Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Working with kids

WHAT.

This isn't Skull. This is a copycat sent back to placate Scratch. This is the only explanation I can think of for what we're seeing here.

I know canonically speaking, Skull was shown to be something of a standard monster back in the middle ages. And every now and again he's shown glimpses of his "true self", though largely it's been played for laughs when it happens.

This comes off as a huge leap out of character for the big blue gorilla.

Art nitpick: What's up with his upper lip in panel 2?

12 comments:

paulsouthworth said...

Yes. It is out of character. Therein lies the humor.

Did you note how Jade reacts? She is shocked, as the audience is meant to be. This wouldn't be as funny if Brent said it, because we expect him to act that way. Coming out of Skull's mouth, though, it's unexpected, and therefore funny.

Or even if you don't find it funny, anyone who's familiar with the characters can see that it was intentional and key to the entire joke.

Sko said...

Weird, but that's is exactly what I thought when reading the strip - when did he become Bizarro Skull? I'm guessing he's not but his comments (and I suppose, actions) seem completely out of character for the way he's been portrayed as the naive innocent.

Duck said...

funny strip. it got a smile out of me, which is about as good as it gets as far as webcomics go.

paulsouthworth said...

Another possibility: Skull's experience away from PvP has made him a little jaded, as is evidenced by the line, "Yeah, turns out I don't like kids". And with the kids he had to deal with, who could blame him?

Even if he's a little bitter from his experience, it doesn't mean that his character is different now. And Skull has made reference to eating children many, many times before.

Who hasn't had a day where you just want to go out and murder/devour some innocent children?

I mean, come on.

Anonymous said...

Paul, does this mean that in a future Starslip we'll see Vanderbeam show up piss drunk and cursing up a storm out of nowhere? Characters acting 'out of character' can be funny, but this just seems overly forced and unfunny.

Anonymous said...

@Paul:

I don't see the humor in Skull becoming a jaded individual. Skull works as a character because he's so innocent and at times naive.

And I have to disagree that his character isn't different. Anytime a character develops new personality traits, they become different. Sometimes it's not so bad, but I don't think it works here.

As for the eating children thing, I know he's made reference. But it was always to ye olden days. Hell, the last time I remember him actually doing it was waaay back around '98 in PVP v1.0 with Francis. Since then, nothing. (That I recall.)

paulsouthworth said...

Somebody put together a good collection of "Skull the Kid Eater" strips in this thread:

http://www.halfpixel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24166

R.W.McGee said...

I'm fairly sure Paul doesn't do Star-slip limerickx. I think one of the half-pixel writers does that one.

I'm not positive though, I've only read Star-slip once.

Anonymous said...

@paul:

Looks like two strips from the '98 days, one strip from the time travel arc and another in which Skull is talking about the medieval times.

I wouldn't call 4 strips a collection.

J. Hazelip said...

So, Paul, by your sterling logic, Cole will be raping a nun in the front office and it will be hilarious solely because it's out of character?

Is anyone else remembering that sketch on The State where they try to describe what's funny based on what's true and what's not true, and eating waffles?

Anonymous said...

Well I for one don't care about character, or continuity. I thought it was the funniest comic we've had for some time. Nice one Kurtz :D

Anonymous said...

BTW, I think this comic is a one-off, just a nice way to round off a (what some may call too long) storyline. I think we'll be back to funlovin' adowable Skully Wully soon. Either way, I'm happy.

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