks, at least, at a girls’ school. ”
This has been confirmed wrong. A few weeks, at the most, and she does not board there.
[I’m posting this info throughout the thread, because the contrary assumption warps our thinking. It certainly warped mine.)
@Luna or BACH-MANN: Will it be said how much time has passed since these kids last appeared in Jeanie Bottle, in other words, how long Red was at girls school?
As others have noted, Red seems somewhat older, taller, and developed than the boys, even compared with how she looked in JB. I do see that her hair has grown maybe six inches, which would suggest she’s a year older now. I think Melvin & co were eleven or twelve when they met Jeanie; this would make them twelve or thirteen now.
The trio were 15 in Jeanie Bottle and they are the same age now. As for how much time has past, I don’t have an exact number as we are not going to be keeping a hard track of time, but it hasn’t been very long. After all, Red just had her name legally changed so that should give you an idea of about how much time has passed. Also remember Red’s body is the product of magic, not genetics. If she looks older that’s not to say that she is older than the boys.
Ah, I love the smell of ozone in the morning! Because I also love to question the Words of the Gods. While wearing my suit of grounded chainmail with the spike hat.
I’ve been putting together an index of the Jeanie eps introducing us to Melvin and Red.
The ones most relevant to age and size are:
/?p=289 Melvin is eye level to Jeanie’s boobs.
/?p=331 Jeanie wears what she wore in Jr. High
/?p=741 Kamoz POOFs Jeanie to a “pre teen” version of Mel’s favorite actress.
Supporting evidence:
My Jr. High covered classes seventh through nineth, that is, ages twelve through fourteen. (for me, thirteen to fifteen, because my birthday is after the start of the school year.) Some states use “middle schools” covering sixth through ninth.
CDC data shows median height for girls and boys age twelve to be about 4’9″.
Around age twelve, girls are slightly taller than boys, but boys outpace girls starting at about thirteen, with almost a nine inch difference by fifteen. At that age girls are about 5’2″, and boys are 5’7″.
Girls level off at fifteen or sixteen, keeping the same height at least into their twenties.
Boys, though, continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace, reaching 5’9″ by age twenty.
Now, boys and girls in Red’s age group are shown to be about the same height, so that’s not magical. And Red is shown to be eye level to her own Mom’s boobs in /?p=870.
So when we last saw Red, she was very short, around 3’9″, which corresponds to an age of six or seven. I’m taking this to mean that C.D. exaggerated the shortness for effect, and not as a realistic portrayal.
Still, Kamoz’s comment places the kids at “preteen”, which I’ll call as twelve. None of the girls in Melvin’s age cohort are shown to be as developed as Red is here. This is consistent with matching male and female heights. By fifteen, when Red would be approaching her full height with considerable development, the boys should be noticeably taller than Red.
Finally, if the group is fifteen, that puts them in 10th grade, the first year of high school.
*Whew.*
So, here are the options:
One:
Red has been away for at least a year at girls’ school, and has grown noticeably. I think her hair has grown about the right length too (five or six inches a year), but that’s hard to tell. At thirteen, boys and girls are still about the same, though boys are starting their growth spurt.
Two:
The kids are declared to be fifteen for the purposes of Melvin’s Adventures. Fine, but the boys should be way taller than Red. (this could be made clear in the strips from now on.) And, Red has been away at school for at least a couple of years.
Three:
In MA, we simply don’t care. The kids are what they are. And Red has been away for one or two semesters, depending on when she left home. (I’m assuming she returned for summer break.)
As long as I know what’s what, I’m content with any of these options (or, indeed, whatever the creators do, I’m easy.)
At the very least, I’d like to know if Red’s been away for a semester or a year or more.
[I’m a nerd, OK? A nerd way older than these kids, with Excel and the CDC raw height and weight data set. I can’t help it. ]
I appreciate the attention to detail and the break down. I like that our comic creates such thoughts and debates. 🙂
To answer your questions, CD told me they are 15 so that’s what we are going with. While with age so does height increase, but some are shorter than others. I, myself, am 5’6″ and in high school there were plenty of guys shorter than or equal to me and plenty of girls taller than me. So they don’t necessarily have to be a certain size.
As for red, she has not been away for any length of time as her change hasn’t been for too long. She just had her name changed and that doesn’t take much time at all. She goes to an all girls school, but that school is nearby, which allows her to hang out with her friends after school.
And this from The Bach-Mann:
I, like Luna, appreciate all that you’ve brought to our attention. CD has graciously given us full artistic license to develop these characters from this point on. We, of course, will strive to stay true to canon. As for Red, let’s not forget that her form was created by a male stuck in a female’s body. She is a nerd changed by another nerd using magic. In these circumstances, things like genetics and physics are made suspect. Though CD and I have different styles, I believe Luna and I are operating in the spirit of his creation.
They’re fifteen. There has been essentially no break between when JB stopped following Mel and his friends and when they regroup here. Red’s school is not a boarding school.
As to height, although there may be some individual variation, they are all close to their adult heights. The boys should be a little taller than Red when we see them standing together. None of them would be eye-level with Jeanie’s boobs–I now attribute this to CD’s artistic license.
