Shades Of A 036
A page in which Anwar angsts and JD enables their doomed plot.
Here’s an extract of 50SoG when Ana talks to her friend Kate about Christian:
Kate is sitting at the dining table at her laptop when I arrive. Her welcoming smile fades when she sees me.
“Ana what’s wrong?”
Oh no… not the Katherine Kavanagh Inquisition. I shake my head at her in a back-off now Kavanagh way – but I might as well be dealing with a blind, deaf mute.
“You’ve been crying,” she has an exceptional gift for stating the damned obvious sometimes. “What did that bastard do to you?” she growls, and her face – jeez, she’s scary.
“Nothing Kate.” That’s actually the problem. The thought brings a wry smile to my face.
“Then why have you been crying? You never cry,” she says, her voice softening. She stands, her green eyes brimming with concern. She puts her arms around me and hugs me. I need to say something just to get her to back off.
“I was nearly knocked over by a cyclist.” It’s the best that I can do, but it distracts her momentarily from… him.
“Jeez Ana – are you okay? Were you hurt?” She holds me at arm’s length and does a quick visual check-up on me.
“No. Christian saved me,” I whisper. “But I was quite shaken.”
haha love it. Although in the second panel, looks like JD has a pony tail? which looks kinda cool…
I think it’s a poster behind them. JD would look cool with a ponytail, though!
I think it’s a poster. Of a pony.
With a tail.
So technically, it would be a pony tail. Just on JD’s wall, not their head!
On the subject of posters, is that Bowie in the left-hand poster in the final panel? I’m liking JD more and more!
Seems like Bowie, Ziggy Stardust period. Also, had to check out the pony, and looks like it’s moving from previous page to this one :) And, is the one with the apple a Discord poster, or something else from pop history?
JD’s devious face is so cute.
Oh Anwar.. u so dramatic~
I can kind of relate. I imagine he’s not a particularly good run of succesful long-term relationships so he’s a bit… negative… about the potential future of this potential relationship.
I’ve never let that stop yet though.
Even reading the Shades of Grey excerpts you post to draw parallels is friggin’ painful. How did this book become a best seller?!
And aaaw Anwar is so adorable in his drama here.
I love those tiny creases in JD’s shirt where I assume their nipples are. That’s kinda sexy.
“How can your plot develop?” Ahahahahahahaha fourth wall leaning.
In that last panel, I can’t decide if JD is simply gesturing to emphasize their point, or flailing in an “I want to shake you for being so goofy!” way. And it’s a good thing Anwar was already lying down, because I could totally see him flopping down in a dramatic way in the last panel, but missing and bashing his head against the wall. That’s not fun, I know from experience. And it totally ruins the drama when that happens, because your friend will ALWAYS dissolve into evil giggles at that point.
I can see that happening. You’ve described it vividly.
TRiG.
Okay okay, I’m sorry, but I have to ask. Did you edit any of that dialogue from 50 Shades to fit it into the post? Did you remove or modify punctuation for simplicity? I suppose most of it isn’t technically incorrect, but it has the style and flow of a disgruntled 13-year-old’s obligatory book report. I just can’t imagine a book with a writing style this grating and frustrating managed to gain such popularity.
I know I say this about most new characters, but I really mean it this time. JD is my favourite person ever. I can only hope we see more about their own past.
It’s directly copied from the e-book. It’s just terrible writing.
I just wanted so badly to believe it wasn’t real. >:
Hi, I like this comic very much, but since I am a complete ignorant in all this theme I am trying to learn more about it, so searching for what asexual is, a question struck my mind.
Is Anwar a panromantic ?
Kisses are also avoided by the asexuals?
different ace folks have different feelings about kissing! asexuality is as nuanced and complicated and sexual-sexuality, and some ace folks like to kiss and some don’t. I’m sure we’ll find out more information about Anwar’s relationship with his asexuality and his romantic orientation as the story progresses.
Tab did say that he is not aromantic and that he would classify kissing as romantic, therefore a thing he’d be okay with with the right person.
He’s had romantic feelings for JD who he, presumably, first thought was female and later learned was a “they”; and seems to not factor in Chris’ gender either. So his, er… Romantic-sexuality (seriously, is there a word for that, because there needs to be) seems to be panromantic, but obviously we can’t be sure without hearing it from either himself, or Tab.
Even romantic aces have different feelings on kissing. Like, I love the idea of it (because you’re close to the person, cuddling, and it’s intimate) but in actuality…yeah, not so much a fan. I’d imagine there’s also some *sexual people who aren’t the biggest fans of kissing either.
ooooh I missed that Tab comment…
THANK YOU!
