The Great Divorce

(Source) This was PVP's first noteworthy event of 2011. Was it a surprise? Well, no. Cole and Donna's "relationship" -- as portrayed at all times by Cole and his inability to express what's supposed to be wrong with it -- was always a depressing thing to see crop up. Notably because we never saw anything come of it. Granted, that is exactly what the underlying joke here is. And on that level, sure, this kind of thing is probably the best way to end it all. We will never again wonder when or if the "Cole's marriage" story will be revisited -- it won't be. That could easily have been the punchline in the last panel, as opposed to Francis' tacky nonsense. If there was never any apparent marriage in the first place, though, why was ending it so much more difficult and so much more noticeable? Not to mention drawn out. It was all wasted effort, when you can sum it up with a "We got divorced two years ago!" strip. I highly recommend reading these two blog posts on the subject... from three years ago. Having said all of that, perhaps you feel that I loved that strip. Not particularly. It starts off well: Francis is essentially in our shoes, and it's comically believable that his typical teenager ways caused him to miss a momentous occasion or two. That all works. Great first two panels. But the next one tells us that Cole was "stumbling drunk" for four months, which is a bit much to ask people (Both Francis, in one sense, and the actual PVP audience in another) to swallow when there was never any evidence of it. It sounds like a funny idea when spitballing, I'm sure: "Hey, we'll have this guy reveal that he went through a CRAAAZY time and we all missed it!" But god damn, no. Smack yourself down if you get that idea and never laid any groundwork for it. It doesn't work for Cole, because he's the single most visible character in PVP. It's unbelievable. That type of joke is built to serve characters who are gone from center stage for long, random periods of time but always end up coming back. The PVP world certainly isn't lacking for that type of character. Finally, the punchline of Francis' smug satisfaction (How does it even make sense that his final comment is related to Cole's?) is a shame. Honestly? Thank god that's over with. This came pretty close to the mark, and I believe it was a tasteful and dignified approach to the subject matter (Without turning it dry, and still leaving room for humor). Not a perfect execution, but a big relief.

The Hair and Now

The second noteworthy event of 2011 -- no, I haven't mentioned the first, yet -- is that Francis also got an updated look. Remember the last time that happened, where he didn't actually change much (Aside from losing the Charlie Brown / Cole Richards "unibrow". The event was clearly geared towards changing Marcy's look, which perhaps... didn't really paid off in the long run? I'm just saying that we saw Francis a hundred times more often than Marcy, and now her character is in a position where we could, conceivably, never see her again)? This isn't like that time. Most importantly, his replica of Cole's glasses are gone. That isn't just a "good riddance", that is the best riddance. We've flip-flopped between seeing those things portrayed as glasses and as eyeballs, and now we don't have to wonder what they were -- unless Francis mentions three years from now that he used to wear glasses. What to make of the new Francis? Well, he has real eyes, now. The curvature of which makes his nose look like a real nose (Perhaps a coincidence! But it looks nice). The bad news? They seem to be bug eyes, received from Jade since she wasn't using them anymore. His chin doesn't look like shit anymore. Ooh, he changed his shirt...? No, sorry, the alien skull came back in the next panel. He grew shoulders! He still doesn't know how to style the back of his hair, but that's not too embarrassing if you really consider Cole's long-lasting failure in the same department. Essentially, he looks like the previous Francis' old and busted shit melded with Scott Pilgrim's new hotness. Wait, Scott Pilgrim predates Francis' previous look? Well, I didn't know about it back then, so it doesn't count. Scott Pilgrim's popularity is still pretty new to me. Alright, alright, I get it! There are some similarities going on. I'm not claiming some sort of shenanigan is happening, though; far from it. I'm just saying that this kind of thing has been done before, which is the saying that falls one rung above done to death. If everyone's aware of Scott Pilgrim now, then maybe repeating something both you and Bryan Lee O'Malley have done isn't the best way to ring in the new year's promised "better writing"? Ring in the new, wring out the old.

