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[Schnuh330]

The comments by Jeph after the Claire revelation, about QC being inclusive of all people, brought about this thought. "Does Jeph hate fat guys?" Thinking about the large cast, I couldn't think of any fat guys. Even the barfly redneck novelist was rather trim. Sure the strip has fuller figured curvy females, but all the guys are either starved skinny indie boys like Marten, or fit trim and athletic like Steve. Where are all the fat guys? Throughout history there is always a fat guy. Family guy has Peter Griffin, Seinfeld had George, Southpark has Eric Cartman, the 3 Stooges had Curly & Joe (the best ones anyway, it just wasn't the same with Schemp.) Given the state of health in America and the ever increasing girth of the nation it seems amiss that there is no fat guy in the cast. Is it just an oversight, an unitended slight? Am I forgetting someone? Is it deliberate? Does Jeph hate fat guys? Maybe he just can't draw them to a standard he feels comfortable enough to include them in the cast? What are your thoughts?

[akronnick]

Elliot.

[pwhodges]

Is it just an oversight, an unitended slight? Am I forgetting someone? Is it deliberate? Does Jeph hate fat guys?

None of those.  This comic already has an unusually large cast, but even so cannot include a representative of every type that you care to define.  When Jeph introduces a character with a particular feature, it is because he has some interest in that - and each feature that he has an interest in pushes another feature down the list.  Nothing sinister in that, but just chance.  Also, nothing that Jeph does is for the sake of what could be described as tokenism, so he wouldn't make a character fat just for the sake of having a fat character.  And if you're thinking specifically of a fat male, the fact that well under half the characters are male anyway reduces the chance that there might happen to be a fat one.

However, it might not be prudent to take up a crusade on behalf of a fat character in particular, since it was an email containing unfortunate remarks about Marigold not being represented as realistically fat that triggered Jeph's breakdown a month ago.  And anyway, Jeph very rarely takes ideas from his fans.

Elliot.

Elliot is big, but not all that fat, I suspect.

[de_la_Nae]

Depending on his mood and how ornery they're feeling I can't imagine he always feels very good about fa/tg/uys, though.

[Schnuh330]

Elliot is really tall but I wouldn't call him fat especially as he is shown here http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2021
He might have a bmi over 25 but I'd say not by much, and I see why you may suggest him from the way he is drawn in the strips immeditely after where it is a lower chest and up view of him and his arms look really big but not well defined, which may make you think he's fat, but clearly he's not.

I wasn't thinking of taking up an email campaign for a fat guy, just posing a question and looking for discussion. I'm glad Jeph doesn't take fan ideas, look at some webcomics that do, seriously they are terrible.  I don't seriously believe he hates fat guys, it's just a provocative title for a post and it made you read it. 

Maybe we're both wrong and Elliot really is meant to be fat but stylitically everyone in qc just looks skinny the same way all Peter Chung's (Aeon Flux, Phantom 2040, Reign) character designs come out.

[pwhodges]

Jeph has drawn some fatter one-off characters, with at least a substantial paunch - one of the buskers comes to mind, and the people that Tai and Dora met when they got lost.

[Y]

Not all shows have a fat male, sometimes they have a fat female in the main cast. Marigold is fat enough to be considered that role, seems that some people equal fat with morbidly obese.

[Is it cold in here?]

I seem to remember that the nudist Wil met on his vision quest had plenty of padding.

It was in reference to the ladies of the cast, but Jeph has said that he draws characters that he enjoys drawing.

This is actually one of the interesting differences between the QC world and ours. Playing the Take It Too Seriously game, someone suggested that sinister forces make fat people disappear, and that Faye's apartment was burned down to force her into a situation where a robot could keep her under surveillance in case she went beyond aerodynamically curvaceous.

What if there are fat-eating nanobots?

[Schnuh330]

Jeph has drawn some fatter one-off characters, with at least a substantial paunch - one of the buskers comes to mind, and the people that Tai and Dora met when they got lost.

I was referring more to regularly recurring characters. I'll give you the nudists but I have to say the drawings of the bucket busker were inconsistent. 1st panel he looks about the same as the other 2, 2nd panels kinda chunky in the middle, but 3rd and 4th panel look as though it could just be the bulky hoodie pouch making him look fatter than he is. Also not alot of chubby starving artist buskers out there. Perhaps he was meant to be fat, this would support my theory Jeph doesn't like drawing fat guys cause they are harder for him to get proprtioned consistently. As was also pointed out Jeph said he draws chars he likes to draw

 

Not all shows have a fat male, sometimes they have a fat female in the main cast. Marigold is fat enough to be considered that role, seems that some people equal fat with morbidly obese.

I exagerated a bit when I said there was "always a fat guy". I don't really believe Marigold, or Faye for that matter, are really fat (Marigold borrowed Faye's swimsuit so they are pretty close in size) Marigold seems to be more of an insecure introvert who has poor self image, she focuses on her flaws, and is socially awkward in groups. I found it odd that the female cast represented a pretty wide gamut of body types (tall, short, curvy, rail thin and various combinations and degrees of each) yet with the exception of Elliot and Clinton most of the recurring male cast are pretty close in height, and none look overweight. I didn't really expect to see any morbidly obese characters but maybe at least one guy who's husky or borderline fluffy, not a Daaaaammmmnnn, just barely fluffy.

[DrBear]

And don't forget Chunky Bro, Jeph's fave:

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1949

[pwhodges]

I have removed an attack on the OP and their (understandable) response.

We pride ourselves on maintaining a civil and welcoming tone in this forum, so please remember what is said in the rules about asking the moderators to deal with controversial matters rather than trying to do it yourself.

In view of this occurrence I have locked this topic.