about live blogs add a live blog
The Great Nitpicky Live Blog of El Goonish Shive
Mr AHR

[table of contents]
Strips 101-120 (Elliot X Sarah, Catnip Incident)
Strip 101

Art:
  • Here's a fun game: Look at Sarah's eyes in the first panel, and shift your perspective around a little bit. With a bit of effort, you can make it look like her pupil is resting on her nose, or, alternatively, she has dark eyes; soulless eyes; like a doll's eyes
  • Also, if the last strip was colored, why isn't this one? It's just copypasted from the last strip.

Content:
  • Narm narm narm narm narm.
  • In this situation, it makes no difference whether it is a crush or love. You would treat it the same. And is it really possible for her to love him if they are not together?
  • SARAH YOU DIDN'T EAT YOUR ICE CREAM THAT IS A WASTE OF FOUR DOLLARS.

Strip 102 Art:
  • Elliot can't find Sarah because she disappeared into the abyss.
  • Check out Elliot's giant hairdo in the last panel.

Content:
  • "Sarah!? SARAH!? SARAH! SARAH?! ...Sweetie?
  • Once again, what difference does it make between a crush and love when the feelings aren't returned? Elliot clearly doesn't feel the same way about Sarah.
  • And Shive thrills us again with his delightful habit of telling, not showing, by Elliot describing not what his character would be realistically thinking, but what the character of Elliot's current motivations are.

Strip 103

Art:
  • Nothing bad about the artwork here. Interestingly enough, whenever Shive does slight closeups on characters for the strips, they generally turn out pretty okay.
  • Except Elliot's third panel hands look like Master Shake's.

Content:
  • This... Makes... No... Sense.
  • Okay! Godmode Sue is SO powerful, SO all-knowing, that she is able to see that she is able to tell that another girl she has JUST MET is actually her current boyfriend's OTP, and is selfless enough to break up with him so he can get together with the girl that she JUST MET and live happily ever after.
  • And aren't you not supposed to use karate techniques unless you absolutely have to? Wouldn't it be against the rules for a student, ESPECIALLY a black belt, to just be traveling around like that?

Strip 104

Art:

  • C'mon, Shive. Panels 4 and 5 are just copy pastes with different words. You're above that. I mean, you're already not doing backgrounds. Come on.
  • I like Nanase's poses in this strip for the most part, artistically. But then we ge a problem when we go into content.

Content:
  • Nanase's poses are mostly carefree and sly in this strip, which doesn't.
  • Nanase is also a mindreader. What, you say? Shive references this and gives an explanation in the second panel?
  • SHOW. DON'T TELL. This is one of the worst instances of show don't tell breaking so far. So Nanase and Elliot had all these big talks, but we don't get to see them? This is just foolish! Shive wants to put so much content in this one arc, but doesn't want to put the friggin work into it!
  • I can't get over how mind-bogglingly stupid this entire Nanase thing is. SHE'S BREAKING UP WITH HER BOYFRIEND BECAUSE, Y'KNOW. THAT GIRL SHE JUST MET IS IN LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE WITH HIM. They've obviously been together for quite a while now. So how can she just suddenly say "Yeah. I'm good with breaking up with you. Does Dan Shive have any conception of how relationships work?!

Strip 105

Art:
  • Wonderful. Non-backgrounds passing as backgrounds again.
  • The last panel could have been done without Sarah looking at the reader. Like this, it's just silly.

Content:
  • First of all, whow good are Sarah's senses that she can enter a house and say "OH MY GOD THIS PLACE SMELLS LIKE MINT"? Wouldn't she need to think about it for a bit? I mean, mint is a very specific scent.
  • ...And besides. Catnip doesn't smell like mint. It smells like catnip. It's a very distinct smell. You wouldn't get the two mixed up.
  • Considering how Grace can turn into a squirrel, would it really be all that surprising to Sarah that she gained stripes?

Strip 106

Art:
  • Artwork really isn't that bad here. In fact, it's pretty nice.

Content:
  • How are they falling asleep so much? Eventually they'd just stay awake cuddling.
  • We have another example of unrealistic thinking. If you went into someone's house and it smelled like mint, would you be confounded, wandering the halls shouting "What is the meaning of this mysterious aroma?!" Or would you just think "Oh, they must have sprayed a mint air freshener,"? It's a little nitpick, but it's tiny things like this that ruin my reading experience when they begin to pile up.
  • I should also add that this strip is another of our first inklings of Dan Shive's fetishes bleeding into his comic. Grace was a squirrel, but no. No no no. DAN-CHAN WANTS A NEKO.

