That's Kevin

Mark

Aw, no Monday update yet?

awgiedawgie

My brain parses it this way: Despite the doctor saying that it's fine, she associates the label of "autistic" with the anger she saw when she told her father about someone using it. Her father said it was an insult, so when the doctor says it's fine, that means the doctor thinks insulting her is fine. QED.

Quacky

As an autistic person, I find this strip a bit weird. I know that everyone's different and all, but my experience with other autistic people and myself has been that we embrace labels more than reject them. Why would one be mad at a doctor for stating an empirical fact? We (generally speaking) LOVE categorization, almost to the point of it being an actual problem.

Chris Heg

The term was "weird kid" when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's which covered a lot of variations.

awgiedawgie

There is a fair amount of inconsistency in the shapes of AIs' speech bubbles, even when looking at just one person's bubbles over the course of the comics.

Captain Button

In AnthroPC nursery school, "Got Your Nose" is played for keeps!

QC has been a part of my life for a lot of it and sometimes its butt jokes and sometimes it's pretty damn real.

Henrik Christian Grove

Is Kevin an AI? The colour of his skin/covering and the lines on his fingers indicate so, but his speech bubble looks like the speech bubble of humans?

Joe

he deals with cash all day - cash is filthy by it's nature, so I'm sure he opted for some type of easy-to-clean, possibly inherently antibacterial/antifungal dermal covering for his hands. bra sweat from one awkward but adorable young lady shouldn't even make it above the noise floor.

Joe

"male presenting AI characters" - careful - Tumblr started banning "female presenting" stuff - wouldn't want Patreon to catch the virus.

Sleepy John

Wonder how Kevin deals with bra sweat?

Jeffrey Nonken

Fortunately for me, I got eased into the word before people started using it as an insult. Or at least before I'd heard of it being used as such. As it is, I present as neurotypical if you don't know what to look for. Also, it's a self-diagnosis based on my daughter's shared traits. I'd wondered about Brun myself, having recognized the markers from the start. I'm more highly functional than she, but I definitely know how she feels.

MiaKitty

I think the other one says something like "Thanks for giving us all your money!"

FunkyTuba

Hi Kevin

TMN

I'm lucky in a way that no one knew what autism was while growing up. Not like now, where there's so much awareness and yet so much incorrect information about it.

Got a link to that particular strip? I can't remember him specifically asking if she's been diagnosed with anything.

Daniel Luckett

My son is autistic. I’m waiting for the day it is weaponized against him... edit: dreading and expecting would be more appropriate...

Dean Reilly

I wonder if Kevin is related to the noseless robot from #3931. Do they have the same manufacturer?

Morgan McCauley

*throws all the hearts at Brun* aaaaaaa

Dylan T

Brun. Honey. We love you

Diptych

Fuck anyone who uses "autistic" as an insult.

Erin Moriarty

The whole comic is great but man oh man am I excited about this Kevin since we don't have many examples of male presenting AI characters that look mostly human. And he is a Qtpie too.

Bagge

I love how close these two are getting. I also love the poster in the background that seem to say "graphs are cool".

Kevin J

I feel targeted D:

Abhimat Gautam

Graphs! They’re cool

I can only give this ONE DAMNED LIKE? Well, hell. Jeph, you have a knack for creating interesting, different, and engaging characters. :)

Chuck Dee

I've actually never seen that word used. And I'm glad. At least I know that my part of the internet does one thing right. Or maybe I've just been good at ignoring it.

Thisguy

Its getting easier now, as it is more recognised, but It could sometime take years before people would even recognise that the behaviours someone has might be autism. I know that despite having councillors and therapists examine me for years, and the traits being there since early on, I didn’t get a proper diagnosis as Aspergers Syndrome (now known as high functioning autism), until I was around 17 or 18. That was over a decade ago though.

Alexa

I imagine it's just an artefact of Brun's storytelling, but the implication that one can just "go to a doctor" and get an autism diagnosis on the day is pretty laughable. Actual assessment (especially from a starting point that presumes nothing but a list of behaviours) takes months, even up to a year.

Summer Sudbrink

I’m not sure I’d bank at a place with “Thanks for giving us your money!” posters.

I think the issue is the implied/inferred subtext to the question. There has been a lot of visible xenophobia lately so the question is much more likely to be interpreted as being aggressive and implying that the person in question doesn't belong here. The intent of the question may be of curiosity and wanting to learn or connect, but when constantly exposed to the xenophobia it is easy to be defensive in response to the question. Not saying it is right to immediately assume the worst about the person asking the question, but it is an understandable response. That and in this case, it was skeezy because it sounded like he wanted to check her off of an ethnic bingo card. And as several people below me pointed out. He asked about ethnicity not where she was from.

Liz

Just quietly, I don't think that autism is the one and only factor you needed to define Brun. People are weird in lot of different ways.

pilgrim3

The world surely has changed. Asking someone where they are from has only become offensive,to some people, recently.

Rob

Wonderfully done Jeph

Mitchell Sealy

If I recall last time Clinton asked if she'd maybe been diagnosed with any kind of condition, she just talked about how she didn't trust doctors without getting into the particulars. Sounds like she trusts him enough to open up now. She knows he's not gonna be weird about it if he knows a doctor said this about her.

Rob McBobson

Yes. We need to talk about Kevin.

Charlotte Grubbs

Sure is dusty in here all of a sudden....

Ralph

Beautiful strip, Jeph.

Zach Elwyn

"Graphs, they're cool"

ysth

GIVE US YOUR MONEY; GRAPHS: THEY'RE COOL

Rachel Maeroff

Now I'm seriously having a moment. The level of representation in this place just gets more awesome all the time. And done SO DAMN WELL!!!! (so well that this is my first time commenting)

JD

This is why I get upset every time I see the word sperg used on the internet (where it's almost exclusively used as an insult). It makes people have a negative opinion of Autism, and then you get people like Brun who then misplace their anger at people who are just trying to help them like doctors.

Joshua Thomas

Well that explains Brun. I could never figure out if she was just eccentric or something else. Now we know....

Tim Eldred

Kevin's design feels like it is channeling Kris Straub's character designs. I like it!

William Cole

On another note, this bank has some serious poster action going on.

Will Weaver

This. I absolutely love Brun and will cut anyone who would dare hurt her.

Brian

Hooray! It’s confirmed! I’m so glad you did that, Jeph.

Brian

Berf

nowshowjj

I need to know more about Kevin!

JD

And it's finally confirmed.

Kyle Major

Words dont mean much until someone puts an intention behind it :(

as someone who is autistic, you have no idea how happy it makes me to a) have a confirmed autistic character (although lets be real, we all knew she was from when she was introduced), b) find out in a very casual way, almost like an afterthought, and c) have a good representation keep it up jeph!

Miyaa

Who is cutting onions in this forum?!

Will Weaver

I SO want to give Brun a hug right now...if she wanted one, that is.