I’m pretty done with this fucking star trek top, give him something else huh? It’s bad enough the guy has fucking smiles tattoo’ed on his shoulders. His tattoos are possibly the worst design about his character.
As far as the rest? I don’t agree about telling him about your plan of action, but the reality is, I don’t really think there’s a whole lot he can do about it, there’s documented cases and didn’t that dot head teacher say they had a complaint about a hostile work environment?
The worst that could happen is, he keeps his job and turns his attention to Selkie and makes her life harder at school then it already is. I’ve seen it, I’ve lived it, teachers are supposed to help nurture students, but they are also human beings and I’ve seen some of them get up to some petty crap, even as far as instigating a fight just so they can call the cops on a student.
It’s the same day, so of course he’s going to be wearing the same shirt. That’s like complaining that your waitress is wearing the same shirt you saw her in ten minutes ago.
Also, are the tattoos really that big a deal? We hardly ever see them. And there’s nothing wrong with a parent having tattoos. If you’re going to criticize, at least criticize constructively. There’s no need for cussing and plain out rudeness towards a character design. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read the comic.
There really is no reason to be rude to the creator. He puts this out three times a week FOR FREE. Not saying you can’t dislike a design, but there’s no need to live up to your name as “The Jerk”.
Yeah, you are right, the reality is, this has been dragging on way too long now. They either need to update more often or speed this shit along.
The tattoos are kind of a big deal, the ones he has are just awful. Where I grew up tattoos were kind of serious business and people had to think long and hard about them. Generally speaking people with shit like this, angel wings on their backs and other generic shit like tribal bands where considered posers – people who couldn’t compile enough individuality to actually come up with something that spoke about their character.
Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean I have to walk away from it. There’s stuff I like about this comic and there’s stuff I don’t like about this comic, things which I’ve openly expressed before. Far be it from you to tell me to walk away you twat.
Regardless of what the writer and/or artist does, they still upload it online for people to view, for people to criticize, they leave themselves vulnerable to that when they submit their content for public consumption.
The reality is, at no point did I ever, EVER directly attack the person responsible for the comic, so either you got your own issues to work out, or you need to get their genitals out of your mouth. It’s entirely possible to criticize a work while still enjoying it.
BTW “grand creator” you still need a little work on having character fingers a little more rounded then pointed and clawed, but you are doing a lot better then before.
Irony – Bitching about a tattoo… The art of trying to be an individual by doing what everyone else is.
You aren’t any more “real” by getting a tat that’s unique. You’re still as much of a poser as the guy with a tramp stamp.
My father (aged 84) has tats all up and down his arms. Military from the age of 17. He’s real. And he regrets those tats because he grew up.
So please don’t lecture us on “bad tattoos.” I’m sure your edgy “serious” ink. It isn’t. It’s childish, and you’re being childish by bitching that someone else’s choices aren’t “real” enough to suit you.
Note: If you want a tat, get a tat. I couldn’t care less. I’ll still deal with you as a human. I may not have an ounce of respect for the tat, but you’re still a person. Just don’t try and tell me that your tat is serious… It isn’t. It’s a slave mark.
A few points I would like to make here: This is about the only existing comic that doesn’t take action over character development. There’s only really one reason to read this comic, and that’s the characters (as it should be). If you don’t want that, seriously, why are you reading this comic? The pacing IS THE POINT, and if you don’t like the point, what reason is there for you to read it?
What you’re suggesting is that Dave swap the heart and soul of this comic for the cheap tricks of the other 5,000 ones out there, and as a budding author I can tell you that no self-respecting creator of anything worthwhile will ever do that. I wouldn’t, Tolkein didn’t, and Dave shouldn’t. (IMHO)
Also, however attacked you may feel, spitting vulgarities back at people NEVER helps. It only makes you look defensive and angry and unwilling to actually talk about it. If you want an actual discussion, being respectful is about a thousand times more likely to make that happen. (I know this from years of experience.)
To conclude, please try to stay calm about the things that frustrate you. I know you might be having a bad day, but try listening to some music or going for a walk. I can guarantee that both are more helpful than taking it out on the internet.
Ah, if the character design enrages you that much, perhaps another comic might be more your speed? As Myoko noted, this is the same day, so changing out of the shirt mid-scene would be silly. Constructive criticism is one thing – this is just rudeness with no point.
Ever work really hard on something and then have someone spit in your face?
Yes. He posts it publicly. But you’re not criticizing. You’re being rude by not only using crass language, but also actively dissing something so minimal that it’s beyond idiotic. I mean… A shirt? Really?