Loving the comic so far, and since this is such a great community full of a diverse gender audience, I want to get advice.
I’m really confused about my gender identity. I came out as ftm transgender (only to fam n friends) 4 years ago and that felt right then but I don’t really feel like a man much anymore. There are days where I feel like a man and get mad when people try to link me to very feminine concepts, but now I’m having days where I also feel like a girl (tomboy, not girly) and not necessarily in a bad way. Does this mean I’m not ftm transgender after all? I don’t think my pride would let me come out of the closet twice to a family that wasn’t all that receptive of the first coming out, but I’m so confused.
Sorry, I know there are probably better places to post this…
You have come to an interesting place, my similarly-named acquaintance.
I have identified as FTM for about- four years, actually, going on five.
Gender identity isn’t as solid and unshakable as we want it to be. It can fluctuate. You can have feminine days and masculine days. I know I do. For example, I just recently became interested in doing obviously-visible stage makeup, which isn’t a traditionally masculine activity (I think? I could be wrong about this, though the friend that often mixes up my pronouns looked absolutely horrified when she saw me).
You can be a man. You can be a woman. You can be both or neither. You can be a man that wears a skirt in his basement on weekends, or a man that just says, “Screw it; I’m done with stereotypes. I’ll do what I want.”
We like to think that men are men and women are women, but they’re not.
I agree with both of you. Once I came out as ftm, I actually started to enjoy more traditionally feminine activities, i.e. playing with stage makeup and painting my nails. So it’s totally cool to be a dude who likes to do traditionally feminine stuff or a chick who likes to do traditionally masculine stuff. Whatever floats your boat!
I can definitely identify with what you (Alex) and the others have said. I came out as a trans man over 3 years ago. I’ve been on T for over 2 years and am seen as a cis guy all the time now but I no longer identify as a man (or a trans man). I find myself identifying more and more with my sex assigned at birth, but I don’t fully identify as a woman or a girl either. I’m not typically feminine but I don’t see myself as all that masculine either. These days I typically see my identity as that of a genderqueer trans guy. Because I’ve identified as a trans guy for so long and because I have had permanent effects from taking T, being a trans guy is always going to be part of my identity (in my opinion). But these days I moreso identify as genderqueer. So I kind of merged those identities to more accurately reflect me and that works pretty well right now.
That said, as the others have mentioned, you can enjoy any kinds of activities and see your gender in any way, including more feminine ways, and still identify as ftm. It’s your identity so it’s a completely personal labeling choice.
Thanks for all the supportive personal input. Haha, reassuring to know this DOES happen to other peeps. This community rocks
Alex, your masculinity is what you make of it. Gender isn’t a binary and for some people gender is fluid. Don’t let anyone tell you that you”re “doing it wrong”. However you feel that moment is right for you. Embrace that. Maybe check out some genderqueer websites? Here’s one: http://genderqueerconfessions.tumblr.com/
thanks for the url I’ll check it out
Wait, so is anwar asexual and panromantic?
Okay I have a question. Was the girl in the book almost hit by a motorcycle or a bicycle? Because, from what I am reading in these excerpts it sounds like a bicycle, which would probably not cause incredibly serious damage… And here she is talking about it like the guy took a bullet for her.
I am so confused. :(
On a happier note, I really love the interactions between JD and Anwar. :)
In the book, it was a bicyclist. you’d be surprised how much damage can be inflicted by a speeding bicyclist. Ironically enough, I was in Portland today, mere blocks from where the bike incident in 50SoG takes place, and yup, I was almost hit by a bicyclist. Like a deja vu moment, my husband grabbed me and pulled me aside. I teased that it could have been a scene right out of that damn book, except we are thankfully far past the angsty phase in our relationship.
I can get where blind and deaf might come into it, but /mute/?
Anwar is seriously hot. Does this just make his life more difficult?
And he mentions Friday prayers (page 2). Is he Muslim? Does his faith impact on his asexuality?
My apologies if these questions are cringingly naive.
I feel Anwar’s pain… being asexual as well. (quite frankly it really is this awkward, confusing, and irritating) Its great for relationships for the most part but issues do arise . I’m dating a non-ace and its difficult at times because sometimes they want more and I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with that or not. Luckily my other half understands that
OMG, I just realised that Chris and Anwars names where chosen because they’re similar to Christian and Anastasia (laughs to self for hours), how did I not see that before?