Voting Incentive: PUCK’S GUIDE TO “FINE” CHOCOLATE!
You know the drill: you get a box of cheap chocolate and it’s got a legend telling you what’s what, but what’s REALLY in those chocolates? Puck’s got the answers! Vote for Puck on TWC to find out!
CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR PUCK! IT’S SATISFYING LIKE CHUCKLAT!
As for this comic…
We get another glimpse into the happy world of Satan’s family life. And we’re officially winding down this rather lengthy story arc that started well over a year ago. Next comic, I think, will be the last in this particular saga. After that, I think I’ll take a break from narrative for a month or two and just run some one-off jokes – you know, the type the internet actually likes as opposed to this story-based stuff that’s sometimes like readership kryptonite.
Anyway, for those of you who followed through the whole of this most recent arc, I want to say thanks. It’s been fun stretching my plot muscles a bit.
Narrative strip comics are weird, really. They’re a sort of old-school challenge which is really archaic in today’s world. (It’s old old. I mean, Siegel and Shuster wrestled with it when they hatched Superman.) It’s vintage, but I really do enjoy it. It poses an odd dilemma: can you tell a sustained plot, broken up into bite-sized four-panel chunks, and hold the narrative together while also managing to make each individual strip exciting and/or funny, and, if at all possible, vaguely accessible to the first-time reader? I might not always succeed, but thanks for following along on my attempt.
Puck 273
Voting Incentive: PUCK’S GUIDE TO “FINE” CHOCOLATE!
You know the drill: you get a box of cheap chocolate and it’s got a legend telling you what’s what, but what’s REALLY in those chocolates? Puck’s got the answers! Vote for Puck on TWC to find out!
CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR PUCK! IT’S SATISFYING LIKE CHUCKLAT!
As for this comic…
We get another glimpse into the happy world of Satan’s family life. And we’re officially winding down this rather lengthy story arc that started well over a year ago. Next comic, I think, will be the last in this particular saga. After that, I think I’ll take a break from narrative for a month or two and just run some one-off jokes – you know, the type the internet actually likes as opposed to this story-based stuff that’s sometimes like readership kryptonite.
Anyway, for those of you who followed through the whole of this most recent arc, I want to say thanks. It’s been fun stretching my plot muscles a bit.
Narrative strip comics are weird, really. They’re a sort of old-school challenge which is really archaic in today’s world. (It’s old old. I mean, Siegel and Shuster wrestled with it when they hatched Superman.) It’s vintage, but I really do enjoy it. It poses an odd dilemma: can you tell a sustained plot, broken up into bite-sized four-panel chunks, and hold the narrative together while also managing to make each individual strip exciting and/or funny, and, if at all possible, vaguely accessible to the first-time reader? I might not always succeed, but thanks for following along on my attempt.
Come on man; you’re the Prince of Darkness for goddess sake. You can do a lot better than Tracee.
(No redheads though. I think we’re at the one per strip maximum.)
True, but can he do better than Tracee without spending major sums of money? You’re talking about a guy who was once married to Liz Taylor here. Of course he can do better, but better usually has a marked love of diamonds.
Granted, but after my first marriage I learned the key to happiness is not skimping on the small stuff. I’m sure an eternal being (that can afford a “virgin blood” tap in the bathroom) had that figured out long ago. lol
BTW – New to your strip and really enjoying it.
I do think that Satan would be the type not to skimp on the small stuff, but I think mistress-related expenses would more qualify as big stuff. And I think he’d rather skimp on mistress then spend the money on gold-plated cutlery or something. And glad you’re enjoying the comic! Thanks for commenting! Comments make everything better. They’re like cheese sauce that way.
Mistresses can always conveniently be written off as massage therapists or personal trainers or life coaches or whatever the newest buzz word hyperbole is for superfluous campaign staff addition. All at the taxpayers expense of course. He IS Satan after all. Im sure he was teaching the fine arts of creative license applied to political campaigning before he moved up the ladder to prince of … err principal of whatever college that was.
You know the inherent ways of evil.
Come on Gecko, Given his primary residence, I am pretty (well physically sure) that Satan has the both surplus heat and excessive pressure required to turn that most basic of elements Carbon (graphite) into Carbon (diamond) Should be the easiest thing in the world for him…
You can’t force it, though. If you force it, you get ugly diamonds.
But he’s *Satan.* Wouldn’t he be able to afford literally anything?
This Satan seems to have a healthy (yet ultimately limited) financial pool from which to draw.
@Buggle
Thanks for revisiting the Archive !
