I’m just saying…

All right. I’ve been evaluating some of these on The Slate for a while now, and some I’ve been reading for a year or two. These comics are ones that I tried to get into, but couldn’t, or I used to like, and now don’t. I wouldn’t be any kind of real critic if I can’t say some bad things here and there, so here goes.

Todd and Penguin

This is a strip that’s gotten a lot of attention, and is read by a lot of people. So it must be doing something right. For a while, I’ve been getting the feeling of not digging it, but when Holly announced her Pregnancy, I think that was the breaking point for me. To be clear, this is a case of “It’s Just Not For Me.” The comic is just too depressing for my tastes. Todd seems to always be sad and burdened with the torture of life or whatever. And the other thing is, I just don’t like Penguin. He’s too cute. He’s got a twinge of Garfield in him, as well. I mean c’mon. He loves cookies. We get it. Overall, none of the characters have charmed me enough to care about what happens to them, and therefore the allure of the drama is lost on me. The story arch where Penguin went into the dreamscape and met up with The Yellow Kid was very ambitious. But again, lost on me. In the end, I just don’t like it.

Sore Thumbs

I’ve been reading this one since conception, and I watched it slowly progress into a lesser imitation of its former self. First thing, is that the art is just not what it used to be: Cleaner, more expressive, and better detailed. These days it has what comes off to me as clear indication that it’s rushed, as lines are scratchier with stray dots all over the place. I don’t even know what’s going on with that. The jokes have grown stale, as they rely more on the stereotypes and references of pop culture and politics. Unless that’s the point, and I just find myself not liking it. At any rate, I don’t feel like reading this one anymore. I just don’t.

Punks and Nerds

Basically the same sentiments follow here, as Sore Thumbs. A case of “Not what it used to be,” and “Me not liking it anymore.” Also, when I read Punks and Nerds I had this terrible feeling of “deliberately trying to sell out in any way possible” feeling about it. Every week it seemed there was a new t-shirt or a new donation poster or something that could be obtained for money. In my book, any good comic keeps its merch and its comic in seperate places. It keeps the disinterested comfortable, and trust me: The interested will know where to find it.

To its credit, the comic did do something cool. Recently, Punks and Nerds had a “Choose your own adventure” arc, where the option was presented to readers to vote for what happens in the next comic from a set of choices. I’ve had discussions with others who believed this was a cheap ploy to get his audience to write for him, but I disagreed. It was a fun idea, and added a bit of reader participation, which I am always down for. It would’ve been suspect if it had been going for weeks and weeks, but it only lasted 5 strips. So that was well done.

The other, largest turnoff for me with this strip, is the apparent scorn for its readers. They do an arc entirely about how much convention goers smell bad. Way to alienate your target demograph. Also, the fat guy is used entirely too frequently, and while fat jokes are fine here and there, some of them went too far for my liking. Let’s make an analogy here:

Making fun of Asian people tastefully : Asians love advanced technology :: Making fun of fat people tastefully : Fat people love cookies

Making fun of Asians badly : Asians have tiny cocks and can’t speak english :: Making fun of fat people badly : Fat people are as soft as marshmallows and are able to roll down hills like a ball

See where I’m getting at? To be clear, I’m no racist, but I think that model illustrates my point the best, as far as a model goes for making fun of stereotypes. There’s a line that lies safely within the realm of good taste, and then there’s a line that just goes too far.

Stubble

The thing that racks my brain about this is that Stubble used to be amazing. I used to list it as one of my favorite comics. The story had depth, the art was experimental and good (a combination I find very rare). Now the pages are shorter, the story is just… I don’t know. I guess for a comic where one’s used to life and death situations, a reader becomes accustomed to that. At any rate, the current arc has dragged on a little long for my taste and I’ve grown bored.

Stubble’s starting to look like Punks and Nerds, and Punks and Nerds is starting to look like stubble. What I’m trying to say is the style in both comics now looks basically the same. Stubble was high detail and experimental color, and Punks and nerds was low detail and basic but effective color. Now, they’re both a mix of the two. Visually, Stubble has lost it’s unique identity in my eyes. And I think this wouldn’t happen if he was doing both of these comics at once, while creating tons of stuff to sell.

And there you have it. Four comics I’m no longer reading. I now brace myself for the impending flame war.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 15th, 2005 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Webcomics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.