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Questionable Content
A recent Questionable Content strip.
A sample QC strip
Author(s)Jeph Jacques
Websitequestionablecontent.net
Current status/scheduleUpdates every weekday
Launch date2003-08-01
Genre(s)Humor/Slice-of-Life

Questionable Content (abbreviated QC or Q.C.) is a slice-of-life webcomic written and drawn by Jeph Jacques. The plot centers on Marten Reed, an indie rock aficionado, his somewhat troubled and mysterious roommate, Faye, and his girlfriend, Dora. The supporting cast includes Marten's anthropomorphic PC (AnthroPC) named Pintsize, Marten's best guy friend, Steve, Marten and Faye's eccentric neighbor, Hannelore, Faye's good-natured yet vacuous co-worker, Raven, and Dora's ex-player older brother, Sven.

The comic launched on August 1 2003, originally updating two times a week. At issue #16, Jacques announced that he would start updating Questionable Content three times a week.[1] In September 2004, Jacques left his day job to begin updating Monday through Friday,[2] and kept this schedule even after a knife accident that sliced an artery in his drawing hand in 2005[3] and the death of his grandmother in 2007.[4] QC's thousandth strip appeared on October 26, 2007.[5] Jacques currently makes his living exclusively from QC merchandising and advertising,[6] making QC one of the few self sufficient webcomics. The comic has been notably used in a New Haven, Connecticut, youth literacy program sponsored in part by Yale University.[7]

QC's storytelling style combines romantic melodrama, sitcom, humor about indie rock music, and sexual or scatological humor. The artistic style has notably changed over the course of the comic due to Jacques constantly refining and improving his drawing methods. Each individual strip is usually accompanied by blog-like entries from Jeph Jacques touching on various topics, including explanations of inspirations for the accompanying strip, updates on Jacques' life, developments in merchandising and shipment progression, up and coming appearances at conventions, and brief reviews of new music albums or video games, among other things.

Setting

Questionable Content takes place in Northampton, Massachusetts; the most frequent setting locales include Marten and Faye's shared apartment, Coffee of Doom (the fictional coffeeshop Dora owns), and Smith College's (jokingly referred to by its students as "Smif College") Williston Library[8] where Marten is employed. (However, Williston Library is actually a part of Mount Holyoke College. The main library at Smith is Neilson.) The comic is mostly realistic, and action primarily focuses on banter between the characters, with slowly-progressing plot developments. Due to the emphasis on inter-character dialogue, Jacques rarely uses thought bubbles in the comic.

The comic appears to be set in modern times, though the presence of anthropomorphic robots with individual personalities (called "AnthroPC's" within the comic)[9] implies some sort of futuristic technology. However all music and band references in the comic are current at the time of each individual strip's publishing. The AnthroPCs are the only consistent signs of advanced technology in the series. When other technological advances are referenced, they usually never get developed beyond one or two strips. Some of the memorable technological creations in QC are the Deathbot 9000[10], a Vespa scooter that transforms into a battle droid[11], human colonies on the International Space Station and orbital defense satellites capable of conversation. QC's author Jeph Jacques remarked,

Something people do not often realize is that the world in which QC takes place is considerably stranger than our own. You'd think that with all the little talking robots running around everywhere that this would be obvious, but I am consistently surprised at how often people take it for granted.

— Jeph Jacques, [12]

The duration of the strip is somewhat ambiguous; on January 13, 2006, Jeph Jacques stated on a QC fan community on Livejournal that he has "never sat down and exactly tabulated," but he suspects the total amount of elapsed QC time at that point was "no more than six months."[13] At least 43 distinct days can be discerned in the first 960 strips[original research?], but several off-panel (and often indeterminable) lapses in QC time between strips make the entire history of QC difficult to gauge.

Jacques occasionally invites other webcomic creators to do stand-alone strips for QC. The guest comics count towards the total amount of strips on the QC website, but do not seem to be considered canonical, since none of the events in the guest strips are ever referred to again when Jacques resumes authorship. Jacques also breaks from normal continuity every American Thanksgiving with an "OMG Turkeys" strip, featuring pictures of turkeys commenting on the current events of the strip. When Jeph is sick, he breaks Continuity with a Yelling Bird, explaining what he's got and a quick joke. The joke is usually at his expense.

