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Twenty years in an IsoCube - Judge Alice

1 (2.6%)

Assimilation - "We are the Alice, resistance is futile"

1 (2.6%)

A shock collar and no release till she cleans up her mess

3 (7.7%)

Flashback time

8 (20.5%)

Alice the Slavemaster

2 (5.1%)

We don't want to know

5 (12.8%)

Jeph surprises us

13 (33.3%)

Blue Ardent Dishwasher

6 (15.4%)

Total Members Voted: 36

[SubaruStephen]

In 10 months Mr. Fujitsu is going to fire Marty McFly...

[Method of Madness]

I actually haven't seen the second or third BttF movies. I probably should.

[ysth]

Did you realize that that comic came out four years ago?

Do you think we've had all the best comics already, and it's all downhill from here?
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1920
There, I'd have to go with '75.

[Method of Madness]

I think the best music happened before I was born, so I dunno if that makes me old. But there are always a few good songs a year even now.

[BenRG]

New comic up and... the mood whiplash is quite astonishing!

No, Alice, they're not idiots. They're worse: They're children in fully mature bodies. Imagine six-year olds with hormones and superpowers and you'll get close to what they are.

[ysth]

Scary!

[Neko_Ali]

Every time Gavia opens her mouth, I knock another year off her assumed age... She's sounding less like a teen and more like a little kid these days...

[de_la_Nae]

I'm telling you, execution would have been a lot simpler and less irritating.........

p.s. Alice was pretty innocent-looking when Gavia hit the boom.

[BenRG]

I'm wondering if Jeph created the 'Scary!' meme in reaction to our response to Alice's demonic smile whilst she was pounding the stuffing out of Gavia?

[ReindeerFlotilla]

p.s. Alice was pretty innocent-looking when Gavia hit the boom.

Alice, when Gavia met her.



I'm gonna have to give Gavia the point. It's a stupid point, but she's not lying. That's the face of a woman who means to beat something to within an inch of it's life, and knows she can do it.

First impressions. They color what comes after.

[de_la_Nae]

*hands out-stretched, palms forward and empty, face fairly neutral* "Can't we talk about thi-"

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I didn't say Alice wasn't trying to negotiate. I said the first thing Gavia saw was Alice's scary face. Which is true.

People who should be trained observers constantly shoot and kill innocents because of first impressions. What Gavia did was stupid, but that up there was her first impression of Alice.

I'm also not saying Alice is wrong. They are idiots.

Neither has asked just how she came out of that explosion unharmed.

[Neko_Ali]

Alice, when Gavia met her.

Shaka, when the walls fell.

[Zebediah]

Neko_Ali, winning the thread.

[MooskiNet]

Neko_Ali, winning the thread.

Agreed.  That was bloody brilliant.

[Neko_Ali]

Thank you thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the blue monkey dishwater.

[Kugai]

Complimenting the Purple Monkey Dishwasher?



I wonder if Alice has Panadol on the shelves for the headache she's beginning to feel dealing with these two?

[Neko_Ali]

Purple Monkey Dishwater is the specialty next door. The Blue Monkey is the house special here.

*holds up a bottle with a grinning Ardent on it*

[Kugai]

*Holds up a bottle of Ol' Janx Spirit*

[Method of Madness]

I honestly think we should have retired Purple Monkey Dishwasher out of respect when Marcia Wallace died.

[osaka]

So THAT'S what happened to Ardent's tail huh. Gavia didn't even bother too. You're a bad sister Gavia.

[Neko_Ali]

He didn't even notice? Sheesh Ardent...

[Zebediah]

So no nerve endings in the tail, then. Which is consistent with it being a post-natal addition to his physiology. Meaning he can get another one next time he's upstairs.

[Method of Madness]

So that's what happened to Ardent's delightful tail, huh.

Fix'd

[osaka]

Thanks Method.

[mikmaxs]

I saw this coming!
Well, actually I thought it was an art error and then Jeph started cropping the image so you couldn't see his tail.

[SomeCanadianWeirdo]

Thinking about the sibs today the thought came to mind that they're the transhuman/posthuman/whatever the hell they are version of Sam.  Gavia probably brings Z'nerreibian Space Frogs home regularly, and Ardent has been known to pretend he's Skullmaster, Master of Skulls.  Which regularly pisses off the real Skullmaster.

