Terms of Abhorrence


It’s just a comic.

When you mention the word “webcomic” people who’ve never heard of the term assume that it’s a new fangled fad… even though they’ve been around since the 1990’s. People who have heard of webcomics generally roll their eyes in disgust… unless you’re a diehard fan of webcomics, in which case, people roll their eyes in disgust at you.

Let’s face it: Comics don’t actually get a lot of mainstream respect unless they get made into a blockbuster movie franchise. Even then it’s kind of hard to reach a more conservative crowd. Anything racier than a Cathy coffee mug may incur a reprimand in some offices. Hanging a Dilbert comic on your cubical wall will actually get you fired in some places. All that pales in comparison to the perception of “Webcomics”. You might as well tell people you lick toilets for a living.

Unless you’re a hipster whose office is basically a booth at Starbucks, you don’t get to make your own rules. As a grownup in today’s society, you always have to answer to somebody. In some cases where you bend the rules a little, it’s advisable to have a plausible explanation for your deviation. It just makes your day go a lot smoother when you’re not facing heaps of criticism from a boss contemplating your termination.

So when the topic of hobbies comes up, I tell them I write a “comic” for an established website, and they pay me about $15 for each one. Never mind that I’m the owner of the website, and the $15 is actually just treating myself to Chinese takeout once a week. People believe the plausible explanation of why I bother with such endeavors, and I don’t have to put up with those scowls of disapproval from the jerks who can jerk around my actual paycheck.

Pax,

-f2x

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