Storytelling and artistic style

Both the methods of storytelling and the artistic style of the strip have changed considerably since its inception. At the beginning, the strip was seen mainly as a rock and roll or indie music strip, with Faye and Marten "dropping indie buzzwords left and right."[14] While QC is still seen as one of the main rock comic strips,[15] the story has come to focus more on the character development and humor of the strip.[6] Jacques informed interviewers that he makes sure every individual QC strip "has at least one thing in it that someone who does not know anything about obscure band x would find funny."[16] The one consistent aspect of QC's storytelling from the beginning of the comic up to the present day is Jacques' use of the third-person objective perspective of narration. Jacques has also been cited in his blog entries to loathe breaking the fourth wall and using inside jokes.

The strip's art was initially seen as mediocre for a webcomic, but as the strip developed, Jeph Jacques has come to be seen as one of the better webcomic artists working today.[17] The majority of QC strips are four panels in length and arranged in a column, one on top of another. Jacques rarely deviated from this pattern until the end of July 2007, when he began experimenting with different panel arrangements. Jeph's experimentation with split panels became prevalent during the lengthy 'Hannelore's Mom' story arc. The increased number of panels allowed the story to be told in less time while allowing for more comedic dialogue and plot development. QC's official forums showed a lot of positive feedback on this stylistic change, and Jacques continued to use the split panel style.

Jacques spoke on the evolution of his art in an interview at Comixpedia:

The art is constantly changing, as anybody who reads the comic for more than two weeks could probably tell you. I'm always trying different things with the artwork- it's been a goal from day one to continually improve my drawing ability, and I think it's finally beginning to get to the point where I'm halfway decent at it. It's basically survival of the fittest- changes that I think fit in with the overall look I'm going for stick around and get refined, and changes that do not fit in get phased out, sometimes in the course of three or four strips, sometimes over a much longer span of time. I'm trying to get better at using different "camera angles" in each panel and doing more involved backgrounds, both of which are really just a matter of being patient and taking my time with the artwork. There's still tons of room for improvement, and always will be, but I think I'm at least making progress.[16]

Jacques uses a Wacom Cintiq graphics tablet[18] (previously a Wacom Intuos) to draw and Photoshop to color his strips. He cites Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes and the webcomic Scary Go Round as his main influences.[6]

Questionable Content was used along with Penny Arcade, Fetus-X and American Elf as an example of comics using the web to create "an explosion of diverse genres and styles" in Scott McCloud's 2006 book Making Comics.[19]

Main characters

Marten. Marten Reed is QC's main character and the first to be introduced at the strip's beginning. He is an indie rock fan and musician originally from California,[20] where he also attended college. Marten lives with Faye, whom he was romantically interested in for many months, but is now in a romantic relationship with Dora.[21] Marten is in a band named Deathmøle with friends Amir, Natasha, and Hannelore.[22][23] He works in the Smith College library.[24]
Faye. Faye Whitaker works at Coffee of Doom with Dora and lives with Marten. She moved up to Northampton from Savannah, Georgia two years after a mental breakdown resultant from witnessing her father's suicide and moved in with Marten after she burned her apartment down while making toast.[25][26] She has resumed therapy since moving to Northampton.[27] Faye is known for a quick wit and a sharp tongue, usually used in affection.[28] Many of Faye's close friends believe that she has a drinking problem,[29] and Faye recently expressed a similar concern.[30] After much sexual tension, Faye and Sven Bianchi (see below) impulsively slept together.[31]
Dora. Dora Bianchi is Marten's formerly goth girlfriend who owns and operates Coffee of Doom, the coffee shop where Faye, Raven, and Penelope work. Unlike most of the main characters, she prefers metal to indie rock.[32][33] Dora does graphic and web design in her spare time and claims to have a long history of social anxiety that she tries to hide with her use of sass.[34][35] She also has been known to project her inner dialogue towards her pet cat, Mieville.[36] Dora mentioned that she was bisexual in strip #1047; several half-joking statements beforehand made her sexuality the cause of much debate amongst fans prior to that strip.[37]
File:Hanneloreqc.png Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham is Marten and Faye's eccentric upstairs neighbor, usually called "Hanners" for short. She has a rather severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, is an insomniac, and counts things for a living.[38]

Hannelore has a raw, intuitive talent for playing drums, which she was introduced to by Marten, and has joined Deathmøle.[39] Though Hannelore has expressed a large dislike for sex,[40] she has occasionally mentioned having erotic fantasies involving Adrian Monk, Indiana Jones and Mister Clean.[41][42] [43]She has recently celebrated her 22nd birthday.[44]

