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Yes.

15 (5%)

No, it's not the same.

14 (4.7%)

No, it's even worse.

25 (8.4%)

No, it means Dora's history.

30 (10.1%)

No, because it's going to end different.

19 (6.4%)

No, because there's emergency bourbon.

17 (5.7%)

UBMEOD!

34 (11.4%)

Oh heck, who am I kidding?

4 (1.3%)

(sniff) No, I've just got (sniff) allergies...

31 (10.4%)

This thread is gonna hit 40 pages by tomorrow, isn't it?

109 (36.6%)

Total Members Voted: 237

[Prince of Space]

...

wow, that's quite a claim to make.

Time and time again, I've seen countless people come to her defense as a simple selfish child who doesn't even understand what she does wrong. If she's capable of apologizing for a wrongdoing then she's capable of understanding why she was wrong, knowing you are wrong and continuing to do wrong represents uncaring for your partner. No one is this oblivious, except certain posters on QC I guess.

Knowing you are wrong and continuing to do wrong represents uncaring for your partner. <--- your mostly true statement

STAYING with said partner and being surprised by this behavior represents a naive mindset. <---my completely true statement

[LeeC]

 Marten assumes Dora should already know it's private.

Marten didnt assume, he said in the second panel that it should remain private.

[Wiregeek]

Heh, now if Marten asks Dora to listen to him and she tells him off, because he gets to listen to her, not the other way around, this will be almost identical to my last relationship.

huh.

JEPH IF YOU HAVE CAMERAS IN MY HOUSE I AM GOING TO FIND THEM AND PUT MY NUTS ON THEM.

[tbones]

Time and time again, I've seen countless people come to her defense as a simple selfish child who doesn't even understand what she does wrong. If she's capable of apologizing for a wrongdoing then she's capable of understanding why she was wrong, knowing you are wrong and continuing to do wrong represents uncaring for your partner. No one is this oblivious, except certain posters on QC I guess.

I'm not saying that she has an excuse for what she did. Because she hasn't (although i can find some wrongdoing in marten too). I was just saying that's quite a claim to make.

How about, "hasn't had a loving relationship with anyone who considers their computer a private place."

Better?

Now, that's more like it! 

[Prince of Space]

 Marten assumes Dora should already know it's private.

Marten didnt assume, he said in the second panel that it should remain private.

I should've said 'he is assuming she cares/thinks he's serious'.

Though after going back and reading, how the hell did Dora get back to the apartment so damn fast?  He looked like was after her straight away..

[LeeC]

and she had time to look at all his porn, My guess is he thought she was joking and was actually out to grab lunch and he stuck around to hang out with faye.

[Prince of Space]

GOOD JOB JEPH.  Why are you not drawing EVERY thing these characters do?

DID he grab some lunch with Faye? I'll never know!

Sure, you've drawn them using the bathroom, but do they pluck their nose hairs??  Pick at that nasty pimple on their buttcheek?  Fart in their sleep???

 I SIMPLY MUST KNOW.

[LeeC]

I meant he thought Dora was grabbing lunch, not running home to actually look at his porn.  he was probably keeping Faye company at CoD seeing as you didnt see anyone else there.

[westrim]

IT"S TIME FOR SOME DRAMA, boys and girls! 

[xerada]

Maaan, I love this story line! So much DRAMA! And, I love everyone involved. And, seriously, I wouldn't have wanted the characters to act in any other way, it fits them.

That said, I probably think we're forgetting that Dora has been under a lot of stress lately. The Coffee of Doom wasn't doing so well, then she overworked herself (60 hours a week!), then she hired two not-really-perfect employees (I am under the impression that Penelopes hiring was a lot less difficult), then she got all worked up over the Hanners/Sven-Thing (whether she was right or not is not the question, it added stress). She's bottling it up, too, and letting it out on Marten.

[LeeC]

IT"S TIME FOR SOME DRAMA, boys and girls! 

[Mojo]

Heh, now if Marten asks Dora to listen to him and she tells him off, because he gets to listen to her, not the other way around, this will be almost identical to my last relationship.

huh.