And thank you, BACH-MANN and Luna, for your patience. I try not to be this picky over a magical web comic, but CD left us with serious discrepancies at an age where only three or four years can make a huge difference, and boys and girls diverge widely.
Ground rules set, now forward into the delicious magical fog!
Just had a thought about why red might be so well developed. The magic catsed on him was done by a man not a teen in high shool. So the nagic that changed red might have been changed her to nath thebolder mans thought of what a teen hottie would look like.
Jeanie had changed Red to match her plan to have Melvin learn to talk to hit girls. It was not a wish from Melvin himself. So the magic that changed Red was all done by someone of an older age group.
I would like to point out, that Melvin and his friends were originally going to be a one shot deal. When I wrote the story in JB, I never expected them to go beyond that story. So there is bound to be some holes when you put the stories under the microscope.
Don’t mean to pick at you, CD, or the MA team. Differing artistic licenses and all. From what I’ve seen, Melvin and Red are in good hands, and thanks for setting them free.
I am thinking that there probably about 14 or 15 in the original series. I credit most of the changes to cartoon style more than to any serious time lapse of a year or more. Personally, I would like to see Red change over time from no more that one week from where Jeanie left to go back home and take it forward from there. Then there the possibility that it one year later and they decided to bring Red home now and that was the first meeting after a whole year and now we can do both back flashes as to what happen in the past and go forward from there. We will have to wait on BACH-MANN to give us more information as to where we are at and where we are going from here. He has plenty of choices of which way that he want to go with it.
True, but (she\he) never had that directed at them personally before. A reaction in the now doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the way they are all the time.
You’re good. I think we can ell agree that everything is an adjustment for Red. This is a unique situation for anyone, and our assumptions can’t be validated by a textbook answer.
Yuppers. I’ve gone into some detail above to lay out the normal human baseline, but as far as I’m concerned, this is a new strip, which doesn’t have to slavishly follow on to Jeanie Bottle. And MAGIC, so Red has more slack than even the normal error bars would suggest.
Still, I would like to know how many semesters Red has spent away at school, if only to know how long she’s had to adjust.
That seems to be the major question 50srefugee, how long Red has has to adjust to herself and such could determine alot about how people will view things.
True to me it just seems an odd way of expressing her justifiable frustration with her friends also treating her differently now she’s a girl as opposed to just saying “quit the fantasy crap” or even if she’s spent more time dealing with it/at the girls school than I think is the case “quit the male fantasy crap”. Nerd seems an odd term to use for someone who’s spent 15 years having similar fantasy’s.
Where did she get that shirt, and why would she wear it?
Over in That Other Comic where there’s a magically transgendered Tiffany, too, Typhan Knee was an illiterate barbarian warrior (not stupid, just illiterate) so Tiff bought a shirt that said “Wanton Wench” and Princess Peonie (she of the large gazongas and questionable sense of humour) told her that it meant that she was willing to take on all comers…
For me, it’s just a matter of nailing down some of the story parameters. CD gave us quite a lot of detail on these characters, but (as he’s said up-thread) he never intended for Melvin and Red to split off into their own comic. And it turns out there’s (unavoidably) some inconsistencies between the IDJB versions and the MA versions.
There’s bound to be a few more glitches as the story wobbles into flight. That’s fine. Luna and TBM will swat the gremlins, make the characters their own, and tell the story they came here to share. It’s looking to be a fun ride.
Yeah, I get that. I was just making an observation since a lot of the comments about the story, both about details and speculations for the future are quite in-depth.
Yes… yes, that’s what I’ll call it. “Inspiration”. heh heh heh
Begins laying out scalpels, picks, forceps, clamps, electrodes, and so forth, all in neat little rows on a tray with a few splotches here and there that look suspiciously like old blood. A Jacob’s Ladder zzzaps comfortingly in the background as the power supplies warm up….
It occurs to me that 90-95% of our comments are about Red when the title of the comic is the melvin chronicles.
So does BJ only have one friend at school now? That’s kinda sad. Once melvin (possibly) succeeds in wooing the blonde nerd he’ll want to hang out with her. Though they might all get along I suppose.
Check out IDOJB /?p=774. Do they or do they not look as if they were holding hands, almost rubbing shoulders…? [c’mon, work with me here.] The barometer is falling, the temperature is rising, the wind is turning…I predict a stormy romance.
Looks as though Red has become the proverbial ‘lightning rod’ of the comic. Considering the magical element, ie. genies, there is no telling what direction things might go in. On the other hand, you might be giving the writers ‘grist for the mill’ as some might say.
Why is Clarence here complaining about the friends who she physically abuse spouting off nerd fantasy crap? She’s one of them, right? She does it on the very next page, talking about mobs in RPGs with the same model and different colors. It would be nice to see her be more levelheaded and reasonable. This reaction here is what makes me dislike her from the beginning. Also, I don’t buy it. It’s out of character, what with what we know about them already from the other comic.
Damn! That’s one hell of a right hook!
