Topic: I miss Raven. (Read 15319 times)

Jackie Blue · « **on:** 26 Aug 2008, 23:37 »

The quality of writing in QC has been on the up for the past several weeks, finally recovering from what I considered a fairly drastic plummet that began about 2 years ago.

But I want Raven back. She's the most consistently humorous character and it would be a shame if she went the way of all the other QC characters that have been written off the show.

And dude, this whole deal of having a metric ton of cute/cool/rad girls surrounded by a grand total of one main male character (possibly three, with the Sven/Will storylines lately) is pretty tiresome. Bring back Benji, he had potential! More drunken nights with Steve and Jimbo (Jeph, have you been getting angry emails from concerned parents regarding the glorification of alcohol in the comic?). Actually develop something with the whole "band" angle. DUDE ONCE YOU FIND A DRUMMER THAT'S WHEN YOU REALLY GET SERIOUS ABOUT PLAYING MUSIC! I have a feeling it's going to take 3 years before Deathmole plays their first opening slot at a tiny indie rock bar, which is just absurd. Any band I've ever been in has played its first show within like, two weeks of getting all the members together.

But yeah, Raven. Back. Now.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Aug 2008, 17:06 »

Slice of life comic.

Not par-on-course for life comic.

We apologize for separating cold, hard fact from fiction.

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Aug 2008, 20:23 »

I must admit that I too miss Raven. She had a way of providing ditzy insight on life.

Surgoshan · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Aug 2008, 20:39 »

From the mouths of babes, eh?

Dizzious · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Aug 2008, 21:34 »

Mmmm hm. I sort of agree. Seems like there haven't been nearly as many side-stories involving non-main characters lately. It would be nice to see some faces we haven't seen in a while... also, I'm still wondering about the rest of the story of Faye's father. I'm sure there are a myriad of other stories that could be revisited, but I can't remember any other significant ones atm; I haven't read through QC from the beginning since I first discovered it... I think that was over two years ago now.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Aug 2008, 22:32 »

Wil is NOT a main character; this entire thing is focusing on him recently! To me, main characters are Marten, Pintsize, Dora, Faye, Sven, and Hanners (love the Hanners). Yeah, Penelope and Raven and Amir and them are important, but they're not MAIN characters to me. So this entire Will/Penelope strikes me as two main characters.

I say we bring back Veronica Vance and have her whip the Makeout Hobo.

Spluff · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Aug 2008, 00:51 »

Eh, I'd rather see other characters than Raven.

tuna ketchup x · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Aug 2008, 05:55 »

Lately Hanners seems to have filled the ditz gap provided by the absence of Raven. I never thought of Raven as being a central character, she was always basically just there as a foil for Dora and Faye, but yeah, her absence feels strange. I'd rather see more of her than PenPen, P.P. is boring.

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 Aug 2008, 16:16 »

Hanners isn't a ditz though. She's just neurotic. Penny is funny when she goes on one of her rants.

Notus · « **Reply #9 on:** 29 Aug 2008, 13:49 »

I feel that Raven is getting phased out @.@

With Penelope filling her place at work and the whole "problems" with the business Dora is having, plus her ties to characters being very small and her roles compensated by other characters she could easily be taken out :/

It just seems to me that all signs are pointing to Ravens demise, sadly. :(

Rusty · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Aug 2008, 10:39 »

what ever happened to steve and the morgue chick?

trip to the olympics?

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #11 on:** 30 Aug 2008, 12:04 »

Quote from: mustang6172 on 28 Aug 2008, 16:16

Hanners isn't a ditz though.

Sure she is, at least the way she's been written lately. The "why shouldn't I wear a skirt while playing drums?" thing was pretty ditzy.

bicostp · « **Reply #12 on:** 30 Aug 2008, 19:30 »

Am I the only one who thinks Penelope is basically Sarah reincarnated? Aside from the physical similarities, neither of them really do anything. Raven is a more interesting character.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #13 on:** 31 Aug 2008, 00:38 »

Raven is way more interesting and fun than Penelope. All we know about Penelope is that she reads books. She doesn't really have any discernible personality to speak of.

Raven had a lot of good punchlines. Especially when she'd say something really, really smart by accident.

Rocketman · « **Reply #14 on:** 31 Aug 2008, 01:02 »

I like Penelope 'cause she's smarter than the average brick.

Nomicakes · « **Reply #15 on:** 31 Aug 2008, 05:52 »

Quote from: zerodrone on 31 Aug 2008, 00:38

Raven had a lot of good punchlines. Especially when she'd say something really, really smart by accident.

You know, it may just be me, but I think Raven being a ditz is just a cover. In all reality she's actually smarter than any of the other cast members, and sometimes it slips through.

Surgoshan · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 Aug 2008, 07:43 »

ditzy <> stupid

I think Raven's intelligent when she thinks things through. She's just easily distracted.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #17 on:** 31 Aug 2008, 11:54 »

CURE FOR ALL KNOWN DISEASE NEARLY FOUND

SCIENTIST DISTRACTED BY KITTEN

film @ 11

Vendetagainst · « **Reply #18 on:** 31 Aug 2008, 12:31 »

In Raven's case it would be a dog. They're fuzzy.

