Questionable Content XIX: Give Jeph Just A *Little* Credit, Here

[Rodin]

I genuinely thought Faye's punchline was funny.

Ahhhh thats what i like. Ironic display of humanity at a coffee shop.

...It's a punchline? I read it as being completely serious, with Faye (who used to be the "mean" one) immediately jumping on Dora for being mean before Dora had a chance to speak. That final panel gave me whiplash.

Also, what's an "ironic display of humanity"?

[DaFlipp]

...It's a punchline? I read it as being completely serious, with Faye (who used to be the "mean" one) immediately jumping on Dora for being mean before Dora had a chance to speak. That final panel gave me whiplash.

Also, what's an "ironic display of humanity"?

I think it's meant to be ironic. After all, Ayo literally only *just* asked for five minutes, and Faye immediately blasts Dora as if she had cruelly refused it? Yeah, I think Faye is just needling her friend/former boss.

[Wraith]

I think its perfectly clear that Faye's last line is sarcasm. Ayo has worked herself up and gotten upset, so Faye is making out like Dora is some kind of heartless slave-driver, working her staff relentlessly until they burst into tears. Dora 'defends' herself by "generously" giving Ayo 10 whole minutes to get over her emotional breakdown and get back to work.

It's just really awkwardly written, because no where else in the comic it is even suggested that this is Dora's doing - Faye even remarks that Ayo is a "go-getter" implying that Ayo is the one actively rushing herself around. Why wouldn't Dora be nice to Ayo? Dora's not the one making Ayo work at 100 miles per hour.

I think that Jeph has forgotten his characters, again. If we go back into the archives, it's Faye who was the hardass that made people want to quit, and Dora was the one who insisted that they buy pizza and hang out a little when working late. Flipping it the other way around for today's comic either ignores the old comics, or at the very least comes out of nowhere because none of the newer ones allude to supporting this interpretation of Dora.

[Scarlet Manuka]

I have to admit, I found that scene kind of confusing. But that perspective does help - if we take the exchange between Dora and Faye to be entirely joking around between the two of them / needling each other, and not aimed at Ayo or pretending to reality at all, it does more or less work with their previously established behaviours. So Faye's comment works if it's only direcetd at being a pain to Dora, and not actually with any concern for Ayo behind it, and Dora's response can be a light-hearted understatement. They both know Dora will actually be considerably kinder to Ayo than either of them is implying.

That's definitely not how it came across to me at first or second reading, though. Granted, I'm not good at picking up subtext.

The next comic is genuinely funny though. Close enough, Hannelore!

[Durazno]

I liked that back-and-forth, though I have a feeling that if I were in Ayo's shoes, I'd be confused and alarmed. (Though actually, that kinda made the punchline work for me better, because not only did I get friends needling each other, but a third-party crashing into it.)

I also rather like the black hole gag.

[Gnoman]

That "NASCAR-curious" joke hit a really jarring note - too close to the kind of coded insult that Jeph doesn't (and probably would never) do.

[Cikomyr2]

That "NASCAR-curious" joke hit a really jarring note - too close to the kind of coded insult that Jeph doesn't (and probably would never) do.

NASCAR culture people are a persecuted minority?

[Traab]

That "NASCAR-curious" joke hit a really jarring note - too close to the kind of coded insult that Jeph doesn't (and probably would never) do.

I mean, its pretty obviously a joking play on something like bi curious as a way to define who you are. And at least its nicer phrasing than redneck curious.

[Rodin]

I wasn't aware that bi-curious was a coded insult. I thought it meant someone who considers themselves straight but is open to the idea that they may not be.

[Cikomyr2]

I wasn't aware that bi-curious was a coded insult. I thought it meant someone who considers themselves straight but is open to the idea that they may not be.

Me too. I guess ***some*** LGBT are aggressively critical of these people who they consider to be "queerbaiting" or whatever, but its a really weird standard to uphold on an individual.

Like, some LGBT fans are very aggressive in denouncing what they perceive to be "one of theirs" who is not as forceful in their identity as them. That includes bi-curious, which they feel is just a closet some people hide behind.

[Wraith]

I can kind of see where you're coming from Gnoman - it's sort-of-kind-of skirting the old "I identify my gender as [insert random adjective]" so-called joke, which would be VERY out of place in QC.

