Ménage à 3 (webcomic)

Ménage à 3 (often abbreviated as Ma3) is a webcomic published by Pixie Trix Comix and created by artist Gisele Lagace & Dave Lumsdon, known as Giz and Dave Zero.^[1] It was started on May 16, 2008, and is currently ongoing. Set in Montreal, Canada, the webcomic follows the lives and adventures of three roommates in their attempts to find love, success and the pleasures of life. Ménage à 3 is consistently rated amongst the top 50 webcomics annually and has enjoyed success in print in addition to online.^[2]

Plot

Ménage à 3 centers around the life of Gary, Montreal resident and 29-year-old virgin. Upon losing his old roommates Matt and Dillon at short notice (when they decide to become an official gay couple), Gary is desperate to find a couple of new roomies to pay the rent. Luckily, Matt and Dillon put an ad in the local paper to find new people in need of shared living quarters, and before long, the search pays off. Things change drastically for Gary when two girls, Zii and DiDi, suddenly start sharing his apartment. Zii, obviously perplexed by Gary's (unwanted) purity, declares that her goal is to make him more confident and help him lose his virginity. But life proves full of distractions for all three of them, as other characters and objectives come and go through the story.^[3][4]

Characters

Primary

• Gary - Gary is the main character and the protagonist of the series. At the beginning of the webcomic, he is still a virgin and works at a call center. Much of the storyline arcs revolve around him. He is extremely shy and nervous around women, to the point where he passes out if he sees one naked. He eventually loses his virginity to Kiley.^[5]
• Zii - Suzi (nicknamed "Zii") is Gary's roommate. Petite in stature, she is extremely sexual, having encounters with both men and women in group and one-on-one settings. She lives a carefree life trying to restart her music career in an all-girl band. Her primary focus has been to get Gary to open up and enjoy the physical pleasures of life.^[2]
• Didi - Désirée Chastel is Gary's other roommate. She is known for her physical beauty and large breasts, which seem to enamor both men and women equally. She is described as Amazonian strong and French is her primary language. She is sexually unsatisfied, becoming more and more frustrated as the series has progressed.^[6]

Secondary

• Yuki - Yuki Ōyama is Zii's ex-girlfriend and technically Gary's current girlfriend. She is a drummer and has reunited with Zii in her band. She has a fear of male genitalia, due to stumbling upon her father's tentacle hentai in her youth.^[7] As a result, she and Gary have not been intimate, as this is a fear she is trying to overcome. Later in the series they break up, but Yuki still has feelings for him. She has an irreconcilable rivalry with Sonya.
• Erik - Erik is a charming, handsome, rich man and Zii's ex-boyfriend, who was somehow able to temporarily rid Zii of her inability to stay monogamous. He initially managed Zii's new band, but has since assumed the role of managing Pretty Boyz with Electric Toyz, a glam metal band^[8] headed by Zii's rival, Angel. He is one of the many male suitors who failed to satisfy DiDi. He has a sister, Erika.^[9]
• Sonya - Sonya claims to be straight but is obsessed with Zii. She was once in competition with Yuki to be Gary's girlfriend. She is the bass player in Zii's new band. Has an irreconcilable rivalry with Yuki.
• Lita - Lita is Zii's cat and although hates most people, seems to be affectionate of Gary.
• Kiley - Kiley is a burgeoning and clumsy therapist who once treated Yuki with her issues but ended up sleeping with her boyfriend, Gary, but only because they both think Yuki was gone; when they realized she was still in Canada, she "breaks up" with Gary and starts a therapeutic routine in order to overcome her attraction to Gary. She has issues with the size of her breasts and may be a sex addict. She is in a relationship with Matt, whom she met during a farm trip, but has yet to lose her attraction to Gary.
• Matt - Matt is Gary's former roommate and former lover of Dillon. He and Dillon moved out to bring their relationship to the next level. In truth, he is bisexual and has cheated on Dillon multiple times. He is one of many men who failed to satisfy DiDi, but in this case was because some unfortunate circumstances every time they try to have sex and DiDi's obsession with Gary. He is in a relationship with Kiley, and currently nursing an inferiority complex to Gary.^[5]
• Junghan - Junghan (often just called Jung) is a friend of Gary's and manager of a comic book store called Pixie Trix Comix who still lives with his mother for financial conveniences. He hires Zii as an employee, where he torments her by making her wear his handmade cosplays. After Zii and Erik's breakup, he assumes the role of band manager, and costume designer.
• Peggy - Peggy moves in with Sonya and assists her in her attempts to win over Zii. Also, she agrees to Sonya to became Gary's new girlfriend.

