A deeply insecure man, for sure :/.
And thank you – the photo I traced did the heavy lifting 😅
(though tracing and intergrating it to not look out of place is a skill in and of itself!)
Pexels is a fantastic free-to-use stock image resource. It’s where I got Chris’s car and house from!
One of my biggest learning curves in the last year has been working smarter not harder. And as a comic artist that means not painstakingly drawing every background, or spending hours learning how to draw something complex that’s a once-off appearance (like Chris’ stupid car).
I love Tine/Tina as a nickname for Christine 🥺🥺🥺 Tryna think up ones for Crystal and Karissa 🤔🤔 It seems like something they might do to drop the Chris from their names unofficially. 🥰🥰
Seeing Shez so desperate and angry is heartbreaking. She tried so hard, and yet here she is.
Her anger really puts into context how easygoing she is later on in life. In the little scene where we saw her meet Parniya (who is very angry at the time), the entire way she handles that is informed by this experience.
I also feel bad for Crystal and Karissa. They are too young to understand what is wrong, but they clearly do understand that something IS wrong.
Drawing an entire webcomic is an incredible amount of work, and you have been steadily chugging along for so long now, it’s genuinely amazing. It is a pleasure to watch you grow as an artist and a storyteller, and to have this one place where I know the female characters will always come first. Thank you for creating this amazing story for us and I hope you have a good journey into the New Year!
Yes yes yes!! So glad you’re revisting and recontextualizing that scene with Parniya and Shez! That interaction came to me while I was still making these backstory pages, so the two feel deeply connected to me.
That’s also why there’s a similar colour scheme too!
Thank you so much for this lovely comment, and all your support. I plan to make 2024 even better 🥰🥰
The looks on Shez, Crystal, and Karissa’s faces wreck me, especially since in a healthy family this would probably be such a happy moment.
Shez knows Christine is another mouth to feed, another set of needs making it even harder to escape, and I can’t imagine she hasn’t thought by now “Mom should have been able to have her in a hospital.”
Birth is horrifically painful, even under the best circumstances, so I can see why Shez is furious. It became just another way Chris has hurt Meriam. And I don’t know how much her sisters know – you’ve mentioned they never saw him hurt Meriam or Shez – but those faces know something is wrong.
I hope when they’re safe and far away from Chris, they get to have lots of time being normal sisters. Children come with a ton of needs and burdens that make it hard to get out of an abusive situation, absolutely, but I hope none of them grew up with the feeling that they were hard to love.
Even though it’s hard, Meriam and Shez still want to save all of them.
On a lighter note, Shez’s punches look really painful here, and really fast!
Is it the composition, the look of the fists, her expression of rage? All three? I don’t knoe, but any action scenes in Leasebound’s future are going to be an absolute treat, and not just because they’ll have wicked muscle ladies!
Oh yeah, even at their tender ages, Crystal and Karissa definitely know something is up. Not the true gravity or detail, but at the very least unsettled confusion as to why their tough big sister began crying when she was handed Christine.
Even if they were older, I don’t think Shez would confide in them about it. The burden of knowledge regarding the nature of Christine’s conception is hers to carry alone…And maybe also the tree she just pummelled 😅
It’s been very fun to do more action oriented stuff in this chapter, and seeing how receptive you ladies have been to it, I’ll definitely dabble there again!
Rusty is making it extra explicit to make a point, but in the real world don’t the vast majority of men insist on naming the babies after themselves? It’s a rarity to see a child not carrying their father’s name, we just have gotten to used to it we forget that that’s what happening because we think having the family name go by the sperm donor and not by the person who grew the baby for nine months and who does the vast majority of childcare including in cases of divorce… Is normal.
Just like with Chris, in the real world women who have escaped their horrible husbands often are stuck with their husband’s names staying with them every single day via their kids. Sometimes the woman will even avoid taking back her maiden name because of how having mismatched names with her children creates constant questions.
It’s really fucked up and I appreciate Rusty holding a mirror to it.
Congrats on 121 pages! Creating a webcomic is so hard, and you’ve had to do it with the added stress of misogynists and lesbophobes on your back, thank you for continuing! Excited to see where this story goes in 2024.
Congrats on your amazing work this year Rusty, the content has truly been *chef’s kiss*. So excited to see the coming pages, watching your work grow and improve has truly been a pleasure. Happy New Year!! ☺️
Oh God the panel of Chris making her hold the baby and crying is just so disgusting… Poor Shanzey… forced to grow up too fast… (just like me) the burden of being the first born is something I know all too well
You should be incredibly proud of your work, Rusty. I love the Lease Bound story, the diversity of its characters, and the space it has opened up for difficult conversations, whether that’s the traumatic experiences of victims of domestic violence, or the uncomfortable topic of gender identity and the loud minority of men who demand access to female-only spaces – over the objections of women.