Also, really, you feel the need to insult me for sticking up for Dave? There is a BIG difference between constructive criticism and what you’re doing.
And as far as the story goes, Dave has to think not only of current readers, but new ones who will go through the archives. If it’s rushed forward, it won’t be a good read for newcomers. I’ve had to pace stories before, so I know what that’s like. And to say he needs to update more often is ridiculous. Three times a week is a lot of updates. Most webcomics either do one or two a week. Some do everyday, and clearly maybe those are the ones you should be reading since the comic’s creator isn’t updating as often as you need to keep you from complaining about petty, little things like a T-shirt design.
And there was no need to call me a name. I said you didn’t need to live up to your name as the jerk, but I never in fact called you one.
The problem is you are choosing to feel offended instead of actually seeing that there may be issues here.
The reality is, this has been dragging on for ages, the clothes themselves show it. At first I was like, “ha ha cute, star trek”, then eventually I was like, when is this pain going to end? Either Dave is taking too long to convey what he wants to, or the writing is simply not good enough to continue to hold my attention.
And while that is my issue and my problem, you choose to take offence to that. That’s fine, whatever floats your boat. You see it as dissing, I see it as complaining. I’ve already issues plenty of complaints, how how the characters don’t seem realistic enough (ignoring fish monsters) , how his character just seem too nice, ect and so fourth.
You are only offended because you choose to be. I understand, someone says something about something you like and you feel the need to defend it. Ok, whatever.
As far as living up to my name, well, whatever, I am what I am. If you had walked up to me on the street and talked to me like that, there’d be two outcomes, you’d either be walking away with a black eye or there’d be police in the area.
The reality is, there’s issues with this comic, with pacing, with character development, with story. There’s a lot that I have issues with here, but I’ve been trying to stick with it. It’d be nice if Dave would tie up some loose ends before creating even more stray ends.
And if you don’t like it, that’s fine, but if you think I am not going to respond to you being a whiny bitch about it, you got another thing coming hooker.
I’m gonna try to condense my responses into one post here, TheJerk.
1. I’ll agree that the pacing needs to be a bit tighter, especially over this current arc to date. I don’t know what I can say specifically except to cede the point.
2. The cryptograph-censors are something I decided to start doing because I learned of Selkie readers reading the strip with or to their kids, and I want them to continue having that option. I’d rather do things the way I have been than write awkwardly around the swearing or have Todd calling people meany-heads and stupid-farts.
You don’t like the self-censoring, that’s fine. It doesn’t bother me if people don’t like what I choose to do; but don’t rail off every invective in your vocabulary just to lash out over it. That’s unnecessary. And calling other readers twats, or referring to one of the non-caucasian characters as a “dot head”, is not fine with me. Stop it.
3. Calling people names and lashing out at them then claiming they are “choosing” to be offended by your actions is low play. Be better than that.
4. The Star Trek shirt is mostly to show a little bit of Todd’s interests and personality outside of his role as “The Dad”, more so than keeping him in the generic white button-up would. It’s in-story reason may be explained in the strip or I may just do a commentary about it to avoid more clutter, I haven’t decided. But I can’t agree that something that helps give the characters more expression is bad. Same for the tattoos. However you may feel about them, however stupid you may think they are, they’re part of who Todd is. They help make him more interesting than just “that guy who cooks Selkie’s meals and shows up when she needs help”
Also it’s about time SOMEONE uses “crass” language. Dave is dealing with a very adult comic with very adult situations, situations in which, most children most likely won’t be able to process fully and yet he had the audacity to censor his own work with some of the worst fucking censorship I’ve ever seen.
If you are going to deal with children’s works, then go ahead and deal with children’s works, but don’t sit there and work on adult subject manner and try to pass it off as literature for children. It’s not realistic.
Fucking **** shit poop twat cantaloupe, I feel like I have to make up for the vague terrible censorship Dave enforces upon himself.
At the very least I’ll give Dave credit, he hasn’t jammed his ideology down our throats like Sandra and Woo has. I can’t tolerate those fucking turds anymore.
Clit.
-| edited out the C word. I may have to backlist a couple of these other ones, too. -Dave |-
I don’t think your issues are just with (some) webcomics, buddy.
The censorship Dave puts on himself is funny: he’s making it pretty obvious what the characters say, without having them say it.
As where others are just replacing complete words with some icons that will give you an idea that they’re mad, but don’t know what they’re saying exactly. That’s true censorship.
