Wednesday, October 28

Leaving, on a jet plane.

Hey, I'm moving from Minneapolis to Boston as of tomorrow morning. I will return when I get settled/internet connected. I'm guessing that will be first week of November (no, I'm not taking a wagon east, but a lot of my stuff is following behind me) So, until then, you are in Jai's capable hands.

Don't get into too much trouble, Jai. ;)

38 comments:

  1. Once the Nothing gets you, say "Hi" to Sage and Jim Thorpe for me.

    We lost them both to a move, too, didn't we?

    More seriously, though...

    Good luck with your new chapter!

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  2. I suppose Kurtz isn't posting a comic today. His is definitely one of the only jobs one can (apparently) be continually late to and still keep.

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  3. I greatly appreciated todays strip, and while I was a little impatient waiting for today's strip, I think the art ended up being well worth the wait. If Kurtz decided to start doing his characters in more natural proportions like this all the time, I'd be quite happy waiting till the evening for the strip.

    Things I liked:

    1. The expression on Cole's face in the last panel. One of the best facial expressions we've seen for the primary cast in a while.
    2. The use of a watercolor-like gradient for the background. Not having a set allows us to enjoy the character's in their costumes in a way that wouldn't have been possible if the background were cluttered.
    3. Shadows. Scott has improved so much in this area over the last couple of years, and I really think this is a good showcase of how he can most effectively use them.
    4. Overall warmer color palette. It gives it that real fall feel.
    5. The Joke is a wonderful. It's nerdy, but cute, and maybe just the least bit of an eye-roller (in a positive sense).

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  4. yeah, definitely a good joke today.

    Though it's hard to see any Jade-ish features in Starbuck at all... what do you think?

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  5. It is hard to tell if that's Jade. Primarily because her eyes are in her head.

    Dirk Benedict had darker hair. I would have expected Brent to go with it, like he did for Beatles Rock Band. But, otherwise, it was a perfect version of Starbuck, at least to me.

    But, I would like to know what Brent has his foot on, in the second panel.

    http://gloriaromanorum.blogspot.com/2009/02/starbuck-nails-it.html

    (image #14 from Google image search for "starbuck")

    The strip is a nice build up for Jade's entrance.

    http://twocrabs.blogs.com/2crabs/2007/03/rip_kara_starbu.html

    (image #4)

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  6. I also found yesterday's strip (Trick or Tweet) humorous, although not quite as much as Thursday's. The "slipping" was kind of hard for a comic strip. While the implied motion is really carried out nicely, it doesn't quite have the impact of the flailing you would see in video form. Still, it all works out towards a good pun in the end.

    It did take me till the last panel to realize what skulls costume was, mostly because I think of the little blue bird (not red) when I think of Twitter.

    The only other nitpick I have is that I originally thought that Scott hadn't finished coloring the strip, because there isn't any shading on Skull. I understand he's supposed to be white, but it would have looked a bit more finished if there were at least a couple of shadows.

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  7. Drama Queen has to be one of the funniest PVPs of this year!!

    But, I'm off to work now. I look forward to what you guys have to say.

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  8. It seems Mr. Kurtz is taking his more personal blogging to a new home (link available at pvponline, or www.scottkurtz.com). I may check it out from time to time, but I'll be doing my PVPMMSing (...yeah, I verbed it, sucka!!) right here. (That's his space, after all.)

    Some of it's cool, like the people he follows, for example.

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  9. Although I must admit that I enjoyed Marley and Me, todays strip got a smile. It also uses that watercolor like background technique that I think Scott uses pretty well. Although, it looks like Brent might be playing pocket pool in the last frame.

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  10. I think the whole last week or so of these one-shot strips has been pretty entertaining actually...

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  11. I would be interested in seeing if we'll get anymore of the NaNoWriMo storyline, or if he only intended to reference it a couple of times.

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  12. Dullhouse:

    There's not like... a joke here.

    Yes, Dollhouse is bad. But if you are trying to make a joke about Dollhouse being bad, there needs to be a joke somewhere.

    The comic could have just as easily been a blog post labeled "Dullhouse," and the entry could have just said "I don't like Dollhouse. Firefly was a much better show," and the exact same impact would have been made.

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  13. I'm actually sick of the one-offs. He should take a page from the BSG writers and make it about the characters and character development. PVP used to be about the characters. Now it's about... nothing.

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  14. @Chris

    There have been plenty of times that the complaint was the exact opposite. "He should get off the story line and stick to one offs." Right now, I think Scott is doing a fairly good job with the balance.

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  15. Personally, I've almost always found the one-offs to be boring. But there have been exceptions here and there. Just not in the last few days.

    But I will say that his drawing has been fairly consistent. Even though he hasn't been pushing the envelope.

    Although,...that's one ugly Dushku he's drawn.

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  16. @TheOriginalJes

    I think you mean "traced," in the last sentence. ;)

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  17. I'd prefer to believe that he drew it, thank you. (lol)

    She's a lot hotter than that.

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  18. I bet he was watching Dollhouse one day, and that line was in the show, and he or somebody he was watching it with came up with Brent's exact retort, which was very amusing at the time as a spontaneous remark amongst friends. Too bad it doesn't really translate as a good joke in the context of unspontaneous scripted humour.

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  19. I've been reading this blog for a while now, but I've always been too lazy to contribute. However, there's something about the Dullhouse strip that bugs me that no one has pointed out yet, so I thought I'd bring it up.

