When I was preparing for my last blog post, I collected as much relevant comic material that could contribute to the subject. However, there was one particular comic I left out after finding out there was more potential strips that deserved its own follow-up.
No, not these comics from the wonderfully informative and entertaining Aces Wild. When it comes to portrayal of Asexuality, those who identify with the spectrum will subconsciously seek out anything that they relate to however slightly, and care has to be made that said portrayal doesn’t offend certain sensibilities. The more wide-range examples given, the greater the chances one will ring true for someone. Representation is important. And there’s no better time to do so than during Asexual Awareness week.
Jughead Jones is now the best-known popular representation of the orientation, but I would postulate that there’s another human cartoon character who would easily fall into that category. If you’ve read the title, you already know who it is.
For those not in the know, Zonker Harris is a lifelong hippie bouncing between random jobs, preferring to work in the company young children. One particularly annoying stereotype is that Asexual people are infantilized in their approach towards sex, preferring to remain deliberately ignorant about the subject. And in this case, Zonker has some blatantly blind spots. (Though he's always been like that for anything involving the real world)
But first, some backstory on the woman in question, Marcia.
Marcia started out as Mike’s secretary in one of his morally dubious advertising jobs. Then as is typical of any long-running political soap opera, suddenly decided to thrust herself into the narrative.
After failing to find any suitable mates, Marcia decided to publicity take herself off the market.
Apart from a slight temptation to shack up with whoever was willing to be with her, and not being interested in the slightest, Marcia remained out of the public view until a year later when she showed up as a seatmate next to Zonker who's just gained the prestigious title of an English Lord (long story) that came about after spending his lottery fortune to free his Uncle Duke who'd been working as a zombie slave. (I said it was a long story!)
So on one side, you’ve got a woman who’s sworn off all prospects of marriage, and on the other, a perpetual man-child who has no prospects towards romance in any shape or form. Put them together, and what do you get? A series of dailies that have never been collected before.
Despite his objections, Zonker winds up going to the party anyways. The actual affair is something of a non-event, but I'm including these strips just for completeness' sake.
While this normally would be the end of it, the odd couple didn't show up until another year later, with another weekly dose of strips that've never been reprinted. Probably the closest we ever got to seeing an Asexual date in action.
After that, apart from a few more cameo appearances in the late 1980s, she hasn’t shown up since.
While Zonker's fun to be around, he can be tiring in the long run, and he was against Mark Slackmeyer publicly coming out as Gay. (That's what happens when you have a mostly male cast and limited women to pair them off). So despite filling in the majority qualifications for Asexuality, he’s probably not the best spokesman for the role.
No comments:
Post a Comment