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Ghostlight posted:II don't believe at any point he sat down and thought about what he was conveying beyond his usual egg-salad of manchild pandering, and I don't think that's a failure in craft or a failure in message, but a lack of seeing what he does as art; as a communication to other people, rather than simply a bunch of drawings people will briefly look at for a minute or two and be entertained. I'm sure he would disagree, but I see this attitude everywhere in his work - I would say it's impossible for him not to have this perspective because so much of his art is directed toward, indulges in, and is driven by, the unapolegetic passive consumerism of nerd culture. It revels and celebrates it in a way that even Working Daze with its most hamfisted pop culture references does not. Yeah, I think what is truly dire about Intelligent Life is just that it's so lazy, or, to put it more generously, that Reddick knows exactly how low he can set the bar and still putter on. It wants to press one of a very limited numbers of very rudimentary affective buttons for the audience, and it wants to press them in the most straightforward way possible. It's there in every aspect of it-- his expressions and poses are exaggerated and broad, but repetitive, and there's no thought as to how his character models fit together. Look at Marge and Homer Simpson-- we can tell at a glance that Homer is overweight and slovenly, that Marge is kind of shapely but dresses like a frump, but despite their obvious physical differences its very easy to show them doing things together, such as dancing, chatting, even just walking side by side, because Matt Groening put some drat effort into making a visually consistent universe for them to inhabit. Gwen and Skip look like they're from entirely different planets, which is underlined now that they always appear together because his ability to portray perspective has become a total nightmare. The writing's the same way, and I think you're absolutely spot on about it being sitcom-serial. He doesn't do done-in-one strips, but he also isn't interested in telling a long-term story about characters developing and changing. Which is fine-- not everything needs to be Funky Winkerbean (nothing should be Funky Winkerbean) but it makes his attempts to occasionally sling a message feel extra facile and insulting. And it's that there is a base line of competence there-- he does have a nice clean line, and the few facial expressions he bothers to use are nicely expressive in a lot of cases-- that makes it such an irritating strip. This thread has exposed me to so much weird and ambitious stuff in this medium, be it sublime or abysmal, that to see somebody just coast feels like such a waste. He demands as much of his reader as he demands of himself, which is to say, as you pointed out, nothing more than the most passive, narcotic consumption.
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Jan 23, 2018 04:42
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 What in the everloving gently caress, Dez? She's trying to learn to dress sexy in her new body and this is what you come up with? Her sweats complemented her body better. Make her hair bigger and she can play somebody's very professional mom in a 90's sitcom. In other news, Ces Marciuliano and Hector Cantu were on an episode of All Things Considered. If the fact that it's an NPR show wasn't a clue, yes, they do talk politics.
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Jan 23, 2018 05:40
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The Dinette Set thinks ahead. Working Daze is...uh...what?  Super-Fun-Pak Comix is drowning, there is no sign of land. 
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Jan 23, 2018 06:00
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Intelligent Life Take It From the Tinkersons  Dark Side of the Horse  Viivi & Wagner 
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Jan 23, 2018 06:22
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Jan 23, 2018 06:50
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Is the Rabbit Actually Named Fumi? Maybe!
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Jan 23, 2018 07:12
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Evil Mastermind posted:Working Daze is...uh...what?
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Jan 23, 2018 08:29
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Bad Machinery, in which a slogan is created.   
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Jan 23, 2018 09:08
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Nope, still love Bad Machinery 
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Jan 23, 2018 11:02
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Mikl posted:Nope, still love Bad Machinery I don't mean this as an insult- I like the comic too and read it when I have the time. But what exactly is the point of Bad Machinery? I keep expecting it to be about a single overarching story that has something to do with the title but instead it just keeps jumping between these different sets of students who only vaguely know each other and have completely different motivations. Is that really the whole premise, or are we building up to the premise finally being explained? Tracksuit  The last panel there feels like the punchline to a political cartoon. If political cartoons were good, anyway.  Instead the jokes is about how royalty never looks at commoner's faces, instead preferring to just talk at them. Which I've been led to believe is or at least was mostly true. Mother From Another Country  This is gonna wreak havoc on the stalk market.
