3027 The Complexities Of The Human Heart.

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You’d think that after twenty years the comments wouldn’t confound me under some of these pages. Although humans generally confound me so I don’t know why I’m surprised on that front as well. Thomas somehow manages to polarize people while actually doing very little in the grand scheme of things. I actually have a theory about why that is, but in two decades I have managed to learn a few occasions when I should keep my fucking mouth shut. Not quite as many as would be wise, but more times than when I was younger at any rate. I doubt seriously that there is a single reader who could accurately point it out. If nothing else the writing of this project is very much in my voice, which manages to be unique in spite of being filled with tropes, archetypes, and very obscure cultural references. It’s sad in that there isn’t anyone I could hand this over to and be secure in the knowledge that they could continue it as I would. Some comic strips go on and on with virtually no sign that the original creator has stepped away, or died. That is a luxury this one won’t enjoy. Even if I were to hand it off it would become something different because I’ve poured my life into this and no life is a carbon copy of another. Ultimately it doesn’t matter if people love or hate any character in particular as long as their antics keep them coming back for more. I didn’t write any character as a paragon. The ones people side with tells you a lot about their experiences and who they are. Some people side with characters who are like them because they feel like they are generally right in their opinions, and some hate characters who remind them of themselves. There is no cast member that is universally loved or hated. Even Wes has people who think he’s right about some things, and the fact of the matter is that he is. Your coworkers aren’t your family. Your job isn’t your family. No matter how much the people who own a business might try to instill a company culture that insists “we’re all a big family here” it’s bullshit. Unless you are literally related to them it means nothing. He’s correct on some level to believe all of that and not feel like he owes any loyalty to his coworkers or his job. In any relationship you get as much of anything as you earn. If one party stops reciprocating that is grounds for disloyalty. Wanting to go to your job, do it correctly, then go home and not think about it isn’t wrong. I’ve never known anyone who wasn’t correct about some things even if they were wrong about the vast majority of things. A broken clock and all that. I sometimes forget that the reader doesn’t have my insight into things, then I remember and realize I can’t just explain it or there wouldn’t really be much of a comic. If Thomas just said at the start of an interaction that he’s mad that Patty fucked most of their gaming group it removes all the fun of getting it teased out over time. Just to be clear that may, or may not, be what happened. It’s just an example. You’ll find out the particulars when I feel like you are allowed to. As is my right as the creator. I’ll never know what the fuck is up with Tom Bombadil and I have to be okay with that. So too must you be okay with not knowing for certain what’s happening until it is revealed, or not.
I will say this much at least: how much effort and care you put into something like a D&D game has an effect on how you would react to it ending. Some people just bop through life without internalizing things, or investing, or however you want to phrase it, and some do. Neither way is intrinsically better or worse in some foundational way. For me the lives of fictional people matter. I’m deeply moved by things that are really just representations of something that could be real. I don’t like being evil in video games because it makes me feel bad. Clearly though that isn’t true for millions of people or the GTA games would never sell. Walking off the death of a character I went on an adventure as, or with, isn’t something I can just walk off in a couple of seconds and get on with my life. I stopped watching The Walking Dead when Glenn died. There was a point at which the emotional turmoil was simply too much for me and we spiritually died together in that episode. I’m not sure how I made it to the end of Game Of Thrones… Maybe TWD hardened my spirit.
Honestly I could go on for quite some time about this and related topics, but I don’t know if it would have value for me or you. Regardless I do have other things I can’t ignore so I guess I’ll cut this short and let you all slug it out in the comments some more. We haven’t reached Dumbing Of Age levels of commentary misery so I’ll just let it ride.
I hope that your week starts of well and trends in that general way. As always, if you’d like to support my work there are links all around the page to click on until you find a method that suits you. If you wish to hamper my work I’ll just remind you that I’m a person too and I’ve got plenty of things hampering me already. It’s probably not a good use of your time. On Wednesday I will return with more of whatever it is I do here. Until then, then until.

59 Comments

I completely understand Jackie: when aerith died in final fantasy 7. I’d played every game since #1 when they pulled that stunt disc #4 never made it into my machine. I just packed the best selling game of all time for Nearly a decade back into its box and traded to the pawn shop. When ff8 came out I waited almost a year before I broke down and bought it.

