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Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: happyninja42 on 01 Apr 2015, 22:12
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I miss mini-Momo. She was so cute. I like human sized Momo just fine, but there was something quite adorable about seeing her dancing around on the back of the couch, her little limbs swinging around, and then freaking out and falling over in a comic tumble.
Anything that you miss from the older strips? Something that evolved, or just was dropped that you wish were still in it?
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I like new-Momo, because giving her a human-sized chassis gave her more opportunities to interact with the rest of the cast and more potential for development...but since she hasn't had much of either since then, I guess I miss new-Momo just like you miss the mini.
There are also a bunch of other characters I miss seeing, but that's the curse of having a giant cast.
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I miss the entire strips full of wordplay, like "the band Islands", and can't think of a recent parallel to the whimsy about the bread mines.
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Yeah, Jeph said a few weeks ago on Twitter that he was glad he wasn't writing so much dialogue per panel anymore. I respectfully disagree, sir!
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One word:
Roomba
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Raven.
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The inventive specials on the blackboard.
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The music references. I have the exact opposite musical tastes that Jeph does, but I thought it was neat that he was letting his obsession leak into the strip- it kind of helped it feel "real". They haven't mentioned music in FOREVER in the strip, and it used to be the one thing they ALL seemed to have in common. A huge chunk of early stuff was "she's a hot Indie Girl" and "OH MY GOD, every Indie Girl in town now has one of those skirts!"
I kind of feel nostalgic for the strips where it was just Faye, Dora & Marten sitting around in an empty coffee shop, shooting the shit and being sassy with each other. It wouldn't be the same if tried now (they know each other too well, and their relationships have all changed), but it'd be cool to see it with other characters. That particular brand of "how young people roll" is fairly true-to-life.
Raven. Oh god, Raven. She was such fun. A bit on the nose as "the Moron of the group", but it was still entertaining, and she was a nice character to bounce off the others- you occasionally need someone who's less-savvy. She had a great design, too.
The club where everyone dressed fancy. That was fun. Seems like Jeph got over that obsession really quick.
Back in the "old days", the characters seemed to act more "young" and were less-exaggerated at times. They said things like "hee hee!", acted cute, and were very immature. Nowadays the more "out there" characters are usually a bit nutty (Hannelore, Emily, etc.), rather than immature. I feel like the cast has "aged up" with the writer without actually having aged-up in the strip, as Jeph used to write them like his cultural baseline, and STILL does, without modifying that for "how young people usually act". Thankfully, their poor decision-making skills is still very much intact.
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"The good old days
Weren't always good
Tomorrow's not as bad as it seems..."
- Wm. Joel, "Keeping The Faith"
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I miss Raven, too. As much as I like Emily as the comic relief character, I feel that Raven was better in the role, and a more three dimensional character on top of that.
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"The good old days
Weren't always good
Tomorrow's not as bad as it seems..."
- Wm. Joel, "Keeping The Faith"
Rick Green said something similar yet darker at the end of every episode of "History Bites" though my memory and my google-fu fail me at the moment.
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I miss Raven too. I would like her back. We know she is studying Physics somewhere; Tai has a friend called Annette teaches physics at Hampshire college (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1541). She might be treaching Raven!
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I miss the whole Secret Bakery team.
And Raven.
And Pizza Girl.
How much QC time has passed since Clinton asked Emily for a date?
Why didn't Fayemom and Amanda show up after Faye's night in the hospital? I figured they'd be on the first plane to Boston (assuming Boston is the closest major airport.)
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Hartford is closer. Just a drive up the Interstate, no MassPike to deal with.
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Why didn't Fayemom and Amanda show up after Faye's night in the hospital? I figured they'd be on the first plane to Boston (assuming Boston is the closest major airport.)
It's entirely possible that Faye didn't tell them, or anyone else, for that matter. For what reasons, who knows, but it's possible (and this is purely conjecture) that Faye preferred it that way, and indicated to everyone else that she didn't want them told. Such things can be a source of shame for the person involved, even if they're family. That her mother is a teetotaler would likely make it that much harder to come clean to her mother.
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I figured Marten would have called before she woke up.
I withdraw my question about Clinton and Emily.
