Shades After 070
I find the hardest thing about drawing characters is figuring out what clothes they wear. I figure Susan is the kind of woman who goes to GAP and Next, so I just went on GAP kids and found some clothes. Turns out denim is back once more…
I think children’s clothes are looking more and more like adult clothing (which is similar to how it was pre-1920s) which means it’s harder to draw characters that obviously look like children but are still fashionable.
Chris is all expecting Anwar to leave, but he just makes his way into the kitchen. A lot of blue going on o.o Did Anwar bring food from home or pick it up somewhere?
From the look of the containers I’m assuming it’s takeaway.
I’m trying to parse a phrase here. “Too spicy?” I don’t understand this idea.
(OK, yes, of course I do, as I make food for other people with much lower tolerances for spicy, but now I’m really in the mood for a good spicy curry.)
I have a friend I get a lot of recipes from, and she’s really fond of spicy food and cooking with spice ^_^ She pointed out to me that a lot of really spicy food is meant to be served with yogurt. Really, this is genius. If you’re eating and something is too spicy, you have a spoon of yogurt and it stops the mouth burning. I liked spicy food before, but I love them even more knowing this.
That is a good trick! I’ve also heard bread or sugar works, depending on the sort of spicy that’s causing the problem. (Basically, something to break up or soak up the oils.) For those that drink it, alcohol is supposed to help, but I can’t verify that one.
The ideal combination is a fat (like yoghurt) to dissolve the capsaicin followed by alcohol to get the fat into a soluble suspension. And then possibly bread to act as a sponge.
Food chemistry FTW.
Anwar is probably thinking “alright this sucks but i’ll jsut make the best of an awkworkd situation” Going in to make dinner may not be the best idea in the world but this was probably going to happen some day anyway.
Look at the older daughter’s eyes. She either knows what’s up, or she suspects.
Not necessarily. Children around that age are often distrustful of strangers, and she could be moody for a number of reasons. Or it could be racial prejudice, since that hasn’t entered the story yet.
Hasn’t entered the story yet? Go look a few pages back to the thing with JD.
You mean the recent flashback? How was that about race?
How is sexualising a person based on their race not racial prejudice?
She looks like a child who just wants time alone with her dad who she never sees. Anyone to crash that is an invader. Been that kid before. Of course, she may also sense something is up. Never underestimate kids that way, but I’m betting most of it is territorial.
Either that, or she’s noticed that her dad’s on her shoulder and having mixed feelings about it. Ambivalent you can even say, as I am afraid that she is currently under the care of her mom but misses her dad, but at the same time kind of have a love hate relationship with him, oh and it’s the teenage years.
Based on Chris’ daughter’s first reaction it looks like she hasn’t met Anwar yet, or is still very unfamiliar with him.
So… Wow Chris. -1000 Dad points. I know you’re a person first, but you kinda have a responsibility to said kids to break it to them gently if they haven’t already figured it out or been completely disillusioned by their mother…
At least Anwar (at least) is the kind of person who isn’t going to be frotting up on Chris while he’s trying to say goodnight to the kids.
I hope I’m wrong and the kids have met Anwar before and everything’s awesome and whatever, but right now it seems like Chris is a shit father for putting his kids in the middle like this.
Chris basically has no visitation; he mentioned something along those lines when he was talking about when he and his ex wife had their divorce. I forgot the page, but I remember him saying they got divorced faster than you can say joint custody or visiting rights? So anything they know about Anwar is going to come from mommy dearest, not their dad. This may even be the first chance he’s had go have them around since the divorce, so maybe he hasn’t gotten around to talking about the man in his life because being around his kids trumped talking about difficult things…
And well, since when having a man in his house imply that this said man has to be his boyfriend ? I mean, I don’t see what’s unresponsible or shitty-parenting. He doesn’t greet him with french-kisses and butt grabing.. He’s having a friend for diner, that’s quite a gentle way of introducing him at his children….
I think lots of adults dating and having children introduce their partner to their children without having previously said to them that they were dating…
And him being in a relationship with another man doesn’t mean he’s gay or something… So, I don’t see the point of “coming-out” to them if he’s not feeling like it.. the situation doesn’t need him to..
Bit harsh saying someone’s a shit father because they didn’t immediately tell their kids they have a new partner, regardless of the gender…
How exactly is it “-1000 Dad points” to not have introduced them to War yet? Most single parents (especially the noncustodial parents) take time to date a person first, be sure that said person is going to stick around for a while and *then* introduce them to the kids. This is actually what a lot of professionals recommend and something that can be held against a parent in family court over here (a parent who exposes their kids to many different partners is seen as unstable and setting a bad example for the kids, even if those many different partners were just people they went on 1-3 dates with and felt they didn’t hit it off.)
Further, given the state of his divorce, if there is a chance that his ex will use it in court against him, it really is better for the kids not to meet War. After all, she can’t spin it that he’s being a bad influence on the kids if they’ve never even met him.
While I personally introduce my kids to all my friends and partners and always have, I can completely understand and even support Chris’s decision not to here.
I wouldn’t go slamming Chris just yet. Others have mentioned the reasons why we’re just now meeting Chris’ kids. Don’t forget his wife – she might be telling the kids a lot of BS about their father because of his identity and now his relationship with Anwar. We don’t know yet what his kids think/feel, so don’t be so quick to go after Chris for it.
