Before I start this entry, I need to make a point. When I single out a webcomic or even several webcomics, it's not because I hate them. On the contrary, these are comics that I read on a regular basis. I think it's my enjoyment of them that leads to the picking apart of them because I want them to be as good as they can be. I just felt that I needed to get that out there.

I mentioned in a previous entry the difficulty of writing a webcomic that mixes humor and drama. Usually if an inexperienced or poor writer tries it, it ends up being an oil and water mixture. You have both floating around, but they never come together and form a cohesive structure. But it can be done. Just look at movies like The Royal Tennenbaums. You have a drama-drenched story involving bitterness, hatred, redemption, and love, but you laugh your way through it. It works. But it's a fine line to walk.

So what brought this up today? I submit to you exhibit A: Questionable Content from Monday, March 10th. We've had the build up to Faye and Dora's confrontation, and this strip was part of the pay-off. I was feeling good panels one through four, but that last panel... *sigh* This is a case of oil and water. The drama is moving smoothly, we're getting into the moment, but Jeph, god love him, sneaks his trademark last panel jokiness into the mix. Unfortunately, because of the dramatic build-up, the comedy just doesn't work, and it ruins the dramatic moment.

Far be it from me to tell another webcomic creator what to do, but here's my opinion of how it should have worked. The dramatic dialogue should have continued all the way into the last panel, but Penny eating popcorn - which was funny - should remain there. That's non-intrusive comedy on the dramatic moment. We get our dramatic moment, and then we glance over at Penny calmly watching and eating popcorn and we get a chuckle. It works because it's subtle, something that I think a lot of comedy writing folks tend to forget. You don't always have to be so in-your-face with the comedy; what that does is prove that you're underestimating the intelligence of your audience.

There's no set formula to making drama and humor mix together, and that's what makes it so hard. Drama has rules and comedy has rules, but those rules are exclusive to each other and they never get together for a long-term relationship. But if you play your cards right, sometimes they can get together and go bowling and everyone has a good time. I think the real trick to it is to ask yourself if the mixture works. If not, how can you fix it? Can you fix it? If not, then go one route or the other, but not both, or you'll end up doing a split and ripping your pants.

Another long-awaited (HA) update. The problem is that I haven't found much to talk about webcomics-wise. I'll see if I can't find something to talk about, though.

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It looks like Faye from Questionable Content has been forced to admit her dependence on alcohol. I don't know how I feel about the way it was executed, though. It's been a couple of weeks real time, but in the comic it can't have been more than a few hours since Marten made the comment that set Faye off. It feels like Jeph Jacques rushed the whole acceptance thing, especially with a character like Faye. Of course, just because she's admitted to the problem it doesn't mean she's going to be successful at righting it. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

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While I'm not a fan of Misfile, I am a casual reader, and the last couple strips made me grin because it reminded me of the scene in Jaws where the characters are drunk and comparing scars. I think Chris Hazelton should have cashed in on that and made a sly reference (unless the scar thing itself was the reference) to it. Just my opinion.

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I mentioned this on Monday on the main page of Bardsworth, but Reprographics is back from a long hiatus as Reprographics 2. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a photocomic based around the creator, Chris Yates, and the wackiness that happens in his "life". Check it out.

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Huh, I guess I had a little more to say than I thought. Good for me.

The book release party for the third Sheldon collection was last night (8/19/07). I picked up a copy of 62% More Awesome as well as a copy of the second colletion, The Good, the Bad, and the Pugly, which I had been meaning to get for a while. Both are complete with sketches from the man of the hour, Dave Kellett. I had wanted to chat with Dave for a bit and maybe get a picture with him, but alas, he was in high demand. At least I was able to show my support by showing up. And we got free drinks. Can't go wrong there.

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As of Sunday 8/19/07, Dominic Deegan has reached it's 1500th strip. As much as I may have criticized the recent storyline, DD remains one of my favorite reads and I give a heartfelt congratulations, as well as a thank you, to Mookie. I know I look forward to the future of DD.

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In other news, Pintsize jumped the shark (8/20/07). He said it, not me.

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I should have mentioned this earlier and it slipped my mind, but hopefully Ed won't hate me because of it. Geek Tragedy now has two strips running per week. The first is the normal, storyline driven strip, and the second is a new creation dubbed Geek Tragedy Squared, which is a one-shot comic that doesn't necessarily have to feature the cast. It's a good way for Ed to flex his creative and comedic muscles and I applaud him on the effort.

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Looks like we have a new webcomics review site. It's hosted in the same place as Tangents and it's called "#@!%$*". Pronounce that as you will. It'll be interesting to read it side-by-side with Tangents, as Steve tends to get a bit (make that a lot) more ranty than Robert. Looking forward to it, though.

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Finally, I was debating whether or not to mention this, and I've decided that I will. I have a guilty pleasure, and it's called Your Webcomic is Bad and You Should Fee Bad. John Solomon has stirred up a little bit of annoyance in webcomic circles, but I think the majority share the sentiment of, "Meh." I'm in that category, yet I find reading Solomon's blog entertaining. Maybe it's because, whether or not it's a made up persona, he's a complete asshole. He just rips into webcomics and webcomic creators with uncalled for venom and abuse. I don't condone this behavior, but I think it's funny. Maybe I'm sick and twisted. But I'm smart enough to know that if he ripped into my comic, I wouldn't even care. I'd probably just laugh at it.

Questionable Content turned four years old as of 8/2/07, so happy birthday to QC! I started reading QC recently and fell in love with it. One of my regrets from the San Diego Comic-Con was not stopping by to meet Jeph Jacques (I kept losing track of the Dayfree Press booth). Oh well, maybe next year, right?

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I'm happy and flattered that Zach Miller, after stumbling upon this blog, titled the 8/2/07 Joe and Monkey strip "Comic Book Deaths" based on my post. Unless he's just messing with me. But in any event, it looks as though Kleptobot did suffer a comic book death, but I'm happy to say that there is a pretty believable explanation for it.

On a side note, I have to mention that one of the things I love most about Joe and Monkey is the stuff that takes place behind the main event/dialogue in a given strip. I won't list any examples, because they are much funnier if you catch them on your own.

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