Rain (webcomic)

Last updated
Rain
Rain - Volume 5.png
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 date27 November 2010 [1]
End date15 April 2022 [1]
Genre(s)Dramedy, slice-of-life

Rain is a slice-of-life webcomic first published in November 2010 by Jocelyn Samara DiDomenick. It follows a teenage trans girl named Rain Flaherty as she attends a private Catholic high school and interacts with the community around her. [2] In 2013, volume one of Rain was published in a book format. [lower-alpha 1]

Contents

Plot

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

Rain and her family

St. Hallvard's High School

Other characters

Release

In December 2015, Jocelyn Samara DiDomenick hosted a holiday illustration featuring Rain and trans protagonists of many other webcomics, like Zoë in Venus Envy , Jess & Seb in 2punk4you, Carrie & Allison in Closetspace, Jesska in Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls and Stephie in Assigned 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 Wanderers is yet to be released and is currently in development.

On December 5, 2022, Samara finally released My Impossible Soulmate, revealing it to be a standalone prequel to Rain. [6]

Adaptations

Animated series

In December 2020, Samara linked to a teaser trailer for an animated series of Rain, announcing that one was in production. [7] Larissa Logan Robin Frost, also known by their handle LariUmbreon, announced that she would be voicing Rain in a post on Reddit. [8] The official YouTube channel 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 the full animated adaption of Rain was discontinued but that she would continue posting short animated clips, linking to a crowdfunding campaign on Patreon. [12] She included a 14-page description of what happened and why the full animated adaptation was discontinued. [13]

Reception

In TRANSforming Spaces: Transgender Webcomics as a Model for Transgender Empowerment and Representation within Library and Archive Spaces, Nami K. R. Hatfield (2015) argues that Rain derives 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 with Rain's readers and fanbase. [2] Participatory culture (a new media theory concept developed by scholar Henry Jenkins) in the Internet age, Hatfield contends, is precisely what makes Rain a reality - it enables smaller-scale works centred around non-mainstream experiences such as the trans experience to be shared easily. [2]

The Boston Public Library ranks Rain at number 22 on a list of 31 comics to binge whilst stuck at home. [14] Michele Kirichanskaya of ComicsVerse ranks 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 described Rain as a "slice-of-life webcomic about a trans girl" and noted that the comic has a genderfluid character. [16]

Notes

  1. ↑ It had ISBN   978-0578119847. Since then, several more volumes have been self-published by DiDomenick through Lulu.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Rain - Archive". rain.thecomicseries.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-24. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  2. 1 2 3 Hatfield, 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. Retrieved 2020-05-31– via California Digital Library, UCLA.
  3. ↑ "A Very Webcomic Christmas" Rain,no. 772(December 14, 2015).Official website of Rain (webcomic). Archived from the originalon November 22, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Rain". rain.thecomicseries.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
  5. ↑ "Rain". rain.thecomicseries.com. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  6. ↑ "My Impossible Soulmate". mis.thecomicseries.com. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Rain". rain.thecomicseries.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  8. ↑ Frost, Larissa Logan Robin (December 2020). "Today's Forecast Calls for Rain". Reddit . Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021. The animation was posted on YouTube here Archived 2020-11-05 at the Wayback Machine .
  9. ↑ "Rain: The Animated Series--About". YouTube . February 2021. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  10. ↑ 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). Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022– via Twitter. She also promoted the clips from the animated series on January 12, February 26, March 25, April 1, April 29.
  11. ↑ LariUmbreon (September 14, 2021). "Rain: Morning Routine". Rain: The Animated Series. YouTube. Archived from the original on September 17, 2021. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  12. ↑ LariUmbreon (September 14, 2021). "We're Still Here". Rain: The Animated Series. YouTube. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  13. ↑ LariUmbreon (April 2022). "So, what happened". Google Docs . Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Webcomics to the Rescue!: 31 Comics to Binge While Stuck at Home". Boston Public Library . 30 April 2020. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  15. ↑ "10 Must-Read LGBTQIA+ Webcomics". ComicsVerse. April 10, 2017. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  16. ↑ McNabb, Charlie (2017). "Multimedia". Nonbinary Gender Identities: History, Culture, Resources. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 219. ISBN   978-1442275522. Archived from the original on 2021-01-20. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
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