Deanna versus Michael.....

[dreadedcandiru2]

I think it's safe to say that the Deanna of the Early and Middle years was far less tolerant of Mike's antics and didn't sabotage herself to enable his self-absorbed, destructive stupidity. What she was was a rather average little girl with a soft-palate lisp who reacted to Mike's typical little boy behavior in the manner one would expect a typical little girl to. This differs from her motivation in the New-Ruins; from what I can piece together, she seems outraged that he stayed home on doctor's orders on the day of her going-away party and seems to have vowed revenge. Turning her into a little sociopath who believes that he hates her and must be punished because his mother kept him from infecting her and the other students is as wrong-headed as turning him into the Littlest Stalker With a Crush. I liked it better when he didn't actually know what he thought of her half the time and put more weight in not getting razzed by the guys for getting all lovey-dovey than he did trying to figure out what was going on inside her head. The example that comes most readily to mind was the Halloween dance of 1985. To begin with, Deanna was not speaking to him because he had made crude remarks about her appearance because it was more or less expected of him by his pals; try as he might to explain the fact of life that if he was visibly nice to any girl, the guys would never let him hear the end of it, she simply didn't want to hear it. What she did do was stride off with her nose in the air because she confused a hostile refusal to listen to reason with firmness of character. When the dance itself occurred, they tied for best costume and she didn't want to dance with him at first but did anyway; heck, she even kissed the little sap. After that, of course, she sort of vanished from the strip, seemingly never to return. Had they not met the way they did back in the middle 1990s, her place in the novel of Mike's life would have simply been a bit of color that reminds us that our hero's origins were normal as could be. If she hadn't had the car accident, she'd vaguely remember the dentist's goofball son, the boring stunts he pulled and wonder if he ever outgrew being a tool. She did, however, have the car accident and her behavior ever since has not been in her best interests; as I've said before, I'm convinced that she's either suffering from PTSD or mild brain damage. A woman in the possession of her faculties would not, for instance, have told Mike he should have waited until she managed to break her engagement before making any big plans. We can also ascribe her belief that she should make her overbearing-but-essentially-well-meaning mother think that she's willing to live together without benefit of marriage when nothing could be further from the truth to her missing key brain cells. We can even peg her opening the sewing school to her marbles still being in a ditch next to the 401.

Comments

[howtheduck.livejournal.com]

A woman in the possession of her faculties would not, for instance, have told Mike he should have waited until she managed to break her engagement before making any big plans.

What it boils down to is that Mira wanted Deanna to marry someone Deanna did not want to marry. When Mike visited Deanna in the hospital, he was practically falling all over himself in love. If Deanna noticed that, then Michael could fall into the category of "guy I can use as an excuse to get my mom off my back about having a guy, without having to be serious about him." Notice that during most of their university courtship, Deanna refused to admit to Michael that she loved him. I don't see Deanna as lacking her faculties. She wanted to use Mike to get rid of her fiance, and in the strip you linked, she even manages to make Mike feel guilty for not helping her sooner. That's a double bonus.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

If Deanna noticed that, then Michael could fall into the category of "guy I can use as an excuse to get my mom off my back about having a guy, without having to be serious about him." Notice that during most of their university courtship, Deanna refused to admit to Michael that she loved him. I don't see Deanna as lacking her faculties. She wanted to use Mike to get rid of her fiance, and in the strip you linked, she even manages to make Mike feel guilty for not helping her sooner. That's a double bonus.

He also seems to fall into the category "guy I can manipulate into taking the fall for all of my more questionable decisions". That's because every time Mira is about to realize that Deanna is playing the idiot she married like a pinball machine, Michael opens his fat yap and, since he's too dumb to realize that he's a puppet on a string, takes the credit for Dee's bad ideas.

[clio-1.livejournal.com]

I had a male friend in 8th grade who became an enemy in high school because of the way he talked about me in front of his new friends. I was not cool enough, he had to "prove" something to them, that though he went to a dance with me, though we had been good friends, I was less than nothing to him. So he sexually harassed me. I guess one could say he made "crude remarks" about me. When he got me alone (which happened a lot, we were in 4 classes together), he'd try to go back to being friends, and get me to forgive the vile things he did and said in public. RIGHT. When I told him never to speak to me again, ever, I wasn't refusing to listen to reason, I was having an iota of self-respect.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

That's because you're a real human being, not a fictional character living in a reactionary fantasy world created by a delusional goober.