I see some of the comments on the previous strip are comign true.. LOL I can’t wait for more!
Imagine how it is for us, working several strips ahead of what you’re seeing. I love and appreciate all of the comments! This truely has been fun bringing the further adventures of Melvin and the gang to the fans of Jeanie bottle. 😀
Still say it should be Red and her band of co-horts.
Bach-mann, what influence your art style? I see anime/manga but is there anything specific?
I’ve been an anime fan for years. My biggest influence has to be Fred Perry from Antarctic press. I also work in an animated series style. (Warner bros. Batman and superman)
OK now I am going to look up this Fred Perry from Antartic Express.. cause I’m drawing a blank…
Fred Perry’s Gold Digger issues 1-199 are at antarcticpresslibrary.com
OK now I am going to look up this Fred Perry from Antartic Express.. cause I’m drawing a blank…
And to Be nerdy. it was a left. Remember from our perspective left and right is reverse.. So she cleaned his clock with a left hook. Which I’m not sure if that’s more or less impressive or not..
Annnnd you don’t know right from left.
Hey, Red? You just lifted the “no hitting girls” rule on yourself.
Also, nice ass.
Yeah but given how they trembled fromt he last strip.. I don;t think she’s worried…
Why? BJ was being a misogynistic pig. He deserved that black eye.
And considering he’s scared of her, i doubt Red is worried about him. He’d just get beat up if he tried anything with her.
“BJ was being a misogynistic pig. He deserved that black eye. ”
Only true if we accept that it works both ways: call him a misogynistic pig, he gets to punch you in the eye.
I’m willing to cut Red some slack right now, because she’s been forced to act against her will.
However, it seems from how these kids were introduced in Jeanie that they are on the cusp of adolescence, and her physical ability to dominate the boys is ephemeral.
I really dislike when that word is used wrong. BJ loves women even if he see them as a sex partner first, there is no indication he hates or distrusts them. As for getting punched in the face violence is not the answer to some one being a insensitive jerk.
Like Jeanie, he just turned into a girl and is just starting down that trail. He only been a girl for maybe a week or so and against his will too. At that age, someone call you a sissy, them there were fighting words. Red hasn’t come to terms with her new identity. She has a tendency to hit first and ask question later, which is a bad policy and can have some blow back on it too.
Larry, I like where you’re going with that.
Why do i see her having sever over confidence about being able to slug her issues away…?
Because, she kind of like Jeanie here, act first and suffer the consequences later. Which may or may not change later in the series as we move along in it.
Yeah, you can be a sexist pig without being a misogynist pig. Misogynism is a special kind of nastiness he hasn’t crossed into yet.
May not be “misogynic” or whatever. Still a pig.
Also, Taiming, when is violence never the most fun answer to any problem? 😛
Not a pig, a teenage male. Kinda raw, like most boys his age. Coming to grips with a whole new set of anatomical parts and emotions that bears about as much resemblance to what he grew up with as pop gun bears to a 1911.
And on top of that, one his nerdy best friends is now a hot dame. What, he’s supposed to not notice? Cut him some slack.
So, BJ hauling off and cracking Red a shiner would be just good fun? Or does this only work one way?
As I said in a comment elsewhere here, I don’t see how him being a teenage male justifies being crude. I was never that way as a teenager, and still am not as an early-twenties male. Even just in conversations with other guys, I refuse to ever call a girl “hot” or anything like that. Cute maybe, but even that is rare. This may be a personal thing, but I just find it disrespectful to comment on a girls’ looks in that way.
I’m non-discriminatory. If somebody deserves it, then I don’t care who hits who. 😛 Almost seems kind of sexist to me, the whole “don’t hit girls” thing. If they are on approximately equal footing… it shouldn’t matter. But then again, here’s where I’m very different from the norm. I’m a lot more tolerant of violence in general.
No, the word is being used correctly here, BJ is being a misogynistic pig.
He wasn’t being misogynistic. You feminazis, you don’t even know what misogyny is because you have never even encountered it in your whole entitled little petty lives, because you are so entrenched in the opposite (aka female privilege) on a daily basis that when men don’t adhere to your ridiculous double standards and do for you what you would raise an unholy fuss over if you were ever to be expected to adhere to yourself, you call them misogynists. You think a misogynist is any male who shows any sign of sexuality towards females? Or someone who says anything negative to a female, for any reason? Because surely there’s no possible motivation beyond targeting her because she’s a woman, you just presume men just treat each other like royalty amongst themselves and are never a-holes to each other. Well let me tell you something. You certainly don’t apply the same standard the other way around, you call it empowering for women to be BOSSY (though you hate the word), to be confrontational, or to show sexual inclinations. Because you’re nothing but a swamp of double standards and misandry. You want to know what a misogynist is Santiago? A man who detests females. Who doesn’t TALK to them unless he has to, who would NEVER make FRIENDS with them (though he may interact with them and pretend to be their friend if they’re useful to him, as tools), and who probably doesn’t make any sexual advances toward them. Who doesn’t help them if they’re in trouble, who derives satisfaction from their suffering. Who sees and treats women the way feminists see and treat men. Does that sound like the guy in the comic? They’re complete opposites. Now do you know what misogyny is Santiago? Pity this comment chain is over 2 years old, you’ll never see it.