JEPH IF YOU HAVE CAMERAS IN MY HOUSE I AM GOING TO FIND THEM AND PUT MY NUTS ON THEM.

Would that make it a camera with a flash?

[Mojo]

GOOD JOB JEPH.  Why are you not drawing EVERY thing these characters do?

DID he grab some lunch with Faye? I'll never know!

Sure, you've drawn them using the bathroom, but do they pluck their nose hairs??  Pick at that nasty pimple on their buttcheek?  Fart in their sleep???

 I SIMPLY MUST KNOW.

Well, we didn't see it, but Faye tells us Dora farts in her sleep...

[nordkoenig]

Hello everyone, I'm new-ish here (I've lurked for a while).

This comic and especially this discussion thread had me thinking for a while. QC is pretty much the first webcomic that I started following, and I have pretty much followed it continuously since, aside from a three-month break during one of the slower plotlines. And I have to say that despite being a little bit of a Marteen-Faye shipper, I was more or less happy to watch the Marteen-Dora relationship work itself out. It didn't feel to me like a "rebound fuck" or however you want to put it -- Marteen himself addressed that: "Relationships aren't like the Olympics. I'm not with you because I wanted Faye but couldn't get her, I'm with you because it makes me happy." Dora wasn't exactly nice all the time, but very few people are. And she was far from some sort of demon-bat hell-bitch.

But something changed in their dynamic. In the last six months or so I've really started to feel uncomfortable watching this relationship unfold. I had thought it might be because I was projecting onto the comic too much: my own romantic life is not exactly happy, and so quite possibly I just couldn't stand watching other people being happy, even in a fictional universe. But after some more thought, I'm not entirely convinced.

I think what's been bothering me is that this relationship doesn't read as "complete" to me. I don't like reading about it not because I'm jealous but because it's actually uncomfortable to read about. No, I'm not saying that the constant fighting is destroying it. Fighting is a part of relationships; maybe not to this extent, but certainly to some degree. It just feels like Marteen-Dora is really insubstantial. Hear me out: the things that have been explored in the comic so far can (overly simplistically) be summarized like this: fighting, talking about said fights and relationship issues, sex, talking about sex, changing appearances, music (less and less so now), and the infrequent witty banter.

Maybe I have an overly idealistic view of the possibilities for relationships, but Marteen-Dora often seems like it lacks any kind of intellectual or emotional depth. They don't really talk about the important things in life -- they only really talk about each other. The physical aspect of the relationship is there, for sure -- in any given sample of 50 strips there will be a reference to whatever sex they recently had. But honestly I haven't seen them connect on an emotional level or an intellectual level. Honestly I can't even tell you if they have the same hopes, fears, or dreams, because they don't talk about them. Their shared interests seem to be snark and a general liking of music.

Some of it might be the fact that this is a webcomic. Jeph wants to entertain, so he writes about the dramatic things in his character's life. That makes sense, and explains why half the comics seem to be about fighting. But the way it reads right now, with a possibly biased sampling of their lives -- Dora and Marteen sex each other a lot and then fight. Rinse, repeat. There are some adorable episodes (like the nonsense conversation, or the time when Marteen gets about ten nice gifts for Dora unasked), but they are so few and far between, especially compared to the fights. I just don't really see them as a happy couple.

Hopefully that all makes sense/wasn't too long!




Unrelated: lol, 19 posts since I started writing this.

[eyosgkxb]

...

wow, that's quite a claim to make.

...

Knowing you are wrong and continuing to do wrong represents uncaring for your partner. <--- your mostly true statement

STAYING with said partner and being surprised by this behavior represents a naive mindset. <---my completely true statement

Marten doesn't have to stay with her, he's just coming to understand that she is unchanging in her respect to him as a partner. He said it, "And I'm sick of your apologies!, this wasn't a make or break the relationship problem until this point, that's completely on Marten for dealing with it quietly until this point. She's forcing his hand at this point though by responding angrily to a problem she generated.

