It’s Iimi! Onward to Lesson Two

Being as well rested as any other teenager at the beginning of a new school year, our heroines prepare for another round of the academic mishaps. But one of them, having worked hard to master Socrates’ “Lesson One,” needs to ask if she’s ready to move… Onward to Lesson Two

 

Pre-Comic Notes:

For those who need a reminder. Lesson One is how Dr. Peter Kreeft labeled Socrates’ statement that to be wise we must first know when we are ignorant about something. Lesson Two would then be to learn the truth about what we are ignorant of. It was originally discussed in this Comic: HERE.

Post-Comic notes:

Yes, page 1 is a reference to Groundhog Day.

 

The school year beginning on August 15 was accurate when I began research for this comic. It’s since been revised, but I decided to just go ahead with the original schedule for August comics.

 

This comic is an experiment with clothing of the main characters (Iimi, Paula, Kismetta, Krysta) and see how it works. Some new readers made comments about the short skirts. It’s not something I can control (it’s part of the Comipo! model design. But I am trying to increase the length of the skirts with Clip Studio Paint. I’m not impressed with my talent to solve this. But we’ll see. 

 

The exception is Iimi in Kismetta’s dream. That has to remain unchanged from every other time it appeared for consistency’s sake.

It’s Iimi! (Not) A Typical Anime Beach Episode

What would you get if you took an anime-style Beach Episode and removed the fanservice, the love confessions, all the hijinks and replaced them with a Socratic dialogue about why Jesus can’t be other than what Christians profess Him to be? You’d probably wind up with something like this comic, which is … (Not) A Typical Anime Beach Episode

Pre-Comic Notes: This episode makes use of terms that are familiar to fans of anime/manga, but may not make sense to other readers.

The “Beach Episode” and “The Bathhouse” are two recurring anime/manga themes. In Japanese culture, families do go to the beach during summer break, and communal bathing (sex segregated) is common. 

In anime, these tropes are often used as an excuse to showcase the female characters in skimpy outfits and sexualized poses (“fanservice”) with male characters trying to get glimpses of them. Frequently this is done with the teasing of a (never quite successful) attempts to confess love and/or possible intimacy between the male and female leads. It’s aimed at the male reader. 

This comic is a subversion of these tropes, replacing “fanservice” with theological dialogue, and poking fun at how western anime fans would be uncomfortable if they actually found themselves placed in these situations that anime and manga treat as common.

Post-Comic Notes: You didn’t think it would be that easy for Iimi to succeed, did you? It’s one thing for Kismetta to find flaws in Islam. It’s quite another to move towards accepting the chief claim of Christianity after years of claims made against it. Apologists aren’t God. They can help remove stumbling blocks in the path. But only God can give the grace.

 

Accounts of Muslim converts to Christianity all point out the difficulty of overcoming the belief that Jesus was only a man. A holy man to be sure, but still only a man. It’s not just Muslims of course. As far back as the Pagan Romans, we could see philosophical monotheists finding the idea of God becoming man to be offensive… that was seen as beneath the dignity of God.

 

This is why it’s important to pray for those who struggle with accepting our beliefs. We who were brought up in our faith do not have to unlearn the things that contradict it, so sometimes we don’t grasp just how hard it is for those who come from outside to do that.

It’s Iimi! The Final Dream of Paula Ochlos

With Paula’s adoption date approaching, she still has some feelings to work out before she’s 100% on board and prays for resolution. When she closes her eyes to sleep on the night before the court date, will there be comfort in…  The Final Dream of Paula Ochlos

Post-Comic Notes: And thus ends the story arc of Paula Ochlos becoming Paula Iscra. It’s not the end of It’s Iimi!however. I plan to keep doing this for as long as God makes it possible.

 

When I first conceived of the character in 2020, I had no plans to do this story arc. But as I developed her character, Paula evolved from a foil to a friend for Iimi. The idea began to germinate with Paula reaching out to Thea in It’s Iimi! My “Friend” Has A Problem… (published slightly over a year ago), and by the end of the Paula’s Abortion arc, I knew it was the story I wanted to tell. But I did not want to rush the cancer revelation, because that would feel too contrived. So, it wasn’t until It’s Iimi! End Games and New Games that I was ready to start dropping the hints that would commit me to the story.

