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It was funny to me for Jackie to never feel any sort of solidarity with Eve as a fellow worker, only sympathy that Eve was older and flailing at the same job for longer. What she (and countless other OP characters) try to ignore is how time passes and things change without their input. Still, what’s more fun than circling like vultures around perfect hindsight? Speaking of hindsight it’s so silly to me now that this dude is wearing an Antifa logo shirt, another heavy marker of the times: marginal groups with disproportionate media attention who, depending on who you ask, are either the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization, or a bunch of vegans who owe you 20 bucks. The iconography alone is pretty shallow, now. But hey, 2017 was an insane year and I only lived through it 1 time, and whatever I captured in that moment felt right. I still think the guy who punched Richard Spencer was cool, and this comic was drawn maybe 2-3 weeks after that happened. |
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The thing about Jackie that she never got and probably never will is that she's the exact type of person that the next version of her, coming along in five years, will find as profoundly uncool as she finds the people five years ahead of her.
Yeah she'll never get it but she'll never CARE that she doesn't get it.
Had you known Jackie as trans throughout OP, or was there a point where that emerged? I remember her dialogue from the work retreat coming together in a different light.
When this was originally posted, I was in a really vulnerable state — coming out as trans, losing sleep worrying about acceptance in comics/zine spaces, acceptance of trans content and narratives. It meant a lot to me to see characters I'd grown with, comics-wise about two years older than me, now presumably two years on the other side of what I was going through.
Also I love saying "a vitally cultured tub of butter." It's richly satisfying!
Like most things in OP it started to emerge, and I think the work retreat story was the turning point. I wanted this (above) story to have a pleasant mundanity, as old friends filtered back into Eve's life, having grown older and closer to the person they'll be.
13 year reader, first time commenter. Thank you so much for this story and your insights on the rerun. Glad to reread the strip from the beginning again.
At the time (or currently) were you aware of Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! Formerly Tom Gabel, and an inspiration for us all. Don't see it in Jackie's character but the cis punk rocker turned trans woman definitely caught my attention #truetranssoulrebel #blackmeout #clairefromQCisdopetoo
Wait, there's an Antifa logo?
kind of.. the red and black flag is anarchist/communist solidarity. There's others too, the three down/leftward arrows is more literally antifa. But this guy's hoodie means a good chance he's antifa.
Headband guy, lower left.
Sorry, but I'm really confused – who is Jackie? Have we seen her before?
Sorry if I'm super slow, but am I meant to understand Jackie is Jacob? Like she transitioned? That's cool but I missed when this happened.
This page is the reveal, I believe you're meant to pick it up from context (Jackie talks about having worked at Olly's with Eve, Jackie sounds like Jacob, physical and attitude resemblance).
I missed it on my first read through to! For me it was the price of speed reading in fits and starts.