New Weekly Voting Incentive: SARTORIAL NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS!
2014 is behind us, and the Puck gang is vowing to not make the same fashion-related mistakes they made last year! Vote for Puck on TWC to see Daphne’s resolution right now! A new one featuring Colin will pop up later this week, so keep voting to catch it!
CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR PUCK! IT’S RICH IN VITAMIN P!
As for this comic…
I’ve been kind of dreading this comic for two big reasons:
1) knew this strip would be a pain to draw, and I was right. It took me over twenty hours, start to finish, to get this sucker done. The terrible combination of lots of characters, dynamic poses, cramped panel space and vehicles made this unduly hard.
2) I knew lots of people would get mad at me for this one, and I wasn’t looking forward to the backlash. Readers were calling for blood, calling for carnage, and in some cases calling for all-out mud wrestling. (Oh, and torn clothes; let’s not forget the many cries for torn clothes.) But instead you get this: a time jump which leaps clean over all the ‘good stuff.’
Feel free to hate me for it, but at least let me explain my logic.
It’s like this: while violence can be satisfying, violence is seldom funny past the first punch. It’s the reactions around the violence (the build-up, the aftermath) that provide more comic fodder. I’m sure this might be partially a limitation of my own writing abilities, but I wasn’t able to think of a truly funny way to frame the fight. So I skipped it. Sorry. And mud wrestling was not an option. Whenever you have two characters rolling around in the mud in a comedy, you should be seeing a flashing sign that says ‘intellectually bankrupt writing’ over top of the action.
My writing might be intellectually bankrupt, but I still don’t want to put out a sign advertising that fact. Not yet.
That is quite honestly the best threat I have ever heard. I think I shall use it in the future.
Thank you for this comic, by the way, it’s always a nice break from schoolwork, especially when I have two essays due tomorrow.
Also, I really enjoy the splatter of what looks like blood across Tracee’s dress, it really adds to the mental image that’s forming in my mind of the fight.
Not sure if this is better or worse than Tex ripping a man’s skull out of his head and beating him to death with it. I am referring to Tex from Red vs. Blue, by the way as I doubt that was clear.
Don’t worry, it was extreamly clear, I read Tex and thought, “someone thinks like I do”
Kale, glad I wasn’t the only one whose first thought was RvB.
It was pretty clear to me, I used to love Red vs. Blue, haven’t watched it in a while though.
See, the mental image of the fight forming in your mind is always, ALWAYS going to be better than the one I could draw. That’s why it’s just better I skip it.
Haha yeah, I see the logic behind it. I think you could have done it well but it is fun trying to imagine what the fight was like. Can’t wait to see next week’s! Hope you’re not horribly stressed, considering it’s exam time for the high schools. 🙂
Is this how most baby showers go?
I have been to one baby shower, aside from the mother to be it was all guys, so that was hardly typical and thus I don’t think I can say for sure about most baby showers.
try a baby shower where the ex-wife of the baby father is invited. along with her bf, sister and mother. a train wreck had NOTHING on that mess.
See? That’s the kind of baby shower I’m talkin bout!
ok, i´m kinda mad that you skipped the fight, but i can see your reasons…..and i´m too busy snickering to stay mad anyway. seriously, how cool is it that heather has to be wheeled off on a stretcher, with several bloody bandages to staunch bloodflow on her bod, whereas all tracee is suffering from is a severly ruined hair-do? and she wont stay in prison for long, satan will have her out in no time, and probably bursting with pride to boot…as will colin over how puck dealt with his evil sister 🙂
btw, since we didn´t get the fight, could we at least get heather in hospital, with black eye, missing teeth and a swollen lump that used to be a nose? please?!
or, alternately, word that her husband has just been promoted to regional director of the antarctica operations?
No promises… Though we’re not totally through yet. There’s a bit of winding down to do.
This was not “Tinkerbell’s” first turf fight. In the build up, she didn’t object to being called a prostitute, but she did object to being called a cheap one. I have a suspicion that this isn’t her first trip downtown, either. BTW, the brass knuckles made this a felony offence, so dropping charges is going to be a little harder than that.
You know Tracee well. And if this is the first time she’s been thrown in the back of a police cruiser, I’ll eat my hat. If I had a hat.
Not a felony. As this comic takes place in Canada. There are no such things as felonies and misdemeanors. Canadian law and US law are not the same at all. Beating on someone like this wont even get her 2 years, not by a long shot. The two systems may share concepts like innocent till proven guilty, but start to diverge wildly after that. Hell. This plot could be dropped for a few years and brought back (in comic time) and be realistic for the amount of time it would take to get to court. The Canadian Legal System (I refuse to call it a justice system, cause it has long since stopped concerning itself with *that* ideal) moves at a glacial pace. Hell, glaciers move faster. Out on bail no problem.
