Questionable Content

There are two ways I expect this to go. One: Marten and Claire move before Dora and Tai's wedding, but they will be back for the wedding.

Two: Claire gets her job offer right around the time of the wedding and Marten and her plan to leave soon after. This would allow some melancolyness on the wedding.

I’ve started to view Questionable Content as the webcomic equivalent to Doonesbury, so the cast changing out doesn’t shock me as much. It’s more about a growing web of people than any specific character. Characters age, move away, die, etc.

For a long time QC relied on the Status Qou for a lot of it's humor and fun, just adding more characters. I think Dale and Marigold getting together was the first real shake up that changed things, cause even stuff like Angus and Padme where kinda of temporary one offs and everyone knew that, but Marigold overcomeing her Issues and Dale opening up and being more forward was a really big change.

Then everything went down with Faye's drinking, with her leaving Coffee of Doom, the Robot Fighting Ring, Bubbles and Corpse Witch, and well....by now it seems like there really isn't a status qou at all. Which is actually some neat writing I think, and it makes it possible that Marteen and Claire might really leave the strip.

I’m sorry, Angus was a one-off? They dated for literally years.

And Angus leaving was the precipitating event for Faye's worsening alcoholism; it doesn't make much sense to say he was just status quo and her drinking marked a sudden change.

That's fair I suppose, I meant more his 'majority' run in the comic which was the guy that came in to get sassed and flirt with Faye, then him an Faye actually dating.

Relevant to this thread.

Intercourse, Pennsylvania winning over Blue Ball, PA is a matter of taste.

#3986

Claire, the simpler explanation (and my prediction for next strip) is that they're celebrating their engagement in bed together.

Dang Faye you don't mess with people post Final Exams.

#3897

Uh-oh, Faye looks very worried about being in a bar, though I'm sure Bubbles will keep her to club soda and such. Unless Bubbles herself wants to try one of those Robot Beers...

Also, hi Seven! I wonder how she and [checks the archive] Jeremy are getting on.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Apr 22nd 2019 at 1:09:29 PM

We still don't know if Dora and Tai are engaged and this is a celebration or if they broke up and this is drown-your-sorrows-party.

(They totes got engaged but I wonder why Jeph is dragging it out)

If the engagement talk went badly they wouldn't be inviting the gang together. In any case of sorrow-drowning, they'd probably split the cast in two separate drinking parties.

They got married at the courthouse. Their reception is at the bar.

1. god dammit faye if you have a problem with booze just say so

2. this is a nitpick about the storytelling and i don't know if anyone else feels like this or if it's just my inability to read; i have no bloody idea if that proposal was supposed to be serious or not. i'm plenty familiar with jeph's writing style (i've binged the strip at least twice and been following it since 2011) but he used to be pretty decent about hashing out what was real and what was for fun. with this i just can't read the situation as being anything but silly (because of marten's quick exit stage right) but given dora and tai's history it's perfectly in line for tai to be like this and jump at the chance to propose

anyone else getting whiplash over this?

I think it's serious. With incharacter point of view of it of course being an impulsive thing, but after which they actually sat down and seriously talked. Results of the talk are not necessarily "Marriage on XY!" but are definitely overall positive and reinforcing of their ongoing relationship.

Yeah, I was thinking the proposal was just a gag up until this strip. Now I'm not that very sure. It's entirely in line for Jeph to make a little joke like that, then suddenly make it more serious a few strips later, but this lacked the second part, so I'm confused.

I could still conceivably see this turning out to be a "we talked it over and realized we had fundamental differences, so just dating again" gathering, but it doesn't work narratively unless Jeph makes a good joke of it.

#3988

Light up a road flare in a bar and Elliot's likely to show up and ask you to leave. But maybe that's what Bubbles is relying on.

In fairness, if one comes across ownership of several flares, it would be an incredible waste to not use them. Not every day does the chance to surprise people by using a flare comes around.

#3989

"God, I would've felt awful getting everyone's hopes up for nothing."

Jeph, that you?

I really think the initial strip showing the proposal needed more time to breathe. Jeph should have either committed to the proposal as a big dramatic moment rather than a panel "we're engaged! :)", or should have let the drama of the proposal linger in the air and colour the strip for a while.

Why? This was fun.

I never grew out of my angsty teenager phase so I've never really been on board with just reading about good things happening to good people, something I discuss a lot in the Dumbing of Age thread. I just would have liked this more had the proposal and engagement of two longtime main(?) characters been a bigger deal, or that the question of whether or not it'll happen and how that can radically alter the status quo of this friend group impact the strip for a while before the eventual payoff.

I kind of agree that the initial proposal needed a little more time in the spotlight, but just because, as it was, it felt more like a gag than an actual proposal. I mean, that one panel of Tai proposing in a hurry was the last time we saw them before this, and it was at the end of a comic. It really felt more like a joke than a proper story moment.

But other than that I'm fine with this as a thing. Didn't expect Tai to be one of the first people getting married in the comic, that's for sure, but it's nice to see.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on Apr 25th 2019 at 7:44:01 AM