It’s Iimi! Breakthrough!

It can be hard to be patient when you can’t identify any forward momentum in what you try to do. Often, our human efforts seem to come to nothing. But God has a plan too, and you never know when He plans a… Breakthrough!

Post-Comic notes: And so it begins for Kismetta, not ends. She has many more steps to take. But she’s taken an important first step towards Christ.

As a side note, in showing the reactions of the Muslims Kismetta knew, it had to be the Assistant Imam who opposed Najiyah’s plans to avoid turning him into a cardboard villain. The Assistant Imam would not want to live under ISIS or the Taliban. The Muslims in this comic are not extremists. But, like all other people, they can make errors of judgment. 

For those who may be mildly shocked by the Assistant Imam returning Najiyah’s feelings despite their age difference, or those who assume that the stories of Muhammad’s wife Aisha, means all Muslim men are pedophiles, I found it interesting that, while California allows underage marriage with parental consent, it’s forbidden in Jordan (where the Assistant Imam comes from) and Qatar (where Najiyah comes from). Exceptions can be granted if the courts find the underage partner to be mature enough to understand the responsibility of marriage. 

But the point is, the Assistant Imam wants to wait until Najiyah becomes an adult so she doesn’t rush into a situation she might later regret.

His position on polygyny reflects the research I’ve found online. The most common view I’ve seen from Muslims online is, “Can men do this? Yes.  Should they do this? We don’t recommend it.”.

It’s Iimi! Hobgoblins!

Ralph Waldo Emerson made a quote that gets paraphrased as “Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” (The actual quote is “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”) Whenever someone points out that behavior is inconsistent, this gets dragged out as a strawman fallacy trying to claim that the person objecting is small-minded. You may have seen a bumper sticker variant of this, saying, “If you won’t change your mind, do you even have one?” 

 

But the real hobgoblins of “foolish consistency” are partisanship that assumes that whatever benefits me or harms my foes is good and whatever disadvantages me or helps my foes is bad. That’s dangerous if left unchecked and must always be opposed.

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 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.

 

When I began researching this comic, the school year beginning on August 15 was accurate. Although the schedule has since been revised, I decided to go ahead with the original schedule for August comics.

 

This comic is an experiment with the clothing of the main characters (Iimi, Paula, Kismetta, Krysta) to 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 for solving 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 uses 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 female characters in skimpy outfits and sexualized poses (“fanservice”) while male characters try to get glimpses of them. Frequently, this is done with the teasing of a (never quite successful) attempt 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, philosophical monotheists found the idea of God becoming man 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: Thus ends the story arc of Paula Ochlos becoming Paula Iscra. However, it’s not the end of It’s Iimi! 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 have felt 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 (which is already developing) will also be worth reading.