I don't honestly think that's what Jeph was going for, though. I read it as a joke about Marten threatening to cosplay as a redneck with comically out-dated hair, interest in sports, maybe wearing a string vest and buying a spittoon and being everything he currently isn't, rather than that. It's more clumsy than offensive, which a lot of Jeph's writing has been lately.

[Gnoman]

I can kind of see where you're coming from Gnoman - it's sort-of-kind-of skirting the old "I identify my gender as [insert random adjective]" so-called joke, which would be VERY out of place in QC.

I don't honestly think that's what Jeph was going for, though. I read it as a joke about Marten threatening to cosplay as a redneck with comically out-dated hair, interest in sports, maybe wearing a string vest and buying a spittoon and being everything he currently isn't, rather than that. It's more clumsy than offensive, which a lot of Jeph's writing has been lately.

I wouldn't expect him to do it either, but that is exactly the way it feels to me - it feels like an accidental sideswipe.

[Beelzebub1111]

This is what I hate about fake genius characters. Time travel is a thing. I'm doing it right now. Also relativity is an observable effect. Time travel backwards isn't something that has been completely ruled out.

[Reboot]

This is what I hate about fake genius characters. Time travel is a thing. I'm doing it right now. Also relativity is an observable effect. Time travel backwards isn't something that has been completely ruled out.

Also https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1948 & https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1978

[Wraith]

I very much dislike this new Liz.

I never particularly liked her, but she was at least promising potential for something different. She was at least annoying Claire a bit, which is nice. Within the space of three comics, she now not only has the same nose as Willow, but also the same haircut, and she has starting using the same stupid contractions as Emmett.

Liz isn't even Canadian, she just lived there for a couple of years and specifically not mixing with other people and picking up their accent. The way that she has been infantalised and fetishized is creepy enough, without having her 'baby talk' like an actual sheltered child.

[Delicious Taffy]

Also https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1948 & https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1978

Don't be silly, nothing before #4500 ever happened.

[Johanny]

Also https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1948 & https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1978

wow, a follow-up joke in 30 not-paced-as-one-per-minute-where-nothing-happens strips. Nice.

[Beelzebub1111]

What about someone with a Library Science degree makes them qualified to be a social worker? Not just a social worker, but manage a...welfare office? Is that what we are going with?

[Mechalich]

What about someone with a Library Science degree makes them qualified to be a social worker? Not just a social worker, but manage a...welfare office? Is that what we are going with?

Nothing, though presumably she's not going to be doing the work herself. Rather, she's need to establish a full-on program for employee assistance which would require a staff of its own.

Cubetown is a big institution. The flow chart Moray draws in comic #4966 has ~40 bubbles on it. Assuming an average of ten people per bubble, then Cubetown would have around 400 employees. That's just people who work for the institution directly, there's probably at least 5x that on the platform performing various duties not related to the institution such as the people who run their own shops and stuff. 400 employees is roughly the size of a mid-sized college - Smith College, a useful point of comparison, has ~300 academic staff and ~3000 students - however, Cubetown has only faculty, with hardly any administrators at all. In fact, Claire may well be only the second administrator behind Moray (the Director doesn't count, because the Director is both alien to the point of incomprehensibility and also is actively engaged in research like making more Morays), and her position is functionally equivalent to that of a Provost. While many modern colleges have massively administrative staff and Cubetown need not worry about students, to manage 400 academics probably requires at least 40-50 support staff - though due to the AI-inflected nature of all many of them don't need physical bodies. To even begin to 'fix everything' Claire needs to hire (or perhaps have the Director create, since it can just make sapient beings) several dozen people to conduct necessary administrative work.

Unfortunately, Jeph has no sense of scale and I strongly suspect has no idea what he's put Claire, someone who has never managed anything in her entire life, in for. After all, he thinks a single unarmed guard can cover security for the entire Cubetown complex, which is laughable. I mean, even if you only needed one person on shift at a time, a week has 168 hours in it, and a a 40 hour work week, 24/7 coverage means you need 5 security guards (the fifth one makes up the extra hours and covers sick calls and vacation days). The whole thing is an excellent illustration of the pitfalls of bottom-up worldbuilding in action.