Dave is pulling some half-censorship here.
And there are two ways to post your criticism:
– Your way (a very very rude way)
– A constructive way
Where there are plenty of bad examples of your way, the constructive way would be something along the lines you grudgingly did on the drawing of the fingers.
However: calling someone a twat, a hooker and whatnot, just for calling you out on your obnoxious behavior, and then have the audacity to tell her “You choose to be offended, because you defend what you like”???
That’s a whole new level of douchebag.
You’re not adding anything constructive to these comments, and I’m probably just feeding a troll here. But I will be glad someone as crude, vile and obnoxious as you gets their comeuppance.
I have just one thing to say to you TheJerk. Shut-the-heck-up. You’re doing nothing but whine, whine WHINE like an entitled douchebag-troll which is probably what you are. Stirring crap up and dismissing everyone telling you to get your act straight. So do everyone a favor, LEAVE!! You can’t say anything constructive, so don’t…bother talking. If the comic bugs you with all your nitpicks then find another comic you little whiny baby, and yeah I’m calling you that because you’re whining like one that wants something and won’t shut up til you get it. So shut up and leave
I really don’t get your vendetta against people who don’t use curse words. Your attachment to them confuses the heck out of me.
I didn’t really learn curse words until high school and didn’t use them until I was in college. They just aren’t necessary.
That’s not to say I had a super awesome childhood.
My childhood was kind of the definition of super-adult situations: rape, multiple dead siblings, a parent with suicidal tendencies, etc. Cursing was just never considered socially acceptable. That said, there are all sorts of books written specifically for kids that deal with the very “adult” issues of life that kids experience despite everyone’s best intentions.
Kids are often have friends in foster care, friends that were adopted, or experienced those situations for themselves. Kids are also often the recipients of injustice. They look for stories and examples of how to deal with these things and issues. They are not incapable of understanding.
Selkie is an awesome web comic that appears to be designed to appeal to people. Not adult-people, not child-people, and apparently not even just polite-people, just people.
I wish I could like your comment mnh. You hit the nail on the head. This comic is meant to appeal to everyone and I think the censor idea is clever.
A work of art doesn’t have to have piles of curses to be adult. It can have people screwing up, being screwed over and being human. That’s a much better way at getting an story to have some authenticity.
thejerk obviously doesn’t read Grrl Power, that comic has been online since Aug 23rd, 2010… and it’s STILL the FIRST DAY!! in comic-time, and not even all that far into it as well, i would say that in-comic, it started at about 10am, just before lunch (about) and it’s now about 7pm-ish (dinner was interrupted while the food was being served) … yet the comic has been doing weekly updates all that time, with a 2-a-week update for the last two or three months…
Dave, ignore thejerk. we like your comic just fine as it is…
I counted 19 strips with Todd in the Star Trek top. That’s 6 weeks plus one strip. That’s too much for the same clothes to be on a character?
Heaven forbid you should ever read any classic newspaper strips, watch any cartoons on TV, anything else if it bothers you. While I don’t mind, clearly you do, and that’s okay.
Be polite and calm in your criticisms if you want them taken seriously and not have other people jump on you for them.
The way you are coming off on this criticisms, it’s not doing you any favors. You look like you are being TheJerk (to put it nicely). It kind of seems akin to internet bullying; we’re not on 4chan here.
We can convey things in a way that, while some people will come down n you, most will not read it in a disrespectful tone. I’ll give it a shot, using your criticisms from the first post only worded differently.
The Star Trek top, while cute at first, is starting to grow tired I feel. I know it’s the same day, but perhaps he could put his jacket back on, change into something else, give him a little variety in his clothing. It has been more than six weeks, and the top is no longer charming.
I am not a fan of his tattoos. They seem like the kinds of things that kids get on a whim before they’ve grown their own unique personality and seem to detract from the kind of character Todd actually represents. In other words, I don’t feel like his tattoos match his personality well at all; they are the weakest part of his character design.
Sure, it took me a little longer to convey the point of your first paragraph, but it does it in a way that seems less hostile.
As an aside, I completely agree with your third paragraph. I’ve said very similar things in previous comics.
My recommendation is put a little more thought into your words to avoid coming off like an internet troll. In other words, don’t be a dick about things. I mean, people are still going to take offense regardless (many a person has a thin skin), but if you take a different tact, you won’t seem to be the one being a dick about things, you know? I was even with you on your second post until you called Myoko a “twat”. That’s pretty uncalled for right there, you know?