Former

• Dillon - Dillon is Gary's other former roommate and Matt's ex-boyfriend. He is strictly homosexual and is more interested in a caring relationship than sex. He becomes the protagonist of his own spin-off series, Sticky Dilly Buns.^[5]
• Amber - Amber is a former porn star, Gary's former sexual obsession, and ex-girlfriend of Zii. It is insinuated that it was Zii who inspired Amber on the path to pornography. She is very fond of Gary and, as a result of having had sexual relations with him, is attempting to regain his admiration. She left the series with Dillon after they became roommates. She has a younger sister, Ruby.^[10]
• Sandra - Sandra is a former co-worker of Didi and romantic partner to Matt. She and Didi attempted to have a lesbian affair with horrible results as they both realized they are straight. She has left the series as the protagonist in her own webcomic, Sandra on the Rocks, where she becomes a budding model and ex-secretary to Senna.
• Senna - Senna is a transgender lingerie model from Brazil. She was originally seeing Matt, but successfully pursued a sexual relationship with Gary. However, as a result of crossing paths with her ex-secretary Sandra while on a date with him, Gary ultimately breaks up with her.^[11] She speaks Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, French, English and Spanish.^[12]

Style

Example of how the author begins and ends a year's volume. Left panel is the first strip showing Gary having a bad dream. Right panel is the last strip showing Yuki having a bad dream.

Ménage à 3 is storyline based. Each strip is connected to a greater storyline arc, or chapters, that culminates with a resolving event. Arcs tend to last anywhere from 10 to 30 strips and are part of an annual storyline volume. Over the course of the year, only days have passed within the storyline.^[13] Each volume ends the second week of May with the following strip initiating the next volume of strips. Each volume is symmetrical in that the last strip is similar in style to the first strip of the volume. For example, in volume one, Gary walks in on his roommates having sex in the first strip whereas in the last strip, Dillon walks in on his lover having sex with another.

Themes

Ménage à 3 tackles mostly themes related to sex and relationships - rarely in a serious manner. The characters deal with trying to overcome a myriad of issues. The characters range from being purely straight, straight but questioning their sexual orientation, in denial of their sexual orientation, bisexual and purely homosexual. They deal with issues of trying to find sexual satisfaction, jealousy of each other, competing over each other, and trying to find a committed relationship. Characters also deal with issues from their past, such as being a pornstar or traumatic childhood experiences.

Storylines

Volume One

Volume one started on May 16, 2008 and ended May 13, 2009. The volume consists of six chapters.

The story begins with Gary walking in on his two male roommates, Dillon & Matt, having sex. They move out and Zii & Didi move in after responding to an ad. The main traits of the characters are outlined: Gary is a virgin, not even having kissed a girl; Didi has Amazonian strength and while having many sexual partners, has never had an orgasm; Zii has had plenty of sex in multiple scenarios and easily climaxes. Yuki and Sandra appear towards the end of the volume: Yuki is a friend and a former love interest of Zii who starts working on a dōjinshi project with Gary; Sandra is a co-worker of Didi. Dillon learns that Matt is bisexual, whereas he is strictly homosexual. Through a series of comical situations, Didi begins to question her sexual orientation. The volume ends with Dillon walking in on Matt and Sandra having an intercourse in a similar fashion to the first strip of the comic.

Volume Two

Volume two started on May 15, 2009 and ended May 12, 2010. The volume consists of six chapters.

