Daily Strip: December 18, 2004

[Pheonix1123]

Well, maybe not a picture of the sidewalk, but maybe we could have fanart or something on Saterdays. I am sure that there are enough people who would be very happy to see their work up on the sluggy page that we could do that instead. As for Ian, I understand that he is a good cartoonist, but I agree that he doesn't really mesh with the sluggy world so well. If I wanted to read Bruno the Bandit type humor, I would read Bruno the Bandit.

[Tangent]

Heh. Maybe they should put up a Poll thread in the Sluggy Reactions forums as to if MitDo* should be discontinued and replaced with a normal Sluggy Freelance strip. I suspect the vote would be 2:1 in favor of ending MitDo*

I still suspect today was the final strip though. All the loose ends (but Sam) have been wrapped up. What else is left to be done? And who wants to watch demon geeks try to rule a dimension? (Sure, we could have the adventures of Plorb trying to reach the Demon King to get back her Aristocracy as she herself never did anything bad to the DK and in fact helped him considerably against the Angel... but that doesn't sound very funny, and could probably be done up by Pete himself as a secondary story to be added at the end of one of the books - I also state for the record I have no legal attachments to any such story if Pete wants to go by it and would not sue or otherwise be a dick using the legal system to cause Pete any grief concerning any such story)

So. Farewell, DoG. May you rest forever. Long live Psychosis, new Lord of the DoP! And here's to a return to Sluggy Freelance Saturdays!

Robert A. Howard

[Tabasco]

Not the best MitDo*, but on the other hand- TRYKA TRYKA TRYKA! WOOOO!

And Ian... I hate to tell you this but, you aren't funny... You also can't draw.

Three words: Bruno The Bandit.

Three words: Case in point.

Heh. Maybe they should put up a Poll thread in the Sluggy Reactions forums as to if MitDo* should be discontinued and replaced with a normal Sluggy Freelance strip. I suspect the vote would be 2:1 in favor of ending MitDo*

You're new around here ain'tcha? It doesn't work like that. The way the game here is played is we voice our disapproval and people grab torches and pitchforks and chase us around in a frenzy of blinding fandom. You should see what happens when you suggest Pete has screwed up. God help you.

Eitherway they aren't going to make the poll, because in general they'll only make polls with options like this:

What is your opinion on Sluggy?
(A) HOORAY! Pete Rocks!
(B) I love Sluggy Freelance
(C) Lets kill the people who don't agree with us!

Doubtless some mod will tell you they won't do your poll because "They don't see the point" or "it isn't necessary", or some such stuff. Bottom line, they won't make the poll

[Tangent]

*laughter* new around here? You didn't check my start-date, did you.

I've been here for quite a few years. I just rarely post, because I find that two forum boards take up a lot of time, adding a third sucks the life out of me. So it takes something big to bring me here - recently that being Zoe2's death.

Sluggy is something I resisted getting into because "I have enough web-comics to keep me occupied" despite being told to read it by several friends and a couple web-comic artists (Maritza of CRfH, Jamie of CotC, and so forth). Finally it took someone linking the KITTEN storyline to me (in explanation why the Kitten Collective was so feared on the CRfH forum boards) to drag me here. (BTW, I still absolutely love KITTEN, and rather enjoyed KITTEN 2.)

And I think you are being a *tad* cynical about the mods here. They're a decent group and have Pete's well-being in mind. Maybe they're a tad overprotective of Pete, but they're his friends, and friends tend to be overprotective of those they care for. *wry chuckle* And here I thought *I* was the cynical pessimist... ;) you've got me beat hands down there.

Robert A. Howard

[Thortok2000]

I don't think Pete should do saturdays, he needs the day off per week, if only so the sundays rock.

But I don't think Ian should do them either. I'm still wondering if Ian falls under the category of "better than nothing".

[relax]

The Blanchard family voted 7 to 0 that Ian shouldn't overuse large eyes. Tryka was voted worst drawing in non-stick Sluggy history minus the first month. We were all reading the strip all over again to figure out why Tryka looks so surprised or something, and after mutual consultation it never made any sense to any of us!

