I took the opportunity with this page to poke fun at the way girls always say they are tom boys, but they really aren’t. They also like to say they are nerds, or that geeks are cool, but they would never touch a real geek or nerd with a ten foot pole. Yes this is a broad generalization and it is totally true. If you get offended you are not being much of a tom boy.
If I have infuriated any sensitive ladies, well, I did paint this…
…which will instantly make you think I am awesome. I’m just saying it’s hard to resist a nice walnut ink rendition of a Bear Elk. This is another one of the pieces I am doing that will find its way to eBay here soon. I’m pretty proud of this one if you couldn’t tell from how pompous I am being. Unfortunately the image is blurry because it is a photo, the original is too big to scan!
And yes, Gogs is that awesome and that is why we love him. I think the desire to practice punching a severed bear head is something most men can identify with, and that is why women in general find men as a species totally horrifying. This could lead into an entire Seinfeld routine of some sort, but I am out of material.
Bearicatures are basically sold out. I’ll sell a couple more bystanders then I will have to shut it down because that is going to be a lot of email and photo juggling to work into upcoming pages. Thanks again to all who bought them up!
Hey I haven’t had any blog-inspiring questions sent to me in a while. If you have any burning questions please feel free to send an email!
Ethan
Thank God for Gogs; it’s nice there’s at least one character who is thinking practically.
How dare Gogs practice punching my skull in! I WILL TEAR HIM APART WITH MY CHAINSAW ARMS!!!!!!!
I still think hollowing it out and using it as a nacho bowl is a better idea.
Ahh… but that’s already been used by another comic! Gotta come up with something original, like punching holes in its head. (Okay, maybe not original, but damn hilarious!)
She has been out there for a while. She’s got fur on those teeth. Moral of story: pack a tooth brush camping.
Great detail.
Huh? What are you referring to?
It’d be the difference in color between Andrea’s teeth and the others.
Guess I snoozed and losed! I would have loved to have bought one of those premium kill spots but they’re all gone! What an awesome idea for an awesome comic!
Andrea is less and less cute the closer she is to us.
Wait, wha-? Did all the characters suddenly forget that two people have been horrendously torn apart by bears?!?
Those people weren’t important. Its kind of like the walking dead comic. When a main character dies, its very dramatic and there is usually at least one page of grieving. When a less important character dies, its usually amidst the action and everyone is too busy fighting for their life to care about that person.
Except bears are MUCH more intelligent than zombies. Especially genetically modified super-bears.
They are bigger and faster than zombies, too. I would much rather be in a zombie apocolypse than a bearmageddon any day.
I’ve actually had recurring nighmares about being pursued by bears.
Considering you *ARE* a bear, that’s a surprise.
I may be hairy, but I’m not very big. I don’t think I’d be accepted into the bear community.
They never let poor Roscoe join in any killing games.
Punching Practice Skull! I totally called it!
I will fart and scratch my junk proudly in your presence. Somehow that seems like something i would say. Literally.
Andrea’s revulsion is palpable in that last panel, kudos.
The Great Horned Bear god is cool and all, but it would be cooler as a t-shirt on that Noelle girl.
No, but seriously it is pretty cool.
I will fart and scratch my junk and punch a hole in this bear’s skull in your presence!
So much truth is contained in this page and blog.
And, that is one of the best goals ever.
Gogs action figure with severed bear head accessory. Just say’n…
I would buy that in an instance…. how about an octo-teddy bear plush for the kids
Dickinson Killdeer with axe-chop action!
It’d be pretty awesome to have both that AND an Axe Cop action figure with the same feature!
Dickinson Killdeer vs Axe Cop in an axe chopping battle.
My god. The mere thought of it is beautiful.
‘Tis a fine goal.
I am hoping that by the end of this, we will get to see Gogs kill a bear with one punch.
Fun idea, having Gogs take the severed head ^^
Btw, that chimera picture seems to be a bear with deer antlers, an elk’s look totaly different. Yeah, I’m being a smartass.
And my dislike for Andrea grows deeper and deeper
Your drawing reminds me of the Anderson Valley brewery’s mascot. http://www.avbc.com/main/our-beers/
So cool to see AVBC mentioned here! The brewery is owned by the family of an acquaintance, and their Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout is the brew that introduced me to the wonders of craft beers, lo all those years ago in college.
You obviously have never met my wife. She can outfart… is beautiful.
