[Webcomic] Webcomic Appreciation Jamboree
- Thread starter Allen who is Quiet
- Start date
Heat: The Space Age of Pro Wrestling
Really good wrestling comic, lots of violence, cursing, and it has a good amount of aliens so that's fun.
Really good wrestling comic, lots of violence, cursing, and it has a good amount of aliens so that's fun.
Don't lie, we have all been Ternaldo at one point....or several points.
Well... today's Wapsi Square certainly cleared up the Monica/whatshername thing: no, they weren't an item, but they probably are now because why not? Because booze and demons said they should?
Is it just me or has Wapsi Square gotta really... well, dumb and sleazy since the Atsali joined the cast? Or maybe it started after the Jaguar Girl stuff started? I don't know... it hasn't been fun for awhile now and the writing has gone to complete shit.
Is it just me or has Wapsi Square gotta really... well, dumb and sleazy since the Atsali joined the cast? Or maybe it started after the Jaguar Girl stuff started? I don't know... it hasn't been fun for awhile now and the writing has gone to complete shit.
I stopped being able to follow it a long time ago, and the whole triple-quadruple-time-loop-dimensional thing just made it tiresome. Basically I stopped giving a fuck after Shelley died the first time.
Read a comic called Iwish today...premise doesn't hold a lot of water. A girl named Stephanie accidentally agrees to get a genie that will grant her every wish, and then complains that this ruined her life. Now, you know in literally any other story like this the magical being has to do something annoying first for the human to complain about? Well none of that happened, she didn't alter her reality, didn't make her go through any horrifying adventures, the genie barely has a personality yet. Its just a fledgeling comic though, and the art is okay so I think I'll give it another shot.
She just apeared from her phone, introduced herself, and then the protagonist stated "My life is ruined!" Like I said, bit of a shaky premise.
Yeah that just seemed to drag on forever didn't it? Its a good thing I discovered it now, otherwise I'd have to wait TEN WEEKS just to get to not even half of the first chapter.
For one quick split-second, I thought you were suggesting 3rdWish had decided to resurrect itself.
--Patrick
I could not find said comic, I did discover a porn comic of the same name though. An eventful day.
NON COMPLANATORY NEWS- Monster Pulse is getting delightfully scary-
wasn't expecting Violet to reveal her creepyness so soon but I am still STOKED to see it.
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From what I've read, the site has pretty much been abandoned and the only way to read it is on one of them archive sites.
Necronic
Staff member
After the comments on Girls With Slingshots I thought I would give it a quick read. I'm at like....2011 now or something, so far I'm not seeing that much that bothers me. It reminds me a lot of that other comic the writer of Looking For Group does, but instead of guys its girls, and its far better written.
GasBandit
Staff member
It starts off pretty innocuous. It was the later strips where my complaints started coming from, though the main character always had a pretty big misplaced sense of entitlement, but it was a pretty small flaw until recently. The one chick who rationalizes being self-centered about her sexual gratification was a pretty sore one for me, and now I'm to believe that the main protagonist has never considered that her mother is an actual human being. Even ARCHER didn't freak out about his mother dating as much as this. "OMG my mom likes men I need booze."
It's not as wishy washy as "Get a Roomie" but it's come pretty close to being kicked out of my RSS feed.
It's not as wishy washy as "Get a Roomie" but it's come pretty close to being kicked out of my RSS feed.
Necronic
Staff member
It seems like from the very beginning Hazel (the main character) is a pretty unlikable character in a lot of ways, and I don't see the strip as in any way condoning her behavior. Same goes for all of the negative behavior that I've seen, I feel its portrayed in such a way that isn't trying to excuse their actions at all, just showing them all as flawed. They are all caricatures of course, but that's just what you do in a comic (LASAGNA!)
So far this comic has been far more palatable to me than Least I Could Do (the one I was talking about earlier). I haven't read that one in years but the early stuff was pretty bad.
So far this comic has been far more palatable to me than Least I Could Do (the one I was talking about earlier). I haven't read that one in years but the early stuff was pretty bad.
GasBandit
Staff member
I never really liked Least I Could Do, either. But it felt more up front about being "this is a comic about jerks being jerks with other jerks." If Hazel and Jamie aren't exactly "justified" in their flaws, they're at the very least cast as sympathetic. It'd be better if one of the other characters called them on their shit more often. It feels similar to how Brent and Cole were actually the jerks, not Max.
