Thursday, May 22, 2008

And so it goes...

A successful story (Letting Go), I'd say. The door for Skull's return is open a little wider than I expected, but it's not to the detriment of the arc. I hope some time passes before we enter a similarly epic "Search for Skull" arc (during which a "Khaaan!" moment would be entirely appropriate :).

The silhouette really works in this strip; I wish we didn't see it so often in such un-important moments.

54 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was the final panel meant to be a complete ripoff of the end of Empire Strikes back?

I don't mind if it was, but I feel it should have been stated in his self-aggrandizing blog post

Anonymous said...

yeah I all the characters (except Jade?) in silhouette in the last panel.

To the above poster. Yes, on his PVP TV thing, he was tracing over a reference pic of that scene. He said he copied the idea from Spaced.

Anonymous said...

Skull will return. he will have to give up being an imaginary friend permanently and the somewhat invisibility to max for it.

Anonymous said...

How come Jade ISN'T in silhouette, by the way...can white dresses not have shadows cast on them?

R.W.McGee said...

That...is a good question. Interesting.

Anonymous said...

I didn't catch the Empire Strikes Back reference (it seems obvious now that you guys pointed it out), but loved both the third and fourth panels.

The reason why Jade is not in silhouette is that this is the last time Scott can draw his wife's wedding dress

Anonymous said...

If Jade was in silhouette it would probably have looked like crap unless Brent was standing further away.

Anonymous said...

Oh my god it's happening....

Anonymous said...

It's not what I usually look for in my funnies, but then, not everything can be a gag: I like that this latest strip has brought Marcy and Francis closer together. In all honesty, Francis is probably the most underdeveloped main character. I don't recall ever seeing his family, hearing about what he does outside of work (school?), or even really being able to gauge his intellect outside of his "Gayyyyyy..." comments. His hair may have changed, but he's still really 2 dimensional.

Anonymous said...

Been a while since I checked out the online strip. Surprised by the lack of humor the past few weeks. Not sure where Scott is going with this, but I hope he gets back to the jokes soon. It's what I loved about the strip and I'm disappointed.

- EL

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

May 24th people.
Chicka Chicka Bow wow!
:)

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Even though it is still May 4th in PVP world, unless they had a hell of reception.

Hehe, thought it be the turd in the punchbowl for that. (or the neckbeard for the paintball arc :) )

Anonymous said...

The strip mentioning May 24th was breaking the fourth wall, so they could well have been talking about real time instead of comic time.

Anonymous said...

well, now we know the real reason scott went to a five day schedule: it was the only way he could avoid drawing 'may 24 2008'

I keed i keed.

R.W.McGee said...

Yeah, I hope he saved some silhouettes for todays comic...IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

Scott said...

I can't DRAW Marcy and Francis doing it.

I'm sorry. Let the special "event" remain safely an off-camera and implied happenstance.

They're supposed to be 16 years old. I'm not drawing that.

Anonymous said...

"I can't DRAW Marcy and Francis doing it.

I'm sorry. Let the special "event" remain safely an off-camera and implied happenstance.

They're supposed to be 16 years old. I'm not drawing that."

nor does anyone expect you to scott. Its just that in this day and age, its only a matter of time before someone rule 34's your characters. trust me, everytime i think about making a comic, i think what if someone drew them having sex?!! it has made me cancel countless talking animal comics.

also, i was kind of hoping for 'drunk francis loses virginity to not-marcy' opening up a whole new melodrama but hey, cant have everything.

finally, since it totally didnt come to pass, I was the one who hoped for a 'clash of the titans' reference when brent knocked the head off of the statue god. again, cant have everything.

Anonymous said...

Whoa, so Marcy and Francis really are getting it on? I thought the kiss was just going to stand by itself as being kind of like losing virginity, even if not technically being the case.

Anonymous said...

I am sure several people have by now assumed Skull is going to take a reprieve and come back when Jade and Brent's kid is born. Then he gets to stick around raising that little bugger for the next thirty years of PVP.

Francis has been sixteen for ten years? Poor guy. They at least need to be acknowledged as somewhere near 18 when the Brent/Jade baby drops.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Yes Scott we know, I don't go to PVP for pornographic underage images. Nor did anyone see it.

What I thought would happen is maybe the after effects with MArcy and Francis in wrinkled clothing and Francis just being able to say WOW, while Marcy talked about how emotional that was. Or someone knocking at one of the mansion doors that were locked and hearing Francis to go away.