Sorry about the wall of text. Others are gong to rip into you far more harshly than I.
I just saw it as a comment that quickly spiraled out of control for no real good reason.
As far as the tattoos go: they are essential to Todd’s character.
Why? Because his whole past is about making some bad decisions.
Being an orphan isn’t a choice, but just like Amanda, Todd got into fights all the time.
Being adopted by his new parents got some of that out, but then he went into that punk rock stage, where he probably got the tattoos from.
Andi probably liked them alot, and it was only when Andi lied about the death of Amanda that Todd decided it was time to grow up.
So essentially: he wouldn’t be Todd without those tattoos, that would make the whole background of WHY he wanted to adopt Selkie very weak.
Well, at least you lived up to your chosen handle quite well. Other than that, I don’t see the point in arguing with TheJerk’s opinions, and the author did a good enough job on pointing out where it became a genuine annoyance and should either cut the insults or go away. Oh, and most of this post is honestly meant for other readers to see, though I know for a fact I am not the only one to take this tone. The only thing I wonder is if TheJerk isn’t actually a troll, but someone who assumes this is reasonable behavior. I am not really going to bother checking to see if TheJerk responds, but I do hope any readers who just started hitting his comments realize that arguing with it is worth less than the time it takes to do so.
Ah, my apologies. I meant to replace “his” with “its” as I realized while typing that my unwillingness to finish reading all of TheJerk’s posts means I am unable to determine whether it is male, female, or some other choice of gender identification specified within one of the posts I ignored.
I’m very much hoping it doesn’t identify as female, because no woman should be so stupid as to rant because something great they’re getting for free and which no-one’s forcing them to read, isn’t going their way.
I tend to opt for “it” when uncertain/uncaring of a troll’s identity. It makes more sense in Finnish.
No, fool. Having your opinion is not trolling. Expressing your opinion with no thought for whether you should is trolling. I bite my tongue all the time over issues where stating my opinion on the matter would do no good, or make things worse.
No one is impugning your honor. We are impugning your valor. Because, just as the officer reminded Todd in the previous strip, discretion is the better part of valor.
It is sometimes difficult to avoid feeding them, because at times they may actually be someone who means well and just needs a nap and a lesson on how to make better use of written communication. Other times they are really are just “Ashtons” (which I’m using because I totally though Todd called Ashton something else entirely when I first read that panel! Great example of a Freudian slip.).
Trunchbull not Ashton. Hey, you know what, I’m going to start calling Trunchbull Wulfenbach now, jus like you guys call Ashton principal hobbit, since he reminds me of him; smart, cunning, yet ultimately fallible and foolish. Just like you guys call Ashton principal hobbit.
Did Todd really tip off Ashton? Ashton is clueless, but I would think that anyone who has messed up that badly would expect some sort of fall out, especially since there is a PTA meeting happening soon. Now if Todd went to the media or somewhere else outside of the school, then I can see him being surprised, especially if he has clued into Selkie’s “ethnicity”.
Pay no attention to the aptly named troll, Dave. The comic is wonderful and your art and writing just keep getting better and better all the time. I only wish I had even a thimble’s worth of your talent.
I adore this comic. It’s one of my favorites of all time, right alongside Questionable Content, Wapsi Square, Dumbing Of Age, Collar6, Looking for Group, and Least I Could Do. It’s quite literally the first thing I check every Monday/Wednesday/Friday when I wake up and I’m bouncing on the edge of my seat over the weekend, waiting for the next update. Thank you so much for letting us share the story with you~. Keep up the great work!
It seems to be the postings of a teenager, or perhaps someone just bored and wanting to start an internet fight.
Or perhaps an adult with damage to his or her prefrontal cortex.
You know, Dave, you really should be waving around a cane when you say that. Or a sword fish. Or… Something. And maybe I should stick to witty comments when I HAVEN’T worked 18 hours in the heat.
…
If you want, I have a cane you are more than welcome to use.
I also finally remembered what I had originally planned to say, before the breif interlude with TheJerk (no relation to Steve Martin).
In this comic, Todd has taken on the role of the bully, replacing Truck and the elder Trunchbull.
It is surprisingly similar to that of the role of the parent who is angry over the mishandling of mistreatment of their child.
I wonder how Todd will feel when he reflects upon his actions later. Will he feel good about himself, or come to the realization that perhaps he has (justifiably) mishandled the situation?
I like the comic, because even though I can’t agree with all of Todd’s actions, I can understand the perspective from which they made.