Necronic
Staff member
Ok, so I'm mostly caught up with Slingshots now. Enough to sort of see what y'all are talking about. Pretty much every relationship in there is non conventional. You have the asexual polyamorous relationship. You have a dom looking for sub. A lesbian relationship. And a girl who is jus incapable of having mature relationships. Which at some point might hit me as a little....much. Like it's trying to hard.
But, the one thing this comic does really, really well, is continuously examines the relationships. Sometimes the characters themselves are directly talking about it and sometimes the situations, and the reactions of the characters, aptly portray the difficulties of these relationships.
Honestly I find this to be a pretty well written relationship comic. I mean, my view on this is a bit stilted because my own marriage is kind of weird in some ways. I stole my wife out of a lesbian relationship and she still has "urges", which I more or less indulge (sometimes...often...to my own benefit), but the one thing I've learned is that as long as communication and self examination are rife then you would be surprised what you can be away with.
Hazel is in some ways the most irritating character, because she lacks any real self examination and personal improvement, but on the other hand her life is pretty shitty exactly because of those flaws.
The only scene I ran across that I was a bit taken aback by was when she ended the relationship with Zach and her gay friend Darren or whatever basically applauded it. She seems like a person who creates and then wallows in her own misery. On the other hand, I know people like that, and it's interesting seeing a character that I can relate to them so well.
Anyways, 6 months left or so, but I can't say I agree with y'all's analysis. I find it to be a pretty well written comic.[DOUBLEPOST=1416030829,1416030523][/DOUBLEPOST]One more thing. One thing I like about it. I feel it really captures the "love is messy"/"shits complicated" aspect of romance really well. Sometimes people make the wrong choice. Sometimes there isn't a right choice. But whatever there is, we live with the consequences of our choice. I feel it nails that pretty well.
But, the one thing this comic does really, really well, is continuously examines the relationships. Sometimes the characters themselves are directly talking about it and sometimes the situations, and the reactions of the characters, aptly portray the difficulties of these relationships.
Honestly I find this to be a pretty well written relationship comic. I mean, my view on this is a bit stilted because my own marriage is kind of weird in some ways. I stole my wife out of a lesbian relationship and she still has "urges", which I more or less indulge (sometimes...often...to my own benefit), but the one thing I've learned is that as long as communication and self examination are rife then you would be surprised what you can be away with.
Hazel is in some ways the most irritating character, because she lacks any real self examination and personal improvement, but on the other hand her life is pretty shitty exactly because of those flaws.
The only scene I ran across that I was a bit taken aback by was when she ended the relationship with Zach and her gay friend Darren or whatever basically applauded it. She seems like a person who creates and then wallows in her own misery. On the other hand, I know people like that, and it's interesting seeing a character that I can relate to them so well.
Anyways, 6 months left or so, but I can't say I agree with y'all's analysis. I find it to be a pretty well written comic.[DOUBLEPOST=1416030829,1416030523][/DOUBLEPOST]One more thing. One thing I like about it. I feel it really captures the "love is messy"/"shits complicated" aspect of romance really well. Sometimes people make the wrong choice. Sometimes there isn't a right choice. But whatever there is, we live with the consequences of our choice. I feel it nails that pretty well.
Then of course there's the Deus Ex where it turns out that Hazel suddenly is making tons of money off her column because we're told "everything she writes is funny", which we never really see an example of. That was kind of a blatant example of "Hmm, Hazel's kind of painted in to a corner here, but I can't really have her wind up in *too* bad of a situation due to her immaturity. I know, it'll turn out she's actually got a lot of money sitting from her column, because freelancing for an obscure online magazine in a humor column is so very lucrative."
I follow a few comics where the main characters are flawed or "bad people", and I have to agree with Necronic in that I think Slingshots seems to be more even-handed with the consequences to it's characters (with the exception Null mentioned with Hazel's money, but it's not like it turned her life around, just kept that part of her plotline from stalling.) I think even Jamie's going to start seeing that her relationship status is not the "perfect situation" she convinced herself it was, but like in real life, it make take a while to sink-in. If anything, I think part of the problem is that the other characters don't hesitate to call Hazel on her flaws, but tend to give Jamie a pass. But then again, Hazel tends to be more confrontational, while Jamie usually trying to meet other people's needs, so I could see while the other characters over-look her flaws.
I'm not sure about the "abnormal is normal" part. Are we referring to the story lines or the relationships? I never really felt anything Danielle has wrote really felt out-of-place in the in-comic universe she created.
I'm not sure about the "abnormal is normal" part. Are we referring to the story lines or the relationships? I never really felt anything Danielle has wrote really felt out-of-place in the in-comic universe she created.
