“My antagonists aren’t diabolical masterminds” but some of the readers are. Or have had to put up with people just as antagonistic as antagonists past. I don’t think anyone wants things to go back to the Duchaine Era. The tone has improved. Even the swearing has gone down. It’s understandable that some readers might want the villains to be brighter, the heroes to have a challenge they can’t defeat with a snap of the fingers (Katey and Joscelyn, they’re looking in your direction again), and people to have better reasons to be jerks than just being abrasive. Careful guys, or JB may bring back Rick- Aaron’s father and constant jerk. Of course, throwing Hippy Girl at him would make for lighthearted comedy, so there’s a backup plan. Me, I think things have improved.
TheJayster49 brings up another thing I dislike, How pretty much all the Jerks in the show lose their cool WAY too quickly and when they do they just go on a rampage of screaming. I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t happen so easily.
Like with what happen with that girl cheerleader that Lindsay replaced(Forgot her name). I said this before on how if this took gradually over time. Like over a few arcs instead one issue, then the Girl’s mental breakdown would make sense but instead One girl shows her up and she goes to try a bomb threat is just going too the extreme way too quickly.
It’s less that we want the villains to be more villainous and more “we want to see more than just their antagonism.” This is supposed to be a slice-of-life comic, isn’t it? Show us some life slices from the antagonists! All we’ve ever really seen of Mulroney is him being a power-grabbing prick and we never really see why.
One of my favorite arcs in the previous continuity was Tina’s moral crusade and how it affected her children. The reason it is one of my favorites is because, at the end of the day, Tina *grew* from it as a character. If Mulroney exists solely for the sake of having “Asshole Principal makes arbitrary and pointless rules that the students chafe at” plots, nobody’s going to like seeing him.
Neither am I. I will say that the reboot’s portrayal of Mr. Tucker and Kevin are MUCH better their portrayals in the original comic. However, like gonzo22 says, none of the antagonists have any sort of personality whatsoever.
You end up hating them less because they’re jerks and moreso because it seems like being jerks is the ONLY personality trait they have. I don’t think it would be as bad if their asshole behaviors weren’t so extreme.
I’m not saying to go back to the dark and angsty ways of the other comic, because the reboot is in fact a massive improvement. What I AM saying is to give the characters more personality so they don’t come off as either generic assholes that make it easy to root for the good guys or idiots that never seem to learn their lessons.
A perfect plan with no downsides…as long as you know how to use them. Heh, hoisted by his own petard.
And I’d say you’re doing just fine with adults in the reboot here. Mulroney and Tucker and the rest were never supposed to be full-on antagonists, they’re collections of character types from the 90’s for us to point and laugh at. As far as I’m concerned, you’re doing just fine.
@jbwarner86 I’m not saying the Adults should be evil geniuses but they should feel more fleshed out and not so one-dimensional. Like I said It isn’t Satisfying to see the teens constantly outsmart the Adults because they are written to be so flat and boring. Again there is no tension.
I’m not asking you to go back to the way things were before the reboot because The adults were flat and one dimensional there and they are here as well. I really want to like your story more and with how it is I just can’t find myself to quit it.
Guys, I’ll say it again – this is a goofy little slice-of-life comic strip set in the ’90s. It’s not Game of Thrones. My antagonists aren’t diabolical masterminds, they’re just stupid people. This isn’t about angsty drama, it’s about finding the fun in life. I tried writing it darker for five years and I didn’t like it – and neither did you, frankly, so I don’t know why now you want me to go back to it.
If you’re only here to gripe about how you wish my comic was something I don’t want to write, there are plenty of dramatic serialized webcomics out there that I’m sure can give you what you’re looking for. You’re more than welcome to read them instead.
That’s been one of my biggest complaints about the comic, both the original and the reboot. I won’t go into further detail because I’ve already made my criticisms clear in previous strips, but I wholeheartedly agree with you.
These ‘villains’ being beaten or outsmarted by the kids isn’t as good since Jbwarner86 has made all of them so flat and one-dimensional jerks. There is no real tension since he has made the kids so easily smarter and wiser than the adults. For once I would like to have Steve meet an Equal in a Jerk Adult who was just as clever as he is but isn’t so one-dimensional and isn’t a caricature and instead a true character.
He considered everything except how to execute the plan.
Smack dealers? That’s supposed to be funny, but it never failed to amaze me just how badly school management misread the scale of what teenagers could buy for themselves. Sometimes “Joscyn can’t get here soon enough.” She probably knows how to make things with a chemistry set.
I don’t know…”asshole principal who not-so-secretly hates the kids” is pretty damn believeable to me. (Least mine didn’t take stuff.)
