27-09-08 Just the shirt

[SaBomJon]

Judging by what we’ve already seen, Giz and Dave are listening. (Reading? Whatever.) Honestly, I’d be shocked if they didn’t eventually deliver what the readers are asking for: less M&D, an attitude adjustment for Zii and some karmic retribution for Gary.

If that's the case, we are SOOOOOOO overdue to see Gary REALLY come out on top. With everything that's been going on, M & D need to be squished by a steamroller and Gary will need to win the lottery, allowing him to buy his own publishing company and move into a posh upscale apartment with DiDi to even things out here. Zii....well she will need to make a huge payment on her karmic Visa, though I'm not sure how.

Ah, well one can dream.... In the interim, I would love to see Gary show a couple desperate ninja moves in order to escape, or at least a desperate kick that Dillon will end up recieving in his Speedos on the way down from his mid-air jump.

[brnleague99]

The cat face generally denotes mischievousness, and the sweat drop is usually for anxiety/nervousness and such.

Also loved Gary hanging on to the border in the 4th panel, good stuff.

Looks like I don't need to post.

[Dryope]

I'm entirely confused as to how being in the park and helping Didi apply her lotion make M&D the villains here. I realize they've made selfish decisions in the past but in this particular park storyline what exactly did they do wrong? Cause I don't see it.

[Swayambhu]

Man, Dill's pretty gay, even by gay standards. I love it.

[aishabe]

The cat face generally denotes mischievousness, and the sweat drop is usually for anxiety/nervousness and such.

Also loved Gary hanging on to the border in the 4th panel, good stuff.

Looks like I don't need to post.

Neither do I, you both beat me to it.
Dillon is quite scary in that last panel...

I'm entirely confused as to how being in the park and helping Didi apply her lotion make M&D the villains here. I realize they've made selfish decisions in the past but in this particular park storyline what exactly did they do wrong? Cause I don't see it.

They haven't done anything wrong in the park.
Everybody on the board just thinks they're annoying and should go away for a little while.

[Bear]

I'm entirely confused as to how being in the park and helping Didi apply her lotion make M&D the villains here. I realize they've made selfish decisions in the past but in this particular park storyline what exactly did they do wrong? Cause I don't see it.

I think that its more that Matt and Dillion are getting to be overused as punchlines rather then there being villains that some people are getting fed up with. Now I love M&D, I think they're great characters, but even I think they've been a little overused lately. That and on the realism value... its been less then 4 days comic time since they were meant to have moved out to their private love nest, and yet we've seen them every day since for once reason or another.

On with the comic though...

I didn't get the Cat head Zii thing either until someone pointed out the Anime link. I don't watch alot of anime so thats not apparent to me. But surely, with Giz's awesome art skills, she could have conveyed mischeivousness much better with her uber expression skills then having to go the cat root? Probably fits with her collar though.

Zii is getting to be pure evil.. torturing poor Gary like that and having to get Dillion in on it... *Scours eyes and brain from that Banana Drop attack moment*. Brilliant 4th wall breaking touch of having him trying to escape the comic border though. We need more moments like that to add to the distorted realism of things.

Gary is in dire need of some Karmic realignment in his favour though what with all the torture he's been forced to face lately mostly at the hands of Zii. We need Zii being made uberjealous of him for some reason asap.

I also agree we need a little more plot movement. As much as I enjoy the puncy one liners we're getting, I just need something more to grab me and keep me here. Not that I'm going anywhere, your not gonna get rid of me. We just need a bit more developement and defiantely need some new characters comming in, I didn't care much for Junghan, but we need to see more of 'Reagan-Man' and Mde Deville and maybe bring in one of DiDi's boyfriends to throw into the mix and stirr up things.

[ShadowRaven]

In Gary's case, I have the unfortunate feeling that his bad times haven't hit the end yet, but I expect they will soon and start turning the other way.

[midgetshrimp]

Our scripts are written in advance. We have about a 2 months buffer but we'll sometimes tweak strips as we get to them. Art wise though, I draw the strip the day before its update.

Oh wow, that's quite the buffer. I expected the art to be done a little more in advance, but that's really neat. It's like a comic bakery. Fresh from the studio.

