Monday, September 8, 2008

Punch O' Clock

Oh boy...Shecky. Well, I guess he's necessary for this plot. Let's hope his visit is a short one.

So, Shecky is sort of a hobbit sized Troll, probably a little taller then Scratch. Presuming that whatever bar he's at is normal sized, shouldn't Scratch have trouble tapping him on the shoulder? Either there should be an arm extending from the bottom of panel three to tap "up", or there should be a speech bubble coming from below, with Scratch getting Shecky's attention.

How does Scratch know Shecky's full name anyway? Have these two even met before? How the hell did Scratch track Shecky down? And what's the barman's reaction to a midget Troll getting decked by an upright walking, talking cat with goggles and a ray gun?

Edit: I'm mostly being facetious with that last sentence.

24 comments:

Another Whiner said...

If Shecky is actually necessary to the plot, I am even less happy about the return of Skull.

Chris Dunning said...

The phrase "suspend your disbelief" comes to mind.

1. I'm sure that, upon the rest of the cast learning of Shecky's existence, Scratch was privy to the goings-on of the office. Additionally, my dog and cat are very aware of the other people in my life. They know my in-laws, my friends, and my other relatives. It's very possible that their meeting happened "off stage".

2. Scratch is a genius cat who was able to uncover the secret of Santa Claus. He's also capable of tracking down expensive parts for machinery that he has no thumbs which would be necessitated for building said machinery with. The key here is, Scratch gets things done. We don't ask how.

3. I picture this is a bar similar to what one would have seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel. It's populated with mystical and unusual characters. The bartender himself may be a two headed hermaphroditic pygmy klingon for all we know.

4. Your first point is, potentially, valid. Scratch would probably need to be reaching up.

Anonymous said...

Scratch is well aware of shecky. He was present in both the first two shecky arcs.

Also, you're reaching.

Also, you're totally Scott Kurtz

Anonymous said...

gotta go with chris on this one, this is a comic strip with a lot of fantastic (in the sense of fantasy) characters, I think you're reaching a little on this criticism.

that being said, I think the POW and stars panel comes off very weak. The outlines of the text and stars need to be much thicker to convey the force of what's happened. The regular dialog letter forms come off bolder then that POW. Also, I'd of liked to see the stars float above the surrounding panels.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

for the "tapping" comment, i think shecky and scratch are about the same height, and if its a "fantasy" bar we don't know how high the stools are. Shecky is short, so you can assume his stool isnt too high so he could get onto it. So tapping at right above Scratch's shoulder height isn't tooo bad.

R.W.McGee said...

argh! argh! argraaaaarghhhh!

That was my first reaction to the possibility of Shecky/Scratch comics...it is also my current reaction, and if this idiocy continues it will be my future reaction as well.

Anonymous said...

@Chris:

1.) What I'm saying is, should Scratch really be calling Shecky by his full name here? Even if they met face to face at some point, I doubt the Sheckster broke out his full name.

2.) Yes, but I think it's weak storytelling that there's nothing to indicate *how* he tracks down Shecky. Heck, even if he had a "troll detector 3000", I'd be less bothered.

3.) See my edit.

Another Whiner said...

I picked up on the sarcasm, ES, don't worry. I was going to reply to it but feared anything I said would be just as seriously as you apparently were.

Sage, if memory serves correctly, there have been comics with Shecky in this bar (or one very much like it) with Skull and possibly other people (didn't Cole and Brent once go find him at a bar? Am I completely imagining that?) and it did not appear to be a miniature bar then.

Anonymous said...

@R.W.McGee - I'm with you on that. Any character introduced in a storyline lifted from a Wayans brother's movie is off to a bad start.

Anonymous said...

If Scratch had a "Troll Detector" wouldn't he just use it to find Skull?

It doesn't fucking matter how he found him. It is irrelevant to the story. To include it would be completely superfluous. It also doesn't matter how big the stools are, what direction Scratch's hand is coming from, or how their heights match up.

MY. GOD.

Anonymous said...

Did you mean "facetious?"

Anonymous said...

I am wondering why Scratch punched Shecky. I mean, I know the other troll is rather a self-serving tool, but there's no set-up for why the punch was required. Just seemed rather random.

Scratch didn't seem to be getting ignored, here. If kitty was feeling ultra-violent, shouldn't the dog have gotten the brunt of it first, for teasing said kitty?

Is it, as Kurtz has noted, "fan service"? Is it only that?

Anonymous said...

@anon 10:28

Yes. Yes I did.

paulsouthworth said...

He punched Shecky because he thinks he knows something about Skull and he is GETTING SHIT DONE.

That is how he rolls.

Anonymous said...

I have found PVP rather maudlin of late.

Anonymous said...

Y'know - I'd think that'd be the opposite of getting shit done. Somebody punches me before even asking a question would make me rather disinclined to further "discuss" anything with them save my own fist "retorting" to their face.

Scratch - total thug - rather than super-genius it screams to me. That noted, I'm curious to see how it develops - if Scratch reveals feline cleverness in his subsequent actions, or simply thugs it up with Shecky some more.

In other, related news - I liked the visual transition from kitty sad eyes to goggles.

Anonymous said...

I haven't read PvP in more than three weeks now, but I'm still enjoying coming here and reading the commentary on it. Keep up the great work!

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Hey rossiter,

Yeah I did that for a few weeks, but i give the author one view a day so I can talk on here.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

I don't see the problem with the punch, you see it all the time in other genres, especially TV. How many times in Law and Order do they find a scum bag witness/suspect, rough him a little and they tell him what to know.

Shecky is a con man and if you talked to him he would talk around you or want something in return. Punch him and you get info FAST.

I don't really see why peole are complaining.

Anonymous said...

Because it's out of character?

Anonymous said...

How is it out of character? Scratch has shown himself time and time again to be a belligerent, violent little turd. Remember that time he BLUDGEONED A DOG TO DEATH WITH A WRENCH?

Pay attention, butthole!

Anonymous said...

Is feces legal tender on ebay? Can I send feces via paypal? If so, I would bid on the limited edition lolbat painting, and then pay Kurtz. With shit.

Anonymous said...

The only way the punch would make sense is if it was established Shecky wouldn't cooperate or immediately run away if he saw Scratch. I never got that impression before. This is the laziest fan service I've ever seen.

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