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Hannelore (Because two strange girls make for plenty of interesting stories)

17 (16.7%)

Dora and Tai (Why not?)

0 (0%)

ClaireMom (She has rooms free now, after all, and she thinks having a roommate will make Chad more circumspect)

18 (17.6%)

Veronica (Because it turns out she has lots of savings and can easily afford the lease when VV moves out)

3 (2.9%)

Dale (Because he needs a house-sitter when he's at Marigold's place)

8 (7.8%)

Marten and Faye (Because who needs living space anyway?)

5 (4.9%)

Steve and Cossette (Surprise!)

4 (3.9%)

One of Brun's out-of-town friends (Because 'out of town' doesn't mean 'out of reach')

14 (13.7%)

Corpse Witch ("I'm always here for you, Little Miss!")

7 (6.9%)

The other new character from Jeph's development sketches (Because he really is rejigging the cast)

17 (16.7%)

Elliot from the Secret Bakery. Everybody loves Elliot, right?

9 (8.8%)

Total Members Voted: 58

[alanari]

A woman with a history of being too trusting for her own good would not pull a shotgun/harpoon on a stranger at a bar whose only "crime" was staring morosely at his drink. If anything, this suggests the opposite; the main reason Brun is giving Clinton the benefit of the doubt is that he's shown himself to be pretty harmless, something Renee has yet to see.

I can only speak for myself, but in my case this is not the contradiction you think it is.

I've had my bad experiences, of course. Can't be prevented with a personality like mine. Some of them were traumatic. I'm careful around anyone I don't know. Not that found of weapons though, I'm just keeping my distance.
Problem is, I lower my defence too fast. As soon as someone is nice to me, I tend to assume that he is a nice person. Which is not necessarily true. That makes me vulnerable to anyone who knows to play nice to get what he wants.

If I were in Bruns place, I would be careful around customer Clinton, but I wouldn't distrust Clinton, the guy who helped after the fire. This situation, not strangers but also not really friends, is where I'm the most vulnerable.

[Larm Hargraven]

Hello! Long time lurker, even longer time reader. Thought I'd finally make an account because I feel like this specific strip has sparked a discussion that I might have a small bit of knowledge in. The short and skinny: My B.S. is in Electronic Media Production, which is a fancy way of saying I'm a jack-of-all-trades video maker for Film or TV. Specifically I focused in script writing and lighting in production (I like me some well lit sets.)

Personally I find myself on the site of feeling a bit uncomfortable about this Renee character's disposition. And it's not because she offends me on a personal level or anything, though I would be pretty offended if someone did talk to me like that in the real world, but I digress. The thing that makes me feel off about Renee isn't how her personality is, but how she's been introduced. So far we've watched Clinton, a character who first was introduced as odd and even down right rude, but in the reality of it, just a very excited nerd with a pretty soft heart and tiny bit of arrogance sprinkled in. Remember how we were introduced to him? We weren't thrust into him with all his flaws right out the door. His first few strips were a little ambiguous as to what his personality and motivations are. It made us -want- to know more about Clinton, and obviously, his sibling relationship with Claire.

Now let's shift into the future! We've been currently reading a story-arc mostly centralized on Clinton himself. We've also been introduced to Brun, who's first actions were also slightly ambiguous (though also full of hijinks with a harpoon,) but we're soon settled in with her personality as she's shown she's not actually aggressive nor violent. We also get to watch Clinton and her create what seems to be the beginnings of a friendship, and so right now we're cheering for them in a sense.

But then, finally to bring everything to what I've meaning to say, we're brought with Renee's incredibly off-key and, unfortunately, poorly written introduction. Right off the bat it's violent threats in the strips as well as being supposedly abrasive and grossly over-protective in a story-situation where it's unwarranted. We have no grey area with Renee, she's coming in at 100% steam. Hell, we didn't even get Hannelore's 100% until far later into her introduction. So right now, what we're sitting with is a VERY 1-Dimensional character. She's serving no real purpose other than "harass Clinton and make him feel bad for being 'guy at a bar.'"

