SIGH

Sylvain · Post by **Sylvain** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:09 am

It's not what you say, it's how you say it!... I hope for Pierce's sake that they have not gone back to segregating the sexes in classes in his time.

Kesh · Post by **Kesh** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 3:13 am

I only wish I could have figured things out at his age.

Alfador · Post by **Alfador** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 3:16 am

I'm pretty glad I didn't have things figured out at his age. I was too focused on academics at the time to worry about having a social life. Much less having to deal with a social life in two directions. *giggle*

Andrick · Post by **Andrick** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 8:16 am

Today's comic was really funny.

Sorry, Allan, but there's a whammy that goes with the kudos. Panel 3 gives a severe false perspective to a reader. Either the girl is supposed to be short and behind Pierce to the right or medium height and behind Pierce to his left. Much too difficult to tell and, therefore, harder to deduce Pierce's reaction (hormone induced double-take or horrified reaction to being found out?). Both still work for the punchline but each sets a different mood for reading through the comics: light-hearted vs. tormented. JFYI

Allan_ecker · Post by **Allan_ecker** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 8:29 am

Well, the notion was that she actually was to his left, but that his neck was turned around nearly 180 degrees.

I can understand that the content (and positioning of characters) is unclear here, but I don't see how to get to the other interpretation. How would he have been found out? I suppose my initial design idea that as long as I showed him ogling in consternation and had a female in the frame everything would be fine is in some way innaccurate.

The lesson to be drawn here, of course, is to keep spatial organization clear and obvious. Still working on that one.

Sylvain · Post by **Sylvain** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:54 pm

Something just occured to me: since this is all happening quite a few years in the future, must we assume that there are only guys in the football team and only girls amongst the cheerleaders?

After all, Volair DID become captain of the latter when he was in highschool!

Allan_ecker · Post by **Allan_ecker** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 3:30 pm

GENDER discrimination? In THIS day and age? Perish the thought!

However, there's certainly a disparate ratio thing going on, so while either team alone would have mixed-gender appeal, having both teams out there pretty much guarantees a veritable smorgasbord of pulchritude.

Sylvain · Post by **Sylvain** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:15 pm

Yum!

Andrick · Post by **Andrick** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:33 am

allan_ecker wrote:... I can understand that the content (and positioning of characters) is unclear here, but I don't see how to get to the other interpretation...

Ogling is not so much a facial expression so much as a leering at something specific; i.e. Saundra and the security guard. With so little to be specific about with that one panel shock, surprise and/or dismay seem to be combined on Pierce's face. The only other time we've seen Pierce use an expression close to that one is when he was screaming (like a little girl?) "No time travel!" I mean, Allan, you left that panel with blanks for the audience to fill in for themselves; the problem with that is a dearth of information about Pierce as a character. Was Pierce startled by a girl laughing her head off and his anxious reaction was from the thought she had caught him staring after and sighing over the lynx-boy? Was the girl merely calling to a friend and just happened to snap Pierce back to the reality that he was not alone in the hallway behind the object of his sighing? Given that Pierce's past ogling was much more relaxed, I'm afraid you set a precedent for both gawking and anxiety in the character Pierce. The follow up panel can be read as frustration or irritation, which doesn't help define the panel prior. Thus we can get to the final panel where the end result is two meanings up for grabs: Pierce combining his boy and girl watching (the intended punchline) or Pierce dreamily staring out onto the field, safe from anyone deducing who he was staring at.

A fresh look at UH2 unfettered by prior experience with the original series may mean having to catch an audience up to the "angst-free" part of the theme and the rquirement for the audience to read things much more lightly. If you intend for UH2 to stand on its own merits, you will need to use more cues and broader hints into what the characters are thinking (floaty hearts). Sticking in a metaphorical anvil like the sound effect of a beating heart, for the boy and repeated for the girl, will point the audience to your intended goal in that strip.