Their personalities also seem rather different from their appearance in Jeanie. Red’s more violent, melvins more resrtained and BJ is completely different. Very odd.
Then again in that they were side character, not only that Red has had her entire life flipped upside down on her. So this maybe how they always were and not shown well as side characters that were their and gone for an arc.
Also when we last saw them BJ was hitting on a girl, melvin was trying to patch things up with his cush and Red was being shipped off to an all girls school.
Red just got her name changed to “Tiffany.” That right there is going to make a person violent.
Now I can’t wait to see what she picks to wear. This also seems to indicate her parent’s are the ones who put her in the clothes she is currently wearing… Wonder what her room looks like.. Oh gods did they throw out her Ogre mallet items!?!? THE HORROR!
I think the Scarlet Avenger has more Ogre Mallet items than before
What even worst than that is. If BACH-MANN chooses to continue down the update of Jeanie Bottle, then Red going to have to walk the cat walk modeling new dresses as her part time job, complete with escorts too.
You my friend Larry get a internet cookie….. *hands cookie.
Hmmmm….interesting.
Hehe, love the contrast of her shirt with her attitude. 🙂
The clothes in this case definitely do not make the girl. I had wondered what would lead her to dressing like that, but it has to be the parents.
Agreed. Given her attitude towards everything so far, and what we saw during jeanie bottle with her.. it all concludes to the parents.
BJ was being an insensitive jerk, so he deserved that. He should realize Red is sensitive about the change.
He also shouldn’t be such a sleaze around women, even one that used to be a guy.
BJ was being an young adolescent male. His eyeballs and his other balls are pretty much hardwired together and the cabling carries considerable juice. Not quite the same thing as being an insensitive jerk. Red needs to be sensitive to that.
I’ll also note that at this age, there seems to be a biological drive for boys to be a little bit mean to girls as a way to express their new found and not well understood attraction to playmate peers who are now…very different.
“I’ll tell me Ma when I get home
The boys won’t leave the girls alone
They pulled my hair and stole my comb.
But that’s alright till I go home.”
Welcome to the wonderful world of human nature. And it is wonderful, and necessary.
Red gets one free sucker punch to make her point, and given the awful way her parents have treated her. But if she wants Melvin and BJ on her side, she needs to respect them, too.
That said, look up Norman Rockwell’s “The Shiner”, possibly my favorite work of his. This is a girl who clearly gave as good as she got, and is very pleased with the result.
(Also, I just recently realized that the woman in the office is likely Mom, and not the Principal’s secretary or a teacher. Look at her hair. What are the odds she’s remembering herself at that age?)
One more thing about BJ: He’s comparing Red to Red Sonja. A girl, certainly, but a girl who can hold her own in a fight. BJ thinks he’s paying Red a worthy compliment, in terms the Clarence he used to know would have understood.
If BJ had said Red Sonja without the ‘rawr’ or calling her smoking I would agree with your point. But BJ was referring to Red Sonjas figure not her fighting skill.
That’s…too bad. Still didn’t deserve a punch to the face. Consider if the blow had gone the other way over a similar slight. Would you now be defending DJ for having hit a girl?
The fact that Red Sonja can fight doesn’t, in BJ’s opinion, need to be mentioned. That’s assumed. Read the subtext. “You always thought Sonja was hot. You’ve even said ‘RAWR!’ over her more than once! Why are you upset now?”
Look at BJ’s non-plussed expression just before he gets punched. He doesn’t understand why Red’s so angry with him. (and still won’t after he recovers consciousness.)
Red’s allowed to get angry with him. And as I’ve said, I’m cutting her slack because she’s just coming home from girls’ school, and from what she (rightly) considers a humiliating modeling experience.
Still doesn’t excuse outright violence, especially if BJ’s not allowed to hit back. No cutting Red slack if she won’t cut her friends slack, especially since they haven’t had as long to adjust as she has.
Agreed, I’m not saying that she should have resorted to violence as the first means. I’m simply saying as started somewhere, [I forget where] we may be seeing more issues with Red’s gender bodied and male mind.
Then again it maybe more to come of how they may work things out, once Red’s cooled off and BJ relizes the issues with what he said.
And I am not saying BJ would not be allowed to his back. I’m just betting on red winning the fight..
Also as stated they’ve been friends longer then we have known him. Perhaps Red, knowing BJ for all that time knows exactly how BJ ment it. As we only have panels to work by tone of voice is missing. So a bit can be changed from person to person depending on how they read it.
I by no means want to argue, I merely wish to discuss ideas and see ho others view things. So if this seems like I am criticizing you for your views or opinions I apologize. You seem very insightful 50srefugee.
and I would like to apologize for my terriable spell checking skills. I ment hit back not his back.
@Sol: Not to worry. It’s not really argument, it exploration and debate. I want my views to be criticized, to sharpen them and keep them from getting flabby. Just good exercise, is all.