Hey, it's understandable if, say, Brun's bar didn't burn down and instead by some other means Clinton is with her over the night into the morning. Then, sure, "Guy at a Bar" can sound PREEEETTY scary and might warrant over-protective attitude. But that's what not happened. Brun's bar burned down, as well as almost her entire life it seems with it. She even begins her first dialogue with Renee stating the bar burned down and a guy was watching over her. Story-writing wise, if you wanted to make a comedic situation out of this, it'd possibly be better if Renee was accusing Clinton for burning the bar down. That'd be a case of mistaken identity, an easy and normal trope that gets a quality laugh. But instead, Renee's actions are out of sync with the entire feel of this story-arc.

Now I can't say where Jeph is taking this character, or why her motivations are so. But I can't very well see a good excuse for it all, even if we're going all the way to say Brun's had some terrible history with people taking advantage of her. What I -can- say is Renee seeming to be at 100% means we already see what she's like. Abrasive, threatening, and over-protective to the point of being slightly disturbing. And we're STILL sitting with no grey area for this character. I see her as the equivalent to Yelling Bird. No, really. The character traits are very similar. That's the problem, they shouldn't be. We should have at least some tertiary traits about Renee to help offset her fiery introduction.

I hope what I've typed makes sense! I know I'm terrible at being long winded and sometimes go on too many tangents, but again, I hope this made sense. And I do want it to be known that I love Jeph's writing. He can really pull some big hitters on both the comedy and drama sides of writing. Just, y'know, this time it looks like this character is a little bit of a miss rather than a hit.

TL;DR: Renee was introduced poorly because she has no other qualities that make sense as to why she's being incredibly over-protective and rude. Doesn't fit the theme of the story-arc right now, nor the mood. She's more or less Kool-Aid Man'ing into the story-arc.

EDIT: And I'd like to also note that as someone who sits on the autism-scale, if Brun really is such, Jeph might want to look into writing it a bit better. What we'd be looking for is Aspergers, which is a form of it in which someone has autistic traits but is able to socially function, and even then wouldn't be at this severity for someone who would be the owner of an entire bar (which includes the franchise and business operation side of it all, something that requires a good amount of social lubrication and understanding.)

[APersonAmI]

A woman with a history of being too trusting for her own good would not pull a shotgun/harpoon on a stranger at a bar whose only "crime" was staring morosely at his drink. If anything, this suggests the opposite; the main reason Brun is giving Clinton the benefit of the doubt is that he's shown himself to be pretty harmless, something Renee has yet to see.

I can only speak for myself, but in my case this is not the contradiction you think it is.

I've had my bad experiences, of course. Can't be prevented with a personality like mine. Some of them were traumatic. I'm careful around anyone I don't know. Not that found of weapons though, I'm just keeping my distance.
Problem is, I lower my defence too fast. As soon as someone is nice to me, I tend to assume that he is a nice person. Which is not necessarily true. That makes me vulnerable to anyone who knows to play nice to get what he wants.

If I were in Bruns place, I would be careful around customer Clinton, but I wouldn't distrust Clinton, the guy who helped after the fire. This situation, not strangers but also not really friends, is where I'm the most vulnerable.

Oh... *hugs sympathetically, after checking for consent*

I am an aspie, and what you are talking about is quite familiar to me.  When someone commits an action that seems intended to hurt me for the first time since I have met them, my reaction has sometimes been mainly to observe. I do not comprehend hostility, so my first reaction at the strange behaviour is to attempt to understand it. It is on the second attempt at my person that I strike back.

Against school bullies, this was tremendously efficient. Leave or ignore them the first time they try to drag down my dignity, choose a moment and then hit them as hard as I can the second time they do anything hostile. For example, at one time, three guys mocked and jeered at me without provocation, and I ignored them the first time they did it. The second time they mocked me, I pretended to leave, going for my coat, but turned the motion into a backhand strike to the face of the most aggressive one, and then screamed "IS THIS ENOUGH!?" at his surprised, prone, body. He nodded silently, the other two looked shaken and didn't make a move as I took my coat and left. They were never hostile to me again.