I’ve read comments under your work that have made me genuinely laugh out loud in the middle of the night and some that made me want to cry. This site is a gem, and you and all of the women who share their words here are creating such a unique corner of the internet.
I completely agree about the comments section too! If I find myself in a creative slump it’s often where I turn to get motivation. I’m honoured to have so many intelligent, funny, thoughtful and lovely women reading and engaging with my work.
I’d love to eventually have a more dedicated space for LB readers to engage with one another – but making a forum is trickier than I first thought, and I don’t want to have to vet/moderate a discord server, personally.
Though, discord is the platform I think of if I were ever to follow through on organising an amateur dub of LB. Maybe one day~
A discord server would be great, I’d definitely join. It’d be the perfect place to post Jaden/Alexis AU fan art. 😉
After witnessing the way traditional publishing and the top webcomic platforms cold-shoulder and deplatform artists who are critical of gender theory, I am always eager to support alternative spaces.
Was having one of my many re-read of this series, and it’s always amazing to see how far you’ve come. Thank you for all you do with this series. Have commented before, and support from a crypto account, but with this inflow of updates, I’m even more grateful. But holy shit, when I got to Chapter 4’s “Ask the Cast”… Shez says she’s “the oldest of 4 sisters”… does that mean there’s gonna be another baby? 💀 Or does it include her, one of the 4 daughters? 😅
Just realized… Shez is 14. She’s 31 in current setting of LB. So… Christine would be 17yrs. Rocky’s 22. And then Riz is 21. Idk how old Meriam was having her first kid but she looked early 20s and that’s common here in Malaysia. So… I’m supposing she was 24 when she had Shez? Making her 7 years older than Josie… so mid50s?
I’m sad now thinking of how she cried so much during Shez’s happiest day in the ch6 q&a flashback. They went thru so much. I hope Tina never blamed herself. And that Rocky and Riz’s trauma isn’t as severe.
Ding ding, you are correct! Even down to guessing Meriam’s approximate age! She is 51 in the present day of the comic.
I definitely plan on touching on how Shez’s sisters have grown around the trauma they experienced in their cast-page bios. I’m just waiting until
after the flashback to post them, so as not to spoil <3
Gosh, she was just 20 when she had Shez then… she was too young. That’s fair enough. I like how they contrast with Jaden’s family—mainly in the sibling department.
We see how Jacob was, well, given less struggles than Jaden. He’s the younger brother. The son. So even when he does bare minimum in school, he’s given this big praise while Jaden was literally all A+s.
Meanwhile, Shez’s mother never seems to favor children—she wants to protect them all. And Rissa and Rocky never get special treatment for being younger sisters, quite the opposite—Rocky’s bruised up arm… Rissa having to be shushed so she’s not giving them away in their hiding spot… at least Tine’s still a baby, but damn. The stark contrast yet there’s some familiarity.
I can imagine Jaden brings up her family at some point, and Shez’s response to all that. I think they’d find some – bond? – over the common struggle of being the older sister
1
rustyhearts
Completely agree. Way to young. Her *own* brain wasn’t even properly developed 😔
And yes, even as toddlers/young children, Shez’s younger sisters did not have the same luxuries afforded to them as Jacob. I think the only difference in treatment they got to Shez, was not being told all the gruesome details about Chris. But that literally just common sense.
Shez wouldn’t have wanted them to know our of “fairness”, and if Meriam had the choice, Shez would be blissfully ignorant as well.
I can definitely see Jaden and Shez having older sister moments together. They’re both very protective of their loved ones.
Jaden is only a little older than Rocky, so I imagine Shez probably started seeing her as another little sister though, tbh!
29 thoughts on “CH12P20”
rustyhearts
Happy New Year’s Eve Gyns <3
I just finished the last two pages of CH12, and have been steadily working on CH13!
This year I’ve managed to create 121 pages (not all published yet) without missing a single weekly update, which is a new personal best!
Thank you all so much for your support this year, see you all in 2024 <3
Get 2 Pages Ahead over on Boosty | LB Volume 1 Print
TifHater
Of course he named her Christine. Also that is a VERY well drawn baby!!
rustyhearts
A deeply insecure man, for sure :/.
And thank you – the photo I traced did the heavy lifting 😅
(though tracing and intergrating it to not look out of place is a skill in and of itself!)
Pexels is a fantastic free-to-use stock image resource. It’s where I got Chris’s car and house from!
One of my biggest learning curves in the last year has been working smarter not harder. And as a comic artist that means not painstakingly drawing every background, or spending hours learning how to draw something complex that’s a once-off appearance (like Chris’ stupid car).
