Hi! I’m flattered that my short comic was able to give you pause and encouraged you to be introspective. I do agree that the comic could’ve used a longer format, as the original intention was to make a 21-ish page comic. Unfortunately, I did have to cut down some of the pages to meet the deadline, and also make room to work on it while working my part-time job irl. So, that may explain why it leaves one wanting more. I may revisit it in the future to make an “extended cut” of sorts, but that probably won’t be for awhile.
It definitely wasn’t my intent to make trans or cis women specifically come across as predatory in any way, nor vice versa. This is the first trans/LGBT+ project I’ve ever made and Exodia is meant to be an evil sorceress like in the story of Swan Lake, which the comic is inspired by (with additional inspiration from the 1994 animated movie called “The Swan Princess”, an iteration of Swan Lake where the evil sorcerer Rothbart tries to marry the princess in order to inherit the kingdom). As for the swan spell, it is like the case of a Monkey Paw in which she didn’t quite get what she wanted, but also takes themes from Swan Lake where she can’t quite escape the spell without meeting specific conditions. Exodia's evil tendencies aren't because she's trans, it's just because I've always made her/and her base character morally ambiguous and pretty selfish. Selene as a character is stubborn and avoids self gratification. The characters (even in cannon) are very much unstoppable force meets immovable object as a trope.
The princess's conflict about pursuing the sorceress is meant to be more in line with her own internalized homophobia, hence the title “Two Swans can’t Kiss”, kind of referencing how it feels forbidden to kiss another woman. While she’s reluctant at first, that is meant to insinuate how she hesitates to indulge in romance with another woman. This was the main idea of the comic as it was for the February/Valentine’s themed Jam I hosted called “5 Times I Almost Kissed You Jam”, where the characters show yearning of some sort. I personally still struggle a lot with my own queerness so the comic was an excuse to explore Sapphic themes and to indulge a bit in content I’m usually too scared to make as someone who isn't out and probably won't ever get to be.
If you want to better see my thought process, the PDF download "The Making of 2 Swans Can't Kiss" shows the thumbnails, comments, and the development while I was making this project.
I hope this clears things up and answers some of your questions! Thank you for taking interest in my story and taking the time to comment.