Selkie, on the other hand, I tend to agree with (almost) all of her decisions. Maybe I should have been born a (perceived) vicious fish type monster instead. =D
I honestly don’t see him as acting like a bully. I agree with everything he said. Some people said he shouldn’t have warned the principal what was coming, but I truly believe that Todd is in the right. One thing to be noted is that he hasn’t threatened the principal in any way. Telling him that his days are numbered may have been a threat, but he told the principal exactly what his plans were before that. The fact that the principal genuinely wonders why Todd “tried to sic the cops” on him is the kind of thing that disturbs me and I am not a parent, so I dread their reaction to someone pulling that if they were supposed to take care of their child.
We have the benefit of being able to see Todd’s thought process, which is why I think he wasn’t a bully. If he had been doing this out of a bully’s spite or desire to harm, he would never have stopped the initial attack with that thought sequence. I think, after he thought about it, he realized that there is a very REAL possibility that the principal has been silencing others to protect himself. The fact that he was that insistent with the policeman that “every possible thing needs to be done to ensure safety” even after being given a semi-subtle warning about lying to the police means that I think that was Todd’s real goal in his words and actions. So, I can’t actually see him as the bully here, but I welcome a clarification on your reasoning if you are willing to provide it. 🙂
You can be in the right and still handle a situation wrong.
He isn’t raging at the principal in order to be a bully, but the way he’s handling the situation makes him look like a bad guy, even though he is perfectly right.
Think of it from the perspective of someone who only sees this exchange; how would that person perceive it? You and I, we’ve seen what has happened before, so we know Todd is justified. To someone else? Todd is in better shape, towers over the principal, and is lashing out in rage. Trust me, I totally get rage. I operated on it well into my 20s. As I’ve gotten older and hopefully wiser, I have come to the point where despite the white hot fury, I control the anger and don’t let it control me.
I know there are approaches that would still let the principal know his days were numbered, but that any bystanders would not perceive me as someone flying off the handle.
Even take it from the point of view of the principal in this case; he’s way off base, but from his perspective Todd just flew right off the handle at him; he LOOKS like he’s going to hit the principal. The principal is literally cowering in panels 3, 4 and 5. In the principal’s mind, he didn’t do anything blatantly “wrong”. He was trying to minimize the damage to everyone involved, especially himself.
I keep saying this, but actions have consequences and repercussions. Just because Todd is not out and out threatening the principal, from the perspective of onlookers not privy to what is actually going on, Todd IS a threatening presence. Think about how the cop would react if he were to just witness this scene from the other side of the door?
It’s not always what is said that matter, but how it is said and the way it is presented.
I find it to be interesting, as to take the entirety of the scene into account, and only this scene, there are a number of factors. First, using the entire scene, I think the dialog between the two of them would indicate that he is indeed angry, but even though the principal cowers, Todd’s hands are more in the throwing-hands-up-in-frustration-while-gesticulating-wildly than attack mode. Second, the fact of the matter is the last two panels are Todd giving him a look of disgust and simply walking away. That is very different than a bully threatening someone else. Out of curiosity, I showed the comic to a few friends who have never read it, first with the dialog covered up and then with dialog shown. Without the dialog, they though that Todd was either being a “jerk of a boss” (which made me laugh, all things considered) or that the “old guy must have said something stupid” and that “they don’t seem to like each other” which was an understatement.
When I showed them the version with the dialog the responses were “that is one angry parent” and “that young guy seems defensive” and “that teacher is toast” respectively. I know that three people does not a full argument make, but they are the closest I could get to simulating a person only seeing this exchange. Using the cop as an example wouldn’t really make me think he would step in UNLESS Todd actually reached for him, which he hasn’t. I look at the pictures, but I don’t see Todd as closing the distance between them except with the initial lean, from which he straightens up before turning and walking away. I realize that that the words don’t always matter but in this case, they very much do.
Your first paragraph, where you showed others with the dialogue covered up, none of their responses struck you as “bullying behavior”? Panel 3 it looks very much like Todd is about to throw a punch, fists clenched and all that, but “being a jerk of a boss”, that doesn’t strike you as the behavior of a bully right there?
Any person that looks that angry at someone cowering like Principal Ashton is doing, without knowing the context, my first gut reaction is to defend the one doing to cowering.
Since I’m smart enough to not want to get hit, I’ll probably do it in a fashion that would distract Todd’s attention from his perceived target, either buy saying, “Hey man, let’s go get a drink,” or simply drawing fire from the cowering man to myself by appearing more of a threat.