Well, no, it didn't turn Hazel's life around, but in a way that's worse. Instead of, "Wow, my refusal to grow up has left me in a shitty situation. I guess I need to really grow and change as a person to get myself out of this," it's "Oh, not only am I making ends meet, I'm actually making good money freelancing a humor column in a lesbian e-zine, so I don't have to change a goddamn thing about myself and can just keep doing what I've been doing."
Jamie bothers me because she's selfish and self-deluded but everyone loves her for it, or at least it seems they're meant to. Far from Jamie trying to meet other people's needs, most of the time it seems like she's whining because someone's failing to cater to one of her needs. "I'm feeling sad because the guy I'm not dating is dating someone else." "Oh, I'd better make you cookies then, since I'm your asexual partner and have no other definining characteristics besides baking and not being sexual."
Jamie bothers me because she's selfish and self-deluded but everyone loves her for it, or at least it seems they're meant to. Far from Jamie trying to meet other people's needs, most of the time it seems like she's whining because someone's failing to cater to one of her needs. "I'm feeling sad because the guy I'm not dating is dating someone else." "Oh, I'd better make you cookies then, since I'm your asexual partner and have no other definining characteristics besides baking and not being sexual."
I wouldn't say that's true about Hazel. Yes, the money left her not-broke, but she isn't happy with her life. She doesn't like the wine job, she couldn't get her apartment back, she couldn't re-start with Zack and she's not happy about living with her mom. She's made half-assed attempts to change these things, and failed, so I think she's been less complacent and more depressed and lacking clear insight.
I meant no one in her circle of friends is calling Jamie out like they should. Erin's not going to do it because her basic needs are met (hell, marriages have lasted on less). If I remember, the guy she liked wasn't too keen on getting involved in her situation at first. If no one in the circle of friends is paying close attention to the Erin/Jamie relationship, it may continue for a while due to Jamie's up-beat outgoing-ness with everyone else. The only one who might know what an unfair dynamic Erin/Jamie has is Hazel, and at the moment she's too wrapped up in herself.
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Necronic
Staff member
She's asexual, but she has still has romantic/intimate needs. It's a hard thing to write, honestly it's a hard thing to even imagine. But from what I understand there are people out there like that. Wasn one if the old forum members asexual? Pojodan or something?
I will admit that hazel seems to be a very one dimensional character in many ways. Kind of reminds me of early Doonesbury, where the main character (mike doonesbury) was just sort of a boring pivot for all the other whacky and zany people.
I will admit that hazel seems to be a very one dimensional character in many ways. Kind of reminds me of early Doonesbury, where the main character (mike doonesbury) was just sort of a boring pivot for all the other whacky and zany people.
Necronic
Staff member
One other thing I'll say is that the male characters are incredibly one dimensional as well. They're basically all the same guy and interchangeable. The exception to that would be the "fucked up" guys like Jim or that one pseudo intellectual guy. Those are both spot the fuck on.
Honestly, I don't see Jamie as being selfish. Erin was the one who pushed her into trying to seek out another person to fulfill her sexual needs, and Jamie still hasn't really figured out how that kind of lifestyle works. She was attracted to someone who didn't approve of her lifestyle choice but still wanted to be her friend, and she is mopey because somewhere she thought maybe that would change. If you have never been mopey when a friend you liked a lot started dating someone else, then grats to you. That doesn't make her selfish either. I don't agree with poly either, but that doesn't make the people who choose to try out that kind of relationship selfish.
Does she, though? Do we see enough of Erin as a character to make that statement? I mean actually the few times that she and Jamie have tried to be intimate, Erin was very clear that she was just doing it to try and humor Jamie.
And honestly, when did it become a poly relationship? From what I understand, poly is when all the partners are involved. That isn't the case - Erin has Jamie, Jamie has Erin and whomever she decides she wants at the moment.
From what I can remember, Erin seems to be more interested in the emotional intimacy of their relationship and some mild cuddling. I swear there was a few comics where they talked about that, and her saying Jamie could find someone to fulfill the physical side of her needs, but that's more archive research than I time to devote to this. (If someone wants to find them and prove me right or wrong, it's cool, but Li'l Z up from his nap shortly, so no sources sited from me.) I don't know if that fits the definition of poly, or if it even has an "official" title, but it's also not unheard of in real life. I feel like the problem here is that Jamie has been shown as not really being fulfilled by their arrangement and seems to stay with Erin just so she's not alone while looking for a guy.