Against people faking friendship for years, and then suddenly taking advantage of me, the strategy was... less efficient. That was a long time ago, and I have gained some experience at finding the signs, but I still default to trusting people who do not show hostility.

All this is to say, I understand and sympathize with your situation.

[JimC]

Don't forget folks, you have yet to read a single word of what Renee actually said.

And, for example, compare http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=459 .

[Larm Hargraven]

EDIT: And I'd like to also note that as someone who sits on the autism-scale, if Brun really is such, Jeph might want to look into writing it a bit better. What we'd be looking for is Aspergers, which is a form of it in which someone has autistic traits but is able to socially function, and even then wouldn't be at this severity for someone who would be the owner of an entire bar (which includes the franchise and business operation side of it all, something that requires a good amount of social lubrication and understanding.)

Asperger's syndrome is a highly artificial categorisation of autism which lacks a nuanced view and supports an erroneous "low functioning"/"high functioning" divide. It has been removed from the current version of the DSM (though still persists in the ICD), and replaced with a view of autism which recognises that autistic people have varying levels of difficulty which can differ significantly between individuals. In my personal opinion Asperger's as a diagnosis was useful particularly during the '90s/2000s due to the extreme stigma attached to autism, but now simply functions as an arbitrary division between autistic people.

(This post brought to you by someone who has an Asperger's diagnosis but can also become non-verbal for extended periods of time in response to stress and has quite severe social issues.)

I can understand that. But there's a line between from being over-stimulated and going NV for a while and then there's sitting in a stereotype. I know Jeph takes pride in making his character's fleshed out, and so I just wanted to make some awareness on her personality and people's speculation about her supposed social behaviors.

[retrosteve]

I don't remember seeing much of Renee's personality in the Padma & Jim/Dora arcs. She was described to us by Angus from his perspective, and we saw her in crowd scenes where the focus was on the Eliot-Padma-Marten triangle.
I'm excited to see what she's like in her own words.

Angus made it pretty clear in http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1363 that Renee had "a doctorate in belittling people", and his housemates threw a "Ding Dong, the witch is dead" party when they broke up. That's a pretty scary description right there. Are you still excited to see her?

[tomveil]

So, not sure if anyone else mentioned this already, but, "Renee" reminded me of someone...

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1859

Possible return of older characters?

And here she is drawn:
http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1865
She could bring some nice diversity ... y'know, a character who makes burping jokes instead of farting jokes.

[pwhodges]

Renee's incredibly off-key and, unfortunately, poorly written introduction. Right off the bat it's violent threats in the strips as well as being supposedly abrasive and grossly over-protective in a story-situation where it's unwarranted. We have no grey area with Renee, she's coming in at 100% steam.

But that could be the actual characterisation of Renee, rather than a poorly written one (which implies that it might not be accurate); people in real life can be unexpected in that sort of way.  Also Jeph might quite simply be relying a bit more than is sensible on our remembering Renee (if indeed it is the Renee we've met before) and the earlier outline of her character which is not so much out of line with this.

[Larm Hargraven]

Renee's incredibly off-key and, unfortunately, poorly written introduction. Right off the bat it's violent threats in the strips as well as being supposedly abrasive and grossly over-protective in a story-situation where it's unwarranted. We have no grey area with Renee, she's coming in at 100% steam.

But that could be the actual characterisation of Renee, rather than a poorly written one (which implies that it might not be accurate); people in real life can be unexpected in that sort of way.  Also Jeph might quite simply be relying a bit more than is sensible on our remembering Renee (if indeed it is the Renee we've met before) and the earlier outline of her character which is not so much out of line with this.

And hey, that's all good, but it turns her into a 1-Dimensional character, or at best, 2-Dimensional. And what I mean is that if that's all her characterization is, her importance in these strips should be seen far less than we do already. It'd mean she's either poorly written or written to be a throw-away character. That's really all I want pointing out, how the character is written isn't equalling to how much everyone is assuming her importance in this story-arc, and to a degree, her need to even be in it. Think filler episodes like the "Fly" one in Breaking Bad, if you've ever seen it.