[PenguinNinja1408]

Heh, now if Marten asks Dora to listen to him and she tells him off, because he gets to listen to her, not the other way around, this will be almost identical to my last relationship.

huh.

JEPH IF YOU HAVE CAMERAS IN MY HOUSE I AM GOING TO FIND THEM AND PUT MY NUTS ON THEM.

Life sucks for you, doesn't it? LOLZ

[Prince of Space]

I meant he thought Dora was grabbing lunch, not running home to actually look at his porn.  he was probably keeping Faye company at CoD seeing as you didnt see anyone else there.

Hooray for my impeccable reading skills!  Well either way, I was just being silly.   Hopefully, I didn't come across as mean-obnoxious...rather, just obnoxious.

I guess sometimes we'll just have to fill in the blanks ourselves.

[LeeC]

nah you didnt perhaps I should have added a hahaha or a smiley as I thought your post was funny 

[raoullefere]

Yes, Dora and Marten have terrible communication, but it's never going to improve as long as Marten won't actually stand up for himself when he is upset at the time and as long as Dora continues to assume she knows how this all is going to play out rather than actually paying attention to what she's got.

I really think more of the latter. That's not 'blaming' Dora—it's just that no matter how much Marten expresses himself, as long as Dora is seeing this relationship in terms of her past ones, his communications aren't going to do much good.

One thing no one has mentioned is that Dora is in a scary place right now. So far as we know, Marten is the first guy she's moved in with. I think that may have been a mistake—she moved too fast because on some level she thought she 'ought' to. Now she may well feel trapped, torn between her hopes and some glimmer of what's actually happening between her and Marten and her experience-based expectations, which are fueled by low self-esteem. I said something earlier about Dora moving out, and I think she may well need this—some distance so she can think things through. But that will only happen if she gives up this idea that the relationship can't work, not that it simply has problems, like every relationship. To wit, she needs help.

Those who keep insisting Dora is a Stephen Stills Solution* for Marten seem to be ignoring the fact that he was interested in Dora before The Talk. His hesitation in pursuing her after said talk would have been, I suspect, largely based on not giving Dora the impression that she was second best. I can't recall, but I think somewhere this is borne out.

Well...

There's always..

Marigold!

*runs away*

Far away. Far, far away.

Prediction: Dora will go back to CoD and get all emotional with Faye around.  Then after work she'll go see Sven and they'll both talk to each other about how much their lives suck.  Sven because he thought he was making progress towards being a better person but got shot down by Faye.  Dora because she's always had to work to make a relationship last with her past douchebags and now she's doing a fine job of destroying the one person who she's not had to bend over backwards for.  Dora will get upset with Sven initially, because she's upset that he's never had to try to get women, while she's had the opposite.

This post was going well up to this point. Whatever you ingested, snorted, or injected before coming up with the rest is a thing you need to avoid in the future…perhaps by sending your supply to me. See this for why I need it.

*Love the One You're With

Warning - while you were reading more replies than this system cares to count have been posted, all with better or at least wilder ideas than these pathetic ramblings. Surrender now! Yes, now, fool, before I stop fooling around and…

ahem

You may wish to review your post.

[tbones]

Marten doesn't have to stay with her, he's just coming to understand that she is unchanging in her respect to him as a partner. He said it, "And I'm sick of your apologies!, this wasn't a make or break the relationship problem until this point, that's completely on Marten for dealing with it quietly until this point. She's forcing his hand at this point though by responding angrily to a problem she generated.

You really believe that in the heat of the discussion he honestly believes that? Ok, let's say he did really meant to say that. what has he(or have they) done to work out Dora's issues, since their last discussion? They just say: "it's okay everyone has issues, we can work it out" and then? Nothing, not a serious talk about it, nothing...

[Wiregeek]

Heh, now if Marten asks Dora to listen to him and she tells him off, because he gets to listen to her, not the other way around, this will be almost identical to my last relationship.

huh.

JEPH IF YOU HAVE CAMERAS IN MY HOUSE I AM GOING TO FIND THEM AND PUT MY NUTS ON THEM.

