Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT Strips 3421-3425 (20th to 24th February 2017)

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hedgie:

--- Quote from: SubaruStephen on 21 Feb 2017, 21:51 ---I can't figure out how you guys come up with so many canine puns, it's quite a puggle.

--- End quote ---

What do baby platypuses have to do with this?

BenRG:
Not every strip is a winner. You can actually feel Jeph struggling to do anything relevant to the main storyline with Marten and Claire and, at the risk of being accused of back-seat driving, I think that this is the problem. There was no impelling need to have Marten and Claire doing or saying anything associated with the main story thread. There was no real cause to have discussing Bubbles and Faye's situation at all in this strip beyond them expressing empathy for a certain decommissioned combat AI and that could have been sandwiched into a later main thread strip and it was an error to try if nothing flowed smoothly into the overarching concept.

No, this would have worked better if Jeph had just sat back and thought: "What random thing might Marten and Claire doing right now?" and written a stand-alone about it, much as he did yesterday for Brun, Elliott and Renee. It would have come across as far less forced and awkward.

That said, Claire's 'reaction pose' in panel 1 comes across as humorous for some reason. Maybe it's the wholly exaggerated aspect of every part of it.


--- Quote from: mikmaxs on 21 Feb 2017, 22:58 ---I'm not sure I get the joke tonight. Like... Okay, he's anthropomorphizing succulents, but since that could have worked without changing the name, I'm really struggling to figure out what else the joke is here. Is it just that 'Spotted puculents' sounds funny? Or...?
--- End quote ---

Look below the main strip at Jeph's sketch on the Pokémon species he'd created - Spotted Pucculent. I think that, as he was writing the script, he randomly thought: "Spotted Pucculent; yeah that sounds like some kind of weird exotic animal". Once that idea got into his head, he literally couldn't stop himself running with it. I've had that happen to me once or twice whilst writing. The problem is that these things that make you chuckle to yourself are rarely as funny to everyone else as they are to you. :-\

By the way - All will be forgiven if Jeph writes a sub-arc about Marten and Claire trying (and failing) to find something to serve as a house-warming gift for Bubbles. That would be classic QC humour.

Squiddlywinx:
I mean one or more of them is going to live with Bubbles and it's probably an important thing to establish that everything's cool there.
I don't know if Claire's living with them or not.

BenRG:
To put my money where my mouth is... Let's see... Fic writer's hat on...

SIX-PANEL FRAME
PANEL 1
Close-up of CLAIRE throwing her pen away against a violent, clashing primary-colour background.

CLAIRE: "I've had ENOUGH!"

PANEL 2
INT: The Apartment
MARTEN and PINTSIZE are looking out of the KITCHEN at CLAIRE, who is on the couch, cradling her head in both hands; there is a pile of manuscripts on the coffee table.

MARTEN: "Claire! What is it?"

PINTSIZE: "Maybe it's that time of the grading cycle again?"

CLAIRE: "No matter how many of these damn things I mark, the Professor dumps more on me! Why did I agree to be a TA? It's driving me crazy!"

PINTSIZE: "Yup! Called it."

PANEL 3
MARTEN is now sitting on the couch with his arm around CLAIRE's shoulders.

MARTEN: "Honey, I know that you feel that you need to be the A-grade, top-average student but none of this is worth it if it makes you miserable!"

CLAIRE: "But... I need to get all the extra credit that I can for this course, Marten! You know how important this is for me!"

PANEL 4
MARTEN has now pulled CLAIRE into a one-armed hug, kissing the top of her head. CLAIRE's eyes are closed and she's obviously enjoying the contact.

MARTEN: "Seriously, Claire, you are born for this! You have so much natural talent and dedication that I don't think you need to worry about extra credit! You're gonna graduate top of the class and, before long, you'll be the stern, unapproachable head librarian that all the students fear but secretly lust for!"

CLAIRE: *Giggles*

PANEL 5
CLAIRE is now straddling MARTEN's lap and grinning at him.

CLAIRE: "Marten, that's a lovely thing to say but is this really your appreciation for me as a librarian talking or one your 'The Strict Head Librarian and Her Shy Administrator' fantasies?"

MARTEN: "There is that, in-Dewey-tably! I'm serious, though, Claire; you're going to do great so long as you don't burn yourself out! You're gonna do this!"

PANEL 6
CLAIRE is kissing MARTEN on the cheek. PINTSIZE is looking on from bottom right of panel with a despondent expression

CLAIRE: "That's so sweet, Marten! I know whose stacks I'm gonna be re-arranging tonight!"

PINTSIZE: "Huh. Looks like I'm going to be book-ing a 'bed' in the closet again tonight!"

JoeCovenant:
Yeah....
This one isn't endearing me to Marten/Clair any more than I'm already not.

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