A Kinder, Gentler Tomorrow

Wait a minute, what happened to all of my posts from the year 2010? Just kidding -- I wasn't reading PvP regularly enough to make any. But it's been an entire year, so I should at least make the effort to recap it with PvP's best moments, right? We'll start by completely ignoring the first few months of 2010, and skip to the parts where I noticed landmark events taking place. Somewhere between July 15th and August 5th, Jade's bug eyes sank back into the recesses of her head that are known as "eye sockets". I believe I spat a beverage of some kind all over my dashboard when I noticed, since I was probably driving while browsing the internet on my phone (Guys, this is how you look cool to the ladies). Now, I'm not going to pretend that Jade's eyes never appear to be floating above her hair anymore, but they're about 99% restrained. There is hope that she won't eventually decapitate and devour Brent, after all! Looking good, Jade. On October 8th, there was a really funny strip. I'd already seen things that used a similar joke, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh. Curiously, there is a decent amount of fodder for critiquing in that strip (All in the last panel). But I really like seeing a giant roach perched on Cole's head, and I imagine it is probably rubbing his dinner-plate-sized bald spot and whispering. Who can concentrate on speech bubble placement, a background painting, or coloring in all of Cole's fingers when there's THAT going on? Nobody! Did you guys see these toys? Those are fantastic toys. Using one shape for three different characters -- and doing it so well -- is brilliant. It is merchandising at its finest and most clever, as far as I'm concerned. This kind of things makes me want to put on a hat so I can doff it in respect. Somewhere between November 22nd and January 4th, the hideous black widow markings on Cole's chest turned into something that people can recognize as a tie. Well, I mean, usually. What is that over to the right? I don't know. Tim Gunn didn't tie that Gordian Knot, is what I'm saying. In fact, the tie has a very odd single, skinny black line that winds along it diagonally -- unless that effect is just a coincidence, every time the tie is shown, brought about from drawing creases. I can't tell which is the case, but I'm definitely complaining about finding seeds in the delicious apples that just replaced my dinner of red circles at this point. On a sad note, this does mean that my amazing parody character "Fat Tie" is ruined. He died a warrior's death, though. Valhalla will welcome him. Hey, you know who else didn't show up for PvP for a year? We last saw Max Powers on Hell I-don't-know-whenth, 2009, when he ran a game company and dispensed business advice for rich entrepreneurs, and he returned last April 5th so he could stop doing that and join PvP Magazine's sitcom instead. Which is almost an exact depiction of events, according to the strip. Awkward, and self-referential humor like what we saw there is PvP's weakest link in a chain of humor and story-telling... but damn, he looks good. He also has Brent's hair color. Brent better watch his ass, if Max grows his hair a couple of inches longer. Also, Scratch's constant, radiation-induced growth finally got him within spitting distance of Skull's height, at which point Scratch pulled one of Skull's arms out of its socket. Happy New Year! This post is for our one subscriber, as well as Creatorian, who left a kind message that I greatly appreciated.

New Thread

Hey, I am still alive. On the other hand, my computer did not successfully make the trip to Boston. So that was unfortunate. I honestly haven't read a PvP strip in about two weeks, and am woefully unprepared to make any comments. I should have a laptop by Christmas; until then I can try and put up some new threads when appropriate. Happy Holidays!

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. ;)

More Non-PvP Weekend Stuff

Yesterday I was nice, today; cruel. This is what happens when you project into your creative work. (Hint: Brother is a metaphor!)

Erfworld 2: Love is a Battlefield

In non-PvP news; I was extremely excited to read yesterday that the second volume of Erfworld is launching on October 28th and can be found here. There will be several changes from the first book, not the least of which is that Erfworld now has it's own website, and will no longer be hosted by The Order of the Stick. The other major change is that Jamie Noguchi, the extremely talented artist who illustrated book 1 is leaving to pursue other projects. This is really too bad, his work was evocative and really created a unique setting for the Erfworld story to be told in. However, Xin Ye has stepped in, and from what I've seen of her work so far, she should be able to ably fill Jamie's roll. Of course, the real test will be her ability to duplicate Jamie's very striking characters. As long as she can keep everybody recognizable, and maintain Erfworld's crazy surrealist style, the comic shouldn't suffer. Rob Balder is really telling an interesting story. It is wrapped in a cotton candy setting of clever worldplay and internet memes...but it also deals with very serious philosophical issues. The main character, Parson Gotti, has been deliberating over the summer on whether it's right to use his talent for warfare when he knows it will likely cause the deaths of Erfworld's denizens. If you have a true talent for something, should you pursue it at all costs, even when it hurts others? And the oldest question of all; do the ends ever really justify the means? Erfworld returns next Wednesday, and will update on a regular Wednesday/Saturday schedule following that. If a very original mixture of fantasy and comedy is your thing I highly recommend you check it out.

