Comics for the Blind: Between Friends

Showing posts with label Between Friends. Show all posts

2015-02-23

Ziggy is even weirder than you thought

Between Friends, 2015-02-16.

Oh no, some complete strangers you'll probably never see again may have heard you singing along to some music! What a calamity! How will you ever live it down? Oh wait, I know - by just carrying on with your life and forgetting about it like literally everyone else already has.

Six Chix, 2015-02-17.

I can't even focus on the whole "the cows don't want the bull to go because he's good at sex" aspect of this, because what are those horrifying lumps on their backs? They remind me of the stumps left after Matt Damon's wings are cut off in Dogma.

The Buckets, 2015-02-20.

You know, someday you and everyone who ever knew you or even heard your name will be dead and forgotten. Your existence is a mere speck of dust compared with the vastness of space and time. Bet you feel pretty foolish for caring about things now.

Nancy, 2015-02-21.

What's that you say? Having a character repeat everything the person on the other end of the line says back to them for the sake of the audience is lazy and sounds terribly unnatural? Well, how would you have done it then? Oh, have the dialogue balloon come from the phone like most cartoonists do? Well, sure, I guess that works. Have a panel showing the other side of the phone call? Yeah, you could do it that way. Just phrase the dialogue in such a way as to make it obvious what the second person is saying? Well, now you're just talking crazy.

Ziggy, 2015-02-22.

The implications of this are staggering. Ziggy is a comic in which every single person or animal its protagonist encounters is a condescending jerk to him and everything he does ends in dismal failure - and apparently that's all his own weird fantasy. He's playing a virtual-reality game of his own design in which all this happens. And while he plays it, he's not wearing any pants. Just let that sink in for a moment.

2014-08-22

Philosophical Friday: Lazy and Dumb

Bewley, 2014-08-18.

Man, what a wasted opportunity. You had the punchline right there in panel two, all you needed to do was stop. You could have made the panels larger and included more detail in the illustration (rather than just flood filling with brown). I know, that's more effort than coming up with a second, less funny joke to fill up that space, but it would have been so much better.

Between Friends, 2014-09-19.

Let me just quote the character description for Kim here: "Kim is creative and introspective. As a feminist, freelance writer, she enjoys the perks of flexible career." I see three grown adults here, and it doesn't occur to any of them that maybe one of the men could cook? Feminist.

Todd the Dinosaur, 2014-08-22.

Forget the joke here (such as it is - T-Rexes have short arms. Ha ha, bet no one's done that joke before) and focus on the first panel. Specifically the narration box. I know that the people who colour comic strips are terrible at their jobs, but come on.

2014-03-17

Melodrama Monday: Life-Altering Changes

Arlo and Janis is usually pretty light on story, but it does have one and it has moved forward a bit recently. Although each week of story is separated by at least a week of non-plot-related strips, it has been established recently that the restaurant where Gene and Mary Lou (Arlo and Janis's son and his wife) work is closing down. Janis was very upset about it for a while, but everyone else seems to be taking it fairly well.

"Hey, Skeeter!" says Meg.
"Hey, Meg!" says Skeeter. "What's up?"
"My mom's restaurant is closing!" says Meg, wide-eyed as though she can hardly believe it.
"No way!" says Skeeter, unironically.
"Way!" says Meg. "They haven't told me yet, but I know!"
"Will you have to move?" asks Skeeter. "I sure hope not! I'd miss all those great leftovers your folks bring home!"

It's funny because the leftovers come from the restaurant, so they'll be gone either way.

Another comic with an incredibly slow-moving story is Between Friends. Recently Maeve met a man who spoke no English and decided to go to Germany with him. When she realised that that was actually crazy she instead went with her ex-husband. Turns out he wanted to get back together with her, which was not something she was keen on. Now she's been hanging out in Paris and is thinking of moving there permanently, assuming she can convince her company to transfer her there.

It sounds somewhat interesting when I put it like that, but it actually hasn't been, and unlike Arlo and Janis the Between Friends strips that don't move the plot forward are all about how insufferable the main cast are. They are petty, mean, smug and vindictive, so even though this Maeve in Europe thing is obviously not going to lead anywhere and has been a total waste of time, it's the best this comic has ever been.

Apartment 3-G hasn't moved on much this week, Tommie's fiancé is still dead, there's still a deer in the flat, the professor is still the only one who seems to care enough about Tommie to pay any particular attention to her or how she's feeling. Actually, I'm not even sure where Lu Ann even is right now. Has she wandered off and gotten lost?

A week later at Manhattan General...
"Good morning, Ms. Dawkins." says Tommie cheerily.
"Tommie — what are you doing here?" asks Ms Dawkins, flustered.
"I'm ready to go to work." says Tommie.
"Sit down, dear." says Ms. Dawkins. "We need to talk!"

Looks like Tommie is still in the denial phase.

2013-08-26

Pondering Between Friends

Between Friends, 2013-08-16.

This comic is the worst. I may have mentioned that before, but it bears repeating. I can't even tell if it's an improvement that in this strip she's not feeling superior about having failed in the most simple of resolutions. I mean, she failed at an easy thing that she actually wanted to do without even trying, and so she definitely should feel bad about that, but even so, she still manages to make this a universal thing in the last panel.

I guess it is better than the smug grin she normally puts on when she gives up without trying, but come on, don't try to convince me everyone is like that, because we're not, it's just you. You are a failure and I hate you. The only way to exceed your expectations, Susan, is to fucking try! Just make an actual attempt.

Also of note, while looking up Susan's name I spotted this in the section about Kim, another of the three completely interchangeable protagonists: "She is married to Derek, a widower and mom to her stepson, Danny." Apparently Derek is a mother. That's unusual.

2013-07-21

Between Friends

Before she turned fifty, Susan was able to do things she enjoyed on the basis that they were worthwhile for their own sake, but now that she is over fifty, even though she does those same things she no longer feels any joy in them and feels only bitterness and resentment, punctuated by brief periods of smug schadenfreude when she thinks about those who are still young will one day be as old as she now is and will, she presumes, also find no happiness or contentment in life.

Comic

2013-05-30

Improving Between Friends

Based on this recent Between Friends strip.

2013-05-06

Pondering Baby Blues and Between Friends

Between Friends, 2013-05-01.

Baby Blues, 2013-05-01.

The fact that these two strips appeared on the same day isn't actually the staggering coincidence it may appear to be as it's a pretty common theme in both these comics, and not without reason. The problem really is that the underlying message always seems to be "Hey women, if you're over 40 then you look bad and you should feel bad." And this is supposed to be funny?

Between Friends is particularly bad for this as the main characters actually seem to revel in this attitude, resenting younger women for not feeling bad about how they look but taking pleasure in the idea that those women will eventually reach the point where they too suffer from constant guilt and shame about their appearance.

It's not quite as grim as Tom Batiuk's comics where the message is pretty consistently that awful things will happen to you, all happiness is fleeting and life is merely an agonising journey to the grave, but it's in that same direction.

What are we supposed to be laughing at here? I could understand if the joke were "Hey, look at these unreasonable expectations society pushes on women, aren't they ridiculous?" but it seems more like the opposite of that, like we're not supposed to find such expectations ridiculous, the joke is actually at the expense of the comics' main characters. Or that those young people making them feel bad are right, but don't worry, they'll get theirs when they get old and fat and ugly, then we'll see who has the last laugh.

It's no one, no one laughs, because this is terrible.