Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Passing the Torch

For the times I have noted his lateness in the past this strip was right on time and I was pleasantly surprised to see it up and ready to critique at 8am when I got into work. Full critique to come at lunch.

Changing of the Guard

Art - As much as I wrote about the last two strips I liked this strip a lot.

I like the position of Francis leaning on the wall as it is well done especially with a back view of Brent in his office. Also, the "Skeeve" badge has great detail both in close-up and panned back, and likely there is not a total reference shot for that. I also liked the facial expressions, especially in panel 3, as the quality continues to be raised in the characters showing human emotion..

The one complaint I have is the lack of consistency with Francis' hair being shaded. For the past two strips his hair is shaded, as is Brent's in this strip, but in this no shading in any panel.

Story -

11 comments:

fandangamo said...

http://www.pvponline.com/2009/04/03/no-comment/

Say it with me Scott..."irony"

The most painful irony is that you will probably read this comment.

A Nonny Mouse said...

I think Scott is at least self aware enough to know that he's drawing on his own experiences there.

rdy said...

Shame that for the readers unaware of Scott's comment related hissy-fits, the strip'll fall completely flat.

Paidion said...

Wow....the most comments on a post in recent days is 8? I remember when this place used to be buzzing. What happened?

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Because that Brett guy got fucking lazy!

. . . hey wait

It just happens that Im doing two of the most stressful things a human can do (getting married/buying a house)with the possibility of a third (NOT pregnancy, knocking of the wood in front of me).

I try to keep up with it and I think anyone staying with it :).

R.W.McGee said...

it's not buzzing because Sage is working hard, but he's not offering broad opinions of the strip, just day to day assessments. Generally speaking it gives the people in the threads less to talk about.

Also, Sage is, in my opinion a fairly nice guy. I think he hesitates to say the kind of things that provoke long, angry, drama filled threads.

A Nonny Mouse said...

Yeah, McGee's right. The dearth of comics isn't because that Brett guy is so lazy, it's because he's putting too much effort into careful examination. A quick criticism would go a lot further towards generating discussion. A brief personal jab also helps getting it rolling.

For instance, regarding this strip:

"Scott Kurtz, yet again, implicitly advocates sleazy behaviour. It's interesting to note that the only character with a completely healthy relationship in the PvP world is Brent, former 'Official Office Skeeve.' Even more so when you consider that the second healthiest relationship is that of Francis, the incumbent Office Skeeve.

Scott Kurtz clearly has an unhealthy attitude towards the femal population. The message behind this strip's passing of the baton is clear- it is a male's duty to be a complete jerk until he gets married, at which point it is his duty to help bachelors be jerks. Trying to be respectful means your marriage will fall apart (Cole) or that you're probably gay (Max.)"

Then Scott comes in and is all, "grrr this makes me very angry. I love my wife and have always held complete respect for her," and then people jibe "hey man, your attitude to your wife has nothing to do with it. She's like that one black friend that some secret racists like to have," and Scott gets outraged and exclaims "how dare you belittle my marriage in such a manner?!" Then people scale back the insults a little and say that they're just saying that he sure does seem to let his characters get away with sleazy behaviour, and it is generally endorsed in PvP, and hey man Mister Scott Kurtz you're the one who brought up your real-world relationship in the first place when it wasn't necessary.

Before you know it, 50 comments to a single post.

A Nonny Mouse said...

Um, that should be "dearth of comments" in the first paragraph. Damn it.

R.W.McGee said...

Exactly A Nonny mouse. Thank you for ably illustrating my point =)

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Hehe I think it is the rare time when you read something about yourself and actually laugh at it as it is true and not mean spirited.

Like i said when I took over, I'm not as good as FSM or ES at the critiquing and I think I meant more in the generating buzz/heat that those two seemed to be able to do.

I think I can offer maybe more of a summary to the past week or arc but also in the past few months none of the strips have been terribly awful (ceiling light), the arcs crappy (paintball!), or Kurtz's opinion ridiculous (teen sex, even though they love (loved?) each other). Nothing has been particulary great either so their hasn't been much bile or excitment in my body.

Add into the fact that Scott said he was motivated (what was he before then?) coming off of meeting other webcomic artists and moving to Seattle his game has gone up a little.

Opinionerded said...

I like the story critique in this post.

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