As depressing as it is, I’d have to agree with you on all counts here. And she will be. Very soon.
Listening to the radio now. Talk show on CJOB. Guest is talking about how ‘the system’ coddled her son’s killer. How every time he got upset in court they were all, you need water, do you need to take a break. Meanwhile, no such solicitations over her listening to the autopsy reports sayin how any of the 3 stab wounds to his heart woulda killed him. Or that the trash needing a break to dry his weepie eyes did it cause he wanted the street cred.
I know if I was ever in court, I’d be in real danger of spending a long long time in jail. Because I have long since lost all respect for our Legal System to the point I refuse to attach the word Justice to it. It has become outright contempt, and I would not be able to hide the seething contempt I have for our entire system, from the top down, side to side, backwards and forwards. And you know how judges get about their putting ppl in jail for contempt until they apologize. And sure, I could fake an apology, but there is no way in hell’s half acre I could fake sincerity, or keep the apology from being contemptuous. If I saw a representative of our Legal System rolling around the ground on fire, I wouldn’t cross the street to piss on them.
I’m glad to see the legal system has made such an impression on you.
I must concur with Jocelyn: That may not be the greatest threat of all time, but it definately ranks in the top 5… Right below Ganghis Khan’s “I am the wrath of GOD, your sins must have been great for him to send me to punish you.”
Totally improvised, too! I was initially thinking it would be a line that had something to do with strangling Heather with her own intestines, but really, intestines are played. I needed something fresh. Then it clicked.
Eh, I’m happy with the end to this, two non-super chicks with limited move sets. It would mostly be punching, hair pulling, biting etc… With no style, and a heap more insults. Don’t get me wrong, im sure it was an awesome fight, but long drawn out fight scenes distract from the narrative and comedy. That’s what manga is for. Besides, now we can see the fallout of the fight.
Yeah, some manga makes it so that fighting IS the narrative, and that can be funny. But being able to punch people into the stratosphere helps with that factor too. Like you said, if you’ve got two humans squaring off, and they’re limited to the confines of pseudo-reality, it gets … less engaging.
I kept imagining Heather trying to turn it into a slap fight to protect her nails and the whole thing ending in one punch.
Real fights tend not to last long anyway so I don’t mind the time skip. It was probably done when Puck said lock the door.
That’s kind of what I thought. This would really be a one hit fight. Okay, well, maybe a five to ten hit fight from all the wounds on Heather.
Hmmm, would Puck be offended by the officer referring to Tracy as a fairy by calling her tinker bell?
Or would puck find the portrayal of tinker bell to be an offence anyway?
Good question. Probably not. She hasn’t shown herself to be very defensive on the ‘fairy rights’ front.
I love these happily ever after endings!
And for Daphne’s New Year’s resolution- why didn’t Puck talk her into trying plaid?
I’d already done too much plaid in the last one. I didn’t want to overload people.
Also, will we see Daphne’s iPhone Socialite Bum Fight Youtube video of this event at some point?
Well, if you can’t find it on Youtube right now, keep looking. It’s up there somewhere, I’m sure.
Why do I have the feeling the wrap-up comic after this contains a phrase such as “this went better than expected” or “I like it if a plan comes together”. I like this comic a lot better than reading through a drawn out fight (those drag in my opinion), so three thumbs up!
No, it makes sense to have it wrapped up fast. The fight itself wasn’t the point, but more what happened before and after.
The only way showing the fight would have been important is if something worth mentioning happened. Like if neither was good at fighting, or if they were both crazy good at fighting. Or if someone stopped them, like if Puck’s child suddenly displayed super powers or something equally shocking.
Nah, nothing noteworthy occurred beyond the usual maiming. I am of the opinion that a lack of firearms, superpowers and Tony Jaa usually makes hand-to-hand combat decidedly less entertaining.
Watch They Live some time. It lacks all of those and has one of the most entertaining and longest fights ever. It just keeps going and when you think its done, no, it’s not done!
Okay, well, that’s funny.
It’s Goliath from Gargoyles vs Rowdy Roddy Piper. Wrap your mind around that and rejoice.
Who in the hell called 911 in this neighborhood? They live next to a crack house and I think Puck wouldn’t call the cops until she had confirmation of a kill.
I’d say it was probably Colin’s Mom. She couldn’t have remained distracted forever.
Separate cells.
Naw I was kind of hoping we’d skip the ‘good part’ – I just think Heather got off easy lol
Well, so do I. But I needed her to survive, because she may come back.