Crypty
Welcome to the world Tine, wish you could got here under better circumstances 😔
Also seconded congrats on drawing a very good baby!
rustyhearts
I love Tine/Tina as a nickname for Christine 🥺🥺🥺 Tryna think up ones for Crystal and Karissa 🤔🤔 It seems like something they might do to drop the Chris from their names unofficially. 🥰🥰
TifHater
Suggestions: Rissa, Rissy, Issa, Izzy, or Riz for Karissa. Crystal…Riz is an option there too, or maybe Rocky? Since crystals = rocks.
rustyhearts
Rissa (maybe Riz once shes a teenager) and ROCKY!!! omfg that is BRILLIANT!!! (And now cannon)
😭😭😭😭
You’re so smart omfg I love you ❤️🩷❤️🩷❤️🩷
Anita
Seeing Shez so desperate and angry is heartbreaking. She tried so hard, and yet here she is.
Her anger really puts into context how easygoing she is later on in life. In the little scene where we saw her meet Parniya (who is very angry at the time), the entire way she handles that is informed by this experience.
I also feel bad for Crystal and Karissa. They are too young to understand what is wrong, but they clearly do understand that something IS wrong.
Drawing an entire webcomic is an incredible amount of work, and you have been steadily chugging along for so long now, it’s genuinely amazing. It is a pleasure to watch you grow as an artist and a storyteller, and to have this one place where I know the female characters will always come first. Thank you for creating this amazing story for us and I hope you have a good journey into the New Year!
rustyhearts
Yes yes yes!! So glad you’re revisting and recontextualizing that scene with Parniya and Shez! That interaction came to me while I was still making these backstory pages, so the two feel deeply connected to me.
That’s also why there’s a similar colour scheme too!
Thank you so much for this lovely comment, and all your support. I plan to make 2024 even better 🥰🥰
Blais
The looks on Shez, Crystal, and Karissa’s faces wreck me, especially since in a healthy family this would probably be such a happy moment.
Shez knows Christine is another mouth to feed, another set of needs making it even harder to escape, and I can’t imagine she hasn’t thought by now “Mom should have been able to have her in a hospital.”
Birth is horrifically painful, even under the best circumstances, so I can see why Shez is furious. It became just another way Chris has hurt Meriam. And I don’t know how much her sisters know – you’ve mentioned they never saw him hurt Meriam or Shez – but those faces know something is wrong.
I hope when they’re safe and far away from Chris, they get to have lots of time being normal sisters. Children come with a ton of needs and burdens that make it hard to get out of an abusive situation, absolutely, but I hope none of them grew up with the feeling that they were hard to love.
Even though it’s hard, Meriam and Shez still want to save all of them.
On a lighter note, Shez’s punches look really painful here, and really fast!
Is it the composition, the look of the fists, her expression of rage? All three? I don’t knoe, but any action scenes in Leasebound’s future are going to be an absolute treat, and not just because they’ll have wicked muscle ladies!
rustyhearts
Oh yeah, even at their tender ages, Crystal and Karissa definitely know something is up. Not the true gravity or detail, but at the very least unsettled confusion as to why their tough big sister began crying when she was handed Christine.
Even if they were older, I don’t think Shez would confide in them about it. The burden of knowledge regarding the nature of Christine’s conception is hers to carry alone…And maybe also the tree she just pummelled 😅
It’s been very fun to do more action oriented stuff in this chapter, and seeing how receptive you ladies have been to it, I’ll definitely dabble there again!
DragonBallTerf
Did Chris seriously name all his biological daughters after him? That’s deeply fucked.
Also Shez’s saiyan era is an insane upgrade
Ada
Rusty is making it extra explicit to make a point, but in the real world don’t the vast majority of men insist on naming the babies after themselves? It’s a rarity to see a child not carrying their father’s name, we just have gotten to used to it we forget that that’s what happening because we think having the family name go by the sperm donor and not by the person who grew the baby for nine months and who does the vast majority of childcare including in cases of divorce… Is normal.
Just like with Chris, in the real world women who have escaped their horrible husbands often are stuck with their husband’s names staying with them every single day via their kids. Sometimes the woman will even avoid taking back her maiden name because of how having mismatched names with her children creates constant questions.
It’s really fucked up and I appreciate Rusty holding a mirror to it.
anonymoo
Congrats on 121 pages! Creating a webcomic is so hard, and you’ve had to do it with the added stress of misogynists and lesbophobes on your back, thank you for continuing! Excited to see where this story goes in 2024.
rustyhearts
With any luck, it’ll be even better than 2023. CH13 is Ballroom Night after all 😎😎🩷🩷
Self-defenceClassEnjoyer
Congrats on your amazing work this year Rusty, the content has truly been *chef’s kiss*. So excited to see the coming pages, watching your work grow and improve has truly been a pleasure. Happy New Year!! ☺️
rustyhearts
Thank you for being along for the ride 🥰🥰
Parniya’s biggest fan
Oh God the panel of Chris making her hold the baby and crying is just so disgusting… Poor Shanzey… forced to grow up too fast… (just like me) the burden of being the first born is something I know all too well
Mrin
Happy New Year everyone!
