When does a strip stop being good and turn into dribble?

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:01 pm

While wearing their prized leather jackets.

Derenge · Post by **Derenge** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 10:16 pm

Somehow I just knew that Happy Days was going to come up in here. I don't think that penny arcade has jumped the shark entirely, the current strip is far from their best work, but it's not as if in my mind the comic is entirely without merit. I'd imagine that after drawing a comic for that long that there are bound to be some stinkers that get through.

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 10:47 pm

Statistics say that if you have more than two comics at least one should suck/seem like a dribble/etc 40% of the people knows that..

Yeh..i like PA but sometimes they arent funny, still i think they are the some of the best reviewers of "gaming/comics stuff" out there, they try to make it interesting by adding a comic, its not like they are devoted to make the comic funny

Azael · Post by **Azael** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:38 am

>_>

<_<

When I start writing it myself instead of having my writer (who flew the coop) do the scripting for me...

Tis true... I don't write good scripts. There's evidence of this in every comic, published or not, that I've ever done... ^_^;;

THAT is when a comic turns to garbage... trust me, PA is infinitely better on it's bad days than AMF is on a good, writer-less day. Of course, my site has no good examples of my comic abilities, so I can't really demonstrate.

And that has been my worthless two cents.

Nightgaunt · Post by **Nightgaunt** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 12:59 pm

Joel Fagin wrote:The thing to do with a strip is not let it stagnate - which is to say, don't do the same thing over and over again. Melonpool, Penny Arcade, PvP, Sluggy Freelance, Garfield... All of those are the same thing day after day. You can only get away with it for a few years before they become tiresome.

So either finish the strip or move it along.

Hmmm... it that sort of what happened with Frumpy the Clown?

godoftarot wrote:I think the mark of a "gag" comic that is really good is when you want to print one of the strips out and put it on your wall.

Now that you mention it, there used to be lot's of PA strips that I wanted to print, but I find that's happening less and less now.

Skylark King · Post by **Skylark King** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 2:05 pm

A webcomic starts to become dribble when you put it in a blender, hit liquify, drink it but let some of it out of your mouth while you do.

Drivel, however, is a completely different question.

Chaos Cricket · Post by **Chaos Cricket** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 4:48 pm

With a lot of the long-running strips (PA, PVP, Sluggy), they may not always amuse me every single time out anymore, but I've stuck with them because (1) every so often, they have one that I find funny as hell, and (2) I invested a lot of time in reading their entire archives, so I don't want to just "give up" on the comic.

As for jumping the shark...well...

Somesuch · Post by **Somesuch** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 7:24 pm

Azael wrote:>_>

<_<

When I start writing it myself instead of having my writer (who flew the coop) do the scripting for me...

Tis true... I don't write good scripts. There's evidence of this in every comic, published or not, that I've ever done... ^_^;;

THAT is when a comic turns to garbage... trust me, PA is infinitely better on it's bad days than AMF is on a good, writer-less day. Of course, my site has no good examples of my comic abilities, so I can't really demonstrate.

And that has been my worthless two cents.

Penny Arcade actually has something other than bad days? Sorry, I've never been fond of it. It seems to me that the creators are just a couple of cocky guys who have no interest in finding out anything except for their own opinions. Personally I prefer any insults given out to have some basis in research.

Vorticus · Post by **Vorticus** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 7:52 pm

Chaos Cricket wrote:With a lot of the long-running strips (PA, PVP, Sluggy), they may not always amuse me every single time out anymore, but I've stuck with them because (1) every so often, they have one that I find funny as hell, and (2) I invested a lot of time in reading their entire archives, so I don't want to just "give up" on the comic.

(3) Story. I want to know how the story arcs resolve, or fail to.

Chaos Cricket · Post by **Chaos Cricket** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 7:53 pm

Yeah, I like closure, too. That's another big reason I can't let go of some comics that I still read, even if I don't really enjoy them as much as I once did. Also, some of the comics I read have just become part of my routine, my habit--not reading them would be like getting rid of the routine.

Godoftarot · Post by **Godoftarot** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 7:55 pm

Chaos Cricket wrote:Yeah, I like closure, too. That's another big reason I can't let go of some comics that I still read, even if I don't really enjoy them as much as I once did. Also, some of the comics I read have just become part of my routine, my habit--not reading them would be like getting rid of the routine.

You know, I think you can get medication for that...

Chaos Cricket · Post by **Chaos Cricket** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:07 pm

But then the medication would become part of my routine and habit...and it'd cost more money, too. And I'm poor.