2021/09/28 - Getting Hot In Here

[Obbl]

[ Getting Hot In Here ]

Title Text: AC AC everywhere but not a heat to sink

What? Rick editorialize? Never

[IceKitsune]

Super meta comic is super meta! Also As someone who has actually read a lot of Garfield I personally think the comic was funny until at least the mid 80s maybe a bit after that. Still has the occasional flashes of brilliance in the late 80s and into the 90s

[Gbr23]

If, and only IF I had a webcomic, I'd say that writing silly- lightweight arcs is fun, BUT writing drama is super fun. But you wouldn't want a webcomic with just drama... or maybe you do... I dunno. But I don't know, I'm just rambling. I don't have a 2019 Ursa Major webcomic Nominee that you can read here

*ahem* *ahem*
Aaaanyway, come on Marion, this isn't a webcomic, this is real life!

Also I relly like the Heckraiser font AND the detail on the first panel is beautiful

[The Blue Fox]

Super meta comic is super meta! Also As someone who has actually read a lot of Garfield I personally think the comic was funny until at least the mid 80s maybe a bit after that. Still has the occasional flashes of brilliance in the late 80s and into the 90s

Yep. I love meta, self-aware humour like that where the comic or whatever other media series calls itself out in a way that the characters in the series remain unaware they're in the fictional media

Also I'm afraid I'm in agreement with the squirrel, Garfield never made me laugh. So I guess that makes me one of "those" people.
Though Garfield did have some interesting comics every once in a while.

[SeanWolf]

Heh nice commentary there (Don't worry, Marion. Aside from a few strips, I never really found Garfield that funny either). Also, that Heckraiser font is very nice!


Though, and I might be overthinking, if they're hot in there, couldn't they break open a window? Just saying.

[Fish Preferred]

No, how dare you have an actual story with interesting events and character development? Such a betrayal I have never seen in all my years.

[restcure]

Skipped to breaking the fifth wall.

[Cosmacelf]

Yea! Serious drama! Actually, now that I’m fully invested in the characters, and they are really well fleshed out, real characters, I am going to love serious drama. Great idea as usual, Rick. Don’t worry about what others think, don’t let your inner Res give you worries. Great idea.

[NHWestoN]

Editorial cartoon about Garfield, right? Who cares - Rick's Baaaaaaack !!!

[dr_eirik]

I kinda wonder why they are all trapped. The windows look large enough to get out. At least Marion should be able to slip out and get help.

I love that, despite really being in mortal danger, they are just drifting around into inane conversations. Which Todd can't follow.

[D-Rock]

Lack of oxygen will do that.

[Cesco]

Ah, so that's the grey thing visible on the previous strip... A metal pole bent around the car so they can't exit, Tarot included, who before got outside it... Yeah, it must get hot inside there, you're suffocating and getting thirsty... But also bored, as seems. Weird topic to talk about, it reminds me of this same webcomic... That's something you didn't know of your boyfriend, Lois. I appreciate both kinds of comics, but anyway, I agree with what Todd is asking you two.

[kavviyenta]

Wait a minute! So what do Garfield comic look like in this HP universe? Do they even have spin-offs like "Garfield minus Garfield?"

Huh...so everyone is stripping. Hope they keep their fur on.

[Welsh Halfwit]

There’s thing’s worse than chit-chat
when you’re waiting for the end.
Especially as stoic silence
can send you tight around the bend.
Watch, though, as it can make you fight
as you deal with all the tension
in ways that make you bounce
and foul up the car’s suspension.
Marion’s speaks the voice of Liz;
fair, logical, surgical, sane.
But he’s not the big Cat in here
and he’s beginning to sound a pain...

[Elwood Blutarsky]

I've always found "Housepets!" to do a great job balancing dramatic story lines with humor. Todd has been a gold mine of it lately. Here's hoping Rick's new direction keeps him happy, so far the return is off to a great start.

[Startrekfan47]

Super meta comic is super meta! Also As someone who has actually read a lot of Garfield I personally think the comic was funny until at least the mid 80s maybe a bit after that. Still has the occasional flashes of brilliance in the late 80s and into the 90s

I just figure it wasn't funny until we started associating Lorenzo Music's voice with him.

[Amazee Dayzee]

At least we know Rick has a sense of humor and can make fun of himself on occasion. Sometimes I worry that the criticisms really get to him and make him need another long hiatus.

[Startrekfan47]

Funny or not funny that's for other web pages such as The Comics Cummudgeon to decide.

One thing is for sure...If there was no Garfield there'd be no Tiger...and who wants a Tiger-less HP!verse? (Other then Zach, of course) Not me says I.

[NHWestoN]

I can't disagree, Star. That said, I have the slightly sorrowful feeling that Tiger will be among a significant number of the cast who will rarely be seen again, if ever.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am gonna make a highly educated guess here and assume that Tiger will be one of the casualties. That is a shame since we will lose Marvin also.

[Dragon Furry]

Is a car, the windows are made to be able to break and push out when damaged. And at least ONE of them looks strong enough to punch out the glass. Air should NOT be a problem. Unless demon badger is smart enough to put spell on the windows.

