Rain(webcomic)
| Rain | |
|---|---|
 Cover of volume five, showing characters Fara Bryer (left), Rain Flaherty (centre), and Emily Caston (right). | |
| Author(s) | Jocelyn Samara DiDomenick |
| Website | https://rain.thecomicseries.com/archive |
| Launch date | 27 November 2010[1] |
| End date | 15 April 2022[1] |
| Genre(s) | Dramedy, slice-of-life |
Rainis aslice-of-lifewebcomicfirst published in November 2010 by Jocelyn Samara DiDomenick. It follows a teenagetransgirl named Rain Flaherty as she attends aprivateCatholic high schooland interacts with the community around her.[2]In 2013, volume one ofRainwas published in a book format.[a]
Plot
[edit]Rain Flaherty, a trans girl, moves away from her hometown and enrolls at St. Hallvard High School with the assistance of her aunt, Fara Bryer, who is a teacher at the school. Rain is finally ready to present solely femme in public; however, she encounters childhood friend Gavin Kurz, who knew her when she was still presenting masculine. To further complicate matters, she meets siblings Maria and Rudy Strongwell.
Characters
[edit]Rain and her family
[edit]- Rain Flaherty- A teenage trans girl in her senior year of upper secondary school, Rain moves from her hometown and enrols at St. Hallvard's in Centerville to be able to present femme and avoid anyone she knows. Rain is the youngest of three siblings. She is a fan ofBlack Wings: Kaminari,an in-universe manga series. After briefly dating Rudy Strongwell, she realizes that she's gay, and later starts dating Emily Caston.
- Fara Bryer- Rain's aunt, and an art teacher at St. Hallvard's High School. Fara is bisexual, and dated Vincent Valverde in the past when he was still presenting as a woman.
- Kellen Flaherty- Rain's older sister, Kellen does not accept Rain being trans, and deadnames her. Kellen forcibly cuts Rain's hair whilst the latter is asleep, causing Rain to disown her. Has a twin, Aiken.
- Aiken Flaherty- Rain's older brother, Aiken was initially unaccepting of her but has since come around. He once dated Jessica Li, a trans woman, and reacted badly when she told him of that; since Rain's coming out, however, he's been working to reconcile with her. Aiken is twins with Kellen.
St. Hallvard's High School
[edit]- Gavin Kurz- Rain's childhood friend. He is initially quite rude and insensitive to Rain but eventually grows to understand and support her.
- Maria Strongwell- Rudy's sister. She is an initially-closeted lesbian, before latercoming outin front of the entire school.
- Rudy Strongwell- Maria's brother. He is openly gay, causing conflict with his disapproving parents. Rudy occasionally cross-dresses as Ruby.
- Emily Caston- Rain's classmate, Emily is initially presented as a popular, uncaring girl; beneath this cool exterior, though, is an abusive mother and an ex-boyfriend that gets her pregnant. Emily is actually a very sweet and caring girl, and supports Rain when the latter becomes estranged from her siblings. She eventually comes out aspansexual,and begins dating Rain.
- Arthur Feltman- A Catholic priest and the Dean of Students at St. Hallvard's. He is supportive of Rain; his younger brother Will is a trans man who lives on the other side of the country. Arthur views helping Rain partly as a way to reconcile with his brother.
- Quenton Morrison- A Catholic priest and the Headmaster at St. Hallvard's. He is a lawful evil character, committed to enforcing the school's moral code, and does not react well to queer people. Quenton is eventually fired and replaced with Arthur Feltman in the interim.
Other characters
[edit]- Jessica Li- A trans woman and Aiken Flaherty's former girlfriend, Jessica met Aiken through an on-line dating service. When she came out as trans to Aiken, he broke up with her. Jessica makes up with Aiken and agrees to try out being friends again when she sees him making an effort not to deadname or misgender Rain or her in a conversation with Kellen.
- Vincent Valverde- A trans man who is Rain and Jessica's therapist. He is also Fara Bryer's former significant other.
- Lydia Wynn Caston- Rain and Emily's daughter.
Release
[edit]In December 2015, Jocelyn Samara DiDomenick hosted a holiday illustration featuring Rain andtransprotagonists of many other webcomics, like Zoë inVenus Envy,Jess & Seb in2punk4you,Carrie & Allison inClosetspace,Jesska inManic Pixie Nightmare Girlsand Stephie inAssigned Male.[3]
On March 20, 2021, Samara announced an official French translation, by Mia Sadoch. It is updated weekly, and available for free, much like the original.[4]
On March 15, 2022, Samara announced that the series had ended and that she would begin work on two other webcomics soon.[5]Moonlight Wanderersis yet to be released and is currently in development.
