I don't quite get today's "Questionable Content" strip

[MostlyClueless]

I was looking through the archives today, and in this strip, it seems that Faye has a scar of some kind on her chest. Did the author ever get into this?

[Miller]

Originally Posted by MostlyClueless

I was looking through the archives today, and in this strip, it seems that Faye has a scar of some kind on her chest. Did the author ever get into this?

I assume it's from the car crash she was in after her dad killed himself.

[MilTan]

Is insecure, neurotic Dora about to make an encore appearance? Stay tuned!

[Quartz]

Originally Posted by MostlyClueless

I was looking through the archives today, and in this strip, it seems that Faye has a scar of some kind on her chest. Did the author ever get into this?

I don't see it. Are you referring to her collar bone? Wait, there's a mark on her left breast - is that it?

[RandMcnally]

Originally Posted by Quartz

I don't see it. Are you referring to her collar bone? Wait, there's a mark on her left breast - is that it?

On her right breast, and yeah, I think that's what he's talking about.

With Dora, all I hope is for Marten to finally grow a pair and put Dora in her place.

[BrotherCadfael]

Originally Posted by squeegee

Her relative weight, much like all of the character's relative heights, has bounced around quite a bit, depending on Jeff's constantly-improving but uneven portrayal. She certainly doesn't look fat to me in her first appearance; unkempt, sure, but not overweight. I think part of Marigold's apparent weight changing can be chalked up to the character's usually being visible only from the waist up, and Marigold's visible weight seems to be portrayed in her legs, butt and thighs.

And of course, her Homeric boobs...

[Little Nemo]

Is insecure, neurotic Dora about to make an encore appearance? Stay tuned!

With Dora, all I hope is for Marten to finally grow a pair and put Dora in her place.

Keep in mind that this strip has a bad case of comic strip time. Events which seem long in the past to the readers are still very recent within the timeline of the strip.

A good example - How long ago, within the internal timeline of the strip, did Dora move in with Marten?

SPOILER:

Six days ago.

[Miller]

How do you arrive at that number, Nemo?

[jayjay]

There's absolutely no way that number is correct, Nemo. Steve disappeared and came back since Faye moved in with Marten. The whole SuperPizzaGirl thing, the whole Vespa Avenger thing, Penelope starting to work for Dora, Raven's boyfriend coming into town and his mishap with the "buskers' union", Raven quitting the coffee shop, Dora meeting Marten's mom, Marten meeting Dora's family, Faye's relationship with Sven, her breakup with Sven, Faye being importuned by Angus, the whole recently current storyline with Angus and Marigold and Angus and Faye and Marigold and the Alliance Scum Pizza Boy...there is NO WAY the number you came up with is correct.

ETA: Aaaaaand I went and read the wrong name...when DORA moved in with Marten, not Faye. Still, I have grave doubts that your number is right.

[Little Nemo]

If you're obsessive enough (and I obviously am) you can simply go back and figure out the days by keeping track of what's happening in the strips. It helps that unlike many comic strip artists, Jacques does not have his characters wear the same clothes every day. But you can also find references to characters talking about an event that happened "yesterday" or "last night".

And the last time there was a gap in the timeline was between strips 1586 (when Dora had decided to move in) and 1587 (the moving day). Since then there have been no gaps - every day in the strip directly followed the previous one.

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by MilTan

Is insecure, neurotic Dora about to make an encore appearance? Stay tuned!

Gawd, I hope Dora goes off on both of them and then Faye up and decks her. She'll deserve it.

[RandMcnally]

New one's up.

Yeah, Dora is acting out of line. Yes, she has trust issues and what not, but Jesus, she isn't even willing to listen to anyone.

"Don't come back to bed." Bitch, Marten bought the bed. You sleep on the couch if you're so pissed off.

Ugh, I'm really starting to hate Marten.

[squeegee]

(After seeing comic #1742) And right on cue Dora turns into The Girlfriend From Hell,

SPOILER:

provisionally firing Faye and dumping Marten. What the hell is wrong with this girl? Marten, grow a pair and kick her to the curb.

[MostlyClueless]

In defense of Dora; EVERYONE INVOLVED knows about her trust issues. Yes, she should get over it. Yes, she's propably working on it. In the mean time, work around it.

[Miller]

Originally Posted by squeegee

Gawd, I hope Dora goes off on both of them and then Faye up and decks her. She'll deserve it.

I'd rather see Faye point out which one of them has a legitimate reason to distrust the other.

[Malacandra]

Originally Posted by RandMcnally

New one's up.

Yeah, Dora is acting out of line. Yes, she has trust issues and what not, but Jesus, she isn't even willing to listen to anyone.

"Don't come back to bed." Bitch, Marten bought the bed. You sleep on the couch if you're so pissed off.

Ugh, I'm really starting to hate Marten.