[alanari]

A woman with a history of being too trusting for her own good would not pull a shotgun/harpoon on a stranger at a bar whose only "crime" was staring morosely at his drink. If anything, this suggests the opposite; the main reason Brun is giving Clinton the benefit of the doubt is that he's shown himself to be pretty harmless, something Renee has yet to see.

I can only speak for myself, but in my case this is not the contradiction you think it is.

I've had my bad experiences, of course. Can't be prevented with a personality like mine. Some of them were traumatic. I'm careful around anyone I don't know. Not that found of weapons though, I'm just keeping my distance.
Problem is, I lower my defence too fast. As soon as someone is nice to me, I tend to assume that he is a nice person. Which is not necessarily true. That makes me vulnerable to anyone who knows to play nice to get what he wants.

If I were in Bruns place, I would be careful around customer Clinton, but I wouldn't distrust Clinton, the guy who helped after the fire. This situation, not strangers but also not really friends, is where I'm the most vulnerable.

Oh... *hugs sympathetically, after checking for consent*

I am an aspie, and what you are talking about is quite familiar to me.  When someone commits an action that seems intended to hurt me for the first time since I have met them, my reaction has sometimes been mainly to observe. I do not comprehend hostility, so my first reaction at the strange behaviour is to attempt to understand it. It is on the second attempt at my person that I strike back.

Against school bullies, this was tremendously efficient. Leave or ignore them the first time they try to drag down my dignity, choose a moment and then hit them as hard as I can the second time they do anything hostile. For example, at one time, three guys mocked and jeered at me without provocation, and I ignored them the first time they did it. The second time they mocked me, I pretended to leave, going for my coat, but turned the motion into a backhand strike to the face of the most aggressive one, and then screamed "IS THIS ENOUGH!?" at his surprised, prone, body. He nodded silently, the other two looked shaken and didn't make a move as I took my coat and left. They were never hostile to me again.

Against people faking friendship for years, and then suddenly taking advantage of me, the strategy was... less efficient. That was a long time ago, and I have gained some experience at finding the signs, but I still default to trusting people who do not show hostility.

All this is to say, I understand and sympathize with your situation.

Hello fellow aspie
I don't mind digital hugs. Thanks for checking though

Hostility without obvious reason. Yeah, I'll never get it and I'm never prepared for it. I'm way more passive than you, I'm just keeping my distance if possible and endure everything if not. People  I'm not emotionally attached to can't really hurt me anyway.

Being taken advantage of.. yeah, I feel you. I even tend to believe in them, that there must have been some kind of mistake and that a friend wouldn't do that to me. It usually takes a while to realise that my trust was misplaced.
I don't really have a strategy. I'm just sad and hurt. I'm no longer bitter about it when it happens though.

[Is it cold in here?]

Welcome, Larm Hargraven!

[pwhodges]

And hey, that's all good, but it turns her into a 1-Dimensional character, or at best, 2-Dimensional. And what I mean is that if that's all her characterization is, her importance in these strips should be seen far less than we do already. It'd mean she's either poorly written or written to be a throw-away character.

We won't know more until (if) we meet her.  Jeph certainly has a history of taking a while to settle a new character's characterisation satisfactorily (Hanners and Angus are prime examples), so I prefer to withhold judgement for a while.

[Tova]

I think after all that discussion, we've all agreed that it's not cool to threaten the person who's just helped your friend with genital mutilation. Okay? Okay, cool. I'm glad that's settled.

Still, I think it's a stretch to imply that she's doing that only because she's an unpleasant person. Maybe there are circumstances that make it forgivable, even. Sure, she's emotional after her best friend was in a fire, she's now being helped by someone she met at a bar entirely unknown to her, and she's not there to protect her friend. Arguably a touch overprotective, but there is almost certainly a relevant history we're ignorant of here as well.

What am I trying to say? Actually, pwhodges stole my line. Maybe withhold judgement for a bit.

In the meantime, I'll just chuck her onto the list of characters who copped hate when introduced.

[APersonAmI]

Oh, right.

Dr. Jim. Alanari. RMc. Larm Hargraven.

Welcome!

I hope you will have a good time.

