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Marigold's OOPS!

0 (0%)

The entire internet is mad at me!

1 (2.2%)

Only one thing to do: Cat GIFs? LOTS of Cat GIFs.

2 (4.4%)

Here, Marten! Open it and see! Tee hee!

1 (2.2%)

Oh, hey, Emily invited you too!

0 (0%)

Yeah, what'd you think it was, a love letter?

0 (0%)

OH MY GOD YOU ARE PRECIOUS (Sh-shut up! Shut it all the way up!)

10 (22.2%)

Party at Emily Azuma's parent's lake house! (And Cristi's handwriting!)

2 (4.4%)

You should invite all your friends, too! There's plenty of room!

0 (0%)

A thousand people would probably be too many. (How big is your parents' lake house?)

0 (0%)

Faye with the watiress outfit - "Hey, Buttass, what's up?"

2 (4.4%)

Emily the intern is throwing a party, wanna come?

0 (0%)

Dora: Am I invited? Marten: Oh yeah, def- (Tai: AAH! AAAAH!)

1 (2.2%)

Tai: One of my interns is throwing a party. Wanna come?

1 (2.2%)

Marigold walks by. (DAT A$$)

15 (33.3%)

Angus gets caught "peeking"

3 (6.7%)

GIBBS-SMACK!

5 (11.1%)

What was that? NOTHING!

2 (4.4%)

Total Members Voted: 43

[Skaltura]

Danger, Butts disease is flaring up again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4VySkRVYhI

[pwhodges]

(Blocked in the UK)

[eschatonic]

Normalising domestic violence, yay.

[Method of Madness]

boob-tube

That's an article of clothing? I thought "boob-tube" meant television.

No, she reads Gossip Mag, an ironic post-structural review of other gossipy organs. Its meta gossip.

It's actually Gossip Rag.

Also, Eschatonic, come on.  No need to go there.

[eschatonic]

Also, Eschatonic, come on.  No need to go there.

Not sure what you mean by this. Does pointing it out make you uncomfortable?

Let's imagine for a second that Steve had walked past, Faye had looked, and Angus had hit her in response. That cool with you?

[jwhouk]

IT'S A COMIC STRIP.

[jwhouk]

Now, onto more interesting things:

Emily's Hosting a Par-tay! And your expectations?

Absolutely none. This is going to be epic, regardless.    17 (29.3%)
We find out Emily's secret origin!    2 (3.4%)
Claire and Clinton argue through the whole thing. Major bummer.    0 (0%)
Gabrielle invites her brother, Dale, to the party (after prying him away from WoW).    8 (13.8%)
Dora, Tai, Faye, Angus, a bottle of whiskey - and the wrong people end up in the wrong bed!    0 (0%)
Dora, Tai, Faye, Angus, Marigold, Hannelore, Marten, Sven... yeah, you get the idea.    6 (10.3%)
Cast reunion time! Except we find out what REALLY happened to Ellen and Sara.    9 (15.5%)
Steve brings Cosette, who promptly BURNS THE PLACE DOWN.    10 (17.2%)
Emily's parents are the software writers for AnthroPC's - and Hanner's dad's #1 competition!    1 (1.7%)
The lake house is actually Rhode Island.    3 (5.2%)
Spathe Ham and Waffles!    0 (0%)
I ain't leavin' 'til they throw me out!    2 (3.4%)

Total Members Voted: 58

[Madmartigan]

Also, Eschatonic, come on.  No need to go there.

Not sure what you mean by this. Does pointing it out make you uncomfortable?

Let's imagine for a second that Steve had walked past, Faye had looked, and Angus had hit her in response. That cool with you?

Clearly, you need to be reading more conservative and thusly, boring comics if this hurts your sensibilities.

[Akima]

(Blocked in the UK)

In Australia too.

[eschatonic]

Clearly, you need to be reading more conservative and thusly, boring comics if this hurts your sensibilities.

Actually, I'd rather read QC thanks. It's a good comic.

Honestly though I'd prefer it if we could have a mature discussion about why Faye thinks it's okay to hit Angus (or, more interestingly, why no-one appears to think that this is noteworthy behaviour). I mean seriously, try my thought experiment and tell me that wouldn't make you uncomfortable to see in the comic.

[idontunderstand]

I Believe We've Had That Discussion Already

[TheEvilDog]

I'm calling it now. Shenanigans will happen at the party! Awkwardness and recriminations aplenty! And someone will be upset!

[Barmymoo]

Are you sure that "anal-retentive" has a hyphen?

It does when it's acting as an adjective for "day". At least, that's what I always believed and teach - when a compound noun made up of an adjective and a noun becomes itself an adjective, you hyphenate. That way you avoid the fine tooth-comb issue.

