I think Chewy had it right, here. A lot of us were taken aback or blindsided by the events of this storyline, even upset, likely enough to make Rick go "Dude, what the crap?!". Some of us didn’t think that Housepets could ever get so TENSE. Of course, that’s subjective: what is tense to one person isn’t tense to another. But it felt somehow DIFFERENT than a comic about funny animal antics, and crossed a line for many of us. What I am startig here is a general Q&A for people who would like a general idea of the where the comic might go/not go, in a general sense, in order to try and help prevent things like what happened two months ago from happening again. Basically, questions that can help define what Housepets is, or if you like, isn't, for those of us who do not know or understand. No spoilers, of course. As in things you might see (Karishad's antics in the koala pen), and things you'll never see (catnip smoking). You know, for people who have never seen the comic, and for people who had false or overly high expectations or presumptions about it.In May, ChewyChewy wrote:The thing is, all art is communication. The problem is when there is a communications breakdown--if the one communicating (the artist) and the one being communicated to (the audience) don't agree on a common language, then there can be antagonism between the two. On the one hand, the audience had certain expectations given the advertising of the art, which failed to meet those particular expectations, and so the audience feels betrayed, misled, even lied to--and so they feel antagonism toward the artist. On the other hand, the artist had certain intentions which the audience didn't appreciate, and so the artist feels unappreciated, unable to live up to the audience's expectations, helpless and at the mercy of people who don't know and don't appreciate how much time and effort goes into their work and don't cushion their criticism with honest compliments--and so they feel resentful of the audience.
It helps when both try to meet each other halfway: the artist by giving a clear idea of the intention of the comic (without resorting to spoilers, of course), and the audience by trying to make sure they know what "language" the art is in. Like if you want to say someone is "a great woman", DON'T say "una mujer grande".
The rules are thusly:
1. Each forumite here is restricted to three questions about the comic.
2. Rick reserves the right to refuse to answer any question for any reason. So keep it as general as possible. The more specific you get, the more likely it is that Rick will "plead the 5th" on a particular question.
3. Observe all rules of the forum.
Again, this is with Rick's permission, and keep it civil.
I have only one question at the moment:
IS there a "main" storyline to Housepets? I certainly feel like there is, but is there a main overarching dramatic or comedic themed story to all this?