[Zebediah]

In the meantime, I'll just chuck her onto the list of characters who copped hate when introduced.

That's pretty much all of them, isn't it?

[Method of Madness]

Did anyone ever hate Winslow?

[Method of Madness]

That's different from hating him, though.

[oeoek]

Could it be Renee has a pretty good idea about the average visitor of the bar? A bar where a harpoon might kept within reach with good reason? A bar that has regulars like 'dolphin Jack' Barry? What would other visitors be like, if Barry's opinion is actually valued?

I somehow can imagine Renee's apprehension. Brun reconsidered Clinton's behaviour after a while, and adjusted her behaviour accordingly. Perhaps Renee might change her tune too.

[Tova]

I think every major character has their detractors, but in general I feel that the more we learn about a character, the more sympathetic the forumites become of them, good points and bad. Conversely, when a character is newly introduced and barely known, people tend to judge more harshly. It's not helped by our tendency to draw very long bows (aka speculate).

I find it hard to take that attitude towards a new character, because I've never known Jeph to introduce a character who turns out to be truly unsympathetic. YMMV - I suppose it depends on whether specific flaws press your buttons.

[jwhouk]

I don't think Marten had much hate on first arrival, but I wasn't around back then.

[oeoek]

Juicy...

[Larm Hargraven]

Let me first say thank you for the warm hellos!  I also wanna say that everyone does bring valid points and I will admit that they are just a possibly right as my explanation. I think I'm just taking a more objective approach to how this character could have been written in, but it's why I lurked so long, 'cause y'all lovelies always have such awesome discussions.

[Tova]

Juicy...

Okay, fine. I admit it. I was totally judgemental about that character. 

[Kugai]

My own opinion is that Renee has had to 'Rescue' Brun from certain 'Situations' in the past that has sort of left her very wary of any new contact that Brun makes until she has met the person personally.

Perhaps a bit overprotective, but since the consensus is that Brun may be of an Autistic nature, I myself am glad to see that she has at lest one person who is willing to go to the wall for Brun in looking after her.

[Is it cold in here?]

Vespavenger never drew much sympathy.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

I am now even more interested in seeing Brün's Renée. If she is Angus' Renée, then we are adding detail to a previous character instead of bringing in a completely new one. ("This strip has too many characters": Jeph)

(Does archive trawl)
We have heard her speak in 1845, 1864, 1867, 1868. Maybe more, but that's all I have time for now.

[mustang6172]

Renee's incredibly off-key and, unfortunately, poorly written introduction. Right off the bat it's violent threats in the strips as well as being supposedly abrasive and grossly over-protective in a story-situation where it's unwarranted. We have no grey area with Renee, she's coming in at 100% steam.

But that could be the actual characterisation of Renee, rather than a poorly written one (which implies that it might not be accurate); people in real life can be unexpected in that sort of way.  Also Jeph might quite simply be relying a bit more than is sensible on our remembering Renee (if indeed it is the Renee we've met before) and the earlier outline of her character which is not so much out of line with this.

And hey, that's all good, but it turns her into a 1-Dimensional character, or at best, 2-Dimensional. And what I mean is that if that's all her characterization is, her importance in these strips should be seen far less than we do already. It'd mean she's either poorly written or written to be a throw-away character. That's really all I want pointing out, how the character is written isn't equalling to how much everyone is assuming her importance in this story-arc, and to a degree, her need to even be in it. Think filler episodes like the "Fly" one in Breaking Bad, if you've ever seen it.

A little Tarantinoesque dialogue can flesh out a character quickly.

[wlewisiii]

Comic.

Brun and Hannelore in the same space is an interesting combination.

And the harpoon survived!

[Zastie]

1) I like how Jeph questions his own comic's decisions.

2) Did the harpoon shrink? Looks small in that box.

3) Not even Hannelore can give a straight answer to that.

[Neko_Ali]

Well, most of the  harpoon survived. Typically, the handles are made of wood, while the haft and pointy bit is metal. Which tends to fare slightly better in fire.

[cesium133]

Now I'm wondering if this is leading to Hannelore getting a roommate...