The events of volume two start with Dillon moving out on Matt and moving in with Gary and the girls. Dillon begins to fall for Gary and ultimately believes them to be in a relationship, unbeknownst to Gary. Matt and Sandra's relationship continues to grow, but Matt's infidelity as well as his bi-sexuality cause issues. Yuki and Gary's relationship begins to develop as she gets him to collaborate on a project. She believes that Dillon, who is dressed as Dinah for a play, is Gary's girlfriend. Zii makes attempts on Didi and convinces her to go on a date together. All the storylines converge at the play in which Dillon stars. Dillon is exposed to Sandra as Matt's "other girl" and in the ensuing fight is exposed as a man to both her and to Yuki. Didi goes to take care of Sandra as her friend, leaving Zii frustrated. She turns to Yuki and the two have sex; the following morning, Yuki wakes up from an erotic dream about a female Gary.

Volume Three

Volume three started May 14, 2010 and ended May 11, 2011. The volume consists of seven chapters.

Volume three begins with the broken relationships at the end of volume two and many of the characters questioning their sexuality throughout the year. Sandra, realizing her boyfriend Matt is bi-sexual, breaks up with him and wonders if she is meant to be a lesbian. Didi, realizing no man has ever satisfied her, also questions being straight. The two go on a date and attempt to have sex with each other but can't do it, realizing they have no appeal to the same sex.

Dillon's career starts to take off after the reviews of the play but is manipulated by a perverted producer who attempts to have a three-way with him and Amber, whom he also represents. They blackmail him into giving them an apartment, establishing the basis for their spin-off webcomic.

Yuki, after dreaming of Gary, begins to wonder if she's actually straight. But after a blackout episode where she destroys a bunch of men's magazines, she meets Kiley, a graduate student studying therapy. Kiley takes Yuki on as a patient for her thesis research project. Gary also is questioning his sexuality and confides in Matt for advice, where he meets Senna, a woman who also happens to have male genitalia. After kissing both Matt and Senna, Gary comes to the realization he is in fact straight. Zii officially initiates "Operation: Get Gary Laid" and introduces him to Sonya, who is still in denial of her lesbianism. Upon seeing Sonya and Gary together, Yuki becomes jealous and they begin to compete to be his girlfriend. The volume ends with Sandra on a beach, naked with Senna, whom she also met when going to Matt for advice on her sexuality.

Volume Four

Volume four started May 13, 2011 and ended May 12, 2012. The volume consists of five chapters.

The contest between Sonya and Yuki over Gary escalates; however, it ends in a disaster when Yuki experiences one of her blackouts upon seeing male genitalia and goes on a rampage kicking men in the groin. Sonya, being put off by the situation, leaves Gary's place. Trying to find Yuki, Gary teams up with Kiley. The two fail to find Yuki, but Kiley throws herself at Gary and the two end up having sex, thus ending Gary's virginity. The sex is miserably short (43 seconds), but Gary makes it up to Kiley with the oral sex technique he learned from Dillon, giving her the best sex of her life. Didi overhears and while still frustrated, becomes determined to have Gary service her. Didi attempts to have Matt satisfy her, but a series of comic accidents prevent the two from having sex.

Later, Gary meets up with Kiley again but is first interrupted by Sonya, who is still competing for Gary's interest. Kiley tricks Sonya into admitting her love for Zii. Yuki then returns, telling Kiley that thanks to her she was able to make amends with her father. Kiley realizes that continuing her relationship with Gary would bring chaos and leaves him. Eric suggests Zii to return to her rock band career and recruits Sonya to be the bass guitarist of the band. Didi, still frustrated, confronts Yuki in the final strip.

Volume Five

Volume five started May 15, 2012 and ended June 3, 2013. The volume consists of five chapters.

Volume five begins with Erik and Zii putting together their band with Zii as a lead singer and Eric as the manager. Sonya joins the band as a bass player and later Yuki joins on drums. Because Sonya and Yuki both have feelings towards Gary and Zii, there is much friction and fighting at the rehearsals. In the same time, Zii and Eric feel more committed to each other as their relationship develops.

