PTC 06-06-19 A newbie

[Giz]

New PTC is up! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/a-newbie/

[Cortez]

It's kinda cute to see her jealous. She's forgetting that it's supposed to be a job interview for him.

[Chantaru]

She's just obnoxious.

[OllieOrOlly]

Zadie hasn't quite endeared herself enough for me to find her jealousy to be anything but pesky, especially in this context; she is there for work reasons, as well as just got out of a six month long relationship (with someone who turned out to be cheating scum, however, she didn't know that until the end), but is perfectly fine eye-banging and incompetently flirting with the first hunk she spies? She may become likeable, but it is an uphill battle - not insurmountable, though.
Still, so far, she is shown to be manipulative and dishonest (lying about such minor things like comic knowledge, which has the huge and then proven risk of falling apart when slightly pressed), thereby not a good start. Unless it is a likeable villain route? Although, that doesn't feel like the case, thus two of our leads are obnoxious - that said, humour is, of course, subjective, so perhaps others can find amusement in their inadequacies where I don't.

Ramona's blushing is bit vexing - in that, it seems cute, but her overall disposition implies a lack of loyalty to Jung. Granted, Felix and her could simply being having a pleasant banter and I'm overthinking the situation.

[Cortez]

Bit of a leap to say she lacks loyalty to Jung just because she's blushing.

[Spidrift]

Yeah, blushing at flattery doesn't indicate much. Though Felix is laying it on a bit thick; realistically, a competent interviewer should be saying "fine, but I'm here to assess your work, please stop trying to butter me up" at this point. But Ramona is quite young, new to this job, and a comedy character, so I guess she has to be given a pass.

Zadie, on the other hand, seems to be leaking IQ by the minute. She appeared to be moderately bright when she first appeared, but this hormone-addled stupidity is just tiresome, even from a comedy point of view.

[biorji]

Seeing some common elements between Zadie and Aaron, in the sense they both succeed in becoming easily enamoured and looking like they are desperate. Wonder how that will play into things?

[brasca]

Seeing some common elements between Zadie and Aaron, in the sense they both succeed in becoming easily enamoured and looking like they are desperate. Wonder how that will play into things?

Yes it would seem that Zadie's maturity over Aaron is just a matter of few years. She didn't barge in on Felix's interview, but she's not really interested in his work.

Yeah, blushing at flattery doesn't indicate much. Though Felix is laying it on a bit thick; realistically, a competent interviewer should be saying "fine, but I'm here to assess your work, please stop trying to butter me up" at this point. But Ramona is quite young, new to this job, and a comedy character, so I guess she has to be given a pass.

Having men pay attention to her may be something new too.

[Fluffy]

So, what part of 'this is my life partner' did Zadie not get when Ramona introduced her to Junghan?

Ramona's blushing is bit vexing - in that, it seems cute, but her overall disposition implies a lack of loyalty to Jung. Granted, Felix and her could simply being having a pleasant banter and I'm overthinking the situation.

Blushing isn't a sign of possible infidelity; it's simply a reaction to flattery. Unless something happens down the line to say otherwise, I think it's a safe bet that Ramona is just flattered by Felix's compliments/praise; not being wooed by an attractive stranger.

[Spidrift]

Seeing some common elements between Zadie and Aaron, in the sense they both succeed in becoming easily enamoured and looking like they are desperate. Wonder how that will play into things?

I think that Felix is meant to be irresistibly cute, at least from Zadie’s point of view, which is having a bad effect on her. But then, the Ma3 universe is full of cute people, because plot and/or Giz art, so how will Zadie ever get any work done?

(Also, she’s meant to be a twenty-something adult, darn it, not a fifteen-year-old. I don’t care if he’s Depp, Pitt, and Bowie combined, she’s reacting like a moron.)

[Fluffy]

(Also, she’s meant to be a twenty-something adult, darn it, not a fifteen-year-old. I don’t care if he’s Depp, Pitt, and Bowie combined, she’s reacting like a moron.)

Sadly, some people retain their childish mentality - no matter how old they get.

[JoybuzzerX]

Zadie is coming off as pretty awful and incompetent. She likes his work because she thinks he's hot.

Though, I'm curious, last I knew, it was best to submit pages of known characters, not original characters, unless she just means original pages of established characters.

[Valkog]

Zadie, you can fuck him later. This is some kind of job interview, not a date.

[oddtail]

I am a long-time reader of first MA3 and now the new comic (and for some of that time, I did look lurk at the forum), but it took me this particular strip to register to the forum specifically to comment.

First of all: hi, everyone!

Second of all: I understand Zadie being attracted to this guy, he's hot. I understand her being a little flustered and maybe even acting silly.

But here she comes off as pushy and not in a comedically charming way.

I was thinking why this doesn't register as funny, or at least similar to the shenanigans in, say, a typical MA3 scene.

And I think it's in the reaction of the other two. Or rather, lack thereof.

If Ramona was all over Felix or vice versa, the jealous reaction would fit. Here, there are some polite compliments from Felix, which are acknowledged and clearly appreciated by Ramona, but neither of them acts like they're interested. The situation basically doesn't register as "wacky shenanigans".

Heck, if it was the opposite - Felix being incredibly clueless and ignoring Zadie altogether (either making puppy eyes at Ramona, just being rude to the point of not caring she's in the room, or being super-clueless), the contrast between Zadie's attempts and his lack of reaction might have some comedic flavour. In a "she's waving semaphor flags at him and he's blissfully unaware of that" way. But he acknowledges her, answers her questions, seems polite enough to her and doesn't ignore her or treat her with contempt. So Zadie's over the top reaction is not, so to say, bouncing off of anything.

Really, any extreme reaction, or an extreme LACK of reaction would make the scene make more sense. Ramona being angry at her, Ramona clearly seeing what Zadie is doing and trying to help her get Felix's attention, anything. Lacking that, or any kind of double entendres or misunderstanding (which fits the "one person trying really hard, the other not responding" kind of comedy) leaves us only with the reality of the situation.

And that reality is that Zadie is pushing herself onto an attractive guy who is showing clear signs of either "I'm busy, OK?" (but without brushing her off) or "I'm not interested. Yes, I see you there. No, I'm not flirting with you". And since we have a situation that's not over-the-top enough to be comedic, Zadie is just being inappropriate at the workplace. Which would be fine in a scene where everyone is. But there's no weird setup or extreme situation (like in the scene with Zadie's ex-boyfriend earlier). Humour is subjective, but here I don't think a comedic setup, unlike in some earlier strips.

Heck, given no wacky miscommunication, there's no reason she can't just hold her horses, and after Felix is done talking about his work, simply asking him out. He hasn't shown hostility or even irritation, so she can do that, and have the offer either accepted or rejected. Regardless, her interest is either reciprocated, or the matter is closed and she should move on.

And since that's not what is happening, it looks like the scene is going nowhere just for the sake of having a scene of this kind? I mean, there could still be a payoff, like Felix going from "politely ignoring her attempts at flirting" to "Felix panicking in an extremely over-the-top way" or something else that reframes the whole interaction. But until and unless that happens, I think this scene is weird and I'm not sure what it's meant to accomplish other than possibly "make the reader dislike Zadie".

[jish55]

With the Ramona blushing debate, I don't see anything wrong with her, as she's just enjoying the compliments and attention. If anything, I'm more concerned with what Felix's intentions might be as he's trying to smooth talk her. Though, with how MA3 has gone down in the past, that may be something to be a little concerned about, and is a trap I hope Ramona doesn't fall into.