[neurocase]

Literally my only input in all this is that I can't wait for this arc to be over. I'm seriously bored with it. I can't bring myself to care about Brun, I certainly don't care about Renee, and I've had my fill of Clinton. This seems to be stretching on an awfully long time.

[SpanielBear]

Hello! I'm SpanielBear.



Has this place ever been on fire?



(Seriously, hello! I apologise that the thing that made me stop lurking after nearly ten years was an awful, awful joke.  )

[cesium133]

Hello, SpanielBear! I'm Cesium.

This place has been on fire a few times*, but the moderators are good at putting the fires out.

* I may have unknowingly started a few of these fires.

[neurocase]

Literally my only input in all this is that I can't wait for this arc to be over. I'm seriously bored with it. I can't bring myself to care about Brun, I certainly don't care about Renee, and I've had my fill of Clinton. This seems to be stretching on an awfully long time.

Personally, I'm really enjoying Clinton getting some character development.

I can't call it character development, personally. Not when he has, seemingly overnight, turned from a bumbling dork into a competent, semi-confident, level-headed young man. It (and the removal of his glasses actually) just smack of him becoming a more likable 'everyman' character so that he can be used more frequently, in lieu of any actual growth. His fight with Claire was way too overwrought for the situation, the resolution was just a quick snap of the fingers, and any conflicts he's come into, aside from the aftermath of the fire, have just been completely done away with. Perhaps if Brun ever becomes a likable and interesting character, I'll be able to get invested in this part of the story, but I'm just waiting for a switch elsewhere.

All of this is just my opinion, of course. It's highly possible I'm just becoming disillusioned with the direction the strip has taken over the past year or so. I may go back to just reading the "golden age" of the archive and only periodically checking in on the current strips.

[TRVA123]

Is it just me, or does Dora look wildly different each time we see her. When the PoV leaves CoD for a time and them comes back to Dora I can never be sure that it is her.

Often I have to go "is that Dora or Emily?"

Which... no, they have very different body types.

Does anyone else have this problem?

[cesium133]

I've noticed it as well. Ever since it became winter, Dora has looked very different, to the point that she looks like someone else.

[mad hands murphy]

Why is she perfect?

[Tova]

I can't call it character development, personally. Not when he has, seemingly overnight, turned from a bumbling dork into a competent, semi-confident, level-headed young man.

"Bumbling dork" is yet another character assessment made on pretty limited data.

He's a bumbling dork in date situations, yes. And arguably with his sister on occasion (though we've seen him level headed with her as well). This is the first time we've seen him outside of one of those situations*.

Is it just me, or does Dora look wildly different each time we see her. When the PoV leaves CoD for a time and them comes back to Dora I can never be sure that it is her.

I didn't recognise her, I admit.

* Someone with an unhealthy knowledge of the archive proves me wrong in three... two... one...

[Detachable Felix]

Is it just me, or does Dora look wildly different each time we see her. When the PoV leaves CoD for a time and them comes back to Dora I can never be sure that it is her.

Often I have to go "is that Dora or Emily?"

Which... no, they have very different body types.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Wait, that's not Emily?  I need to start reading these on my laptop and not on my phone. Considering everything that went on with Clinton and Emily, I thought it was weird that he'd go straight back to CoD with Brun. blah.

[Somebody]

Is it just me, or does Dora look wildly different each time we see her. When the PoV leaves CoD for a time and them comes back to Dora I can never be sure that it is her.

Often I have to go "is that Dora or Emily?"

Which... no, they have very different body types.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I actually thought it was Cosette on first glance.

[Penquin47]

I can't call it character development, personally. Not when he has, seemingly overnight, turned from a bumbling dork into a competent, semi-confident, level-headed young man.

"Bumbling dork" is yet another character assessment made on pretty limited data.

He's a bumbling dork in date situations, yes. And arguably with his sister on occasion (though we've seen him level headed with her as well). This is the first time we've seen him outside of one of those situations*.

Is it just me, or does Dora look wildly different each time we see her. When the PoV leaves CoD for a time and them comes back to Dora I can never be sure that it is her.

