THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

  • 28 Mar 2024, 08:10
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Analyzing Questionable Content  (Read 7596 times)

tiny260

  • Not quite a lurker
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
Analyzing Questionable Content
« on: 04 May 2019, 18:53 »

I created a blog just the other day with the monumental task of going through the entirety of Questionable Content and giving it proper analysis, because I haven't seen it done in a collected fashion from beginning to end yet.

https://readingwebcomics.tumblr.com/

Here's the blog, if anyone would have thoughts on my exploration, it'd be you guys. I update every Saturday at 8:00pm. Please feel free to give me all of your thoughts and opinions, I'll appreciate it.
Logged

Is it cold in here?

  • Administrator
  • Awakened
  • ******
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 25,163
  • He/him/his pronouns
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #1 on: 04 May 2019, 19:48 »

Wow. That is a mammoth amount of work. It will take quite a while to go through.

I hadn't known that everybody in 2003 had a pet robot. That helps make sense of some things.

I'm a bit twitchy about spelling, and it was jarring for me every time you called the cartoonist "Jeff".

Looking forward to reading more!
Logged
Thank you, Dr. Karikó.

tiny260

  • Not quite a lurker
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #2 on: 04 May 2019, 21:08 »

Oh... poop. His name is spelled "Jeph" isn't it. Welp. I'll be sure to correct that in the future, thanks for pointing it out. And thanks for your kind words as well, seriously.
Logged

Zebediah

  • Born in a Nalgene bottle
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,278
  • I'm a bandicoot!
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #3 on: 05 May 2019, 05:44 »

Also you referred to Jimbo as “Jim” a couple of times. This is going to get confusing when Jim (of the Secret Bakery) shows up.
Logged
"It CAN'T be a bad decision, it resulted in CARROT CAKE!"

Is it cold in here?

  • Administrator
  • Awakened
  • ******
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 25,163
  • He/him/his pronouns
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #4 on: 05 May 2019, 08:49 »

Describing early Faye as the aggressor is of course accurate but brings up a fascinating line of thought.

What does it mean that a traumatized person who might be expected to shut down and cocoon was instead taking unusual degrees of initiative to reach out?
Logged
Thank you, Dr. Karikó.

tiny260

  • Not quite a lurker
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
51-100
« Reply #5 on: 11 May 2019, 17:05 »

Logged

Scarlet Manuka

  • Bizarre cantaloupe phobia
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 208
Re: 51-100
« Reply #6 on: 12 May 2019, 20:26 »

New batch is up. Let me know what you think.
Nice. Probably didn't need all the "do you notice something different about Faye's voice?" teasers, but it's a very legitimate point that she had been speaking in contractions previously. This obviously was more jarring for you than I found it.

Dora's cat is Miéville, by the way.
Logged

tiny260

  • Not quite a lurker
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #7 on: 18 May 2019, 17:13 »

New week, new analysis on Questionable Content.

https://readingwebcomics.tumblr.com/post/184976459898/analyzing-questionable-content-pages-101-150

Let me know what you think - particularly this week. Am I being too pedantic about Faye's character?
Logged

Is it cold in here?

  • Administrator
  • Awakened
  • ******
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 25,163
  • He/him/his pronouns
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #8 on: 18 May 2019, 19:16 »

If you're overanalyzing, that's what we're here to do. Pedantize away!
Logged
Thank you, Dr. Karikó.

Scarlet Manuka

  • Bizarre cantaloupe phobia
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 208
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #9 on: 19 May 2019, 21:07 »

https://readingwebcomics.tumblr.com/post/184976459898/analyzing-questionable-content-pages-101-150
You seem to have misinterpreted #123. Marten didn't ask for Steve's help in regard to a date; Steve asked for Marten's help in selecting music for Steve's date.

Apart from that, it seemed pretty good. With regard to Faye's apology in #124, it felt to me that to an extent she surprised herself with her latest outbreak of violence against Marten, and I could see that prompting an immediate apology and attempt at explanation - as we know, Faye tends to charge straight into situations without thinking them through, so while this certainly is a bit contrived, some of what you read as contrivance I see as being consistent with Faye's character. It might have worked better with a beat panel in between the initial apology and the more general one.

