I’m just saying…

(From Questionable Content)

There’s something about this panel that flat out intrigues me. I’m trying to place it. I keep reading the strip over and over again. This interaction with Faye and Raven just seems so natural, and Raven’s such a new character.

A thing I’ve noticed about J. Jacques is that he’s always able to seamlessly change or add characters. I think the man really has a grasp on human interaction, because nothing feels forced. Raven shows up to the coffee shop looking for a job, in the hopes that her previous acquaintance with Dora will give her an edge in. After some hazing, they allow her to work at the shop.

What JJ never does is “Hey guys! Look at the new character! They’re going to be involved with everything now!” When Nat, Ellen’s roommate was introduced, she was introduced in the context that she’s just that, the roommate. She’s not suddenly going to be involved in Marten and Faye’s life, but she’ll be there whenever the story takes place at Ellen’s place. Because that’s where she lives.

Dora’s brother Sven (Sven Bianchi) comes to visit Dora. It works. He’s her brother. He’s just dropping by to say hi. Who knows if he’ll become involved, but it’s pretty unlikely. But still, it’s not “Hey everyone, look!” because he fits into what’s going on.

And Raven works very well as a part of the cast. She fills the role that has not yet been filled: the cute naive character. And she is damned cute. She’s full of innocence, and is honestly a good person. After Dora and Faye grill her on how she’s defying her Emo stereotype she responds with: “Oh. I dunno, it’s just clothes and a haircut, you know? Just because other people who like me are sad all the time doesn’t mean I have to be.” And it’s the truth.

Then there’s this strip. She tries to hide the drawing from Faye, but Faye just scoots her. Scoots her! Not pushed, shoved, tripped, punched, kicked, booted, moved, or relocated. She got scooted. That spells adorable in my book. And Faye can’t really be mad at her. She’s offended, but she knows Raven’s just a bit flighty (”NURR! MUST HIDE! NURRR!”). It’ll be all right, because Faye can forgive.

Sometimes I wonder if I read too much into characters like this. But characters like this are worth reading into.

And I can’t get “Scoooot!” out of my head.

34 Awesome Points™ for J. Jacques. Maybe that’ll get that image of raw cute out of my head.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 at 9:50 am and is filed under Webcomics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.