[Vurogj]

So is it just the art, or does Marbear's stance change significantly as she walks past the pair? She's kinda slouched in the first panel, but suddenly her spine appears concave in #2. Or am I falling into overanalysis mode?

Warning - while you were typing a new reply about hyphens has been posted. You may wish to add a hyphen of your own to be topical.

*sigh* Fine, over-analysis.

[Schmorgluck]

She already stated that she hates the idea because of her despising the Beautiful All Along trope (the TVTrope page conveniently provides the link to the aforelinked comic), but seriously, Marigold could use some kind of makeover. If it's not aimed at mainstream "beauty", and involves clothes she'd actually enjoy wearing (which goes a long way for self-confidence – and I'd suggest it keeps some nerdy accessory or t-shirt, because it's part of her core personality), she's got the potential to be her own kind of cute.

[idontunderstand]

I wonder if Marigold still talks to that dude she almost nailed in space!

[Toe]

seriously, Marigold could use some kind of makeover. If it's not aimed at mainstream "beauty", and involves clothes she'd actually enjoy wearing

Bustin' out a corset more often would be a good start...

[Hybredmoon]

Marigold fanservice. God does answer prayers.

[Is it cold in here?]

Clearly, you need to be reading more conservative and thusly, boring comics if this hurts your sensibilities.

Actually, I'd rather read QC thanks. It's a good comic.

Honestly though I'd prefer it if we could have a mature discussion about why Faye thinks it's okay to hit Angus (or, more interestingly, why no-one appears to think that this is noteworthy behaviour). I mean seriously, try my thought experiment and tell me that wouldn't make you uncomfortable to see in the comic.

Welcome, new person!

You had no way of knowing this, and it's not a rules thing, but that issue has become an Oh No Not That Again discussion. The points that come up every time, in case you were wondering, are It's Just A Cartoon, It's Just A Smack, But She Left A Bruise On Marten, But He Never Asked Her To Stop, But He Shouldn't Have To, I Smack My Friends And Vice Versa, and several others I don't have the energy to recall.

Perspective: Faye is not a normative character and Jeph has said he would not like her in real life.

[DNR]

Also, Eschatonic, come on.  No need to go there.

Not sure what you mean by this. Does pointing it out make you uncomfortable?

Let's imagine for a second that Steve had walked past, Faye had looked, and Angus had hit her in response. That cool with you?

Clearly, you need to be reading more conservative and thusly, boring comics if this hurts your sensibilities.

That's not really addressing their question, though, is it? They, essentially, asked: would you be fine--enjoying a mostly light-hearted and humour-based comic where-in a male character back-handed his girlfriend seemingly for the sake of comedy? Well socially-ingrained gender double-standards don't make things interesting or controversial, they make things lame and cliche. An edgy, non-conservative, comic, would be one in which this event happens--and then depicts how accept this social norm is real, painful, and unfair--(I appreciate, we don't know how this event will be dealt with). As it stands, the presence of female-on-male violence is pretty socially and artistically conservative--though, I understand you may be using the word 'conservative' as to mean: a conservative comic wouldn't have any violence.

I also appreciate that some comedy is based on looking at the dark underbelly of existence: the Bill Hicks, Frankie Boyles, etc -- their humour is based on announcing twisted things, seeming twisted themselves, and allowing audiences to vicariously be entertained by the bleaker shades of life. To an extent, such comedians even allow us address such dark topics--as, without them first being joked about, they'd be left as 'unmentionable'. Yet, I don't think you could argue that this comic represents that--I don't think anyone's going to think: 'Huh, yea, it's kinda weird that we consider female-on-male violence more-so acceptable'. At risk of being unfair to QC's audience, I think most will think: 'Haha! He got smacked!'. Therewith, this comic isn't pushing any button, it's not highlighting a weird facet of real-life, isn't not being darkly comic, it's just playing a social cliche for laughs---and I find that unfair, uncomfortable, and sad.

IT'S A COMIC STRIP.

And? You'll need to expand your argument, really. Any form of art: comics, webcomics, music videos, films, prose, youtube vlogs, are encoded with ideologies. Similarly, as they are consumed by audiences, they interact with hegemony. In other words, comics are both created with embedded view-points, standards, etc--and these view-points are present to audiences; whom decide if they are right, wrong, happy, sad, funny, dark, hopeful, despondent, etc--via emotional and thoughtful reaction. Therewith, it's really not enough to say: 'it's not real,; therefore, don't complain'. Consider why you find what's contained in the comic entertaining. I have considered why I find it uncomfortable--and my thoughts regarding this are in my above post.

(English isn't my primary language. Apologies for typos).