@50srefugee: I am glad then. I agree and happily explore and debate ideas with you. You have very curious and good insight i often had with comics like this.
I kind of disagree with you 50srefugee. I’m 21 now and at no point in my life have I ever acted like BJ did here. Admittedly I was homeschooled so I didn’t have access to non-related girls during my adolescent years, but even then I refused to even make passing remarks to other people, even to myself, about girls’ looks in that way. And I still don’t. Maybe it’s just that I’m an oddball because of being raised different, but I guess in my opinion it has less to do with being an adolescent male and more to do with culture/parenting/peers that are/is permissive, if not encouraging of that kind of behavior.
You’re going with “Boys will be boys”, really? That’s no excuse for BJ to be an insensitive pig.
Great art style! This comic is off to a good start. 🙂
Yeah, I get my butt handed to me in every PvP game that exists.
And that’s why i play PVE.
Me too!
I can’t wait to see how red behaves around really buff hot girls. I mean bay is an adult woman and can’t control her emotions around super hunky guys so I’m really curious to see how a TEENAGE girl body effects his young mind when it sees something it really likes. :3
Remember, Red’s just spent weeks, at least, at a girls’ school. She’s been surrounded by girls, some of whom at least were as hot she was. She has likely seen them naked in the gym locker room.
I wouldn’t mind seeing flash backs to that time–and not for the scantily clad girls in the locker room, plenty of comics with that, but to see how Red dealt with them.
And I very much indeed want to see how she and Melvin get along as they become accustomed to Red’s new situation, and as Melvin matures. Could be very interesting.
Agreed flash backs to her dealing with her new life would be interesting. As is the development of the three emotionally and mentally to the new situation. Also kinda curious if their is a possible hormone problem with red. Don’t get me wrong, but male mind female hormones doesn’t seem the best combo, would that affect Red’s way of thinking?
Gee, I sure hope it affects her way of thinking. This is something that bugs me about magical TG stories generally. Either the victim immediately becomes totally girly, or refuses to acknowledge her new state of being. I want to see the adjustment, along with learning to cope with her new role, including social expectations, with a new way of thinking.
Pretending that there is no emotional difference between girls and boys is denying biological reality. Pretending that social norms built around those roles should be rejected is even worse. Won’t happen, and will cause misery to all concerned.
Stories about boys wearing girl suits are beginning to tire me. I want to see a boy learning how to be a girl, with all the strengths, weaknesses, joys and sorrows that implies.
Know what else? I want to see one of her male former chums learning to be a man along with her.
Agreed. I’m with you with the guy just gets a body suit being tiresome.
We’ve been thinking on this topic as well. Ooooo! I can’t wait for you to see all that is coming!
@TB-M:
That intrigues me.
Agreed.
Red should learn to be a girl?! That would be surrendering to the situation! He should resist and find a way to return to what he once was! If at that time he wants to become a girl again, let it be his choice.
I think the solution is a magic ring or something that can switch genders. Have Kazom make it. Red can have a possibly lucrative modeling career and be a guy on his time off.
You might enjoy Meguru Milk. Commedy, short but the guy turned girl in that embraces it and has some really major upheavals in doing so.
@heavy: “Red should learn to be a girl?! That would be surrendering to the situation! ”
My personal taste here, I am not making any demands; but I follow enough comics with that approach, including [i]Misfile[/i] and [i]Exiern[/i].
I want to see Red learn, adjust, and accept as much as she can, because I think that provokes a deeper examination of the male and female sexual roles.
I agree I don’t want her to just say, “BOOBIES! Yippee!” *squish squish squish*. I want her to resist. I want her to make mistakes. I want her to come to the understanding that, yeah, being has its advantages, but it has costs as well–just different costs and advantages than males experience.
Most of all, I want her to be happy with herself, whoever she turns out to be. Enough with the angst.
I’m willing to accept some angst. Specially when dealing with society and how she maybe viewed and ogled considering her status as a model, and her new role in female. But Full Angst I agree would not be appealing.
That said the full acceptance and groping in the span of a few strips loses luster as well and rather quickly. I’rather watch as someone grows into thier role slowly seeing the down and upsides to thier new life and roles.
I was saying her body would be turned on by guys because of her hormones.
There’s a fairly large set of neurological and cognitive changes that go with that as well. “Hormones” doesn’t begin to cover it.
As much as she must have hated it, I expect Red has learned a very great deal while she was off at Girls’ School.
And modeling dress at her part time job too. That was something else her parents got her into too and they setup a bank account for her too.
I am more intrigued by that 50srefugee. I find few comics or mangas or anything cover that well or at all. I am quite curious how that will play into things. I am wondering if you could elaborate on that.
Something else going on here that I forgot to mention. Girls have a completely different set of triggers for sexual attraction than boys do. Roughly, female humans are attracted by status indicators (such as wealth and behavior), while males are attracted to physical indicators (such youth and waist to hip ratios). Much individual variation, of course, and there’s a difference between what people look for in immediate sexual attraction versus long term mate, but that’s the nutshell.
“Hormones” control state of arousal (or not), and tend to be short term.