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Some people leave DNR requests (do not resuscitate)
Faye left a DNCM (do not contact mother) :-P
serious, given her insistence on upripe peaches, Fayemom might have tried to drag her daughter all the way back to Savannah after something like this
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As for what i miss? the innocent whimsy and slice of lifeness of the comic as used to be.
i always think of the marten/dora break as the beginning of serious business QC. i don't mind the shift, but i do get nostalgic.
If Marten got punched by Faye these days, we'd have a week of angst, opinions and all too many Thespian Camelids.
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If Marten got punched by Faye these days, we'd have a week of angst, opinions and all too many Thespian Camelids.
Who put the drachm in the Drama Llama Ding-Dong?
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I miss smoking, snarky, stalker Hannelore.
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Oh yes. If those traits reappear in a new character it will be fun.
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I miss smoking, snarky, stalker Hannelore.
Oh yes. If those traits reappear in a new character it will be fun.
I hoped we'd see a little more of that old Hannelore when Juicy appeared (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2846) as Hanners named Juicy her nemesis (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2848), but Jeph seems to have dropped that.
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I'm hoping that Juicy becomes a recurring but seldom-used gag. Sort of like the Bros, who show up once every two or three years.
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Oh yes. If those traits reappear in a new character it will be fun.
If they re-manifest in Hannelore it will be even more fun. They've kind of been buried (How DID you get into my apartment?) but yes, I wanna see smoking lavatory girl peek out some more, maybe this time as a result of increased social confidence, not as a "really strong med."
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Remember that Robot café Pintsize lasered? I'm sure Pintsize isn't allowed back, but it feels worth mentioning.
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I miss the random text on the blackboard of Coffee of Doom. Half the time it consisted of specials which sounded disturbing like chorizo latte (strip 1432, not sure how to link), other times it was just random comments. Certainly the number of CoD located strips went down when Marten left, but even when we do see the shop the blackboard is often either blocked or boring.
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I miss Winslow, Sven and The Secret Bakery.
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Padma. I miss Padma. But I wouldn't want anything to rock the Martéclaire boat, so it's probably best if she doesn't return.
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You can just give the URL : http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1432
Or like this (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1432). (Click on the "Quote" option on this post to see how this looks as typed).
Thank you Andy147. There are several different systems in user for different Forum software, and I just didn't have the energy to look it up last night.
As for the CoD Blackboard, and for practice, here (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=284) are (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1307) four (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1357) favourites (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1360).
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Actually, I kind of miss sleazy Sven (and I always did like Raven, too). I never thought he did anything that wrong, in that if Faye wanted exclusivity, she should have said so (don't get into a relationship hoping the boundaries will change, because that's a fast way to get hurt), and while he knew what he was doing was shitty, it was within what he had stated would happen and Faye said she'd end it.
I liked that he was a bit of a lazy, apathetic hedonist. It was kind of a fun character in contrast to some of the more fiery-tempered characters. I liked his somewhat angst-free lifestyle and lack of shame. He was what he was, but was still kind of itching to try something else. I thought he had a lot of potential.
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Funny Dora. She is so grim these days, at least whenever we see her.
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I miss pretty much everything about it... sometimes even the bizarre and evolving art style. It seemed more gritty and honest.
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Sign me in too with the blackboard specials, Raven, and Hannelore Original Flavor as things missed. Which is IMO itself the diminishing order of probabilities of seeing them return, the last one being effectively nil.
I do suppose the recurring background gag with Hanners trying a new drink that turns out to be terrible is also something definitely in the past, though we had a bit of a callback to them with Marigold and the ales, and the first sequence of Claire and the Scotch before "the sleeper awakened". With the new CoD crew however we could have that translated into trying to come up with new Specialty Drinks, with disastrous results.
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Am I the only one who doesn't miss Hanners' first incarnation? Especially once she said it was due to her medication, it seems weird to me to want someone to go back on something that changes their personality and mental health progress so drastically. She might have been more confident but it also led to the stalking behaviour and seemed to contribute to her insomnia, and she actively wants to be more mentally healthy, whatever that means for her. I think it's really nice to have characters who can't keep up with the wise-ass snarker types and make humour in other ways. I find it more satisfying to see her get more confident and stable in her actual self with the traits like naive but aware, empathetic and sweet, which I wouldn't call the original version of her. I also don't think her verbal beat-downs, if they would have happened, would have had near as much punch if she was still like when she was introduced.
