Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[hughh]

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=500

I just re-read this, with the song, "Banshee Beat" by Animal Collective playing in the background. Safe to say, I wanted to cry. I feel for Faye, and I think that I absolutely love this webcomic.

[Carl-E]

Welcome to the fold. 

[hughh]

Actually, I've been apart of QC for quite some time now. n__n I just didn't know there was a forum for it.

[TheBiscuit]

Everything between 500 and 509 is excellent writing. The comic will probably never do anything better.

[hughh]

I think that and the part where Marten and Dora begin their relationship is also some of the best.

I found this comic a few years ago, like 2008, I think. For about a month, all I did was start from the beginning and read these in order. Not having to wait for Jeph. :3 Reading them like a book was very humorous but also kinda deep. I love everything about this comic. The one thing I think Jeph should have made longer was when Pintsize had a virus. That totally could have been strung out. It would have been seriously funny, I think.

[Hebes]

Or that Pintsize is the way he is because of a virus he's had since shortly after his purchase. They finally remove it and he turns out to be the nicest, least perverted AnthroPC in existence.

What a twist that would be!

[Carl-E]

That's just too easy an answer...


So, by the Occam's razor of comics, it can't  possibly be right! 

[hughh]

Haha.

Remember when Marten buys an iPod? Winslow should like, accidentally stumble upon it.

[Is it cold in here?]

"Mom?"

[Soulsynger]

"Son? You better pull out."
(Right, now this is getting silly! Stop that!)

As much as I liked the part where we finally learn whats Faye's deal after all, it always feels a bit forced when a character's relative does that to himself and no one knows any plausible reason why.
I mean, the pain and trauma of not knowing is by far the worst torture any human mind could endure (at least for me it has been on many encounters), but when I can't shake the feeling that even the author couldn't think of any reasons behind it I feel like being forced to accept things I've never witnessed. (kinda like in the Star Wars prequels)
I really hope we do find out someday... then, for me, this entire ordeal would finally become as substantial and real as it wants me to see it.

(Oh how dare I criticize Jeph's genius! ... yeah, thats just me)

[DSL]

Door's still open for Faye to find out why Dad killed himself.
 Speculation: Mom and/or sister Amanda know, or that tactless aunt, and the family has decided Faye's still too fragie to be told about it.
Other speculation: Faye's burying a memory. Was specuated in the wiki entry for her that she acts, at least early in the strip, like someone who survived a sexual assault (and she has that memory of her and dad sharing "their little secret" -- is adulterating an innocent milkshake with bourbon a ... Metaphor?)
Storytelling drama could lie in Faye finding this out/confronting this just as the relationship picture is brightening for her.
But that's the peril of attemptinga critical discussion of a work in progress. All we can do is hang on for the ride. Jeph's driving.

[Soulsynger]

Door's still open for Faye to find out why Dad killed himself.
 Speculation: Mom and/or sister Amanda know, or that tactless aunt, and the family has decided Faye's still too fragie to be told about it.
Other speculation: Faye's burying a memory. Was specuated in the wiki entry for her that she acts, at least early in the strip, like someone who survived a sexual assault (and she has that memory of her and dad sharing "their little secret" -- is adulterating an innocent milkshake with bourbon a ... Metaphor?)
Storytelling drama could lie in Faye finding this out/confronting this just as the relationship picture is brightening for her.
But that's the peril of attemptinga critical discussion of a work in progress. All we can do is hang on for the ride. Jeph's driving.

You just wrinkled my brain. Gotta go study psychology when I'm done with engineering draftsman after all... oO
(I never quite expect a webcomic to be that deeply thought out...)

[jwhouk]

...

If Faye's got the post-sexual-assault thing going for her, she's not showing it.

Her statements and actions (with the possible exception of the "Space Owls" incident) would indicate that it's not the actual sex that she has issues with - it's the relationship itself.

I can only guess, but I'd wager she's having the "oh$#!+ I'm getting WAY too close to this boy need bourbon ARGFLARGABL" reaction after using the "L" word with Angus.

[snubnose]

Haha, sorry.

But the best comic of QC, ever, so far, is #79:

Marten: Congratulations, that is the single most frustratingly open-to-interpretation statement I have ever heard someone utter.
Faye: I have attained girlvana !

[Skewbrow]

Door's still open for Faye to find out why Dad killed himself.
 Speculation: Mom and/or sister Amanda know, or that tactless aunt, and the family has decided Faye's still too fragie to be told about it.
Other speculation: Faye's burying a memory. Was specuated in the wiki entry for her that she acts, at least early in the strip, like someone who survived a sexual assault (and she has that memory of her and dad sharing "their little secret" -- is adulterating an innocent milkshake with bourbon a ... Metaphor?)
Storytelling drama could lie in Faye finding this out/confronting this just as the relationship picture is brightening for her.
But that's the peril of attemptinga critical discussion of a work in progress. All we can do is hang on for the ride. Jeph's driving.