“Neurological & cognitive” stuff controls attraction, and works over the long term.
So taken that Red has had 15 years as a male then given the body of a female, how do you think this affects him by both hormones an neurological and cognitive wise? I’m curious as to your input.
[Readers should know I follow Misfile and contribute heavily to the Napalm Luck forum there as The Old Grognard, so I’m not coming to this cold. I also have started pitching in at Exiern.]
A great deal depends on exactly how the spell works, and that’s something I expect will be revealed as a part of the story.
But my assumption is that Red now has the neurological and cognitive setup of a fifteen year old girl, but retains the thoughts and habits of a fifteen year old boy.
Therefore, I’d look to see her gradually shift her perspective to that of a girl, as her software, if you will, adapts to the new hardware.
There’s some peripheral drivers that might cause some migration glitches until all the cross wiring gets untangled. Want to have your mind blown? Look up the current research on the deep anatomy and enervation of the clitoris. It’ll probably blow Red’s mind when she starts exploring it.
The other question, which is dependent on the whims of Luna and TBM, is whether Red retains her boyish interest in girls, or if her orientation shifts so that she’s attracted to boys.
Personally, I’d like to see her shift to boys, but not my choice, and I’m fine with whatever we’re given.
Should be noted, though, that while boys can easily elect to stay out of the mating dance, because they can choose to NOT EVEN ASK, girls can’t, especially the hot ones, because like it or not, they will get attention. This is going to be especially hard for Red, who has not had fifteen years of society simultaneously protecting and courting her. (Her own parents have been giving her a crash course in unwanted attention, and shame on them for it.) She’s going to have to learn everything from scratch, and unlearn a great deal more.
Here are the fundamental rules of the human mating game:
1. Girls control the bottleneck reproductive resource (literally), and it is very limited. Boys control supportive commitment.
2. Members of each sex who are overly free with the resource they control lose the respect of the opposite sex.
3. Men are disposable. Women are perishable.
The boys have a lot to learn to. Nerds have elected, for the most part, to withdraw. Fine, says society, they are useful in other ways. But they don’t get laid much.
What Red represents to them is a friend-who-is-a-girl, and who, if they don’t piss her off too badly by making too many assumptions about having privileges, can tell them what she is experiencing as a girl, and what bothers her and what attracts her.
If there is never another whiff of magic in this comic (HA!) I will be happy to watch this dynamic play out.
So is ti possible her software as you put it would not run right with the hardware? And oe to affect the other as to not run properly? [and I love misfile and Exern. Though Napalm luck I have not heard of before. I should give that a look.
Not really. You forget lesbians and bisexuals are a thing.
So is her school a boarding school? I know its an all girls school, but I don’t remember any other details.
It was an all Girl school. They tried to get him in before this time, but they would not take him. But, now he a girl and they took him or her. She didn’t want to go.
For the most part, it a boarding school, because, most of the girl that go there can’t get there by walking there or have any other way to get to that school without boarding there too.
It’s been confirmed by Words of the Gods that it is nearby, so Red doesn’t board there. Essentially no time has passed since CD finished up their arc in Jeanie Bottle.
Locker room or not, it would definitely be interesting to see her in all girl situations, as a contrast to her usual all guy friend situation. Given the sometimes cutthroat behavior among girls, it would be interesting to see how a geeky guy manages in that situation.
Yup. I am eagerly looking forward to that.
There’s a big question that remains to be answered about whether or not her preferences change.
If they haven’t or will is it possible they will change from the hormones her female body has? Or would she just be into other girls? Or bi?
I said, “Remember, Red’s just spent weeks, at least, at a girls’ school. ”
This has been confirmed wrong. A few weeks, at the most, and she does not board there.
[I’m posting this info throughout the thread, because the contrary assumption warps our thinking. It certainly warped mine.)
I bet the all girl school was nothing like the sexy fantasy Red probably had in his head.
All the more reason I want flashback to her time their!
@Luna or BACH-MANN: Will it be said how much time has passed since these kids last appeared in Jeanie Bottle, in other words, how long Red was at girls school?
As others have noted, Red seems somewhat older, taller, and developed than the boys, even compared with how she looked in JB. I do see that her hair has grown maybe six inches, which would suggest she’s a year older now. I think Melvin & co were eleven or twelve when they met Jeanie; this would make them twelve or thirteen now.
The trio were 15 in Jeanie Bottle and they are the same age now. As for how much time has past, I don’t have an exact number as we are not going to be keeping a hard track of time, but it hasn’t been very long. After all, Red just had her name legally changed so that should give you an idea of about how much time has passed. Also remember Red’s body is the product of magic, not genetics. If she looks older that’s not to say that she is older than the boys.
Ah, I love the smell of ozone in the morning! Because I also love to question the Words of the Gods. While wearing my suit of grounded chainmail with the spike hat.
I’ve been putting together an index of the Jeanie eps introducing us to Melvin and Red.
The ones most relevant to age and size are:
/?p=289 Melvin is eye level to Jeanie’s boobs.