These strips may be OLD, but they are GOLD !
How about a Voting Incentive montage of all Phoebe’s Outfits ?
They’re not old by the standards of this comic. Heck, these still feel like recent entries for me. We measure age in decades here.
There was a Superman episode where he was visiting some old ladies gathering and he did a strength demo where he took a kingsford charcoal briquet in his hands and crushed it into a circular perfect cut umpty-carat flawless diamond. Showed it off, and then crushed it back.
So it can be done.
@CK
Superman may be the very lamest of a long list of very lame “Superheroes”.
My family’s fave is THE PUNISHER.
His sole “superpower” is he’s not afraid to kill maniacs who are trying to kill him.
Well that answers the question of whether Satan would dump Tracee over this fiasco. Apparently he’s too cheap and/or lazy to find someone else.
He is a paragon of sin in all sorts of ways. He’s got sloth mixed in there in healthy doses, along with the greed and the wrath and the lust and all that.
Can you tell a sustained plot, broken up into bite-sized four-panel chunks, and hold the narrative together while also managing to make each individual strip exciting and/or funny, and, if at all possible, vaguely accessible to the first-time reader?
This is the ultimate Existential Question, as far as I’m concerned. And you’re one of the few who can do it successfully.
It is the legal limit, so we don’t even need a lawyer.
Thanks, man. You do it too, and damn well, but there really aren’t many of us in the wide world of webcomics who even attempt it with the format.
Freefall works well.
Has it really been over a year? Huh.
But yeah, even the greats like Bill Watterson and Michael Terraciano had trouble doing long stories while still making each individual comic funny, and those two did their comics for a decade, 5-7 days a week, so they ran into that problem with a greater frequency than you are.
One of the big things that’s facilitated me being able to hold it together has been the fact that I’m doing these things once a week. It gives me more time to mull over humorous ideas from strip to strip. The hardest part is always transitions. You start with a story concept and you come up with a few really choice jokes that are the highlights, but then how do you get to those jokes? That’s where the slogging comes in. And yeah, doing it every day like Watterson did?
I didn’t try to get into newspaper comics for that very reason: I don’t think I could consistently be funny every day of the week.
Considering that newpapers are becoming a thing of the past? Good idea.
Just like getting paid to do comics! Oh well.
From what I’ve read about how newpaper comic syndicates work, webcomics tend to be a more fruitful endeavor, even if it takes much longer to get to that point.
Well, if having a syndicated newspaper comic nets you even ONE dollar in income, it would be a more fruitful endeavor than 99.999% of all webcomics. Including mine. That said, newspaper strips demand more work and allow you less control. So yeah, that’s a hard-won dollar. Honestly, I’d rather do my own thing for free.
You do have a higher overhead, that’s true. Between web hosting and domain names, in addition to any additional supplies you need to create said comics, you spend more to be seen than syndicated comic creators.
But you have one huge advantage over newspaper comics; complete control over all aspects of it, from content to color palette to merchandising. I know Bill Watterson spent years fighting his syndicate over merchandising rights, only agreeing to book collections of his comics. So I honestly think that you have the better deal.
And let’s be fair here; how many people do you think, over the century that newspaper comics have been a thing, have failed to get into newspapers at all? I would wager that it equals those who don’t have really popular web comics.
Well, you’re true there. Lots of failed attempts that went nowhere in the old model. I’d say, though, that the old model supported more professionals actually making a living off their work, though. Just in the U.S., I’d say there were probably a few hundred newspaper comics in existence whose creators made a decent living off their work. In the new model, you can probably count the number of ‘professional’ webcomickers worldwide on your fingers and toes. That said, there are WAY more people making a little bit of money, doing their thing on the side.
I’ve been reading Marvel Comics: The Untold Story recently and it’s really shown me that working for a big company in that classic model … really, REALLY sucked. The whole time I’m reading it, I’m thinking “Thank goodness this isn’t me.” When you read about legends like Kirby and how they were chronically unhappy, unappreciated, jerked around, and eventually left the medium out of anger and spite, it really opens your eyes to how good you’ve got it.
I might get no money from this, but I can do what I do, and I have an audience. Those two positives are wonderful. (I’m also in the enviable position of having the money factor be really a moot point. My wife and I both have good jobs that pay well. I don’t need the money, really, and that’s a good thing.)