File:Pintsize.png Pintsize is Marten's AnthroPC. He is a companion to Marten and frequently used for comic relief, throw-away gags or to add punchlines to a strip. His eccentricities include a strange addiction to cake mix,[45] parties with other AnthroPCs,[46] gluing other people's hair to his face[47] and poorly played pranks. At one point, he was almost taken by the government because of a highly-powered laser in his torso, which had been accidentally intercepted and installed by Marten.[48][49] Pintsize was the second character introduced at QC's beginning.
File:Raven.png Blodwyn Raven Pritchard is also an ex-goth friend of Dora's and a junior employee at Coffee of Doom. Although she is energetic and happy now, Dora claims that Raven was 20 pounds heavier in college and very depressed.[50] Raven dislikes her first name, Blodwyn (Welsh for 'White flower'), and prefers to be called Raven, her middle name.[51] Raven usually serves as "the ditz character" within the strip; however, despite being incredibly uninformed, Raven sometimes proves capable of surprising insight,[52].
File:Steveqc.png Steve - Steve is one of Marten's close friends. He dated Ellen on-and-off for a long period of time, and is now dating Meena.[53]

Secondary characters

Penelope Gaines (often called Penny or Pen-pen over her objections) is the fifth and newest employee of Coffee of Doom.[54] She is suspected of being Pizza Girl, the superhero-themed pizza delivery girl (or possibly pizza delivery-themed superhero), who has not been seen since Penelope joined the coffee crew.[55]
Angus McPhee is a regular customer at Coffee of Doom who comes in for the sole purpose of arguing with Faye. Before he revealed his name, Angus was simply known as "Argument Guy."[56] Angus has made advances at Faye to which she has responded violently.[57] He is also lactose intolerant.[58]
Tai is Marten's student boss at the library of Smith College, where she studies English. She is a lesbian with a very active and complicated love life, sports numerous tattoos on her arms, and is a great fan of Jimbo's romance novels. She goes by the DJ name Tai Fighter.
Amir Afridi, Marten's friend, a bass player and founding member of Deathmøle. He recently confessed to being in his mid-thirties but apparently can pass as much younger.[59]
Natasha, Tai's former employee and Marten's current Deathmøle bandmate, was fired after passing out topless on the Smith College library copying machine.[60] Natasha attends Smith with Tai and Ellen and used to date Amir Afridi, whom she broke up with after an argument stemming from her apparent inability to play her guitar. She also left the band after the same argument. Natasha is credited with single-handedly creating the name "Deathmøle" via a threat of withholding sex.
Ellen is Natasha's roommate and Steve's ex-girlfriend. Ellen and Natasha live in the same apartment complex as Marten, Faye, and Hannelore. She lost her virginity to Steve, and after messily breaking up with him, she's become something of a pariah in the main characters' circle.
Sven Bianchi is Dora's older brother. He is a singer/songwriter and has written several country music songs. Sven had a very active love and sex life, though he claims to have calmed down, despite Raven's advances.[61][62][63] His and Dora's parents are Peter Bianchi [64] and Elssa Bianchi[65]. After quite a stretch of sexual tension, Sven and Faye slept together. [66][67]
Winslow is Hannelore's Macintosh model AnthroPC. He resembles an oversized iPod[68] with arms and legs. Though Winslow was initially taunted by Pintsize with "pictures of equine molestation,"[69] the two are now friends. Winslow is a cautious foil to Pintsize's reckless nature.
Amanda Whitaker is Faye's lesbian younger sister. She has dropped out of college and moved in with her mother.
Mrs. Whitaker is Faye's and Amanda's mother. She is very protective of her daughters, and has not remarried since her husband, David, committed suicide.
Veronica Reed is Marten's mother. She divorced Marten's father, who subsequently revealed himself to be homosexual. Veronica was once a famous fetish model, and now works as a professional dominatrix under the name "Veronica Vance." Her Vance persona is not only something of an idol of Dora's, but Dora (as well as her father) used to use her fetish photos as a masturbatory aid.[71][72]
Meena is Steve's latest romantic interest. She has a grim sense of humour, works at a morgue, and shares an apartment with her ex-boyfriend Dave.[73] [74]
Beatrice Chatham is Hannelore's mother. She is a very wealthy corporate businesswoman and expressed difficulty connecting with her daughter due their lack of common interests, other than a partiality for dry martinis.[75]
Sara was one of the original Coffee of Doom workers alongside Faye and Dora, but has not appeared in person since strip 66. When introduced, Sara had a crush on Marten, but she decided not to pursue the relationship. She briefly dated Steve and then was rarely mentioned again. Sara was last referenced in strip 325 through a cartoon caricature drawn by Raven, under which is written 'Elusive' and 'Hates Allosauruses'. On the QC Bios page, it says that "word on the street" is that Sara was eaten by an allosaurus. Jeph states on the Questionable Content FAQs page, "[Sara was] Eaten by an allosaurus. It was very sad. Actually, she still works at the coffee shop, I just don't draw her anymore because she was kind of boring."
Jimbo is a former construction worker turned romance/fantasy writer. He is an occasional drinking companion to Marten and the gang and is rarely seen outside of his favorite bar.
Mieville is Dora's pet cat. Murderous tendencies have been attributed to her by way of Dora's one-sided conversations with the cat, though the seriousness of this is currently unclear. He has also been described as a "stoner cat" by Dora