Freya · « **Reply #19 on:** 02 Sep 2008, 02:30 »

I agree so much! I miss Raven a lot. I was reading a bunch of old QC comics yesterday (from 300-500 or so) and she was SO fun. A perfect complement to Faye being bitchy. Anyone who doesn't think of her as part of the "main cast" should reread the comic because she had a HUGE part in the comics for a very long time. I definitely wouldn't put her in the same category as Penelope or Amir.

I say we get the Wil/Pen thing over with soon because while the comics are pretty funny, I just don't think the characters are very interesting. And we have too many characters as it is, really, so there are some things that are hardly touched upon anymore (Faye's therapist, Steve & the morgue girl, the band is also progressing kinda slowly...)

I like Hannelore but I feel she's gone from "creepy stalker" to "cute little girl". So, more of the creepy stalking would be great.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #20 on:** 02 Sep 2008, 19:59 »

What a lot of people fail to take into account is...how slow is it going to be progressing when you read all of the comics as a first-time reader? Do you really want Jeph to rush a particular scenario because it seems to take too long, only to realize that afterward you can read the entire arc in a few minutes and it seems a bit too short? Or would you rather him take his time with the story and let it unfold a bit more slowly, and make it a little more cohesive in the archives than "Okay thisstorythatstorythatstorythisstoryagain"?

Jace · « **Reply #21 on:** 02 Sep 2008, 20:14 »

Quote from: Zingoleb on 02 Sep 2008, 19:59

What a lot of people fail to take into account is...how slow is it going to be progressing when you read all of the comics as a first-time reader? Do you really want Jeph to rush a particular scenario because it seems to take too long, only to realize that afterward you can read the entire arc in a few minutes and it seems a bit too short? Or would you rather him take his time with the story and let it unfold a bit more slowly, and make it a little more cohesive in the archives than "Okay thisstorythatstorythatstorythisstoryagain"?

I want to have my cake and eat it too.

In all honesty, I like Raven as a character, but I also think we need a character like Penolope. Without her, every single character would have some quirk. There'd be no baseline for the quirkiness of others.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #22 on:** 02 Sep 2008, 20:20 »

Steve, Dora for the past 400 strips or so, and Marten all strike me as completely un-quirky and boring. What's quirky about Marten? His mom? He is the de facto baseline for normality in the strip.

Freya · « **Reply #23 on:** 03 Sep 2008, 02:25 »

Quote from: zerodrone on 02 Sep 2008, 20:20

Steve, Dora for the past 400 strips or so, and Marten all strike me as completely un-quirky and boring. What's quirky about Marten? His mom? He is the de facto baseline for normality in the strip.

I agree with that... I wish Marten and Dora WOULD be a bit more quirky sometimes, though. Especially Dora, she used to be so cool but now she's gone a bit boring.

Aegir · « **Reply #24 on:** 04 Sep 2008, 14:30 »

Quote from: zerodrone on 26 Aug 2008, 23:37

Any band I've ever been in has played its first show within like, two weeks of getting all the members together.

My band was around for almost a year before we played our first show, and it's been two years and that was the only one we ever played. Not for lack of trying!

duckity · « **Reply #25 on:** 04 Sep 2008, 21:12 »

Quote from: Rocketman on 31 Aug 2008, 01:02

I like Penelope 'cause she's smarter than the average brick.

Raven, on the other hand, is only smarter than the below average bricks.

But on topic...
I like Raven and miss her too, but with a comic with this frikkin many characters, there are bound to be some that don't appear for a while. Everything seems to be fine without Raven. I hope she isn't being phased out, but her current absence doesn't seem to me to entirely warrant extreme worry yet.

VanHorneDog · « **Reply #26 on:** 05 Sep 2008, 01:29 »

i wanna see them become teh rock starz!!!

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #27 on:** 09 Sep 2008, 20:46 »

Raven has returned.

volrath77 · « **Reply #28 on:** 09 Sep 2008, 22:21 »

Raven's back! Bwahahaha.

Freya · « **Reply #29 on:** 10 Sep 2008, 02:32 »

She's baaaack! I hope she stays, this time around.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #30 on:** 10 Sep 2008, 13:38 »

It wouldn't make a lot of sense to write Raven out since, when she was introduced (which was only like 2 months ago in QC-time), she was Dora's best friend (and is still apparently her only non-Faye friend).

Actually it's kind of annoying that Jeph never shows Dora doing anything by herself. What's it been, 300 strips since he even showed her apartment? Doesn't she have any kind of life outside of "Work, fuck boyfriend, sleep"? For an alleged "main character" she sure doesn't have a lot going on.

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #31 on:** 10 Sep 2008, 16:37 »

Raven has been around longer than that.

