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The series later become known for including different sexual orientations specifically lesbians. While there were a few gay and lesbian characters, non were the main cast before and were originally just used for a punchline or a joke. But when romance came into play, soon the lives of two main characters came to discussing how to make their romances work while dealing with their own personal struggles. To credit Danielle, she kept her characters's personalities in tact without changing them to society's agenda to how others deal with these issues. While being interviewed by the Washington Post, Danielle was asked the question of including a transgender character into the the mix. I love the response she gave since it's how I feel about characters in comics in general. She states:
"The inclusivity of sexual subcultures and unusual relationship dynamics in “Girls With Slingshots” can again be attributed to the people I surround myself with. The world of “Girls With Slingshots” isn’t unlike my own, where every other person has some unusual kink or relationship dynamic, or doesn’t fit into one label for their sexual orientation.
I avoided intentionally adding a trans character to “Girls With Slingshots” for two reasons: one, because I found it insincere and borderline rude to add a character solely to exploit their hot-topic sexuality. And two, because I know practically nothing about trans people. Oh! And lest I forget the third reason: I didn’t want blunt, insensitive, oblivious Hazel interacting with a trans person. It would have required a lot of carefully-written PSA-style strips to make up for whatever insulting comments Hazel would casually drop, and the cast is already large enough that I didn’t feel I had enough time and space to dedicate to such a delicate topic, one that I knew so little about."
She based the character's personalities and struggles on people that were a part of her life and she had set their strengths and weaknesses in advance rather than focus on the hot topic social issue that's become popular. I will miss the series since it was able to provide me a slice of life with humor into the mix. I was always excited to know what the characters were going to do next after the next day I read it. The comic helped me make sense in what confused me in life, that I can feel the amount of time and love in the piece. I hope Danielle will continue to find passion and love in what she does and sets out to her new journey.
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Both Oglaf and Girls with Slingshots can offer themes of real life elements into the narrative but still produce humor into issues that one would think is serious and challenging.
More Girls with Slingshots comics
More Oglaf comics
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