I think there ARE girls that are genuine tomboys. I just don’t think they are the ones that feel the need to TELL you they are. They are the ones that just ACT like one, without feeling the need to explain or label themselves.
Agreed.
hopefully people can tell that I am joking around here… also, by definition a generalization has exceptions. If it were true in all known cases we might have to call it a law of nature.
Yeah, I know you’re joking. I just thought I’d add the observation that the girls TELLING you they are tomboys are very likely the ones that really aren’t. Pity I did so in such a roundabout fashion.
I’m calling this now. I think Teddy is leading the Bearmageddon sort of similar to the way the Master lead the Supermutants in the original Fallout.
The master would have been scores more terrifying if he was a Bear though. Just sayin’
She does have a funny way of being grateful after someone was kind enough to offer her a ride. Gogs is one of the original riders. I would have expected that comment to come more from Nigel….
I like how you can tell how popular the comic got by looking at how the comments inflate after just an hour or two of it being posted.
You know, after going back and re-reading the part where they have the bear vs. gorilla discussion, I’m totally convinced that Joel’s increasing visual similarities to a chimp are going to somehow come into play. Mark my words.
Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me that Joel is NOT turning into a werechimp?
I love how matter-of-fact Gogs responds to Andrea.
“Don’t worry, I will fart and scratch my junk proudly in your presence.” That made me laugh. I’m waiting for some sort of “Drive for your life!” scene with angry bears.
I’m hoping Joel will realize soon that it takes more than an initial attraction to someone for it to really work. I’m just not seeing any chemistry between them that isn’t induced by the terrifying situation they’re in.
I’ve fallen for girls who were even worse for me. It’s amazing what initial attraction can do.
Dammit, you’re right. It happens to me all the time – in fact, it happened to me last week…
I totally feel you on girls who proclaim themselves tomboys/nerds/geeks. Some girls definitely are those things, and that’s cool, but some girls pretend to be those things because they think nerd/geek guys have low standards, and they can get unlimited attention from them. I used to do that myself, and I look back on that time with embarrassment.
Relevant quote from Pride and Prejudice:
“Elizabeth Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, when the door was closed on her, “is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I dare say, it succeeds. But, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art.”
“Undoubtedly,” replied Darcy, to whom this remark was chiefly addressed, “there is a meanness in all the arts which ladies sometimes condescend to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable.”
Miss Bingley was not so entirely satisfied with this reply as to continue the subject.
—
I realize that this quote also reflects poorly on me, but I don’t mind much. I am pretty despicable.
Although I think you do get a few points for finding a Austen quote with the word bears in it.
seconded
Bear elk? more like BEER!
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/beer.jpg
I’m a crazy tom boy who grew up with boys, had only brothers, had only boys in my neighborhood, and I ran around catching snakes and spiders and all sorts of things.
And you know what? I could never even attempt to stand up to some of the crazy stuff boys do.
Little known fact: girls fart and talk about farting all the time when guys aren’t around. We just can’t do it around them as it’s against the feminine code of secrecy and “mystique”.
Uh oh, you got a few lady readers mad. I won’t get mad if you release that shirt That Man suggested 😀
I already have evil plans to make any female offspring I have in the future into tomboys. No trouble with boys if they all think they’ll get beat up if they cause it.
I’m hoping someone called 9-11 😛 Nevertheless, do you have any tips on online comic book comedy?
Hrrm. I don’t see “tomboy” as meaning “incredibly boyish girl”; I see it as meaning “not girly girl”.
I must say this mild stab at girls that “pretend” to be anything but girly is mildly annoying to me as a geeky girl that sees no reason to declare myself such in words when the reality speaks for itself already. But, bears.
In an effort to avoid looking like I’m commenting on the Guardian, I think the comment from Andrea about it being gross to practice punching a bear skull is genderless, and merely from the tree hugging aspect of her personality. /wall of text, sorry! 😉
Who cares about tomboys. Gogs kept the bear head for punching practice. Brilliant idea if not for the how to preserve it question…
If he can master the one-punch skull crush in time, he won’t need to preserve it.
Thats a steep learning curve, then again it is a comic…
Well, it will get easier with time. The question is, will it get easy enough before it starts smelling?
I also realized it would be pretty clever foreshadowing to have mentioned the explosive van, and while everyone (including me) was led to believe it’d come into play as an incendiary weapon further down the line, was simply on fire when they came back to camp.
