Week 58! (Patreon)

Next in the series of the couples of Furthia High, we have... a pair who are not actually a couple, and probably the absolutely most estranged pair of them all, Ashley and Gus. This is the first "couple" to not actually have been elaborated upon specifically in a previous Patreon update, although I did go into Gus a bit in terms of his Old Canon self and how he was the first real attempt at injecting something more "adult" themed into the comic, with a small BDSM handcuffs reference.

Now, this relationship is obviously far older than Kale/Eve's and Campy/Connor's, having started waaaay back in the Old Canon where, during Lunch, Ashley stopped Lupin from bullying Kale further, but then Gus popped in to fawn over her. Since it was so long ago... I honestly can't say why I initially made Gus have that obsession with Ashley. Because they were both cats? It might've just been as simple as that, back then. I also actually can't say why I even included the handcuffs thought balloon in that one panel; perhaps to insinuate that Gus, being submissive towards Lupin and Ashley, very domineering and commanding people, would translate to the bedroom as well.

However, when the New Canon came up, I took that idea of Gus crushing on Ashley and turned it into a real obsession on his part... Perhaps too much of one, honestly. It came to be that Gus was shown to be actually stalking her (comedically, of course, but still), and it eventually grew into an entire statement on the nature of unhealthy obsession over a person. It sort of teetered a lot on the edge for a lot of its early run, to a point that some people actually hated Gus for being as big a creep as he was being towards Ashley.

This is, I suppose, where Arc 13 - The Ugly Truth (Regarding Love) came in, a year-long arc pretty much solely on Gus and Ashley's relationship and all the sorts of things that come from outsiders meddling and the unhealthiness of it all and the flaws in both Gus and Ashley. I set out to make an intentional statement in text and story that outlined my views on the nature of relationships between people and the realism that is often not shown in the media, where people have flaws and problems and issues that just don't work themselves out sometimes, and that obsessive, unhealthy behaviors aren't something to be forgiven easily, if ever. I tried to write the arc in such a way that made Gus more likable and sympathetic, where he eventually finally truly understands his own problems as he became overwhelmed by everything that happened, and not only understands that the thing he wants most will probably never be achieved, but that it's better to focus on himself and fix himself in the end to be ultimately happy.

To be honest, I'm probably most proud of that arc. It probably could've been written better and drawn better and handled better and yadda yadda yadda, but I think that was the most genuine message that I wanted to really lay out and get out there and tell people, especially since it came from a personal place for myself. It having been the year I won the Ursa Major Award helps a little, too, maybe.