Just thought I'd throw this in here, since some people are bumming about plot and such. They've got this written well in advance, so I'm sure they know what they're doing. As someone here said before, you have to balance plot and hook since it's a strip and not a page. Of course, to us the story looks a bit broken until we get a whole arc in. The key here is patience, since it takes a few strips to get into the flow (plot-wise). Conversely, there has to be a hook in every strip, either in the form of fan service (not gratuitous, mind you) or nut-busting laughter. We have a couple of experienced (and very successful) comic-ers here people! We aren't blindly trusting them to produce quality material. We know they produce quality material. But, you know, you have to give the arc some time to flesh itself out. When you go back and look at the strips in succession, you realize there's been more development than you thought. Gary has the shadow of some balls now. We no longer really know if Didi is actually so oblivious or not. Zii's become less cute and more domineering. M & D admittedly seem to have a pattern of clothes-no clothes-clothes going on, and we still can't be sure if they're assholes or not. And that's just this arc. Not mentioning the past couple mini story lines.

/mediating

[brnleague99]

I'm entirely confused as to how being in the park and helping Didi apply her lotion make M&D the villains here. I realize they've made selfish decisions in the past but in this particular park storyline what exactly did they do wrong? Cause I don't see it.

Because some of us were looking quite forward (for a week nonetheless) to seeing Zii rub on DiDi...and it was snatched away from us. That's why.

:twisted:

[Pneumonica]

Good morning, y'all. I will say, in summary, that the last several strips have been great. Unfortunately, I have a great deal of crud to do. I happen to be standing within spitting distance of where the eye of Hurricane Ike passed through Houston. So I've had an entire bonanza of new comics to sift through! :lol: So, sorry for the brief, but it's looking good.

Now, back to sifting through a kajillion posts and e-mails.

[slaphappy]

I have seen many horrible sights in my lifetime (well not really but this post would not work if i did not embellish a bit) but the sight of a banana string wearing gay gentleman jumping frog style has got to be one of the most terrifying. the fact that this gentleman was tricked (well tricked would mean that he had spend at least a second thinking it through and failing to notice the evil look in her face) into doing said leap towards me to basically help a little crazy vixen to undress me so that i would be able to go and feel up another not so little vixen fills me with... well honestly i am not sure what it fills me with.. but it is between pure bliss and utter fear

[SaBomJon]

They've got this written well in advance, so I'm sure they know what they're doing. As someone here said before, you have to balance plot and hook since it's a strip and not a page.

True, working on my own comics, both in strip and book form, you need the plot done ahead of time, you can't just make this stuff up on the fly like some people assume a comics person does....just doesn't work that way. However, I do hope that G & D are paying attention to the comments that are being stated, and I'm seeing more than just myself voicing the concern about M & D wearing out their welcome.

I know full well that you can't please everyone in a comic, and not every strip is going to be knocking the reader over with "nut-busting laughter" as was postulated, though listening to one's audience is crucial for success. I have listened very intently to the feedback I've gotten on my stuff, especially since I'm virtually an unknown outside of the Minneapolis comics circles, and I have analyzed what I've had suggested to me and made changes that I've agreed with that will benefit what little readership I have, as well as challenge my story-telling ability..such as it is.

[Skittles]

I know Gary tore Zii's shirt and she wants revenge, but he was Gollum crazy at the time! Add in getting Banzai Dropped by Dillon in a banana hammock and this is way too unfair......... :oops: :oops:

I totally agree. Looks like Gary is about to break the fourth wall. :lol:

[Ray D]

I'm entirely confused as to how being in the park and helping Didi apply her lotion make M&D the villains here. I realize they've made selfish decisions in the past but in this particular park storyline what exactly did they do wrong? Cause I don't see it.

Because some of us were looking quite forward (for a week nonetheless) to seeing Zii rub on DiDi...and it was snatched away from us. That's why.

:twisted:

It's nice to see someone put my own subconcsious complaint into honest words.

[Dryope]

Because some of us were looking quite forward (for a week nonetheless) to seeing Zii rub on DiDi...and it was snatched away from us. That's why.

:twisted:

Haha, okay, that is a complaint I can understand. =p I too hope there will be plenty of Zii + Didi in the future for us. I also hope for more Didi appearances where she's more than a sex object. She's got such an adorable personality. <3