At least this way it’ll probably still be used as a weapon 🙂
Hey! Hey! HEEEEY! As a first-time-commenter-long-time-ladyreader I do take offense! It’s one thing if you’ve met a few girls who are like this, but another if you claim that ALL girls are like this! Or even “just” most girls! That’s an entire gender! Not cool man, not cool >: P
I don’t like Andrea but I think it’s interesting that she’s been set up as a romantic interest while very obviously being a terrible romantic interest. However, I think having a lady-strawman to beat up would be…less interesting. And more offending. Which would be so not cool. And sad-making because I like this comic ;___;
And bearantlers is great, but nope sorry still offended : P
http://nedroid.com/2009/03/beartato-8/ have some beartato!
Haha, yes, it is about time I read this comic XD
man girls get offended so easily!
It’s a chronic impairment. But is it mine…or SOCIETY’S?
DUN
DUN
DUNNNNNNN
But it’s fine, I won’t derail enjoyment of comic into attempted shaming with feminist theory. Even so, to any one reading this: I believe it’s something worth looking into. Just don’t base your understanding on wikipedia and bra-burning stuff, please XD
Anyways here are a few assertions from me: I think that this stuff matters, I will continue to be offended by this sort of generalization, and regardless of that I’m probably gonna continue reading this comic because I enjoy it and I will likely continue to do so unless this comment-community/comic becomes really toxic for someone like myself :
Kathryn, I respect your reply though I think if you knew me and my sense of humor you would not be offended. I joke this way with most girls I know and they understand I do not literally mean that all girls are one exact way and that they have no choice about it. I admitted from the start, all I am doing is processing my perception of females through my already clunky male mind. I actually think women can understand men a lot easier than men can understand women. So if you feel I am off, you are probably right, my brain does not think like yours. I do, however, have a tough time feeling bad for people who are too easily offended. I think there is an epidemic of people in our spoiled culture who have made indignation a hobbie. They are always looking for the next little slip of a phrase to rail against and take personal offense by. If people take themselves so seriously I don’t think there is any sort of tip-toeing you can do to never offend them. If they are that senstive, they will break sooner or later. So, I try not to be too abrasive, but I also am not going to cover everything in bubble so that the most humorless, overly sensitive person out there won’t be harmed. They already are harming themselves by being so joyless. Again, I am not accusing you of this because your comment shows a light heartedness and I appreciate that.
I couldn’t agree more with this statement.
She was a lady-strawman from her first appearance; that seemed clear.
Women are difficult for men to write, in general; consider how slowly they were introduced to Achewood. Onstad knew he couldn’t write them well. That’s fine. A deep understanding of women isn’t and shouldn’t be necessary for a fun, beautifully drawn-and-colored comic about killer bears. Ethan, this comic will be hell of more fun if you admit you know nothing about her and put her away.
I think this page is hilarious, but perhaps from the opposite side Ethan wrote it. Every male in this comic so far is a slobbish meat-headed moron. (No offense, Ethan 😉 )
I’m not going to deny I am bad at writing women. I think this is my first real attempt, but you guys will have to deal with it because I need to learn somehow. She probably is a bit of a straw man. I have often been head over heels for girls who were just as wrong for me as Andrea is for Joel.
Yes there is a male stereotype on this page too, but those are socially acceptable. And if you think I literally believe every man on earth would practice punching a severed bear head you give me very little credit.
All I’m saying is that’s one of the things I find so hilarious about the comic–the poking fun at male stereotypes and the ridiculous things that pass for socially acceptable. (Personally, I would probably be as horrified as Andrea at someone with a wet bloody bear head.)
*shrug* Just another layer to the comic, I guess. Everyone sympathizes (or doesn’t sympathize) with different characters and that’s ok. Like all good horror movies, the bears are what really matter.
yeah I agree. I actually tried to make my characters (especially Gogs, Nigel and Burton) stereotypes of common types of guys. Gogs thinks everything can be solved by punching it, Nigel escapes into quixotic causes that are abstract but self righteous, and Burton into getting baked. I personally think oversensitivity is a much bigger problem in our culture than stereotyping is. If people took themselves lightly these things would not be an issue.
I guess if girls can’t be geeks I’d better stop reading your comic. Asshole.
