Recent Comments

1. almost 4 years ago on A Problem Like Jamal

   And then there’s the matter of Robert Downey Jr. wearing “blackface” in Tropic Thunder. I’ve seen a lot of criticism over it and I understand, but I don’t think they’ve even seen the movie. Robert Downey Jr.‘s character, Kirk Lazarus, isn’t even black—he’s a white Australian, hailed as “the most-acclaimed actor of his generation”, who had his skin surgically darkened so that he could play the role of Sgt. Lincoln Osiris in a Vietnam War film. Kirk Lazarus’s whole character arc is about him coming to accept himself as he really is, not as someone pretending to be other people. It’s also a commentary on how white actors steal roles from POC.

2. over 5 years ago on Big Nate

   No, Belarus is a different country than Russia. It was once part of the Russian Empire, and part of the Soviet Union after that, but it became independent in 1991.

   Long before then, it was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

   Its official languages are Belarusian and Russian, Russian being the language spoken by the majority.

   More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus

3. almost 7 years ago on Big Nate

   I wonder what Artur and the Pashkovs are doing right now? I know it’s stated that they’re on a “family vacation”, but what if it’s just a convenient cover story?

   Consider this: we don’t know all that much about Artur. We don’t know about his past, or what his family is like. Did he and his family emigrate from Belarus in order to flee from Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, or are they actually government spies sent to America for some insidious purpose?

   And if it’s the former, what if the Pashkovs are part of some underground militia fighting to overthrow Lukashenko and liberate Belarus?

   Sure, I doubt anything like this will ever happen in the actual strip, but it makes you think, doesn’t it?

4. almost 7 years ago on Big Nate

   Yes, I understand that, I’m just offering some suggestions, OK?

5. almost 7 years ago on Big Nate

   Hey, Lincoln, if you’re reading this, I’d like you to do something with Artur.

   I mean, we don’t know all that much about him except that he’s from Belarus, has a thick accent, plays chess, and that Nate is jealous of him because he’s the sort of person Nate isn’t: a nice guy.

   I want to be able to get to know him better. Like, why he’s so nice, what he is on the inside, what his family history was (maybe his grandfather was in the Partisans and fought against the Nazis during World War II). Maybe we can have a scene in which Artur speaks (or sings in) Russian or something (Belarus has two official languages, Belarusian and Russian, but I think Russian is the more likely of the two to be Artur’s native tongue, since it’s spoken by about 90% of the population), I dunno. Of course, a lot of research and help from others more qualified than me would be needed, but hey, it would all be worth it in the end, right?

   Basically, what I’m saying is, Artur has a lot of potential as a character. Don’t squander it, OK?

6. over 7 years ago on Starling

   Testing to see if I do need bold or italic comments

7. over 8 years ago on Soup to Nutz - Old

   Yeah, Klingons don’t like to discuss the Augment Virus epidemic, especially not to outsiders…

8. over 8 years ago on Big Nate

   Sorry to go off topic, but have we ever seen Artur Pashkov actually speak Belarusian? And if so, when? If not, maybe there should be a storyline about that…