Longtime reader and lurker here.
I have to say the Faye and Bubbles relationship has drawn me in like almost nothing else has.
I've read and seen a heck of a lot of great fiction, and I have to say I love the world-building in QC. Jeph has remarked a few times that he's worked out a lot more than he puts in the comics, and it shows.
I mean, I've read the Silmarillion several times, and enjoy Tolkein's universe immensely. Yeah, I love me some backstory, and I dig them details.
A couple of details I just love:
Apparently kissing a robot like Bubbles is pretty great. And as you rummage through old comics since the latest crop of humanoid chassis suddenly hit the market (when Momo got her new body) it's apparent that the humanoid versions have "real" mouths they actually use to speak, with mobile, sensitive, and expressive lips and tongues and teeth; it's not a speaker or buzzer with a face making expressions around it. (Some other robot chassis do only have a speaker, of course.) So yeah, Faye isn't just smooching a piece of plastic. She's smooching Bubbles, and Bubbles is smooching back.
And lots of other details are so well done -- the body language the last few years is superb, especially the hands. When Bubbles nervously took her hair down while talking to Tai, didn't you just melt with the sheer vulnerability expressed through such a simple act? (And dang, doesn't she look incredible with her hair down?) And as others have mentioned, a few hundred comics back Bubbles explained how she uses a special solution to grow hair, and over time she has slowly changed her hairstyle from combat-ready to more casual.
And of course, there's enough inconsistency, illogic, and such a wide range of personalities to keep things pretty "real" -- the real universe and real people don't make a lot of sense sometimes, and the QC-verse is also messy enough to be endlessly interesting and believable.
I also love how Jeph has pulled off one of the toughest writing feats ever -- making believable intelligences who aren't us. They're derived from us, sure, but they have their own points of views, their own emotional lives, and their own bizarre senses of humor.
I could go on. And on. Man, could I go on.
It's all drawn me in to the story and I'm invested to a degree I didn't expect. Faye finally figuring things out and making her "leap" hit me so frickin' hard.
This is a lot more than a good webcomic -- this is great writing, great art, and a great story.
I can't wait to see where it goes next.
Now, back to lurking...