#aasa comic

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 14

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The Persians: A tragedy by Aeschylus and the only surviving part of a trilogy. The play centres around the Persian queen Atossa waiting for news of Xerxes' campaign against Greece. Darius' ghost appears. It's a whole thing.

Promanteia: The privilege of consulting the oracle at Delphi before others, which could be very important during urgent political matters. People came from all over the Greek world to consult the pythia, so the line was probably pretty long!

Comments:

Since I've been revisiting Greece as a character, I've been thinking about her relationship with the others. I think although they haven't interacted in AaSA really, that Sparta just kind of acts on her behalf without actually interacting with her or consulting her.

Also, this may be the most insight into Sparta's thoughts and motivations that I've attempted to portray so far! Haha.

[attichoney4u]

Note: Credits to the lovely @allbeendonebefore and her comic series @athensandspartaadventures. The character of Thessaloniki belongs to her.

Second note: The character of Sophia, capital of Bulgaria, belongs to me. I may change her design in later appearances (provided I'll use her).

Third note: Because the characters are personifications of cities, there's a possibility they may appear stereotypical (or even, racist). I feel obligated to add that I'm from South Greece, and since this comic fearures the personification of a city of North Greece, I may be bias and/or get things wrong. If you feel uncomfortable with their portrayal, please DM, explain why and I will delete my comic.

I made this comic a year ago, but only now I found the energy and time to finish it. Thessaloniki (the city) is based on what I recalled when I visited her three years ago, plus photos online of the Nike Avenue.

[trrickytickle]

(happy 1/2 year anniversary, @tickle-beans !! I love you so fucking mucho yr so important to me bruhhhhh omg I never genuinely thought someone would love me so much as more than a friend and having it be someone I FEEL THE SAME TOWARDS???? AMAZING. MMMMMUUUWAAAAAH. anywayyyyy WE'VE BEEN TOGETHER THIS LONG MY BREASTIE BESTIES ARE SHIPPING US N SHIT AND AASA 😍😍😻😻)

have some super(ticklish)girl, lmao- I unironically loved the 2023 flash movie and KARA IS SO LEEEEE. blood sweat and tears went into this gif

Comic version under cut hehehehehehehuEHEHEGEG

[pleatedjeans]

40+ Comics That Hilariously Nail The Ups And Downs Of Being A Girl By Linnéa Aasa

[allbeendonebefore]

I had this specific method of determining the colours of the AaSA comics by changing the hue slider the same amount each time. I don’t know why I am even mentioning this because no one would have known something like that but me, and I have to change how I do these comics anyway, and yet since I can’t remember the exact right value I’m having a TIME trying to force myself to let go of this silly practice LOL

[battle-of-alberta]

Battle of AB Rambles with Hapo

Reflecting on how @athensandspartaadventures became AaSA (pronounced ass-a lmao) but what even is this comic,.. BoA? BoAb? BAb i dont know anymore

anywho school is getting a bit more intense and I’m not sure how well I’m going to be able to keep with my updating schedule. This chapter is kind of written on the fly with a vague idea of how each character gets introduced which... I’m not uncomfortable writing because it is typically how my comics first come to life with more reflection and planning later on but it is a bit odd to be doing again. I’m basically writing three pages ahead as I’m drawing, more or less with vague notes about where I want the story/conversation to go, or bits of dialogue floating around in my head. 

I also have ideas for more meta essays that I Doubt anyone has much interest in reading, less about my creative process (unless you guys are into that) and more about my academic process or my personification process/worldbuilding things. I guess this is more world augmenting than building, but I still spend a lot of time thinking about it and writing essays (even picture essays) is how I tend to teach myself best. If you guys are actually interested in things like source material or brief historical sketches or “how do avatars deal with [x]” where x might be anything from getting a drivers license to fatal injuries or w/e.    

I haven’t forgotten about your asks! I’m expecting a lot of natural pauses in my writing where they will work out, don’t worry ;) feel free to keep asking.

oh and i guess i should reblog/update character bios hmm

Final semi-related note: happy Battle of Alberta tonight at rogers place lmao ;) lets root root root for the hoooome team- wait wrong sport.

[recentanimenews]

Magical Girls Gather in Blue Reflection Ray TV Anime Key Visual

  A dramatic new key visual (below) featuring the main characters in their "Reflector" magical girl battle forms has been revealed for Blue Reflection Ray, an upcoming TV anime based on the 2017 JRPG developed by Gust and published by Koei Tecmo that features young women using the power of their feelings to change reality.

