A Completely Regular Post.

(No, this is not a Thanksgiving special. Finland doesn't celebrate thanksgiving, so I refuse to give thanks for anything and will just resume as usual.)

For some reason, I can't see the last few days' American Elf. Maybe it's taking a hiatus or just acting up for me. But I keep seeing this strip and I love it so much. Oliver is now three. He thinks - or jokes - that this will make him a Daddy. As if all "big boys" are Daddies. So cute! Also, I've been reading the strip about since Oliver's birth or a bit before. I think the pregnancy and birth were a part of what sucked me in, actually. It's strange to see him grow, because it marks how time passes. Yet it's such a short time and that's his whole life. I have these same feelings about relatives' kids, but it's strange I feel the same about a child I've seen in pictures maybe twice. Yet I've watched him grow. I feel like I know James and Amy, Eli and Oliver, but I may not recognize them if I saw them somewhere in person. What an odd feeling.

Dora and Marten broke up. It might or might not be permanent. To be honest, I don't feel much. Marten and Dora - meh. Marten and Faye - meh. Marten and Hannelore? Now that would be something! I just think the girls on the strip are habitually mean, dominating, and hard on him. Hannelore may be the only one who's truly kind. Marten deserves better than Dora. OMG, I'm talking like I actually care about these people. Maybe my cold, hard QC hater's heart is actually red hot lava from the inside?
..Nah. Moving on.

I loved this Abstruse Goose, but it bugs me that the dogs look so much like Dogbert. Is that intentional?

Ascension 3000 Cross Jetpack. Sinfest is usually fun, but when it gets truly blasphemous, it's amazing.

Question Duck reminds us that even while doing charitable work, there's room for questions. (Also, I like that one of the charity people is black. It's not like "white man helps poor black people.)

I'm confused by Selkie. Apparently it's a girl who's alos some kind of animal who was adopted by a human vegetarian. But she doesn't eat any plants and only eats meat. Hmmm. I flicked back quite a few strips and still not sure what I think. I'ts a very intriguing idea. I find Selkie's way of talking a bits annoyings, because ofs everys words endings withs s. It stops being cute after one strip. But I'm not sure if it's meant to be cute. An interesting strip.

Wombania: like the art, very cute. Besides that - jokes that fall flat, fat jokes... Sigh. What's the point of cool art if you're just going to do general three-panel pun stuff?

What You Don't See: another mixed review. Beautiful. Sooo cute. Huh? And the latest one - kinda forced dialogue. I tend to prefer dialogue where there are silences and things you don't say. I didn't get a very good feel of the characters on a quick flick, but this might be a good thing. Will check it again.

Tweep. Looked at several strips, didn't get it. It seems like it might be a cool, creative strip. But I'm not SURE. It seems to deal exclusively in snapshots, with no text at all. Intriguing.

Monday Delights, Part 2

Hey, it looks like Jacques is actually doing a "Marten deserves his privacy" storyline. Maybe I misjudged him? Nice to see Marten defend himself for once, and Dora get told. We'll see where this goes, but I'm positively surprised.

Kinoko Fry reminds us of the perils of giving your pet too cute a name. Have you considered that he may not want to be named "Cinnamon"? I loved every little detail in this comic, from the nightcap on the mushroom to the sun chasing the moon away, to everything else. Awesome.

Rooster tails reminds us that imagination is awesome, even if it can make you anxious. Again, love the details, and I can definitely relate... (In fact, my boyfriend sent me this link when I was overthinking/anguishing stuff).

The Oatmeal: Why I don't cook at home.The Oatmeal's particular style of hyperbole is awesome. It's like the scientific formula of just the right amount of hyperbole to make it funny. This is also my experience of cooking at home. I love the recipe with its bison exercising and relaxing techniques. And I know it's probably not meant to be fat acceptant, but I loved that scare-tactics news item in the beginning.

Humorless Feminist Strikes Again.

I keep not wanting to write about QC, but it keeps pulling me back in! Look at this. Marten doesn't want to share his porn preferences with his girlfriend and their roommate in a PUBLIC PLACE. Shock horror! Let's go and search thru his computer to see what he likes!

Is Dora and Marten's relationship supposed to be positive and mutual? Because it comes off as pretty abusive. Being a humorless feminist, I don't think Marten needs to be the one to "wear pants". But he does need to have some say in what matters are private and his own. Otherwise, what is the relationship? Is he Dora's toy?

If we need to see what kind of porn Marten likes, here's an idea: show Marten watching porn. It doesn't have to be public to every single person in the strip universe. The viewers can see it.

On the other hand, you could just forget about it, because it's hardly character development. Unless I'm really misjudging Jeph Jacques and he's building up for a big Marten/Dora showdown about privacy and equality. Which would be kind of awesome. I doubt it though.

The strip's juvenile obsession with sex is pretty tired. If they're so OK with sex, why can't they shut up about it? I know they're supposed to be rude baristas and all that, but I think it's in poor taste to discuss masturbation and porn loudly at a café. It's just obnoxious and self-indulgent. "Aren't we cool about sex, if u don't like it then u r a prude."