Undoubtedly many (if not all) forumites have pondered that question - and arrived at the same explanation as a possibility. But there may have been other dirty secrets about him about to surface, and he ended it the way he thought would hurt the family (or himself) the least. It may be best that this particular mystery remains unsolved.

My favorite strip (one of them) from that time may also be on hughh's list judging from his comments. If I just say: "BAM, BAM, BAM,..." hopefully many of you remember it without looking it up. The look on Dora's face while Faye is banging her door is just priceless. Also the resolution of the issue at hand, with Faye accepting that Dora and Marten will be dating, was such a ... relief.

[jwhouk]

Took me a while to figure out which strip you were referring to, then suddenly the words, "TWO DAYS? TWO FRIGGIN' DAYS???" came to mind.

[Is it cold in here?]

The absence of explanation is true to life and good art.

[Carl-E]

I only know of a few suicides IRL, and most of them had obvious reasons (money, health, love).  But there wa one where no one knew why. 

It is very  disturbing. 

I had the impression a while back (on my first re-read) that, as a baptist sneaking bourbon with his daughter, there were probably other times he snuck it as well, and that he was a closet alcoholic.  He made a (probably drunken) decision to save his family from himself.  That was just my take, based on what little info there was. 

But it also may explain Faye's attraction to liquor as well, since alcoholism, whether genetically transmitted or not, can easily be passed on to the next generation...

[Soulsynger]

The absence of explanation is true to life and good art.

No one was questioning that.

@Carl-E:
Hm... if he was a closet alcoholic and made the decision to shoot himself (btw. I was trying to avoid spoilers before, but y'all ruined it ) while drunk I think the autopsy guys would have easily found a lot of alcohol in his system. (alcoholics need a much higher dosage to actually be drunk enough to make "drunken decisions" than normal people might, so it would have been easily simply smelled on him).
And if the autopsy revealed him to be a closet alcoholic, I think one way or another Faye would have come to know about the results.
(Damn, English subjunctive is hard.)

[pwhodges]

(Damn, English subjunctive is hard.)

So you were going for:

Hm... if he were a closet alcoholic [...]

were you?

[Paranoid]

And if the autopsy revealed him to be a closet alcoholic, I think one way or another Faye would have come to know about the results.

Not necessarily.  I think we're making a mistake in assuming Faye actually wants to know why her dad killed himself.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure her conscious mind is desperate for some resolution, but I think in the back of her mind Faye knows full well why her dad did what he did, and refuses to let her find out.  That could also put her car accident into new light.  Now, what that exact reason was remains to be seen, and while the theories presented here are all perfectly reasonable I'm not holding my breath on Jeph ever addressing it.  Sometimes too much detail can spoil an otherwise perfect story, and I expect this could be one such example.

[NotAwesomeAnymore]

That could also put her car accident into new light.

Explain?

Also, are some people here suggesting that her father molested her? Haha I'm seriously not following all these nuances.

[Carl-E]

...and while the theories presented here are all perfectly reasonable I'm not holding my breath on Jeph ever addressing it.  Sometimes too much detail can spoil an otherwise perfect story, and I expect this could be one such example.

Here, here.  Or is it "Hear, hear"?

Where, where? 


There, there! 

[pwhodges]

It's "hear, hear", short for "hear him!, hear him!" - first recorded in that form in the British Parliament I believe.

[Paranoid]

That could also put her car accident into new light.

Explain?

I was just pondering the idea that her car accident could have been triggered by her conscious mind briefly remembering something that explained her dad's suicide, and she couldn't cope with it.  Of course now I look back at when she told Marten about the accident and how she suddenly remembered how her dad taught her to drive, so I'm no longer as supportive of that theory as I initially was.  It's still plausible, but somehow I doubt that her dad killed himself because he taught her the "10 and 2" rule.

[jwhouk]

No, but it was a strong reminder of her father's love for her.

Boy, Freud would have a field day with all of this...

[Soulsynger]

Boy, Freud would have a field day with all of this...

Now that I read it its like I've been waiting for someone to say it all my life. Beautiful. Amen.
Someone call Jung, I want him in on this extravaganza of human trainwrecks. =)

[Wagimawr]

It's "hear, hear", short for "hear him!, hear him!" - first recorded in that form in the British Parliament I believe.

Knew the expression, did not know the history. Thank you for that.

[themacnut]

The thing about knowing the why behind a suicide is...it doesn't really change anything. The suicide victim is still dead, and most reasons given are usually considered unacceptable by grieving loved ones. "Why didn't he/she talk to someone? It wasn't that bad!!" And maybe the reason makes the loved ones feel worse, like maybe if they'd been more attentive, more loving, more insistent about the person talking to them, that person might not have...or some dark dirty secret comes out that puts the victim in a darker, uglier light and everyone else wishes they'd never known, wishes that secret had went in the grave with the suicide.

Oftentimes knowing the reason behind a suicide is no comfort. Sometimes it can make things worse.

[jwhouk]

In other words, suicide isn't the answer - it just leaves too many questions.

