Welcome to the second installment of “Ask Rossmom”, where people write in and my mother (yes, my actual mother) answers your queries about life, the universe, and everything! If you like it after reading this one, and want your own questions answered by my mom, write them to systemcomic@gmail.com, subject line “Ask Rossmom”. The second one comes from @Alli893:

Dear Rossmom,

When Rosscott first told you about Super Art Fight, what did you imagine it to be? Were you at all concerned about him turning to violence?

Also, baby pictures of Rosscott would be superb! (He’s gonna kill me for even asking!)

-Allison

Allison, that’s a good question.

When Ross told me he was involved, actually immersed, in SuperArtFight, my first thought was–well, he does know tae-kwando so I guess that might help.  But, if it’s just go and beat somebody up, no holds barred, that gave me pause.  After all, he’s my son!!!!!

He wasn’t brought up to be violent.  Even w/the use of words, he knows better than to sink to the level of four-letter words.  (Yes, I know he uses them in The System, but I realize that it’s sometimes necessary to get his point across, although I’m still not sure why it’s necessary.  And, he certainly knows much, much, much, much, much…..better than to use them around me.)

Then when he explained the concept to me, I was lost.  I understood what he was saying but when he mentioned, “The Wheel of Death”, I was really worried.  Really seemed rather violent.

But, once we went to one and experienced it, I felt relieved.  My son was explaining the fighting  (and he is excellent at doing that), not actually fighting and no blood was involved.  (Of course, being a super comic artist in his own right, he could easily attack and win, I’ve no doubt.  And, I would be ok w/that.)

If you haven’t seen one, it’s something that is total entertainment and shouldn’t be missed.  And, this coming from an ‘old’ person, says something.  (Not that we ‘old’ people don’t understand fun stuff.  We are w/it too!–sometimes more than you ‘young whippersnappers’.)

Baby pictures of Ross–there are a ton (and, I mean a ton!).  He was a very photographic baby/kid (and still is)–long eyelashes, always smiling, total ham (well, the Kosher version) for the camera.

Ross said he would rather include some pictures rather than my totally embarrassing him (and I certainly have a few that would definitely make him go hide in a corner and cut off all human contact:)

Hope that answers your questions.

ROSS’ NOTE: I can’t find any quick pictures of me as a baby, but here’s two that are embarassing, and I think that’s the point. Left, me doing some dance pretending a cane is a trombone or something? The batman pajamas are key, and I think that’s a Ren and Stimpy t-shirt. Right, me and Rossmom at the Grand Canyon. Notice her shirt:

This should be a term.

Sorry for the delays in posts, guys! I want to give you a little insight into what’s going on behind the scenes, and the truth is I don’t know if it’s that interesting, but here you go:

So for the last few months I’ve been “funemployed” or “freelancing” (depending on your attitude) and figuring out what to do next. Don’t feel bad for me, I’ve actually turned down a few jobs. I’m trying to be very careful and figure out something that’s really great and fitting. Meanwhile, I’ve been freelancing full-time and working out of a coworking space here in DC, and paying rent and then some (not much more, but some) in the process. I’m working on some design projects I’m pretty proud of, and hopefully I’ll be able to refurbish my portfolio and shoot for something much better soon. Along the way, I started combining some freelance work with my friend Geoff, and the two of us have been talking about the idea of starting our own little firm.

This, along with a girlfriend that I’m trying to keep, as well as Super Art Fight, has kept me more than busy. Having a webcomic could fill all my time. Starting a business and freelancing could as well. All that and trying not to go crazy has left the comics a little on the back burner, but it’s always in my mind. So for now, updates will be intended M/W/F, but I might miss more than a few. If it starts to get gratuitous, I’ll try to work something out or let you know. In the meantime, I’m inviting others to help. Ask Rossmom will be updating again (today most likely) and some more news posts will hopefully fill the space a bit. I’m always on the lookout for guest comics as well, but I’ll be honest, I’m picky and won’t guarantee I’ll post them all.

Like numbers 500, 400, 300, 200 and 100, another recap of what we’ve learned in the last 100 comics. I enjoy putting these together, but they do take quite a while. All the panels are from comics from the last 100 comics. Can you name where all of them are from?

Also, we have something else to celebrate! We also recently passed the four-year anniversary of the comic as well. 400 comics! That’s pretty good, right? That officially makes The System my longest-held job / relationship.

<I’ll insert more words about what it’s like to do 600 comics here soon.>

Anyway, if you want to help me celebrate, there’s a few things you can do:

• Share your favorite comics from the archive with friends.
• Comment on posts.
• Buy prints of any comics you like from HilariAwesome.com, our online store.
• Buy shirts from HilariAwesome.com, our online store.
• GET READY to give me more money, because I’m going to be launching a Kickstarter for The System Book 1 in a few weeks. As soon as the book is mostly built and I have a quote for the number of books, it’ll all come together. Stay tuned!

Some bathrooms in a Nova Scotia medical center (Canada) are now featuring transgender signs, which I think is pretty great. The idea of bathroom symbols and their accidental/not general/too general connotations is something I’ve talked about in the past (most recently here), and now here’s one for transgendered people. I think the problem would be better solved by going more generic (aka without gender) rather than trying to match to every gender role, since there are always going to be problems trying to match to specific ones. Still, nice to see a new approach. But if you have the half male/half female symbol, do you need the other two? Maybe just put a picture of a toilet on the door, then you won’t have to deal with it.

A New Transgender Symbol »

(I forgot who sent this to me. Let me know and I’ll give you credit!)