Hmmm… So Adam takes the high road and walks away from Cyril! Interesting… very interesting. Me thinks, Adam may have just been gifted with abilities, but is as of yet unaware of them.
Hmmm. So the fact that Cyril is more open about his fetishes doesn’t bother Adam. It’s the fact that photos were taken and posted without consent that pisses him off. I like it. It shows an intense sense of morality while being progressive.
Respectfully, I’ve got to disagree. First, I want to say that I think Cyril is slimy, and I’m not justifying him at all. But Adam is magnitudes worse. It’s becoming more and more obvious that Adam is supposed to be a reader-identifier character. Handsome but shy; the normal guy without superpowers. But every time he appears, he just becomes more objectionable in that role.
The problem with Cyril is that he doesn’t see other people as human beings. Until he has a formative experience where he conceptualizes others as real people – and, (not to make excuses for him in the least), undesirable, ostracized nerds like him frequently do not have this social experience as soon in life as others – he will remain creepy and incapable of respecting personal boundaries.
So, Cyril doesn’t view Cait as a real person, and hurts her. But far worse, Adam DOES see her as a real person, and STILL purposely, and repeatedly, inflicts gross psychological harm on her. And what is his reason? So he can feel marginally better about himself and his own feelings. The character is a total ass, and in real life, would do far more harm than 10 unwashed manipulative nerds.
Hmm…odd, I’m not seeing where he’s purposely and repeatedly inflicting “gross psychological harm”. I’ve seen him not act on his feelings regarding Cait because he’s confused about what it is he’s exactly attracted to, her or her pregnancy, but not where he’s consciously setting out to hurt her.
He hurt her bad enough to be willing to give up her babies to the Loki-possessed woman at the school. He’s walked out on her and turned his back on her, cuts her off, and he’s joked about her size even when he can see it’s causing her harm.
Look, I’m not saying he’s a poorly written character. He’s very well written. For example, Hamlet was an utter ass, but the literary canon is stronger for his presence. But Shakespeare knew he was a manipulative jerk, didn’t try to whitewash it, and emphatically didn’t believe that he deserved a happy ending after what he’d done. The way Adam has treated Cait very much reminds me of how Hamlet treated Ophelia.
While I agree with you that Cyril is slimey and fails to recognize that other people possess a “self” just as he does, I fail to see how Adam is doing any harm. If you are referring to those incidents where Adam has isolated himself from his friends, it is with the purest intentions at heart. He walks away simply because he is confused by his own sense of attraction to women in a form that our uptight society is labeled deviant, and works to determine if he truly does like the girl in question or if it’s just his fetish calling the shots. Above all else, it seems he wants to do right by them, and so he must work through his own feelings to accomplish this. If there are pages contradicting what I’ve said, then by all means please point them out. Kthxbai.
“Kthxbai”? I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that other opinions were personally offensive to you. If I didn’t show respect for your perspective, I apologize – I assure you, that was not my intent.
But yes, Adam has done harm. The strip has gone to pains to show Adam as being ‘there’ for Cait all her life – comforting her after breakups, playing with her as kids, turning down other girls to be around her. He immediately withdraws this support, walking out on her when she’s talking, blowing off pre-arranged social commitments to her like driving. How would you feel, if your best friend suddenly started doing that to you? And when they’re clothes shopping, I recall that he couldn’t stop drawing attention to her size even though he knew she was taking offense at it. These aren’t pure intentions.
You can say ‘Oh, he’s just socially awkward and doesn’t know what to say’. But if your lifelong best friend suddenly lost their leg, you or I or anyone would know what not to say or do. No normal person would refuse to be seen in public with them and make pegleg jokes. I’m sorry, but I stand by my assertion – I think the character, as he’s been written, is a complete dick.
Boy this page sparked lot of fascinating conversations about who’s worst between the two boy’s.
Can we all just say ‘were all worse then the two’ and call it a day?
Umm… March 16, 2011?? Methinks a few updates skipped, and the most recent item in the buffer got posted?