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=386

I think the total QC time elapsed since strip 1 has been about 9 months.

Vendetagainst · « **Reply #32 on:** 10 Sep 2008, 17:53 »

Actually...

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #33 on:** 10 Sep 2008, 20:17 »

Jeph confirmed in the Ask Jeph thread that the unnamed Hot Topic saleswoman in #46 was Raven.

Vendetagainst · « **Reply #34 on:** 10 Sep 2008, 20:27 »

I actually meant to edit that. Ah well.

wings-on-water · « **Reply #35 on:** 24 Sep 2008, 00:19 »

I was actually just thinking about the lack of Raven today... though it's comforting to see the fairly recent (Sept 9th I think?) strip with her in it. She's a fun character to have around. And yes, the band, and Dora could be more interesting, and Wil and Penelope and what happened to Steve and redneck Joe, and all these things are stuff that I'd like to see addressed - but each strip can only focus on one thing, unfortunately.

I've been feeling the confines of the current plotline(s) like some other posters have mentioned, but I think that's because I came to the comic pretty late, about 2 months ago. So I read the entire archives in 2 or 3 sittings, when the plot moved at a pretty satisfactory pace. Now, however, I still haven't adjusted to only getting one QC a day, and everything seems to move glacially slowly. I guess Zingoleb does have a point about it being better to move this slowly, though, or it would be crazy for first-time readers.

laizeohbeets · « **Reply #36 on:** 24 Sep 2008, 11:59 »

I miss Angus.

ptitqui · « **Reply #37 on:** 30 Sep 2008, 15:24 »

I would rather see more of Sven/Faye than Pen/Wil. I don't know as I like Wil enough to have a whole storyline about him.

Lildaani · « **Reply #38 on:** 30 Sep 2008, 21:09 »

Alright, I don't normally post in General Discussion (or very much at all, really) but this thread caught my eye, and I felt the need to point a few things out.

(Emphasis in quotes added by me)

Quote from: Jackie Blue on 31 Aug 2008, 00:38

Raven is way more interesting and fun than Penelope. All we know about Penelope is that she reads books. She doesn't really have any discernible personality to speak of.

Quote from: ptitqui on 30 Sep 2008, 15:24

I would rather see more of Sven/Faye than Pen/Wil. I don't know as I like Wil enough to have a whole storyline about him.

Until this point, Penelope didn't get very much air-time in the comic. Wil, like-wise, is a new character. Let's put it in perspective: Raven's first appearance was in, what, comic 46? Then had 2 or 3 appearances before appearing as a regular character in 279.

It took many comics for us to learn about her particular quirks.

I, sadly, was not around at the start of QC, so I don't know what the initial reaction to her was.

My point here is to give Wil and Penelope a chance. This date is probably going to be used by Jeph to develop their characters more fully.

In two years, they may become the most popular characters in the series; you just don't know.

Quote from: PantsFTW on 02 Sep 2008, 20:14

In all honesty, I like Raven as a character, but I also think we need a character like Penolope. Without her, every single character would have some quirk. There'd be no baseline for the quirkiness of others.

I see Pen's occasional rants as a quirk. I agree with the other posters: Marten is the baseline for normality. (His parents have quirks, but those quirks do not reflect onto him.)

I think everyone has a different idea of who the "main characters" are. Personally, I see it as Faye and Marten. Then there are the secondary characters: Dora, Sven, Raven, Hanners, Pintsize, and Steve. Then the tertiary characters: Amir, Nat, Jimbo, Meena, David, Roomba, Tai, Angus, Veronica, Amanda, Faye's mom, Winslow, and Mieville. (Penpen and Wil are hovering on the verge of becoming secondary.)

One last thing:

Quote from: Zingoleb on 02 Sep 2008, 19:59

What a lot of people fail to take into account is...how slow is it going to be progressing when you read all of the comics as a first-time reader? Do you really want Jeph to rush a particular scenario because it seems to take too long, only to realize that afterward you can read the entire arc in a few minutes and it seems a bit too short? Or would you rather him take his time with the story and let it unfold a bit more slowly, and make it a little more cohesive in the archives than "Okay thisstorythatstorythatstorythisstoryagain"?

I completely agree with this. Thank you for stating it so clearly.

Roivas · « **Reply #39 on:** 30 Sep 2008, 21:41 »

I think everyone would happier if Jeph did two comics a day and one every weekend. BUt then his wife would kill us all before the comic could kill him.

I really never take much time missing any particular character but I think I'm alittle too passive about where the comic goes. To me I don't think of web comics as a good way to tell a story, until they're finished which never happens, but instead a really good way to be humorous and entertain strangers.

Raven will be back, and using my awesome bald powers to predict the future, there will be another appearance of "the twins". Haven't seen them since #519 http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=519

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: I miss Raven. (Read 15319 times)

Zingoleb

Zingoleb

tuna ketchup x

Notus

Nomicakes

Zingoleb

duckity

VanHorneDog

volrath77

wings-on-water

ptitqui