/?p=331 Jeanie wears what she wore in Jr. High
/?p=741 Kamoz POOFs Jeanie to a “pre teen” version of Mel’s favorite actress.
Supporting evidence:
My Jr. High covered classes seventh through nineth, that is, ages twelve through fourteen. (for me, thirteen to fifteen, because my birthday is after the start of the school year.) Some states use “middle schools” covering sixth through ninth.
CDC data shows median height for girls and boys age twelve to be about 4’9″.
Around age twelve, girls are slightly taller than boys, but boys outpace girls starting at about thirteen, with almost a nine inch difference by fifteen. At that age girls are about 5’2″, and boys are 5’7″.
Girls level off at fifteen or sixteen, keeping the same height at least into their twenties.
Boys, though, continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace, reaching 5’9″ by age twenty.
Now, boys and girls in Red’s age group are shown to be about the same height, so that’s not magical. And Red is shown to be eye level to her own Mom’s boobs in /?p=870.
So when we last saw Red, she was very short, around 3’9″, which corresponds to an age of six or seven. I’m taking this to mean that C.D. exaggerated the shortness for effect, and not as a realistic portrayal.
Still, Kamoz’s comment places the kids at “preteen”, which I’ll call as twelve. None of the girls in Melvin’s age cohort are shown to be as developed as Red is here. This is consistent with matching male and female heights. By fifteen, when Red would be approaching her full height with considerable development, the boys should be noticeably taller than Red.
Finally, if the group is fifteen, that puts them in 10th grade, the first year of high school.
*Whew.*
So, here are the options:
One:
Red has been away for at least a year at girls’ school, and has grown noticeably. I think her hair has grown about the right length too (five or six inches a year), but that’s hard to tell. At thirteen, boys and girls are still about the same, though boys are starting their growth spurt.
Two:
The kids are declared to be fifteen for the purposes of Melvin’s Adventures. Fine, but the boys should be way taller than Red. (this could be made clear in the strips from now on.) And, Red has been away at school for at least a couple of years.
Three:
In MA, we simply don’t care. The kids are what they are. And Red has been away for one or two semesters, depending on when she left home. (I’m assuming she returned for summer break.)
As long as I know what’s what, I’m content with any of these options (or, indeed, whatever the creators do, I’m easy.)
At the very least, I’d like to know if Red’s been away for a semester or a year or more.
[I’m a nerd, OK? A nerd way older than these kids, with Excel and the CDC raw height and weight data set. I can’t help it. ]
I appreciate the attention to detail and the break down. I like that our comic creates such thoughts and debates. 🙂
To answer your questions, CD told me they are 15 so that’s what we are going with. While with age so does height increase, but some are shorter than others. I, myself, am 5’6″ and in high school there were plenty of guys shorter than or equal to me and plenty of girls taller than me. So they don’t necessarily have to be a certain size.
As for red, she has not been away for any length of time as her change hasn’t been for too long. She just had her name changed and that doesn’t take much time at all. She goes to an all girls school, but that school is nearby, which allows her to hang out with her friends after school.
And this from The Bach-Mann:
I, like Luna, appreciate all that you’ve brought to our attention. CD has graciously given us full artistic license to develop these characters from this point on. We, of course, will strive to stay true to canon. As for Red, let’s not forget that her form was created by a male stuck in a female’s body. She is a nerd changed by another nerd using magic. In these circumstances, things like genetics and physics are made suspect. Though CD and I have different styles, I believe Luna and I are operating in the spirit of his creation.
OK! And thank you. To summarize:
They’re fifteen. There has been essentially no break between when JB stopped following Mel and his friends and when they regroup here. Red’s school is not a boarding school.
As to height, although there may be some individual variation, they are all close to their adult heights. The boys should be a little taller than Red when we see them standing together. None of them would be eye-level with Jeanie’s boobs–I now attribute this to CD’s artistic license.
And thank you, BACH-MANN and Luna, for your patience. I try not to be this picky over a magical web comic, but CD left us with serious discrepancies at an age where only three or four years can make a huge difference, and boys and girls diverge widely.
Ground rules set, now forward into the delicious magical fog!
Lets us get lost and have adventures in the magical fog!
Mmmm, magical, tasty, psychedelic fog! Everybody take a big, deep breath…Hold it….hold…now exhale. Again.
Mmm, look at all the pretty colors….
But what happens if we don’t exhale?
Just had a thought about why red might be so well developed. The magic catsed on him was done by a man not a teen in high shool. So the nagic that changed red might have been changed her to nath thebolder mans thought of what a teen hottie would look like.
Jeanie had changed Red to match her plan to have Melvin learn to talk to hit girls. It was not a wish from Melvin himself. So the magic that changed Red was all done by someone of an older age group.
I would like to point out, that Melvin and his friends were originally going to be a one shot deal. When I wrote the story in JB, I never expected them to go beyond that story. So there is bound to be some holes when you put the stories under the microscope.
Called it! LOL I know that was childish but I couldn’t help it. But come on CD Rudd thats half the run is poking the holes.
Don’t mean to pick at you, CD, or the MA team. Differing artistic licenses and all. From what I’ve seen, Melvin and Red are in good hands, and thanks for setting them free.