    Funimation describes the story of Blue Reflection Ray as follows:

  Optimistic Hiori can’t turn away anyone in need. Clumsy Ruka can’t seem to make friends, even when she tries. Together, this unlikely pair will use the power as Reflectors to help those in need with their emotional struggles and change the world.

    Blue Reflection Ray is directed by Risako Yoshida and features animation production by J.C.STAFF. The series will broadcast in Japan on Mainichi Broadcasting System, Tokyo Broadcasting System, and BS-TBS beginning on April 09, 2021. Blue Reflection Ray will also be streamed in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Mexico, and Brazil via Funimation as part of their spring 2021 simulcast lineup.

  Source: Comic Natalie

  Copyright notice: © Koei Tecmo Games / AASA

    ---

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

By: Paul Chapman

[asianamericanissuesasb]

JZ LTS Reflection

This Saturday, AASA (Asian American Students Association) hosted the annual Asian American Pacific Islander conference Listen to the Silence (LTS). I was part of the team that helped put this conference together and served on the Workshops Committee. It felt wonderful to contribute to this conference.

Last year, I only attended parts of the conference so I had some sense of what the conference was like. This year, I was able to attend all rounds of workshops, the panel discussion, the keynote, and the concert. There were so many people that I didn’t know and also a lot of people that I had the chance to reunite with!

Since I was a room host for the workshops, I did not get to choose the workshops that I was in. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed the workshops: Decolonizing Comics, Gender in the API Community, and From Bombs to Beats: Cambodian-Americans in Hip-Hop. All of these topics were radically different from each other and topics that I personally have not explored much.

The comics and hip-hop workshops reminded me that there are many forms of activism that do not look like what people normally think of as activism. More and more I am convinced that art is a crucial piece of activism and is an important way for us as Asian Americans to make ourselves heard.

I know that these conferences can only do so much to spur action, and it is up to me to make the most out of this experience. This conference reminds me that even though most of the activism I focus on is not related to my identity as an Asian American, I can and should stay informed and engage when I feel like I have the ability to.

This year, LTS took place on Lunar New Year. The rest of my family is in China right now, and my whole extended family was celebrating without me. The night before LTS, I felt lonely and less Chinese and more Asian-American that I have before. Here I am by myself on a completely different continent while the rest of my family and roots are in China. I didn’t really celebrate Lunar New Year with a dinner or watching the annual show, partly because I was busy but also because without my family I have no personal knowledge of how I’m supposed to observe our culture. Yet, I spent the whole day engaging with other Asian Americans, many who do observe Lunar New Year yet chose to attend the conference. I’m glad I was able to do something to still affirm part of my identity.

[athensandspartaadventures]

OCtober day 20: Phoenicians

Another two for one, hooray :)

I don't think either of these guys have appeared in AaSA nor are they likely to in the near future, although Phoenicia does have a cameo in some omake comics when I was reading Book 1 and 2 of Herodotus.

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 12

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Quick Ref:

Black Soup: The famous Spartan soup made of boiled pork, blood, vinegar, and salt. It typically comes up in comedies or criticisms of "unsophisticated" Spartan dining and cuisine.

Tyrtaeus: A Spartan elegiac poet from around the 7th century BC who was renowned for his martial songs. This is J.M. Edmods' translation of a fragment (CURFRAG.tlg-0266.7)

Comments:

ok ok so I'm terrible at taking hiatuses when I say I'm going to, but this quarter of the chapter is going to get us through the last full week of December and then for real I will start my hiatus proper and fix up the last quarter! :) promise

I've had this scene in my head for eons, basically since I wrote chapter 7 if not before that. I struggled a lot with thinking about how to draw Persia holding court or a banquet or breakfast or anything, and just decided to go for it.

And for the first time in ages we get a little glimpse of Assyria and Babylonia, who we haven't seen since Assyria's cameo in chapter 2! While she was mentioned by name on that page, I don't even think Babylonia has appeared once in AaSA before this point, even though she's had a design for as long as AaSA has been a comic. They're just here to hang out judgementally, haha.

(On a related note, is it a bit weird for Sardis to be serving breakfast in his own house...? lol)

[athensandspartaadventures]

Hi all! We are now halfway through chapter 9 as of yesterday, hooray!

the sad news is: I think my employment is even shorter than I had initially thought, and I am most likely going to be working through most of December to save up for being unemployed and job hunting, sigh sigh.

I have most of the next quarter of the chapter done with about a page and a half to finish and then fix up, but I don't know if I will be able to start posting that section by this upcoming Saturday. The last quarter still has some ironing out in terms of the dialogue and the scene that I'll probably work on over the holidays.

