Questionable Content 8: OMG I SHIP IT

[Traab]

I think they didnt drug her to sleep, they probably put in an iv line to keep her hydrated and possibly add whatever else they give to someone that has ingested a near lethal amount of poison.

[The Glyphstone]

We're toeing the CAD line here, folks.

Are webcomics just not allowed to have characters go to the hospital anymore?

[Jade_Tarem]

We'd have to rent a handbasket and pass through a portal smelling suspiciously of brimstone to reach the CAD zip code. While any webcomic can get there, it takes more than a mere alcoholism plot and hospital trip to do so.

I'll admit this took a more serious turn than I thought, but I think Traab has nailed it. Characters will angst, life will go on, eventually there will be humor again.

[Mith]

I would heavily suspect that Faye would survive, since a part of Faye's behaviour in the last few strips sort of reminds me of some of the time when Jeph had his mental breakdown a few years ago. I am not saying that this is a mirror to it, but I think his first hand experience will help him keep this pretty accurate.

[Lethologica]

Are webcomics just not allowed to have characters go to the hospital anymore?

Broodhollow managed it. Though, since it's Broodhollow, being hospitalized is the least of the characters' problems.

[Squark]

Isn't part of the CAD problem how poorly the issue was handled? Seems a bit premature to pronounce that here.

[Fawkes]

Isn't part of the CAD problem how poorly the issue was handled? Seems a bit premature to pronounce that here.

Also how out-of-nowhere it was for a gag-a-day strip about video games.

And how ridiculous and defensive the accompanying news post was.

[Flickerdart]

Yeah, it's not the same situation exactly, which is why I'm only a little concerned, but so far QC has been mostly light-hearted and the sudden hospitalization of a cast member is going to upset that dynamic in some potentially dangerous ways.

[Thufir]

This discussion gives me much greater appreciation for a couple of tweets Jeph made about an hour and a half ago: "Mother****er, people have been saying my comic jumped the shark since 2004. If I gave a **** about that nonsense I'd have given up years ago."

[Mobius Twist]

I would heavily suspect that Faye would survive, since a part of Faye's behaviour in the last few strips sort of reminds me of some of the time when Jeph had his mental breakdown a few years ago. I am not saying that this is a mirror to it, but I think his first hand experience will help him keep this pretty accurate.

Check out Monday's comic title. I feel like it's a direct reference to this.

[Razanir]

We're toeing the CAD line here, folks.

CAD line? WHITETEXT!

[Fawkes]

CAD line? WHITETEXT!

Losscadline

[AmberVael]

Yeah, it's not the same situation exactly, which is why I'm only a little concerned, but so far QC has been mostly light-hearted and the sudden hospitalization of a cast member is going to upset that dynamic in some potentially dangerous ways.

I'd contest that. QC has a lot of light hearted content, but there has always been a splash of drama to it. This is probably one of the bigger moments, true... but Faye's history IS that her father committed suicide right in front of her. While it may not have happened directly in the comic its still had a lot of weight on it and was even shown in some capacity. I don't view this current scene as being out of character for the comic.

[Ibrinar]

Losscadline

You will notice, the dialog is exactly identical.

[Squark]

You will notice, the dialog is exactly identical.

All joking aside, textless comics can be very powerful, and I don't fault Buckley for that (especially since CAD's dialogue would have made that sequence infinitely worse). Hell dialogue-lite works in general can be quite poweful- Buffy the Vampire Slayer's only Emmy was for "Hush," which had the entire town mute for most of the episode.

[Silfir]

Questionable Content is the comic equivalent of a sitcom. It's always had dramatic storylines where the punchlines stopped for a while. The earliest example to date, I think, is The Talk, starting from #500 or so. All QC characters are broken in some way or another, so even if they seem to be OK for hundreds of strips, there are no guarantees.

This particular breakdown on Faye's part has been foreshadowed for years, I think? (Out-of-comic years, of course) You'd have to dig through the archive for the first mention of Angus' first audition. It was pretty clear from the start, of course, that Angus would end up getting the part, and Faye would have to eventually make the jump or falter in the process. I think Jeph did a decent job of not telegraphing too clearly what exactly was going to happen, though.