Things I Liked Today.

I did enjoy this fan fiction parody at Questionable Content. Much more than I enjoyed the actual storyline, which mostly featured awkward sexual stuff. But then there was this strip, where Tai instructs Marigold on how to show, not tell. I think most fanfic writers need a guide like this. And I must admit - I really like the fact that Marigold is a writer of terrible fan fic. (Although I'm not sure if that's just part of the nerd stereotype these days, like taped-up glasses or loving Star Trek.) I also like knowing Tai writes good fic and has trouble getting Marigold to get what makes a fic good. The storyline, ultimately, is tired because it's about sex or rather lack thereof. But there were good things. 

I find sexual content in American Elf vaguely disturbing. It's a natural part of every person's life.. I'm not a prude.. I think it's because I read the strip for the childlike stuff. So it's a bit like watching Winnie-the-Pooh and suddenly switching to, I don't know, Anal Intruders 4. (I did enjoy that joke though.) 

Wonderfully random stuff from Marc Johns again. I'm linking to the main page because I can't pick my favorite one today, and because, ultimately, if you click that link a year later, it's probably still wonderful and random. I love his way of thinking so much. 

Sinfest is back to doing awesome stuff. Serioustron needs cartoonists, don't drink and draw. 

Finnish, but mostly visual: Norpatti goes out with the old man. I.e. the old cat she's taking care of. <3! 

Also - the florist panther. Lovelovelove. Especially since it's drawn in this super-serious style. 

A Comic I Love.

I discovered this comic just now, via my Toby, and I must say I love it. In fact, I like almost all strips I've seen, and thus I have nothing interesting to say. Lovely color palette (unusually periwinkle too!), original and funny ideas. The world view seems benevolent, slightly strange and hilarious. I love comics like this. This is what I aspire to.

Tuckered-out gentlepups.

Dr Grover is in every hospital.

Stop thinking about dicks. 

The inspector was lonely.

Cranky Feminist Comics Reader

"Once you hit that, all other girls seem flat". I know I'm just a fat humorless feminist (like many QC readers told me when I last dared complain about size issues in this comic). But honestly. There are so many offensive layers to this. In the QC universe, Faye is the only buxom girl, so possibly the others feel flat because they ARE. None of the other QC girls have even realistically small boobs, so this might actually be the problem. Faye is about average, with an hourglass figure - not fat, or really even chubby. On the other hand, not all guys like big breasts. Not all girls like being objectified, either.

Once upon a time in another blog, I criticized the depiction of Faye as the only "chubby" girl in QC and the way her body is constantly played for jokes - not hatefully, but it's an issue and it marks her as different. I was ridiculed at the QC forums (where I chose not to respond) and flamed at my blog for about two weeks. Feisty readership. Jacques responded - possibly without reading my blog - that "every time some girl complains" about this, we apparently ignore how Faye is a SEX OBJECT. Even if she's chubby. To my mind, this does not mean equality, or respect, or realistic depiction of female bodies. But if Jacques thinks it does, that explains a lot. I know he means well, but this is what happens when an artist completely ignores issues like sexism and objectification of women. It's a hot mess.

Casual Fur Day recommends "keeping your bitch on a leash". Yes, I get it, it's about dogs. That doesn't mean it's funny or appropriate. And what about this lewd-looking publicly breastfeeding cow? Breastfeeding: all about sexual titillation! Domestic violence: funny!

"Outlandish humor" is author Mr E's own definition of his style. It looks more like "outrageous" to me. We're meant to find it funny because it's so wrong yet so true! Well, it's not true. But of course, I'm just a humorless feminist if I don't find this funny.

It's also offensive to men, of course. Hey, your son has no digestive tract, head or limbs! Oh great, less work for me. Then there are racist overtones. And ha ha fat people who eat too much, you don't even need a joke or pun really, just show how in denial they are!  It's almost so outrageous that I considered not mentioning it, because this type of reaction might be exactly what they're looking for. "Look at me, I piss people off! Woohoo! I'm cool like those South Park guys!" You know what, you're not. And when they just go out of their way to offend people - they're not either. (South Park does have good social commentary and parody sometimes though, which this comic doesn't.)

A Cranky Comics Reader, Part 2

Today's Questionable Content strives to answer the age-old question: 

What should we nickname Marten's sperm? 

You know, there could have been plot, or character development, or something funny, but when you have such a popular comic, these kinds of juvenile ideas must come first. Most of the readers are adolescent boys (mentally or physically), after all. 

Jesus, Marvin, how many setup strips do you need for the joke "Marvin's Dad is a giant nerd"? I know that when you have to do seven strips a week, thinking of a new drawing and joke for each one is a bit of a chore. But you know, that's what they pay you for. Doing the same exact joke three or four days in a row, with almost the same picture over and over is just... the reason why newspaper comics are dying. 

(x, why) bores us with yet another pun that has to do with math. It's just not very clever, or funny. I'd like to give some points for originality - I haven't seen this idea before. So I will give points for that. But the jokes in this comic always sound too much like "I am now going to be funny. Wait for it.. here it comes! Now laugh!"