Yes. New ComicPress is mean.
I feel like I’ve missed something…
Hmmm… So Adam takes the high road and walks away from Cyril! Interesting… very interesting. Me thinks, Adam may have just been gifted with abilities, but is as of yet unaware of them.
He doesn’t want Cait mad at him.
Hmmm. So the fact that Cyril is more open about his fetishes doesn’t bother Adam. It’s the fact that photos were taken and posted without consent that pisses him off. I like it. It shows an intense sense of morality while being progressive.
Respectfully, I’ve got to disagree. First, I want to say that I think Cyril is slimy, and I’m not justifying him at all. But Adam is magnitudes worse. It’s becoming more and more obvious that Adam is supposed to be a reader-identifier character. Handsome but shy; the normal guy without superpowers. But every time he appears, he just becomes more objectionable in that role.
The problem with Cyril is that he doesn’t see other people as human beings. Until he has a formative experience where he conceptualizes others as real people – and, (not to make excuses for him in the least), undesirable, ostracized nerds like him frequently do not have this social experience as soon in life as others – he will remain creepy and incapable of respecting personal boundaries.
So, Cyril doesn’t view Cait as a real person, and hurts her. But far worse, Adam DOES see her as a real person, and STILL purposely, and repeatedly, inflicts gross psychological harm on her. And what is his reason? So he can feel marginally better about himself and his own feelings. The character is a total ass, and in real life, would do far more harm than 10 unwashed manipulative nerds.
Hmm…odd, I’m not seeing where he’s purposely and repeatedly inflicting “gross psychological harm”. I’ve seen him not act on his feelings regarding Cait because he’s confused about what it is he’s exactly attracted to, her or her pregnancy, but not where he’s consciously setting out to hurt her.
He hurt her bad enough to be willing to give up her babies to the Loki-possessed woman at the school. He’s walked out on her and turned his back on her, cuts her off, and he’s joked about her size even when he can see it’s causing her harm.
Look, I’m not saying he’s a poorly written character. He’s very well written. For example, Hamlet was an utter ass, but the literary canon is stronger for his presence. But Shakespeare knew he was a manipulative jerk, didn’t try to whitewash it, and emphatically didn’t believe that he deserved a happy ending after what he’d done. The way Adam has treated Cait very much reminds me of how Hamlet treated Ophelia.
While I agree with you that Cyril is slimey and fails to recognize that other people possess a “self” just as he does, I fail to see how Adam is doing any harm. If you are referring to those incidents where Adam has isolated himself from his friends, it is with the purest intentions at heart. He walks away simply because he is confused by his own sense of attraction to women in a form that our uptight society is labeled deviant, and works to determine if he truly does like the girl in question or if it’s just his fetish calling the shots. Above all else, it seems he wants to do right by them, and so he must work through his own feelings to accomplish this. If there are pages contradicting what I’ve said, then by all means please point them out. Kthxbai.
“Kthxbai”? I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that other opinions were personally offensive to you. If I didn’t show respect for your perspective, I apologize – I assure you, that was not my intent.
But yes, Adam has done harm. The strip has gone to pains to show Adam as being ‘there’ for Cait all her life – comforting her after breakups, playing with her as kids, turning down other girls to be around her. He immediately withdraws this support, walking out on her when she’s talking, blowing off pre-arranged social commitments to her like driving. How would you feel, if your best friend suddenly started doing that to you? And when they’re clothes shopping, I recall that he couldn’t stop drawing attention to her size even though he knew she was taking offense at it. These aren’t pure intentions.
You can say ‘Oh, he’s just socially awkward and doesn’t know what to say’. But if your lifelong best friend suddenly lost their leg, you or I or anyone would know what not to say or do. No normal person would refuse to be seen in public with them and make pegleg jokes. I’m sorry, but I stand by my assertion – I think the character, as he’s been written, is a complete dick.
Boy this page sparked lot of fascinating conversations about who’s worst between the two boy’s.
Can we all just say ‘were all worse then the two’ and call it a day?