Friendly Hostility is another comic I only started reading a few months ago. I think it was thanks to #crfh (an IRC channel using the Nightstar Server), when someone posted a link to an amusing comic. This happens every couple of weeks on #crfh… someone will post a link and then two or three other Boardies will start reading it from the beginning and posting their favorite scenes from the comic and it snowballs until the rest of the channel gets annoyed. Or the new-found fans lose interest and stop posting links.

I’ve not read Fuhr’s other works. And that’s kind of sad… it’s not that I hadn’t heard of “Boy Meets Boy”, it’s that I just wasn’t interested. To be honest, the title kind of put me off, and I was also not one to read many new webcomics. (I mean, it took CotC’s crossover with Elf Life and Alice to get me to read those strips… and even then I avoided adding them to my regular reading list for half a year. Which basically… doubled the number of webcomics I was reading at that time.)

Today’s strip is part of what kept me reading FH. Personally, I preferred the early stories of Fatima, Nefertari, and Rafi, to the more recent strips with Fox and Collin (though I must admit to a certain fondness toward Bootsie and watching her bumble her way through servitude to Collin). The early strips won me over, and I regret that we only have a couple glimpses of their life before going nearly full-time to watching Fox and Collin’s exploits in college (and Collin dealing with manipulative spiteful parents who think of their son in terms of how it makes them look rather than love of their child).

Heh. Try as I may, I’m still dragged to Collin and Fox. It’s sort of like Pinky and the Brain, only Pinky is smarter and the Brain has fewer plans for taking over the world and more daydreams. Collin and Fox’s relationship also seems to have its roots in rebellion, but has grown from there. I’m not sure if it will necessarily last… I’m unsure if Fox is the type who’ll remain rooted in one place forever, and Collin seems a bit possessive, so this could cause problems should Fox start to stray.

We’ve not seen more than a hint of this, though – Fox has admitted to being bi (and he described Collin as hating everyone except for Fox – again, this is something that might bloom later on. What happens if Collin finds another man or woman he doesn’t hate? What if in time he finds himself attracted to said person? I’m unsure if Bootsie counts as this as I think Collin and Fox don’t think of her as a woman so much as (right now) a kid sister); would Fox sleeping with a girl cause problems with Collin?

Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, we’re back with my favorites, Nefertari and Rafi, and an amusing little treat. I remember a very touching moment when Nefertari is telling Collin’s mom just what Rafi is to them. I especially love panel six, when she smiles and simply says “He’s ours.” Naturally, that’s misconstrued, and no, I don’t think they’re “sandwiching” Rafi in bed (to his dismay). Instead, they’re friends. Sometimes Rafi gets on Nefertari’s (and Padma’s) nerves. Today’s strip though… there’s something delightful about Nefertari being annoyed at Rafi’s pervertedness… and then turn around and presenting him with naked nurse cookies.

I look forward to the next time we see a bit of Fox’s folks (and Rafi). They definitely need more screen time.

BTW, just for the record, I absolutely despise Collin’s folks. I wrote more on this theme and realized I was preaching so… I’ll just say I wish they’d get a clue, man!. I suppose there is a social commentary just begging to be tangented about those two….