American Pie was about underagle people having sex and they "showed" some adult situation, (not that we're expecting Marcy to pull a Shannon Elizabeth) those are acceptable, but we dont expect to see explicit images.

I don't know why you needed to make that statement when we didn't expect it. Sorry that we paid attention to your comic strip making a prediction.

R.W.McGee said...

Congratulations Sage, you just wrote your first comic panel. (#3 to be exact) =)

R.W.McGee said...

er, #4 I mean. Whoops

Anonymous said...

Well, it was handled remarkably well if you ask me. If anyone has a problem with the idea of underage children having sex, he can always go back and slap "A very special episode of PVP" across the top.

But hey! How many other comic strips can say they made a prediction about their characters TEN YEARS IN ADVANCE?

In the obscure and negligible world of Webcomic Records, PVP adds another notch to it's belt. Literally.

Good on you, Scott.

Jim Cowling said...

Tasteful, well done, well-paced. Good strip, good storyline. No complaints. *applaud*

Scott stepped up his game in a big way.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Yep I liked the storyline, I just dont think we expected to SEE the actual act. I still dont know why it was necessary Scott to let us know "I wont draw that" when I didn't see anyone asking (on these forums his email may be different)

I like Scotts style and story so far, and I do not get the "controversy" if there is one. After all 16 year olds having sex? Thats never happened in real life has it? Im SHOCKED!

Plus RW thank you, i always wanted to break into the comics biz :P

Anonymous said...

I hope they used protection.

Otherwise, we could be in for a teen pregnancy storyline (hey, it worked for Juno).

Anonymous said...

still bored....

Anonymous said...

"Not very long"... heh, sure stirs up some memories.

Some of them from last night. Damn whinging wife.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Did chuckle at the level up for todays comic. I did feel tingling after my first time, maybe thats what that was . . .

Anonymous said...

You know Im a comics nerd when I get more excited for the elusive greyscale than for the plotline.

and yeaahhhh francis!

Anonymous said...

I too, am a little disappointed with the lack of build-up for Marcy and Francis. Especially after a blog post drawing attention directly to it.

Perhaps it can be salvaged with some well-run flashbacks to inject some humor into Francis' milestone event. Even though it may look too much like Ross's second wedding reception with Monica and Chandler looking for privacy.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand people's obsession with the details. Really? You want Scott to draw the awkward, intimate moments of two sixteen year olds' first time? How about we leave that to the deviantART crew...

(Also, has Scott ever drawn Brent and Jade "doing it"? I think that's usually "off-camera", why would this be any different?)

Anonymous said...

Hello and welcome all you new people coming here after hearing Scott and the gang talk about the site on the Webcomics Weekly podcast.

It's nice to hear that Scott really appreciates our honest feedback. Maybe now the fanboys will stop telling us to get a life instead of critiquing each strip.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Anonymus who here has asked for those details, or Brent and Jade, or Cole and his wife, or any of the other couples.

It may have been requested in Scott's emails, but not on this forum. I can understand where the sex went from kiss to aftermath quick, but hey thats teenage sex in real life and in the movies.

I'd like a copy or quote of someone ON HERE that wanted to see Marcy and Francis bump uglies other than the anonymus ooze that is out there :) (one of my favorite euphamisms (sp?) for sex)

Anonymous said...

Only now do I notice that Marcy doesn't have gigantic Groucho Marx eyebrows, but just black rims on the top of her eyeglass frames.

I like the way Scott drew her posture and the way she holds her hands, though. It's convincingly feminine.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

I just listened to the podcast and a couple of things. Tip of the hat to TFSM.


First off Scott, I have agreed and disagreed with you about a lot of things but at least on the podcast I can see now where you would get furious, but like "he" (i don't know which guy said it) said that we do love your work (I have PVP as my theme and gamer pic on Xbox) and we truly do want you to succeed.

Also, can we make a secondary name so Brad can get past it to read it if he wants to? My suggestions are the snuggle time happy hour and PVP is Swell too.

Also, Looking back on this arc i did/do (depending on if we're still at the wedding tommarow) like it and looking back on it I take it as kind of a "season finale" There have been some big changes and cliffhangers for PVP and it is a good way to stir the pot to get new jokes instead of the same old same old. In wrestling (yes, pro wrestling) you don't have to the same guys going against each other you change them like Scott has changed the relationships in the comic.

