Questionable Content

On the other hand, we were just talking recently about the series of strips where Claire guilt-trips Marten for using his friend to get a job he was unqualified for, and then Tai points out that she and Marten didn’t know each other before he applied for said job.

So if it’s too difficult to just edit the strip, he’s definitely willing to explain it away later.

He said on his Twitter that he rewrote today's strip.

New version is up. It’s significantly less funny than the original.

Huh. I really do not see why the punchline had to be changed - only inaccuracy was in panel 3, no need to touch panel 4. Here's my backup of the original.

Agreed. The original punchline was much better.

Also, Jeph has been rewriting quite a few comics recently to avoid plot holes, hasn't he? More than the usual fare, at least. I suppose writing a comic for this long has finally caught up with him.

Maybe it's because I saw it first, but I think "aw man, I missed my opportunity" is punchier than "I didn't want to encourage him".

Marten’s set up of “Does he still have it?” Is stronger than “Did you at least pet it?” and Pintsize’s having an opossum in the first place is treated as a non sequiter rather than a reaction to the conversation in he previous panel

Plus, the idea that Claire actually wanted to pet it the whole time is funnier than her just not taking advantage of the situation.

At least I find it funnier.

Ah well. We return to the robots. May is being interestingly self-sacrificing here, thinking about others in her situation who don't have rich friends (well, one rich acquaintance, at any rate).

More of this trio, please.

I'm always happy when Claire's gender identy comes up. I'm surprised she wasn't out to everyone off screen the way she sometimes casually mentions it.

But I guess when you've taken your transition as far as you intend to, you don't have much ties to people who knew you pre transition, people don't tend to assume your trans on sight, and you're not in the company of any other trans people - then it might not come up in conversation much even if you're happy to talk about it.

I wonder if this is gearing up towards Claire getting in contact with her estranged farther, who we know doesn't know she's transitioned.

Edited by Whowho on Jan 31st 2020 at 5:07:35 PM

I think it is. We’ve gotten a few hints dropped here and there that he’s gonna become relevant in the future.

It's very rare that characters go through a genuinely shit time in this comic, but I can't help but be really worried for Claire on that front. We've never seen Claire face the prospect of her transition not being accepted.

And we know that when Clinton talks to their dad, he never even asks about Claire.

Last time a main character confronted a parent, they left the comic for a while. I hope Claire has a better time of it than that.

That's a heck of a bruise, Brun.

Take some of that extra pay and GO TO THE DAMN HOSPITAL.

Extra pay from a bartending job would pay for about five minutes of a US hospital visit. But yeah, she should get that looked at.

I actually winced when I saw that.

Yeah. I grew up thinking of bruises as relatively harmless, but a bad bruise does raise various risks regarding blood clots, and of course anything on the torso or head means you've taken enough damage that there might be something internal damaged.

Y'all are probably right but I know where Brun is coming from. I pulled a hamstring the other week and didn't go to the hospital because all they'd do is tell me to alternate heat and ice, and to stay off of it as much as possible, which I already knew. Plus I'm betting that she doesn't have insurance. Well, maybe, because she lives in Massachusetts and we have MassHealth and weren't stupid about Obamacare.

Edited by tricksterson on Feb 3rd 2020 at 11:48:16 AM

Ooph looks bad. Bruises either take a long time to turn purple or it was really cold. She should get a second opinion if she can, cause that doesn't look like it's healing normally.

Or Jeph’s just bad at drawing bruises.

Maybe but doesn't Jeph use adobe with his tablet? In those art programs I've tried at least coloring purple is a very deliberate decision.

Yeah, one of my bugaboos in many forms of media is the "instant black eye". Someone takes a punch and in the next scene, mere minutes later, they've got a huge shiner. Cartoons, fine, they already do Cranial Eruption, but live action films?

Edited by FuzzyBoots on Feb 3rd 2020 at 12:19:13 PM

I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Choosing the colour would fall under the banner of “sucks at drawing bruises.”

Never mind that if she spent all night cleaning at the bar it’s probably been six or seven hours since the keg exploded, and a bruise can absolutely be that colour by then.

Colour aside, that’s a big bruise. Realistically, I’d think that anything that could make a bruise that size might well have fractured or ruptured something deeper.