El Goonish Shive

I think Homestuck did it. Once you go Karkat you never go back.

I'm fine with people who don't want to bother with profanity. It's not everyone's style.

But "not as bad as excessive profanity for Darker and Edgier" purposes is Damning With Faint Praise. Why, Shive's actions are better than breaking traffic laws! You might as well say that he's better at drawing feet than Rob Liefeld while you're at it.

It's not some horrifying story element, but it's also plain unfunny. If it were just that Shive didn't want to curse, I'd ignore it and move on. But when he says that he's deliberately trying to be funny and he's not, well, I think that speaks to what's going on in the comic quite strongly.

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

We've seen over and over that Shive is, like, that guy from Blue's Clues or something. He doesn't have to make an effort to not swear or deliberately avoid swearing because he seems like the kind of guy for whom never swearing under any circumstances is the default state of being.

As such, since swearing was never on the table in the first place, goofy phrases that sound kind of like swearing but have ridiculous literal meanings can be silly and fun. It's the kind of gag you might find on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network, and a lot of us made jokes like that when we were kids. Most of us grew out of it, but that doesn't make it a bad thing, it's just another example of how Shive's really, really innocent at heart.

Dan doesn't hate his protagonists, so going darker and edgier probably wont ever happen.

At least he doesn't use wingdings censorship anymore.

The Grawlix is a tried and tested literary convention.

I don't think "Holy crap" was really meant as a punchline or anything. It wasn't something that we're supposed to fall over ourselves laughing about. It's just something that amuses Dan. We all have things that amuse us that aren't actually all that funny and which no one else would laugh at.

SKREEEE!

Wait, you mean it actually ISN'T funny when I set old ladies on fire?

NP.

Cue the harp music.

Huh, that couldn't been done out better.

We did not need this flashback.

Yeah, it was not needed. We could pick that up from the characters. But I guess Shive does not believe in our ability to pick up on subtle (well, maybe subtle is a strong word here) cues.

Eh, I think the rant justifies it.

If you're worried about people thinking this is a statement about all women, then maybe you should include women who it clearly doesn't effect.

Also the flashback does not even qualify that. In fact, the flashback implies it more, cause initially I assumed it was Sarah reading social cues and going like "I know this person, I am sociable, and I have a gut. I can understand this."

Instead, Sarah isn't smart or perceptive or anything, she was told this by Elliot. So instead it's a generic explanation that yes, is used as a stereotype for women in some degree.

It's the insights of a guy who she used to literally be.

Sarah used to be Elliot?

Well, then that makes the fact that they dated awkward.

Huh, this is a generic thing women do? How's Shive saying that?

I still think the flashback use is clunky.

Yeah, this flashback is clunky and pointless, and sort of hurts Sarah's characterization by taking a moment of social awareness away from her. I'm with AHR on everything she said.

edited 21st Oct '15 10:49:37 AM by TobiasDrake

Elfive:

Either they are different people in which case Elliot's insight is relegated to sibling status, not who they used to be

or they are similar enough that there IS insight, and then Sarah could probably figure at least part of it out because she used to date Elliot

In a strange turn of events, today I learned that apparently other people do use Holy Carp as an expression.

In the particular case witnessed. A certain Faust on twitter.

Fun fact - Shive does occasionally post on a MWF schedule.

Not much to really say. The story's kind of moving along with a series of transitional panels. They do their job, nothing amazing.

Remember when Dan did daily posts for a year?

@862 Don't EVER let them tell you that!

??? What are you replying to?