I instantly read it as just a customs thing ! I used to work for a bunch of Brazillians and one day I’m just cleaning the counter and this strange woman (who was friends with the family) walked up and kissed me on my cheeks. I was completely startled, but I just greeted her back in my own way, and chortled about it later. I wasn’t directly communicating with the family at the time, and it was pretty obvious I was just another worker, but I think she got caught up in the moment and forgot she was on vacation.

Things like this page are dually important to me because not only does it stress understanding other cultures, and tolerating strange practices, but it forces the main character to despite ALL of his cultural upbringing. This is a very apt and relevant lesson that shouldn’t be mixed up with a homophobic/heterophobic undertone. My boyfriend of 5 years grew up in veerrrry north eastern Russia and only learned English a couple years before I met him. Quite honestly the only time we ever get into fights are just because of cultural/linguistic differences and misunderstandings. While you won’t necessarily have to LIVE with someone of a different culture (like I do), there’s a fair chance you’ll wind up communicating and interacting with them. I like that this presents that issue.

Also, just in case someone reads this wrong and believes that I’m against homosexuality being protruded in comics, I vehemently support gay rights, and lived with the most amazing transgendered woman for a time. But living in a large city, I can assure you that the amount of racist comments I hear are just as bad as any homophobic ones. They’re both relevant issues.

Very comical regardless. Only thing funnier would be if it turns out potions are available from mermaids to breathe underwater and he just forgot them or wanted to kiss a hot elf.

Very well written. And very educational!

I really appreciate you taking the time to write this.
(and yes…I’m STILL reading these. Thank you all!)

1. While you may not intend to include any form of sexuality into your comic, “sexuality” in and of itself does not necessarily IMPLY or involve -sex-. Sexuality is the awareness of gender differences and the ability to have and experience erotic feelings and behaviors, regardless of one’s sexual orientation. A character having romantic feelings for another character (whether heterosexual or otherwise) IS incorporating sexuality. I understand you plan to exclude -passion-, lust, sexual desire, etc. from your comic, but to state that it is completely lacking sexuality is false (bad word choice). Sexuality can also be an overarching term that includes not only sexual activity and behavior, but also sexual orientation and gender identity. On that note, sexuality should be embraced as a positive thing on many levels. For a child to be able to self identify as a boy who wants to spend time with girls, is establishing both gender and orientation. To express themselves within their own interpretation of their gender-identity is a wonderful aspect of sexuality. To say you are excluding sexuality to like removing attraction and gender from the equation entirely. If gender was irrelevant and no one was having any romantic feelings for anyone else, then yes… it would be lacking sexuality. But your comic has both. Please note I have no problem with your inclusion of both, I’m merely arguing a case of semantics. Sometimes, a singular word can make all the difference in meaning and the message that comes across.

2. I found the first kiss between the two women to be completely platonic and actually rather adorable on Alex’s end. I felt like in that situation, Nastajia was probably rolling her eyes and trying to cater to Alex to help educate him on the customs of the merpeople. I also found it interesting how he reacted considering this is NOT the first time he’s visited the merpeople. I think many people forget he has ALREADY been told of their customs, because he was kissed by a merwoman before and afterward, they explained why. The fact that he doesn’t remember is typical of his character, but to blame Nastajia for not enlightening him ahead of time, I find a little much. To her knowledge, he should already know what is going on and she’s probably so use to it, she didn’t even think about his potential reaction until after the fact. Alex’s response to the first kiss was typical too. Knowing Nastajia is a straight woman who kissed another woman probably helped Alex understand, but he still probably found the action itself to be sexual, which is typical behavior. And his response to the second kiss would also be typical, if a little close-minded, behavior. As a lesbian woman, I would -not- be adverse to kissing a man in this context. However, I would be adverse to an unwanted, uninvited kiss from any strange individual. Alex needs to learn to distinguish the difference between romantic and platonic affection if he is going to be king. However, to force him to do so before he was ready, I think does not send a very good message. I don’t think he should be able to pick and choose between who invites him, but if you were going for a message, it might have been better to have them tell alex it would be Dastan who was going to kiss him and they could wait for him to be ready, or they could go on ahead with just Nastajia and come back for him later/tell him what happened. I think the message might have been stronger if it was Alex who was forced to make the distinction and put himself in an uncomfortable position out of duty and responsibility, rather than to be boxed in. However, that’s just my take on it. As a comic, which is primarily intended to tell a story, but also to be -comical-, I find the kiss as is to also be amusing. In fact, I was ok with everything so far up until THIS page. For some reason, Nastajia’s reaction did NOT sit well with me. I didn’t really see everything as a joke until today. I did see the kiss as sort of childish-immature payback to the punch and found it funny enough, but the homosexual-flavor to a joke Nastajia also finds amusing for some reason made me feel a little off. I can’t put my finger on it, but before that, she was sort of excluded from the picture for me… more of an innocent bystander and this page made her seem more like a willing participant. It makes her come across as a bit more manipulative, maybe in a little heartless.

3. I think that considering most people are heterosexual, they fail to realize that including heterosexual relationships and actions such as kisses, while the social norm and completely socially acceptable, still sends a message to children. And I think that the failure to include any homosexual undertones other than under platonic instances my also send a misguided image. As children, we look for representatives in the world around us to guide our own behavior. And if the only examples you have for a specific type of behavior (in this cause, same-sex kissing) is between platonic or unwilling individuals sets a sort of standard that opposite-sex kisses are romantic and same-sex kisses are not, whether intended or not. While I think kisses themselves should NOT be sexual between the merpeople and our leads, perhaps if one was same-sex and the other was opposite-sex, it might make the message better. Or, an alternative is to have a supporting lead or background character that has some OTHER role, happens to also experience same-sex romance. For instance (and I know this would not happen, but just to give an example), if Kiwi (who has an established character and role) were to kiss another female romantically as with Nicole/Dan and Alex/Nastajia. Characters that have purposes and the fact that they are homosexual is only secondary or a side characteristic. Those are really the type of characters most childrens’ stories need if you seek to set the message that homosexuality is normal or at least not negative. However, this also shows one’s own personal views and while equivalent to two heterosexual characters kissing, would have a more strong reaction by viewers because we already have a preset notion over what IS and is NOT publicly acceptable or normal. But for me, personally, I think we need more people who are willing to BE more bold and challenge those norms so that our children my grow up to not have those biases. And yes, this might not be the story that will happen in, but to have same-sex kisses appear at all without a representative that shows they can also be loving and romantic without being super sexual or directly sex-related (such as a goodbye or hello kiss) may only help to keep the standard that only heterosexual relationships are “family-friendly”, when really (as far as I am concerned) all forms of loving relationships should be family-friendly.

Of course, I know there are those that don’t agree with me and any non-heterosexual topics will always lead to intense debates, I thought I should at least let my standpoint be known. I apologize for the length and I appreciate the time you take to interact with and address your fan-base. Thank you for a wonderful comic. I will still be reading to learn what happens next ^-^.

(Also, thank you to the other responders who have been very respectful about the entire topic as well. Whether or not someone agrees with me, it is still nice to know they will both listen to as well as honor and respect my point of view).

Yes, I can see how those two are exactly the same thing.