“My antagonists aren’t diabolical masterminds” but some of the readers are. Or have had to put up with people just as antagonistic as antagonists past. I don’t think anyone wants things to go back to the Duchaine Era. The tone has improved. Even the swearing has gone down. It’s understandable that some readers might want the villains to be brighter, the heroes to have a challenge they can’t defeat with a snap of the fingers (Katey and Joscelyn, they’re looking in your direction again), and people to have better reasons to be jerks than just being abrasive. Careful guys, or JB may bring back Rick- Aaron’s father and constant jerk. Of course, throwing Hippy Girl at him would make for lighthearted comedy, so there’s a backup plan. Me, I think things have improved.
@Jbwarner86
TheJayster49 brings up another thing I dislike, How pretty much all the Jerks in the show lose their cool WAY too quickly and when they do they just go on a rampage of screaming. I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t happen so easily.
Like with what happen with that girl cheerleader that Lindsay replaced(Forgot her name). I said this before on how if this took gradually over time. Like over a few arcs instead one issue, then the Girl’s mental breakdown would make sense but instead One girl shows her up and she goes to try a bomb threat is just going too the extreme way too quickly.
@jbwarner86
It’s less that we want the villains to be more villainous and more “we want to see more than just their antagonism.” This is supposed to be a slice-of-life comic, isn’t it? Show us some life slices from the antagonists! All we’ve ever really seen of Mulroney is him being a power-grabbing prick and we never really see why.
One of my favorite arcs in the previous continuity was Tina’s moral crusade and how it affected her children. The reason it is one of my favorites is because, at the end of the day, Tina *grew* from it as a character. If Mulroney exists solely for the sake of having “Asshole Principal makes arbitrary and pointless rules that the students chafe at” plots, nobody’s going to like seeing him.
@jbwarner86
Neither am I. I will say that the reboot’s portrayal of Mr. Tucker and Kevin are MUCH better their portrayals in the original comic. However, like gonzo22 says, none of the antagonists have any sort of personality whatsoever.
You end up hating them less because they’re jerks and moreso because it seems like being jerks is the ONLY personality trait they have. I don’t think it would be as bad if their asshole behaviors weren’t so extreme.
I’m not saying to go back to the dark and angsty ways of the other comic, because the reboot is in fact a massive improvement. What I AM saying is to give the characters more personality so they don’t come off as either generic assholes that make it easy to root for the good guys or idiots that never seem to learn their lessons.
A perfect plan with no downsides…as long as you know how to use them. Heh, hoisted by his own petard.
And I’d say you’re doing just fine with adults in the reboot here. Mulroney and Tucker and the rest were never supposed to be full-on antagonists, they’re collections of character types from the 90’s for us to point and laugh at. As far as I’m concerned, you’re doing just fine.
@jbwarner86 I’m not saying the Adults should be evil geniuses but they should feel more fleshed out and not so one-dimensional. Like I said It isn’t Satisfying to see the teens constantly outsmart the Adults because they are written to be so flat and boring. Again there is no tension.
I’m not asking you to go back to the way things were before the reboot because The adults were flat and one dimensional there and they are here as well. I really want to like your story more and with how it is I just can’t find myself to quit it.
Guys, I’ll say it again – this is a goofy little slice-of-life comic strip set in the ’90s. It’s not Game of Thrones. My antagonists aren’t diabolical masterminds, they’re just stupid people. This isn’t about angsty drama, it’s about finding the fun in life. I tried writing it darker for five years and I didn’t like it – and neither did you, frankly, so I don’t know why now you want me to go back to it.
If you’re only here to gripe about how you wish my comic was something I don’t want to write, there are plenty of dramatic serialized webcomics out there that I’m sure can give you what you’re looking for. You’re more than welcome to read them instead.
@gonzo22
That’s been one of my biggest complaints about the comic, both the original and the reboot. I won’t go into further detail because I’ve already made my criticisms clear in previous strips, but I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Again, legend tells of a legendary principal whose legendary repeating of words is the stuff that legendary legends are legendarily made of!
Mulroney’s going to go nuts when cellphones become popular in a few years.
These ‘villains’ being beaten or outsmarted by the kids isn’t as good since Jbwarner86 has made all of them so flat and one-dimensional jerks. There is no real tension since he has made the kids so easily smarter and wiser than the adults. For once I would like to have Steve meet an Equal in a Jerk Adult who was just as clever as he is but isn’t so one-dimensional and isn’t a caricature and instead a true character.
<GLaDOS>Thank you for helping us help you help us all.</GLaDOS>
Yeah, poor execution there Mulroney.
So many calls for Kim Possible coming in at once
He considered everything except how to execute the plan.
Smack dealers? That’s supposed to be funny, but it never failed to amaze me just how badly school management misread the scale of what teenagers could buy for themselves. Sometimes “Joscyn can’t get here soon enough.” She probably knows how to make things with a chemistry set.
Just switch them with one of those “other” batteries. The Puttermans taught me they aren’t as good as Duracell