Edit: I stand corrected about the medication/stalking link. "That was just me being usual weird and creepy self." (http://questionablecontent.net./view.php?comic=1046) Still, in the comic she seems embarrassed about it and she's improved about being less creepy since going off it.
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I don't like the original Hanners more than later incarnations, but I can see why people do. Her character at that time didn't seem like someone weirding out from meds. To add that explanation later came across to me as a retcon.
I don't really view Hanner's in those strips as someone having an abnormal reaction to drugs, I view her original character as a direction Jeph seriously considered, but ultimately didn't go with.
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I was reading old strips the other day, like REALLY old. Like Sarah old.
I noticed that Jeph changed the word "rape" to something else. Violate, I think.
Not really something about the strip itself, but I guess Jeph's willingness to cater to the rise of the denizens of social justice lately. That is pretty disappointing, but it's to be expected, I suppose.
Not saying that his comic should be a disgusting edgy fest of tryhard offensive nonsense, but that just disappointed me, that he actually went back and changed it.
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Why exactly is that a problem? He has chosen to make an earlier comic slightly less offensive, and as an artist he has every right to change his work however he wishes.
I'm presuming this was used in a comedic context, in which case you're saying you're disappointed because he removed a rape joke...
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Honestly? i was never a fan of secret bakery/Pamda. the whole set up felt like a holding pattern for marten until he could return to CoD (which it was).
the only lasting things to come out of that little detour were the bringing of Martens Mum to town, and introducing Faye and Sam.
Faye and Sam...
Sam..
HOLY CRAP DID ANYONE TELL THE KID WHAT HAPPENED TO FAYE? :-o
[above is a transcript of my train of thought while typing the main part of my post]
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Considering Veronica didn't know about it and she's dating Sam's dad, probably not (otherwise Sam would have told Veronica about it).
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I think we may be getting to that shortly.
The time when Marten and Dora were a thing it seemed like she was cheerier and more overtly happy when she was with Tai later on for some reason. Things have gotten really serious. It's like watching drama filled facebook posts for some reason.
Early Hanners was kind of scary. Long hair, smoking in the bathroom, kind of half stalking Marten. I figured she had a leather jacket and a collection of knives and was kind of a tuff chick.
She's evolved into a more whimsical sort of drum savant and far cheerier.
Heck, did Deathmole ever get a gig? I don't think Marten even plays guitar anymore - he must have lost his calluses. It's not referred to much.
Cossette must be locked in a closet somewhere. Raven, Amir, Penelope, Pizza Girl = who knows.
I'm waiting for the cast to start complaining about bills, mortgages, and general ennui.
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I was reading old strips the other day, like REALLY old. Like Sarah old.
I noticed that Jeph changed the word "rape" to something else. Violate, I think.
Not really something about the strip itself, but I guess Jeph's willingness to cater to the rise of the denizens of social justice lately. That is pretty disappointing, but it's to be expected, I suppose.
Not saying that his comic should be a disgusting edgy fest of tryhard offensive nonsense, but that just disappointed me, that he actually went back and changed it.
Why exactly is that a problem? He has chosen to make an earlier comic slightly less offensive, and as an artist he has every right to change his work however he wishes.
I'm presuming this was used in a comedic context, in which case you're saying you're disappointed because he removed a rape joke...
I think what Stella was more getting at is that artists seem to feel pressure to change their work to cater to a certain demographic's tastes nowadays. Like it or not, an artist can make one bad joke or dialogue choice (or rather, what is perceived to be such - even an innocuous joke can be taken far outside of what it was meant as and cause a shitstorm) , and there's a slew of people out there willing to label an artist as a terrible person at best, and vocalizations that they should kill themselves and issuances of death threats at worst. It's a miracle that there's as many creators as there are, with how many would force them to alter their vision because of thin skin and an inability to accept that there's always something to be offended about.
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I miss Elliott. Yeah, I know, he was just in a strip recently. But I liked his character, and wouldn't have minded seeing more of him. I also miss Old Hanners, Old Dora, and mid-period Sven. Each of them had more depth as characters, whereas they seem to be portrayed more as "types" now.
re: Marten's guitar playing: It's been a dog's age in real time, but in comic time I don't think it's been that long since he played.