Life sucks for you, doesn't it? LOLZ

no, my life is freaking awesome. Lack of a warm wet hole to stick my wing-wong in isn't even a minor buzzkill.

still a little worried about those cameras though.. 

[LeeC]

window into Dora's past relationships

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=335

perhaps she has always been selfless with her past relationships and got burned on them and this time around she is no longer being selfless?

[Prince of Space]

Marten doesn't have to stay with her, he's just coming to understand that she is unchanging in her respect to him as a partner. He said it, "And I'm sick of your apologies!, this wasn't a make or break the relationship problem until this point, that's completely on Marten for dealing with it quietly until this point. She's forcing his hand at this point though by responding angrily to a problem she generated.

No one can 'force your hand'.   You can choose to get angry or choose to stay calm. 

In a relationship, blaming one or the other does absolutely nothing helpful.

If my partner came in and calmly told me they were really disappointed in me and why, it would be ten times more devastating and more effective than 'What the hell?'. 
They both need to calm down and start talking about feelings.  And *then* how they can prevent stuff like this in the future.

[josephj1109]

Sorry another first time post from a lurker.

   I really think this argument comes down to privacy and respect for boundaries. Martin has, for the most part, been nothing but patient and supportive of Dora, accepting her faults and trust issues in a patient way that makes Ghandi look overly aggressive. This is a situation where he asked Dora twice, first directly and then through humor to respect his privacy and she completely ignored him. I do not believe Martin is overreacting, he is rightfully upset that the person he loves thinks so little of him that she cannot be bothered to respect even the most minor of his wishes.

I can only imagine how this story would have been written had Dora taken a different path with her curiosity, but it would undoubtedly worked out better for her. Imagine if she had simply asked Martin to watch his porn with her as a form of foreplay or just given him the space to make decision and respect his emotions when he made it. This fight wouldn't have happened and the relationship wouldn't be a hairsbreadth away from falling apart.

The worst part of this is I have, up to recently, been a huge Dora fan. I thought her and Martin were good together, but with her trust issues becoming so large and her character taking offense to anything Martin does no matter how innocuous has made me hope this ends and that the characters move forward to develop more depth.

[AngryCallCenterAgent]

Dora doesn't want a boyfriend, she wants a doormat.

[eyosgkxb]

...

You really believe that in the heat of the discussion he honestly believes that? Ok, let's say he did really meant to say that. what has he(or have they) done to work out Dora's issues, since their last discussion? They just say: "it's okay everyone has issues, we can work it out" and then? Nothing, not a serious talk about it, nothing...

I see 2 things happening.

1. Dora is going to blame the break up on Marten. Typical, she'll tell everyone that Marten broke up with her.

2. They'll go to their respective corners, burn some time with filler talking about it with other cast members, come to some grand realizations about each other and either come together yet again. They could also decide to not play the game again by being logical human beings.

I don't see them being logical about this unless there is come major cast interaction that helps either one, the other, or both coming to terms with the fact that these are major issues, with major effects on each other.

My money is on #1. Dora is retarded.

...

No one can 'force your hand'.   You can choose to get angry or choose to stay calm.  

In a relationship, blaming one or the other does absolutely nothing helpful.

If my partner came in and calmly told me they were really disappointed in me and why, it would be ten times more devastating and more effective than 'What the hell?'.  
They both need to calm down and start talking about feelings.  And *then* how they can prevent stuff like this in the future.

How can she not have forced his hand, Marten is a pushover true but even he can't ignore how she is acting. What did he do wrong to deserve a door slam in his face and guilt over the fact that his privacy and trust are being tested? There's nothing calm about her, I understand her intensity during the underwear event but there's no way to justify her actions this time.

[CaptainFish]

Hey, first time long time here.

1.I'm still kinda mystified by the vanilla porn thing. Were there really no trends or fetishes?
"This is just a bunch of sex scenes from famous feature films!"
Also there had to be very little for her to confirm that so fast.