Although…this argument sounds a lot like my argument with my friend Shaun about “being remembered as the creamed corn guy” It took me and half a dozen other friends (and random people) and several months to convince him he wasn’t the creamed corn guy he was the guy that called out the perverted Mormon for being the creamed corn guy at work…or in public in general…

Yes that story takes a half hour to tell…

Please, if you could- please tell us the story of,”the creamed corn guy”, even if it’s a very short version of that story.

After the way you related, that you had a mysterious tale of,”a creamed corn guy”, I [desperately] want to hear that story, now. :D

Well I suppose Jackie always has the option to “can” this comment if they try to raise the parental rating on the site…I told it on the discord a long time ago…

We were working at this place 6 of us around a conveyor inspecting ears of corn and the pervert was trying to goad me about how he was lusting after my sister picked up an ear and was fondling it and my friend very loudly proclaimed that none of us wanted to be exposed to him “creaming his corn” and the metal head sitting next to declared he was never eating creamed corn again later the boss called his wife and told her to throw out all the creamed corn in the pantry and he would explain later…all of us have avoided creamed corn since…like 18 people nearby heard it and the whole place started cracking up.

Definitely questionable content and very reminiscent of a jew a metal head and a Mormon walk into a bar…

“Ultimately it doesn’t matter if people love or hate any character in particular as long as their antics keep them coming back for more”

That makes me think of a quote about entertainment, [and I see webcomics, + other literature, as entertainment]:

“If a crowd of 10,000 people is BOOING you, or if a crowd of 10,000 people is cheering for you, It’s the SAME thing!”-Lou Albano, [the US, professional wrestler].

Wasn’t Lou Albano also Mario once?

Yeah!
In 1989, he was in the, [both live action, + cartoon], TV show: “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!”
Lou was Mario, + Danny Wells was Luigi.
Lou Albano must have been fun to spend time with.
:D

Y’know what, if Patty did fuck everyone in the gaming group, provided they were all of age, I don’t see any real issue?

I guess if she wasn’t clear about it then there’d be problems, but otherwise…

Back when this comic is set, and where it is set, and with people that young, sex was not something that was done just casually and without meaning.

Generally.

Wait, is the comic perpetually set in a different decade?

Ive always read it as “current day” even though the time span per comic is so small. Perhaps something of how the Simpsons are always “current”.

It is technically set around 2004. I avoid referencing things that tie it to any specific point now, but for them there’s a whole two decades of horror waiting around the corner.

Is this why Alex can’t date both John and Reggie aka a polycule? Is this why there aren’t more LGBTQ characters?

There are at least three LGBTQ characters in the cast, a lot greater proportion than in real life. And that is if we don’t count the furries. Start reading Questionable Content and your desire for all LGBTQ all the time will be sated (even if it takes a while). You don’t have to stop visiting here to do that of course.

Well, there was plenty of casual and meaningless sex, it was just looked badly upon by some.

And back then as of today, many would tell you, easy for a girl to get it, harder for the guy, and that will make guys jealous and upset.

I can’t say whether it was or wasn’t “plenty,” but it was definitely less than today. At least they were still trying to derive meaning from it; it wasn’t the age of hookup apps and actively opposing actual relationships. Rural Kansas would also have not been as “advanced” in such big city tomfoolery, especially before everyone was online 24/7.

True, the apps weren’t around, but having moved from a big city to a smaller one, no apps, but just screwing around. Why? Because they had nothing else to do and it’s fun and feels good.

Saw it plenty in the big city, but it just felt more so in the small town areas.

A well writen character instills some emotion in audience, regardless what it is. If the audience just shrugs and moves on the character has no weight in the story.

As for Walking Dead, that teen drama snore fest didn’t carry me even past season one and Game of Thrones was just “dead, dead, dead, technically dead, resurected, dead, will be resurected, dead”. Never mind the series skipped enough plot points no barely count as fan fiction. When 4th season ended I asked about the invasion to westeros by the Targaryen heir, my friend looked at me like I had spoled a major moment, little did he know I didn’t mean the dragon queen.

D&D is really one of these hobbies that force you to be vulnerable at some level. Some people really use it to showcase their own power fantasy, and even if it is just a power fantasy it is still a fantasy, you know? You are sharing your inner desires to other people, you lift up the mask a little bit, and then it begins to matter a lot if you start enjoying it.