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Jan 23, 2018 11:47
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Arlo and Janis Tina's Groove Classic (June 27, 2006)  Arlo and Janis Classic (June 27, 1996)  Garfield Classic (June 27, 1986) 
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Jan 23, 2018 12:04
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Some Guy TT posted:I don't mean this as an insult- I like the comic too and read it when I have the time. But what exactly is the point of Bad Machinery? I keep expecting it to be about a single overarching story that has something to do with the title but instead it just keeps jumping between these different sets of students who only vaguely know each other and have completely different motivations. Is that really the whole premise, or are we building up to the premise finally being explained? There is not any deeper meaning to the title than as a reference to a song that the author likes (that's actually his youtube channel, there). But there isn't a central premise outside of 'kids solve mysteries'. Each arc is sorted into cases. Kind of like a Famous Five type-arrangement (if the Famous Five were divided down gender lines and were friendly-ish rivals). That's not to say there isn't continuity from one case to another, but there's not some overarching mystery to be solved like, say, Gravity Falls. He even did mock book covers for each case! (I was going to post this back at the start, but it would have ruined the punchline of one of today's strips).  While the mystery teens are working at cross purposes, they are working on the same case.
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Jan 23, 2018 12:22
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While I have read plenty of references both inside and outside the comic to mystery solving teens, I can not for the life of me figure out what exactly the mystery is that they are trying to solve. Has it been explicitly stated? Because I feel really dumb for not being able to figure it out on my own.
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Jan 23, 2018 12:42
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Nancy Dustin  Mandrake 
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Jan 23, 2018 12:57
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Archyduke posted:And it's that there is a base line of competence there-- he does have a nice clean line, and the few facial expressions he bothers to use are nicely expressive in a lot of cases-- that makes it such an irritating strip. This thread has exposed me to so much weird and ambitious stuff in this medium, be it sublime or abysmal, that to see somebody just coast feels like such a waste. He demands as much of his reader as he demands of himself, which is to say, as you pointed out, nothing more than the most passive, narcotic consumption. This is really well said; I've felt similar frustrations with Reddick's work. I've really been enjoying your posts in this thread and I'd love it if you kept it up!
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Jan 23, 2018 13:08
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Some Guy TT posted:While I have read plenty of references both inside and outside the comic to mystery solving teens, I can not for the life of me figure out what exactly the mystery is that they are trying to solve. Has it been explicitly stated? Because I feel really dumb for not being able to figure it out on my own. I've not been reading it but I believe that the boys are trying to work out why their local football team is cursed, and the girls are trying to stop the development of a new stadium by the big-money new Russian owner. I imagine these two plot threads will combine at some point.
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Jan 23, 2018 13:20
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Family Circus Rose is Rose  One Big Happy  Foob  Compu-Toon  Bizarro  Dilbert  I forget what I said ages ago, but Reddick blocked me on twitter. Probably telling him his comic is poo poo. That's my story.
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Jan 23, 2018 13:54
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Some Guy TT posted:While I have read plenty of references both inside and outside the comic to mystery solving teens, I can not for the life of me figure out what exactly the mystery is that they are trying to solve. Has it been explicitly stated? Because I feel really dumb for not being able to figure it out on my own. Mr. Squishy posted:I've not been reading it but I believe that the boys are trying to work out why their local football team is cursed, and the girls are trying to stop the development of a new stadium by the big-money new Russian owner. I imagine these two plot threads will combine at some point.
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Jan 23, 2018 14:02
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Christ I hate the Tinkersons. There are some strips in this thread that I dislike, but I'm able to just scroll past them and it's no big deal. But the Tinkersons is so hideously offensive in its presentation -- the "artwork" is ugly to look at and the "jokes" are the most banal, lovely tripe -- that it's like a giant black hole of suckitude that draws my attention in and then claws at my eyeballs with rusty pitchforks.
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Jan 23, 2018 15:12
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Zamboni_Rodeo posted:Christ I hate the Tinkersons. There are some strips in this thread that I dislike, but I'm able to just scroll past them and it's no big deal. But the Tinkersons is so hideously offensive in its presentation -- the "artwork" is ugly to look at and the "jokes" are the most banal, lovely tripe -- that it's like a giant black hole of suckitude that draws my attention in and then claws at my eyeballs with rusty pitchforks. At every workplace there's 'that guy' who hang around the coffee pot in the break room and slurps coffee while telling people lovely 'case of the mondays'-style jokes. The Tinkersons is that guy in comic strip form.
