Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Chin Boy


While I'm sure Jade must be putting Brent on (Chins of the Father), at least a little bit, this panel of Brent is my favorite PVP panel in a long long time.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep I just saw it, and laughed, as thats what I do into the mirror every time my girlfriend mentions who I look like.

So the "reality" drawing of the characters may be set to begin?
Can't wait to see Jade and her sister

The Wax Lion said...

I must say that the title for this strip made me laugh out loud. I'm a sucker for a good pun, and that was pretty good.

Scott said...

What makes you think that Jade isn't being honest with Brent. I find that curiously interesting.

Anonymous said...

What makes you think that Jade isn't being honest with Brent. I find that curiously interesting.

Because the reality that we've been presented over the years contradicts what she's saying. Now if the reality that lives in the artist's head is different than what was put to paper, well how are we supposed to know that?

Scott said...

I don't recall ever presenting that Jade didn't love Brent unconditionally.

Interesting.

Jai said...

And unconditional love means that she can't be teasing him a little?

Interesting.

Anonymous said...

comments in a previous post mentioned that scott was perhaps getting too caught up in the criticisms of his own work. when i see that he is commenting on these critiques, i am very much inclined to agree. a recent professor i had made a good point in saying that a work should not need to be defended, that it should be self evident.

scott,
please don't allow yourself to get caught up in critiques. it creates a situation that is unnatural. this comic originally had a goal, what was it? what was your motivation?
for some reason, this reminds me of bill watterson, who said that he liked to believe that he created and drew calvin and hobbes everyday solely for the enjoyment of his wife. he did not concern himself with the words of his critics. instead he allowed his thoughts (and his characters) to be expressed in the most natural of ways--without outside influence (save the judgment of editors--which on a side note, is something that can be very useful).

please don't allow yourself to be influenced by the comments of others (including my own).

Derek said...

I think what Fake Scott McCloud and others are pointing out is that, even if she loves him unconditionally, and even if she finds him very attractive... that doesn't mean that she would necessarily find him "big, strong, and rugged." Brent really looks like none of those things!

She might as well have told him "Well, now I see where you got your sexy moustache from..."

Anonymous said...

I thought she was putting him on as well...
For one because Brent looks nothing like what she claims he looks like.
Big, strong and rugged? is she even looking at Brent? he looks like a match with hair.

Anonymous said...

Taking another look, I guess they do kind of both have strong chins.... Flat and vertical at the front, angular at the bottom, cutting straight under.... Make Brett's chin shorter and you could probably get a resemblance.

Well, as good as you're going to get from two cartoon characters :p

Duck said...

Interesting comments both here and on the mother site by Mr. Kurtz. I also assumed she was teasing Brent a bit, albeit in a loving way. I've been married for ten years myself, and this sort of thing is not unusual. Seems to me that she was just giving him a little bit of an ego boost, as a loving wife will do from time to time. I wouldn't call it being dishonest, and the fact that Scott thinks the original post here is interpreting it that way is interesting to me.

Anonymous said...

As the next day's comic is not up as of this post, I think Brent (Brett is my name B-hulsman :) ) CAN look like his dad, but the two are in different styles as of the moment, and if Scott starts changing the original cast to more the "realistic" drawing he is doing now she may just be pointing it out.

My girlfriend say I look like my mother, but I never stopped to think about. Maybe Brent never thought that his Dad and him had anything i common.

(plus she could have teased him as Brent thought she was going to say he looked liked his mom and said she was making fun of him. she said no both times and then pointed out the strong chin, so I believe she was being genuine, she is the "straight man" in the relationship after all

The Wax Lion said...

I just went and read Scott's extended comment on this--wow, seriously? Does Scott K really think that unconditional love precludes that kind of kidding around? I totally thought Jade was being sweet AND not meaning it at all--"I love you for who you are," is what I thought she was saying.

When we tease my best friend's 4-year old, we'll ask her, "What does teasing mean?" Her response? "Teasing means LOVING!" So true. I find it curiously interesting that this isn't what the author was trying to get across in this comic, because that's totally how I'd read it.

Anonymous said...

If you've never realized that your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband actually is NOT joking with you when they compliment something in you that you don't see, then I pity you.

Anonymous said...

Have we as a reader ever seen it though? Those traits aren't at the top of the list when I think of Brent. Anyone can see he takes after his mother more than his father...

But I guess since I'm only engaged and not married x number of years I can't "get" it.

On a positive note, I found today's strip of his dad punching the Panda pretty hilarious and touching.

Anonymous said...

scott can claim that shes being genuine all she wants, but that is not a strong chin. its a nice sharp angle, but is almost the definition of a weak chin. the characters are stylized, so who knows. but,

the way the joke came across to me was that she was claiming the chin was strong like his dads and telling him a little flattering lie. (or you know, lying to herself or crazy in love, doesnt matter)

and brents reaction is him selling himself her lie, which is funny, because its obvious to US.

anyway, now that ive discected the joke, it no longer breathes.

Jai said...

The panda strip today was awesome.

Anonymous said...

Agreed! The panda strip today was really funny!

Anonymous said...

It is bizarre to see that Scott thinks he draws Brett as someone who appears "big and strong and rugged," or that Jade's loving Brent unconditionally necessitates her imagining that he looks that way, or whatever it was that he meant in his comments to this entry. He is clearly failing to depict what is going on in his head.

Unknown said...

Two strips in a row that made me laugh :) Excellent.

Apparently you don't need characterisation to get a laugh, just a dude who can punch a panda through a wall.

Holy crap that was awesome.

Anonymous said...

Compliments aside, Brent's mouth keeps getting higher. By 2008 he'll be able to eat his own nose.

Anonymous said...

I just realized something today.

Kurtz really does think that you can't tease a spouse and still love them.

Otherwise, he'd have to wonder just what his wife means when she makes wet fart noises in his gelatinous gut and strokes his man-boobs while telling him how handsome and sexy he is.

Cora said...

I don't see why she can't be serious. I know that when I love people, I see them as a lot more attractive than most other people do. Scott McCloud seems to be just making the old point that love is blind. Not particularly original, but cute, nonetheless.

Or maybe she's helping to boost his "manly" ego. I know that there have been times when I've been guilty of playing up guy's masculinity because I want him to feel better about himself (or I want his help).

Anonymous said...

Honestly, even the first time I read this strip I never questioned Jade's sincerity.

Most people have a good mix from both parents, and though they may resemble one much more than the other there's a bit of the other in there.

Jade obviously loves Brent and knows a lot about him. Though he looks almost nothing like his father, it's reasonable to assume that there are some aspects that resemble him. Jade, of all people, would notice it.

A side note regarding an aspect of this comic I really liked: Brent seems to feel really distant from his father. This little comment seemed to show him that as different as they may seem, the father is still in him... somewhere.

[cue last panel]

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