Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Update

Hey guys,
Sorry about the lack of posts, but i am alive! Just been a hectic week as work has skipped up (12 patients in 8 hours of PT wears you out) and I have 2 minutes to just post this. Good conversation going from what I saw and Ill add my 2 cents about PVP and DING!'s return as well.

It'll likely be around 6-7 pm EST thought :)

30 comments:

TheOriginalJes said...

Second Wife - Nice pun in the title. I also thought the dialogue was pretty smooth. And I really liked the punchline.

The drawing really stood out as well below his normal efforts. Either this was a cut/paste from several years ago, and/or Scott was rushing to get this out before the end of business today.

So, you thought mitten-hands was bad? Brent's hands almost make me think that they're webbed.

And, Cole almost looks like a grown-up peanuts character in the first and last panels.

But hey, it's in color, and it's funny.

Jai said...

Seconded.

But I do have a little to add: Cole is doing a lot of two-fisted burger-holding and chewing, but the burger is entirely unscathed in every panel it's in. The apologist will quickly point out that neither Cole nor the burger is visible in the second panel (Clearly he grabbed some fries!), but let's not fool ourselves. :P

TheOriginalJes said...

Whatever happened with Cole's marital issues?

rdy said...

@Jai: Yeah, noticed that as well.

Not keen on the copy/paste job with Cole on the first and last frames, either. Especially since his teeth seem to have moved back into his skull and SK appears to have forgotten to color the mouth area.

fandangamo said...

Just one nitpick today: it should be "Sporous molds and fungus" instead. That is all.

Jai said...

Once again, Francis' headset has been drawn without a microphone.

(Oh, and it should probably be "spores, molds and fungi"!)

TheOriginalJes said...

Are you two nit-picking the movie, or the movie parody?

Because, I'm pretty sure he got the movie line right.

fandangamo said...

Nope, not nit-picking the movie. He collects molds of a sporous variety, not spores and molds, since they are the same thing.

I have a Bio degree ;)

Jai said...

Well, I mostly just wanted to add a comma.

fandangamo said...

Upon reflection...I believe that panel 3 was the punchline of the strip.

Anonymous said...

He got the line correct you asshat. It's a straight lift from the movie.

Jai said...

Be cool, Honey Bunny. No one is saying that Ghostbusters got misquoted.

As for the new strip, "3GS" simply looks like the plural of "3G" in a comic that uses typical all-caps lettering -- I wish it was easier to tell that that's the name of the new model. And I wish that Kurtz would go back to not drawing hideously wide macabre toothy grins on the back of Cole's head... but this strip was REALLY good! Totally solid. This has been a pretty good week!

TheOriginalJes said...

@ fandangamo - so, fungi don't release spores? Or is the implication that the only molds he collects are sporous?

@ Jai - totally agree with you. I'd add that I'm not quite sure what's up with Brent's chin and cheeks in this strip (quite prominent in the 3rd and 4th panels). Is this supposed to be his father's manly genetics finally coming to the surface? If it is, let's start him on some estrogen, quick. Because he's not looking too good.

fandangamo said...

eetmorchikn:

I wasn't suggesting that the line wasn't straight from the movie. I was merely suggesting that the line is in fact "Sporous molds and fungus" rather than "Spores, molds, and fungus," a notable difference in collection but very similar in ennunciation.

You see, spores are the means by which many molds reproduce and spread, so saying that you collect spores and molds is redundant, since your mold collection would incorporate large amounts of spores and your spore collection would either a) be dead or b) be mold. If you collect sporous molds, however, you are collecting the varieties that reproduce through spores.

I thought I made this point clear. I attempted to at the very least, without getting too scientific, and was at the very least not rude in my attempts.

Thank you though for not making knee-jerk attacks at your fellow members.

fandangamo said...

Jes:

Yes they do. In fact, pretty much exclusively. It could be that he was referring to it in a similar way as someone who collects red vehicles would say "I have red cars and trucks."

A Nonny Mouse said...

It's peculiar that the better strips in PVP of recent have tended to be about games, despite that topic having been mostly left in the distant past due to the author's admission of not being greatly involved in the hobby.

For that Jitterbug strip a few days back, was the punchline simply that Francis [i]could[/i] dial with his face because the buttons are larger? It seemed stupid. I hadn't heard of the Jitterbug before, but my own phone is a Nokia that predates bells and whistles and was picked up from a garage sale for less than $1, so I guess I rate as cool by Francis' standards even though I can't dial with my face and my goal was to perplex muggers.