[Kugai]

Nannomeds must have dulled the pain.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

It's certainly a designer tail. Ardent said as much to Jack. It's probably capable of full feeling, too. I'm gonna have to go with nanomeds on this one.

I saw this coming!
Well, actually I thought it was an art error and then Jeph started cropping the image so you couldn't see his tail.

Jeph already drew the stump in an earlier strip. He's been setting this up since the "She's my sister" strip.

I'm wondering if the exposition is going actually expose anything, beyond Ardent's nipples. I mean there really are a lot of questions about this world. If I were a non-QC reader or one of the Patreon people who nominally fund AG I'd be pretty disappointed in this comic. We're 32 strips in and we know nothing.

That's probably pretty fast for a five day a week comic, but it's insanely slow for 2 day.

I feel kinda armchair-ish, saying that, but I'm struggling with the same issue in writing, and I don't have a devoted fan base to cover for it. You start thinking, "I can't, as much as I'd like to, take seven strips on this."

[Orkboy]

I feel kinda armchair-ish, saying that, but I'm struggling with the same issue in writing, and I don't have a devoted fan base to cover for it. You start thinking, "I can't, as much as I'd like to, take seven strips on this."

I dunno, Grrl Power has been on the first super-villain battle since March 27th of last year, and will finally finish it this Thursday, according to the news post.  Almost a year on one fight.

[explicit]

There were a lot of people though... He did mention that he actually had to take a bunch of stuff out to make it shorter. Fight scenes themselves are fine for comics like this, but there has to be some exposition, jokes or story advance throughout the fight and not just people punching each other. That goes with any scene I think.

But I do believe in this story we're learning something new about the characters each strip, it's just all kinda subtle.

[MrNumbers]

It's official: Today's comic has me stumped

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I feel kinda armchair-ish, saying that, but I'm struggling with the same issue in writing, and I don't have a devoted fan base to cover for it. You start thinking, "I can't, as much as I'd like to, take seven strips on this."

I dunno, Grrl Power has been on the first super-villain battle since March 27th of last year, and will finally finish it this Thursday, according to the news post.  Almost a year on one fight.

Bad example, since I'm not talking about story pacing, but story set up. Grrl Power set up its story hook in like 6 strips, sweetened the hook ~15 strips after that, then got to the first action ~15 strips later. The next big exposition comes in ~20 strips (only 10 after the last action ends). So the Grrl Power pacing seems in line with what I'd expect for a comic book. Which might be an accident, but still.

I don't know the update rate of Grrl Power. I expect it was slower than Alice to start, based on the colors, but the author might be a fast artist/colorist. Setting a solid hook by strip six and then running with it by strip 20? Seems pretty good to me.

Then again, my sense of pacing is imposing rather arbitrary cut offs. For all we know this the tail end of the set up, and an actual hook is about to snap.

I'm not sure. If this were old school QC, I'd say different things about how the story ought to break. But the AG punchlines don't have the  same, well, punch as the first QC. I haven't laughed at a single AG. I actually chuckled at several of the Grrl Power. I might have to add that to my reading list. I'm sure there's room at the end.

[mikmaxs]

I agree with the recent commentary about pacing. I feel like we still haven't gotten to what the real conflict is going to be, we're just now hopefully going to learn something about the universe, and I know practically nothing about any of the main characters beyond names and basic personality archetypes.

[BenRG]

He didn't notice that his tail was missing? So, no nerve endings then. Or some kind of adaptation that stops him from feeling the searing pain of the traumatic amputation of one of his limbs. Some kind of unconscious injury-control adaptation is supported by the fact that Alice didn't notice him sitting in a pool of blood.

This implication of an artificially-augmented body feeds into my 'Body by Me' theory that both Gavia and Ardent might have remodelled their bodies using their nano-bots. I wonder how human they normally look?

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

Ardent should have turned tail when he saw explosions.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

He did. He just didn't turn with it.

[BenRG]

It suddenly occurred to me: Where's Jack? Alice specifically asked him to tag along to her house as she had something that she needed him to do but he's been missing in action since then. I suppose she might have him doing some busywork outside whilst she debriefs the Vicissitudes (which probably includes details that he cannot be allowed to know) but what job does she want him to do?