[zidane]

Except that the problem wasn't that you intended to add drama. It's that you have no sense of tone and create a giant mess. That Buffy the vampire slayer as an example. In that series there's comedy and drama, but they don't interrupt a highly emotional scene to throw pies in the background.

Wanna alternate between a serious and a silly arc? By all means go ahead. But don't try to add comedy in serious scenes because you don't know how to blend them well.

[Harry Johnathan]

At least we know Rick has a sense of humor and can make fun of himself on occasion. Sometimes I worry that the criticisms really get to him and make him need another long hiatus.

You can't shield creators from criticism. Yeah, some of the criticism he gets is dumb and is more akin to faux-intellectual trolling but all creators need to be criticized once in a while or their works descend into utter chaos.

[VeryAngryDeer]

At least we know Rick has a sense of humor and can make fun of himself on occasion. Sometimes I worry that the criticisms really get to him and make him need another long hiatus.

You can't shield creators from criticism. Yeah, some of the criticism he gets is dumb and is more akin to faux-intellectual trolling but all creators need to be criticized once in a while or their works descend into utter chaos.

M'mm. The fanfic I've been working on wouldn't be half as good as it is now without the criticism I've received and integrated into my writing. I used to get bad anxiety while someone reviewed my work, so I know it can be difficult. Powering through that was worth it.


And now for something completely different. Is it just me, or are half those AC units not even plumbed into the building? How wasteful!

[Amazee Dayzee]

Just because they aren't plugged in from where it looks like doesn't mean that they aren't connected with other attachments you just can't see. Not everything is visible to the naked eye.

[DDeer]

Maybe the plumbing is behind, underneath?

I remember looking through the paperback Garfield compilation books back in the late 80's (before the internet). I have to confess I didn't realise it was still going, impressive to be able to keep coming up with new short strips for the same bunch of characters. Mrs Deer loves Garfield.

Garfield minus Garfield certainly adds a surreal element to things, funny how it still works, kind of.

[Fish Preferred]

Except that the problem wasn't that you intended to add drama. It's that you have no sense of tone and create a giant mess. That Buffy the vampire slayer as an example. In that series there's comedy and drama, but they don't interrupt a highly emotional scene to throw pies in the background.

Wanna alternate between a serious and a silly arc? By all means go ahead. But don't try to add comedy in serious scenes because you don't know how to blend them well.

Dude, what serious scenes? In case you've forgotten, we've got a 30' tall badger turning people into various critters while quoting Plankton from that one Spongebob Squarepants episode. Housepets! is just about all silliness, but with an epic story behind it.

[Obbl]

Except that the problem wasn't that you intended to add drama. It's that you have no sense of tone and create a giant mess. That Buffy the vampire slayer as an example. In that series there's comedy and drama, but they don't interrupt a highly emotional scene to throw pies in the background.

Wanna alternate between a serious and a silly arc? By all means go ahead. But don't try to add comedy in serious scenes because you don't know how to blend them well.

Dude, what serious scenes? In case you've forgotten, we've got a 30' tall badger turning people into various critters while quoting Plankton from that one Spongebob Squarepants episode. Housepets! is just about all silliness, but with an epic story behind it.

This is the person who their account for the express purpose of posting a thread for dumping on the comic. We exhausted our good will responding to them the last time, so if you are going to engage, well, godspeed to you
(also re-read the thread and Gameb18oy for the absolute solid prediction, and Obbl for the epic fail )

[Harry Johnathan]

He does offer some decent criticisms on occasion. After all, a broken clock is right twice a day.

[NHWestoN]

Rather a lot of investment for someone who couldn't "get invested anymore."

[D-Rock]

At the end of the day, Housepets will become what Rick wants it to be, so we must acknowledge that it won’t appeal to everyone. No one is obligated to accept criticism, good or bad, if it’ll get in the way of the story one wants to tell.

[DDeer]

I feel criticism is a double edged sword, I guess if any writer tried to take on board all comments and opinions you would end up with some generic middle of the road thing that no one liked. Many good (and this is subjective) individual works of art will by definition be disliked by as many as like it because they are strong. I kind of like the idea of the artistic genius working in isolation to create their own vision.

I think that some Manga strips get purchasers to answer polls on how the comic storyline is going, I suspect this is why a lot of Manga (but by no means all) seems to start off so strong with a clear individual vision and then peter out into something more bland.

For one I am happy to let this comic roll and see where it takes us.

I find it interesting how the lines of objective and subjective become blurred in these kind of conversations and how one person can see some statement being absolutely factual whilst another sees it as an opinion, I'm pretty easy going so I'm going to leave it at that.

[Harry Johnathan]

The entire field of "high art" is nothing but people making blank canvasses with bananas taped to them or literal toilets mounted on plaques because critics have been lax towards them and excusing it because "it's an artistic statement!". If high art can fall so hard, imagine the terrifying depths webcomics could fall to if people just stopped criticizing and if creators just stopped listening.

