El Goonish Shive X: Please Don't Feel Bad

[Kish]

Flatly asserting that something is bad writing without support is also not a convincing argument. And you did catch that you were explicitly more than four years off in your "not in the comic in five years or more" claim, right?

[InvisibleBison]

other amateur writers

By what standard is Dan an amateur writer?

[Reboot]

There is a big difference between a minor character who hasn't appeared in a while and a character who was specifically built up as being important to the story and has been completely irrelevant for years after. You'll note that no one is joking/complaining that Dan forgot Rhea.

Rhea was one of the stars of the "Wrong Answers Only" Q&A from the NP strip three years ago, less than your five year cut-off.

[Errorname]

There is a big difference between a minor character who hasn't appeared in a while and a character who was specifically built up as being important to the story and has been completely irrelevant for years after. You'll note that no one is joking/complaining that Dan forgot Rhea.

Weird plural in "years" there considering it hasn't even been a year

Also, trying to defend bad writing by pointing out that other amateur writers do the same thing is not the convincing argument you seem to think it is.

It's a common problem in the medium for reasons that don't have to do with writing quality, but rather with the nature of the production and how it's released. If a comic is being made by a single artist and distributed page-by-page, chapters and books can take a long time to finish being made. Secondary characters (or even main characters) being absent or out of focus during specific chapters or books is entirely normal, it just takes longer for a webcomic to cover that space.

[Reboot]

I will give you one thing - Ashley being able to tell Liz about her magic/etc was built up as being an important thing for her during the "Title Pending" party arc, and Liz hasn't even appeared since, let alone that conversation being shown. (And Ashley has suffered from a degree of Flanderisation to boot)

[Kish]

Sure thing. There are absolutely legitimate criticisms that can be made of EGS. (Whether the one I put in the thread title turns out to be legitimate is currently up in the air, in my view.)

I just don't think "this webcomic writer hasn't mentioned that character in a while (as the plotlines deal with other characters), clearly they forgot that they exist" qualifies as a legitimate criticism.

[ProgressPaladin]

I just finished reading this webcomic, and I really enjoy it. Is there a posting schedule on this?

[Reboot]

I just finished reading this webcomic, and I really enjoy it. Is there a posting schedule on this?

Usually M/W/F for the main strip, and Tue/Thu/Sat for NP. The main strip's been spotty over the past few weeks though, between chapter breaks (which usually have a couple of skipped updates) and the author being sick for a few days.

[Beelzebub1111]

Also, that "willingly" is doing a lot of work there. Most people don't dream of working menial jobs 8 hours a day or being an underpaid food delivery person, but have to take that job to keep a roof over their head. Is that willing?

Yes? You entered that contact to do the food delivery job to voluntarily exchange your time and labor for currency, presumably after reading it, and can terminate that contract at any time. If you don't like your situation you can seek employment elsewhere or perhaps by selling your own goods produced by your labor, maybe you will get good enough to hire people to help you, then you will be the capitalist who will treat your employees better than you were treated.

Sad truth is, all survival requires labor, whether yours or someone else's. To say that you shouldn't have to means you are taking time and labor from someone else.

Neither is the court of the law. Just because its legal doesn't mean its right or should be allowed.

Be that as it may the person at the top is still a person with their own thoughts, feelings, perspective and ideals and deserves the same level of justice as the person at the bottom. Full stop.

[Anonymouswizard]

You'll note that no one is joking/complaining that Dan forgot Rhea.

Yes, but that's because he made the bigger mistake of forgetting the Demonic Duck.

Also I mostly brought up Noah because this seems like a natural arc for him to become important again. EGS suffers from being published slower than it's number of plot arcs would ideally benefit from, but it's not as bad as it could be.

[Devlerbat]

Yes, but that's because he made the bigger mistake of forgetting the Demonic Duck.

Also I mostly brought up Noah because this seems like a natural arc for him to become important again. EGS suffers from being published slower than it's number of plot arcs would ideally benefit from, but it's not as bad as it could be.

Hope has yet to actually visit any of the people that Pandora cared about. I am sure Noah will be in the story once she starts visiting her family (if not sooner for other reasons.)

[Radar]

Hope has yet to actually visit any of the people that Pandora cared about. I am sure Noah will be in the story once she starts visiting her family (if not sooner for other reasons.)

Noah might become relevant once the fugitives from the other side of the world make their move. For one, he is a vigilante hero. Second of, he is also a seyunolu, which may be relevant, when the time comes to negotiate with said fugitives.

[Reboot]

Hope has yet to actually visit any of the people that Pandora cared about.

Are we not counting the invisible feminine figure who caught Diane when she fainted, and skedaddled without saying hello? (And had to suddenly learn how to use doors)

[Kish]

Diane was never a person Pandora indicated caring about.

