And here we have a weird little page that started out as a gag and - to my surprise - managed to turn into something a bit deeper. The joke being that Chanel is short, so she's tiny like what you might expect from a typical pixie, while Jessica is tall, and I just left her at her normal size despite also being a pixie. When I was scripting this, I just thought it was going to be a cute sight gag. But when I finally had the visuals on the page, it felt like the message changed. It's a scenario that - while the dialogue wouldn't be exact - I think most trans people (and hey, probably a lot of people in general) will be familiar with. We've all been asked that really dumb, invasive question (intentionally or not) that does nothing but hit a sore spot for us. Chanel's lines in panels 3 and 4 were added later to reflect this.
This does not symbolize any deep seeded feelings Rain might have about Jessica though. Rain really admires and looks up to Jessica. However, even if you yourself are part of some marginalized group, that doesn't mean you're incapable of derping out a stupid statement that someone could take offense to (I've had trans friends address me with the wrong pronoun before, and I know I've done it myself by accident too). It's human to make mistakes, and hopefully we can tell the difference between malice and an innocent slip-up, but it still pays to be mindful of what we say so those mistakes might be kept to a minimum.
Sorry. I didn't know this page was going to get deep. This middle section of the chapter was supposed to be more goofy and weird, and then I go accidentally making it complex. Go figure. XD This page was also planned to be attached to the previous one for a two-pager (as possibly evidenced by this one feeling short with only four panels). In the script, I didn't think either of these stood alone well. But once I drew them, they didn't quite blend as well anymore. So I split them up.
Also, Puddle (aka The Beast of Doom) is still there. He's just out of view in these shots.
If this part was supposed to be only little gags, I look forward to the next section... It will be deeper than deep! x)
when is volume three comic out?
Love this page.
thankfully we're mostly a understanding lot (probably because we have to be)