Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3416 to 3420 (13th to 17th February 2017)
Neko_Ali:
--- Quote from: OldGoat on 13 Feb 2017, 06:26 ---"STFU Faye."
--- Quote from: JoeCovenant on 13 Feb 2017, 02:08 ---
The Bubbles and Faye arc has been a far more interesting character story than Marten and Claire ever was (that one just seemed to twist down a dead end street.)
I've little interest in Marten and Claire at all.
Now... getting back to Marten and Faye... far more interesting dynamic. :laugh:
--- End quote ---
There it is in a nutshell. Mature people's stable relationships with each other don't provide much conflict to write about. Relationships involving Faye stay interesting because she's a well of emotional turmoil.
--- End quote ---
Marten and Claire are like Dora and Tai or Dale and Marigold It was the getting to their relationship that was the interesting story bits. Now both couples have settled down into them, there just isn't a lot to drive a story unless something changes. In the end the comic is mostly about the various characters interpersonal relationships with each other, and those six are pretty settled now. So it's not to surprising that Jeph would turn to other characters, and introduce new ones so that he has something to write about. And honestly, I would prefer that than what some serialized works do and have something bad happen every time it seems the main character has a good thing going. Consider long running comic heroes like Spider Man or Batman who can never have a stable relationship without someone getting kidnapped constantly, dying or turning evil. I'd rather see characters rotating in and out of circulation than Marten being the eternal punching bag.
JimC:
'course in the real world the characters would be starting to hit kid o'clock...
[Later] And now I think about it AIs and child rearing would be a extremely complex topic with all sorts of implications, but I suspect the author has to hit that stage in his own life before he can realistically tackle it.
blt:
--- Quote from: brasca on 13 Feb 2017, 04:22 ---Perhaps Faye feels a certain sense of over confidence because of the smug dickhead who favors Bubbles. And considering all that Creepybot is capable of it would be in Officer Basilisk's interest to drop the matter.
--- End quote ---
My feeling was that Creepybot was only interested in the memory theft and encryption. If Bubbles found herself in trouble with the law they'd have no interest in the situation.
Then again, they may kindly suggest to Officer B that she show her a bit of leniency because of the coercion involved.
JoeCovenant:
--- Quote from: Neko_Ali on 13 Feb 2017, 07:48 ---
--- Quote from: OldGoat on 13 Feb 2017, 06:26 ---"STFU Faye."
--- Quote from: JoeCovenant on 13 Feb 2017, 02:08 ---
The Bubbles and Faye arc has been a far more interesting character story than Marten and Claire ever was (that one just seemed to twist down a dead end street.)
I've little interest in Marten and Claire at all.
Now... getting back to Marten and Faye... far more interesting dynamic. :laugh:
--- End quote ---
There it is in a nutshell. Mature people's stable relationships with each other don't provide much conflict to write about. Relationships involving Faye stay interesting because she's a well of emotional turmoil.
--- End quote ---
Marten and Claire are like Dora and Tai or Dale and Marigold It was the getting to their relationship that was the interesting story bits. Now both couples have settled down into them, there just isn't a lot to drive a story unless something changes. In the end the comic is mostly about the various characters interpersonal relationships with each other, and those six are pretty settled now. So it's not to surprising that Jeph would turn to other characters, and introduce new ones so that he has something to write about. And honestly, I would prefer that than what some serialized works do and have something bad happen every time it seems the main character has a good thing going. Consider long running comic heroes like Spider Man or Batman who can never have a stable relationship without someone getting kidnapped constantly, dying or turning evil. I'd rather see characters rotating in and out of circulation than Marten being the eternal punching bag.
--- End quote ---
I get where you're coming from.
But surely it's possible to have a long running strip with two people-in a stable relationship-that actually invokes some kind of funny/dramatic/emotional content that holds the attention?
Having binge read the entire run in a very short time, and only recently finding out this forum existed, I had no idea that Claire was the result of fan wish-list-dom. But, now that I've picked that up, it retroactively (maybe) goes a little way in explaining why the character always felt off-balance with the rest of the script/cast to me.
Nothing to do with gender politics or anything else, she just always seemed... I dunno.. surplus to requirements?
(I'm not terribly keen on Clinton either, but then his love Triangle/Square storyline just (so far) seems to have died a death.)
Of course, now that I know the above, it does make me wonder if Claire's existence came about because of the split from Dora...
Or was the Dora split brought on because of the wish for Claire to exist?
Maybe neither, of course. But...if the latter... Boooo! :) (Yeah, I liked the Marten/Dora dynamic a lot better - almost as much as Marten/Faye!)
The way things are going, I wouldn't mind if Bubbles' story carried on for a good while. I honestly think she is the best character Jeph has written to date. I'm still hoping the introduction of Spookybot is a lead into deeper and darker things, and not just (as I said when they first appeared) a literal Deus Ex Machina!
Cheers!
BenRG:
Purely FWIW, I can't see Marten and Claire taking on responsibility for a kid until after Claire graduates her Masters' course. I could excuse Jeph not wanting to deal with it though. There would be a huge level of Tumblr anger if the process is too smooth and people feel that he is 'glossing over' the problems RL trans* people have with adoption. Of course, there would be just as much anger if too many thought he was trying to 'milk the problem' for clicks. It is a can of worms that he would be entirely justified to refuse to open.
I can only see it happening with Dora and Tai as an incredibly strong impulse decision (possibly related to a secondary character pairing like Wil and Penny starting a family). In the latter scenario, part of the story would centre around a sense of inadequacy and lots of second thoughts.
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