![[1017] Letter Of Complaint](/comics/2018-08-30-1017-letter-of-complaint.png "[1017] Letter Of Complaint")
I have posted the submissions placed 13 or lower of this year’s Gaia artwork contest:
- Letter: 28 August 2018
Dear Miss North,
We regret to inform you that we’ve grown tired of the current story arc. One reason for that is that it’s been running for almost four months now. Above all, however, we resent looking at pretty young girls in bikinis. That’s just yucky and ew!
We therefore feel compelled to limit the final table tennis match to 2 winning points and to introduce a strict dress code (see Annex A).
Your readers
KaxTax Bakejir Warwix
Nickel aludokoojul
Annexes
- Zoey: Can they do that?!
- Sandra: Sure. They’re readers. Their whims are our commands!
- Zoey: I can’t see the ball!
|
I was actually enjoying this arc
Hang on so whoever wins this match wins the challenge?
That arc was great 🙂 cant wait for the conclusion
Nice try! We can still see their ankles!
Mmm… what? I want some young girl lesbian action… but instead I get this?
So what?… Is it a joke about Islam? a joke about overly sensitive people? or both?
Thanks to the transcription, now we know who’s saying the last line in the last panel.
Couldn’t tell who’s saying in that panel. XD
@Titan
I think the second
To be honest I hope this is actually the end of it. There’ve been some pretty funny parts but I feel like it’s gone on too long and been pretty repetitive.
I like this story arc. I like pretty girls in bikinis.
I’m an adult. I pay my bills on time. I pay my taxes. I support this comic on patreon. If you have a problem with it, pay my rent THEN I’ll pay attention. Until then, have fun talking to the sky
@ Razel:
I figured it might be Zoey but I wasn’t sure until I read the transcription.
I’ve been enjoying this story arc so far, and not just because of the pretty girls in bikinis.
oledakaajel, cobalt, I thought we were friends?
Sure it’s been going on perhaps a tad long, but if that’s the price to pay to get chicks in bikinis, so be it. What do you mean it’s creepy for a 31 year old to be ogling 12 year olds in bikinis?
@ SmartAlec105:
Went to the comment section for the inevitable joke, was not disappointed.
Damn, the kissing break already seemed like a “take that” to the readers complaining about fan service. This is just savage.
Why Novil chose those 4 names though. Are they complaining so hard to Novil ?
Anyway, I’ll just wait in the comment section until somebody “got offended” for today’s comic.
@ StrifeSilver:
“Pay my rent before you talk to me”?^^
I’ve seriously not read a less mature thing in quite some time^^
@ Titan:
I’m guessing its Novil’s way of dealing with all the readers who have complained about the length of this story arc.
Personally I liked it, but it did feel a little long.
ALL RIGHT. WHO COMPLAINED?
Also I want to speak out on behalf of the mentioned commentator.
It seems like a poor way of reacting to criticism to call out the critics by name as someone who wants to censor you, when they just tell you that maybe your priorities don’t agree with their priorities anymore.
@ SmartAlec105:
https://media.giphy.com/media/PtjaXBadEeQUM/200.gif
https://i.imgur.com/k8UDZ0h.gif
MHW wrote:
Maybe it’s not best way to react to criticism, but it must be hard reading all those negative comments and not being able to do anything with that. No matter how long the arc is going, readers would be even more critical if there would be no conclusion to the arc … and getting to the conclusion takes some time.
Also … it’s possible Novil is running out of jokes. It’s hard to have long term arc and still put some joke in every strip.
I’m honestly not quite sure how to take this one, will sleep it off I guess. Generally I enjoy the comic. I certainly wasn’t suggesting jumping off the deep end like this, but seriously, they are twelve year old girls. Little creepy to be going about this so long.
I thought my initial comment that I can’t find anymore was not an overly harsh criticism and it certainly didn’t contain any religious reference. The humor in this arc has been stale at times, and the bikinis grew a bit old. I’ve been reading both comics on the site for at least a couple years. It is a bit discouraging to get this type of response to one fairly short comment.
Oh boy. There’s so many levels of frivolous here, starting with the premise of both the arc and, more importantly, the tone of this particular strip, which provides material to forge solid walls for turning the comments section into an echo chamber.
Can’t deny that I’m participating in that, but I can deny I’m having fun wading in, because this kind of back and forth nonsense makes for a rather distasteful community, on the whole.
I’m inclined to believe that it’s hard for most, author included, to agree on what part of this hot mess is more pathetic, and what part of this community bares the brunt of the responsibility for pushing the discussion – and thus, the content of the comic – in this direction. Which is why those are both the wrong questions to ask.
I really don’t like criticizing comic authors; traditionally, authorial intent is what divides the meaningful bulk of a writer’s work from “the death of the author”, a.k.a. popular (or unpopular) fanfics and the often-snobbish academic blather that accompanies them. Same goes for comic artists, who are very often more silent and more inclined to let their work speak for itself.
However, we’re on the internet, where fanfics are a living thing with a life of their own, and not just shrines for fans to dance around – and where a public attitude based on direct interaction with a fanbase leaks into, and bleeds out of, the actual work that writers and artists produce.
Authorial intent, commandeered by reaction to criticism, can get muddled and become defensive, petty, and childish, and more importantly, hard to read, because it then becomes hard to distinguish a creator’s work from their direct conversations with their audience (indeed, that seems to be exactly what’s happening here).
So, basically, like any relationship (carried on through any means of expression), sometimes it takes stepping back and reevaluating the premise of that relationship to determine whether you want to continue it.
Don’t like the comic? See other people. Don’t like your fans? Get new ones.
And for god’s sake, produce some actual interesting content, whether you’re a writer, artist, or commenter. This garbage noise is for the birds.