You are an evil evil cartoonist, Gecko….. Bad Gecko, BAD!!!
Uttering death threats in the presence of the arresting officer? Oh, the Crown Attorney (Canadian version of the District Attorney, but appointed, not elected) is going to love that. The list of charges are going to be impressive. Let’s see: Assault Causing Bodily Harm, Uttering Threats of Death, (probably) Destruction of Private Property in Excess of One Thousand Dollars (Heather’s dress was expensive). No doubt her boyfriend has some lawyers available to plea her case in court.
In panel two, the paramedic should be saying like, “Ma’am, please lie back and stay calm.” He would be trying to diffuse the situation as well as the police officer.
Depictions of paramedics and police officers in this comic are in no way meant to be an accurate depiction of those occupations. I’m pretty sure that cops don’t hurl personal insults at people while they throw them in the back seat either, but it felt good to draw. So I drew it.
Please change the voting incentive… it is just SOOOoo wrong!
🙂
I’ve had wronger voting incentives, like that naked, hairy picture of Marvel’s Puck. At least it’s not Colin wearing that dress.
Is it wrong I think Tracee fits better with her hair like that than how she usually has it?
As for the lack of a fight…
Girlfriend: I’m glad for the lack of a fight. It’d be too predictable otherwise.
Me: …You’re STILL sour about the fact that your comic for the school paper was rejected due to violence?
Girlfriend: …Yes.
Me: …Thought so.
Note that the violence in her comic was very tame (literally a person being punched in the face) but our school’s principal at the time was very… Unique. As in “you can’t show violence in comics but I’ll be damned if I don’t read at least one comic with people having sex in it” (not a joke).
I think maybe the hairdo and the language spewing from Tracee’s mouth are in sync with her real personality, i.e., that of a creature born in an extremely negative environment which clawed and scratched its way out of there, then pretended to be something it wasn’t so as to maintain its new, better circumstances.
That’s exactly what’s going on here. And this reflects what I think of all people whose personalities are a bit too sunny and whose smiles are a bit too wide and cheery: such smiles always mask a nasty, feral animal ready to rip your throat out.
Censorship is always weird. Like Hollywood’s current thing, where any amount of murder or carnage is totally fine, but even the hint of nudity gets a movie practically banned from theatrical release.
I doubt Tracee will be in the clink for very long. Her ‘sugar daddy’ is sure to have lots of contacts in the system.
I’m fairly surprised that there aren’t any worse injuries to take care of — and that the police officer is restraining Tracee with such apparent ease. ^^
And in closing: the voting incentive puts me in mind of a Heidi cosplay for some reason… :p
I doubt Tracee will even get to the police station before the forces of evil sweep in to usher her to safety. As for the voting incentive, I have no idea where the dress concept came from. Maybe it’s Heidi-esque. I didn’t look at any form of ref. These weird outfits just spring from my subconscious most of the time.
I wonder if this will go to trial.
Now I feel better about skipping them.
Really, it’s smart of you to take a pass.
Something I don’t understand. Heather insulted Tracee from the start, yet it’s Tracee being taken away? Oh, that’s because ‘the law doesn’t recognize provocation.” Oh really? Then why are the cops there? As they won’t respond to Heather’s provocation, why respond to Tracee’s? Hypocrites, the lot of ’em!
Well, there’s verbal provocation, and then there’s beating someone bloody with brass knuckles. It’s a pity it came to this. (That is, a pity Tracee didn’t have something bigger to smack her with.)
EG: I agree with the cut to the aftermath. Good pacing, and it’s funny as hell. 🙂
It’s really too bad that “She had it coming” doesn’t hold up in a court of law.
Well, in some cases you can argue that you were provoked to the point that you suffered a temporary loss of bout of insanity and are therefore not responsible for your actions at the time…
Is… is that bloodspatter on Tracee’s cleavage…? 0_0; I know head wounds are a bit spurt-y, but… Yikes.
Well, every once in a while, you hit a real gusher.
I wonder whether the forces of evil (aka Heather, Tracee and Scratch) will ever figure out Puck deliberately set Tracee and Heather up to take each other out… And if they do, what will happen to la Famille de Puck? o_o;
A business card and offer of employment.
I don’t think they’re smart enough, really. Heather might, but Satan and Tracee? They’re not running on all cylinders, really.
Tracee seems to have more engine power than Scratch, but you may well be right. ^^ I’m not sure Heather will be able to look past her raging hatred for her new BFF: Bitchiest Foe Forever.
