Liō: I thought he was a girl...

[Gaith]

As one with a very low tolerance for depressive goth chic (crap like Emily the Strange makes me ill), I was surprised to find that, after with Pears Before Swine, Liō is my favorite current newspaper comic. Granted, that's not exactly high praise (go away, Family Circus, go away), but there it is. It may touch on goth subjects, but its jollity and good humor keeps it from being dreadful.

Thing is, I thought for sure Liō was a girl. If only to draw a clearer distinction between him and Watterson's Calvin, I prefer to think of her as a girl. Take this crossover comic, which I was again surprised to find amusing, giving my affection for Calvin and Hobbes:

http://images.avalondire.multiply.co...&nmid=78732427

Maybe it's me, but I think the strip just reads better with Liō as a girl.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...26July2006.png

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=1...c7d9f5e15dc4be

[Canadave]

I've never heard of it, to be honest. Looks odd.

[Spaceman Spiff]

First, to get the official business out of the way, please don't post inline images from webspace that isn't yours. I've changed them into links.

Second, I never thought Liō was a girl. He's always crushing on the mean little girl at school, for one. I don't think it really makes a difference what gender you read him as. Plus, Mark Tatulli's already got a comic strip featuring a little girl in Heart of the City.

I wouldn't call it "goth chic," either. Emily the Strange, sure. (Though there are other reasons to hate that product.) But there's a difference between that and dark humor.

Liō won the Reuben award for best comic strip this year, so I wouldn't feel too bad about liking it.

[Trent Roman]

Liō's great. My local paper tried it for a few weeks then dropped it for some boring thing about menopausal women, but ever since that first taste I've been following the strip online. I love the twisted sense of humour, the intertextual references to other strips, etc. (And yeah, I knew he was a guy thanks to that unrequited crush on the girl with the bangs over her forehead.)

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

[Lt. Trull]

Lio's cool.... I try not to miss a strip...
if you can't find him look him up here...
http://www.gocomics.com/explore/comics

[Gaith]

Sorry for the images posting. My bad.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

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I wouldn't call it "goth chic," either. Emily the Strange, sure. (Though there are other reasons to hate that product.) But there's a difference between that and dark humor.

Fair point, but what with all the ghosts, spiders and general creepy themes (though with a lighthearted tone), it initially reminded me of goth-type stuff.

I don't read them all, so I've never seen the bit with the school girl. Hm.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Eh, I'm a big horror fan, and I loves me the creepy-crawly, Hallowe'eny stuff, and I'm about as far from goth as you can get.

So's Tatulli, actually. You can add him as a friend on Facebook, and see he's a pretty normal guy.

I think it's the difference between finding the fun in creepy crawlies and using them as a fashion statement.

Anyway, the new Liō collection is out, and it's loads of fun. It's a larger trade paperback, and it's got commentary on many strips. It's funny to see which ones people wrote in about.

[Davros]

Gaith wrote:

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As one with a very low tolerance for depressive goth chic

But Goth chicks are hot.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Here's a strip with Eva Rose in it.

[Captain Craig]

Never heard of Lio. Looks like a fairly good strip though.

[Mr. Adventure]

Never heard of it either and don't really see "girl" there personally.

[Nardpuncher]

Can I just say that I HATE Zippy The Pinhead?