[Errorname]

Diane was never a person Pandora indicated caring about.

Not even once! Pandora cares about her descendants a great deal, but she only knew Diane was family for maybe a day.

[Reboot]

Diane was never a person Pandora indicated caring about.

Not until she found out she was her granddaughter, and that only close to the last minute. At which point, things changed.

[Devlerbat]

Are we not counting the invisible feminine figure who caught Diane when she fainted, and skedaddled without saying hello? (And had to suddenly learn how to use doors)

Well, no because I had thought we were talking about the belief that Noah should have been in the recent just completed chapter, not a previous one that actually did have Noah in it. Also, I don't really count it as visiting a person when the person doesn't know you were there.

[Silly Name]

I feel that, if anything, the comic gradually shifted away from a big, epic narrative to a more slice of weird, magical life type of story. We still get big arcs with fights and clear villains, and there is an overarching narrative, but consider how many pages have been devoted to, for example, Susan's conflicting feelings about Diane and Raven, or Elliot coming to terms with his gender identity and transformation forms.

Noah was introduced back when Dan was writing a different story, one that looked like it was barreling fast towards epic conclusions. His introduction as a super-duper special guy is almost concurrent with Lord Tedd, a character Dan has explicitly said he regrets having introduced before the time was right.

[Radar]

I feel that, if anything, the comic gradually shifted away from a big, epic narrative to a more slice of weird, magical life type of story. We still get big arcs with fights and clear villains, and there is an overarching narrative, but consider how many pages have been devoted to, for example, Susan's conflicting feelings about Diane and Raven, or Elliot coming to terms with his gender identity and transformation forms.

Noah was introduced back when Dan was writing a different story, one that looked like it was barreling fast towards epic conclusions. His introduction as a super-duper special guy is almost concurrent with Lord Tedd, a character Dan has explicitly said he regrets having introduced before the time was right.

If that were the case, the shift to a more character-driven drama was made many years ago - decidedly earlier than Noah was introduced. The whole "New and Old Friends" and "Night Out" parts happened even before "Painted Black" and we had a first glimpse of Noah in the subsequent arc. It has been even more time before he properly appeared in the comics - way after a whole arc about school uniforms and Grace's party that I'd say cemented the focus on the characters and their relations.

[Grendelkin]

Whichever the comic is going, I'm here for it.
The slice of life is fun, the grand plot can be very surprising and exciting. And the overall setting is fascinating.
Like I said: I'm here for it.

[Errorname]

Still curious how Susan fits into this arc. I'd been assuming she was going to have her own B-plot because I couldn't see her coming to the game, but I'm kind of second guessing that instinct now.

[Radar]

I'm not really surprised by how Grace behaved, but it is kind of funny as it looks as if she played a game of "Hi, have you met Tedd?"

[Grendelkin]

I like that Tedd and Grace are rocking a couples look. ^_^ With Grace even using her shapeshifting to augment it.

[Errorname]

Increasing convinced that Susan's showing up for this tournament.

[Grendelkin]

I'm concerned that we'll see Ellen's dragon powers resurface because those three revolutionaries with the staff will steal away Nanase's 'royal' aura.

[Kish]

I don't think that's very likely. She's too manifestly both good and politically powerless.

[Manga Shoggoth]

I'm concerned that we'll see Ellen's dragon powers resurface because those three revolutionaries with the staff will steal away Nanase's 'royal' aura.

Do we know that it's Nanase? - it could equally be Rhoda or Mr Verres.

[Kish]

What's It?

If you mean, who is their current target, their description doesn't fit any character who's been introduced.

If you mean, who is Dan planning to have them steal a royal aura from, I think y'have multiple assumptions there that I don't share.

[tyckspoon]

Do we know that it's Nanase? - it could equally be Rhoda or Mr Verres.

Somebody speculated earlier they eventually run into Edward and that makes sense to me, because he's the only 'royal' figure we know of who meets their assumption that anybody with a royal level of magic must be a powerful figure in a position to influence things without being overtly or publically in control (because this side of the world doesn't automatically equate powerful magic with leadership.) Even if they do find Nanase or Rhoda they're unlikely to try to steal their magic, because they're trying to do this ethically (within a .. certain definition of ethics) and Nanase and Rhoda aren't in charge of anything that they can point at and say 'you have been abusing your magic and the privileges that affords you, so we are justified in taking it from you and using it to help our own people.'

Edward actually -is- (or was) a powerful magician in a secret position of influence, so he's an acceptable target to take from, and dramatic irony arises from him being actually legitimately a good person rather than using that position for self advancement or to try to abuse the public in some fashion.

[Errorname]

Well that's not who I was expecting but I was wondering when this character would show up again.