Any love for Sandra and Woo here? It’s a fun little webcomic, updated once or twice a week, somewhat irregularly. Nice art, witty situations, interesting characters.
I linked to the TVTropes reference, not to the actual strip, because of the allusion to “Aborted Arc” as a trope. S&W seems to have a lot of this, and I was wondering if anyone else noticed (or cared) or could help me figure it out.
Very recently, the strip opened up a new post-apocalyptic world, and showed us…Smoky Bear. A guy rescues him, and the Bear tells us that it was he who caused the world’s downfall. He was teaching kids about forest fires… End of arc.
Hunh? It came outta nowhere…and went nowhere. Over the months, I’ve seen several other examples of a plot line that is introduced, developed a little, and then allowed to drop.
Is this some dramatic form I’m not familiar with?
(The modern Dick Tracy comic strip also seems to have problems with hurried, tacked-on endings, such as when Silver Nitrate and Sprocket developed a deadly sibling rivalry in the very last strip of a story, and she tries to kill them both. No reason for it, and, when they come back later, there’s no reference to it whatever.)
In the specific case you reference, the child he is talking to is Larissa, who is infamous in this strip for many things, especially pyromania. (Hence Sandra’s look of fear).
Okay! Thanks! That makes sense now. I didn’t recognize Larissa, and so the joke whooshed right over my head.
(With Larissa, that’s probably safest.)
I definitely love the strip, but I guess I’m too “linear” to get some of the humor. The sequence where the hyper-feminist teacher came in, was obnoxious for a few strips, and then went away (or was taken out and killed?) was weird. It just went past so quickly. Hi, here’s a new character who is a total jerk…and six strips later is disposed of.
Microhumor. I just needed to have it explained. Thanks!
Actually, I kind of prefer the mini-arcs to some of the other comics where I need a “Readers’ Reference Guide” to keep characters and relationships straight over a six month arc. (“Dumbing of Age” I’m talking to you, here! Was that Roz or Billie or Marigold…and who used to sleep with who?)
Quercus alba: Grin! That’s for sure! I’ve been following Freefall for a year now, and don’t have any idea what the hell is going on.
I’ve been following Girl Genius from the beginning, and don’t know what’s going on…but that’s more by Phil and Kaja’s intentional design than bad scripting!
Marigold? Either I’m missing a joke or you’re even more confused than you think? (Marigold’s from Questionable Content.)
And who used to sleep with who is a pretty short simple list…
Dorothy/Danny
Billie/Alice (probably - definitely had a relationship…whether it was sexual isn’t confirmed)
Joe/Roz (may be ongoing, probably not)
Sal/Jason (possibly going to return, quite unethical)
Even current relationships are pretty simple…
Danny/Amber (mildly complicated by Amber’s secret identity and Danny’s budding attraction to Ethan)
Ruth/Billie (unethical and unhealthy, but straightforward aside from the ‘uh, are we lesbians?’ shrug thing)
Joe/Penny (probably…also unethical, but straightforward)
Mandy/Grace (not actually confirmed, but too heavily implied to to not be)
Sarah/Other Jacob (at least until the batteries drain, and Joyce goes on an adventure to keep her from getting more >_>)
The whole point of Amber/Ethan is that it didn’t happen. Becky’s relationship with her Andersen roommate never got past smoochies. Billie’s attempt to seduce Danny failed. None of the others have known romantic/sexual ties.
Dorothy. … Yeah, I think Dorothy’s the only one who fits that description. Lots of girls with glasses, lots of blondes, lots of brainy girls, but I think Dorothy’s the only overlap on all 3…