LOLBAT is Butler! Butler is Rex Roffle! Rex Roffle is LOLBAT! Continuity is for losers!

Since Kurtz probably doesn't want to hear it from me, I'll hand the floor to astute reader Taylortails: "I do think it's a shame that Scott chose to do the ridiculous "Lolbat as Kent" strip, since it takes away from the reveal to have Lolbat have two secret identities. Plus, frankly, the Tick did that gag better years ago." All I want to know is what kind of hours do Rex Roffle and Butler work to pull that off!

Zombies Ghosts and Ghouls

It must be Halloween! The last few weeks of PvP have left me in a bit of a bind comment-wise. I was not enthralled with the Bone-Burglar/Skull dynamic, but then I really enjoyed the zombie apocalypse story. Probably as much as I have enjoyed any PvP recently. The art was excellent, especially the subtle touches of zombification on Jade after she turned. The story was tightly plotted satire. It's nice to know that when Kurtz is forced to, he is able to begin and end an arc. I couldn't comment because, well, it wasn't making me sad. Then we got the John Hughes/Cole montage which alternated between too soon and too boring. I'm the kind of guy, as my friends can attest, who will occasionally plunge through a 400 page book in one day because I don't have anything better to do. So when I tell you that a comic strip was not able to maintain my interest for an entire five panels, well, let's just say by panel two of 'Planes Trains and Get the Hell Out of My Kitchen' I had nodded off. The Kubrick throw-away the next day was clever, but so soon after a 'good' storyline, the John Hughes/Cole bit seemed more lazy than anything else. So, I apologize. I know I'm supposed to be churning up interesting topics in the tradition of FSM, but I have been largely uninspired to post recently. Hopefully as we return to more 'regular' plot-lines we can pick up the thread again here, as well. Enjoy your weekend!

Grating On MY Nerves

Yes it is. And by 'it' I mean the use of 'Die Hard(ed)' as a verb. I'm not sure that I can tell you why it annoys me so much, only that every time Brent let it fly, I shuddered a little bit. But I quibble, and it turns out that I have come not to bury PvP this week, but to praise it. Because, lo' did Kurtz find a storyline that actually, sort of works, and lo' he has apparently discovered that low-key humor can be just as effective as Panda sex and people crashing through walls. What did I like? The first panel of Vent Sienna was good. I always like it when an artist can use body language to effectively convey a situation...and if you removed the dialogue bubbles from that panel I think it's still pretty clear that Brent is 'on a mission' and that Francis is having his patience tested by Brent. It's a nice clear and unusually dynamic set up for the strip. Then there are two panels; one in Vent Sienna and one in Grating Nerves that deserve special mention. I call them the 'appendage panels' and they are the sort of artistic departure that I would really like to see a lot more of from Kurtz. If you imagine the PvP strip as being shot by a camera, most of the shots are coming from a fair distance with a 3/4 angle. These are a little more 'hand held' I also appreciate that Kurtz has focused on toes and fingers in these two panels; not traditionally his strongest suit. I would also praise the design of the 'through the grate' shot in Vent Sienna, although in most mediums when you use that sort of PoV, it generally indicates that an antagonist is viewing the characters through the grate...which is not the case here. (Unless it is being used to play up the paranoia of Brent, in which case, kudos.) In any case, as somebody who has been less than enthused, both by the recent one-offs, and by the plot lines dealing with Cole's family life...I'm pleased to see the strip return to what it does well; an ad-mixture of strange cultural references and office hi-jinks. Now, if you really want to please me, Kurtz...I hope the Germans have a devious plan...