@ KayJay:
Hey, at least we got a fun joke out of it!
I don’t know how to feel about this. Should I be honoured at getting into a webcomic even if it is supposed to be abusing me or implying that I support such things as the enforcement of Islamic veils for all women (I don’t)?
In fact, I’m not entirely sure if attacking readers in such a personal way is even in line with the comment posting rules that we all adhere to (is it okay because it’s in the strip?), specifically the first two regarding ‘insults… [and] …slanderous accusations directed at other users’. I have made sure to do neither while here and I have also ensured that any criticism I have is constructive in nature as opposed to ‘destructive’. And in return for our civility, KayJay, Cobalt, Oledakaajel and I are to be subjected to this cheap public humiliation that completely warps and distorts beyond recognition what we were upset about?
Yes, this arc is getting long. It appears to be the second longest arc behind the Divine Comedy. And yes, some people find that tiring too, especially when it seems that it is only being drawn out for the fanservice (are we mistaken here?). Now on that note, no, I don’t feel repulsed by the image of girls in swimwear despite what you want your readers to believe. BUT, it has not been very interesting past the first couple of strips and I find an entire 4 month long arc which gets its legitimacy from bikinis rather than stimulating content to be irksome. And, I’m sorry, but going from one extreme to another just to troll us for politely expressing our views is honestly immature.
Or is this all because of my outspoken support for Zoey, I mean, the clear evil antagonist of this world?
But my main gripe is of course that I don’t sign my name in that font sooooooooooo… 😛
@ MHW:
I appreciate the support <3
@ NewEraOutlaw:
I think it’s pretty clear who Novil got upset by although I don’t think any of us sent him such a message (well I certainly didn’t!)
@ PS2kid:
Probably because we’ve noted on several occasions what I detailed above. I honestly didn’t even think he would care about such a small thing. Apparently I was wrong…
If the complainers don’t like the story arc they can go read something else. Personally I think it’s funny and I like subteens in bikinis. I also keep a pick handle nearby for anyone over eighteen who decides to get ‘friendly’. I used to teach sixth grade and was a very protective teacher!
StrifeSilver wrote:
Same here >.< The only thing I don't like is the one sidedness with the characters. They are all rooting for Sandra. I get Zoey is the main villain, but would be nice for her to have SOME people cheering for her…But, bikinis, so I'm happy.
Brijeka Vervix wrote:
That, was funny XD
KayJay wrote:
This also. I hate to sound like some kind of SJW but reducing the characters to what kind of clothes they’re currently wearing is essentially objectification which I think is unfair to the characters themselves. Not to mention the connotations that come with it in Western societies like America and Australia.
@ Shark:
Thanks. I try to keep my spirits up no matter the situation 🙂
For the record, I’m completely fine with girls in swimsuits. I won’t say anything else so that nobody gets mistaken about what I mean.
Good job on the handwriting though.
So all we’re missing now is a response from Colbalt…and maybe…is Annexes a commenter, or a then?
@ Shark:
An annex is an extra part of a document. I believe in this case it contains pictures of burqas that I supposedly want to make the characters wear because ‘pretty young girls in bikinis… [are] …yucky and ew’
I think it’s a bit weird to object to twelve-year-old girls in bikinis, but more weird than that to refer to objecting to that as “objecting to pretty girls in bikinis.”
I was fine with the story arc. I can’t speak for anyone else, of course.
There is no fourth wall
I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works, as if it did, Woo’s kits would have eaten at least one skirt or top, Sandra and Zoey would have ended up mudwrestling, Sandra, Zoey, and Luna would have ended up taking a nude Larissa style selfie somehow, Cloud Claude would have stolen Mona Lisa, the Tensaiga, and/or the powers of the Raccoon God, Larissa would replace her after-school clothes with an ash-based-paste, Ye Thusa would have an epic fight with Eldor Olenvis, and there’d probably be at least one non-Ye-Thusa werewolf.
Truthfully, I’m entertained as it is.
Are they being serious? Or is this a filler page until a cooler page can be finished?
Honestly, I thought it was about the recent news story with… Serena Williams? Whom people got mad at for her clothing, in a league/tourney/whatnot that didn’t have a dress code.
@ Titan:
the second, Fam.
@ Anon:
I thought the big irony there was France (a country with a reputation for having a very liberal viewpoint on depictions of women’s bodies and nudity) objecting to an outfit that was considered fine in America (a country that typically has a reputation for being much more uptight about such things).
@ Brijeka Vervix:
How is the comic “reducing” characters to what they are wearing? They are in a location where swimsuits are customary, and have engaged in all kinds of activities that are not specifically displaying themselves in their attire. If you think that’s fanservice or reducing them to swimsuit-clad eyecandy… I’m terribly sorry to say that’s your interpretation and what you are focusing on. There has been absurdism, comedy, a lesson on integrity by a raccoon, some drama and some action. Maybe ask yourself why the salient point of it all for you is what the characters are wearing.
@ Pylgrim:
To be fair, you should probably ask yourself why you are so eager to defend a lengthy swimsuit-arc with minors.
Why don’t you rename your comic to “Sandra and Friends” instead of “Sandra and Woo”? It feels like we haven’t seen any longer story arc where Sandra and Woo actually DO something together, or where Woo plays a Major role in it, let alone a story arc where the OTHER forest animals Play any significant role (or appear at all).
Seeing stuff with other human characters is nice, but could it be that you pretty much lost track about who the comic should mainly be about…?
Yeah! Stop with these half-naked girls. Draw more raccoons.
@ Michael Chandra:
It’s telling how your only focus in your critic to Pylgrim is that you’re pointing at “swimsuit.-arc with minors”.
Bah. Bring back the bikinis. 🙂