GTS – Page 68 – Kidd Commander!

GTS – Page 68

by Aria on February 25, 2021 at 3:06 PM

Lunch With Grandma!

EDIT 2/26:

Hi hi, this was originally posted on tumblr but after a couple days of getting similar reactions (nobody has been unpleasant at all so far, don’t worry) from people across different platforms I thought it might be prudent to crosspost it here with the actual comic so it’ll be here for anybody who wants it.

This doesn’t spoil anything but it does maybe pull the curtain back a bit too much re: author intentions and such, so if you’re worried about me influencing your perceptions of the work you can skip this. Anyway, from tumblr, in response to a reader pointing out how all this is very similar to Christianity:

I forget if people don’t follow my more personal social medias (or hang out in the discord) you probably haven’t seen my constant whining about my upbringing and the way it relates to kc, so no yeah, full stop. The concepts in this arc are very purposely lifted wholesale from Pentecostal Christianity.

I usually try not to do like, 1-to-1 analogs with reality because that’s boring, and my intention is never to write things and go “these guys are Objectively Bad and these guys are Correct And You Should Agree With Them” because that sucks. In this case though my intentions are relevant to what I want to do, which is write something that would have been beneficial for me to read while I was still hopelessly mired in the church. This is a story being written by someone who was deeply damaged by being raised Pentecostal who would like to maybe help other people in similar situations by writing a goofy comic.

I can’t control how people relate to my work and I don’t want to! BUT there is some word of god if knowing it makes you feel better. If you’ve been a fan of the comic up to now and knowing this makes you feel the opposite of better, I hope you’ll hang in there until the arc is finished at least. Kidd Commander isn’t always gentle but it does try very hard to be kind and hopeful, at the end of the day. I promise I’m not here to tell another smug Religion Is Cancer Atheists Are Enlightened story.

(also important to clarify all this because if i was gonna make up a religion it would be more fun than this lmaooooo)

thank u for reading

Amalia Ackerman

This is killing me so much. Why does being kind have to be linked to G-d?
- Aria
  
  it’s a real mystery for sure
D

She ain’t playing with one of those regular “problematic bingo cards”, she’s playing the lotto equivalent, where you get bonus points for filling in the whole sheet!

Also, it’s weird, with Monterey, I had some pretty straightforward reactions, but with Lillian, despite her feeling similar (or worse) in a number of aspects… it harder to pin down bits and pieces. And I don’t think it’s the whole “grammaw” thing causing it.
- Aria
  
  The comment section here has been slow but discord was REAL upset about grandma when the page went up yesterday lmaooo. I can’t get super into it yet but I do have a lot to say about Lillian, not in a “ooh look at this super complex nuanced character I made” way but like, she’s very very much based on my own experiences with family and people who are supposed to care about you who have had their love and kindness twisted by the church. I’ve always been honest that KC is really personal and biographical in its own way, but this arc is by far the most direct analog I’d planned to write.
  
  On one hand, as a storyteller and a human trying to communicate I’m REAL PLEASED this particular story beat is landing so well, given it’s such a specific and subtle thing? But given how KC tends to attract queer or alienated folks, it seems to be hitting close to home in unpleasant ways for a lot of people and I’m sorry so many people have had to deal with this haha. If it helps anyone, don’t forget we do like happy endings around here~
  - D
    
    Yeah, I’m a bit guilty of sometimes forgetting the “personal and biographical” bit on occasion. I appreciate that you’ve put so much of yourself into this. I look forward to seeing where this goes too, and I’m glad to hear that it’s got such a powerful impact. It feels… very important (speaking as someone who’s only ever had the outside perspective). I hope that it accomplishes all the things you want from it.
    
    I really should drop by the discord again. I’m so bad about social media, but it’d be nice to connect with you all (rather than show up for like a week, and go quiet like last time xD). It always sound s like good place to be.
    - Aria
      
      OH do feel free to forget kc is personal! I don’t try to bring it up as a TAKE MY COMIC VERY SERIOUSLY OR ELSE thing, but like? idk people portraying trauma in their stories or using their work as catharsis helps me a lot in various ways, so if I see something Relatable in a work and then find out the author WAS actually processing the same type of issues I was relating to it’s validating I guess? I try to do this too wrt making my queer status or (within reason) my mental health public info because it ALSO helps me to see people dealing with the same stuff as me out there doing cool things. if my weirdness can help I’m happy to put it out there lol
      
      I know lots of people very much prefer to think their stories are spit out by a completely objective impartial machine and that’s also fine, but whenever people respond emotionally to something in kc I like to mention it’s coming from a real place so maybe they can feel Seen somehow. It’s weird! making genuine art and putting it on the internet is really fuckin weird.
      
      It’s a very nice little community in my horribly biased opinion! But we have lots of lurkers and we like them too donut feel bad. also tbh i don’t get as many comments on the site since lots of the active readers just post in there instead, so i’m happy to hear from you here too lmao
marithness

YIKE. I want Tolouse to get all the hugs and an invitation to hang out on an airship with nice people and no creepy religious obligations.
~J

…

I changed my mind. Judgment no longer withheld. BURN IT ALL DOWN.
- Aria
  
  same tho
Christina Hansen

“This is a kindness!” They say, as they torture you, “You’ll thank me later!”
- Aria
  
  you’ll thank us for these personality disorders later 🙂
Aria

Pretty much This Exactly, it’s a tough thing to contend with from a parental figure hhh
Beach Fox

Oh. Oh noooooooooo.