Yeah, this kind of setup is hard to pin on the real perpetrator. I mean, Puck really did nothing to provoke them beyond a formal introduction. We know better, but in the eyes of most witnesses, she’s entirely blameless.
And it was Daphne’s plan to get the two blondes to go nuclear… and cause more damage that way…although people might start to wonder why did Puck invite Tracee to the baby shower, when there appears to be no reason for her to show up.
OK don’t post often but this has been one of the funniest arcs so far. Just hope the cash Puck got doesn’t end up paying fines for the fight on her property.
I don’t think any fines will be coming her way. And it seems that minimal property damage occurred, so… bonus!
Well, that went better than expected…
Sometimes the universe likes you.
I’m surprised the police responded to a call at Puck’s house that wasn’t coming from Satan. It wasn’t the best neighborhood to begin with, after Puck moved in I’d think they’d be afraid of going there.
I think the police are very used to responding to calls from this neighborhood. I saw a study recently that showed the majority of the police force’s time in my city is spent responding to calls from a few select blocks. Puck lives on one of those blocks.
Apparently Tracee is a south paw! Yeah baby!
I’m a southpaw. It makes me instinctively want to draw characters as southpaws, but then sometimes the right-handedness of the universe gets its hold on me and I draw characters preferring the right. So from what I can figure, all of my characters are mysteriously ambidextrous.
That’s perfectly sensible in Puck’s case, at least; as old as she is, she must’ve gone through at least some times when she had to rest one arm and had to learn to use the other. ^^
Hah! Blondie got hers. She oughta be spittin’ teeth, but I guess Tracee was goin’ more for gut shots when she whupped up on her.
Heather had to be able to talk for this comic to work. That’s the only reason she still has teeth.
My question is, how is Heather still conscious?? Or at least screaming in pain between insults? XD
Through the magic of plot convenience, panel real estate restrictions and good genes.
I really liked this one, and I appreciate the effort you put into it! Not only does this episode finally release the immense tension that has been building, it also seems that Puck’s plan has actually worked out! Yay!
(I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the legal aftermath, though – that sounds like it could be wildly entertaining, too!)
Legal aftermath might offer comedic potential, but I also have to consider the fact that this storyline has technically been running for almost a full calendar year. Which is WAY too long. I think this arc needs to draw to a close some time soon.
Well, it was a fun, crazy ride while it lasted. And I am looking forward to whatever you will be able to come up with next.
I tried writing a novel a couple of years back, and it sucked. I would have these short, intense bursts of creativity, followed by long droughts. It must be hard to keep on creating output on such a regular basis. (Also, I had a really hard time dealing with feedback – being critized is tough, but I found dealing with compliments just as hard – apparently, they give me writer’s block…)
Writing a novel sucks. I’ve written a number of them, but I always found the process draining, and it took a few novels for me to realize that I wasn’t particularly good at writing them. The only thing that keeps me productive is the expectation that I produce something every week. If I didn’t have that deadline, I’d have little to show for my time. It’s sometimes a grind, but if the grind weren’t there, I wouldn’t get much done.
Have you ever tried writing a novel alongside somebody else? I didn’t write a novel, per say, but I wrote a non-fiction book alongside some other people and it took a lot of the pressure off. Collective thinking, sharing the load and having others to keep you accountable helps a lot.
Unless, of course, you don’t like the idea of novels in general anymore. Either way, the comic’s great and it’s fantastic that you found something you enjoy and will continually work on!
Writing a novel with someone else would be kind of fun, I’d have to admit, but I don’t think a good novel would result. There are few good novels I can think of that were team-written. Good Omens is the only one that springs to mind. Still, I think it would be fun to co-write a really awful novel: like a western, or a classic pirate romance, or something like that.
On one hand it doesn’t surprise me a bit that you would be a fan of “Good Omens” based on your sense of humor, but on the other hand, I know 4 separate English Teachers that have Read Terry Pratchett’s “Mort”, accused it of being “A blatant Rip-off of Dickens Great Expectations, re-written while on hallucinogenic drugs”, and refuse to read anything else he’s written!
(That particular critique is actually a direct quote from one of them, and to be fair, it’s pretty accurate)
Any English teacher who dismisses a work as a “blatant rip-off” clearly knows nothing about literature. Literature is built on blatant rip-offs. The Aeneid was an intentional Roman rip-off of Homer. Canterbury Tales was a Middle English rip-off of the Decameron. Shakespeare’s plays were often ‘re-imaginings’ of familiar stories, some of which had been the subject of popular plays before he came along.
