Who does Rikk look more like...

AntiEntropy · Post by **AntiEntropy** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 12:12 am

Archie... <img src=http://www.archiecomics.com/archies_hou ... archie.gif> or Tintin? <img src=http://www.tintin.be/fr/perso_fr/images/tintin.jpg>

[ This Message was edited by: AntiEntropy on 2002-03-09 00:25 ]

Tom the Fanboy · Post by **Tom the Fanboy** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 1:25 am

Archie, his cowlick's in the back and his got better ladies.

But don't take my word for it......
See what T thinks about Archie.

Alisin · Post by **Alisin** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 2:07 am

I think Rikk looks like a much better looking Archie.

_________________
Pass the Ammunition, Brother.

[ This Message was edited by: Alisin on 2002-03-09 03:31 ]

KingLeon · Post by **KingLeon** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 6:12 am

Yeah, but there something... innocent and charismatic about Tintin that's kinda in Rikk, too...

AntiEntropy · Post by **AntiEntropy** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 12:17 pm

Both Archie and Tintin were (are) squeeky-clean comics with pure-hearted young men as leads, but Tintin was a reporter and actually did stuff like saving people and catching criminals. So although I think Rikk looks a bit more like Archie, I think he *is* a bit more like Tintin. (Except for lusting after women. AFAIK, Tintin was completely asexual.)

...to answer my own question. :

:

AntiEntropy · Post by **AntiEntropy** » Sun Mar 10, 2002 7:05 am

Rikk's a believer?!

Sorry guys, still working my through the archives.

It's just so rare to see any Christian-positive stuff in SciFi or online comics.

Maccabee · Post by **Maccabee** » Sun Mar 10, 2002 7:55 am

On 2002-03-10 07:05, AntiEntropy wrote:
It's just so rare to see any Christian-positive stuff in SciFi or online comics.

You think that's rare? I have yet to find a character in web-comics whose Muslim faith is a source of strength and spiritual peace.

But back to your main point. Yes, Rikk is a Christian. He takes his faith very seriously. There are a lot of deeply religious people in fandom, and one of the things we want to do with this project is show fen in all their variagated splendor.

Maccabee
"We're so multicultural it hurts."

Vitriol · Post by **Vitriol** » Sun Mar 10, 2002 8:42 am

http://www.faans.com/d/20000908.html

http://www.faans.com/d/20010917.html

Vitriol (who enjoys stirring things up

AntiEntropy · Post by **AntiEntropy** » Sun Mar 10, 2002 3:21 pm

You think that's rare? I have yet to find a character in web-comics whose Muslim faith is a source of strength and spiritual peace.

Heh, you got a point there. I was bemoaning to my sister (doesn't call herself a Christian) that almost all Christians in the movies are stereotypical idiots. She said, "Yeah? Well name one psychiatrist in the movies who isn't crazy or doesn't sleep with his patients!" So I guess there's plenty of stereotyping to go around.

Vitriol: the first URL is what I'm talking about. The second I don't want to look at because I haven't gotten there in the story yet, but let me guess: Rikk renounces his faith or does something un-Christian like. Am I right?

Vitriol · Post by **Vitriol** » Sun Mar 10, 2002 3:45 pm

Oh, I think he definitely believes.

Or, at least, he believes he believes.

He certainly conforms to all of the values and prohibition in the Bible, which is probably the important bit, but seems to still have some doubts.

Rikk renounces his faith or does something un-Christian like. Am I right?

No, it's nothing that major (I mean, he's RIKK

), but just shows another chink in his faith.

Oh, and Robin Williams portrays fairly sane and non-seducing psychiatrist in Good Will Hunting.

Nyarlahotep · Post by **Nyarlahotep** » Sun Mar 10, 2002 3:52 pm

On 2002-03-10 07:55, Maccabee wrote:

You think that's rare? I have yet to find a character in web-comics whose Muslim faith is a source of strength and spiritual peace.

Oran from Broken Saints may be the closest thing to what you describe so far.

Sure, he hasn't gotten the peace bit, but otherwise...

FlyingFish · Post by **FlyingFish** » Sun Mar 10, 2002 4:04 pm

On 2002-03-10 08:42, Vitriol wrote:
http://www.faans.com/d/20000908.html

http://www.faans.com/d/20010917.html

Vitriol (who enjoys stirring things up

Point made and gladly accepted. That's part of what I like about the character, actually. Rikk's not a hypocrite, but he's not SuperChristian either; he's very human, and he's got his flaws and limitations, and he doesn't pretend they don't exist. Any Christian who claims that s/he's never doubted God or experienced pain over some event, or desires only to pray and serve 24/7, is full of it (and probably trying to sell you something). But Rikk behaves like most Christian college students I know: imperfect, struggling sometimes, but trying to do the best he can.

ZOMBIE USER 1252 · Post by **ZOMBIE USER 1252** » Sun Mar 10, 2002 6:36 pm

The way I see it, Rikk is very much a Christian. I don't think Christianity consists of using the Bible as a checklist. I mean, extra kudos if you do, you're a good guy if you don't kill people or covet your neighbour's goat. But remember, the Pharisees began following the LETTER of the Law, more than the spirit.

I'm sure Rikk could sit and pray and pretend to LOOOOVE sermons, and his parents would think he was the best little boy on earth (at the point of the God of Fandom story, anyway). Would those acts, in and of themselves, make him a "better" Christian than he is now?