On December 5, 2022, Samara finally releasedMy Impossible Soulmate,revealing it to be a standalone prequel toRain.[6]
Adaptations
[edit]Animated series
[edit]In December 2020, Samara linked to a teaser trailer for an animated series ofRain,announcing that one was inproduction.[7]Larissa Logan Robin Frost, also known by their handle LariUmbreon, announced that she would be voicing Rain in a post onReddit.[8]The officialYouTubechannel for the series described it as a "story for boys, girls, and everyone in between."[9]
In January 2021, DiDomenick revealed on Twitter that she had done "very little besides provide the story and character designs the animation is based on".[10]On September 14, 2021, in a video re-upload of an instrumental track coupled with animation for the series, LariUmbreon announced the series cancellation, but did not specify the reason.[11]
In April 2022, LariUmbreon, using the name "Robin", announced that thefull animated adaptionofRainwas discontinued but that she would continue posting short animated clips, linking to a crowdfunding campaign onPatreon.[12]She included a 14-page description of what happened and why the full animated adaptation was discontinued.[13]
Reception
[edit]InTRANSforming Spaces: Transgender Webcomics as a Model for Transgender Empowerment and Representation within Library and Archive Spaces,Nami K. R. Hatfield (2015) argues thatRainderives its effectiveness from its "informed and sympathetic portrayal of transgender experiences", and notes that DiDomenick uses "the participatory methods of organized fandom" in order to interact withRain's readers and fanbase.[2]Participatory culture (a new media theory concept developed by scholarHenry Jenkins) in the Internet age, Hatfield contends, is precisely what makesRaina reality - it enables smaller-scale works centred around non-mainstream experiences such as the trans experience to be shared easily.[2]
TheBoston Public LibraryranksRainat number 22 on a list of 31 comics to binge whilst stuck at home.[14]Michele Kirichanskaya ofComicsVerseranks it at number 2 on their list of 10 must-read LGBTQIA+ webcomics, praising its chibi art style whilst noting its initial lack of racial diversity.[15]Librarian and folkorist Charlie McNabb describedRainas a "slice-of-life webcomic about a trans girl" and noted that the comic has agenderfluidcharacter.[16]
Notes
[edit]- ^It hadISBN978-0578119847.Since then, several more volumes have been self-published by DiDomenick throughLulu.
External links
[edit]- Second teaser trailer for Rain: the Animated Series -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t547oBetHfo
References
[edit]- ^ab"Rain - Archive".rain.thecomicseries.com.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-01-24.Retrieved2020-04-30.
- ^abcHatfield, Nami Kitsune Raven (2015)."TRANSforming Spaces: Transgender Webcomics as a Model for Transgender Empowerment and Representation within Library and Archive Spaces"(PDF).Queer Cats Journal of LGBTQ Studies.1:57–73.doi:10.5070/Q511031151.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2020-03-18.Retrieved2020-05-31– via California Digital Library, UCLA.
- ^"A Very Webcomic Christmas"Rain,no. 772 (December 14, 2015). Official website of Rain (webcomic)."Rain".Archived from the original on November 22, 2021.RetrievedJanuary 26,2022.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^"Rain".rain.thecomicseries.com.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-01-26.Retrieved2021-03-28.
- ^"Rain".rain.thecomicseries.com.Retrieved2022-06-18.
- ^"My Impossible Soulmate".mis.thecomicseries.com.RetrievedFebruary 26,2023.
- ^"Rain".rain.thecomicseries.com.Archivedfrom the original on February 11, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 11,2021.
- ^Frost, Larissa Logan Robin (December 2020)."Today's Forecast Calls for Rain".Reddit.Archived fromthe originalon February 11, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 11,2021.The animation was posted on YouTubehereArchived2020-11-05 at theWayback Machine.
- ^"Rain: The Animated Series--About".YouTube.February 2021.Archivedfrom the original on February 11, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 11,2021.
- ^DiDomenick, Jocelyn Samara [@LynnSenpai84] (January 13, 2021)."So far, I've honestly done very little besides provide the story and character designs the animation is based on. The animated series is coming largely from the hard work of many dedicated and talented fans, for which I'm extremely grateful. ^_^"(Tweet).Archivedfrom the original on May 6, 2022.RetrievedMay 6,2022– viaTwitter.She also promoted the clips from the animated series onJanuary 12,February 26,March 25,April 1,April 29.
- ^LariUmbreon (September 14, 2021)."Rain: Morning Routine".Rain: The Animated Series.YouTube.Archivedfrom the original on September 17, 2021.RetrievedSeptember 16,2021.
- ^LariUmbreon (September 14, 2021)."We're Still Here".Rain: The Animated Series.YouTube.Archived from the original on May 7, 2022.RetrievedMay 6,2022.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^LariUmbreon (April 2022)."So, what happened".Google Docs.Archived from the original on May 7, 2022.RetrievedMay 6,2022.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^"Webcomics to the Rescue!: 31 Comics to Binge While Stuck at Home".Boston Public Library.30 April 2020.Archivedfrom the original on March 10, 2021.RetrievedMay 31,2020.
- ^"10 Must-Read LGBTQIA+ Webcomics".ComicsVerse.April 10, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on January 20, 2021.RetrievedMay 31,2020.
- ^McNabb, Charlie (2017)."Multimedia".Nonbinary Gender Identities: History, Culture, Resources.Lanham, Maryland:Rowman & Littlefield.p. 219.ISBN978-1442275522.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-01-20.Retrieved2021-01-03.