Genre Bending

[Renard]

I probably should take my response to another thread as opposed to the "Welcome" one. Well, after a few strange moments and a few strange days of thoughting, I would say "all of the above" as to the direction I'd like to see Fools take.

[..]

Most of all, I want the Fools to go "where fools fear to tread." I hope this makes sense to someone other than myself for whom it makes little or no sense at all.

I worry about "Where fools fear to tread" because it is, in my experience, that the foolish fear no place.

It's hard to really classify how we look at the comic exactly. I have heard it described as "fantasy", but the traditional definition of fantasy involves elves, quests, magic runes, etc. Tales of Pylea or Tales of the Travelling Gnome come to mind when I think fantasy (and then there are also flat versions as well). It's certainly not a gag comic, per se, but we do view it as a comedy with a dominant storyline. And when it comes to being historical, we alternate between doing ridiculous amounts of research and completely ignoring the known facts (the rule of thumb is we never let the truth get in the way of the story).

I really am not exactly certain whether we are a pseudo-historical dramatic comedy or a comedic drama.

[Itwast]

Dramatic comedy or comedic drama? Which modifier carries more weight? I do sense there is an underlying "comedic" urge throughout the strip. You want to elicit laughs and we want to laugh. After all, the time you survey was a terribly dark era in human history. Life was brief, merciless. Health was hardscrabble tense. God was an All Punishing Presence who seemed to show neither love nor mercy. The power structure of the time was also uncompromisingly severe. You were at the mercy of the Royalty and their whims, their preferences, their favor.

So we should laugh. In the meantime, we'll pay as much attention to "historical detail/accuracy" as we wish and discard that which we wish to discard. If we can laugh, we can escape the moment, its irony, its indifference, its cruelty, its haplessness.

We can celebrate the Fortunes the Fools should experience and we can rejoice with them when times are mellow, wise, comforting, love filled and with saviors saving, knights rescuing, dragons being tamed, evil witches perishing, and alchemists brewing splendid potions of healing efficacy.

The Fools will be what they will be. They will be the Children of the Universe which bore them and then abandoned them to the Furies and the Fates who govern all. And yet we shall hope, too, as they do, that the benevolent finger of an Unseen Provident God will occasionally intervene to either rescue, heal, save or just make us plainly laugh!

So you are on the right track however it may be writ! Let it be and thank you for inviting us along for the ride.

And may I add this: When the dragon attacks, the King/Queen oppresses, the Scourge lays to waste, the Inquisitor rapes the soul, the Locusts consume the land, the Lover is betrayed – do this, if at all possible, make us laugh!! If it is the last act I shall ever know, I hope it shall be a chortling chuckle as I drop my cloak into infinity. Let the echo of that last laugh enter that place of boundless obsolescence and obscurity. Isn’t it the greatest of gifts to say goodbye finally with irony and with the commensurate begging of the question put forth by Shakespeare centuries ago as to what dreams may come when we shed this earthy veil and place upon our weary frames the attire of forever?

[Itwast]

You know, the expression is actually "fools rush in where angels fear to tread." Also, one singer (Ricky Nelson) phrased it as "fools rush in where wise men dare not go." So, there's variations on it. The meaning still stands though.

I was also thinking of the concept of comic relief. Grim or uncomfortable situations can be somewhat offset through a humorous consequence. When no we longer laugh, perhaps we've become surely mad.

However, I think some of the mad among us often laugh hysterically. What this means, I don't know.

I will be looking forward to the development of the strip over time (years?). Will the cast remain ageless as is the practice in many strips?

It is rather quiet in this Forum so far. We need a hot topic. I'll bet I could think of one - but dare I post it?