There Are Still Millions Of Us Who Want To Do Good, Who Have Done Good, Who Will Do Good. Take Comfort.

the need to talk about the characters vs the fear that all of my analysis is just empty prose and surface level understanding

im still kind of in disbelief that that the internet like...turned on lore olympus. i get the whole "once something is popular people make it their personality to hate something", and the "incredibly online people make age gap discourse about immortal gods bc they need to touch grass," and you're certainly not obligated to like it, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but like. it is a genuinely good comic. its issues are no worse than like, most serialized web comics that have to struggle with the medium, and its art style is engaging and interesting, and has improved a lot over time. i know there was a very t*rf-led movement on here a LONG time ago starting discourse about greek myths to get crypto t*rf shit about femininity across and i know thats where some critiques come from. and it's weird that many criticisms of "modern retellings" get blamed on lore olympus bc it doesnt actually follow them - like, demeter isnt some crazy bitch, she's a character with complexity and depth.

yes the original intent of the story is changed, a story that women in ancient times could relate to about the fears of marriage, but LO actually does what modern retellings of old stories do best - modify a story to serve a similar purpose, but reflecting the modern audience's contemporary issues. in this case, embracing the complexities of love and marriage as a survivor of sexual assault, something many modern women struggle with. persephone's relationship with demeter ALSO reflects a very real struggle many modern young women have, of finding identity and sexual agency as an adult when your entire life has been controlled by a helicopter mother, even with the best intentions, and with her own trauma.

i also find the criticisms of the body types and sexuality often misogynistic and weird - people want things with a distinct, interesting style, they want women with sexual agency to be promoted and not sanitized, and yet LO gets over-criticized. how persephone dresses, how the other gods dress, changes a lot depending on level of confidence, mood, etc, and is a part of the storytelling in an interesting way. you don't have to like it, and i know there's jokes about the LO art style of drawing women, but i have a body like some of those bodies. i know other people who do, or at least similarly. it's not like a lot of comics or manga or anime where everyone is a stick, and they get to be sexy! it's nice!

and when people complain that its the only webcomic people read well then thats a YOU problem. i read a LOT of webcomics. i talk about them to people, i recommend them. romantic and otherwise. do you? do you spend as much time complaining about lore olympus as you do talking up other cool webcomics that deserve attention?

Nah cuz I been clockin the hatred of men as anti-Black anti-Indigenous and transphobic from day one. I’m HORRIFIED by the beliefs/attitudes and mistreatment of (trans, queer, third and cultural gender) men of color that I witness from radfems and TERFs, AND everyday (predominantly yt) queer ppl. Queer men of color and third gender men have been subjected to this abusive treatment for so long that we have become ashamed to be queer ashamed to be proud as men who are attracted to men. I shouldn’t have to hide the fact that I’m attracted to men. I shouldn’t have to feel shame for the fact that I’m attracted to men, have relationships with men, and love being with and identifying as a man. being a man of color is beautiful. Being a man does not make you evil, an abuser, or a bad person. Being a man does not have to be restricted to colonial gender binaries and constructs. We can build our own cultural, traditional masculinities and manhoods that are liberating, not oppressive. claiming that manhood and masculinity are inherently violent is race and gender essentialism.

Hilda by Duane Bryers

Chai tea bag + lil but of brown sugar + apple cider packet + 16 oz. mug of hot but not quite boiling water

it will not Fix You but like. maybe. maybe.

The soundtrack ripping my soul right out of my body didn’t help either

"ai is making it so everyone can make art" Everyone can make art dipshit it came free with your fucking humanity

'White Americans don't have any culture, they're just [normal/boring/generic/empty]. 'Culture' is when you're quaint and exotic and have interesting ethnic foods and holidays." is such a grating bit of nonsense to have somehow become progressive commonsense in a lot of places.

i love you visible brushstrokes. i love you glue warped scrapbook pages. i love you awkward poems. i love you junk journal with faded receipts. i love you poorly composed journal layout. I love you unintentionally blurry photographs. i love you asymmetrical beading. i love you curling freeform crochet. i love you fingerprints on pottery. i love you reused materials. i love you improvised instruments. i love you mistakes. i love you bravery to make it anyway. i love you creativity that hasn't been wiped clean of every drop of humanity and sanitized and commodified.