Working Daze by John Zakour and Scott Roberts for July 06, 2014

Finally! The Mary Sue curse has been broken!

See, John? You never needed to turn every single female in your strip into a Mary Sue in the first place to make things interesting. That just reveals your conflict avoidance issues while showing why writers steer clear of Mary Sues.

your doing good

I did have a lot of fun with this one.

I understand the interest on the part of the others. It’s like wanting to see The Hulk face off against Thor or Superman vs Captain Marvel.

Dana will draw deeper on her inner powers. We’ll have piff and counter-piff.

Kind of reminds me of the Wizard’s duel in Ralph Bakshi’s “Wizards”.SPOILER!.........I was all set for a great pyrotechnic display of magic, when the good wizard, Avatar pulls out a gun, shoots the bad wizard, Blackwolf, and says “a little trick that mother taught me.”

Bravo!

Great way to settle a conflict, guys. Well, that or ‘knock poker’ works for our family. If you lose you gotta eat all the jube-jel candies at once…

Whew! That was a close one.

A lot less exciting that a magical duel but with probably a lot less colateral damage at the same time.

Please tell me what a “Mary Sue” is? “sniff”… I feel so inadequate.

Now, it’s a whole other thing when yer talkin’ Ralph Bakshi.

Whenever I’m feeling down, I can always count on John and Scott to put a smile on my face, and I can always count on SoRW to remind me that my life isn’t nearly as depressing as it could be. Thanks guys.

@Sack & @’Tater—I’m not sure I get either of your comments. My understanding of a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu for the males) is that it’s a character—often, but not exclusively, found in derivative literature such as fanfic—who tends to be flawless, over the top, has every virtue and talent possible regardless of age and background, and gorgeous to boot. Quite often wish fulfillment of the author (what I wish I could be). I’ve never heard it to refer just to self-insertion, though, so I’m curious what other meaning there is..I don’t see all of the female characters in this strip fitting that description. Yes, most of them are attractive, some have powers, but they do have flaws and it fits in the continuity of the strip (a company full of odd things you wouldn’t find in any other company in the world). And how does this break the “curse”?

That seems a sensible way. Both know the ramifications of a duel with power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

I played that as a child; and I tried to teach such simplistic games to some Latina friends who had no knowledge of cards. (unsuccessfully)