I didn't recognise her, I admit.

* Someone with an unhealthy knowledge of the archive proves me wrong in three... two... one...

He's also a bumbling dork when confronted with someone he idolizes (or their daughter).

He did pretty well at interviewing Marten about his relationship with Pintsize, though.

[jwhouk]

What I'm a bit puzzled about is that Dora's blonde tips aren't showing. When her hair gets that long, it starts to show blonde again (or so Jeph forgot, it seems).

[chaospersonified]

This forum often makes me realize just how different cultures are across the world. Threats of violence aren't exactly rare, the joke being they'd never actually do anything. Not so funny until you know the person making the threats, I'll admit.

Example: I took a miss, the first chance I had to kiss a girl. Her father was on the porch cleaning his guns, with a devilish glint in his eye. At the time, I was terrified. Now I get that's just his sense of humor. He's hardly the only one in the area to do this kind of thing.

Call it bad jokes, I wouldn't disagree. I'd disagree that you have a right to SAY that as an objective fact, because humor's subjective, but that's just arguing semantics. Doesn't really matter, the fact is that's just how it is in my town. And not how it is in anyone else's, which is the main thing I've realized, since this isn't the first time I've noticed this.

[hedgie]

What I'm a bit puzzled about is that Dora's blonde tips aren't showing. When her hair gets that long, it starts to show blonde again (or so Jeph forgot, it seems).

Or she's keeping up with her roots.  Still, I thought that she was Raven at first.

[Is it cold in here?]

Hello! I'm SpanielBear.



Has this place ever been on fire?



(Seriously, hello! I apologise that the thing that made me stop lurking after nearly ten years was an awful, awful joke.  )

Welcome, sort of new person!

If you've been reading the forum for ten years you know the answer is "yes". Unless you were fortunate enough to miss the Dora/Marten breakup.

[Tova]

This forum often makes me realize just how different cultures are across the world. Threats of violence aren't exactly rare, the joke being they'd never actually do anything. Not so funny until you know the person making the threats, I'll admit.

Example: I took a miss, the first chance I had to kiss a girl. Her father was on the porch cleaning his guns, with a devilish glint in his eye. At the time, I was terrified. Now I get that's just his sense of humor. He's hardly the only one in the area to do this kind of thing.

Call it bad jokes, I wouldn't disagree. I'd disagree that you have a right to SAY that as an objective fact, because humor's subjective, but that's just arguing semantics. Doesn't really matter, the fact is that's just how it is in my town. And not how it is in anyone else's, which is the main thing I've realized, since this isn't the first time I've noticed this.

Good example, because that's precisely the type of joke Jeph has made on this and numerous other occasions.

[BenRG]

The real joke in today's strip is imagining that last bubble spoken in Hannelore's perky and upbeat tone of voice. I'm just wondering now how many fires they have had at CoD and how much of that was down to the quirky personalities of several staff (Cossette, especially).

I do have to wonder if poor Brun is going to have a complex about losing things that she values to fires. Her stoic demeanour has clearly been covering how totally traumatised she has been. I also feel more than a little sympathy for her not wanting to feel too much, given how disabling it is for her. My concern is that, when the dam finally bursts, it will be really catastrophic in its effects!

I do hope that Renee can stop her torrent of transferred anger and fears long enough to give her friend a strong hug!

Now I'm wondering if this is leading to Hannelore getting a roommate...

Yeah, me too. If Brun is in real and profound mental or emotional distress right now, I'd expect Hanners to be the first to notice, from bitter experience.

What I'm a bit puzzled about is that Dora's blonde tips aren't showing. When her hair gets that long, it starts to show blonde again (or so Jeph forgot, it seems).

She was deliberately trying to grow her hair out blonde on that occasion. This time, she must be keeping her roots dyed.

[Is it cold in here?]

I vaguely remember Hannelore saying she couldn't handle having a roommate.

OK, 1586.

She's made a lot of progress since then.

Brun might not be the right person for the position though.

[HauntingPoem]

If we collectively will it enough Hannelore will have a roomate!

I'll be back, have to concentrate on willing.

*will*


*will*



*will*