My Site and Drunk Duck

First off, I really enjoy using these characters because they're so morally inept and completely unaware of it - although one of them seems to be getting wiser the more they interact. I've always pictured these two as "Old Money" and "New Money," and the old is always trying to teach the new - but the old ways seem foreign and inappropriate to the new ways.

Which is where we get into a few topics here that are no doubt going to tick off some readers. Let me start by saying that this comic is in no way a reflection of my own beliefs. It's a commentary on things that I have seen and elaborated upon.

1) I wanted to make commentary about the gas topic back in 2008, but was in the middle of too many story arcs. The fact that gas stations are charging ten cents for paying with a credit card is silly to me (even though I know they get charged a service fee), since no one I know really carries cash around with them anymore - especially not the amount that you would spend to fill a gas tank.

2) The election of Obama as the first black president (I say black instead of African American because of comments that many of my black friends used to make to me in college - it was a term that they preferred, and was more universally encompassing. Example, one of my friends was from the Virgin Islands, and would be insulted if anyone called her African American. "I'm neither African nor American," she would say. "I'm from the Virgin Islands!" So I hope that term doesn't offend. If it does, then I hope you grow to be less sensitive sometime in the near future.) was a historical event, and one that I was happy to be a part of - since I voted for the man. He's done more work in the first month and a half of being in office than Bush did in the last 2 years combined. However, he's rocking a lot of boats that I'm sure would be upsetting people like "Old Money" here - which I agree with many of his policies, but not all of them. So I thought a reaction from the character would be appropriate.

This fear was, I guess, perpetuated among many people around my area immediately after the election. After the election results came in, I was outside updating the webcomic (stealing free wi-fi from the nearby clubhouse in my apartment complex), when some youths came walking by saying things like, "Oh no, a black man in the office. Tomorrow all the white guys are going to have to start picking cotton in the fields," and other such nonsense. To this day, I'm still trying to figure out if I just don't live in as progressive an area as I thought, or if the youths that made comment were just drunk and uneducated.

I mean, was anyone honestly afraid that something like that would happen? If so, you clearly don't understand how the world works - nor do you deserve to live in it, in my opinion. We should export your ass to "ignorant island," where you can live in peace and harmony forever...until you decide to declare war on the rest of us, in which case we'll just put an embargo on your island and call you New Cuba.

3) "Old Money" is so clueless that he's not even aware that his partner in crime is black, and says that "rich people can't be black." I think that it's important to note that this sentence isn't said the other way around, which I would then find very insulting. This is just some clueless old codger trying to rant to his subordinate, and getting it wrong.

4) The end joke here is, as always with "Old Money," a sex joke. The idea is less the fact that he's upset and hiding from the government, but more the fact that he has difficulty performing his sexual duties.

So, in conclusion, if anything from this comic came off as insulting, I apologize and that was not my intention. My intention was to make commentary about "Old Money" reacting to progressive policies and a somewhat radical overhaul of a system that has been failing of late, and trying to fix the mistakes of the last 8 plus years. If you take offense to anything and would like to voice it, however, I do - as always - welcome your e-mails, twitter replies, and comments.

Have a peachy day, and I'll see you with another update on Friday.

PS: I think I'm going to keep trying this Wednesday / Friday update schedule for this comic for the time being, just to see how it fits. Your thoughts?