Yeah, I can count the web comics that make a living out of this on both hands, and you probably know most of them, and at least half of them were around long enough to attempt to get into newspapers, and it took a LONG time for them to get where they are today.
ug! honestly satan, don´t be so cheap and invest into a new piece of a#! or do you really want your daughter deploy her secret weapon aka puck and daph to get ridd off blonde bitch nr.2? that could get way more expensive then some jewellery. not to mention the bad pr! he´ll need to face re-election one day after all….
I think Phoebe’s just going to have to get used to this one. As for election liability, I think that’s a long, long four years away. That’s, like, many decades in a Kardashian marriage, and I think this relationship would function on a similar time frame. (It also may be several decades in real time for this strip to actually get there.)
You’d think The Prince of Lies would have a better lie face, but you’d think wrong. I am disillusioned.
He’s the Prince of Unconvincing Lies. Few people get his title right.
“Aloha?” Being exiled to Hawaii, is she?
Tracee says ‘Aloha’ as her standard greeting. Always. You can go back and read the entire archive to confirm if you want! (Heh heh heh. Pageviews…)
Then Hawaii is the perfect place for her!
She does have that Hawaiian Tropic look going on. I wouldn’t mind getting leid by Tracee. Tracee in a coconut bra and grass skirt FTW!
A fascinating visual, surely.
Why doesn’t Satan’s tail match his facial tone?
His tail matches his skin tone on his hands. His face is always shrouded in this purplish shadow of darkness. It’s the curse of eternal damnation. It follows him everywhere he goes.
At least, it doesn’t constantly rain on them. But does this mean that Phoebe is/might be Liz Taylor’s daughter?
Dude, where you been? That was established as canon back in strip 242.
Phoebe’s clothes looks a bit… Weird. They look like something she’d wear, but at the same time not. Eh…
And I have to agree with Satan on that one; a friend found out his wife had cheated on him for six months. He figured getting a mistress would be cheap. …It took him eight months to figure out said mistress was a gold digger. I’m not letting him live it down. Yet.
Phoebe’s clothes look weird? Yeah? Well, why don’t you draw them instead, huh? (Seriously, though, man, draw some outfits and send them my way. I’m running on empty!)
Perhaps a Phoebe blank for a voting incentive? Challenge readers to dress the the Phoebe?
p.s. Satan’s got a great t-shirt line there at the end!
There were the Paper Doll Phoebes from a long time ago, actually.
What if Daphne could get Phoebe to wear some of her styles? Or vice versa? Maybe something to do with one of her scams?
Wardrobe craziness might be in order at some point in time. Who knows?
Can’t say the joke’s never been done before, but it’s still funny as hell!
Well, it was fresh for me. That’s all that counts.
I think it’s great… Tracee is too much of a “person everyone loves to hate” to be tossed aside so quickly!
If I had to keep one evil blonde in the comic as a semi-regular feature, it was going to be Tracee. I strongly feel that she’s an endearing sort of awful.
I was surprised for all of two panels.
Not by the notion that Scratch would be willing to screw over someone he’d been sleeping with in the other sense of the word, but that Tracee would be taken out so efficiently.
Then panel 3 hit, annnnd back to business as usual. ^^;
Still, Tracee might want to step up her program of ensnaring her dark overlord; Scratch’s words indicate he might dump her by the wayside after all if she becomes more trouble to him than she’s worth…
Yeah, not sure whether we should be proud of Satan or disappointed. It’s just another shrug of the shoulders, I guess. And I think, honestly, that Tracee is way more with it than Satan. She’s bound to keep him wrapped around her little finger for a while.
True enough — but it is… refreshing? Is that the word I’m looking for? No, it can’t be. Hmm… It confirms my cynical view of Phoebe’s dad that he shows at least a small sign of retaining some control in his ‘relationship’ with Tracee. She may be more with it, as you say, but the power in their dynamic is still with him; he can make her and break her, and ultimately he owns her.
I must admit it is nice to see Phoebe use her Oracular Intellectual skills to deduce that Tracee was behind the curtain all along, just like the Titan she’s supposed to be…
Ooops, wrong mythology ????
Dude, there’s so many Phoebes kicking around in Greek mythology. When I think ‘Phoebe’, I usually think ‘alternate name for Artemis’ but that’s just me. I guess most people in this day and age think ‘friend of Rachel’ but hey, what can you do. (I never, ever watched Friends, FYI, and was unaware that the show contained a ditzy Phoebe until well after Puck had started up.)
I have watched Friends, and Puck’s Phoebe, and Friends Phoebe actually have very similar personalities. They both have an inherent innocence, and positivity. That’s pretty much about it though.