Awww c’mon I was trying to be nice
Let’s be niiiceeeeeeeee
This is what I was trying to avoooooooooid ;o;
Pleeeeeaaaase?~~~~
Way to go jerk, but its your opinion, one that you will probably never express here again thankfully.
I have done things and said things that would merit being called that, but I feel I have been misunderstood on this one, so I hope you will hear me out. I was not saying girls cannot be geeks. I go to comic conventions all the time, I KNOW girls can be geeks and they can out-geek me all day long. Geekiness is definitely not gender specific. I was making fun of these ditzy hot girls who wear shirts that say “I love nerds” and it is obvious BS. They were either paid to wear the shirt or they have some bodybuilder boyfriend who is kind of into video games so they say he is geeky. I’m actually standing up for real geek girls and guys against the fakers. I take full blame for the misunderstanding. The above blog was not written in much conviction or passion and was not well thought out, it was merely poking fun, and of course some people can’t take that, especially when they take it completely wrong. I hope you’ll give me a second chance and let me more full earn being called that name down the road when and if I ever really do say something that merits it.
Say what you wanna say man, letting the PC gestapo change the way you talk is letting them win. If people get offended, it’s a good thing; it generates dialogue on a subject that people still haven’t fully come to understand, and that’s what art is for.
Sorry, dude. I get that you’re joking around, but you really did come across as an asshole with that. Geeky and tomboyish girls have to deal with guys questioning their right to be part of the club constantly, so I think it’s understandable that they’re not set to laugh it off. And instead of expressing that you were joking (or knowingly painting with a broad brush), you basically said “And if you’re offended, it’s because you’re too sensitive.”
I’ve known a lot of guys who like to bitch about how there aren’t any cool, geeky girls out there. The truth is, there are awesome geeky girls out there. They just don’t like hanging out with guys who have a hate on for girls or feel that girls have to prove that they’re not like ‘those girls’ in order to have any value.
Again, I get that you were joking, and it’s not going to turn me off of the comic or anything. But really, that outlook on women is a big problem in the geek community, and it’s silly to expect girls to get a good laugh out of it just because you tag a ‘jk lol’ onto the end of it.
again I think you have me totally wrong here, but the geek/girl issue is not a hill I am going to die on. Chalk it up to sloppy joking on my part. I am reading what you are accusing me of here and it sounds nothing like what I said, I feel like there is a big break down in understanding here. I know there are cool geeky girls, I know there are geeky girls. I am just mocking the fake geek girls who use the word “geek” because it became cool somehow. They only use the term geek because it is currently trendy in some way.
I’m not really accusing you of anything, other than expressing yourself poorly. What I’m saying is “Here is the situation that you’re (hopefully unintentionally) feeding into, and this is why some people are offended by it.”
There’s a reason I said that you came off as an asshole rather than that you ARE an asshole. I get what you were trying to say – although only after reading the comments. I think that it could have been funny, but that’s not how it came across.
I think it was funny. No problems with my perception. An old saying goes along the lines of. “You throw a stone into a pack of dogs, the one that comes out yelping got hit.” We got us some yelping dogs here.
I’m not a tomboy, but we girls have to scratch our junk too sometimes. Just sayin’, I’m totally cool with that. After all, if we just escaped a bear attack together, we probably saw way worse sides of each other than that.
You need to say something about nerdy guys so I can miss the point and get offended. I’m jealous.
nerdy guys… aren’t real.
oh shap
I totally hear you on this one Ethan. I make broad overly generalised sweeping statements all the time, to the point where I think no one could possibly take me seriously… and yet, they find a way to and argue against me. I like to troll people as much as the next guy, but I feel like statements like yours are far too obvious and playful to be truly taken seriously (like the alt text clearly specifies)
Then again, I tend to assume everyone is trolling, it turns a legitimately stupid comment, into a witty play on stupid phrases, making the world seem more multi-layered and humourous than it actually is. Whenever I hear the latest twitter trend is little kids asking who Paul McCartney is and why he won an award I laugh and assume it’s a joke, but then it’s not, and it’s sad. I think legitimately oblivious and rude people are ruining the humour of sarcasm and troll joking for us snarky guys who live and abide by it’s code.
Then again, when women post on here saying “well I’ll just leave then, FINE” I assume that person might be joking as well, it’s what I would do if I were a woman, albeit in a more obviously jokey fashion.
Totally how I treat things as well.
