Doreen Michele

I am at long last officially launching The Cute and the Dead . I think it is my fourth comic and its roots go back more than a decade to when I had a corporate job. While I had that job, I brainstormed ideas but didn't really pursue doing the comic at that time in part because I was working full time and couldn't devote the time to it. There have been two prior incarnations of this comic under different names. Then one day a few years ago I blurted out the phrase "the cute and the dead" and really liked it, so I started a new comic under that name and moved the best of bits of a previous comic to it. I have had a lot of positive feedback from people knowledgeable about web comics. I have been told the artwork is adequate -- actually was told some very flattering things about my ability to show perspective and movement, etc -- and was told that each panel has enough action. My understanding is that you need to update a comic at least three days a week to get tr...

Many years ago, I read an anecdote about an American man working in Asia. He was frustrated with his communication difficulties with the locals which ran deeper than simply a language barrier. One day, he felt like he was finally making progress and a colleague of his commented that they were "Thinking along parallel lines." He enthusiastically agreed and hoped this meant their communication difficulties would soon be a thing of the past. He hoped to soon see a genuine meeting of the minds, but much to his frustration, this did not come to pass. It was soon apparent that nothing had really changed. When he asked his colleague "What about what you said about us thinking along parallel lines?" the reply he got was "Parallel lines never meet." The same words can mean very different things to different people. Context helps inform us what is intended but to some degree how your words get interpreted depends on what is in the mind of the person reading th...

I just wrote a piece yesterday about date rape . I debated whether or not to add a footnote saying something like "Yes, I KNOW not all date rape is a case of miscommunication and alcohol-fueled confusion. Some people are just rapists, full stop." I ultimately chose to not do that. The piece includes passages about men intentionally getting women drunk to take advantage of them. The piece includes statements that clearly indicate doing so is rape. No matter how carefully I say it, no piece of writing will ever be immune to bad people intentionally twisting my words so they can try to tell you "I am not really a rapist. I was just confused and didn't understand that her screaming NO 27 times and clawing at my eyes meant I was raping her. I just thought she liked rough sex!" People who do bad things intentionally don't usually fess up the minute they are caught red-handed and go "You got me. I'm just a bad person and I just like hurting people and g...