Okay, so it's not exactly a secret that I've got a thing for muscly guys, and this sorta spilled over into my comic i.s.o. (and yeah, to a large extent, the Class Menagerie too). And I am well aware not everyone else does, honestly.

But I find it somewhat frustrating that I've heard some people simply won't read i.s.o. because there's "too much beef." Sure, the comic is not for everyone, lord knows the Furry Gay College Comic is a well-tread path. Still, seriously? The beef? So, like, does that mean they also won't watch any movies/television shows/music videos, because 90% of the women featured are just as above-average in body type as my characters are? Oh, right, I forgot that it's okay to force artifical physical standards on women [sarcasm].

The fact is, unlike some comics (yes, even The CM), the beef factor is an actual legitimate plot point of i.s.o. As a coming of age story, Cody has serious issues with being gay versus appearing typically "masculine", and he's overcompensated with his size out of fear of having the crap beaten out of him. He then spends the comic not only learning that being gay may or may not be related to his (or anyone else's) appearance, but that he's affected his ability to make first impressions with his excess shows of testosterone, and now he has to undo that damage.
I suppose I take these criticisms a little personally because Cody's physical psychoses are somewhat autobiographical. No, no, I don't LOOK anything like him (don't I wish!)...if anything, I fit the gay stereotype rather well (shrimpy, thin, squeaky voice) and I had a lot more to want to hide. I can assure you that growing up, the fear of "looking" gay can severely affect one's social growth. Through early grade school, I was an extremely outgoing kid, but I withdrew considerably from social circles during middle school through college. Fretting about your strange inner desires is an excellent way to isolate yourself, lemme tell you. Friends can't suspect you of being different if you don't let them get close. Cody merely chose a more aggressive way of keeping everyone at bay than I did. He and I had the same conclusion: being gay AND weak is a fatal combination, we just dealt with it differently. I'd like to think it's different for gay kids growing up now, but I certainly doubt it is for ALL of them.

Anyway, getting back to Cody...yeah, there's a pretty high number of fit characters in my comic--as the *leads*. I've been told it's an unrealistic percentage, even though the backgrounds are filled with perfectly normal-sized incidentals everywhere.
It's been my understanding that *generally*, athletic guys tend to hang around with other athletic guys. It's also not at all uncommon for athletic gay males to be attracted to other athletic males...I'd say at the very least, this is the case the majority of the time. So, I chose a lead who is a bodybuilding football player/martial artist. And his best friend is, shockingly, another bodybuilder (his gym buddy). Over the course of the story, there is significant sexual tension for Cody with three other guys who are all in terrific shape (okay, okay, I will grant you it's a massive coincidence that he ends up accidentally *rooming* with one, fine, but everyone else lives elsewhere ) And the main nemesis in the story seems to be the one guy who doesn't fear Cody (since Cody's *smaller*).
Yet from the sound of the feedback, it'd be somehow MORE realistic for Cody to be best buds with a rotund basement-dwelling fanboy geek, and then be lusting after a bunch of 90-pound skinny jeans-clad twinks? Because with Cody's lifestyle, there wouldn't be anyone else athletic around a 25,000-student campus that he would gravitate towards or relate to. Uh-huh.
Basically, I guess what I did wrong was choose a beefy character to be the lead in the first place! After all, we all know jocks can't possibly have lives other than being sidekicks, bullies, or superheroes.

Dunno. I'm rambling, this is something I've wanted to get off my chest for some time. I worked hard to make something which is unquestionably for a bit of a niche market...I was just hoping it'd spill over a little beyond that. Ah well. I'm not sorry I did what I did. Can't stop me from venting a little, no?
Meh, this is like the fourth time I've tried rewriting this. I didn't get much sleep last night and somehow my fuzzy brain decided it was a good idea to finish it now. I might delete this when I've slept better @.@