Any way you slice it, the situation looks bad. It looks bad to me, and I know the circumstances.
We just have different perceptions of the situation. It’s okay, we can disagree and discuss things rationally, ’cause we are rational adults here.
…and perhaps I am just a devil’s advocate. =D
(I’m not this time. The situation looks bad to me, and I suspect once he’s had time to cool off, Todd might be filled with some regret with regards to how he handled the situation, if not feeling outright bad).
*snerk* I was just thinking how “TheJerk” up there would approach this discussion and I believe watching their inept flailing would have been hilarious. I think one thing is that, unless they start a physical fight, I tend to try and get the context of what is going on before assuming one side deserves to be defended. I was bullied by one piece of trash in middle school, every day. The one time I blocked his attack, didn’t even return a swing, I was the one who got in trouble, thanks to teachers making the assumption that, as the angry looking one (due to getting attacked by him and ignored by teachers) I was the one who was at fault. I got really lucky that, at best, they decided we were both at fault, assumed we were good kids overall, and let us both off with warnings.
Then he attacked me while I was walking home a week later. So, yeah, that is probably why our mindset on this is so different, as my first question, using that scene alone would have been “Why’d you sic the cops on him? Explain that a bit more.”
Btw saying, “You must be from 4chan.” Is just as stupid as using, “You must be autistic.” As an insult. Especially because you are essentialy beig an ‘internet bully’ by insinuating anyone from 4chan in an insufferable prick.
No one strictly said that TheJerk “must be from 4chan”. I did, however, open that can of worms by saying that this message board was not 4chan… and later one other person said TheJerk may go back there if he or she were ignored.
I just wanted to say certain behaviors aren’t the norm like they may be on other sites.
Can you tell me with a straight face that the kid of behavior exhibited is out of the norm on the other site referenced? I suppose I could have substituted reddit, or gamefaqs, or XBox Live to a greater or lesser degree, and the point would still have been conveyed.
What site with unmoderated behavior such as displayed would you have used as an example instead, Dizzy Dial?
=D
I like where the comic is going and how it’s portrayed. I’m ok with the pacing too. There is a lot going on in this conflict all at once so it takes a few panels to get out. Todd’s tattoos make character sense to me. As for the shirt…. I focus more on people than their clothes it’s just who I am. Though on reflection it seems like a possible poor choice for showing up to a school conflict. People favour those who adhere to cultural norms.
Actually, to all who responded by saying Todd let the cat out of the bag on this, others have made the point that he stated his intent, but not when or how. It may take Ashton time to prep a good cover, and Ashton may not have that much.
I wonder if I’m the only person who still thinks the Principal doesn’t deserve what he’s being handed. Let’s see… he’s put in a situation that could ruin his life no matter what he does, and does one thing, hoping it won’t end his career and ruin his life, predicated on not being able to prove these allegations to Trunchbull, and if he were to do anything about it both him (and probably the children, definitely Selkie) would suffer. Then Selkie and Todd swoop in and stop Trunchbull’s self-centeredism… and then punish the Principal for not believing he could stop it and taking what he saw as the lesser of two evils.
Go Todd! You put that cowardly, incompetent, loser in his place! He expelled your little girl for a whole week and was helpless in the face of a rich influential doctor! Because of this, he deserves to lose his career! Yeah!
Ashton could have at least tried. There was enough evidence to tie Tommy as the bully who put Selkie in the hospital and finally reveal Tommy’s behavior. Ashton [i]chose[/i] to silence all who witnessed the incident to appease the bully’s father, not protect the children. That is a serious offense and breach of protocol. That is why Ashton is suffering some mean steaming pile of dung.
Actually it’s been made clear that the Trunchbull’s won’t believe the truth unless it’s staring them right in the face. (For the love of god Ashton PLEASE throw them under the bus.) But Olick does kinda have a point, how should Ashton have handled this? I’m curious as to what everyone thinks.
by basically standing up for himself / the system… use the argument that Mr. Trunchbull TRUSTS the school system to TEACH his child and that if he trusts the system to do THAT, then WHY DOESN’T he trust the SAME system when MULTIPLE different people involved say that his child IS a troublemaker!!, Heck he got the staff at his kids previous school FIRED over it, yet he REFUSED to let the possibility into his head that MAYBE the TEACHERS and STAFF were CORRECT… that’s the double standard right there that Principal Ashton should have smashed the first day that Trunchbull was called up to the office over Truck making trouble… he should have INSISTED that the other teachers that had info on the case were there in the office to give their side of things,at a minimum, etc. he should have does quite a few things differently than he has…
You trick Chronos with rituals and blandishments. But when you only do things for the “Time Being”, Murphy will rat you out and at the worst possible time.