This calls for a retroactive fix of Tryka. Seriously.

There is nothing we can do about Ian not being as good as Pete with Sluggy in drawing, character depth, filler quality, or plot (afterall it's not HIS creation, or his style). But he certainly can learn to draw a bit more like Pete. If only for the drawing of eyes...

There was talk of not becoming defenders of the nifty today, which strongly I opposed. I still think Ian is good enough (even if I pray he gets more detailed advice from Pete).

[Tangent]

I don't think Pete should do saturdays, he needs the day off per week, if only so the sundays rock.

But I don't think Ian should do them either. I'm still wondering if Ian falls under the category of "better than nothing".

But does Pete truly have the day off? He probably scripts a bit of MitDo* and reviews it as well. I fully expect that the Do* stories are sanctioned, and meant to be a lighthearted poke at the Do* and also to build up for the DoL/Redemption storyline.

Think of it. If we hadn't the Do* stories on Saturday, we wouldn't have built up near the end to invade the DoL. Though Pete might have done a week long strip with the DoP demons getting the mop and everything... the Do* stories helped build things a bit. And it also allowed for Horb's transformation from buffoon to terror, which was a bit shocking (and yet quite invigorating).

So... well, looking back at it... it is entirely possible that we could have done the DoL/Redemption story without the Do* going on. But initially it was a bit of fun... and interesting to read. I guess it's outlived its usefulness though. Here's to hoping this was the last Do* Saturday Story. Long live Sluggy Freelance/It's Gwynn! (Gwynn Rocks!)

Robert A. Howard, Protector of CotC

[Caesar Salad]

Doubtless some mod will tell you they won't do your poll because "They don't see the point" or "it isn't necessary", or some such stuff. Bottom line, they won't make the poll

Cynical as ever, Tabasco. But you're right, the poll ISN'T necessary. Pete reads the reactions, this I know. He knows many people don't care for MitDoP. If you like, I can make a poll in SRC about it. Of course, Pete doesn't read SRC.

In the end it doesn't matter, because Pete wants Ian to do the Saturdays and Pete must be happy with them because they're continuing. There's not a whole lot we can do about it except voice your reaction here. Pete may or may not agree, that's his prerogative.

I personally hate the way people bash those who don't like Ian and I hate the way people bash those who do. No one can just voice an opinion it seems, without attacking someone else's.

[Pardalis]

I think one thing that I didn't like much about this comic is the personality changes.

Horb didn't have a different personality then Horribus really. Well till Horribus went insane, but that didn't have to do with his being a demon lord.

And if Psyk will have any permanent personality changes, it'll likely be due to the infection.

Deplora and Terribus however turned into rednecks. Which they weren't when we saw them before as Plorb and Terb. (Plorb when mentioning the grief-prince didn't seem to hillbilly like.)

Now if Borborb'd been a shown and he was a hillbilly I'd just shrug, since we didn't knew what Borborb was like.

But only hillbilly demon I saw in Sluggy was Bubbamonicus. And he was neither poor 'blue trash' nor is he still alive.

[Tangent]

*blinkblink* That was attacking someone's opinion?

I must have been on the CRfH boards too long, I saw that as fairly polite. Not that the Boardies flame each other or anything, but we get some fairly... spirited arguments going.

However, your words do... suggest that the MitDo* stories are going to continue (though I wonder if they'll be focusing on these newly-loser-ed characters or going back to the main DoP gang) (Demon Kiki! I wonder if she dares flame Psyk's face *now* )... and how silly any such story will be.

It would be interesting if MitDo* suddenly got serious, what with Horb's fall from grace and Reakk's sorrow over that (and perhaps Psychosis' fall into insanity from a demonic infection?)...

Robert A. Howard

[Caesar Salad]

*blinkblink* That was attacking someone's opinion?

I was talking generally. No one specific.

[Pardalis]

Well I do think MitX's is a permanent part of Sluggy now. I don't think it'll ever leave wether or not its being good or bad, its here to stay. From what I can tell Ian seems to enjoy doing them, no one else wants the saturday job and Pete's happy with it too.