[jwhouk]

It's official: Today's comic has me stumped

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Pun jar, NAO!

[Zebediah]

It suddenly occurred to me: Where's Jack? Alice specifically asked him to tag along to her house as she had something that she needed him to do but he's been missing in action since then. I suppose she might have him doing some busywork outside whilst she debriefs the Vicissitudes (which probably includes details that he cannot be allowed to know) but what job does she want him to do?

He could be outside, tending a fire under a very large pot of oil. Once it comes to a boil, Alice will start seriously questioning Gavia.

Or Alice could have brought him along because she knows she's going to need to work off a lot of frustration after this is done, and Jack is going to be her boy-toy.

Or he's making cookies. Because Alice is from the Dark Side.

What I really think, though, is that Alice sent him back to fetch Ardent's tail. She's going to hold it hostage to ensure Ardent's good behavior.

[ysth]

It's official: Today's comic has me stumped

I don't think it's going to restore itself, either.  So don't be disappointed if there's a lack of groan.

[Orkboy]

He could be outside, tending a fire under a very large pot of oil. Once it comes to a boil, Alice will start seriously questioning Gavia.

Or Alice could have brought him along because she knows she's going to need to work off a lot of frustration after this is done, and Jack is going to be her boy-toy.

Or he's making cookies. Because Alice is from the Dark Side.

I like the way you think.

[Method of Madness]

Pun jar, NAO!

What have I said about pun shaming? I can't exactly punish you for it but it's still discouraged

[Is it cold in here?]

Now we know Gavia's job. She works at a car wash.

She's the detailer.

[DSL]

This is a new form of Butts Disease.

[Is it cold in here?]

Since Ardent has no understanding of money he can't take advantage of retail services.

[hedgie]

Now we know Gavia's job. She works at a car wash.

She's the detailer.

*groan*

[MooskiNet]

Now we know Gavia's job. She works at a car wash.

She's the detailer.

*groan*

I suppose that if Alice can fix it, she'd be working in retail?

[Thrudd]

.....Anyway, this all relates to AG in the sense that a generic "transporter"--the Star Trek default--adds the same problems. No writer is obliged to actually solve those problems, but I'd said originally that I'd hoped Jeph was handwaving in an idea that didn't create those issues--like a wormhole. (The energy involved is still titanic, but wormholes don't copy people---unless they are turned into time machines, but that's actually a pretty tricky thing to do, so...). If it's going to be a basic matter/energy transporter, it would be nice to see that some of the implications of that technology actually influence the world the characters live in. (Like the occasionally used trope of, "we live this primitive way because we can. We can because we aren't primitive at all.") Matter/energy manipulation means you can have anything you need, which makes you question what the word "need" means.

......, I'd rather just handwave in something equally improbable without the explosions and replication effect--like a wormhole or something.

The writer of schlockmercenary had addressed both topics of macro and micro wormholes and their application as well as the application of nanites for military use.
Add in politics, intrigue, spy stuff, marketing, lots of explosions and stuff. Did I mention alien aliens? You might recognize a few that were inspired by classic storied races.

A different premise on which to base transporter technology is extrapolating the use of the Diode Tunneling Effect. Mind you that effect still required something on either side of the space being traversed. Well that and compensation for things like relative motion and altitude. Some good short stories and books were based on that idea.

Fantasy has it easy. All you need is a 5th level teleport spell.
<rant>
Star Trek was always science lite in TOS but I felt they kept their hand-waving limited and wrote everything down so things at least were consistent.
Each series became less and less science and more, throw the latest buzzards at them since nobody will know what they mean anyways, we sure don't.
Add to that using a different explanation for the technology whenever they needed a technical mishap to write a story around.
The science that more and more of the stories were based on was tabloid at best.
Also a lot of the stories were "inspired" from a lot of older science fiction short stories and adapted by the screen writers [aka butchered]
</rant>

[ReindeerFlotilla]

The Teraport. I'm familiar. ;p

Pillage. Then burn.

Howard actually went "there" as far as transporters go. The gatekeepers made copies of everyone who used their galactic skate transporter network and interrogated the copies to death. Ghey used the information for political and economic advantage.

Thus, the Gav. And Breya's husband.