I did for a while think that the author lacked skill such as character development and delivery method. He clearly has a lot of ideas. For a while he didn’t really do a good job at delivering them; sometimes the story would be too blunt to let me get into the story to even wonder what happened next. Other times things didn’t seem to add up as if there wasn’t an outline for his story and he was just writing hopping it would all work out.
The author has gotten far better now and will continue to, I’m sure. A lot of it is experience. Education such as a creative writing class might help, but either way if he’s already progressing he will continue to do so.
Well, the principal forgot a very important rule:
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”
Todd, No…you just gave him all the advanced warning he needs to spin this situation. And as for borrowing time, I recommend a good accountant.
I think the Grey Men from “Momo” were running a time savings banks. Perhaps you can take out a loan with them?
This is about to get really, really hairy.
Should have met with Mina before he exploded. He just made his life far more complicated.
“An administrator must be politically celibate, but not politically virgin.” –Judge Everett Barr, Superior Court Judge, Siskiyou County.
— and this guy is certainly not celibate.
Oh, no, Todd. NEVER give the enemy advance warning! 🙁
I’m pretty done with this fucking star trek top, give him something else huh? It’s bad enough the guy has fucking smiles tattoo’ed on his shoulders. His tattoos are possibly the worst design about his character.
As far as the rest? I don’t agree about telling him about your plan of action, but the reality is, I don’t really think there’s a whole lot he can do about it, there’s documented cases and didn’t that dot head teacher say they had a complaint about a hostile work environment?
The worst that could happen is, he keeps his job and turns his attention to Selkie and makes her life harder at school then it already is. I’ve seen it, I’ve lived it, teachers are supposed to help nurture students, but they are also human beings and I’ve seen some of them get up to some petty crap, even as far as instigating a fight just so they can call the cops on a student.
It’s the same day, so of course he’s going to be wearing the same shirt. That’s like complaining that your waitress is wearing the same shirt you saw her in ten minutes ago.
Also, are the tattoos really that big a deal? We hardly ever see them. And there’s nothing wrong with a parent having tattoos. If you’re going to criticize, at least criticize constructively. There’s no need for cussing and plain out rudeness towards a character design. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read the comic.
There really is no reason to be rude to the creator. He puts this out three times a week FOR FREE. Not saying you can’t dislike a design, but there’s no need to live up to your name as “The Jerk”.
Yeah, you are right, the reality is, this has been dragging on way too long now. They either need to update more often or speed this shit along.
The tattoos are kind of a big deal, the ones he has are just awful. Where I grew up tattoos were kind of serious business and people had to think long and hard about them. Generally speaking people with shit like this, angel wings on their backs and other generic shit like tribal bands where considered posers – people who couldn’t compile enough individuality to actually come up with something that spoke about their character.
Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean I have to walk away from it. There’s stuff I like about this comic and there’s stuff I don’t like about this comic, things which I’ve openly expressed before. Far be it from you to tell me to walk away you twat.
Regardless of what the writer and/or artist does, they still upload it online for people to view, for people to criticize, they leave themselves vulnerable to that when they submit their content for public consumption.
The reality is, at no point did I ever, EVER directly attack the person responsible for the comic, so either you got your own issues to work out, or you need to get their genitals out of your mouth. It’s entirely possible to criticize a work while still enjoying it.
BTW “grand creator” you still need a little work on having character fingers a little more rounded then pointed and clawed, but you are doing a lot better then before.
Irony – Bitching about a tattoo… The art of trying to be an individual by doing what everyone else is.
You aren’t any more “real” by getting a tat that’s unique. You’re still as much of a poser as the guy with a tramp stamp.
My father (aged 84) has tats all up and down his arms. Military from the age of 17. He’s real. And he regrets those tats because he grew up.
So please don’t lecture us on “bad tattoos.” I’m sure your edgy “serious” ink. It isn’t. It’s childish, and you’re being childish by bitching that someone else’s choices aren’t “real” enough to suit you.
Note: If you want a tat, get a tat. I couldn’t care less. I’ll still deal with you as a human. I may not have an ounce of respect for the tat, but you’re still a person. Just don’t try and tell me that your tat is serious… It isn’t. It’s a slave mark.