AaSA will probably take a bit of a hiatus while I tie some things up both in the comic and in my life generally, so thank you for your patience in advance and I hope you're enjoying it so far :)

don't cry, more stupid doodles and wips to come, ok?

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 7: Thirty Years of Peace

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Quick Ref:

Thrasybulus of Miletus: The wheat-stalk-removing tyrant in question, as the anecdote was recorded by Herodotus (5.92f).

Periander: The second tyrant of Corinth and one of the Seven Sages, credited with making Corinth prosperous in the 7th/6th century BCE. We’re not sure if he’s a fair and just dude or a wicked nasty dude, but Herodotus seems to think he took a cue from our friend Thrasybulus above. 

Comments:

I realized I haven’t mentioned Corinth by name in ages haha... oops

Sparta’s lifestyle heavily emphasizes cunning and trickery, at least according to the stereotypes of their enemies anyway. Corinth is really digging into him for doing little to nothing in the first Peloponnesian War (and really, he’s been getting away with doing nothing for decades now).

The Persian archer on the coin is probably Artaxerxes I or something, who is currently Persian king. 

It was Persian policy to keep their own culture - that is, the culture of the royal court - under wraps when dealing with their subjects; evidence of Persian decrees in Egypt, for example, heavily emphasize an Egyptian perspective and the Persian language is rarely used in favour of Aramaic, the lingua franca of the day. Like the Romans would be after them, the Persians were scary good at absorbing aspects of their subject’s cultures to keep them happy and under control. They weren’t, however, above a little historical revisionism when it suited them, of course. After all, you can still think yourself an honest person if you think yourself to be justified in your actions...

I also read an article once ages ago that it seems to be a Thing to depict Persians holding cups with three fingers, idk why, but it’s something that stuck with me.

corinth: how do u no all the greek things

persia: i LITERALLY JUST SAID I LIVE RIGHT NEXT TO ASIA MINOR, IT USED TO BE ASIA MINE.

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 7: Thirty Years of Peace

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Quick Ref:

Eumenides: The final play in the Oresteia, Eumenides situates the solution to Orestes’ murder of Clytemnestra in the court of Athens, where Apollo and Athena preside alongside the people of Athens. Apollo argues that avenging Agamemnon’s murder was more relevant and important and that -logically- women barely have any role in child bearing compared to men anyway (???) and thus matricide is ok because reasons and Orestes should be absolved of his crime. Athena, being the logical goddess of wisdom and therefore very masculine-minded, concedes to this argument after Apollo points out that she popped out of her dad’s head that one time (???????).  

Comments:

It’s time for Persia to make his sales pitch.

[athensandspartaadventures]

@randomthingsandstuffs

Our queen posts more frequently! Does that mean that AaSA is gonna make a comeback soon?

Short answer is no sadly

long answer is because the amount of research I have to do and decisions I have to make about chapter 8 is still stressing me out. This is the second chapter I will be writing while I'm no longer in classics and the first chapter I'll be writing no longer in school. I have my personal collection of books but because of the pandemic I don't have normal alumni access to the university library. The way I do research has to completely adapt so my focus has been on other things and I'm still slowly working through the Iliad right now. I haven't written a single word of script for this chapter and I realize it's been literal years but a lot has happened and it's currently a source of stress for me rather than relief.

Drawing is also going to be a challenge because I need to make the formal decision whether to change the program I draw the comics in and whether to change the style of the comic completely and that's a whole other stress. ;~; so in the meantime I'm just trying to revisit the characters when I can to make sure they are remaining easy to draw and distinct in my mind.

finally i'm not a queen im more like a tyrant :'D

[allbeendonebefore]

I was kind of under the impression that this is just a widespread thing in Alberta, especially because of the Angus Reid fractured federation survey (I cant include the link here, but you can Google it, its from January 24th 2019). When got back into Hetalia, I imagined the dynamics kinda changed to this, which would be pretty bad tbh. I hope its not that aggressive in Alberta, I will never be able to go check tho, too expensive :( I loved the bad french btw

i see you guys sending these asks super late at night and i wonder whether any of you sleep - idk where you’re writing from and i may be on the west coast but are you guys ok wherever you are? I just woke up but I have my tea and if I’m not caffeinated now I surely will be as I answer this.

