CONTENT WARNING:
You may have noticed that I added new warnings to the front page and prologue section of the site several weeks ago. They absolutely apply to this chapter. Heavy subject matter ahead. Buckle up.
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Men don’t deserve wives.
What?! He had her literally leave him?! And do what, live alone?
That’s heartless. I can’t imagine being the man who marries a woman, promises her a future, gets her pregnant, and abandons her in a foreign country while in an extremely vulnerable period of her life. He made vows to her. She trusted him. We knew Shez’s backstory would be dark, but her life was scarred by male cruelty before she was even born.
(Related, I hate how men frame “fatherless children” as a woman-caused issue when it’s usually men abandoning their wives and kids.)
Sis…the way this exact same scenario has happened to two of my friends’ moms….men really ain’t shit, I tell you that.
Seeing Meriam in the last panel without her veil is so symbolic, I know she probably doesn’t feel it right now, and I know it doesn’t last, but even if it’s just for a moment, she’s free.
Little does she know that the little girl in her arms would free her more than once 😭🥰
That color palette is so beautiful ! Also dang, Shez’s backstory is starting with a bang v_v Poor Meriam ;_; Being in a foreign country, with limited money and stuff maybe not even speaking the language 🙁 Can she even go back home ? Could she even give birth at a hospital or was she alone in her hotel room ? ToT
I’m nervous for Meriam knowing that Shez is the oldest sister…
I can’t help but wonder what was happening with Meriam’s family, like her parents and siblings if she has any, while this was happening. Did they know where she was? Did they know she was okay? Are they worried sick about her? Do they even care where she is and what her husband just did to her?
Okay, so I’m a little bit confused, did her husband abandon her or did he die? I’m wondering since most of the dads die in LB y’know lol
I am already ready to defend her. She looks really cute and i love the pattern on her hijabs! Also glad she got to take it tf off lol. Baby Shez already telling the world what’s what!!!
Almost this exact thing happened to someone in my family, albeit an older generation. Mens is the same 😑
On a lighter note, the colour palette is lovely!
Only a man would do something that low. How horrible…
Honestly the Muslim headscarf adds another piece of proof that this was a man who particularly thinks women/children are property of his, and therefore he feels even less guilt over deciding to “lose” them when he decides that he doesn’t want to be responsible for a family anymore.
Ugh. Such evil treachery. I can already guess a lot of reasons why Shez ends up needing to know self defense! 😣
ALHAMDULILLAH you do not know the relief i felt seeing that she had a hospital bracelet on. wow.
had a dream about lb last night, woke up and rushed to check the update. hi meriam
God, poor Meriam 🙁 This page really reminds me of Josie’s situation, but in some way’s this one hits even harder because it’s not like her husband WANTED to leave her all alone. Glad but also sad to see her ditching the hijab, too – it’s a good thing it’s gone, but the context for why she did so is completely miserable.
Props to you for having the guts to portray Islam as harmful to a woman, too – So much Libfem content I see loudly and proudly calls out patriarchy and misogyny in Christianity, but falls completely silent when it comes to any other religions. Sometimes I think it’s almost like they’re more concerned about being yelled at for intolerance rather than concerned for women :/
Shez backstory already starts with a punch 😭😭
Poor meriam. It shows that in a misogynistic religion, the more you obey the more life sucks for you, if you’re a woman. She did everything expected of her.
She married, she got pregnant, she covered her head, (she wore makeup!) and she blindly listened and trusted her husband, even when he send her to the fucking end of the world pregnant, because that’s what a good wife does, right?
My heart breaks for her already.
The fact that he is a politician is the icing on the shit cake.
Freeing women from men also means freeing them from men made religions!👏👏👏
Having said that, the art is absolutely gorgeous and I love this color palette for the backstory!! 🥰🥰
I think it’s interesting that the colors for the headcovering and the shirt inverted from panel 1 to 2!
GODDESS OF COLOR STRIKES AGAIN. It’s so hard to believe those are all the same colors in those panels because of the intense variation in tone and mood. But also not hard at all because the whole page is so deeply unified by you using all the same colors.
Panel one so sweet and warm. So optimistic. Lots of light. Empty white space to fill with the Possibilities of her New Life in the New Country! Panel two, THE DARKNESS. The grief, the agony, the heart-break, etc etc etc. The high contrast to help emphasize that shock. And then just all that RED in panel 3. The finality of it all. The somberness, Lacks the In Your Face feel the high levels of contrast in panel 2 has. Sit with the grief and the reality.
There is so much to love about your art but like geez your colors are always one of the top most incredible things about it. You have gotten so, so good at it. Really seems like you devoted a lot of time to develop this deep understanding of good color, and you’re soooo good with the color that I almost wonder if it’s like instinctive at this point. You learned this skill and put it deep into your brain.
I understand the theories of limited color pallet but I always find myself going “harumph harumph but I want to use 8,291 colors though”… Your art more then any other artwork I’ve ever seen exemplifies the strength of limited color palettes, your art more then any other artwork I’ve seen makes me go “ok I get it the color theorists are right I guess”. Teachers should use your comic pages in samples about THIS IS WHY LIMITED COLORS IS GOOD, STUDENTS.
also side note really do enjoy getting to see all these character relationships with mothers. Media – it sure is weird sometimes. Mothers are the people who tend to raise the children and have a huge influence on our lives. Fathers are more likely to abandon the family or whittle away all their time at work or their hobbies and do very little care-giving. Looooots of media devotes loooots of time to Fathers though. So many Relationships With Fathers, while the mothers aren’t there at all.
So refreshing to come away from a show where the mom characters are all either dead or not around, while the fathers get to exist and be named characters…. and see moms exist in LB. lol. It is so dorky people keep coming at you for Lack Of Father Representation when they can go literally anywhere else for that.
not you capturing how Asian male politicians treat the women they enter intimate relationships w/ accurately lmfao
Like. The many times I’ve seen this in my home country is INSANE. Misogyny levels are so high w these types. Meriam is just another woman who suffered male corruption
reading the comments: did he really abandon them? my initial interpretation was “oh maybe he got murdered bc of is job in politics?” yk just another guy in the fridge to kicksart a woman’s story
Then he died from male character disease