2. Marten bringing up previous fights might be construed as mean, but it's totally relevant. Dora has started fights because of Marten overstepping boundaries that were not explicitly defined. He's always conceded those boundaries as important after the fact though. Here we have a clearly defined boundary of privacy. My porn is private and I'm not comfortable telling you implies that he definintely doesn't want Dora to investigate. However, instead of taking that clear boundary into consideration, Dora just ignored it. It says something about their respect for each other and the power balance. That's why I don't think the vindictive prick line is fair, Dora clearly doesn't get the situation and Marten just brought it into perspective the only way he knew how.

[LeeC]

I agree with #2 Captainfish

but #1 this is Marten we are talking about, he has been around porn stars as a kid, perhaps he doesnt watch anything out side of vanilla because he has met other fetish stars and it would just be weird for him.

[Wiregeek]

Dora doesn't want a boyfriend, she wants a doormat.

This this a thousand times this, also this.

THIS

[eyosgkxb]

...
 However, instead of taking that clear boundary into consideration, Dora just ignored it. It says something about their respect for each other and the power balance. That's why I don't think the vindictive prick line is fair, Dora clearly doesn't get the situation and Marten just brought it into perspective the only way he knew how.

Boo Hoo, poor Dora bad things just keep randomly happening to her for no reason.

Dora doesn't want a boyfriend, she wants a doormat.

We have a winner.

[Near Lurker]

If they really are going to stay apart, putting bad blood between Marten and Dora, and hence probably Faye and Dora, will have to shake things up more than "The Talk."

But everyone's missing what's really important - Jeph quit drinking?  It is the apocalypse...

[slydon]

Please no Hannersmarten hurt comfort fic.

Okay, maybe a little.

[Prince of Space]

How can she not have forced his hand, Marten is a pushover true but even he can't ignore how she is acting. What did he do wrong to deserve a door slam in his face and guilt over the fact that his privacy and trust are being tested? There's nothing calm about her, I understand her intensity during the underwear event but there's no way to justify her actions this time.

At this point, I want to say 'troll', because it seems like you're not reading everything here (or are ignoring some things).  However, just in case you aren't a troll..

None of what I said justified her actions.

The whole premise is: blame does nothing useful.

You can say 'this is her fault' or 'this is his fault' until you are blue in the face.  The fact is, if you put your words in Marten's mouth (i.e. he blames her) it does nothing useful.  All it does is give him a reason to feel he's 'right'.   Why make him 'right' in this situation?  What does that do?  It gives Marten a reason to keep being angry (not helpful).  It gives Marten a reason not to look at his own shortcomings (assuming/misunderstanding/not standing up for himself/etc).  Blaming her would only strengthen any doubts he has on being wrong.  (EDIT: This applies to Dora as well.)

That's not how healthy relationships go.  Both people look at themselves in a problem and try to find a solution together.  Which, by Marten's face on the last panel, is what I'm hoping what he's about to go and try.

And if you read 'find a solution together' as 'get back together and be happy', then you prove my point that you aren't hearing me.  

[LeeC]

to be honest I always liked the idea of Hanners/Marten since she first appeared, but I'd rather Marten and Dora stay together.

[Josefbugman]

I heard it said quite well on another forum:

'Dora has consistently apologized for overstepping in one way and then turned around and done it somewhere else. It's like she isn't seeing the fundamental similarities between the various scenarios. She's like a little kid — "you told me not to draw on the walls with my crayons, so I drew on the refrigerator with my markers."'

[Kazukagii]

Come on guys, I went to bed for four hours, and already we're on page 10. I can't keep up with all this 

Dora doesn't want a boyfriend, she wants a doormat.

I honestly don't think this is true. Dora just doesn't know how to handle a healthy relationship. Think about it: if every guy she's dated before Marten really was a massive scumbag, then Dora must have needed to be very forceful in the relationship to stand on equal terms for any given amount of time. So now you have a very forceful and alert Dora paired up with the rather passive, relaxed Marten. What results is a relationship where Dora controls everything and is alert to every misstep, because she has learned to be this way to protect herself. Marten has been sitting back and letting this happen for hundreds of strips because he's the kind of guy that doesn't take drastic action until he's been pushed into a corner. I don't think Dora wants a relationship like that, it just happens to be the one they have, and Dora fails to realize it.