[Madmartigan]

All I can say then, is that you don't enjoy fiction then, slapstick humor, sitcoms, fiction in general, humor...

I could go on and get really into it, but I'm afraid I'd end up being a condescending asshole in the process.

You're making much-ado about nothing and it is an incredible wasteful line of questioning that adds nothing to the discussion of the comic as a whole, particularly this strip at large.

There is nothing unfair, sad, or uncomfortable unless you're one of those that is offended by everything no matter the context or purpose.  Geez. 

This is why I left it as I did.  I didn't wanna waste the time answering a tired, drawn out, overly worn and tired out psychoanalytical social argument about a comic's use of a little smack to Angus' drawn out stare of Marigold's ass.

[Overkillengine]

Is it dead horse time again?

[Mad Cat]

Dayum! Mar-Bear's got some junk in the trunk.

[Carl-E]

It's not just  comic strip, it's a slice-of-life comic strip.  You can't say that this doesn't happen in real life. 

And I'd like to point out that it's just basic communication.  Faye let Angus know, directly, that she knows exactly what he was doing and thinking, and that she's not cool with it.  And this was done without a screaming match / argument that would have seriously embarrassed Mar-bear. 

And if you don't think this will be discussed (at length) by the two of them later, then you haven't been involved in a serious relationship! 

Besides, Faye's had experience with shorts like these before...

[muffin_of_chaos]

If you want to defuse the potential argument, why not just agree eschatonic has a fairly sound point that could be debated but that you don't want to because it's been done before?
Why the rudeness?

Just curious.

[Carl-E]

Sorry, but aside from jwhouk yelling "It's just a comic!", where's the rudeness?  IsItColdInHere was quite polite and explanatory.  I hope I wasn't rude! 

A few others may have been a bit short, but the point's been made; this is a work of fiction, with less-than-perfect characters, and they're going to do things we don't agree with.  You can complain about it, but really, what's the point?  Faye's backhanding Angus isn't going to lead to any battered spouses, it's just something that we can all identify with.  Condone it?  Well, probably not.  Deal with it?  Sure. 

Deserve it? 

Probably.  At least, the guys among us do. 


Probably a few of the women, as well...

[Interlude]

Hmmm. Maybe Faye will decide it's about time for them to move in together......   

I never have any idea how much time has passed in QC world. How long have Faye and Angus been dating? Obviously, they wouldn't make any life-altering changes over a quick booty check, but I do think they are the most concrete couple in the comic. Whether or not Faye is up for it at the moment, I have been wondering if any discussion of the idea would come up in the near future.

Also, against my better judgment, I will add that I disagree with Faye's use of "violence," even in the realm of slapstick humor. However, I don't think her behavior is necessarily condoned in the wider view of the comic. A light, playful smack is fine, in my opinion, coming from either partner. Anything that is more than that should not be accepted, but considering Faye is the only one who really crosses that line, I don't think Jeph is trying to show it as "normal" or acceptable behavior. In fact, I think showing Faye as a deeply scarred individual, going to therapy, etc. shows that some of her behaviors are NOT okay, and she herself knows she needs to work on certain things. That's the key point-- she knows that she needs to make changes in her life, and she has actually toned down significantly.

[Mothykins]

On DAT ASS: Marigold is kind of hot, in a strange way. Really, if she washed her face more and maybe brushed her hair out with some conditioner, she'd easily be the hottest character in QC. IMHO.

On backhanding: Domestic violence is only considered a male-over-female concept because we rarely see it portrayed seriously in the reverse. It's usually either playful on the woman's part or deserved on the man's. When it's guy-over-girl, it's almost always portrayed seriously. And that's what it really boils down to.

Go read the comic, "Digger." It has a case of girl-over-guy domestic violence that'll absolutely break your heart. It also shows that perception is in portrayal. Nobody's okay with the woman in that comic hurting the man, because it's portrayed seriously.

I'll admit that guy-over-girl smacking/hitting/flicking, even when portrayed in a non-serious way, would be severely frowned upon. The only exception I can think of is if the guy in question was particularly weak, childish, or effeminate. Double standards. As long as they don't leech into real life, they're not much more than an annoyance.

[Method of Madness]

IT'S A COMIC STRIP.

Honestly? This is just as bad, as it's basically an insult to the medium.  Just because we don't need to overanalyze that particular thing doesn't mean you should result to this.

Also, I'm pretty sure she wasn't so much upset that he was looking but more that he was way too obvious about it.

[pwhodges]

"Oh dear, a man looking with interest at a woman's backside was depicted - this is clearly sexist and shouldn't have happened."