[eee]

Marten, she wasn't okay BEFORE this. Even if she makes a full recovery, she probably won't be okay AFTER this. Get Angus and Dora there. Maybe the three of you could beat some sense into her...

(OK, no pills. If it was a suicide attempt it was by alcohol only.)

[dps]

Marten, she wasn't okay BEFORE this. Even if she makes a full recovery, she probably won't be okay AFTER this.

Yeah, that's the point of the last panel. Sort of like the old joke about a guy whose legs get broken in a car wreck, and when he wakes up in the hospital, the doctor tells him that they've gotten him all patched up and he'll be dancing in no time, and the guy says, "Great, I couldn't dance before!".

[Psychonaut]

I don't think Faye's dead. Something Positive could conceivably pull something like that, but QC?

I'd bet on at least twenty-four hours of sleeping like a person that almost died followed by the worst hangover of her life, in more ways than one.

Apparently it's not uncommon to suffer only a mild hangover after drinking heavily enough to be hospitalized because dehydration is one of the major factors that cause hangovers, and they give you intravenous fluids as part of the treatment for alcohol poisoning. Doesn't mean that Jeph will portray it that way, of course.

[Silfir]

Apparently it's not uncommon to suffer only a mild hangover after drinking heavily enough to be hospitalized because dehydration is one of the major factors that cause hangovers, and they give you intravenous fluids as part of the treatment for alcohol poisoning. Doesn't mean that Jeph will portray it that way, of course.

Fair enough - so only a bad hangover in the figurative sense. But bad enough!

[dogmac]

I suspect (hope) that the hospital will not let her go without a mental health plan being put in place.

So we'll have lots of recovery and therapy posts.

And Marten bashing himself up for having to work and not being able to support her 100% of the time.

[Eldan]

I suggest "QC: Not toeing the CAD line" as the next thread title.

[Shogo]

I wonder what people would have thought if today's update was pretty much, "Faye's dead. THE END."

And then the comic was over and the focus was entirely on Alice Grove.

[Ibrinar]

I wonder what people would have thought if today's update was pretty much, "Faye's dead. THE END."

And then the comic was over and the focus was entirely on Alice Grove.

The comic ending because one person died would be weird. Maybe if you add a few panels where it is revealed that pintsize has left his body to lead AIs in a plan to destroy humanity. That would tie up the lose ends neatly.
"But how does the cast react." "They are busy running from the robots."

[Cikomyr]

I wanted to make the joke about either its provoked by the Robot Revolution, or maybe the Walking Dead...


..and then i realized that the Singarity has pretty much resolved the challenges of a Zombie Apocalypse. Just send Robot Soldiers to deal with the problem.

[Vinyadan]

Oh right, I thought she had killed Pintsize. I wonder what his problem is.

[dps]

I suspect (hope) that the hospital will not let her go without a mental health plan being put in place.

I'm not 100% sure, but pretty close to sure, that once she's awake and sober, the hospital can't legally stop her from checking herself out if she wants to (and most of what little doubt I have about that comes from the fact that the laws in the QC-verse aren't necessarily the same as IRL). What they will do is give her some sort of treatment plan to follow (though, since she was already in therapy, it might just consist of, "Get with your therapist about this incident), but there's no way for them to make sure she does what they tell her once she's discharged.

[Lethologica]

I thought Faye already had a therapist? I mean, it's been a long time since we've seen one of her sessions, but...

[Gnoman]

I'm not 100% sure, but pretty close to sure, that once she's awake and sober, the hospital can't legally stop her from checking herself out if she wants to (and most of what little doubt I have about that comes from the fact that the laws in the QC-verse aren't necessarily the same as IRL). What they will do is give her some sort of treatment plan to follow (though, since she was already in therapy, it might just consist of, "Get with your therapist about this incident), but there's no way for them to make sure she does what they tell her once she's discharged.

If they classify this as a possible suicide attempt, she can be committed involuntarily for mental evaluation.

[Mith]

Faye's doing better now. That's good.