[D-Rock]

What makes you think we don’t have parts of the story we’re not fond of? Even among the moderator staff, there are parts of the story that we don’t like as much and have even voiced this, but we’re still here because we enjoy the overall product. Rick will never please everyone with everything, but he’ll write what he likes, and there will be an audience for that.

[zidane]

Except that the problem wasn't that you intended to add drama. It's that you have no sense of tone and create a giant mess. That Buffy the vampire slayer as an example. In that series there's comedy and drama, but they don't interrupt a highly emotional scene to throw pies in the background.

Wanna alternate between a serious and a silly arc? By all means go ahead. But don't try to add comedy in serious scenes because you don't know how to blend them well.

Dude, what serious scenes? In case you've forgotten, we've got a 30' tall badger turning people into various critters while quoting Plankton from that one Spongebob Squarepants episode. Housepets! is just about all silliness, but with an epic story behind it.

1)Sasha being abused by her alcoholic father which was solved offscreen and glanced over with a joke
2) Gale having to stitch herself due to a "betrayal" that was glanced over and solved with a idiotic joke
3)The whole situation between Max and Rufus
4)That moment when Grape even cried as she was talking about a wolf who had to mutilate himself to be an actor because of the sheer prejudice animals face (it was in the arc Res was introduced)
5)King being physicially abused to the point of tears by the other dogs during his watch arc and it was a "Joke" that forced Fido into helping him.

Pointing out flaws in a comic in a constructive manner = dumping on the comic. Really?

My whole point was to show all flaws I've encountered in the comic and how to improve it, which would be to pick a tone and commit to it in a arc. rick doesn't know how to blend well drama and comedy and it sometimes fells like he introduces a plotpoint, realzies it's "too dark" and backpedals it.

[D-Rock]

Perhaps since it’s happened so often, these flaws that you’ve pointed out were intentional on Rick’s part. He’s done strips without jokes before. In fact, immediately after that Gale flashback where she’s stitching herself up, we get a callback that changes the mood of a previous joke comic, recontextualizing it as a serious moment.

What you see as a messed-up tone is very likely instead the tone that Rick was aiming for. Sure, Rick probably looks back and considers what could have been done better, but if he’s repeating certain “mistakes,” maybe they aren’t mistakes.

It’s alright that not everything Rick does will be considered “perfect.” And what “perfect” even is is different from person to person. Understand that it’s unlikely that Rick has fans who view each and every work as achieving Nirvana, because we know that Rick is human doing his best. Fans will grow from that, even if there are parts were not as big a fan of.

Maybe the comic isn’t for you, and that’s okay. Rick has a lot of works for different audiences. Or maybe you’d rather spend your time with a different author, and that’s okay, too. Just be aware that maybe you’re trying to tell Rick to make the comic into something that he doesn’t want to make it into.

[Harry Johnathan]

If he’s repeating certain “mistakes,” maybe they aren’t mistakes.

Unless you're Michael Bay, of course.

[zidane]

Perhaps since it’s happened so often, these flaws that you’ve pointed out were intentional on Rick’s part. He’s done strips without jokes before. In fact, immediately after that Gale flashback where she’s stitching herself up, we get a callback that changes the mood of a previous joke comic, recontextualizing it as a serious moment.

What you see as a messed-up tone is very likely instead the tone that Rick was aiming for. Sure, Rick probably looks back and considers what could have been done better, but if he’s repeating certain “mistakes,” maybe they aren’t mistakes.

I somehow doubt the giant tone clash was made on purpose. The whole Gale scene was serious in tone, but the resolution was turned into a joke. I don't know if it was because Rick was scared of being "too dark" and thus backpedalled it, or because he wrote himself into a corner and wanted Gale and Miles to be friends, and so he had no idea how to do it, and, because of it, did it as a joke with a time skip. same thing happened in the Sasha's storyline. No author should add a plotline if they don't intend to commit to it.

I had decided to give Housepets another try when I saw his post about wanting to make it more "mature". Then I saw this new page, deflecting the actual issue with his comic. If he wants to tell comedy-based arcs (like the ones where the characters play pretend), go right ahead. If he wants to make more serious story arcs, then he needs to learn to not add jokes in it because he does not know how to make them flow naturally. The jokes pretty much interrupt the plot and drag it to a screeching halt (like what happened when Max realzied who Rufus was).

Take Order of the stick, which is another webcomic that started off as pure comedy and then added an actual story and drama to the plot. The author still makes jokes, make he makes them go hand in hand with the plot nowadays. He does not stop the plot to tell a joke, but tell the jokes as he tells the plot. Each page moves the plot forward.

[D-Rock]

Again, the issue is that you don’t seem to like Rick’s style of doing things for Housepets, and that’s fine. You like what you like, and you previously admitted long ago that Rick “does things right” in his other works. It’s less that he doesn’t know how, and more like you’re not gravitating to his preferred method in this particular work

[Amazee Dayzee]

If you aren't a big fan of this work of Rick's but like his other works why wouldn't you just follow those? You would still be a fan of Rick's just not of this particular webcomic.