4 ms·

I had to lookup the backstory. I obviously cannot know all of the context, but... honest question: why would people make fun of a comic about such deeply person

I had to lookup the backstory. I obviously cannot know all of the context, but... honest question: why would people make fun of a comic about such deeply personal tragedy? To me it seems tone-deaf to say the least.

rcoveson 9y ago
Imagine if South Park did a completely serious episode where an adult Cartman's wife had a miscarriage. It would be mocked mercilessly. Whether it would be morally right to mock it or not is anybody's guess, but mocked into memedom it would be.
maw 9y ago
Not all things called "comics" are always funny all the time.
- mynegation 9y ago
  I understand that. The question was why people would make memes out of this comic strip.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
geofft 9y ago
Because they're making fun of a comic, not out of a personal tragedy: it was a gag-a-day comic strip about video games with limited plot, and giving the characters a deeply personal tragedy was extremely out of character for the comic strip. Plenty of people make fun of webcomics that developed a serious plot and actual characterization over time (MegaTokyo and Questionable Content both come to mind). This one went from 0-100 in one strip.
- fwip 9y ago
  And after that one strip, it dropped back down to 0 pretty quickly. It seemed to a lot of people that Tim Buckley realized "oh hey I don't want to have a baby in the strip" and decided to get a cheap emotional punchline while he was writing himself out of that self-inflicted hole. But when your comic has less depth than your average Garfield comic, it doesn't work out so great.
- sneak 9y ago
  Calling QC “serious characterization” is a huge stretch. JJ appears to basically only know how to write characters that have the same crippling anxiety that he does. It’s maddening to read.
  - geofft 9y ago
    I'm not commenting on whether it's good characterization (although I do non-ironically enjoy reading QC personally), just that it's a marked departure from the esrly days of the strip when there was no attempt at giving the characters any more characterization than requires for the short-term jokes. Regardless of how good he is at it, the author is certainly being consistent about writing a long-term plot that is isn't just a bunch of gags and about giving the characters meaningful backstories and personalities beyond "likes indie rock."
mintplant 9y ago
They're mocking the comic's complete failure at representing such a deeply personal tragedy and the apparent hubris of the creator behind it.
larzang 9y ago
10 years ago, a moderator on the Something Awful forums posted a home-improvement thread in which he chronicled building an addition to his house, a noble goal. It was a disaster. He insulted his stairs. He had load-bearing drywall. None of the windows matched, making a big ugly box even uglier. The foundation settled and the addition separated from the original house. He fucked up the plumbing real bad and swamped his yard multiple times. He tried to get certified as an inspector because no professional inspectors would touch his work. It quickly became a legend, and is fondly remembered even today as one of the good old stories of the internet. Sometimes someone with poor talents and awe-inspiring arrogance does something so monumentally stupid, tasteless, and just plain bad, that it gains a life of its own. Sometimes that's bad siding, sometimes that's bad comics. Pictures and more details saved for posterity: https://twitter.com/3liza/status/891475977183739905 https://twitter.com/3liza/status/891475977183739905
chatmasta 9y ago
The context is that Buckley was criticized for shallow comics, so he dropped Loss.jpg as a bomb on his detractors, who turned it into a meme. From the article: > The last strip to mention Lilah’s pregnancy prior to “Loss” had been published 10 installments and nearly a month prior, and readers found the sudden attempt at gravity hilarious. So they did what the internet does: turned “Loss” — again, a comic strip about miscarriage — into a running joke

rcoveson 9y ago

Imagine if South Park did a completely serious episode where an adult Cartman's wife had a miscarriage. It would be mocked mercilessly. Whether it would be morally right to mock it or not is anybody's guess, but mocked into memedom it would be.

maw 9y ago

Not all things called "comics" are always funny all the time.

mynegation 9y ago
I understand that. The question was why people would make memes out of this comic strip.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

geofft 9y ago

Because they're making fun of a comic, not out of a personal tragedy: it was a gag-a-day comic strip about video games with limited plot, and giving the characters a deeply personal tragedy was extremely out of character for the comic strip. Plenty of people make fun of webcomics that developed a serious plot and actual characterization over time (MegaTokyo and Questionable Content both come to mind). This one went from 0-100 in one strip.

fwip 9y ago
And after that one strip, it dropped back down to 0 pretty quickly. It seemed to a lot of people that Tim Buckley realized "oh hey I don't want to have a baby in the strip" and decided to get a cheap emotional punchline while he was writing himself out of that self-inflicted hole. But when your comic has less depth than your average Garfield comic, it doesn't work out so great.
sneak 9y ago
Calling QC “serious characterization” is a huge stretch. JJ appears to basically only know how to write characters that have the same crippling anxiety that he does. It’s maddening to read.
- geofft 9y ago
  I'm not commenting on whether it's good characterization (although I do non-ironically enjoy reading QC personally), just that it's a marked departure from the esrly days of the strip when there was no attempt at giving the characters any more characterization than requires for the short-term jokes. Regardless of how good he is at it, the author is certainly being consistent about writing a long-term plot that is isn't just a bunch of gags and about giving the characters meaningful backstories and personalities beyond "likes indie rock."

mintplant 9y ago

They're mocking the comic's complete failure at representing such a deeply personal tragedy and the apparent hubris of the creator behind it.

larzang 9y ago

10 years ago, a moderator on the Something Awful forums posted a home-improvement thread in which he chronicled building an addition to his house, a noble goal. It was a disaster. He insulted his stairs. He had load-bearing drywall. None of the windows matched, making a big ugly box even uglier. The foundation settled and the addition separated from the original house. He fucked up the plumbing real bad and swamped his yard multiple times. He tried to get certified as an inspector because no professional inspectors would touch his work. It quickly became a legend, and is fondly remembered even today as one of the good old stories of the internet. Sometimes someone with poor talents and awe-inspiring arrogance does something so monumentally stupid, tasteless, and just plain bad, that it gains a life of its own. Sometimes that's bad siding, sometimes that's bad comics. Pictures and more details saved for posterity: https://twitter.com/3liza/status/891475977183739905 https://twitter.com/3liza/status/891475977183739905

chatmasta 9y ago

The context is that Buckley was criticized for shallow comics, so he dropped Loss.jpg as a bomb on his detractors, who turned it into a meme. From the article: > The last strip to mention Lilah’s pregnancy prior to “Loss” had been published 10 installments and nearly a month prior, and readers found the sudden attempt at gravity hilarious. So they did what the internet does: turned “Loss” — again, a comic strip about miscarriage — into a running joke