Itll be interesting to see where it goes after the wedding (and what we can bitch about as well :) )

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Btw the mention is about 50 minutes into the podcast (sorry i starting listening at 1215 in the morning)

R.W.McGee said...

Wow, the guy who writes Evil inc. has some thin skin.

Good for you Scott, tolerating us =)

R.W.McGee said...

I also have to say that the way he updated Francis and Marcy was well done. I don't know why, but whenever Francis becomes more of a central character things get more interesting for me.

Anonymous said...

Just when I thought he couldn't go and do anything more awesome, he actually made them older!

What a pleasant turn of events. I wonder how FSM will feel about it.

Anonymous said...

It's like the time he lost his pimple, except with a reference to video games!

Anonymous said...

So losing your virginity gives you maturity? It mostly seems to have the opposite effect on people...

Anonymous said...

So is Francis going to start using the phrase 'Zoinks!' now?

Anonymous said...

Todays strip "Ding" was probably the most amusingly clever way to throw in a redesign of some characters. Most cartoonists either just do it without fanfare (and maybe have to explain themselves to the public outcry or befuddlement) or even take a small hiatus from the strips and announce a big redesign or purpose for the strip. Hats off to Scott for keeping it simple.

Anonymous said...

I agree with anonymous about today's strip. I think it really shook me out of the need for dramatic build-up that I've gotten so used to, lately.

I'm ready for some new material now. Thanks, Scott!

Anonymous said...

And now Scott has to update Marcy's wardrobe. How's Miranda gonna take this?

And, are the other characters going to notice the change in Francis and Marcy? Or is this now something that was there all along, and 'we' just couldn't see it (like perceiving Skull)?

Anonymous said...

I predict people asking them things like, "Is there something different about you? Did you change your hair?"

And before you get all grumpy about cliche, I think it'd be funny if done right (and not hammed up).

Anonymous said...

I have to say, I really like Marcy's new look.

Francis, on the other hand, still looks like a mop.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

I don't think Marcy is going to be the new sexpot of the office, its not her personality, so Miranda still can keep her role.

I would have enjoyed seeing Francis age but his tux stay the same size, I like low brow as well as hi brow humor :).

To the anonymus person I don't think they became "mature" they just gained 3 years of experience so they are now college kids instead of high schoolers, causing a change in personality (so maybe less gaaaayyyy for those of you tht didn't like it).

Overall I like the change in the charactes and Scott is doing really well with his new art style and has made the cahnge very well. Marcy is cute but not a total change from her younger self, and Francis looks like most of the skinny guys I went to college with.

Any guess on the community college courses?
Francis - graphic design
Marcy - communications? :)

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Btw glad to not hear "WTF how they age three years like that its not realistic!" Shows that this site isn't a fucktard forun :)

Thomas D said...

I really liked how the level up effect happened after Francis and Marcy actually shared their feelings with each other. It was like the level up effect was about their relationship and their characterization -- by being bold enough to state that they really cared about each other, they both grew up. As it happened some time after the actual sex act, it wasn't Scott equating losing one's virginity to growing as a person; it was the emotional connection that did it.

Then I read today's comic. Oh well.

There must have been some lag on that server.

But I did really like how Scott used an event to adjust the ages and artwork for the two characters. It's obvious that he's gotten better at cartooning over the years -- all of the newer character designs and background details are generations past the regular cast's models. Yet as a cartoonist, he faces a problem -- how to update the character models to fit the way he current draws without making it jarring. "Crap," he probably said, "I want to draw PVP the way I draw now, but all the main cast is still being drawn the same way I drew five years ago."

With Marcy, it's easier to update how she's drawn -- she's a recurring character, vanishing from the strip for a while and coming back with a new tweak in her look -- but with Francis, who is there every day, it's harder. Taking the characters out of their stock clothing and putting them into formal wear (and changing the women's hairstyles to elaborate formal wedding hairstyles) was a great idea, Scott. When you switch back to the now of PVP, Marcy and Jade's hair could be completely different from the pre-wedding styles that we'll just take it as read. Changing out the wardrobe for the main cast members is an easy transition for the readers after the strips of formal wear. That's good planning for the strip, sir.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Agree fully Thomas, should we send this to Brad (of Evil inc.) to show we're not all bad :).

R.W.McGee said...

No! I think we want to maintain the impression that we are, at least, sort of bad...otherwise we will lose our street cred!

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

For some reason I thought of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor acting tough in Stir Crazy when you said that RW. :)

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