Jeph: You complain about the poor state of the people on these forums, and after looking around a bit, I'm agreeing with you. I'm not sure I'll stay here very long, but I will keep reading your comic, which brings me to my question: Do you plan, or have you considered, to up the number of indie rock (or another "high-brow" subject, like linguistics) to a level like you used to have? It would change your fanbase some (although it would probably alienate quite a few). It would definitally change people's reactions to your comic, and thus these forums/your following. I'm not sure if this would be good or bad, but it seems the sort of thing you might have opinions to share on.
I've thought about it but I'm not really interested right now. And I doubt changes in the comic would really alter the chemistry of the comic discussion threads much.
Next question, how did you get so $%&@! good with facial expressions? Is there someone whose technique inspired you, or did you develop some conscious technique, or is it one of those unconscious unteachable skills like riding a bicycle?
Examples where I think you communicated something subtle include Wil and Penne-lope in 1286, and Dora in 1278 showed a lot of emotion without exaggerated drawing. Tai in panels two and three of 1268 had an expression that's not off the shelf, but that said how uncomfortable she felt.
I'm not really that good at facial expressions, I just do the best I can. I read a lot of comics, both web and manga, and that probably helps I guess?
I was wondering about the process behind "the talk" and Faye's dad's suicide. How long before you started that story line did you know you were going to do that. Because when you read the archives , there is some pretty clear foreshadowing early on. Such as when faye cried at the ice cream shop. I mean did you have in your head "Faye's dad died" for all these years or what? The story just seems to build to the talk. You made it fit really well, if it wasn't always in the back of your head.
Do you think that the serious nature of the talk influenced Tim Buckely's decision to do the misguided miscarriage strips at control-alt-delete? I think it did. What do you think about those strips in general?
I knew from almost the beginning that Faye and Marten were gonna have to have a big dramatic heart-to-heart sooner or later. The actual time was decided entirely on the spur of the moment. It took me a long time to figure out the reason for Faye's trauma but once I did it basically wrote itself. I wrote that entire arc in about 45 minutes. One of the advantages of serial storytelling is you can create an illusion of careful forethought simply by looking back over what you've done before and making sure the new stuff fits in. It might be a hack trick (I'm not really a writer so I don't know) but it does work.
I can't say whether I've had any influence on CAD. I can see what Tim was going for with that story (developing the relationship between Ethan and whatshername) but I don't think it was executed properly- in fact I just don't think you CAN execute a miscarriage story properly if it's in a comic that is normally about wacky "random" humor and video game jokes. I respect that he tried something different, but I don't think it was a success.
Jeph, what is the saddest thing?
The saddest thing is a child trying to push the intestines of his freshly-run-over pet rabbit back inside as it slowly wheezes its last breath.
I know there's a bunch of good episodes of mst3k, but what tops your list?
and =o! which host are you more fond of: mike or joel? ^^
I don't have a favorite episode but Joel-era is inifinitely funnier than Mike-era.
Jeph,
J. Michael Straczynski experiences the writing process as one of transcription. His subconscious, he figures, is doing a lot of heavy lifting behind the scenes but what he is conscious of is setting up a situation and then watching a movie of the characters reacting to it. He watches that movie over and over, and each time through it gets clearer and more detailed. When it gels he types up what he saw. The characters are autonomous.
How does that compare to your own experience when you're writing a QC script?
That is the best-case scenario for any kind of writing, and something all writers strive for. On a good day, that's what it feels like to me. I need more good days.
augh enough about the cast page i will destroy the cast page with fire
Whats wrong with asking about the cast page?
Thats my number one source when refering the Jeph's masterpiece to friends. Unfortunately, some of the chacrters have not been added, the head-shots are a little out of date and some of the characters bio.s could be tweaked since their personalities have developed more.
Back to the main point though, since i cant exactly explain what the entire story is between all the cast or even describe the whole cast, it would be nice if something (like a cast page could do it for me
I am just going to change the cast page to a link to the Wikipedia article for QC
Hey Jeph,
When I saw all the different Twitter accounts for the characters, I couldn't help but smile and follow all of them. What made you decide to give them all Twitter accounts? Was it something to add more depth to the characters or just something for you to have fun with?
Thanks!
I just thought it would be fun
How did you decide when to make the jump from 'hobby' to 'full time job'? Was it scary? (sure is scary for me!!!)
Do you have any advice for someone else who's trying to do something they love and live off it? (I don't draw a webcomic, though... 
)
Do you ever feel isolated not working with other people (besides your wife and your trained polar bear associates)?
What's the hardest part about writing this comic?
What's the best part about writing this comic?
Is Twitter really that amusing to use?
