Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

Couldn't this comic stop?

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Stantonhello:
Let me say first that I want to be very polite in the asking of this question- I apologize if it comes off antagonistic to you, when really it is really the comic that is the issue at hand.

I have not been reading the comic for eight years but I have been reading it for six years, which I hope you will grant me is a long time, a not insignificant daily commitment to something. Have I become a more irritable person in those six years? I don't know. But if I have one valid remark about this comic to make it is You Are Too Kind and You Could Stop This Comic If You Wanted to.

By no means is eight years an uncommon length for a successful webcomic and in other circumstances I would encourage you with full confidence but as it happens I'm not so confident here.

Bear in mind that I read your comic every weekday and often check the comic on Saturdays and Sundays forgetting that you are not so kind as to post every day. Why do I do this and complain? Because the comic is not telling a story and has not been telling a story for some time. Me and others only return to the comic every day out of a sense of loneliness and habituation. But I don't know that there is anything I'm waiting for.

Believe you me, I know that this is long-form narrative territory we are talking about. Potentially the longest form of narrative which I grant you requires a certain kind of pacing. But this webcomic builds towards nothing. It months if not years between dramatic scenarios of interest. The rest of the time is quite noticeably dead and quite regularly unfunny, and tells us nothing about them. It is a series of repetitive moments, with the characters making identical faux-pas and congratulating themselves on being themselves. I'm 22, and perhaps I'm exiting the demographic range, but should that really be the case?

The through-narrative need not exist, I'm not old-fashioned, but something more is necessary, and the comic crawls, as close to in real-time as is really narratively possible.

This is not to say that the comic is totally without merits or is always unfunny or is not in some way charming, because it is and has been. But the instinct to follow it has, for at least several years, been automated and pretty much without reward.

Your artwork is good and what music writing I've seen of yours is quite admirable. I think you are capable artistically of more than this. Will this project really be worth 15 years  given all that will come to be? If one really paces the thing out it could be even longer before these characters encounter serious change. Even though the strip is a comedy, do you not have the artistic responsibility to engage a narrative, especially being someone with the fanbase, resources, and talent to really make our time worthwhile?

Webcomic criticism is almost universally torn down on places like this so I don't expect much discussion to result. I just wanted to give you my opinion, and hope I did so respectfully, even if it is directed to something close to you.

I will see you tomorrow.

Is it cold in here?:
Jeph doesn't check in here regularly so if you're trying to reach him this may not be the way to do it.

dr. nervioso:
Well I'll be the first to say that jeph's writing has infuriated e from time to time. But I have forgiven, knowing the nature of the genre JJ writes in.

A comedic drama is a difficult genre to write well in. It's not just a soap opera with jokes thrown in, every personality of each character has t be made to be availible for punchlines. Look at Dora: A slightly sex-craved evil bosslord. Raven: a cute, bosomed science/emo lady who knows her way around a space time continuum. See, in the first 300 strips everything was set up like (to be completely honest) a slightly above average comedic drama. Steve, Marten, Faye, are all characters meant exclusively to further plot for the most part. Their only comedic worth was the interaction with Pintsize. When Dora became fully enveloped into the main cast, the true colors of QC started to shine. But, there were things with Faye already set up that jeph had to wrap up. The talk was both the most sap-opera esque arc and the last true sap opera arc.  It also carved Faye's role as the plot catalyst, ne who instigates plot sequences. Look at Sven. As for Marty, he kinda broke from his role as a plot catalyst into a a sort f mixture of both, essentially the same as dora, role-wise.

From their the cast exploded with these new breed of characters, hanners, mar-bear, Angus(Though I still group him in as a plot catalyst), cosette, penelope. These characters added a much needed texture to the comic which made the comic so great.

But why?

Because the comic wouldn't last with the original plan. It was t simple and would have lost its appeal. Jeph lacks the writing expertise to do a limited comic with in depth characters and relationships. This would require getting multiple layers to one character to get the same amount of depth as now. Adding more interesting characters gives an easier way to give depth t the universe and keep things fresh by adding classic drama events (ie Breakup) and recording the reactions.

The cost of this is an altogether slower comic, which can bore those more interested and who read for the drama. The comic isn't stagnant, rather,  instead f rapids, it's numerous streams intersecting and heading in the same direction.

DSL:
Good Lord, is this supposed to be an ironic thread or something? Two long, rambling, posts complaining the comic is long and rambling. The gun held to your head compelling you to read the comic... Isn't real.

Kugai:
QC is eternal

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