Strip 107

Art:
  • Decent artwork, though Grace is holding her hands a bit awkwardly in the first panel.
  • Why did Grace pick out belly shirts when she went shopping?
  • O_O TED HAS A MOUTH

Content:
  • Of course. The stupid girl wants to be experimented on because it will please Tedd. She serves no other purpose in this relationship other than being Tedd's GRLFREND and being eager and sexy.
  • And once again, stating that it wasn't in the comic before does not excuse it. Why not be an AUTHOR, and think of a way for Tedd to bring it up in conversation, so Grace gets the idea that way? Why tell us "I'm lazy." We know you are, Shive. You have no backgrounds. You are the Bleach of Webcomics.

Strip 108

Art:
  • Is the implication in this comic that grace reached over and fired it herself? If so, her hands go from at her sides, to at her sides. So when did she do that?
  • Why is Grace's stomach now a different color from her face?

Content:
  • First panel gives off a reek of what Grace is. I know she's joking when she says it, but that doesn't take the pain away.
  • So, like is the gun JUST a catgun? How does it know whether to switch a person to a cat or a cat to a person?
  • Grace really being uneducated is honestly starting to irk me. That, and the fact that her only desires seem to be pleasing Tedd.

Strip 109

Art:
  • It would have been nice of you to show us the camera. Or a portrait. Or ANYTHING IN THE GOD DAMN BACKGROUND.

Content:
  • So let me get this straight: Grace grew up in a lab, right? She has no idea what the Second World War is, and she has never heard of the Holocaust, but she understands and comprehends the idea of being a furry?
  • And now she neeeeeeeds Tedd to help her get back to normal. Her powers are gone, so she's just a helpless girrrrl.

Strip 110

Art:
  • What is Grace standing on in the first panel?! You couldn't have drawn a line to indicate a friggin floor?!

Content:
  • Or, you know, Ted could be manipulating her because he has a fetish for catgirls.
  • Speaking of which, I never really understood the appeal of a catgirl. About an hour ago, I was standing above a sink, helping my Mom scrub a cat's ass to get caked off feces off of its hindquarters. I can think of at least 10 or 11 things that are sexier than that.
  • And if she was a cat, wouldn't her claws be retractable? They aren't retracted right now, and the way she's holding her arm in the first panel looks like it would hurt.

Blurgh. I am getting more annoyed as this goes on. I'll post another 10 strips tonight while I scream at little children that come trick or treating, asking them why El Goonish Shive sucks so much.

Strip 111

Art:
  • Her breasts are attempting to escape in the fifth panel.
  • Dem heevin' breasts.

Content:
  • What the hell would give Tedd that idea?
  • And... Grace's explanation isn't very good either.
  • ANIMOORRRRRRPHS

Strip 112

Art:
  • Copy pasting is done very little, surprisingly.

Content:
  • Interestingly, she does not shrink in height when she turns into a cat.
  • Also, her transformation process magically causes her to rotate.

Strip 113

Art:
  • Third panel is visited again by Master Shake Hands.

Content:
  • That yarn ball isn't unraveled, which means he just started playing with it. Just wanted to point that out.
  • Oh, great. Shive is now going to try to give character to the cat, ruining the character in the process.

Strip 114

Art:
  • Ooo! Look! There's a wee smidgen of a background in the corner there!

Content:
  • Actually, the title this time made me chuckle. Good job, Danny boy.
  • What is joke.
  • I seriously don't get it. Does it...

Does it have to do with Tedd being a pervert?

I think it does!

- El_Goonish_Shive Grace_Sciuridae Nobody_in_Particular Rule_63 Tedd_Verres webcomic.jpg I BELIEVE THIS CALLS FOR MORE EL GOONISH SHIVE PORN. I'm not putting a not work-safe tag on that. You're stupid if you click it.

Strip 115

Art:
  • SPOOKY BLACK AND GREEN SPACES
  • SHE TRANSFORRRMS INTO SPOOKY GREEN EYED GIRL
  • AND SHE IS STILL USELESS AS FUCK

Content:
  • Why would she be angry? Does the gun change your mindset too? And why isn't Jeremy constantly tryng to murder people?

Strip 116

Art:
  • ANIME LINES!
  • BLACK BACKGROUNDS!
  • WHITE BACKGROUNDS!

Content:
  • NOTHING HAPPENED! AT ALL!
  • Except Grace gained Goku hair.

Strip 117

Art:
  • Tedd's mouth makes a star-studded reappearance.
  • .Shive was probably yearning for weeks to get the oppertunity to put in sideboob.

Content:
  • EL GOONISH SHIVE PORN
  • Why would Ted even hesitate? Grace says she doesn't care.
  • "Must respect her as more than just eye candy" kinda sounds like the thing Shive should be repeating to himself right now.

Strip 118

Art:
  • Nothing to complain about here.
  • I lied.
  • No backgrounds.