Gary and Yuki's relationship goes to the next level where Gary pleasures Yuki with his "swirly", but it is not reciprocal, again due to Yuki's issues. Amber overhears several conversations on Gary's girlfriend and decided that he deserves more than he gets from Yuki. She and Gary are interrupted by Dillon before she can take care of him. After talking to Sonya and Zii, Yuki realizes that she's not ready for a heterosexual relationship and breaks up with Gary.

In a separate story arc, Kiley and Matt are shown to help each other overcome their obsessions for Gary and rebuild self-confidence by having sex.But both fail to realize that they are both visualizing the same person.

Sonya makes her move and has sex with Gary, a second time Gary has sex. However, Sonya realizes she is still in love with Zii, so she leaves Gary the next day and plots to break up Zii and Erik. While having a dinner with Erik, where she plans to seduce him, she meets Peggy. Drunk Peggy admits her current boyfriend won't go down on her, so Sonya decides to introduce Peggy to Gary. In a parallel narrative, on a girls night out, Zii realizes that there is no reason Didi should not have sex with Gary. The two groups meet up at the house together, where Gary is not at. The four drunk girls end up having sex with each other. Moments before Didi is finally able to get her orgasm from Zii, Erik and Peggy's boyfriend walk in on them, ending the all-girl orgy. In the last strip, Gary turns out to be in Paris with Senna and Sandra—who have already spun off into their own webcomic series.

Volume Six

Volume six started June 5, 2013 and ended June 17, 2014. The volume consists of four chapters.

In a flashback, Gary and Senna fly to Paris and meet Sandra, who quitted working as Senna's personal assistant and is now a model. As soon as Gary learns that Sandra's new job is connected to video games, he starts spending more time with her, leaving Senna jealous.

In the meantime, Yuki slowly progresses in a fight against her fears with the help from Kiley and Matt. Zii is grieving over her break-up with Eric, while also feeling affectionate to Sonya and Didi. Sonya and Peggy are trying to win Zii's favour. At the upcoming rock concert, all the characters assemble, which leads to a series of unexpected discoveries: Eric is now a manager for Angel's band, Zii's long-time rivals; Matt and Kiley don't realize that they were obsessed with the same person along with it being shown that Kiley is not yet over her attraction to Gary. Didi and Yuki are jealous of Gary's attention over each other. Zii's band's performance is way more successful than Angel's. After the concert, Matt ends up with Peggy but still feels obsessed with Gary; Kiley ends up in a bed with Didi; Gary returns home only to discover Amber in need of him.

Volume Seven

Volume seven started June 19, 2014 and is planned to be completed somewhere in summer 2015.

Didi has an on-the-spot therapy session with Kiley, who was considerate enough to bring Didi the long-awaited orgasm. To get a job position of his lifetime, Gary is obliged with teaching his future boss the secrets of picking up girls; Zii does her best to help him. Matt seeks to assert his sexual vigour by having a foursome with Gary, Kiley and Peggy. At the same time, Matt and Kiley become more committed to each other. Yuki and Sonya are infatuated with each other, displaying a comical love/hate behaviour.

Reception

Ménage à 3 is consistently rated in the top 50 webcomics ^[6][14] on the internet and is one of the top 25 most read.^[15] Reviews for Ménage à 3 have commended the artistic style as being similar to Archie Comics ^[6] in a setting comparable to the American 1970s television show, Three’s Company, but with much more nudity and a heavier sexual theme more in line with the American Pie movies.^[2][3] Praise has been given for the character development through the course of the series and the technical aspects of the webcomic have been praised for its professionalism, especially when compared to other webcomics.^[16] Some online reviews have been critical of Ménage à 3’s amount of nudity and explicit panels showing sexual actions.^[2][4] The NSFW label has been criticized by some reviewers as a downside, but others have noted it as a strength, claiming it is obvious the webcomic is geared towards a certain demographic.^[17][18]

References

External links

• Ménage à 3 webcomic
• Pixie Trix Comix