A look at panel progression also shows a disparity of results for what you intended to be similar events. Pierce stares after the boy's follow up is a stand-alone of Pierce sighing with a wistful expression. Pierce rubber-necks after the girl's follow up is a stand-alone of Pierce with an annoyed visage sighing uder a dark cloud. The two events did not have equal emotional weight displayed to the reader and the two panels' identical character postures is made for an audience to compare the outcome of those two events.

Of course you can tell me "shut up" at any time.

Sylvain · Post by **Sylvain** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:30 pm

While I won't tell you to shut up, Andrick, I think that you are splitting hairs (a tedious occupation in a furry world).

It seems to me that, knowing already as we do that Pierce is bi-sexual (and we are being reminded on top of the first panel), it is fairly obvious that he is reacting in succession to two persons that he finds attractive. That they happen to be of both genders is perfectly logical and consistant. The sighs are due to the fact that he is having trouble making up his mind and this bothers him. I frankly cannot see what other conclusion can be drawn from this sequence.

Allan_ecker · Post by **Allan_ecker** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 2:45 pm

I think the real trouble is that it's not -necessarily- clear what's on his mind in both of the staring panels.

The answer, then, is to chuck some floaty hearts* into both panels to assure the audience that what's happening is a lustful reaction.

You are absolutely right in this case, Andrick, and I do intend to take whatever steps are practicable to ensure that UH2 stands alone.

*Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery

Alfador · Post by **Alfador** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 3:48 am

Yay floaty hearts!!

Andrick · Post by **Andrick** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:28 am

Sylvain wrote:... It seems to me that, knowing already as we do that Pierce is bi-sexual (and we are being reminded on top of the first panel)... I frankly cannot see what other conclusion can be drawn from this sequence.

Um... That would mean instantly accepting that bisexuals are letches that sexually objectify everything they encounter. Sylvain, that would be the only way to not to see the other punchline I described above.

I want you to take into consideration Pierce. We know that he got all the way to the day prior without having a strong attraction to anybody; his instant mentally-defensive thinking "I'm not gay" tells me he never had a feeling comparable for females prior in his life. It was only Eliza's "ker-stretch" that got Pierce to realize that he still finds the female body appealing (not touching the Pierce/Eliza thing). So, kicking into Day 2 as it were, we find Pierce trailing behind the lynx-boy that we saw the panda give himself whiplash for earlier - evidence of a growing crush. The very next event is where we diverge.

A sudden reaction to a random female in the hallway, who was not drawing attention to her anatomy, does not jibe with what Allan has let on about Pierce to that point. It is only obvious through talking with Allan here that Pierce was supposed to have equal reactions. From here on out I now know to read Pierce as a letch or at least lecherous in his thoughts/urges; something for which there was no prior indication.

Now, Sylvain, this isn't splitting hairs nor is it gratuitous bashing. Allan made a statement some time ago in this forum about his desires and goals in making comics. What I am doing, with every nit-pick, is in trying to help Allan attain what he wants. I don't pour this kind of effort into comics I don't like and I don't hang around for years in the forums of comics with no potential. UH2 I approached as a blank slate; I tried to divorce my thinking as much as possible from my knowledge of UH when reading Allan's new comics, which is also in accordance with a prior statement by Allan.

That said, I in no way imply that you or anyone else cannot argue with me; in fact, I encourage people to counter my arguments with points and insights into the comic that they have.

Allan_ecker · Post by **Allan_ecker** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:38 am

As usual, Andrick's post kicks some serious gluteals.

(He never was one for overwhelming tact, however.)

Quite accurately, he points out that Pierce hasn't been terribly sexual up till this point; he's something of a late bloomer.

He's beginning to realize, with the beginning of the new school year, that sometime during the summer, something "turned on" in him and now he has what Gwen Steffani would call "Staring Trouble".

It's really only given my original interpretation of this comic that I failed to see the one Andrick presented, and so it's good to get editorial advice of this kind, especially since UH2 is no more my "final ultimate comic" than Umlaut House or Unit Zero. There are bigger, badder comics coming from me, and to get ready, I need all the constructive criticism I can get.