Web-Comic Review: Questionable Content (Part 1)

Jeph Jacques' Questionable Content is without a doubt one of the biggest successes in webcomic history.  Started in 2003, the comic is still running today, earning enough to support the author and his now wife entirely.  I have been reading QC religiously for the last week, and have reached around strip 950 in this 2000+ strip epic.  So, while I haven't quite caught up with the comic, read on for my musings on the story thus far and where I think things might go from here.

Questions: Level Up

Cartoonist Gene Luen Yang has built his career from talking about what it is like to grow up as an Asian American.  Level Up continues in that vein by exploring the stereotype of the strict Asian parent, examining both its veracity and its effect upon the sons and daughters it is inflicted on.  

Quickies: Americus and Kinetic

Neal Barton is miserable.  It's his first year of high school, and not only has his best friend been sent away to military school, but his favorite book series is being attacked by a local group of religious fundamentalists who aim to ban it from the local library, his home away from home.  What's a nerdy guy to do?  It's time to take a stand.

As a librarian, this one got me where it counts.  I completely identified with Neal's obsession with the Apathea Ravenchilde series (Song of Ice and Fire junkie here!) as well as with the amazing librarians he befriends.  Being from a relatively small and very religious town, it was very easy to imagine this situation occurring here.  I couldn't ask for a comrade more dedicated than Neal.  I would recommend this book strongly to the tween crowd, as a good way to learn about freedom of speech and how to stand up for what you believe in.  Adolescence is all about rebellion, but some forms are more constructive than others.  Americus shows how to do it right!