    In the pvpstuff.com store Kurtz is selling a shirt that reads "Joss Whedon is my master now". I'm not saying that Kurtz has to like everything the man does, that's not my point at all. But Kurtz was a big enough fan to want to make money selling shirts off Joss' name.

    My problem is this: Kurtz posted this comic on November 12th. The last new episode of Dollhouse that aired was October 23rd, I think. It was officially announced that Dollhouse was cancelled on November 11th. So this comic clearly isn't in reaction to watching the show, but in reaction to its cancellation. He seems to be kicking Joss when he's down.

    In my oppinion, that's pretty low.

    That being said, I've seen Kurtz come to this site and pvpmakesmesad numerous times saying that people here are horrible because they get enjoyment out of picking apart his work, and if you don't like it then don't read it, and if you still want to read it then why do you feel the need to go online and bitch about it, etc.

    Kind of hypocritical, wouldn't you say?

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  20. Nice catch, Ubbie! And thanks for joining us.

    That's exactly the kind of point we've made before. But, that's all water under the bridge by this point.

    Although, in my (and I hope everyone else's) defense, I never followed Dollhouse and wasn't even aware that it was cancelled.

    I am, however, waiting for the next installment of Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. But, we may have to wait for the next big SAG strike for that.

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  21. The Incident: Part One - all that I can say is, "nice setup." That last panel is priceless.

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  22. TOJ, you beat me to it. It's beautifully simple, and very funny. I'm looking forward to seeing where he's taking this.

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  23. I just noticed the lack of frames around the panels. That's a very interesting choice, to me. It adds to the open-air feeling of the comic.

    However, today's rendition of Cole (as well as other more recent ones) seems to me to be a bit regressive. Granted, given the distance in the POV, there is only so much detail that can be perceived. But, what I'm mostly looking at is the size and bagginess of Cole's shirt, particularly in panel #1. It's almost as if it was scaled up to match his ridiculously large tie (which has, at least, been consistent).

    I would like to point out, however, that the stars Cole is seeing are not out of place. Having been hit squarely on the head by a falling 2 liter soda bottle, I can testify that one does in fact see stars. But, not swirls. (What the hell where you thinking, Scott!?...{in jest, of course})

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  24. I am very much liking the lack of frames, the muted tones, and the visual gags we're getting (as opposed to talking heads...)

    On a side-note, this is definitely a time when I don't mind the copy-and-paste artwork - it's actually quite appropriate here.

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  25. @Dave - Not only is it appropriate, you can use it to make a flip-book.

    Part Two is starting to give me a Mr. Bean vibe. I like it.

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  26. Today's PvP (The Incident - Part Two) may be the first one to actually make me laugh out loud. Well played Scott, well played. I like where this is going.

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  27. Can someone explain to me what's happening in today's strip?

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  28. I'm thinking that the bald, suited man assumed that it was a piece of performance art and was offering a lucrative contract based on that.

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  29. Yeah, parts three through five fell flat for me, but I still love the first two.

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  30. I wasn't a fan of this week's offerings until today's strip:

    http://www.pvponline.com/2009/11/26/friends-for-dinner/

    (Has Cole worn a beret before?)

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  31. Yeah, it was a good ending to what was appearing to be a boring and predictable sequence.

    Not really a criticism of the comic, but something that annoyed me:

    "If it was one-two bash it would be bashing on twwaaah God damn it."

    I'm not sure what "twwaaah" is supposed to mean, but if it's "two" then no, that's a silly thing to say. If you bash ON three you technically bash while saying "three," which would be immediately after saying "two." That's why people ask that, because too many people think that "on" somehow means "after" and you have to make sure you're thinking the same thing. Stupid whingey Brent.

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  32. Think that Kurtz just watched him some Anastasia before drawing the new look for Marcy?

    I did a little side by side comparison for y'all:

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/quacking_up/marcystasia.jpg

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  33. I was thinking more Feivel Mousekowitz from American Tail. But, good catch.

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  34. Meh, mild resemblance... but thumbs up anyway.

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  35. I think I'm looking more forward to the Prairie Dogs arc than I am this year's Christmas arc.

    Aside from opening with the word "meanwhile", which leads me to think that I've been missing something this whole time; I think it has a pretty solid opening, writing-wise. Especially, if you've read the author's note as a lead-in.

    The artistic take on the way he's drawing the main characters has a very Hannah-Barbera feel for me. Particularly, Mr. Winslow reminds me very much of Mr. Slate (http://www.siliconpatch.com/horseshows/images/mrslate.gif). Although, not a perfect likeness, very similar (due entirely to the glasses). I suppose that the HB feel is fitting, given Scott's intent to homage a 60's version of what I've only known from the 80's as a kid.

    Davis, on the other hand, doesn't make anyone else come to mind. And a Google search mostly only brings pictures from the live-action movie with Jason Lee. But, again, I couldn't really find any pictures of the really retro chipmunks (even Wikipedia let me down, which has never happened to me before).

    Also, I'm happy to see a strip worthy of comment (positive or negative) being served up at PVP. It's been a while. After all, it can't be outstanding if it doesn't stand out.

    Hopefully, I'll have more time to really dig into this one.

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  36. Interesting post about DragonCon for LICD fans -

    http://forums.leasticoulddo.com/index.php?showtopic=31068

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