Content:
  • Actually, the reason catnip drives cats crazy is because it's like ecstasy. It stimulates pheremone receptors and drives them into a sex-high, basically. So... What the fuck, Tedd. How's that anti-eye candy policy working out for you?

Strip 119

Art:
  • This actually is a pondering: I wonder why Shive didn't just make the second and third panels one panel. He could have just stretched out the couch...
  • Actually, I think Shive was just afraid of not being able to draw breast.

Content:
  • LOLOLOLOLOL BEWBS
  • So... Is the implication that they DID have sex? I can't tell.

Strip 120

Art:
  • Is that suppossed to be Grace? It certainly looks nothing like her.
  • Grace is faceless in the first panel. She looks like Slenderman.
  • CLOSE UP ON TEDD'S GLASSES. DRAMA~

Content:
  • Once again, something that he seems to think is dramatic just comes off as narmy. I don't think Grace would wake up screaming. Usually people don't do that. Sometimes they have night terrors, but they usually don't scream when they wake up, and even if they do have night terrors, you can hardly ever wake them from it.
comments
Cakman:

Strip 101

Strip 102

Strip 103

Strip 104

Strip 105

Strip 106

Strip 107

Strip 108

Strip 109

Strip 110
Cakman 18th Dec 10
Goggle fox:

111: I think you mean the fourth panel. "C'mon breasts, pop out of my skin!"

I read this comic a long, long time ago. I have no idea why I bothered now, aside from my usual stubbornness. See a recommendation, read along, then even when you don't think you'll really like it, stick along because there might be sweet candy at the end.

But there is no candy. There's only toothbrushes and catnip. And then you realize you went to the crazy cat lady's place and you ought to've known better.
Cakman 18th Dec 10
Gilphon:

Oh thank god we're done with the relations arc. It's only going to get better from here, folks!

Though, of course, 'better' ≠ 'good'. At least not yet.
Cakman 18th Dec 10
101, Panel 2: For some reason I cannot shake the image of Sarah having just been punched in the face so hard she hasn't yet regained the ability to think straight. It's not like her eyes are actually pointing in different directions so I'm having trouble justifying this, but that's what it looks like to me.

103: Nanase in panel one looks like she just got slimed or something.

104: Maybe she's REALLY breaking up with him because he just demonstrated himself to be the biggest jerk ever to grace comicdom? No, I'm afraid that's not actually a plausible explanation given what happens an arc or two later, but maybe it should have. Also I get that in the last panel she's not actually drawn any worse than usual, but giving her a closeup without spending more time on it makes the bad aspects more obvious.

105: I assume she's actually commenting on the fact that Grace and Ted have apparently become an item while she was gone. I mean, they've known each other less than 48 hours so I don't blame her.

107: Surprised you didn't call him on how he seems to be backpedaling with Grace's "insightful" comment you complained about earlier—he's retconned it so that as soon as it's out of her mouth Ted's like "lol that's stupid" and she's all like "Ok whatever nevermind". Also, chiming in that it should have been RIDICULOUSLY easy for him to work in the gun—he already referred to the Sarah->cat incident several times, all he had to do was have her elaborate on it once earlier and then he'd be fine. It's like he suddenly decided he wanted to use the gun earlier than he was planning to, or more like he had no plan but assumed he'd get around to the story before he got around to the gun.

Also, I'm a little annoyed at how you keep saying Grace is JUST doing the cat transformation to please Ted, when she stated outright when she proposed the idea that she thinks it might solve the problem she was trying to solve from before she even met him, namely depowering her siblings. It's just Ted's incredible luck that her goal and her percieved route towards that goal happened to involve stuff that appeals directly to all of his kinks.

But then I'm simultaneously disappointed that you didn't spend more time on the catnip. I mean wtf. He steadfastly forces himself not to look at her while she's changing, then he turns around and decides that a great way to spend the rest of the night would be giving her roofies! Recreational drug use would be shocking enough in a comic that's as careful as this about not actually showing nudity/violence/swearing/whatever, but pushing someone who doesn't know what it is to experiment with it... I think Shive must have somehow actually not made a few key connections in his mind here, must have actually not realized what he was doing and what the catnip implied. because otherwise... no, it would be out of character for Dan to have done this if he actually realized what he was saying. He's not TRYING to make Ted look like a rapist, and he's not intentionally making Ted a rapist and not realizing there's something wrong with it, he's just not making the connection between what Ted's doing and anything objectionable.
Brickman 17th Feb 11
I love my answer to this one: Blame Cakman! He is the one that did these strips! He did it for halloween! —evil laughter—

...

Yeah. I'll link him to it, don't worry.
MrAHR 20th Feb 11
...Damnit. You're absolutely right.
Cakman 20th Feb 11
TV Tropes by TV Tropes Foundation, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org.
Privacy Policy