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Jan 23, 2018 15:15
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Jan 23, 2018 15:21
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Kennel posted:Nancy
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Jan 23, 2018 17:46
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Today's Garf Zippy  Ripley's 
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Jan 23, 2018 17:54
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Rhymes with Orange Pros and Cons 
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Jan 23, 2018 18:02
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Modesty Blaise 
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Jan 23, 2018 18:20
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Flash Gordon 2005 Spiderman        The Amazing Hulk  Magnificatz  Dick Tracy     And we're finally caught back up!
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Jan 23, 2018 18:44
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Jan 23, 2018 19:08
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Yvonmukluk posted:There is not any deeper meaning to the title than as a reference to a song that the author likes (that's actually his youtube channel, there). Oh, poo poo, that is not a reference I expected to see around here!
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Jan 23, 2018 19:51
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My Lovely Horse posted:February 18th, was it? Cause he's not even remotely setting up this big final storyarc. I don't want to see it, but he might as well give a poo poo. F Minus  Mark Trail  Day two of "Belittle Rusty" week. Mary Worth  The Phantom  drat these 17-year cicadas! Pooch Cafe  Rex Morgan MD  "You all must have been 'straight buggin' about that, as it were." Apartment 3-G 
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Jan 23, 2018 19:52
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Johnny Walker posted:Rex Morgan MD
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Jan 23, 2018 19:54
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June is being a straight up real oval office here. Older couple suddenly find out their dead son had a child and oh no they aren't waiting patiently for the law to decide what they should do
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Jan 23, 2018 20:41
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Johnny Walker posted:Rex Morgan MD Jesus tits, what a stupid storyline. Are there any lawyers/legal-types in this thread who can confirm whether or not this little meeting would end up getting the Morgans' lawyer disbarred in real life? At the very least it feels exceptionally unethical.
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Jan 23, 2018 20:43
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Sorry dude I am a lawyer but I haven't read a Rex Morgan in years and don't intend to start. So Poptepic is popular huh? You keep posting these remarkable tribute things. Chin posted:It seems extreme to say that the Kieran Meehan's brain has broken because he pokes fun at silly hypersensitive bureaucracy or has a character be critical of universities. Hey, don't engage in hyperbole when you try to decry hyperbole. To go off on a concoction of "problematic alt-right broke-brain" posting like that when I, at least, only said one of those things, suggests you have a chip on your shoulder. Also, regarding the university nonsense, it isn't Doctor Peel who simply seems to have a thing against uni. His clients keep bringing it up and so it seems less "a character trait" than "something the author pushes." Regarding the Defoe stuff, we'll see how it develops. I'd say the strip is on a sort of probation cuz I'm still reading every post but it's mighty suspicious lately. SuperKlaus fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Jan 23, 2018 |
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Jan 23, 2018 21:02
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Johnny Aztec posted:June is being a straight up real oval office here. On the other hand - mom of young children has people following her kids. No proof that they are who they say they are, either. A lot of moms would go DEFCON all over that, and ask questions later.
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Jan 23, 2018 21:03
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Man, I don't like Pop Team Epic at all.
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Jan 23, 2018 21:05
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Johnny Aztec posted:June is being a straight up real oval office here. I think June responded to that emotionally, sure, but I think she has every right to. And I would be shocked if this storyline doesn't end with the grandparents being invited into the Morgan extended family.
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Jan 23, 2018 21:14
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And as the kids say, our lawyer is "totally fired" and as it's commonly and popularly set, you guys are "gonna get hosed" in court
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Jan 23, 2018 21:19
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Endless Mike posted:Man, I don't like Pop Team Epic at all. I found the first episode of the anime funnier than most of the strips(something about the voice acting & pacing makes it click better), but I can also see it wearing thin for an entire series.
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Jan 23, 2018 21:26
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Haifisch posted:I find it really hit or miss, with more misses than hits. Although I think some of that is because of the jokes that rely on references, so if you have no clue what they're referencing, it falls completely flat. Not with some of the voice actors they get making act out these stupid strips. Episode 3's was amazing and I'm still so happy about the B side
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Jan 23, 2018 22:04
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You have to remember that the kid was dropped off with the Morgan’s by his terminally ill mother, who then vanished to go die on her own. June is taking the adoptive mother role very seriously.
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Jan 23, 2018 23:00
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