I doubt the children suspect anything other than their Dad has a weird friend that makes rice and brings spicey curry over. I was under the impression the elder daughters face was more of a distrust of strangers/random friends who show up randomly. Even if their mother said something innapropraite (and nasty) about Chris there’s nothing here to imply Anwar is the boyfriend in question. Not yet anyway, I suspect Anwar will drop that as gracefully as last time.
I hope this implies Chris got at LEAST visitation rights because I am also under the impression he’s interested in be a good Dad (I hope its joint custody though).
“So, you’re deadbeat dad is gay, and sleeping with young Muslim men.”
I can totally see a vindictive ex-wife spinning something like this. Though we don’t really know anything about her, so that’s just one possibility.
Somebody get that child some yogurt!
I was just explaining this in another comment. I adore you ^_^
I don’t know, how hard would it have been for Chris to send off a msg to Anwar by phone? Not nice!
Those kids look like they take all his attention. I doubt Chris had time. That teen especially. ^^
He literally said “oh my god I am so sorry!” In the last page. Clearly he got his dates mixed up and in the confusion of getting his kids and hanging out with them since he doesn’t see them all that often a date with Anwar totally slipped his mind. Why is everyone hating on Chris for being a little forgetful? Are you guys telling me you’ve NEVER double booked yourself accidentally? Sheesh.
Besides, Anwar’s handling it like a champ so far so everyone chill.
+1
Ohoh, and the subtle racism of the kid – someone with a non-white face at the door? Must be servant-class. Interesting
He did have curry
That’s not really racism, he was carrying curry and she didn’t know him so it’s a fair assumption to make.
Don’t care what race they are. If some dude I’ve never met is standing st the door with take out boxes, I’m gonna go ahead and assume they’re delivering.
Man you guys are judgemental as hell.
+1
Pointing out racism or racist assumptions is not judgemental. It’s honest. The fact is, this girl does not typically live with Chris and we don’t even know the last time she was over at his house. I would imagine most people who would show up at Chris’s door would be unknown to her. There’s honestly probably some age-related assumptions in here as well. Anwar is young and not white and for those reasons Chris’s daughter, as a white person, is much more likely to assume he is a delivery person than she would if, say, he was a middle aged white man carrying the same curry. At that point she’d probably just assume he was one of her dad’s friends that she had never met.
Pointing out racist assumptions isn’t necessarily the same thing as saying Chris’s kid is a terrible person or all white people are terrible people for having assumptions like this. It’s just acknowledging that we live in a racist world and most of us, especially white people, have subconscious thoughts and assumptions that are biased/prejudiced against people of color, even if we don’t consciously act on these thoughts and assumptions. Most of the time white people don’t even realize we are speaking or acting based on this prejudice and “small” things like what happened on the last page seem innocent/meaningless to us. Meanwhile oftentimes people of color experience things like this very differently because instances like this happen all the time to them. It’s like how someone saying “that’s so gay” might seem funny or innocent to a straight person, but to a gay person who has heard it and other similar things constantly it can be really hurtful.
I do hope this theme is developed at least a bit further in the comic. Anwar’s life experience is different from Chris’s in many ways, but one way that hasn’t been much explored as of yet is that Chris is a white person and Anwar is a person of color. I know things in England are different than they are in the USA, but I highly doubt racial prejudice is a conversation of the past even there.
As a kid, anyone showing up at my door who I didn’t know/wasn’t expecting with take out boxes was immediately a delivery person in my head, regardless of race or age, since we’ve got delivery people of all races/age groups around here (people take what jobs they can get and especially delivery places, the turn over is so high that often times the managers end up running deliveries when the delivery person quit with no notice.) While this certainly could be the start of a racial discussion/commentary, it really could be as innocent as he was carrying take out boxes.
Thank you, that was my first thought too.
Yeah but she didn’t know the food was curry, she assumed it was curry. He’s also not wearing a uniform and delivery people are almost always required to wear uniforms. Someone turns up at my door in regular clothes with food in containers, I’m going to think they’ve got the wrong house.
I have never in my life seen a delivery person wearing a uniform, possibly because I don’t buy from chains. There are loads of independent take away places here in Ireland, and also in the UK.
Also, curries can be identified by smell.
TRiG.
Yeah, seconding Timothy on both counts. I can tell what the delivery guy has just based on scent and curry has a pretty distinctive scent. I’ve also rarely seen any delivery person in a uniform. Even the chains around here are lax on the delivery people wearing uniforms save for Papa Johns.
I can’t do spicy food at all, it gives me canker sores every time. Plus spicy food is just painful to me in general, I don’t understand it. lolz
If their mom has told them about Anwar, they’re probably going to be surprised at how little kissing and ass-grabbing is going on, heh.
They’re adorable kids. I want to know how Chris managed to father two kids who have the same hair colour as he. (I can’t even remember how his wife looks, but I think she has darker hair).
Chris either earned some -100 dad points or some -100 boyfriend points, for getting the dates mixed up. It’s an awkward situation for those kids to not have their dad for themselves, seldom as they see him, but I wouldn’t expect Anwar to … what could he do? Pretend to be a curry delivery person?
I hope the kids won’t tell their mom, because I’m sure she would use it against Chris.
I love how ‘War is just like: “..Kay, so dinner for four, then? Lemme get right on that.”
“What? There’s already not enough sauce”