It’s Iimi! This is The Way

Two students from the Sophomore logic class that Iimi is T.A. for come by during the club period. They have a quote from a Taoist philosopher who holds a view of absolutes in contrast with Christianity. Because they contradict, they can’t both be right when they say… This is The Way 

Post-Comic Notes:

The comic was scripted shortly after the US and Israel struck Iran, killing its leader, Khamenei. While it’s been revised before being uploaded, I lack the precognition to know what the events would be by the time it went live.

Tao (道), in the sense of Taoism, means “the way.” It is, of course, radically different from the Christian view of Jesus being The Way (John 14:6). The Act 2 title, “The Tao and The Way,” could also be titled “The Way and The Way,” but that might be misinterpreted as promoting syncretism.

As far as I know, “Asian Bearding” is a teenage slang term that only exists in this webcomic (Babylon has its own linguistic quirks that way). The concept is real, however. I discovered it while researching the Chinese-American teenage culture. It occurred to me that teens from other groups in Babylon that emphasize religion or heritage might adopt it as well.

Image Credits

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

The Art on page 15 is The Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens, created ~1611, and is in the public domain.

AI Disclaimer

I discontinued using AI for covers and background scenery after Issue 277. I still use it to create logos, doodles, and symbols, simply because there are no non-AI logo-creation 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.

It’s Iimi! Caught Between the Now and the Not Yet!

Graduation is three months away. College is less than six. The girls are all 18. But, still in High School, they are expected to comply with their parents’ decisions while also facing expectations to make their own. How can they balance what leaves them feeling… Caught Between the Now and the Not Yet

Post-Comic Notes:

The scripture in Chinese comes from the Catholic SIH GAO Bible (1968). Written in Traditional Hanzi (Chinese characters). It is the most widely used Catholic Chinese translation, recognized by the Vatican and produced by the Studium Biblicum O.F.M. in 1968. It is a direct translation from the original Greek and Latin, not a translation of a translation.

“Traditional” doesn’t mean “traditionalist” or “archaic language.” It means Traditional characters used by Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora, as opposed to the simplified characters used in Mainland China since ~1950.

For example, take the sentence “This is a Chinese sentence” written in both scripts:

• (Simplified): 这是一个中文句子。
• (Traditional): 這是一個中文句子。

Only two characters differ (这/這 and 个/個) between the two sentences. But they would be pronounced the same and have the same grammar… assuming the speakers used the same version of Chinese.

Why? “Chinese” more accurately refers to a family of related languages. Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Min, Hakka, Xiang, and Gan are distinct tonal languages that are not mutually intelligible, even though they share a common writing system. So, if one speaker read the first sentence in Mandarin and a second speaker read the sentence in Cantonese, they would sound noticeably different.

In describing French as being spoken by West African Muslims members of the Tri-Cities, Anne was correct. But she was not aware that the elder members of several Indochinese communities (Kinh, Hmong, Khmer) also knows it  

Image Credits

Cover 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, doodles, and symbols, simply because there are no non-AI logo-creation 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.

It’s Iimi! Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

As Carl and Thea put the pieces back together after the accident, the girls struggle with their own issues. It feels like Thea views them as untrustworthy, even though they weren’t involved. Is she being unfair? Or is it something else that drives her actions? 

[†] See Issues 114-115

Post Comic Notes: 
One disadvantage of writing a comic ahead of the date is being unable to respond quickly to real-world events. Najiyah (who came from Qatar), Noor (whose father is Iranian), and Bahrudin (who knows people from the UAE) would have been deeply concerned with the US strikes on Iran and Iran's retaliatory strikes on US bases in the Gulf that happened the day before the comic was published. 

Please pray for the real-world innocents affected by this conflict.

Image Credits

Cover Image (Angel’s Pain) is copyright © 2006 Bradley K McDevitt.

AI Disclaimer

I discontinued using AI for covers and background scenery after Issue 277. I still use it to create logos, doodles, and symbols, simply because there are no non-AI logo-creation 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.