I’ve seen a pretty good friendship die in like, 2 sessions. Hell I ended up kicking a guy from a group I was DM’ing once, and though there were other factors playing into it the situation became a pretty strong catalyst for his eventual exclusion from the whole social circle. Everybody was just feeling he wasn’t caring that much (he wasn’t and he was frustrated that we were and then there were other things he didn’t care about when he really should, which sealed the deal)

I’m sure the “other factors” make up the difference, but your description just makes it sound like a guy who doesn’t get role-playing was trying to participate, but just getting confused and frustrated by the entire experience.

Yeah, the whole “it’s your fantasy” thing seems to really escape some people. I once had a conflict with another player because I’m a mechanics first player, and she took issue with that, couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that caring about the mechanics of my build doesn’t mean I’m just out to build the most uber powerful combat monster character ever and break the game at the expense of narrative and role play, even after I very demonstrably did not do that and demonstrated very clear role play skills and build a deep narrative around my character and took steps both in game and out of game to support the narratives of the other characters in the party, the same way I do in every RPG I play.

But her character constantly bullied mine because I had low int and wis and roleplayed that appropriately, he was naive and child like and misinformed about a lot of things. And her character bullied mine because of that, like a petty, vindictive high schooler mean girl, always mocking him and undermining him and me on an in-game and out of game level.

And every time I brought it up out of game and mentioned that I wasn’t having fun due to her bullying, she’d go on and on about how I just don’t understand her character and blah, blah, blah. Then I finally decided that even as slow as my character is, he has enough social sense to have put it together by now (he had high charisma) and tried to have an in-game confrontation and roleplay it out. And she once again went on an out of game rant about how I just don’t understand her character and blah, blah, blah. And I was like “look, that was my character speaking to your character in-game, you keep telling me how important roleplay is to you, so show it and have your character respond to what mine just said IN-GAME.” Which led to the other players, DM included, who were conflict averse to sweep the whole thing under the rug and prevent the confrontation from happening.

Like, I’m here to enjoy a fantasy, my fantasy does not include being bullied. I got enough of that shit in school, I’m an adult now and I don’t want it infecting my fantasy fun time. Yes, you should try to play your character realistically, verisimilitude matters, but if you are choosing to play a character who would bully someone like that, that absolutely says something about you as a person because obviously your fantasy involves being a bully. And the fact that you built a character specifically to bully mine after you already decided you don’t like me because of the biases you have regarding my play philosophy, which has absolutely nothing to do with how I have actually demonstrated said philosophy in the game and thus no basis in reality, is seriously telling about your character.

I ultimately left that table completely because it was becoming apparent that nobody was going to stick up for me or defend me or even support my attempts to defend myself. No D&D is better than bad D&D and by god was that table toxic.

The Wes thing does make me want to pontificate a bit, because I do agree with his character on the facet that a job isn’t your family and coworkers aren’t automatically your friends either.

What I dislike is how his character uses that to be a weasel instead of just properly detached from the usual workplace drama and manipulation.

So even when a person/character is right about something, they can go about using it in a way that is just wrong.

And the more firmly convinced a person is that they are “on the right side of history” the more likely it is that they are being a fuckup in that way.

It’s kinda sad though. Sure, corporate HQ has never been your friend. But your coworkers that you spend 40 hours a week with, they kinda should be? At least they used to be, people used to get real tight with their coworkers, made friends, went bowling together, got married occasionally. It’s one thing to realize that working yourself to the bone for your corporate job isn’t going to get you any love from the bosses, but another thing to decide that your peers are no different from the overlords, and to treat them as such. People are lonelier than ever these days, and maybe this is one part of it.

Unfortunately from experience coworkers can often be more of a threat than the corporation itself.

Humans aren’t any more moral than a corporation itself overall once security, raises, and promotions are at stake. That coworker with a family to provide for will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat to keep what they have or to get to a position that is perceived to be more secure from mass layoffs and the like.

Regardless of how the audience feels about Thomas and Rulette, what’s impressed me is how they are still themselves. We can be disappointed in them, we can try and back them, but I don’t think anyone here can say they’re not the same characters we’ve come to know and love.

Glenn was the heart of TWD and it took a couple years before I tried going back to it.