I guess what I'm getting at is that Dora has a http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FreudianExcuse for her actions, just as Faye did during her arc. It causes her to be so forceful with Marten, and I can say rather confidently that she wasn't looking for a doormat. It's just that her relationship tendencies matched with Marten's produced that result.

[slydon]

Hannersmarten would nice each other to death. While I imagine that would appeal to both of them right now... there's no place for the relationship to go w/o breaking character.
It has my heart's vote, but not my mind's

[LeeC]

Hannersmarten would nice each other to death. While I imagine that would appeal to both of them right now... there's no place for the relationship to go w/o breaking character.
It has my heart's vote, but not my mind's

Pretty much my feelings on the matter too.

I heard it said quite well on another forum:

'Dora has consistently apologized for overstepping in one way and then turned around and done it somewhere else. It's like she isn't seeing the fundamental similarities between the various scenarios. She's like a little kid — "you told me not to draw on the walls with my crayons, so I drew on the refrigerator with my markers."'

that is a pretty good description of the current situation.

[MillionDollar Belt Sander]

The YMCA was a good place to find them...  they are always trying to burn off those extra pounds because they think they are fat.

As for "catching" them,   all I did was be my normal charming self... treat them like human beings... and in general go in looking to be a "friend" rather than Mr. Fuck-And-Chuck.       You'd be surprised how well that works for "catching" teh womens.

Yeah, it wasn't the "catching" bit, more the "finding".  I hardly ever meet any!

The YMCA, really?  Young man, it's a place you can go, I said young man, when you're short on your dough, but chicks there, really?

But then they do say that you can stay there and they're sure you will find many ways to have a good time, so I suppose it makes sense!

Yeah... this ^  is why you fail.    

Seriously, though.   YMCA East Side Family Center.     There seems to be quite a few of them around... not that I even bother LOOKING anymore because I am MARRIED and once that happens you stop LOOKING AT OTHER WOMEN FOREVER.   (wife is right behind me.   I can feel it.)    

[Blyss]

wow...  just wow.

Well, at the end of the day, Marten is right in this situation. 

I guess Dora will have to find someone else to freak the fuck out on.

[Murphoid]

Uh oh, Dora and Martin look alike again.  It got better for a few panels but they are the same again.

I am very interested in this storyline, and I think a Dora / Martin split would be very interesting.  Also watching who the other characters side with would be quite neat.  Who would Faye side with?   I wonder if the break up would cause problems with her relationship, as she is kinda fragile - psyche wise.

[Coco]

Hmm, apropos of nothing, reading this forum must be for Jeph what it would be like for a long dead writer or philosopher to sit in on a 100 level english or philosophy course. Misinterpretations, assumptions, wild guesses etc. The link to comic 335 made me think of it. I mean, poor Machiavelli wrote a satire going so far as addressing it as a love letter to the family that had imprisoned and tortured him for his egalitarian ideals and now his name is synonymous with evil machinations and tyranny. Most people don't recognize it as satire at all! At least Machiavelli was long dead before his work was misappropriated. Jeph posts a comic and minutes later there is hyper-analysis of his every pen stroke and speech bubble. I think after work I'm going to have a drink in honor of all the authors of the world living in an age of immediate feedback.

[Josefbugman]

Yeahhhh, you do realise that the interpretation of "The prince" as satire is a really recent invention? Considering that there had already been a book published in England, refuting Mach's points before "The prince" had even been translated, you sort of understand why people might not see it as satire.

[Murphoid]

Hey! No Machiavellian thread jacking!    LOL.

[Kazukagii]

Hey! No Machiavellian thread jacking!    LOL.

But is it really a thread jack? Or merely a satire of thread jacking via conversations on philosophers and their works?

[eyosgkxb]

...

At this point, I want to say 'troll', because it seems like you're not reading everything here (or are ignoring some things).  However, just in case you aren't a troll..

....

Fuck you

...

Fuck you

...

