Alright, so Kudos to Kurtz for not falling into what a few of us assumed would be the oh-so-predictable "Skull as security" bit in today's strip.
Prior to the goblin (Orc? Perhaps even a Moblin?) walking into the fray, I don't quite get the use of dust and stars. Is Scratch shooting different things in the office and the unnamed spirit is just jumping around? Are they physically fighting?
The punchline however, actually works and I thought it was pretty clever. I'm even willing to suspend disbelief on the beheading itself for this. I like to think that off-screen, Scratch disintegrated the poor guys body and kicked his head out of the office. Which would actually be pretty cool to see.
My only other complaint is that the head bounces past the secretary in panel four and is clearly still in motion and headed further down, but the last panel has it resting right next to her. It gives the unfortunate apperance that the head hit panel four and slid down against it.
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28 comments:
Wa-hoo! Who called it!
@Esoscrib
Maybe the head bounced off the panel wall.
I liked todays strip. I giggled a bit when I saw the secertary's name spelled with the 'G'. I find it a bit strange that Scott can write better dialogue for the secretary then he can for either E.Z. or Scratch, but I'll take what I can get.
Small nicks: the goblin holding the axe looks weird. Not he himself, he's pretty generic; no his hands - or maybe the axe - rather both together just seem off.
Also, why didn't the secretary's eyes look up at the bouncing head?
If ever there was a time for a really cool, well-drawn fight scene, this was it.
I'm very disappointed. Kringus was much better, and I was let down by that.
With all the effort into better drawing styles, new hardware, lighter schedules, et al, I believe the biggest drawback to today's strip was the effort to make it a funny daily. We had that with Shecky just last week, and it didn't work very well. I would have waited for some really cool Matrix rips, or whatever. Even some Black Mamba and the Crazy 88's.
Ah well, there's always the (empty) promise of flashbacks.
I feel like the author is in a rush to just get it over-with. Since this isn't his first or last comic, I'm starting to get the sense that PVP won't be around much longer.
Since PvP is basically his meal ticket it's not going away until there is something equally big for him to transition to, and that ain't Ding! So that would mean 2 strips concurrently for awhile, which I just don't see happening anytime soon.
@jes - yeah I was kinda thinking the same thing, this is what the third or fourth time in this arc the violence has been off-camera? I understand what he's trying to do with the fixed-camera storytelling, but it is a little disappointing.
Re: Why are there stars and dust prior to the goblin's arrival?
I assumed the fight with other security guards was under way, and the goblin was reinforcement.
"Scuedule"?!
Christ. Someone reset the 'Days without a fucking dopey spelling mistake that could have easily been avoided by running the text through a checker' counter. Seriously, you'd think the mistake a couple of days ago would have put him on guard.
Also, why didn't the secretary's eyes look up at the bouncing head?
The same reason that she hasn't really reacted to anything that has happened so far. Because she's supposed to be unconcerned with what is going on, considering it a mere nuisance. She doesn't look up at it because it isn't important enough to be observed beyond her peripheral vision.
Even if he had the awesome fight, a 1st or 2nd person perspective of Scratch poised for the death blow, THEN the head bouncing across the desk (with boink noise).
The secretary goblin reminds me of the secretary from Monstars Inc. in that she was very straight forward and plain, I think she didn't react because she has probably seen this before.
Also, did anyone read Scott's blog about his plans on moving to Seattle and near the PA guys? I think its very good and I've heard that the place is great to live it. Plus living next to the PA guys might give him colleagues in physical proximity to encourage him and motivate him to do different things with his work and get out of the rut I at least percieve (ala painting).
They offered him office space about 1-1/2 years ago. He's been talking about it ever since Kris Straub moved to Dallas to work in Scott's office.
Since that only lasted days, how long could he really last in Seattle?
He may want to try it out for 2 weeks before committing.
I thought Straub moved out of the office because he went broke from moving halfway across the country and had to get a day job.
meh i dont think it was ever said.
Hearing Kurtz go on about being a gas bag, I don't think I'd be able to cope with being stuck in an office all day with him either.
Good comic today.
I took a look back at the old "Brent is Xavier" arc and a month or so on either side, great days.
Those wondering why some of us still hang around, it's because some of us have been reading for a LONG time and know:
- it was once very good and we're a bit loyal to that; and
- strips like today's are still very good and show Kurtz hasn't completely lost it
I always laugh at the people who go on about the comic being late. Is it that necessary to check for the new comic as soon as it is "meant" to be up? Megatokyo is annoying because the update schedule is essentially random, so you can get your bandwidth sucked up for nothing (then suddenly miss a strip because he posted 2 in consecutive days). If anything Gallagher has become less professional in the years since he made Megatokyo his full time job.
PvP isn't Schlock Mercenary, but at least Kurtz will pretty much always get 5 strips a week on the right days.
Oops, gotta play ketchup!
count of two: In panel two, Scratch's gun is either a lot bigger suddenly or his aim is, equally suddenly, way off. In the previous strip, we had a panel that was basically exactly like this one... except that Zeus' head was a lot closer (It was drawn bigger). Panel three gives us YET ANOTHER cutaway from a possible action shot, and serves no other purpose. It could have been used for something - ANYthing (Secretary looking towards the office, even) - but no, it's just there so that we don't have to see a statue's head get 'sploded. And who says "You have three seconds", then starts counting backwards from three? Nobody, that's who. I thought Scratch was going for the whole "I'm going to start at three which is also the end, because I don't actually even want to give you the three seconds" thing... but no, he wasn't. I was really happy to see Zeus shift to the tiny trophy statue at the end, though. THAT is a good joke.