I am thinking that there probably about 14 or 15 in the original series. I credit most of the changes to cartoon style more than to any serious time lapse of a year or more. Personally, I would like to see Red change over time from no more that one week from where Jeanie left to go back home and take it forward from there. Then there the possibility that it one year later and they decided to bring Red home now and that was the first meeting after a whole year and now we can do both back flashes as to what happen in the past and go forward from there. We will have to wait on BACH-MANN to give us more information as to where we are at and where we are going from here. He has plenty of choices of which way that he want to go with it.
Quit the nerd fantasy crap? Seems an odd comment from her considering she used to be/still is a nerd.
True, but (she\he) never had that directed at them personally before. A reaction in the now doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the way they are all the time.
True and no idea if other feminine issues are making her emotional. [please noone take offense to that just saying..]
You’re good. I think we can ell agree that everything is an adjustment for Red. This is a unique situation for anyone, and our assumptions can’t be validated by a textbook answer.
Yuppers. I’ve gone into some detail above to lay out the normal human baseline, but as far as I’m concerned, this is a new strip, which doesn’t have to slavishly follow on to Jeanie Bottle. And MAGIC, so Red has more slack than even the normal error bars would suggest.
Still, I would like to know how many semesters Red has spent away at school, if only to know how long she’s had to adjust.
That seems to be the major question 50srefugee, how long Red has has to adjust to herself and such could determine alot about how people will view things.
True to me it just seems an odd way of expressing her justifiable frustration with her friends also treating her differently now she’s a girl as opposed to just saying “quit the fantasy crap” or even if she’s spent more time dealing with it/at the girls school than I think is the case “quit the male fantasy crap”. Nerd seems an odd term to use for someone who’s spent 15 years having similar fantasy’s.
From otaku to tsundere. Red could give Toradora a run for her money.
Well, we haven’t seen the -dere part, not yet anyway.
Where did she get that shirt, and why would she wear it?
Over in That Other Comic where there’s a magically transgendered Tiffany, too, Typhan Knee was an illiterate barbarian warrior (not stupid, just illiterate) so Tiff bought a shirt that said “Wanton Wench” and Princess Peonie (she of the large gazongas and questionable sense of humour) told her that it meant that she was willing to take on all comers…
[Hi Fairportfan!]
We think her parents made her wear it as part of her enforced modelling gig. It’s not her choice, which is why she’s raiding Melvin’s closet.
You know regarding the height comments above if Melvin isn’t at least the same size/a big bigger raiding his closet won’t help much.
It’ll help her fans. ^^
LOL Oh god’s i now remember that shirt…
Wow, people are putting this comic through a microscope. If people but half this much effort into scrutinizing their political leaders…
lol, I won’t go there.
Anyway, good luck with this one. I’ll be following it to see where it goes.
If we did that we’d never get any voting done.
Lol. True dat.
For me, it’s just a matter of nailing down some of the story parameters. CD gave us quite a lot of detail on these characters, but (as he’s said up-thread) he never intended for Melvin and Red to split off into their own comic. And it turns out there’s (unavoidably) some inconsistencies between the IDJB versions and the MA versions.
There’s bound to be a few more glitches as the story wobbles into flight. That’s fine. Luna and TBM will swat the gremlins, make the characters their own, and tell the story they came here to share. It’s looking to be a fun ride.
Yeah, I get that. I was just making an observation since a lot of the comments about the story, both about details and speculations for the future are quite in-depth.
Well it was either this or ut up with my sister.. yeah rather do this.
You never know, one of these discussions might inspire the writer.
“Inspiring the writer….”
Rolls it around on his tongue.
Yes… yes, that’s what I’ll call it. “Inspiration”. heh heh heh
Begins laying out scalpels, picks, forceps, clamps, electrodes, and so forth, all in neat little rows on a tray with a few splotches here and there that look suspiciously like old blood. A Jacob’s Ladder zzzaps comfortingly in the background as the power supplies warm up….
It occurs to me that 90-95% of our comments are about Red when the title of the comic is the melvin chronicles.
So does BJ only have one friend at school now? That’s kinda sad. Once melvin (possibly) succeeds in wooing the blonde nerd he’ll want to hang out with her. Though they might all get along I suppose.
Check out IDOJB /?p=774. Do they or do they not look as if they were holding hands, almost rubbing shoulders…? [c’mon, work with me here.] The barometer is falling, the temperature is rising, the wind is turning…I predict a stormy romance.
Looks as though Red has become the proverbial ‘lightning rod’ of the comic. Considering the magical element, ie. genies, there is no telling what direction things might go in. On the other hand, you might be giving the writers ‘grist for the mill’ as some might say.
Why is Clarence here complaining about the friends who she physically abuse spouting off nerd fantasy crap? She’s one of them, right? She does it on the very next page, talking about mobs in RPGs with the same model and different colors. It would be nice to see her be more levelheaded and reasonable. This reaction here is what makes me dislike her from the beginning. Also, I don’t buy it. It’s out of character, what with what we know about them already from the other comic.