Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 2897 - 2901 (16-20 February 2015)
osaka:
--- Quote from: AprilArcus on 19 Feb 2015, 07:27 ---
--- Quote from: anahata on 19 Feb 2015, 07:12 ---It's been suggested before that Marten's early exposure to all the stuff his mother did means he genuinely has no hangups about it. He's seen it all before, and knows too well that there are no limits or rules about what people should or shouldn't or might want do to have sexy fun together. All that matters to him is people's personalities and characters.
--- End quote ---
I don't buy it that he escaped home with zero hang-ups about trans people. We saw him work through a bit of that with Tai and Dora, but he was still daunted about starting a relationship with Claire as recently as strip 2803. It isn't until 2804 that confidant, smooth, ideal husbando Marten fully takes over.
--- End quote ---
In 2803 he just says that he needs pancakes for processing. It's a surprising amount of times that's happened to me without having any negative connotations, or having anything to do with hang-ups. This is not to say that he had zero hang-ups back then, but to say that maybe he just needed to compile everything he had done the night before 2803. I'm pretty sure he was already fine with what happened in 2800 (which is a whooping 5 hours earlier in comic time, but still).
Euthemes:
I don't like the depiction of Clairten. I think it's too cheesy, maybe a mild case of Romantic Plot Tumor. JJ seems to be overly anxious to represent this relationship as unrealistically impeccable as possible. Well, a 3000-strips-long webcomic cannot be perfect at all times and some extra sugar for a few days never hurt anybody.
I think our Comic Overlord needs to relax, he's already doing a great job with QC -even though I arbitrarily believe we will see THE END by strip 4000-.
Aziraphale:
Summary of the WCDT thus far:
Group A: Hmm. New relationship. I see they're still in that stage where neither one of them is thinking of places to hide the body. Cute.
Group B: Where's the drama?
Group A: Uh, it's only been a week or tw--
Group B: Gaaaah! Why haven't they broken up yet? MOAR DRAMAZ!
Couple things here:
First, it's useful to remember that there's a significant disconnect between comic time and calendar time.
Second, it's useful to remember that, in life and in stories alike, it ain't all drama all the time.
Third (he points out for the second, maybe third time), when you're juggling multiple story arcs, you need something to leaven the drama. If you view this as a comedy, on the other hand, sometimes a serious/darker undercurrent (a slot currently occupied by Faye getting her life back together) helps to maintain some balance.
I'm beginning to think that some of the disconnect is from differences in people's experiences.
--- Quote from: aphanisis81 on 19 Feb 2015, 04:45 ---
It's been a long time for me, on account of being married and stuff, but I suddenly remembered what the first few days/weeks of a new relationship are like. Especially one that grew out of a friendship from pals to co-flirters to lovers.
This is pretty much what it's like.
--- End quote ---
I'm coming from a similar place, having gone through a ton of relationships good, bad, and ugly before getting married. Most of my relationships started similarly to Marten and Claire's. None of them -- including my marriage -- stayed that way. The honeymoon ends. But if you do the honeymoon part of it right in terms of respecting boundaries, figuring out each other's communication styles and issues and "stuff," then you're a lot better prepared when the honeymoon ends and reality sets in.
But the more I read the forum, the more I think that half of y'all won't be happy unless the entire cast dons sackcloth and ashes (except Hanners, because she'd be freaked out probably), and commences the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth. Verily, wailing shall be in all the streets, 'cause, you know, verisimilitude.
The irony of it is that when issues do come up (and as with any relationship, they will), some of you will still be complaining, either because the drama didn't conform to your kinda drama, or because there wasn't enough of it, 'cause there's never enough drama. Which, frankly, makes me glad that I don't know some of you offline.
--- Quote from: TheCaffeinatedPanda on 19 Feb 2015, 08:49 ---I think maybe we all need to take a step back and chill - this is gradually edging closer and closer to stereotypical tumblr territory.
--- End quote ---
Edge? It dove.
Gladstone:
--- Quote from: AprilArcus on 19 Feb 2015, 07:27 ---We saw him work through a bit of that with Tai and Dora
--- End quote ---
April, I love that post on Marten's evolution as an LGBT ally, but I can never find it when I want to. I suppose I should just bookmark it, but might I suggest you post it in its own discussion page? That way, it won't get lost in the archives so easily, and we can discuss/add to it as the story progresses.
AprilArcus:
--- Quote from: Aziraphale on 19 Feb 2015, 08:50 ---First, it's useful to remember that there's a significant disconnect between comic time and calendar time.
--- End quote ---
Are you telling me this?
--- Quote ---Second, it's useful to remember that, in life and in stories alike, it ain't all drama all the time.
--- End quote ---
Life and stories are not alike. Drama is the life's blood of a story. QC has the form of a "slice of life" strip, but it's never been as tediously literal in its entire run as it has been these last few months.
--- Quote ---Third (he points out for the second, maybe third time), when you're juggling multiple story arcs, you need something to leaven the drama.
--- End quote ---
Let's look at those story arcs, in the 2800-2899 period. Jeph wrote:
* 35 strips featuring or commenting on Claire and Marten's relationship
* 33 strips featuring or commenting on Faye vs. Angus & the Bottle
* 10 strips of Yelling Bird and Turkeys
* 9 strips of Clinton & Emily
* 4 strips about Hanners
* 4 strips about Marigold
* 2 strips of AnthroPC hijinks
* 2 strips of Claire talking about something other than MartenSo I would call this is more a case of a little angst cutting the sweetness. Only 7 of those 35 Marten/Claire strips (2800-2806) even had any narrative tension. In those hundred strips, we've seen nothing of Dora/Tai, nothing of Dora/Sven, and barely an offhand mention of Marigold/Angus. I would happily have traded ten or fifteen Marten/Claire strips for any of those subplots.
--- Quote ---I think that half of y'all won't be happy unless the entire cast dons sackcloth and ashes (except Hanners, because she'd be freaked out probably), and commences the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth. Verily, wailing shall be in all the streets, 'cause, you know, verisimilitude.
--- End quote ---
I just want some motion and complication, and some attention paid to other characters (DORA) and dangling plotlines.
--- Quote ---
--- Quote from: TheCaffeinatedPanda on 19 Feb 2015, 08:49 ---I think maybe we all need to take a step back and chill - this is gradually edging closer and closer to stereotypical tumblr territory.
--- End quote ---
Edge? It dove.
--- End quote ---
Instead of casting aspersions on presumed-homogenous groups like tumblr/4chan/reddit/"SJWs", why don't you try unpacking that cliché and say what you really mean? What element of our discourse here has fallen beneath your standards?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version