But then, you see, any worthwhile story depicts things that are unfortunate as well as those which are ideal (perhaps).  It's the nature of storytelling that is not trivial.  Would you want to forbid the writing of murder stories because murder is bad?  What about all those women being jilted in romantic novels?  On this occasion Angus got his comeuppance - but if we are seriously going to debate Faye's action, we should give equal time to Angus's, and look at them both in the context of the whole comic, not just the one strip.

[Blackjoker]

I feel a bit guilty, my thought process of the comic was as follows 'Bad Angus, Bad Angus...Good ass Good ass'

[Redball]

An archive binge might provide context for Faye's whack.

[Method of Madness]

If my girlfriend caught me doing that and responded as such, I'd probably just pretend to be shocked, and then say "worth it".

I'm not saying this would be a wise thing to do (or for that matter, that she'd respond as such).

[themacnut]

Angus deserved that smack. DESERVED it I say; a Real Man (TM) only has eyes for his woman! Other women simply CEASE TO EXIST for the man truly in love.

On the other hand, I'd risk a smack for a good long look at Dat Ass too.  In fact, I'd probably end up getting smacked twice. 

[iduguphergrave]

On DAT ASS: Marigold is kind of hot, in a strange way. Really, if she washed her face more and maybe brushed her hair out with some conditioner, she'd easily be the hottest character in QC. IMHO.

I think her hair looks pretty hot right here. I've always liked the bedhead look. Really, everything about the back of her body in panel two is great :3

[Is it cold in here?]

(Thoughtful comments about social standards and how fiction both reflects and shapes them)

Welcome, new person!

If we're going to get into the semiotics of QC, let's remember what the author said:

For future reference, if you're trying to divine some overarching moral standpoint from my comic: the moral of my comic is that people should try to be nice to each other.

[Method of Madness]

I think Faye does try, even if she doesn't always succeed.

[jwhouk]

And the guy who usually does the WCDT's gets a bit touchy at times.

Especially when he's getting older by the hour.

[St.Clair]

Angus deserved that smack. DESERVED it I say; a Real Man (TM) only has eyes for his woman! Other women simply CEASE TO EXIST for the man truly in love.

Sorry, I call bullshit.  Does not actually work that way.

(And before anyone asks - applies, IMO, equally to any and all genders, not just straight cis males looking at straight cis females.)

[Mothykins]

It was tough to choose between Marigold's ass and Marten's "S-shut up! Shut all the way up!" You've gotta admit, Marten was pretty adorable in that panel.

I eventually went for the latter, anyway. Dat ass pretty much speaks for itself ;3

[Kugai]

*Doffs Bowler hat*

Can we borrow it? - a colleague became a British citizen yesterday, and overnight his desk has been tastefully decorated with all the red, white and blue paraphernalia left over from our summer jubilee celebrations; and an England rugby shirt to replace his NZ one.  But we're missing a bowler.

BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!


Angus

[Method of Madness]

Angus deserved that smack. DESERVED it I say; a Real Man (TM) only has eyes for his woman! Other women simply CEASE TO EXIST for the man truly in love.

Sorry, I call bullshit.  Does not actually work that way.

I think he knows that. I'm honestly not quite sure how you missed the sarcasm there.

[mustang6172]

Damn, Jeph draws one fine ass!  Is that a weird thing to compliment a guy on?

[Method of Madness]

I can't see why it would be.  I wonder if this'll be a thing on Monday.

[themacnut]

Angus deserved that smack. DESERVED it I say; a Real Man (TM) only has eyes for his woman! Other women simply CEASE TO EXIST for the man truly in love.

Sorry, I call bullshit.  Does not actually work that way.

I think he knows that. I'm honestly not quite sure how you missed the sarcasm there.

It was indeed sarcasm. That's why I mentioned the part about happily risking getting smacked twice for looking as Marigold went to the kitchen then back to her bedroom. Faye would be FURIOUS at me  

[Omega Entity]

boob-tube

That's an article of clothing? I thought "boob-tube" meant television.

Probably an alternate to 'tube top', which is, quite literally, a boob tube 

On today's comic - I predict this could be the start of the first major argument Faye and Angus have. Maybe. Possibly. Or I could be wrong.

[Method of Madness]

I doubt it, Faye always forgives Angus's shenanigoats.  Although she does seem surprised by this.  Maybe she's worried because of her experience with Sven.

[Omega Entity]

Indeed, I can see this instance playing on her insecurities. She's well and over Sven, obviously, but considering how his cheating really hurt her, I can see this as hitting on a vulnerable place.

[Method of Madness]

Exactly.  Also...what if Angus is still sitting for the exam?  It might seem excessive at this point, but it's not unthinkable.

[jwhouk]

She also may remember his comment after his "rejection" of Marigold: "Whoa, boobs."