(edited to get rid of all the useless space at the bottom cause I'm slow)
1. When I got fired. Yes.
2. Be lucky.
3. No.
4. Writing the comic.
5. Finishing a script.
6. Yes
Would you rather chew on lightbulbs or have lightbulbs chew on you?
NO *YOU* SHUT UP
Is it fun looking around for furry pictures to put on Pintsize's twitter?
extremely
I have convinced my cousin Michael to open a Coffee of Doom franchise.
He asks, how do we get a franchise for a place that doesn't exist?
I really gotta trademark that one of these days
Jeph, don't you know how to draw tapirs from the front?
Assuming you're talking about the freaky panel, I drew it from the side because the creepiest part of tapirs is their weird semidetached upper jaw and I wanted to emphasize that.
Jeph Jeph Jeph! I have a serious question!
Well, not really, but I think it's a good one.
Have you ever thought of hireing(spell check that for me, is there still an e or no?) a really smart person, say, an engineer, to build a model of Pintsize? With attitude and all? Possibly the addition of serious lasers eyes for an extra fee and a contract. I dont know, just an idea.
Well, now I have I guess.
Hey Jeph, Jeph,
Have you ever thought about hiyerung someone really smart, like, a doctor, to create Marten and Dora and Faye and Hannelore so you can have sex with them? It would be like incest, only more delicious!
I don't know, just an idea.
gonna fuck your face-holes
I noticed that throughout your comics there are many references to either Anime or Japanese Culture that is not dealing with Anime. So did you take some sort of culture or language class about the Land of the Rising Sun and Raw Fish?
I uh I watch anime sometimes
I tried searching around the forums to see if anyone has asked or if it has already been posted, and couldn't find anything, so: Comic 1276, the wall of text behind Hannelore's head, is the full text posted anywhere on the forums? Did you actually write the whole thing, or did you just draw text on either side that seemed like it fit with the previous line? If you did write the whole thing, could you post it, or direct me to where you did post it? I'm curious.
I actually wrote the whole thing; it's just stream of consciousness babble, and no I'm not gonna post it.
Why did you decide to post disturbing things in Pintsize's twitter? WHY?
Are you just trying to fuck with your fans?
It says in the FAQ that the original art size for each panel is really, really huge. Do you ever release these Original Drawings? Would you be willing to give out a few favorites of yours if I asked nicely?
EDIT: there's one or two on the somewhat defunct jephdraw website...
EDIT #2: What about releasing the .psd file?
We might be doing on-demand strip prints once we switch to Topatoco and they would be pretty big.
Dear Jeph, what do you want for Christmas?
I don't know if you know this, man, but Eris is totally like, a girl.
Mocking is how we do things here.
wanna meet that dad
Dear Jeph,
Does this section of the forums creep you out?
If weekly comic talk is AIDS, this is oral herpes
Hey Jeph,
have you ever thinked (or however it's spelled, I'm tired :p) of publishing SVG (or other hi/full-res) versions of your panels?
Really, infinite-scalable graphics simply look way better on bigger screens than the current poor 600px 
the|m.
nnnnnnnope
Jeph,
Why do you hate the WCT so much?
Also, how much time did you jump forward after Will left
or did you just say screw it i want Dora's hair long NOW and didn't care for time?
It's pissy and inane and creepy.
Enough.
Hey dude:
Everyone (you included) makes jokes about the glacial passage of time in QC - why do the time jump at this point of the story?
How much of a role do your friends/family have in the material that ends up in the strips? (Do you mine conversations for funny turns of phrase to give to your favorite characters?)
What's the difference between indie culture and hipster culture?
Seemed like a good idea, fit in the story, and I was sick of Dora's old hair.
Very little.
Indie culture is far too diverse to generalize. Hipster culture is just a bunch of douches being douchey.
Why were you pleased by the Tribune closing?
(I don't read printed news so I might be missing something)
I used to work for a company owned by them and it sucked so many balls you would not believe
sometimes I enjoy schadenfreude
what are you thinking about doing with this massive, eclectic, and interesting internet cult youve started? that kinda sounded mean but it was meant with all good intentions.
fanbase != cult
But what I was hoping for was some advice on scripting comics. I've done a bit of creative writing before but never antying like scripting, and as me and my artistic girlfriend are thinking of collaborating on some kind of webcomic based story soon, I was wondering if you had any tips on how to go about actually scripting the thing.
Since I don't work with an artist my scripts are very basic- just dialogue and very occasionally a note about pose or action or whatever. If you're working with an artist, I imagine you have to be a lot more specific about setting and body language and such. The trick is really just clearing your mind and letting it happen naturally, I guess. It's kind of a mysterious process.
