Soft-Pedaled, by gray Folie (contemporary comic, 2022)

[lb_lee]

"Romeo, it's okay to feel angry, but you can't just go off on people!!"

Blurb: a short comic about two multiples trying to process being unable to stop abuse at their respective workplaces.

Why is it worth your time?: I've read a lot of comics over the years, and I've never seen work like gray Folie's. Their work is beautiful, raw, and emotionally devastating, and I have to be in a specific mindframe to read it because man can it hurt. They pull no punches when showing the ugly, snotty, painful sides of trauma and mental illness. Also, they depict both an internal and external argument with crystal clarity, despite the multiple layers of reality they're simultaneously happening on, just by using colors and panel layouts, which is masterful.

Plural Tags: abuse high-focus, otherworld, friendship, nonhumans [cat person, snake person, doll, animal people]

Content Warnings: Child abuse. Others contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Short, free to read online. Alas, this one doesn't seem to be screenreadable; other Folie works are. Back-up links:

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Misc Notes: Felix, one of the main characters of this comic, has become the protagonist of a bigger (and screenreadable!) webcomic called Catharsis. It has only just started, though, so I'm going to hold off on adding it to this archive until I (or someone else) can give decent content warnings. You also might enjoy the art tags Folie has for them on tumblr; here's Felix's, and here's Izzi's.

Comments

Content Warnings

[lb_lee]

Folie writes emotional pain and arguments that can be excruciating to read. The friends find their catharsis and their footing together, but it's a rough sixteen pages!

[stealthsystem]

We read Catharsis. Wonder what other works of theirs are transcribed.

[lb_lee]

All the long ones:

Drop Out: http://drop-out.webcomic.ws/

Fresh Meat: http://fresh-meat.webcomic.ws/

EDIT: heads up though, Drop Out is about two girlfriends going on a road trip to commit suicide via Grand Canyon, and Fresh Meat is about being institutionalized as a minor. They're intense, and no lie, I had to put off reading even these shorts for a month because Folie's work is like holding my hand to a beautiful stove burner, more so the long stuff.

[the_beasts]

info: the quote at the top of this post was triggering for us. we needed a content warning for that, personally.

we have no suggestions on whether or what to do about this info, if anything.


edit:

also <3

(not sure how our tone comes across here. it's intended as gentle/neutral but we can't tell if that would come across or not. still appreciate the great work you're doing with this community!)

[lb_lee]

Thanks for letting us know! We changed the quote to something less intense.

[the_beasts]

<3 <3 <3 thankyou so much! that helps a lot, & the new quote is really good. we appreciate your willingness to accommodate.

also, we're sorry that we only ever really comment about content warnings, so far. we want to give positive feedback all the time, but commenting is a huge amount of spoons for us, and our daily spoon level is so low we often can't even talk to our loved ones for weeks even though we want to. concern for our & others' safety is one of the few things that will push us to spend those spoons on communicating with somebody other than our loved ones, usually. ^^;;

you all really are doing a wonderful job here, though! <3

[lb_lee]

No worries! This catalog is supposed to be accessible, and people chiming in to make it more so is very valuable! You've always been positive and helpful. ^_^

Sneak

[the_beasts]

oh, thankyou!

that makes a lot of sense. now you point it out, if we were making a thing like this that's how we'd feel about it, but we always get so... second-guess-y at ourselves when it's us having a problem. internalised ableism and such, probably. still working on it, but it can be hard to notice when it's happening. your pointing it out helps a whole bunch.

thankyou for the reassurance, Sneak, it means a lot. <3

[lb_lee]

If it bothered you, it would surely bother others. You're helping user test!

Sneak