I’m sure I’ve seen the survey you’re speaking of before and before I address it in any specific detail I just want to back up and re frame Why I’m Being Like This in regards to recent events and my orientation towards answering these questions in terms of Hetalia the way I do, because I think it’s the heart of how I answer.

the tldr of it is:

1. I have an opportunity to make interpretations of reality in unexpected and challenging ways, therefore widespread opinions don’t govern anything but my stupid gag comics in the simple sense that if everyone was represented by widespread opinion alone all the time, nothing would change and

2. if i can answer dozens of asks about ralph and oliver hanging out there’s absolutely no reason I can’t answer asks about ralph and jean hanging out, lol.

3. If you’d like a shorter, more concise “vision statement”, I have one on @battle-of-alberta here. (although now I notice the links don’t work on mobile so you’ll have to be on desktop for that one)

I’m assuming this will be long so cut time

(and yes, alas, the bad french is my legacy and I’m afraid it has not improved much although i swear i was an A student when i was actually taking it) (and no please don’t visit now, purely for pandemic reasons, it would be really expensive And you’d have a bad time) (and talking to me is free lmao) (I do not mean to say that you need to have feet on the ground to understand a place at all, i mean, at the moment I don’t lol)

headings because I say a lot

what even is hetalia

At the most basic level, Hetalia is a tool that can be used in a variety of ways. It can be for memorization, current politics at a glance or historical relationships in different settings. I use it for all of these things, of course, I certainly use it a lot in comics that take place in the much more distant past in @athensandspartaadventures. When I was writing that, I was in undergrad and AaSA was a tool to help me pass my exams, I didn’t think of how it might be read or interpreted by people who have lived in or experienced those places these days, or what kind of political and cultural tensions it might reveal. (Not to say that it has gotten me into sticky situations, exactly, but I am more aware of where things like that would arise now).

These days I look back on a lot of my experiences - both in IAMP/Hetalia and just as a person, and I think that if Hetalia is a tool it should be used with some awareness of intention and responsibility. Things in the fandom have changed as it became more mainstream and more well known and I think there’s a definite worry about screwing up or not representing Everything or not pleasing Everybody or not doing it Right. I have a simple, insufferably academic principle.

(That said, yes, you can still do it very wrong if you write a methodology.)

Still, it’s a comfort to me that I’m just doing the things the way I say I’m going to do them, and that is the underpinning of Inspired But Not Constrained By Hetalia. I don’t do things Himaruya’s way, I can’t do things the way IAMP would do them if it were running today because it’s not and things have changed, all I can do is do them how I would do them.

I have hurt people in the past because they sometimes couldn’t tell whether I was writing From an Albertan Perspective or not, and I’ve evoked some preeetty spicy comments over the last decade, and I realized that tone and perspective are something that really shapes how people understand and interact with my work and I’m trying to use that understanding in a conscientious way)

what even is alberta

So when you’re me and you’ve grown up in a province that is the Angriest in the country and the most Misunderstood in the country and the most Entitled in the country and nobody outside of maybe Saskatchewan has a good thing to say about you half the time and maybe you’re tired of that... you get kind of depressed thinking about how every year some kiddo comes on the internet ready to be excited about making or celebrating characters that represent themselves and No Matter Where They Go running into everyone else’s negative impressions first and foremost.

We joke about how everyone hates Toronto, though I’ve always understood it in a teasing way because I’ve never ACTUALLY met someone (outside of our current legislative assembly) who REALLY hates Toronto, but it does feel like I’ve encountered (directly or indirectly) people who do Genuinely hate Alberta and hoo boy is That a strange feeling. I mean, there’s an understanding that BC also ‘hates’ Alberta but half the people in BC are originally from Alberta so it’s a, uh, different feeling.

The story of Alberta from everywhere else is always the story of that Angus Reid article and the memes and comments and listicles that spin out around mainstream media. Alberta is giving too much. Alberta is getting too little. Alberta is too stupid to understand that equalization payments are a good thing actually, and Alberta is too dumb to understand you don’t really need EI if you make enough money in six months to own a house and multiple vehicles Just Because you own a house and multiple vehicles. Alberta is destroying the environment for everybody. Alberta has a huge concentration of white supremacists. Alberta is the Texas of Canada* and has the conservative streak and bible belt to match. Alberta should get annexed by the US. Oh, but Banff! We like Banff, though.

