# I don't quite get today's "Questionable Content" strip **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [April 13, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967 "2010-04-13T17:48:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/221 "2010-08-31T15:14:43Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/222 "2010-08-31T16:31:22Z")
I don’t think marten will dump Dora. He hasn’t shown any hint of spine this entire series. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/223 "2010-08-31T16:41:07Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/224 "2010-08-31T20:32:23Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/225 "2010-08-31T20:36:24Z")
> [@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… ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/226 "2010-08-31T21:26:57Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@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. [I guess it all depends on how you look at it.](http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=610) No Spine here, and Dora’s teasing him about it. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/227 "2010-08-31T22:07:31Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/228 "2010-09-01T03:41:45Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/229 "2010-09-01T03:48:36Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/230 "2010-09-01T05:25:54Z")
Faye and Marten will end up in bed together… … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/231 "2010-09-01T06:20:24Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/232 "2010-09-01T06:27:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/233 "2010-09-01T06:38:05Z")
Other option: Return of the VespAvenger. Or is she permanently out of the game? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/234 "2010-09-01T12:49:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/235 "2010-09-01T13:18:03Z")
Give in to your anger, Marten! Join the Dark Side! ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/236 "2010-09-01T13:52:06Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > > [@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… 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. ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/237 "2010-09-02T06:29:23Z")
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.](http://www.evil-comic.com/) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/238 "2010-09-02T08:08:24Z")
Yay for Faye! Although for someone who complains about her butt, she’s got somewhat thin legs. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/239 "2010-09-02T11:58:05Z")
> [@Leiko](#): > > Yay for Faye! Yeah, that was full of awesome. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/240 "2010-09-02T12:03:53Z")
So do you think Dora’s going to start listening to some Toto now? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967.md?page=13)