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I miss deathmole and wish that the colorless comics about their first gig got continued and canonized. It keeps getting teased with Marten saying he wants to do stuff with the band, but...
I miss lighthearted funny Dora too.
And above all, I miss Sven.
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Faye and Sam...
Sam..
HOLY CRAP DID ANYONE TELL THE KID WHAT HAPPENED TO FAYE? :-o
[above is a transcript of my train of thought while typing the main part of my post]
Patience, young Grasshopper. I too was once like you (okay, fine, I still am) in my insistence that Sam meet Claire, but all good things in time. I mean, it's been barely a week since Claire became a candidate for the position of Uncool Older Sister, and even less time since Faye's title of Cool Older Sister became in doubt, so it's no surprise it hasn't happened yet. I'd rather Faye spend a bit more time getting better, instead of interacting with Sam when she's still doing as poorly as she is--especially since it'll give Claire the opportunity to meet her without competition. She'll still be found wanting, of course, since she doesn't know how to make swords and probably isn't much of a nature freak, but you gotta give her a chance!
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The art. Alice Grove's art is what QC's art was before Jeph started doing two comics. I don't know if it's worth having five days of QC if it looks like this.
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but I guess Jeph's willingness to cater to the rise of the denizens of social justice lately.
I'm not quite sure what that means. Is "rise of the denizens of social justice" the new term for "political correctness gone mad"? I don't think I've noticed such a tendency in QC. Could you give me an example of such catering?
I miss the verbal riffing from the early strips, but I suppose that got purged in the interest of less text.
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I miss the verbal riffing from the early strips, but I suppose that got purged in the interest of less text.
Now that you mention it, that gets to something else that's been nagging at me lately: the pacing overall seems to have slowed down... kinda the difference between a screwball comedy and a soap opera. I can understand the desire from an artistic standpoint to try to do more with less (especially when you're drawing two strips), but where the older dialog-heavy strips had a bit more snap without getting weighed down, the pacing these days reminds me more of "General Hospital." Small snippet of speech; camera lingers on facial expression; another small snippet of speech.
IOW, in Jeph's current style, the arc that started with strip 500 would've taken several months.
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Not really something about the strip itself, but I guess Jeph's willingness to cater to the rise of the denizens of social justice lately. That is pretty disappointing, but it's to be expected, I suppose.
I see what you mean. The denizens of social justice have been a constant scourge to creativity since 1854 when Eliza Davis coerced Charles Dickens to reconsider the properness in constantly refering to Fagin as "the jew" in Oliver Twist.
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Social-Justice-upon-Trent is a great town to visit, provided you go off-season. The denizens are generally friendly and accommodating toward tourists, and bibliophiles might be interested to know that the local bookstore takes pride in its large collection of English 18th century literature. (However, for some reason, one of Alexander Pope's poetry collections consistently carry a misprint in its title, replacing The Rape of the Lock with The Violation of the Lock.)
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Social-Justice-upon-Trent
I snorted on my cider.
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though we had a bit of a callback to them with Marigold and the ales, and the first sequence of Claire and the Scotch before "the sleeper awakened". With the new CoD crew however we could have that translated into trying to come up with new Specialty Drinks, with disastrous results.
Marigold and the Ales is my Republica cover band.
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Marigold and the Ales is my Republica cover band.
...Sorry, I can't imagine Marigold singing "Ready To Go" with an appropriate Irish accent.
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I miss when the comic was more screwball sci-fi-ish - the epitome of what I'm speaking of, although not a personal favorite example, was the feminist avenger character with the Moped Transformer robot who smacked Marten with a stop sign after he did something to his girl which this psycho chick perceived as inconsiderate (I'm fuzzy on the details after so long). A more personally favored example was the space shuttle visit, with the killbots complaining they never get to kill anybody. All that is what I think of as the most uniquely QC material, and I think of the more random slice-of-life stuff as being filler, even though it started out more that way and has pretty consistently been that way the majority of the time.
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Using Random I started back at when Cosette and Steve first started going out and Cosette's friend, Luna, seems like she would be a fun character to see again. (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1548)