I’m sure if Frodo punched through a bears skull when they were at the Black Gate he would be the first to “simply walk into Mordor”.
After so many explaining why they’re offended I thought I might explain why I’m not.
I’m not offended because in my culture ‘tomboy’ is what butch lesbians are called. You would not want to call yourself a tom boy in the Philippines unless you are in fact a butch lesbian.
I’m not offended because Gogs and I both have green hair, and I’d totally take the bear head home too if only for my sister to dissect.
And most of all, I’m not offended because I’ve lost count of how many times my brother has farted in my general direction.
The only reason I may be offended is because I’m also named Andrea. Andrea was so sweet at page 29 so it’s rather annoying that she’s turning into quite a bitch. Like most, I’m not liking Andrea very much (hence the tweet, Ethan) but I figured that’s how she deals with what’s happened and her lack of sleep, need of a bath etc.
All of this is really a matter of perspective. From my end, I didn’t see that the blog was about geeks or tom boys or whatnots. To me it’s about people who present themselves as something they’re not and I know a lot of people like that and I’ve unsubscribed from their Facebook feed.
Is this really such a big deal to be offended and start name-calling about? In any case, I’ve been visiting this page a lot and trying to get people to fill in the spots of those who decided to miss out on the awesomeness.
It’s 4am. Kudos to whoever read till the end of this comment.
Thanks.
Most of the characters in this comic ARE stereotypes in some form.
good comic ethan, but needs more dead bear heads. anyway gogs could start a collection?
Controversy aside, it is nearly that time again! I wonder if it is return to find civilisation in ruins time?
As a female reader, I have a very important question: Why is it called being a “tomboy”? Tom is a boy. I’ve never understood the connections between “tom” and “boy” and “a girl that is used to guys scratching themselves and farting”.
Good question. Tom boy is kind of a dumb word.
There are no clear answers to the origins of the word. One possiblity comes from the practice in the 14th century of shortening Thomas (being a masculine name with no female “equivalent” at the time) to refer to a generic man. The word tom then became used as a generic modifier to name the male of a species (ie Tom Cat, Tom Turkey, etc) The jump to Tomboy would have been gradual, first being Tom Girl to describe a Girl with a male-like personality or interests. At some point our tendency towards redundancy outweighed logic and it was switched to Tom Boy.
Another possiblity is that it was derived from the anglo saxon word Tumbere meaning to Tumble or Romp. A very unlady-like thing for a girl to do but perfectly “acceptable” for young males.
Etymonline claims that in the 1550s it meant a “rude, boisterous boy,” but by the 1570s, it came to mean a woman who acted that way, too.
Some people just have too much time ift hey get excited about something like a joke gone bad…
Seeesh
So… remember when being called a geek was an insult? Now people are actually calling Ethan an asshole because he said they’re NOT geeks?! Funny stuff we get bent out of shape over…
Haha love this.
Whitey, that’s EXACTLY what I thought when I read the comments. “Hey, I used to HATE to be called a geek when I was in high school! What’s the deal with these people?!”
I seriously don’t understand how people misinterpreted the joke he was going for. I read the comic and his blog under it and it was really obvious. What made it funny was that I’ve MET plenty of girls like that. I don’t know how you can enjoy “geeky” things and NOT meet a girl like that… unless you are either that girl or fall for the ruse.
I didn’t even realize people were freaking out till I saw the Feb 22 author/artist note and popped back here to read through some of the comments. I’m sincerely sorry, Ethan. This is the sort of thing that happens when we let women out of the kitchen.
On a serious, non-sandwich making note, I was actually discussing this comic with my Sockarang over the weekend and how wonderful it is. In particular, I was talking about Andrea claiming to be a tomboy and then being disgusted by certain things and how often you see that sort of situation actually happen. But they’re pretty girls so they get away with it (such as Joel still clearly being interested in Andrea despite her not showing any worthwhile characteristics past the hominahomina). Then I did my best to turn my friend into a Gogs fan by mentioning he planned to punch the bear head. His eyes glittered with joy.
Don’t sweat the cranky-faces. This is a great comic. I hope to one day buy the printed version and get an autograph.
Late to the party and all but I wanted to give my two cents –
Those of us who actually mean what we say shouldn’t be offended by this. I am by no means a tomboy, but am the proud girlfriend of a huuuuge gaming/comics/collector geek.