Marten, while Dora's running the coffee shop, you may care to check out your local hardware store. I believe you'll find that door locks and bin liners are both reasonably priced.

[Mister Rik]

Originally Posted by Miller

I'd rather see Faye point out which one of them has a legitimate reason to distrust the other.

"A man [or woman, as the case may be] doesn't check under the bed unless he's hidden there himself." (French proverb)

[Little Nemo]

I don't think this is as apocalyptical as others seem to feel. Jacques does not generally go for that kind of melodrama. It's the middle of the night and Dora is upset. I don't think she's really going to fire Faye or break up with Marten after she's calmed down for a minute. I think what's going to happen is she'll apologize and this outburst will be the starting point for her to resolve her trust issues.

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by MostlyClueless

In defense of Dora; EVERYONE INVOLVED knows about her trust issues. Yes, she should get over it. Yes, she's propably working on it. In the mean time, work around it.

Work around it? HOW?!? She won't listen to anyone, she apparently fired Faye, then kicked Marten out of his own bed. What do Faye and Marten do to work around this? Grovel at her feet chanting, "Puleeze, puleeeeeze forgive us for making you be a Crazy Bitch!" ?

[Little Nemo]

Also, I have to admit I made a mistake in my previous posts about the timeline. I missed one day. There was a break between 1662 and 1663.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

I don't think this is as apocalyptical as others seem to feel. Jacques does not generally go for that kind of melodrama. It's the middle of the night and Dora is upset. I don't think she's really going to fire Faye or break up with Marten after she's calmed down for a minute. I think what's going to happen is she'll apologize and this outburst will be the starting point for her to resolve her trust issues.

Depends on how mean Jeph wants to be. It could easily go the other way: now that the sexual tension between Faye and Marten is finally resolved and Faye's found someone, Dora dumps Marten and suddenly he's single again, changing the love triangle to Marten-Faye-Angus rather than Faye-Marten-Dora.

But given the whole Toto thing, probably not.

Still, I kinda suspect Marten's going to wind up dumping Dora.

[RandMcnally]

I don't think marten will dump Dora. He hasn't shown any hint of spine this entire series.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by RandMcnally

I don't think marten will dump Dora. He hasn't shown any hint of spine this entire series.

He actually has, just not lately. He used to be a pretty easygoing guy who could be surprisingly steely if someone acted unjustly to one of his friends. Dora seems to have whipped it out of him, though. I like her a lot less than Marten.

[Miller]

Originally Posted by squeegee

Work around it? HOW?!? She won't listen to anyone, she apparently fired Faye, then kicked Marten out of his own bed. What do Faye and Marten do to work around this? Grovel at her feet chanting, "Puleeze, puleeeeeze forgive us for making you be a Crazy Bitch!" ?

You work around it by waiting for her to calm down and realize she was over-reacting. Which she's done every other time she's spazzed out over her insecurity issues, so there's no reason to expect this to be any different.

Also, I don't think she meant to fire Faye when she told her not to come into work tomorrow, I think she meant, "Stay away from me tomorrow because I'm so pissed at you."

I don't think this is going to break up Dora and Martin, but I'm not 100% on that. I'm not sure what significance we should put on the expression Martin had after he asked Dora the "Toto" question. It does look a bit like "second thoughts," though. I do think that Martin's going to be less inclined to take shit off of Dora right now, though, so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

[Munch]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

Also, I have to admit I made a mistake in my previous posts about the timeline. I missed one day. There was a break between 1662 and 1663.

There's absolutely no indication that the span between those strips is one day or one month. These people drink a lot of coffee, but I don't think they're THAT spastic...

[Enright3]

Originally Posted by Bosstone

He actually has, just not lately. He used to be a pretty easygoing guy who could be surprisingly steely if someone acted unjustly to one of his friends. Dora seems to have whipped it out of him, though. I like her a lot less than Marten.

I guess it all depends on how you look at it. No Spine here, and Dora's teasing him about it.

[Rysto]

My big question is how this is going to affect Faye. She's half-way through a panic attack due to her abandonment issues and one of her closest friends kicks her to the curb like that? Even if Dora doesn't mean it like that how else is Faye going to interpret it in the state that she's in right now? And how does Marten deal with Faye without further feeding into Dora's insecurities?

[squeegee]

Having re-read that comic a couple more times, I'm struck by the whole flow of the conversation -

Dora: this doesn't look okay.
Faye/Marten: but but
Dora: here's a reason why it doesn't look okay.
Faye/Marten: but but
Dora: can you see where this would look okay?
Dora: I'm gonna teach you both a lesson (Marten don't come back to bed, Faye don't come in tomorrow).

So Dora felt she had to *punish* Marten and Faye because some ideal observer (her) might interpret the snapshot of them hugging in a poor light.