R.W.McGee said...

Today's i-phone strip made me chuckle.

That is all.

Dajagr said...

I feel like I've walked in to about the middle of Act II. Would this be funnier if I had the faintest idea who Jim Darkmagic is?

Jai said...

The top-half panels of the strip are fine -- the dwarf and bard are being upstaged by someone who isn't present.

But the bottom-half panels... what on earth is supposed to be happening in those? The things that we're shown don't make any sense.

A Nonny Mouse said...

I know, it's weird. It looks like the bard is asking who wants to hear adventures not involving Jim Darkmagic, but then they all put their hands up which is the exact opposite of what the joke is supposed to be.

Another confusing thing is that the image concocted of Jim Darkmagic at Penny Arcade is not that of a person whom people are likely to admire. It's that of somebody who simply imagines he's admired.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/6/15/

But the iPhone one was pretty good, as has been said. You can even see the desperate defiance in Brent's expression.

TheOriginalJes said...

I think the bottom left panel is supposed to be a one-two punch, of sorts.

1- illustrates the eagerness of the audience to hear Jim Darkmagic songs, even though they weren't properly asked;

2- Using a three-fingered hand, illustrating that this crowd may be similar to the crowd at the inn from "The Fellowship Of The Ring", without actually requiring the effort of drawing the crowd.

If so, I think it makes the point; but sloppily and without panache. But, that only applies to the one panel, as I see it.

TheOriginalJes said...

I haven't noticed this before. But, I like the fact that BB's speech bubble in the last panel has a dark cloud-like shading. This being in contrast to the traditional comic rendition of the character's head having a dark cloud over it.

rdy said...

Isn't this the same joke from the last of the old 'Ding!'s?

R.W.McGee said...

Technically the hands up, hands down device DOES make sense, although I had to do a bit of a double take before I figured it out as well. I guess Scott needed one extra panel he didn't have to clarify that 'joke.'

I think the Jim Darkmagic part works. Yes, Jim Darkmagic (of the New Hampshire Darkmagics) is sort of a self-aggrandizing ass, so that I could see people who knew him IN PERSON disliking him.

But he also clearly has a smoothly oiled PR machine, so that those who don't actually KNOW him, but merely have heard of his legend, they are likely to worship at the feet of Jim DarkMagic.

To that degree the joke makes sense. Also I can understand Binwin's dismay over their reaction, seeing as how Jim is mostly prone to setting him on fire.

TheOriginalJes said...

Taking Initiative -

Good dialogue.

Stereotypical female reaction to a typical/stereotypical male reaction [I love and hate it].

I enjoyed the close-up of Jade in panel 3, and how it spotlights her inner "strange".

rdy said...

Where does the second book go in the 3rd panel?

A Nonny Mouse said...

But when Jade calls herself a "Dungeonatrix" she's pretty much the first person to sexualise it.

And those books are pretty expensive. Not quite as expensive as an iPhone, but this is clearly a lady of many double standards.

R.W.McGee said...

By the way, if Scott ever drops by again and wants to know the difference between sincere critique that is PVPMMS and mean-spirited mockery, somebody should just link him this:

http://badwebcomics.blogspot.com/2007/07/pvp_26.html

I think the difference is fairly clear.

Jai said...

Heh, I think I've linked that once or twice in the past.

Today's strip gives us a bit of an odd selection of skin tones (Jade's, in particular, makes her look a little undead. Which is not helped by her dull and lifeless choice of lipstick. Her hair is as vibrant as ever, so if this is "dim lighting" then the bright orange and green colors should also be reflecting that) -- and I'm sure I've never actually heard anyone exclaim "nuh!" -- but it's another solid effort! Good writing.

R.W.McGee said...

Yeah, I know it's extremely nit-picky but 'nuh' didn't work for me either.

If she was trying to express disgust with his comment I think 'Ew you're gross' would certainly have been simpler.

Even more effective might have been sort of a resigned sigh. Something along the line of 'Brent...hon...that's gross' to convey disappointment.

It's hard to write an alternate text for her response, however, because truthfully she was the one who just injected sexuality into the discussion 10 seconds ago by combining dungeon master and dominatrix. Knowing Brent as she does (see Tomb Raider Halloween costume) did she REALLY expect him to respond in any other way?

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