Wednesday, September 23, 2009

YDN_zlm.FulmerNelson

WARNING! This comic has been CENSORED! Reader discretion is advised.

Teamwork makes the dream work!

[Update: Final Art At Top]

Zero Like Me #32: Fulmer Nelson
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2, some dude who goes by "5," and Boucher. Zero's wardrobe brought to you by one hecka stylish German classmate, Nyao's costume's by some girl I saw in Commons.

Fun Facts: Although this is an original comic, Ned, the purple dynamo, gave me some courage after his ridiculous ordeal had finally faded for the most part. That fool jack kelly wasn't up for running it, so I told that yellow fellow I'd do it.

Baa: One night, my Freshman Year roomate tried to make an appeal to me that included mentioning that this girl was not an athlete, that "she got in on brains." I felt a little hurt that he thought that mattered to me so much, like if you're an athlete, you're automatically inferior and must earn my approval. My roommate was an athlete, himself, so I dread imagining that he thought I thought less of him just because he played a sport. To be honest, I feel I've become something of a "jock," except comics and illustration consume and overtax my non-academic time at Yale, so even if I did think like that, I'd have zero ethos at this point.

Towards the end of Freshman Year, he usually only talked to me when he was drunk and needed to be let in. I didn't really mind at first because I actually cared about making sure he was still just fine. But towards the end of the year, I realized I only ever interacted with people if they needed to be let in or if they were looking for somebody else. That very same night, my roommate told me something when he was drunk that I've always wondered about. I don't drink, so I don't know if being drunk makes you more honest or just incoherent, but in any case...I wonder if he meant it.

Reuxben

UPDATE: Ever wonder what a toothless shark looks like? Check out the printed edition at left!

Fun Facts: Since this is getting printed on Thursday, ZLM has now been printed on every day of the week at least once! The comic started on Tuesdays, moved to Wednesdays, hit Friday earlier this year, and is now regularly on MWF.

UPDATE 2: Why It was Censored.

After getting the script
approved by my immediate editor, I drew it up and anxiously checked for it Wednesday morning (didn't check online of course, cuz that would require the YDN to be honest about their promise to put comics online, as they used to last semester). After being graced with an astonishingly quick reply from the EIC about the sudden censorship (the first time I'd ever received a reply from any YDN EIC ever), he informed me that just before going to print, he and the editor just above mine deemed the comic "racially insensitive"(!), and the YDN "wanted to err on the side of caution," even though race doesn't exist, or at least it isn't allowed to exist so long as there are dialogue bubbles and pictures accompanying the discussion.

If interested, YDN EIC
thomas.kaplan@yale.edu is happy to hear your opinion. And feel free to ask him to come through on the YDN's promise to put its comics online, like they used to last semester (but have somehow forgotten how to, even though nobody has changed staff positions yet). For all I know, there might be some comicser among us who actually wants to draw for a living and needs the potentially crucial visitors of the YDN online to see his or her work, in the off chance that it will somehow lead to employment or some sort of professional networking. If there even is such a comicser at Yale, that person is probably pretty frustrated with the YDN about this.

Reuxben

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

why was this piece censored?

Reuxben said...

Hey there Anonymous, how are you? Aww, man, that's too bad. Listen, don't worry, she'll feel better if you just give her some time. Chocolate helps!

Anyway, please find the information in the "Update" segment.

Thanks,

Reuxben