How good is good enough? What earns you salvation? Sitting through 52-plus-religious-holidays sermons a year? Fasting during Lent beyond giving up gum or Britcoms or masturbating?

When Christianity become a checklist, it's no longer any sort of religion. That goes for every faith. The actions alone are NOT the belief. Now, if it's someone who goes through the actions and generally DOES have deep belief in their meaning, then the ceremony is serving its purpose.

But if you're just sitting through things and/or doing them because Good Christians/Jews/Muslims/Keychain-Worshippers do, you're trying to earn your way to whatever you believe is allotted your people. At that point, just cut the crap and go back to selling indulgences.

If Rikk believes, or BELIEVES he believes, or even the littlest bit of such a thing, how he acts at Church alone isn't a gauge for how religious he is. I sit through early theatre history and pay attention, but that doesn't mean I agree with everything the professor says, or even gain anything from it. What you willingly believe and enact, not because you HAVE to, but because you WANT to, is your spiritual barometer.

Um ... oh, and I think Rikk looks more like Archie.

Ehe ...

AntiEntropy · Post by **AntiEntropy** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 5:58 pm

I completely agree that a Christian can have doubts. I do. Most Christians I know do. And I think it's great that Rikk isn't Mr. Super Christian. Having doubts and conflits leads to better drama anyway, besides being more realistic.

I also believe that salvation isn't based on some checklist, but if people have *no idea* you're a Christian... ouch, that would hurt. (*You're* a Christian?! Dude, no way!!)

I like this strip's PG to PG-13 "rating" (at least so far). I can take stuff up to around "R", then it starts to lose me. The raunchiest strip I read regularly is "Jack", which can get pretty dang raunchy, but at least it has a story and a moral.

I also like Rikk's atraction to the "wrong" woman. I love Allison. "Life's a bitch. Make her *your* bitch." They're going to be quite a pair. I guess *you* guys already know what happens.

I'd better get back to the archives...

Wish · Post by **Wish** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 9:09 pm

Err.. just to comment on the original topic of the thread (my views on Rikk and his faith are fairly well documented elsewhere on this board)..

Rikk IS Archie. He's even got the love triangle going on, but in a more subtle and intelligent way. I mean, if Rumy isn't the reincarnated spirit of Betty with this pledge to help Rikk save Alisin.. I'll eat my favorite inking pen. And Alisin is so obviously Veronica.. right down to her filthy-rich daddy who pays all the bills.

How about the rest of the 'gang?' I can see Tim as Jughead, and Will as Moose. Would that make Union Jackie Josie from Josie and the Pussycats? Hun.. Thoughts?

-Wish
Your life is just a shame, shame, shame..

Joshlamont · Post by **Joshlamont** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 9:26 pm

i'm definitely thinking Archie. a side note, on the vampire comic, why didn't Muffy become a vampire? for that matter, why are all vampires allergic to christian things? what about christians that are bitten?

Roscoe · Post by **Roscoe** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 9:26 pm

But I thought Jackie was straight...

Rognik · Post by **Rognik** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 1:36 am

On 2002-03-10 08:42, Vitriol wrote:
http://www.faans.com/d/20000908.html

http://www.faans.com/d/20010917.html

Vitriol (who enjoys stirring things up

Missed one: http://www.faans.com/d/20010124.html

I know you probably weren't going for a full list of Christian-related links, but this one definitely does justice.

Anyway, I think rikk looks more like Tintin. Archie has those annoying freckles, and I have to say THAT is my strongest argument. Now that I say it, it sounds pathetic. Oh, well.

Vitriol · Post by **Vitriol** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 6:53 am

Ah yes. I just remembered those two, and found the links, so I must have missed a bunch.

I don't really know much about Archie (I once read an old collection in an optician's waiting room, and that's it), but Rikk really does remind me of Tin-tin now I come to think about it; the sincerity, the fact that he constantly gets caugth up in weird goings-on, and rapidly resolves same, the gang who follows him around, it's all there.

[ This Message was edited by: Vitriol on 2002-03-12 06:59 ]

Maccabee · Post by **Maccabee** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 7:39 am

Re: Rikk's appearance

T, Sara and I thought he looked like a cross between Archie Andrews and Ranma Saotome when we looked at Jason's sample pages (now immortalized as pages 1-3 of the comic you know and love).

Re: vampires and Christianity

depends on whose fiction you're looking at. The version we used (Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric was a significant influence here, as is the White Wolf RPG) is that true faith repels vampires. That's faith in anything. The God of Abraham and Isaac. The power of love. Dialectical materialism. Anything, so long as you really believe.

Other sources have the power of God working directly through the symbols, making the faith of the wielder irrelevant. This is an approach I never much cared for.

Then there's Buffy. I don't know what their reasoning is. It isn't true faith, because Jews and Wiccans can use crosses effectively. It (apparently) isn't an all-powerful God in a monotheistic cosmos, since we've seen other gods. Besides, holy ground doesn't bother vampires in Buffy, and Angelus munched on a fair share of Priests and nuns in his day. It isn't psychosomatic - we saw a Christian fundamentalist vampire in season 1, and he was shocked when he touched a cross and it hurt. My best guess is that the collective faith of Christians throughout the world powers crosses against vampires. If that's the case, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist symbols should also be effective. With less than 20 million Jews in the world there may not be critical mass to power a Magen David.

Maccabee