Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT: 2831-2835 (10 - 14 November 2014) Weekly Comic Discussion Thread

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AprilArcus:
The "textured hair phase" lasted a thousand (1659-2659) strips, so we may have to hang on for some time.

I generally prefer the minimalist dialogue, and find that the wordiness of the back half the archives makes reading through them a bit of a slog. 2829 is totally getting its job done just as well as 2260, and better than 1732/1733. "The Kiss" and "Fangpocalypse" arcs worked all the better for being really verbally spartan.

kryptoknight:
I agree that I believe the pace has suffered lately.  I think it's only partially due to the lower word count though.  I've also noticed a disappointing number of comics with a standard 4 square panel layout.  This layout is much less visually interesting than other layouts that have been used in the past and it leaves less room for things to happen.

FunkyTuba:

--- Quote from: ReindeerFlotilla on 13 Nov 2014, 08:04 ---By lowering the word count, Jeph's lowered the information content of each strip.

--- End quote ---

I disagree... he's relying on his art more to tell the story without words. I think the average information content per strip stays about the same... strips with 4-panel layouts seem to have more words than more novel ones... when there's no words in a given panel it's because he has set up a beat panel or is conveying something in the art.

As far as pacing goes, he's microscoping the first part of Claire/Marten for some reason. I'm not put off by it because I'm pretty sure it'll pay off in the end.

Thrillho:
Jeph's work is clearly in a transitional phase. We've had his A Hard Day's Night. This is his Beatles For Sale. Let's not push him down the stairs for playing with the format a little.

Aziraphale:

--- Quote from: AprilArcus on 13 Nov 2014, 01:30 ---
--- Quote from: Blackbird on 12 Nov 2014, 23:37 ---I know Claire is the favourite character of many of the forumites, so I'm trying to tread lightly, but anyone else already bored with this "OMG relationship" gag?
--- End quote ---

Claire is my favorite, and yeah, I'm pretty bored. Jeph is clearly struggling with how and how much to talk about the elephant in the room, and falling back on other characters reacting to mark time while he spins his wheels — but he's out of time, and it's starting to feel really awkward.
(snip)

But of course, they can't just fall into bed Dale/Marigold style without talking about the stuff that Jeph doesn't want them to be talking about! This is why some of us were saying 2830 would be a great moment to time-skip ahead from, picking back up with a Claire and Marten who are fully in the swing of physical and emotional intimacy, and sparing Jeph the difficulty writing himself through a story he's half-way told already, and half-way reluctant to tell.

--- End quote ---

The pacing has slowed to glacial lately, but I'll note two things: first, we still haven't gotten Clinton's reaction. I think that's one of the reasons that we've seen this set up the way it's been. There'll be sufficient squee to let Claire know that she's on solid ground both with Marten and with his circle of friends, but at some point, the other shoe is likely to drop with someone whose reaction isn't so squee-tastic. Of course, there could be a further twist, if the less-than-cool party ends up being, say, Emily, and Clinton actually shows some decency and genuine support (rather than overbearing protectiveness) toward his sister.

Second, I think there are a few too many loose ends for a time jump right now. Faye/Angus and Dora/Sven especially; he could probably do Faye's side of the story with a few well-chosen lines, but to explain away the Dora/Sven situation with a wave of the hand would stretch credulity (IMHO). I do think that there's a degree to which Jeph may have painted himself into a corner with the number of narrative arcs he's juggling, and also setting up a relationship that he seems to tiptoe around (Claire/Marten), but it'll be interesting to see how he ties it all together.

I'd like to see more of a happy medium in terms of minimalism and a kind of Kevin Smith-ish dialogue-heavy kind of storytelling. Jeph seems to be kinda all or nothing. There are times -- in film or webcomics both -- when a gesture or facial expression says what needs to be said, and then some. But there are times when there's no substitute for dialogue. I'd rather see a balance of the two -- deploy each when they're called for -- rather than sacrificing one or the other just for a stylistic experiment. YMMV.

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