The only thing I'd like Ian to do is keep the characters in character really and its all good far as I am concerned. Though I think nowadays Pete's art style is better (since pete over the years he's been doing it has gotten very good indeed), Ian is a good artist I think, even if he does overuse the giant egg eyes. (But that doesn't bother me much personally.)

But I don't think he'll tackle the DoP again. At least not anytime soon. People seemed to like Ian doing the DoG alot better then him doing the DoP anyway. Even though I'm not sure I agree on that myself.

And of course some people really hate Ian's work no matter what he does. But if you are STILL surprised that Ian's comic is there on Saturday then honestly... I have to ask you if you habitually knock your head on the same low place over and over again as well. Because after a year or two you think people'd know he's there on Saturdays. Not really meant as an attack, but seriously. I'd be surprised if it was actually PETE on Saturdays myself. (if pleasantly.)

[Tangent]

There is, of course, a solution to the "MitDo* problem" with Ian drawing this Saturday comic. It's a totally economic solution, and one entirely within your grasp, should you decide to do this.

Boycott Sluggy Freelance on Saturday only.

If enough people stop reading SF on Saturdays, and if enough people don't read the Saturday strips during archive crawls, then from an economic perspective Pete would be better off ending the MitDo* strips. Complaining here is going to do nothing. Pete has a good thing going, he knows people are going to read his comic unless something really drastically unpopular happens (and even then many people would still read it), and enough people blindly click on Sluggy Freelance 7 days a week no matter what's on it.

So the only way to send a message, should you really want to do this, is to NOT read Sluggy Freelance on Saturday. Boycott Saturdays. If enough people did that, then ad revenues for Saturday would drop (assuming that ad revenues work that way, of course), Pete would realize you are serious about this, and MitDo* would probably either be altered so that it was more to your enjoyment (slightly less silly, and whatever else people dislike about it) or even go away entirely.

I look at such a course of action and think it's overdoing it. Besides, there's what, 30, 40 people on the forums actively complaining about the Saturday comic? There's probably twice that number who read the forums and may agree on this but don't feel strongly enough to post (or don't have an account and read the forums as guests). So, should all of you combine forces to boycott... then SF loses 90-120 page views on Saturdays. Compared to how many fans of the comic who would read anyway? Unless you actually got through to the indifferent Sluggy Fans who may be mildly disappointed by MitDo* but not enough to do anything about it.

In the end... Sluggy Freelance is Pete's comic to do with as he wishes. He wishes for the MitDo* strips to continue. So they will continue, no matter what your wishes. Me... sure, I haven't enjoyed them that much, but the only other strip that I read that updates Saturdays is Narbonic. College Roomies from Hell used to... but due to carpal tunnel and working on dead-paper editions of CRfH, she reduced it to 5 days a week, and now that she's suffering morning sickness, it's a tad more... intermittent. Jamie Robertson of Clan of the Cats also used to update 7 days a week, but he's doing a 3x weekly schedule now (full-page full-color format though, the Dracula storyline is intended to become a graphic novel when finished) as well.

Saturdays are not a good day for comics. Many readers tend to read the comic from work or school, and don't bother with web-comics on the weekends (which is another reason a boycott wouldn't work that well, weekend readings tend not to do as well) because people don't read them until Monday in any event.

So, for better or worse... get used to MitDo*. If you don't like it, just don't read it. Because I seriously doubt Pete is going to change how he does things just because some of his fans dislike it... especially as it seems like HE enjoys the MitDo* strips.

Robert A. Howard

[Draffa]

Every week I read MiX, and every week I have a strange feeling of dissapointment.

Please Pete, just take Saturdays off full stop. No authorising MiX, no co-writing individual comics, no tinkering with the storyline. Go to the movies with your wife, play in the park with the anklebiter, do some home repair. Something!

Just no more MiX. Please.

[jadescarab]

Hmm. That makes me think that Deplora didn't marry the DOP prince.
Oh god. Not another Jerry Springer parody. *sigh*