Cooler heads: On the plus side, Scratch seems to have stopped constantly taking his goggles on and off for each strip. On the negative side, Scratch seems to have EVERY advantage over the body Zeus was forced(?) into (Zeus can't even walk around like that! And probably has a little teeny voice, now), but was outwitted very quickly. Scratch could easily have taken the helpless guy hostage for forever, as far as I can tell. Can't kill him, but he's only got the tools of the statue he takes over... and this was a bad choice for Zeus. Except that Scratch doesn't capitalize on it, he just lets the guy walk all over him. Weird.
I don't like how Scratch's goggles are looking. They're, what, slanted ovals now that are both facing inward towards his nose? That's the only way I can interpret being able to see the sides of the goggle frames on both sides of Scratch's head. It's not a good look, although some panels showcase this feature less than others (It didn't look this way at all until today, beyond occasional small nubs protruding from the far side of the goggles). And the telephone handset is too small to match the base, unless it's also a fax machine or something. Could be.
scheduling conflicts: Oh boy! This is, like, the tenth or eleventh time (Not really that many, but it's been lots) that we get to NOT see the action in PVP, lately! Gnatalie has some good lines, but that's all there is to talk about...
...Except for that Moblin in the second panel. He's clearly holding his axe in a self-hazardous way, right up to his own neck. I'm going to guess that he tripped in the third panel and cut his own fool head off. Is that a tail at the bottom of the panel? That had better not be a foot. If it's a foot, I get a second "He's kicking his own ass" comment for free!
Those dust clouds and stars sure are exciting. :(
Storyline is still boring me so I'm mostly not even really reading it these days. Certainly not close enough to comment on individual strips.
But I did happen to read the first couple of sentences of his latest blog post, and now I want to stab myself in the eye.
The Savannah College of Art & Design has invited Dave Kellett and I to come visit and speak.
Dave and ME. It's ME. Middle-class hyper-correction rears its ugly head again.
Sorry. That and "anyways" are my pet peeves.
@ Julia
Wait...what? Since when is it "me"? Not to be a bitch, but I seem to remember my fourth-grade English teacher disagreeing with you quite emphatically. "(Name) and me" is just NOT proper English. You could get away with "(name) and myself," but that's about as close as you could get and still have it be proper.
@hnm
There's a simple trick you can use to determine whether or not it's correct to use the word "me" in situations like these.
What if Dave Kellett hadn't been mentioned, and Scott had only referred to himself?
In that case, it clearly wouldn't have been correct for Scott to write, "The Savannah College of Art and Design has invited I".
And I think you'll agree that it also wouldn't have been correct to write, "SCAD has invited myself."
So yes, it is -- with all respect to your English teacher -- entirely correct to write, "SCAD has invited me."
You can probably find a more concise, better explanation by smarter people in Elements of Style, but my copy is packed away at the moment, so I can't be sure.
Sorry to be pedantic even by the standards of PvPMMS. Julie and I obviously share some grammar-related peeves. :)
I don't read PVP because I enjoy it.
I read PVP because I enjoy the responses to it here, and need to read the strip first to understand them.
Congratulations, guys. Your critiques are more entertaining than the product being critiqued. Although with the quality of Scott's work, it's not saying much.
Who agrees with me?
gs, I definitely agree with you. I would have given PvP up entirely if this site hadn't come along.
@hnm
SGM is correct. "I" is an object, while "me" is a subject. An object performs an action ("I give") a subject receives it ("They gave it to me").
Combining two words with a conjunction (like "and") does not change the role of the words in the sentence, they must stay either a subject or object. So removing the words "Dave Kellett and" should make the correct choice obvious.
What annoys a lot of us is that too many people remember being corrected and don't seem to ever have picked up the explanation for the correction.
Ugh. Strike that, reverse it - "I" is a subject and the source of action, "me" is an object and the receiver of action. It's too freakin' late in the day.
I think Kurtz's story about farts explains a lot. His sense of humour has partly refused to evolve beyond the age of eight, and his sense of social etiquette never developed at all. Sure, farting is natural. So is pooping, but nobody poops on the table and asks people to gather around and have a look. There are some things which are just plain unpleasant.
On the Sept. 18 strip:
Oh... Joy.. A re-used gag.
I know it's basically his way of destroying his magical adversaries, but come on. We did this joke already.
The copy+pasted chimera (sans snake) makes the strip a li'l dull too.
Yeah, it's a pretty poor show to drag out the same gag from earlier in the arc, especially considering it wasn't particularly original in the first place.
The placing of the 'Pift' cloud coming before the text jars as well as it's not 100% clear they're sticking around because Scratch got his math wrong and the previous panel doesn't exactly make you know that Scratch is surprised he hasn't exploded already (and not just taunting him more/explaining how he could exist).
I guess from this filler we're in for a third week of this arc. Oh joy.
maybe scratch will accidentally disprove skull and then commit suicide.
-"GS said...
Congratulations, guys. Your critiques are more entertaining than the product being critiqued. Although with the quality of Scott's work, it's not saying much."-
Do you mean like the Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart as opposed Fox News?
-"Stephen Geigen-Miller said...
@hnm
There's a simple trick you can use to determine whether or not it's correct to use the word "me" in situations like these. "-
Simply put, if it's in the subject of the sentence, use I. If in the predicate, use me.
-"Brett Schiller (Sage) said...
meh i dont think it was ever said."-
SK posted that they weren't getting any work done. But, I got the feeling that Starslip was suffering more than PVP.
Well, color me corrected. *blush*
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