References

  1. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2003). "You're Ruining The Moment (#16)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  2. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2004). "I Am Sorry, Arcade Fire Dude (#178)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  3. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2005). "In The Heat Of The Moment (#731)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  4. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2007). "Just Checking (#986)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  5. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2007). "Gratuitous Nudity! (#1000)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  6. ^ a b c O'Rourke, Matt (2007-03-16). "Pioneer Valley comic artist uses the web to reach readers from the Massachusetts Daily Collegian". dailycollegian.com. Retrieved 2007-03-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "collegian" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ McLoughlin, Pamela (2007-03-19). "Cartoons propel creative process". New Haven Register. Retrieved 2007-03-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2006). "That One Never Gets Old (#691)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  9. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2005). "Accostation (#428)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  10. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2006). "A Very Literal Flame-War (#642)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  11. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2006). "Custom Package (#745)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  12. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2005). "Her Arch-Nemesis (#399)". questionablecontent.net. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  13. ^ Jacques, Jeph (2006-01-13). "QC Fan Community". livejournal.com. Retrieved 2007-09-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  14. ^ Llewellyn, Kati; Phillips, Amy (2006-02-01). "Pitchfork: Belle and Sebastian become comics, compile mix CD". Retrieved 2007-03-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "The Stranger: Toilet Humor: Rock 'n' Roll Comics Come to the Club 3-06-07 accessed on 3-22-2007".
  16. ^ a b "Interview with Jeph Jacques at Comixpedia". Cite error: The named reference "comixinterview" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  17. ^ "Digital Strips Podcast Review of Questionable Content accessed on 3-22-2007".
  18. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Over The Bodies Of The Fallen".
  19. ^ McCloud, Scott (2006). Making Comics, New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-078094-0. Pg. 227
  20. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "The Old Guys From The Muppets".
  21. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "There'll Be No More Dinner Bells".
  22. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "A Democratic Decision".
  23. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Bad News".
  24. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "That One Never Gets Old".
  25. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "The Talk, Part 5".
  26. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "The Most Dangerous Toast".
  27. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "That Never Gets Old".
  28. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Poison Dart Insults".
  29. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "You Wouldn't Like It".
  30. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Part Lion, Part Lionfish".
  31. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Miss Manners".
  32. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Dora Has Made Some Mistakes".
  33. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Hipster Sweeties".
  34. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Manly Drinks".
  35. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Lost In Translation".
  36. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Lost In Translation".
  37. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Much Too Much Too Much Information".
  38. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "I Would Be Terrible At That Job".
  39. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Bad News".
  40. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Those Are Not Words".
  41. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "I Hate Thursdays".
  42. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "I Hate Snakes".
  43. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Mr. and Mrs".
  44. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Vocal Warmups".
  45. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Irresistable (Sic)".
  46. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Zoinks!".
  47. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Che".
  48. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "The Feds".
  49. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "I Am Your Father".
  50. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Post-Dinner Conversation".
  51. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Holy, Shining Flower".
  52. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Playing Her Like A Fiddle".
  53. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Minor League Play".
  54. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "For Some Reason A Witty Title Is Eluding Me".
  55. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Faye Loves Celebrity Gossip".
  56. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Speakers Push The Air".
  57. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Does That Count As A Free Drink?".
  58. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "All That And A Bottle Of De Grave".
  59. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Ba Dum Bum Pssh".
  60. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Put 'Em On Glass".
  61. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Achy Breaky".
  62. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Break Out The Polygraph".
  63. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Merry Christmas".
  64. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Pronounced With American Phonetics".
  65. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Fondest Memories".
  66. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Miss Manners".
  67. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Check Your Local Listings".
  68. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Those Poor Horsies".
  69. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Those Poor Horsies".
  70. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle".
  71. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Jumping On The Bandwagon".
  72. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Much Too Much Too Much Information".
  73. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "New Light On An Old Subject".
  74. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "There's The Catch".
  75. ^ Jacques, Jeph. "Starring Carrie Fisher".

Translations

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