You should be incredibly proud of your work, Rusty. I love the Lease Bound story, the diversity of its characters, and the space it has opened up for difficult conversations, whether that’s the traumatic experiences of victims of domestic violence, or the uncomfortable topic of gender identity and the loud minority of men who demand access to female-only spaces – over the objections of women.
I’ve read comments under your work that have made me genuinely laugh out loud in the middle of the night and some that made me want to cry. This site is a gem, and you and all of the women who share their words here are creating such a unique corner of the internet.
All the best for the New Year. Have a great one.
rustyhearts
Thank you!!!
I completely agree about the comments section too! If I find myself in a creative slump it’s often where I turn to get motivation. I’m honoured to have so many intelligent, funny, thoughtful and lovely women reading and engaging with my work.
I’d love to eventually have a more dedicated space for LB readers to engage with one another – but making a forum is trickier than I first thought, and I don’t want to have to vet/moderate a discord server, personally.
Though, discord is the platform I think of if I were ever to follow through on organising an amateur dub of LB. Maybe one day~
Happy New Year to you also🥰🥰🥰
Mrin
A discord server would be great, I’d definitely join. It’d be the perfect place to post Jaden/Alexis AU fan art. 😉
After witnessing the way traditional publishing and the top webcomic platforms cold-shoulder and deplatform artists who are critical of gender theory, I am always eager to support alternative spaces.
kill rapist
Wayne Kerr the least evil male
rustyhearts
Hmm, hard disagree. Think about what he was doing in his single frame of existence.(CH10P24)
He works at Jo-Blos (wearing the same uniform as Blaire and Riley), and he’s telling Josie she’s not “suitable” to work an entry level position.
Dude earned his name for real.
J
Was having one of my many re-read of this series, and it’s always amazing to see how far you’ve come. Thank you for all you do with this series. Have commented before, and support from a crypto account, but with this inflow of updates, I’m even more grateful. But holy shit, when I got to Chapter 4’s “Ask the Cast”… Shez says she’s “the oldest of 4 sisters”… does that mean there’s gonna be another baby? 💀 Or does it include her, one of the 4 daughters? 😅
rustyhearts
Lease Bound Re-Readers hold an extra special place in my heart 🥹🩷🥹🩷🥹
And you can rest easy (somewhat). The “of” in “one of four sisters” includes Shez. She has three, but she is one of the four.
LB veteran
Just realized… Shez is 14. She’s 31 in current setting of LB. So… Christine would be 17yrs. Rocky’s 22. And then Riz is 21. Idk how old Meriam was having her first kid but she looked early 20s and that’s common here in Malaysia. So… I’m supposing she was 24 when she had Shez? Making her 7 years older than Josie… so mid50s?
I’m sad now thinking of how she cried so much during Shez’s happiest day in the ch6 q&a flashback. They went thru so much. I hope Tina never blamed herself. And that Rocky and Riz’s trauma isn’t as severe.
rustyhearts
Ding ding, you are correct! Even down to guessing Meriam’s approximate age! She is 51 in the present day of the comic.
I definitely plan on touching on how Shez’s sisters have grown around the trauma they experienced in their cast-page bios. I’m just waiting until
after the flashback to post them, so as not to spoil <3
Thank you for the thoughtful comment!
LB veteran
Gosh, she was just 20 when she had Shez then… she was too young. That’s fair enough. I like how they contrast with Jaden’s family—mainly in the sibling department.
We see how Jacob was, well, given less struggles than Jaden. He’s the younger brother. The son. So even when he does bare minimum in school, he’s given this big praise while Jaden was literally all A+s.
Meanwhile, Shez’s mother never seems to favor children—she wants to protect them all. And Rissa and Rocky never get special treatment for being younger sisters, quite the opposite—Rocky’s bruised up arm… Rissa having to be shushed so she’s not giving them away in their hiding spot… at least Tine’s still a baby, but damn. The stark contrast yet there’s some familiarity.
I can imagine Jaden brings up her family at some point, and Shez’s response to all that. I think they’d find some – bond? – over the common struggle of being the older sister
rustyhearts
Completely agree. Way to young. Her *own* brain wasn’t even properly developed 😔
And yes, even as toddlers/young children, Shez’s younger sisters did not have the same luxuries afforded to them as Jacob. I think the only difference in treatment they got to Shez, was not being told all the gruesome details about Chris. But that literally just common sense.
Shez wouldn’t have wanted them to know our of “fairness”, and if Meriam had the choice, Shez would be blissfully ignorant as well.
I can definitely see Jaden and Shez having older sister moments together. They’re both very protective of their loved ones.
Jaden is only a little older than Rocky, so I imagine Shez probably started seeing her as another little sister though, tbh!
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