 

I hope the development of Paula’s character and story was worth reading, and I hope the next major story arc (already developing) will also be worth reading.

It’s Iimi! ALEA IACTA EST! (The Die Is Cast!)

Kismetta always knew, in the back of her mind, that this was a possibility. But when push came to shove once too often with the Assistant Imam, is there any way back? And if there is, does she even want to take it?

Preliminary Notes: Those interested in how Kismetta reached this point can see the list of comics of her evolving views:

[Season 0 Episode 2] It's Iimi! Issue Zero (Part II)

[Season 1 Issue 8] It's Iimi! Maybe I Was Born A Tree Because I Will Dialogue

[Season 2 Issue 21] It's Iimi! Problematic Assumptions (Part I)

[Season 2 Issue 27] Lesson One: Knowing That We Don't Know

[Season 2 Issue 29] It's Iimi! But Where Does That Leave You?

[Season 2 Issue 42] It's Iimi! Conflicted!

[Season 2 Issue 50] It’s Iimi! Mistakes, Oversights and Assumptions...

[Season 2 Issue 64] It’s Iimi! Storm Brewing?

[Season 2 Issue 80] It’s Iimi! Walking the Talk

[Season 3 Issue 83] It's Iimi! Paradigm Shift

[Season 3 Issue 89] It’s Iimi! Honor Your Father and Mother

[Season 3 Issue 92] It's Iimi! Bus-Stop Battle

[Season 3 Issue 96] It's Iimi! Coffee Clash!

[Season 3 Issue 97] It’s Iimi! The Riddle…

[Season 3 Issue 98] It’s Iimi! Bear One Another’s Burdens

[Season 3 Issue 99] It!s Iimi! Ascetics' Aesthetics

[Season 3 Issue 102] It's Iimi! A Muslim Ponders During Good Friday

[Season 3 Issue 104] It's Iimi! Jesus is God, Not "a god."

[Season 3 Issue 105] It’s Iimi! Divided Over “Joiners”

[Season 3 Issue 106] It’s Iimi! Acta non Verba!

[Season 3 Issue 107] It’s Iimi! Credo

[Season 3 Issue 109] It's Iimi! Busted!

[Season 3 Issue 113] It's Iimi! Slow Burn

[Season 3 Issue 116] It’s Iimi! Dubai-ous 

[Season 3 Issue 117] It’s Iimi! Struggles in a Sandstorm

[Season 3 Issue 118] It’s Iimi! Interpretations and Misinterpretations

[Season 3 Issue 120] It's Iimi! Gifts of Love and Mercy

[Season 3 Issue 121] It's Iimi! Duel to the Life! 

[Season 3 Issue 122] It’s Iimi! Bonds of Battle, Shackles of Mistrust

Post-Comic notes:

For those interested in the song Kismetta was vengefully playing, it (with lyrics) can be viewed here: 

It’s Iimi! Verbal Aikido

“When some people have issues with us being pro-life, they come out and target those of us who hold it… then I have to use apologetics to defend what I believe in a way that doesn’t give them a chance of accuse me of being the aggressor. We don’t want to just win the argument but lose the arguer. It’s a sort of… Verbal Aikido”

Preliminary Notes:

As the backlash against Dobbs continues, repackaged arguments against the defense of life get repeated. It can be demoralizing to see the constant barrage of attacks made against us. What’s fictional about this comic is very few promoters of abortion as a “right” are willing to listen to our reasons. A large number assume we act from theocratic desires to control instead of believing that the fetus is a human being. 

So, this comic is more of presenting reasons why we hold what we do so the defenders of life might realize how hollow the attacks against us are. 

The comic was originally titled Verbal Judo. But Verbal Aikido is more accurate. Aikido is a defensive martial art aimed at deflecting attacks and turning them against the attacker. As this is Iimi’s apologetic style, it seemed to be a better title, if more obscure. 

I’m experimenting with a new cover style. I like it better than the older format. But what do you think?

Post comic notes: I decided to experiment with a new cover layout. If you’re interested in seeing the original cover layout, it was like this (and, no, I didn’t fix the typos in this rough draft):