I can't get my mind around someone who thinks like that. (yeah, it's fictional, but I've met people who think like this, and just don't get it.)

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by Miller

You work around it by waiting for her to calm down and realize she was over-reacting. Which she's done every other time she's spazzed out over her insecurity issues, so there's no reason to expect this to be any different.

Point taken, but this strip takes her to a whole new level of crazy. In previous episodes she go off on Marten, and then they'd work it out in private. Now they're all roommates and she's shut out her other co-occupants pretty severely. I really can't think of any other time Dora has gone off on Fate, except for the brief "you''ll be cheerful to customers because dammit I say so!" incident. I expect she'll stomp off to bed, and Faye and Marten will share a WTF glance and either sleep or one of them will walk off their anger until they can sleep. And later Faye and Marten will talk about things, minus Dora, and I don't know how (or how well) that conversation will go.

[Kim o the Concrete Jungle]

Faye and Marten will end up in bed together....

...

[Leiko]

Well, at least we got a Hello Kitty punchline out of today's strip.

My desire for the advancement of plot is now directly clashing with my desire for Faye to end up getting advice Pintsize (with hilarious results!) or for Marten to run into Hannelore or Steve or heck, even Sven- with hilarious results!

Which is to say, I've been reading QC too long. (I still think of Hanners as a new character, OMG.) And I kinda miss the jokes.

[squeegee]

Marten takes a hike to think (in Faye's too-big jeans with Hello-Kitty belt). Who will he run into on that walk? I'm at a loss, I don't see anything interesting unless he runs into perpetually insomniac Hanners, or perhaps Angus who is too pumped from his date to sleep.

[Leiko]

Other option: Return of the VespAvenger. Or is she permanently out of the game?

[Munch]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he runs into Sven, and they get into a discussion that involves Sven talking about how much he screwed up his deal with Faye and how much he misses her, and Marten realizes what he's been missing out on. That will lead to an excellent arc of Faye dating Angus with Marten looking on in wishful jealousy, friction between Marten and Dora after they break up because he still hangs out at the coffeeshop, etc.

[Bosstone]

Give in to your anger, Marten! Join the Dark Side!

[HazelNutCoffee]

Originally Posted by Munch

There's absolutely no indication that the span between those strips is one day or one month. These people drink a lot of coffee, but I don't think they're THAT spastic...

Yeah, I counted seven individual days, but I'm pretty sure it's implied that those seven days don't happen consecutively. Some of them obviously do (when they talk about what happened "yesterday") but the timeline doesn't make sense if all that happens in a week.

[Kim o the Concrete Jungle]

To be honest, I'm finding this little drama is being overshadowed by a much larger one in the other web-comic I follow, Evil Inc. We know Dora has jealousy issues. Been there, done that. Fairly confident it will get sorted. But damn, that other one, I'm clicking on that compulsively like a rat with an electrode in my brain.

[Leiko]

Yay for Faye!

Although for someone who complains about her butt, she's got somewhat thin legs.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Leiko

Yay for Faye!

Yeah, that was full of awesome.

[Quercus alba]

So do you think Dora's going to start listening to some Toto now?

[Munch]

Damn! Jeph nailed that dialogue. Faye said everything that needed to be said, and put Dora in her place without belittling her (the forehead poke might have been a bit condescending). But the point was "you're a bitch, but more importantly, you've possibly fucked up two of the more important relationships in your life".

[Misnomer]

Originally Posted by Leiko

Yay for Faye!

Thirded! And, what Munch said.

[dangermom]

Go Faye!

[tr0psn4j]

Originally Posted by Munch

Damn! Jeph nailed that dialogue. Faye said everything that needed to be said, and put Dora in her place without belittling her (the forehead poke might have been a bit condescending). But the point was "you're a bitch, but more importantly, you've possibly fucked up two of the more important relationships in your life".

Yeah, it really was the perfect response Faye could have given.

[lawoot]

alternate endings for the 8/27 comic (that would be the 'pokin' out of the boxers' strip)

[Malacandra]

Heh, Faye does OK at the old Mama Bear thing.

[straight man]

Of course, the downside is that Marten is probably going to avoid having to stand up for himself, as usual.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by straight man

Of course, the downside is that Marten is probably going to avoid having to stand up for himself, as usual.

Maybe, but I think he's going to dump her at this point. Or at the very least give her a calmer, longer, but just as pissed-off dressing down than Faye gave.

[Kim o the Concrete Jungle]

Well, if it was me writing it, Marten would be going off on a big long adventure, which would end with Dora having to bail him out of jail.

[Munch]

Originally Posted by Kim o the Concrete Jungle

Well, if it was me writing it, Marten would be going off on a big long adventure, which would end with Dora having to bail him out of jail.

That, paired with an awkward explanation to his cellmate why he has on a Hello Kitty belt, would be fantastic.