On a completely different note will Phoebe ever wear a watch on her upper arm again? Also why was it dark outside of Puck’s kitchen window during the baby shower while outside it was clear, and sunny? Was it a conscious decision to keep the color composition in balance, as well as keeping the center of focus on Tracee’s “assets” by having the center of the background of the panel black to contrast with Tracee’s white dress? Did you even put that much thought into it? Do we have a continuity error? Is it all an intricate plot by the Illuminati to foment social instability through their unwitting pawn, otherwise known by the psuedonyn ElectricGecko? Is EG actually a sleeper agent of Satan? Who is the REAL father of Puck’s baby? Will we get the answers to all of these questions on next week’s episode of “Days of our Lives”?
I would have used italics instead of quotations on Days of our Lives, but I don’t know how. And I really would like to know about the window thing.
The colors of the windows usually don’t change much, no matter what time of day it is, when I put them in the comic. Sometimes I make an effort to alter the images behind them but often I don’t. It’s just a dark turquoise fill with white transparency ‘reflection’ elements over it. The backgrounds are reused, and often unchanged, which is why the same mostly dead plant has been sitting on Puck’s window ledge for YEARS.
He just summed up politics in one word balloon.
The Prince of Darkness knows a lot about politics.
And gambling. And debauchery. And malice. And greed.
…
I’m basically saying the same thing, aren’t I? 😉
Well, that means half of Puck’s plan worked.
I do not find it surprising, though, that Satan would stick with Tracee, she’s a keeper. At least if you are into the kind of women that Satan is into, apparently.
What I do find a little surprising is how badly Tracee and Phoebe get along. Or maybe how they did get along before her father started sleeping with her. Tracee and and Phoebe do not seem to be that different. Just saying.
I think Tracee and Phoebe might find a sort of equillibrium in the future. It got off to a rocky start, but I think they’ll figure it out.
He paid Tracee’s bail because he feels his efforts to get a new mistress would fail.
I think the constant darkness on Satan’s face is God’s reminder that he’s no longer 1 of his holy angels.
M’boy Satan returns!!! Thank you!
Always impressed with your creativity when it comes to Phoebe’s attire.
Glad I get your vote on her outfit this time. Someone else said this one was un-Phoebe-like, so I was beginning to worry my mojo was waning.
From what I’ve seen, if it shows more skin than you’d expect from the article of clothing she’s wearing, it’s “Phoebe-like”.
That’s my definition too.
Wow.
The Tracee-Hate bums me out.
Is it rooted in jealousy? Or simple bigotry against women who are upwardly mobile, have looks and smartz, but perhaps never had the funds for higher education?
Tracee did not start “The Fight”. And as far as we know, was always nice to Phoebe when Tracee was her Supervisor at Howlers.
Tracee thinks so much of Phoebe, she even gave a clearly unqualified friend of Phoebe’s a job at Howler’s (Puck), simply on Phoebe’s recommendation.
Even now, not only is she taking her Sugar Daddy’s disgraceful insults in stride, she is letting Phoebe know she wants to be friends, still.
Sigh.
I’m with you. I really like Tracee, if only because she’s straight up about who she is, where she came from, and what she wants. There is no deception there. I might not always agree with her goals or her methods, but she’s not trying to trick anyone.
SalemCat nailed it again. I like Tracee. He shows great wisdom, and insight.
@ComedyHobo
As do you, as do you.
But I’m still PRESIDENT of the Tracee Fan Club.
Don’t challenge me, or, or, I’ll arch my Back and fuzz out my Tail !
Nobody likes it when I fuzz out my Tail !
@ComedyHobo
You know CH, I am grateful to you for re-visiting this strip.
.
Tracee shows some real class here.
Given the circumstances, she is actually being NICER than Phoebe !
True dat. Some people know Tracee is great.
I guess the term “Mistress” must be different between the USA and our Northern Neighbors.
In the USA you cannot be a “Mistress” to an unmarried man. A “Girlfriend”, sure. “Partner” ? “Bed-Buddy” ? Yes !
But never “Mistress”.
Well, I guess if you’re being technical, yes. By ‘mistress’, I just meant ‘secret (likely not publicly acknowledged) lover’, but I guess it’s a bit off.
Satan isn’t called the Father of Lies for nothing! 😉
But he’s also the father of Phoebe, who will always be the apple of his eye, I’m sure. 🙂
True. Very true.
Phooey. I was, and am, the Mistress of my BF. Even though he hasn’t lived with his Ex in ten years. 😛 I do claim that I was his Mistress a year before they separated, but she was, um, doing naughty things.