If Terry Pratchett wants to do a straight-up rip-off of Great Expectations entitled “A Straight-up Rip-Off of Great Expectations”, I’d be the first in line to buy it. Why? Because it’d be different in lots of cool ways, and that’s why we read it. Although I know the poor guy’s got Alzheimer’s now, and I’m very, very sad about that.
I agree with you about Terry Pratchett’s Alzheimer’s. He is one of my favorite Satirists, and I keep a list of quotes (about a 3rd of them are his) on my desk that help keep me sane while I do my job (Telephone Tech support).
I would have loved to see a collaboration between him and Douglas Adams. Something like the Hitchiker’s guide to the Netherworld.
I was kind of expecting to see something like Puck, et al. inside the window discussing the fight with a random fist or blood-spray in the foreground.
I considered that, actually, but I just couldn’t come up with any REALLY good gags, so I cut it.
I agree with you violence != funny logic. But the potential in the aftermath is excellent… (torn clothes) I mean, uh… Maybe Satan has something on Heather or her hubby… (torn clothes) [shh] uhm… or the litigation circus…
Anyway this shower sequence (torn clothes), including the magnificent {P}ownership of the Mother in law via infant has been a joy to follow! Kudos (torn clothes)
DOHT!! Lead off typo -10 pts Should be,
“I agree with your ‘violence != funny’ logic.
Sorry
I keep thinking about torn clothes. Is that weird?
Don’t want to put a downer on this scene of domestic bliss, but is anyone else worried that Ms Heather might sue Ms Puck & co for inviting a clearly deranged psycopath to the baby shower, resulting in her receiving these terrible injuries?
To misquote Rocky V, “Sue her for what?” When suing, one must always go after the party with the most money. Otherwise you’re just wasting your legal fees. The real catch, from a legal standpoint in this offensive, is to somehow rope Satan into the charges, because he’s the one with the cash.
Welp, at least one of them left on a stretcher…
Well, that was a contractual obligation, so I had to carry through.
Electric Gecko, thank you for taking the time to make these comics and put happiness into the lives of others. I didn’t realize it, but I was so wrapped up in the quirky characters and crazy plot that I read all 269 strips in about four hours. I found out about this comic from an ad on another website and I couldn’t be happier that I did. Again, thank you very much for all of the time and effort you’ve put into these. I love them 🙂
Hey, thanks a ton for letting me know you enjoyed my stuff. Feedback from people like you makes it totally worth it. And glad the ad caught your attention! Makes me feel a bit better about sinking 100% of my meager profits into them.
So, after this “epic battle of the titains” (yes, the spelling was intentional), how is it that their attire is merely stained and not torn or damaged?
Fabric woven of kevlar? And Titians? Epic battle of Italian renaissance painters? Odd, but I’ll go with it.
Another point: first panel, perspective, the patrol car looks too close to the back of the ambulance for the doors of the ambulance to even be opened, much less have the room shown in the next panel where the patrol car isn’t even in frame.
Perspective plays weird, wacky tricks on the eye. There is exactly 8.5 feet of usable space between the patrol car and the ambulance. You just can’t see it in panel one. Because of the bad drawing. (Actually, because I need to fudge angles and spaces all the freakin’ time in this comic to fit required elements into the panel. Case in point: carefully look at any conversational comic between two characters. In long shots, they’re an appropriate distance, but in mid shots, they suddenly move much closer together. Same principle here, really. Here, I needed to (a) establish location, (b) establish the presence of Colin and his father, (c) establish the presence of the cruiser, and (d) establish the presence of the ambulance in one panel. It gets a little tight sometimes.)
Whoa…I think my imagination can fill in the gaps even if I wanted to see a clash.
But from a television perspective, this time jump in events is utilized all of the time for comedic effect. Great job with this awesome art!
Time jumps are sometimes needed, I feel. But yeah, glad the art works. I always find dynamic shots to be a challenge.
Quiet literally the best way to kill three birds with one arrow: take out snob sister, get rid of daddy’s favorite bed time toy, and of course make Puck happy enough to dance.
Is it realistic? Well, no. Is it poetically needed? I think so.
Why do bad things happen to good people ?
Tracee, Oh Tracee…..
Hello Alt Text, I wasn’t wondering but you made me very happy by informing me. I really do love these little details but usually miss them on my own.
In the print edition, that will totally be legible.
I love the glare the policewoman gives in panel three.
I know glares of death. I give them often.
Violence isnt funny after the first punch? Im guessing you havent seen 60s Batman.
Woo-hoo! I know she’d win!
Knew. Knew. You knew I meant knew right?
You deserve something. Praise? Praise is all I got.
Nah! I just wanted to share vicariously in the win and the fact that I guessed Tracee would win and Daphne thought she couldn’t.