Counterpoint

I have to disagree with my colleague on the Skull issue -- I thought the strip was funny.

Now is the perfect time to evolve Skull a bit; he's been gone a while, had new experiences, and apparently learned at least one new thing about himself. From our perspective it's an unexpected one, and that's what's supposed to make it funny.

I'm hoping this is a long-term thing -- making him less naive and a little (just a little) sarcastic would do wonders for him, I think. A perpetual naif has got to be hard to write for -- he's a one note.

Putting myself in SK's shoes I can imagine an interesting conversation with himself:

I want to change Skull up a bit, and now that he's just come back, it's a good time to do it. But what if the fans hate it?

Aha! Here's what I do -- I try it out. If it doesn't work, I start making him darker, and grimmer, until it's obvious that something is terribly wrong, and we have to go on an adventure to find a way to exorcise the whatever-it-is that's taken him over. Perfect!

Then he would go have tea and cookies with Paul Southworth, but that's just in my head.

All that having been said, I do wonder what's up with Skull's mouth in panel 2. It looks like Phillipe's mouth.

Another nitpick -- Jade's expression in panel three seems out of tune with what she's saying. She looks shocked, but Skull hasn't said anything shocking yet.

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?

Familiar smells

Oh something stinks alright, but it's not just the months old gritty kitty.

They were afraid of making things worse for Skull? Was there some indication that he was going to be punished? E.Z. never once attempted to blame Skull for Brent's actions. The gang didn't even know where Skull was going (aside from a nebulous "to the land of magic", perhaps) or what he'd be doing. What did they think would happen to Skull if they tried to intervene? 

"We didn't know anything about your situation, so we figured doing anything at all might make it worse." is what Cole seems to be saying here.

I think the problem is we keep hearing that Skull was missed, but have never seen evidence within the strip. (Aside from once during Brent's honeymoon). 

I call shenanigans. Possibly even shenanigoats.

Quiet, please!

Today's strip. 

The popyeye arms are back! Especially panel 4, where it looks like that left arm looks like a water balloon. Other then that, the art looks good. 

I can't be the only one confused by Scratch's expression in the last panel. I think it's supposed to be a smile, but it looks more like a confused "bwa?" look.

Good Intentions

I think Quiet Please! is decent strip, it's totally in-character for both of them.

However, the look on Scratch's face in the last panel totally escapes me. I have no idea what that face says -- is it supposed to be a smug "heh!" to the audience? If he's supposed to be breaking the fourth wall, he's not quite making it; he looks a bit cross-eyed instead.

I would have expected some sort of internal celebration on his part, but a little wink to the audience isn't a bad idea either. But perhaps a literal wink could have worked better.

It's been a while since I've done this, but I dusted off the old Photoshop and modified the last panel to attempt to show something that might have worked better:



I'm no Scott Kurtz, but it gets the idea across.

(I forgot I wanted to mention exactly what I did... Obvious: Scratch is now winking and giving a thumbs up. [an update to the update: he's also smiling more clearly.] Perhaps not obvious: I re-positioned his pupil so it is accurately pointed toward the audience.)

Reunited

and it feels so good.

I have nothing negative to say about today's strip. The art is great and the writing is spot on. Even though I haven't especially enjoyed the current arc, I'll remove my hat and bow my head for today.

One Note Brent

Today's strip (ugh... Sexcraft... ewww) illustrates something I've said before and still continues to bother me:

There isn't enough emotional variance in the PVP characters. Part of what makes things feel dramatic is the swing of emotions that occur when characters react to certain stimuli. This sets off mirror neurons in the readers which is what helps us feel like part of the action.

Brent goes from confused to disappointed in panels 1-3 (I'll leave the final panel out of this because it's The Big Reveal). Both of those are on the negative side of the emotion chart, so Brent (and thus we) are left pretty much where we were when we started.

It would make for a better ride if Brent had telegraphed his desire for sexy-time in the first panel, all hopeful and anticipatory. This lets us share in his eventual let down, but in the strip he's already feeling let down, so we don't really have far to go.

I'm not saying he needs to be all Heff-ed up in a smoking jacket and such, but a smile sometimes is nice.