Now that I'm planning on releasing 25-strip mini-collections of CosPain, I'm paying extra attention to the order in which these strips are released. Last week's strip was very deliberately chosen because I thought it would be a fitting end to the collection. Similarly, today's strip, #51, will be the first strip of the 3rd collection when it is eventually released. I therefore felt it was fitting to lead with a story based on one of my first convention memories.
My very first con was Otakon 2008 in Baltimore, MD. Not knowing what I was doing, I got a hotel far away from the convention center, necessitating that I take a hotel shuttle and a light rail to get there. I was cosplaying as Godot from the Ace Attorney series, and this is a pretty accurate recreation of what happened. I was all nerves and feeling socially out-of-place until the moment I arrived at the light rail station. I saw a couple of other cosplayers from the same game, immediately attached myself to them, and made my first con friends.
With this strip, I have also decided to introduce a new character. Each character in my little comic is meant to represent different archetypes within the cosplay and convention community. With this one, I'm hoping to bring in two: the con noob, and the male crossplayer.
Yeah, that's a guy dressed as a schoolgirl. Not sure if my art's good enough that it was obvious, but there you are. I've wanted to cover crossplay in depth before, but, as with furries (another archetype I want to eventually cover), I've had difficulty coming up with jokes that didn't miss the point or hurt the wrong people. Cross-dressing jokes run the risk of transphobia, which is absolutely not my intent, so I've been treading very carefully.
Yoru (whom I'm not sure I've actually named in the comic? She's the one dressed in black) has crossplayed in numerous strips, including this one. I've never really brought it up and mostly let it add background flavor. For now, I expect that to be the case with this guy; he may never cosplay as a male character, but I also won't unduly draw attention to what he is doing unless I have a specific reason.
My very first con was Otakon 2008 in Baltimore, MD. Not knowing what I was doing, I got a hotel far away from the convention center, necessitating that I take a hotel shuttle and a light rail to get there. I was cosplaying as Godot from the Ace Attorney series, and this is a pretty accurate recreation of what happened. I was all nerves and feeling socially out-of-place until the moment I arrived at the light rail station. I saw a couple of other cosplayers from the same game, immediately attached myself to them, and made my first con friends.
With this strip, I have also decided to introduce a new character. Each character in my little comic is meant to represent different archetypes within the cosplay and convention community. With this one, I'm hoping to bring in two: the con noob, and the male crossplayer.
Yeah, that's a guy dressed as a schoolgirl. Not sure if my art's good enough that it was obvious, but there you are. I've wanted to cover crossplay in depth before, but, as with furries (another archetype I want to eventually cover), I've had difficulty coming up with jokes that didn't miss the point or hurt the wrong people. Cross-dressing jokes run the risk of transphobia, which is absolutely not my intent, so I've been treading very carefully.
Yoru (whom I'm not sure I've actually named in the comic? She's the one dressed in black) has crossplayed in numerous strips, including this one. I've never really brought it up and mostly let it add background flavor. For now, I expect that to be the case with this guy; he may never cosplay as a male character, but I also won't unduly draw attention to what he is doing unless I have a specific reason.