[Carl-E]

@Carl-E:
Hm... if he was a closet alcoholic and made the decision to shoot himself (btw. I was trying to avoid spoilers before, but y'all ruined it ) while drunk I think the autopsy guys would have easily found a lot of alcohol in his system. (alcoholics need a much higher dosage to actually be drunk enough to make "drunken decisions" than normal people might, so it would have been easily simply smelled on him).
And if the autopsy revealed him to be a closet alcoholic, I think one way or another Faye would have come to know about the results.
(Damn, English subjunctive is hard.)

I'm sure you're right.  I'm also sure that Faye told the autopsy report since she was really not dealing with it well at all.  they may  have told her mother, and her mother may have already known - hard to keep something like that from your spouse. 

And as others have said, telling Faye that her dad was an alcoholic may not have helped, and may even have hindered her "recovery".  Without the safe (and quiet) zone Marten gave her, she may not have made it as far as she did - and all of Sven's body would still have not been found...

[Is it cold in here?]

In 591 Fayemom told her flat out that the coroner found nothing unusual in his system, so if there was, she's not just burying the truth but outright lying.

[Carl-E]

Mayhaps alcohol wasn't unususal...? 

OK, my theory's been disproven. 

[jwhouk]

The 505 Newspost:

I don't often use this space to discuss the comic. I prefer to let each strip speak for itself. In the case of Faye's past, though, I am really hoping that each and every one of you will stop and think about all the ramifications of her father's suicide. So here goes. Read the comic before you read this newspost. It'll make more sense that way.

Statistically speaking, most suicidal people do present signs of a depressed state of mind before killing themselves (and a significant number of suicides do not leave a note of any sort). However, everyone is different, and Faye's father (assuming her memory is infallible, which it isn't) was evidently either not manifesting "symptoms" or was extremely good at hiding them, for reasons that presumably went into the grave with him.

Imagine for a moment that the one person in your life you trust utterly and love unconditionally suddenly decides they no longer want to be alive, and follow through on that desire. What would such an awful event do to your psyche? How would it affect your interaction with other people? What if, because that person didn't leave a note explaining WHY they chose to end their life, you will never be able to definitively say that it wasn't your fault somehow? How would you get closure? How would you heal? Would you be ABLE to heal?

This is what has happened to Faye, ladies and gentlemen. As she says in panel three, it ruined her life, and the lives of her immediate family in turn. How do you pick up the pieces?

I'm not sure if I'd be able to. We'll just have to hope Faye can do it.

Suicide does more than end one life. It irrevocably changes (and often ruins) the lives of everyone connected to the person committing the act. So please, if you're feeling suicidal yourself or suspect a friend or loved one is, get help. Suicidology.org is a great resource for learning about the different warning signs of depression and other mental problems and has lots of information and contact numbers where people in crisis can find someone capable to talk to.

My heart goes out to each and every one of you readers who emailed me with stories about friends or loved ones you've lost to suicide.

I know the comic's been pretty dark these past few strips, but I promise that there is light (and humor!) at the end of the tunnel. Some things are obviously going to be different in QC from now on, but that doesn't mean an end to the (hopefully entertaining) jokes and silliness and banter. The vast, vast majority of you all who seem to be enjoying the comic are a tremendous source of happiness for me.

[Akima]

(Damn, English subjunctive is hard.)

It is, isn't it? It still trips me up, and I've been working on my English for a long time, in an English-speaking country.

My cultural and religious background is less hostile to suicide than is typical in Australia, or I think in Western countries generally, but it remains a very hard issue. I am doubtful that it is possible to "get help" for all the problems from which suicide might seem an escape. The pain, squalor, and indignity of terminal disease for example, are a great deal to ask people to endure, especially where palliative care is restricted for political reasons.

[Tova]

You just linked to an article that states that "English has no conditional mood ..."

Anyway, I personally would have written the sentence thusly*:

"If he'd been a closet alcoholic and had made the decision to shoot himself while drunk, I think the autopsy guys would have easily found a lot of alcohol in his system."

But don't ask me to justify it. 

* I chose this word because it is a bit silly.

[GeoCorn]

Even on these forums I can't escape English classes! Lol

[jwhouk]

The more likely outcome would have been the rapid deterioration of his liver.

[Carl-E]

The more likely outcome would have been the rapid long-term deterioration of his liver.

The liver is amazingly resilient.  It takes years  of abuse to make it look like a sponge.  There are some viral diseases that can do it quicker, but not alcohol. 

While almost everyone who drinks excessive amounts of alcohol sustains some liver damage, it does not necessarily develop into cirrhosis. In those individuals who drink one-half to one pint (8 to 16 ounces) of hard liquor per day (or the equivalent in other alcoholic drinks), for 15 years or more, about one-third develop cirrhosis. Another third develop fatty livers, while the remainder have only minor liver problems. In general, the more you drink, the greater the frequency and regularity of excessive intake, the more likely that cirrhosis will result. A poor diet, long considered to be the main factor in the development of cirrhosis in the alcoholic, is probably only a contributing factor. Alcohol by itself, in large amounts, is a poison which can cause cirrhosis.