Fuck you

This goes on for 3 more replies, but I'm sure that compared to a post like that, I'm a very big troll. Glad to clarify what a troll looks like for you.

None of what I said justified her actions.

The whole premise is: blame does nothing useful.
...
And if you read 'find a solution together' as 'get back together and be happy', then you prove my point that you aren't hearing me.  

Blame does nothing useful? Aside from keep the dispute on point? This is a dispute isn't it? I see 2 people with hurt feelings by what cause? So the cause here isn't one of the parties involved is what you are saying?

I hate to sound like a "Troll" as you put it, but please clarify what you even meant in that post?

wow...  just wow.

Well, at the end of the day, Marten is right in this situation.  

I guess Dora will have to find someone else to freak the fuck out on.

Maybe she can get herself mixed up with Penelope's relationship and rinse/repeat a similar set of circumstances so we can enjoy it yet again.

Uh oh, Dora and Martin look alike again.  It got better for a few panels but they are the same again.

I am very interested in this storyline, and I think a Dora / Martin split would be very interesting.  Also watching who the other characters side with would be quite neat.  Who would Faye side with?   I wonder if the break up would cause problems with her relationship, as she is kinda fragile - psyche wise.

I'm very interested to see the way that it goes, especially in regards to who sides with who. The suspense is killing me!

Yeahhhh, you do realise that the interpretation of "The prince" as satire is a really recent invention? Considering that there had already been a book published in England, refuting Mach's points before "The prince" had even been translated, you sort of understand why people might not see it as satire.

No better place than discussing Machiavelli than a forums in a thread that's dedicated to a weekly comic discussion.

[snubnose]

Dammit, now I just cant waiit until tomorrows comic !

The suspense is killing me !

How will this go on ?

[Moxie]

I am very interested in this storyline, and I think a Dora / Martin split would be very interesting.  Also watching who the other characters side with would be quite neat.  Who would Faye side with?   I wonder if the break up would cause problems with her relationship, as she is kinda fragile - psyche wise.

You know, that's an interesting point. Over the underwear incident Faye sided with Marten and called Dora out on her inappropriate behavior. But Faye was there, and she knew what happened. Here, we have Dora going off on an idea Faye had. Would Faye even take sides at all? Would she call Dora out on her inappropriate actions, as well as tell Marten he needs to be more aggressive whenever something matters to him?

[Deadlywonky]

Aside from the rampant posting this has been fun to watch develop (3hrs straight reading, almost no work done at all     ). I find myself torn in this situation, I've been in both Dora and Marten's positions in the past, due mostly to messy relationships past and an awkward family upbringing, and I've often been called up by my (now) wife for flipping out over almost nothing. We've been together for over 5 years and I'm still doing it, but by dint of her acting as therapist we've got it under control, but if I'm tired or stressed the problem happens again. If Dora and Marten can get to therapy (or Hanners with a supersoaker ) and talk through the problems and seek solutions they can become happy again. Sven did say that Dora had dated almost exclusively "alpha male goths" which both explains her latent suspision of privacy and her explosive temper re: relationship fighting. Whilst Marten knows this his last relationship was rather unhealthy as well, with the refusal to address the emotional problems, one thing that seems to have been forgotten is that they are only in their mid 20's, how many 25 year olds are capable of a completley mature, balanced, understanding and mutually happy relationship? Remind me what is the current divorce rate for couples marrrying in their 20's? somewhere above 50% I belive.


By the way, by my count it's only been 3 full QC days since "underpantsgate" so martin blowing up after (almost 2 months for us) is kind of understandable.

[edit] gramar/spelling [/edit]

[Wiregeek]

You know, that's an interesting point. Over the underwear incident Faye sided with Marten and called Dora out on her inappropriate behavior. But Faye was there, and she knew what happened. Here, we have Dora going off on an idea Faye had. Would Faye even take sides at all? Would she call Dora out on her inappropriate actions, as well as tell Marten he needs to be more aggressive whenever something matters to him?

I hadn't even thought of how this is going to effect Faye, that is a whole 'nother kettle of problem.

This is going to be an interesting week, no matter how you slice it.