And like I said, politicians use these widespread feelings to stir up the sentiments of people who can’t afford to travel, people who are naturally suspicious of mainstream news, people who have barely even left their hometowns let alone the province and have no other means of validating what they hear, but people who’s emotions are genuinely tied to real feelings of alienation that really exist and HAVE existed for generations. And when the so-called “laurentian elites” in ontario and quebec make fun of them for being uneducated red necks, well, you hit a wasps nest and expected what, exactly?

what even am i doing

And like I’m faced with this question every day I decide to pick up my stylus and badger you all with unsolicited comics: do I want this to continue? Do I want to wear the mask that fits? Do I want to stand aside and say #notallalbertans #notlikeotheralbertans and stand over here on the island** patting myself on the back for not? being? there? Do I say yes, you’re right, and stand aside and watch loud mouth white supremacists co-opt wexiters and let them lead the perception of the province I grew up in just because that is what’s currently happening? Do I acknowledge the widespread sentiment and then pick apart every other province to say Well Actually You’re Equally Problematic Hypocrites, So There?

Obviously I’ve been saying no for a while. I’m perfectly happy to acknowledge the reality and when I draw stupid gag comics like this or this you can tell (hopefully) from my style that it’s tongue and cheek. When I draw less stupid not-gag comics like this or this I am trying to explore the Real Sentiments in a way that doesn’t completely polarize the issue and spin it out of control. I’m more of the opinion that even though Current Sentiments do get in the way that as personifications they 1. have some perspective and as people they 2. have some interest in not throwing out a friendship that was a struggle to build up every time the polls change or some new radical party seizes power. I do a lot of research and I want that to be reflected in my understanding of each characters deep seated beliefs and motivations, but I don’t want to let either the history or the current realities dictate the future if I am going to try to do that myself. 

why even am i doing it for

So like really the heart of the matter is: I am writing what I write for my thirteen year old self. She was the me who moved back to Canada from the United States, who’s first introduction to living there was a hellish surge of nationalism after September 11th. Who’s defense against that was to hide behind a shield of Canada is Better, Actually and who returned to Alberta during the boom years to realize that, oh wait, the rest of the country thinks we’re assholes just like they think the United States is. Who spent her teenage years learning that, boom or bust, the widespread sentiment in and out of the province is just as narrow, shortsighted, self interested, and stubborn as her own fiction of What Canada Was Supposed to be Like. Who learned that propping up that image at the expense of her friendships was not worth it, that propping up that image at the expense of people who are suffering and dying under that image is not worth it. Who found herself rehashing the same sort of gut reaction defensiveness online because the Guilt and Apologizing on behalf of her province compared to others felt Really Heavy for a kid who didn’t have any clue what to do about it and was just there to have fun and learn some stuff.

So I’m writing for anyone else who finds themselves exhausted and saddened by coming online and seeing that the only way that people can imagine Alberta is as an antagonist. I’d like to challenge everyone to start to imagine it better. It’s my little “escape” from reality, and for me it’s much easier to talk to people here where the stakes aren’t as high and the grievances a little less personal.

I’m also writing (in a more secondary way) for everyone who’s ever looked at alberta from afar and wondered What is going On inside your Head and is it always This

(no comment at this time)

as always, I’m here to explain At The Very Least what goes on in My head because at the end of the day, that’s all I can do. And though there are some things that make me angry and emotional, I’m happy to explain why. Happy to answer asks or chat on discord or whatever, any time I have the time. :)

footnotes

*This is just a footnote to say something I didn’t want to interrupt the flow of my comments, but this is an annoyance that me and my Texas Tomodachi share lol

**You’ll notice angry Albertans online have a favourite tactic, and that’s pointing out hypocrisy. They can justify A N y T h I n G by calling another province a hypocrite “so there” (i.e. BC can’t claim to be environmentally conscious because of Victoria’s sewage problem or Site C) - and while I am interested in shattering the image of Alberta vs. the Perfect Rest of Canada a little bit, I feel like it’s a very lazy argument that is used to deflect and not to help. I think it is more useful to unpack the sentiment of Why Alberta Still Feels Taken Advantage of rather than mudslinging, and when the mud starts flying no one seems interested in addressing problems anymore.

[athensandspartaadventures]

When is chapter 8 coming down the pipe??

There’s no pipe at all at the moment- I am in summer school away from home right now and have not started on the script for chapter 8. I have a vague idea of where I want to go with the chapter and what I want to touch on, but it will be a while yet before I have the time and energy to work on it.

I am taking a course on graphic novels and comics over the summer and hope to use it as a period to ‘recharge’ my approach to comics. I also have been teaching myself to use CSP to make comics rather than photoshop which has been glitchier as of late, and I am still debating on whether to switch AaSA over to CSP or not. 

In the meantime, anyone interested is welcome to check out another project I was working on earlier @battle-of-alberta. Still about personifications of political entities, but a little closer to home for me and more contemporary :)