Comic Discussion > ALICE GROVE
Alice Grove MCDLT - THE END...?
Zono:
I do think this ending is objectively bad. But I don't think it's because Jeph is a bad writer. He's just done with it. It was a side project he's been working on for nearly three years, and he has another side project he'd rather do instead now, so he decided to end his commitment to this one. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Nobody was paying for this comic, so it's not like he had any obligation to continue the story for three more years to resolve all the plot threads and give it a proper ending. To suggest that he was obligated to, that he shouldn't have dropped the project when he felt like it, would be pure entitlement.
Emperor Norton:
The thing is, it ends with no one accomplishing much of anything, and a whole lot of info dump at the end with a whole lot of telling and not a lot of showing.
The ending is rushed and feels wrong based on the pacing of the beginning. It is just bad writing. (not Jeph is a bad writer, the ending of AG is just bad writing. We aren't always on our A game).
Jeemy:
--- Quote ---To suggest that he was obligated to, that he shouldn't have dropped the project when he felt like it, would be pure entitlement.
--- End quote ---
From Mr Jacque's Patreon, today:
--- Quote ---This Patreon funded the creation of my stand-alone sci-fi comic Alice Grove, and will fund more projects in the future. Contributors will get special access to all sorts of neat features like early comic updates, bonus comics not available anywhere else, Q&As, and other fun stuff.
--- End quote ---
People were most definitely paying for this comic. No, maybe he isn't "obligated" to provide them with a "proper" ending or to "resolve the plot threads" but if you are paying somebody to create, I don't think its unreasonable to expect things not to be abandoned mid-way. Its certainly not unreasonable to withdraw future patronage based on being told quite literally: Alice Grove is finished, and is as intended or I will drop projects whenever I feel like them.
That makes me feel that anything else produced by JJ will be to the same unfathomable yardstick. I am sure there is a list of people a mile long ready to continue paying the man and trying to support him but I am not one.
mil:
Yep, I'm another lurker registering to throw in my two cents. Alas, I agree with the posters expressing negative opinions of AG's ending. I loved the story's original pace and writing: gentle, languorous, almost whimsical at times. I became hugely invested in Alice, Ardent and Gavia's lives, the growing conflicts set up and the seemingly near-impossible quest to get into space and reach the Praeses. Sedna's appearance was perfectly timed and added another layer of conflict and backstory-based intrigue, and the Night Walker's shot at the moon was a wonderful mystery to leave hanging until later. We then met Ellie and her gang, and the antagonists came on the scene.
Then everything went wrong.
From that moment on, everything happened ridiculously quickly - the exploration of the bunker, the literally instant journey into space, a quick fight scene then a rapid denoument that came out of nowhere was more gigantic infodump than carefully plotted story. The protagonists didn't do anything to EARN the cruicial revelations that explained the story's plot; they just showed up somewhere and things were described to them. I didn't have a problem with Church's death the way it was presented, BTW; it made sense to me. And then BAM! the story's over, just like that.
So, in short, a wonderful setup ruined by a dreadfully hasty and lazy middle and end. I read the whole thing through again last night, which only made the problem more obvious. I understand that some things can be left open at a story's end, but some of the plot points left unexplained were unforgivable - why devote so much time to the Night Walker and his assault on the Moon, then leave it hanging? Simple bad writing, alas. Jeph clearly gave up on this story, or found he didn't know how to carry it on the way he started. A dreadful shame, given its initial promise.
The point that he wrote AG for free isn't exactly correct, either. -Some- people read this for free, sure, but others paid for the privilege of him writing AG via the Patreon, which allowed everyone to read it. That's fair enough, obviously, but I agree with the poster above who pointed out that AG's rushed ending doesn't represent good value for money to his loyal Patreons.
I don't mean to be overly negative - I still enjoyed AG despite the huge flaws, and I continue to enjoy QC. I just feel a little short-changed. I was hugely looking forward to JJ writing AG, and so I paid money to give him the chance to do so. What was originally a good investment now feels rather hollow, and not because thae story was badly written - quite the opposite! - but because it was ultimately rushed to an untimely conclusion then abandoned (I also get the impression that the >$1 rewards have fizzled out somewhat too, but perhaps I'm wrong on that) OK, maybe AG was supposed to play out this way all along, but if so, it shows JJ's long-form writing craft needs a huge amount of work. Perhaps I should see AG as a worthy but flawed experiment, and look forward to what he comes up with next, but right now I'm not sure it's worth it :(
TheEvilDog:
--- Quote from: Jeemy on 21 Jul 2017, 11:22 ---
--- Quote ---To suggest that he was obligated to, that he shouldn't have dropped the project when he felt like it, would be pure entitlement.
--- End quote ---
From Mr Jacque's Patreon, today:
--- Quote ---This Patreon funded the creation of my stand-alone sci-fi comic Alice Grove, and will fund more projects in the future. Contributors will get special access to all sorts of neat features like early comic updates, bonus comics not available anywhere else, Q&As, and other fun stuff.
--- End quote ---
People were most definitely paying for this comic. No, maybe he isn't "obligated" to provide them with a "proper" ending or to "resolve the plot threads" but if you are paying somebody to create, I don't think its unreasonable to expect things not to be abandoned mid-way. Its certainly not unreasonable to withdraw future patronage based on being told quite literally: Alice Grove is finished, and is as intended or I will drop projects whenever I feel like them.
That makes me feel that anything else produced by JJ will be to the same unfathomable yardstick. I am sure there is a list of people a mile long ready to continue paying the man and trying to support him but I am not one.
--- End quote ---
Jeph is one of a handful of professional webcomic artists who earn their living through their comics. Meaning that much of his earnings come from what he makes through adverts or through conventions. Its not a very profitable business.
Know what Patreon usually covers? Flight costs, printing costs, accommodation, shipping fees. Which would probably be considerably higher since Jeph moved to Canada a couple of years ago.
So Patreon helped fund Alice Grove. It also helped fund QC and Deathmøle (even with the latter's kickstarter).
But you don't want to fund Jeph's Patreon anymore? That's fine, its your money, do what you want.
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