It’s Iimi! By Water or By Steel

As Nila and Yasim meet with Carl and Sumeja to discuss their immigration cases, Bahrudin and Salah turn up as well. Bahrudin assumes Christians can’t be sincere in praying for non-Christians because they assume non-Christians must be in hell.

Will Iimi be able to convince him that he is wrong? Or will Carl need to take a more direct approach? Which path of outreach must be taken? By Water or By Steel

Pre-Comic Notes: 
This comic contains Korean concepts and some downright obscure cultural references (for 2025). If you don’t get them, see the Post-Comic notes.

Post-Comic Notes and dated cultural references:

A note to the scrupulous. No, this comic isn’t promoting Eastern philosophy. Instead, while researching Hapkido for the comic, I was struck by how the approach to Hapkido sounded similar to how Iimi had always handled apologetics: in harmony with the Church, circling around hostility, and seeking to be flexible in leading people to her point. Also see Issue 124.

Hwa Won Yu briefly means “Harmony, water, circle.” The whole meaning can be found HERE. However, as a Catholic webcomic, the meaning applied has a Catholic bent.

“Until We Meet Again” comes from a He-Man meme where Skeletor offers a mildly offensive observation and then runs away, saying “Until we meet again!”

The title and image of Part 3 require some explanation, as the material being parodied is well over ten years old. “Appa Gangham Style” is a parody of an (in)famous Korean song called “Oppa Gangnam Style” by PSY, whose real name is Park Jae-sang. The song can be heard HERE

The lyrics’ translation can be found HERE.

 “Gangnam” (강남) is a geographical location, literally meaning “South of the River”, referring to the upscale district located south of the Han River in Seoul. The song by PSY satirizes the flashy, nouveau-riche lifestyle associated with that area.

In this parody, the replacement word “Gangham” (강함) conveys a sense of strength or firmness, evoking rigidity, directness, and resistance to external influence. In the Korean sense, Gangham is equivalent to metal, not Earth (as I initially expected). It’s the opposite of Iimi’s Yu (water, flexibility). Sometimes, when someone wants to be obnoxious, Carl needs to be direct.

In both English and Korean, one character is changed to keep the rhythm while changing the meaning.

Oppa (오빠) is a term used by younger females to refer to older males (brothers, close male friends, or romantic interests). It’s casual, affectionate, and often playful.

Appa (아빠): is an informal, affectionate word for “dad.” It’s what children typically call their father at home. It’s warm, familiar, and emotionally close.

Similar to Gangnam-Gangham, Oppa-Appa changes one letter/Hangul character to alter the meaning.

So, while “Oppa Gangnam Style” conveys the sense of “Big bro has upscale style,” the parody, “Appa Gangham Style,” conveys the sense of “Dad has strong/forceful style.”

The “A-Ha” monent. In the song “Take on Me” by A-Ha, the video is done mainly in a pencil-rotoscope. It’s a stupid pun (do I ever do anything else?)

The video can be seen HERE

If you’re curious as to what was in the word balloon on page 22, middle panel, it was: “<Incredibly obscene and scatalogical tirade in Bosnian>”

Image Credits

The Cover Art is © 2015 Dean Spencer, used with permission. All rights reserved.

AI Disclaimer

I discontinued using AI for covers and background scenery after Issue 277. I still use it to create logos and symbols simply because there are no non-AI logo creator programs (suggestions are welcome). Some previously used images have been kept for consistency (iconic buildings and “historic photographs”) with the intent of replacing them when possible. Any other appearance of AI means the stock art seller I purchased from misrepresented their product.