For the time frame of Dora's goth phase, I think that Jeph is actually trying to present this as a genuine identity crisis for Dora - but it's also likely one that's been a long time building up. She's probably been becoming increasingly disenchanted with it for the last couple of years, and given that Raven complains that she's missed fifteen or so meetings, it looks like she's already subconsciously let it go quite some time in the past. I think we're seeing more the conscious realisation of a process that's already happened. In many ways that's what an identity crisis is: the realisation that the slow incremental changes we all experience every day have added up into something big while you weren't looking, and that something you thought was part of you really isn't any more.
Logged

Scarlet Manuka

  • Bizarre cantaloupe phobia
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 208
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #10 on: 19 May 2019, 21:19 »

I forgot to mention - keep doing these! It's great to see someone else's take on the comic, and I'm not trying to argue with you; I think it's interesting to see how different people interpret things, and so I'm talking a lot about the places where we interpret things differently. But it's good that this sort of analysis is being done and I hope you have the energy to keep going for another... hmm... 85 weeks (exactly until the end of 2020 / start of 2021), if I have my calculations correct, before you catch up to the comic and can start taking it a bit easier.

I guess 4000+ comics really is a lot of comics!
Logged

Is it cold in here?

  • Administrator
  • Awakened
  • ******
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 25,163
  • He/him/his pronouns
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #11 on: 20 May 2019, 13:01 »

As far as a timeline goes, check https://questionablecontent.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline or search this forum for the amazing work AprilArcus did.
Logged
Thank you, Dr. Karikó.

Marco

  • Obscure cultural reference
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 138
  • Not quite an earthling
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #12 on: 21 May 2019, 05:57 »

Great job here. It puts the comic in perspective for new readers. In hindsight, it looks like Jeph had a lot of things planned (though it maybe an artifact of overthinking for a loooong time...)

It would be nice to put links to the original strips in the blog. It's only fair to Jeph, his sponsors, merchandising etc.
Logged

Pogopotamus

  • Plantmonster
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 33
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #13 on: 21 May 2019, 21:55 »

Well done! Best robo~meatsock post-coitus scene ever!
Logged

hedgie

  • Methuselah's mentor
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5,382
  • No Pasarán!
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #14 on: 21 May 2019, 22:00 »

Wrong thread.
Logged
"The highest treason in the USA is to say Americans are not loved, no matter where they are, no matter what they are doing there." -- Vonnegut

tiny260

  • Not quite a lurker
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #15 on: 25 May 2019, 17:13 »

New Analysis post.

https://readingwebcomics.tumblr.com/post/185140440952/analyzing-questionable-content-pages-151-200

Thanks for your kind words and pointing out what I misunderstood on #123. As always, let me know what you think.
Logged

Scarlet Manuka

  • Bizarre cantaloupe phobia
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 208
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #16 on: 26 May 2019, 21:15 »

Nice work! It was really interesting reading your comments about the art. I'm much more focused on the text when I read the comics, so I don't spot a lot of these things (though I do think of this batch as the one where the faces and eyes finally started looking realistic).

I think with the eye-shine that it is being applied to Marten too, it just doesn't stand out as much because of his eye colour. I can't be certain though.
Logged

tiny260

  • Not quite a lurker
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #17 on: 08 Jun 2019, 17:57 »

Skipped a week, but we're still going strong with another analysis post.

https://readingwebcomics.tumblr.com/post/185461115503/analyzing-questionable-content-pages-201-250

As always, let me know what you think.
Logged

Scarlet Manuka

  • Bizarre cantaloupe phobia
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 208
Re: Analyzing Questionable Content
« Reply #18 on: 09 Jun 2019, 21:31 »

Good God, I’m an actual full-blown adult. Christ.
Sympathy! It doesn't really get any better, but you do eventually get more or less used to it. At any rate, that's my experience from about 20 years further into it.

And no, there isn't really a point where you have your life together, it's just a continuing process of trying to make it up as you go along.

-- lowering expectations today, for a less disillusioned tomorrow --

Oh, the comic discussion. Yeah, it was a kind of a slow batch for major plot points, but they can't all be high drama and there was some decent character development (as you said). You did ask for other perspectives on the age difference thing - I think that, like most human questions, you can't really make a blanket statement. Something that's merely uncommon in general can't be ruled out in a specific case. There are a decent number of unusually mature 18-year-olds out there and Ellen may be one. (And Steve may be less mature than the average 24-year-old, too.)

Thinking about it, I'm not certain that emotional maturity is even a big factor in connecting with someone - to my mind it comes more into play when you start talking expectations and commitment. Which obviously is important if you're aiming for a long-term relationship, but it's not clear to me that that's what either of them is pursuing at the moment. And even if they are, if they're both looking for the same thing, I don't see it as much of a barrier. For example, my in-laws were married at the ages of 19 and 28, and are still going strong over 50 years later. And yes, the world was a bit different back then - but people, I think, are still pretty much the same.

Of course, even assuming that the relationship is doomed to flounder because of this - well, it wouldn't be the only doomed relationship to feature in QC :)
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up