Billionaires... They suck, right?

Dear Anthea,

Thank you for sharing your perspective on our comics. We appreciate you taking the time to write such a thoughtful comment.

We hear your concern that the comic might be promoting a negative view of money, and we want to assure you that was not the intention. You are absolutely right that money can be a powerful tool for good – it can provide security, allow us to help our families, and create opportunities for a better life. The ability to stay home with your children and provide a good life for them is a wonderful thing, and we completely agree that having financial freedom is a gift.

The point of this particular comic was to poke fun at the idea of fun at those of us who talk a big game about billionaires. Duchess can sit on the couch and say, “No one needs that much money,” but the punchline reveals she’s as entangled in the system as anyone else. It’s a playful reminder that it’s easy to criticise from the sidelines, but it’s much harder to truly opt out.

The final panel with the “Gizmo Eats” drone is the punchline. It’s meant to highlight the irony that even though Duchess is annoyed at billionaires, she’s still a customer of one of their massive corporations. It’s a satirical jab at how deeply these systems are embedded in our daily lives, whether we like it or not.

Our goal with these stories is to explore complex ideas in a humorous and lighthearted way. We appreciate you helping us see how the message could be interpreted, and we’ll keep your feedback in mind for future comics.

We also want to address your other comment that the morals in our stories aren’t for children. We can completely understand your perspective on that. Our comics are created for all ages, and they use humor and satire to comment on the world around us.

They aren’t meant to be a literal moral lesson but a fun, satirical way to explore everyday situations and complex social issues. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention, as it helps us think about how our work is perceived by different readers. Thank you again for your honest feedback.

Kindest regards,
Duchess and Bruno

You story lines and moral of these stories that you keep sending me is totally off putting and are not right to have spread through children. Why are you teaching children to hate money. Money gives so much to people. It depends on how you deal with it that counts. How many billionaires donate money and help others???!!! Money gives me time that I can spend with my children, without money and I would not have been able to stay at home when my baby was young. Without money I could not afford to stay home and homeschool my child. Without money I could afford to go on holidays and spend quality time with my family. Without money I would not be able to help out my family and friends. Without money I would not have the mental space to create, as I would be stressed about money all the time. I do not appreciate this negativity towards money. Who has taught you to hate money and why? The powers that be like to keep people dumb and poor so that they can have a workforce that are stuck in a 9 to 5 job instead of having people think for themselves and create work and income for themselves.
I have a number of your other stories off putting and at first I thought you were being funny about the issues, but the more I see you stories, I realise that you content is not for children and the morals you seem to be protraying is so in the wrong direction.