Also don’t go dying on us Jackie you are not that old nor in that bad of shape yet. And don’t let them tell you round is a bad shape…it’s a perfectly respectable shape!

Yes, I, too, left TWD when they killed off Glenn. But to be honest, I was already on the brink of leaving after what they did to Sophia.

And yes, I am (and was) fully aware that it was a soap opera for men.

I still roleplay in a couple of remote games GMed by college friends. The stuff that occurred around those games back in the day (looking at it in retrospect) was young person “everything is super important because it is new to us” feelings that made the games seem more meaningful to us – sad because they were just games, happy because we experienced life in that intense way. Today that angst had burned out – happy because they are just games, sad because we’ve lost those intense feelings.

I think that is the sweetest thing Patty said to anyone.

Im so happy I discovered this comic. Nice to see a writer who listens to criticism and contemplates on it.

I am not that and don’t know how you could come to that conclusion.

Let’s just say you are much more level headed than a certain transformers bully.

Also what I love about your comic is that I started out hating Reggie and over the years I love him due to character development.

The fact that you see me as level headed is a real indictment of other creators. I’ll take whatever praise I can get though.

I mean, being only a bit passive aggressive at people being twatwaffles *is* a major improvement over a lot of other creatives that over the last few decades that have let themselves slip into being petty “I am on the right side of history” tyrants without even a hint of self reflection or irony.

Im okay with just being angry, petty, and wrong, sometimes just because sometimes a person needs to throw a fit. It just makes me unhappy in general later so I avoid it when I can. I’m not really all that different from other creative people. I’m just slightly more conflict averse.

I think it’s more accurate to say that Jackie is self-aware enough to learn from his own experiences, to not step on that rake again, rather than being particularly concerned with what we in the peanut gallery have to say. It’s still a step up from people who never learn (which is what many creatives are like, unfortunately).

“Friends Forever” I have people that I would say are friends forever by some definition or other. I have friends that I have known literally since we were toddlers, so nearly 60 years. I have some degree of warm feeling for all of them that are still alive but it doesn’t mean that the feeling is the same for all of them or that it is for the same reason. There are folks toward whom I am still kindly disposed but there is just no common ground anymore. Our stories took different paths. Rulette still feels a connection but Thomas sees a different path.

LMFAO, I don’t genuinely believe she’s comparable to Tom Bombadil.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings didn’t have a whole plot line running in the background for Tom Bombadil.

With Rulette you’ve basically presented this whole thing, so failure to eventually shine a light on it is ultimately going to be disappointing not mysterious.

I mean, Tom Bombadil practically breaks the story. And Rulette doesn’t have a plotline so far really, she has lore, just like Tom.

The current “campus raided by police for organizing protests” storyline made Willis finally get a moderator in the comment section.

Probably best to avoid advancing a story past the noughties, yeah…

Well at least youre admitting to leaving hanging plot points.

I don’t really see the point in introducing all of this just to never apply any clarity.

You don’t seem to understand the differences between plot and character development. Rulette’s exact history isn’t plot relevant, unless and until Jackie decides that it is by writing it into the plot. Just like when we found out John plowed his step-sister; this informs his character and explains why he is here and not at home, but it is not directly relevant to the series of events which we have so far been shown. It COULD later be relevant to the plot, or thematically important, but for right now, it’s just information about a character so we understand him a bit better. This is a slice-of-life story, those always involve getting to know and understand a bunch of characters, but without all of that being relevant to a plot, or giving them all arcs, or learning all of their backgrounds. Unless you’d like to tell me the deep history of Jay and Silent Bob.

I don’t know about other readers. But for me. Thomas makes a lot of the same mistakes I make. He has a lot of the same principals I have. He expresses in a lot of the ways I as a younger person expressed. Seriously ever since “Psychological warfare starts at the door” has it not only been a thing I’ve said. But conversely was something I believed before it was wonderful articulated here.

Thomas feels enough like me to feel real to me. I assume he feels enough like someone other people either think is a passable fictional stand-in of themselves or someone else they know that he can get on people’s nerves when he’s being the petty guy to a character they like.

The fact that you made us like her in the first place before putting this conflict out is what makes this art instead of just by the numbers content creation.

Sliding in late to simply add they both, and this conversation, feels authentically human, and I can’t wait to see where we go with this next.

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