A few points I would like to make here: This is about the only existing comic that doesn’t take action over character development. There’s only really one reason to read this comic, and that’s the characters (as it should be). If you don’t want that, seriously, why are you reading this comic? The pacing IS THE POINT, and if you don’t like the point, what reason is there for you to read it?
What you’re suggesting is that Dave swap the heart and soul of this comic for the cheap tricks of the other 5,000 ones out there, and as a budding author I can tell you that no self-respecting creator of anything worthwhile will ever do that. I wouldn’t, Tolkein didn’t, and Dave shouldn’t. (IMHO)
Also, however attacked you may feel, spitting vulgarities back at people NEVER helps. It only makes you look defensive and angry and unwilling to actually talk about it. If you want an actual discussion, being respectful is about a thousand times more likely to make that happen. (I know this from years of experience.)
To conclude, please try to stay calm about the things that frustrate you. I know you might be having a bad day, but try listening to some music or going for a walk. I can guarantee that both are more helpful than taking it out on the internet.
Sincerely,
A concerned person
I’d disregard him and just skip over anything under his name.
alsohttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/02/17/scientific-analysis-internet-trolls-finds-yes-theyre-actually-psychopaths/
Shoulda put a space between your “also” and your “http”. Then the link should be good.
Interesting article.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/02/17/scientific-analysis-internet-trolls-finds-yes-theyre-actually-psychopaths/
Ah, if the character design enrages you that much, perhaps another comic might be more your speed? As Myoko noted, this is the same day, so changing out of the shirt mid-scene would be silly. Constructive criticism is one thing – this is just rudeness with no point.
I’ll refer you to my last reply, no sense in wasting my time and energy on white knights.
Ever work really hard on something and then have someone spit in your face?
Yes. He posts it publicly. But you’re not criticizing. You’re being rude by not only using crass language, but also actively dissing something so minimal that it’s beyond idiotic. I mean… A shirt? Really?
Also, really, you feel the need to insult me for sticking up for Dave? There is a BIG difference between constructive criticism and what you’re doing.
And as far as the story goes, Dave has to think not only of current readers, but new ones who will go through the archives. If it’s rushed forward, it won’t be a good read for newcomers. I’ve had to pace stories before, so I know what that’s like. And to say he needs to update more often is ridiculous. Three times a week is a lot of updates. Most webcomics either do one or two a week. Some do everyday, and clearly maybe those are the ones you should be reading since the comic’s creator isn’t updating as often as you need to keep you from complaining about petty, little things like a T-shirt design.
And there was no need to call me a name. I said you didn’t need to live up to your name as the jerk, but I never in fact called you one.
The problem is you are choosing to feel offended instead of actually seeing that there may be issues here.
The reality is, this has been dragging on for ages, the clothes themselves show it. At first I was like, “ha ha cute, star trek”, then eventually I was like, when is this pain going to end? Either Dave is taking too long to convey what he wants to, or the writing is simply not good enough to continue to hold my attention.
And while that is my issue and my problem, you choose to take offence to that. That’s fine, whatever floats your boat. You see it as dissing, I see it as complaining. I’ve already issues plenty of complaints, how how the characters don’t seem realistic enough (ignoring fish monsters) , how his character just seem too nice, ect and so fourth.
You are only offended because you choose to be. I understand, someone says something about something you like and you feel the need to defend it. Ok, whatever.
As far as living up to my name, well, whatever, I am what I am. If you had walked up to me on the street and talked to me like that, there’d be two outcomes, you’d either be walking away with a black eye or there’d be police in the area.
The reality is, there’s issues with this comic, with pacing, with character development, with story. There’s a lot that I have issues with here, but I’ve been trying to stick with it. It’d be nice if Dave would tie up some loose ends before creating even more stray ends.
And if you don’t like it, that’s fine, but if you think I am not going to respond to you being a whiny bitch about it, you got another thing coming hooker.
I like the shirt. I hope the artist draws a red Star Trek shirt for Todd’s “tomorrow,” and a blue shirt for the day after.
I’m gonna try to condense my responses into one post here, TheJerk.
1. I’ll agree that the pacing needs to be a bit tighter, especially over this current arc to date. I don’t know what I can say specifically except to cede the point.
2. The cryptograph-censors are something I decided to start doing because I learned of Selkie readers reading the strip with or to their kids, and I want them to continue having that option. I’d rather do things the way I have been than write awkwardly around the swearing or have Todd calling people meany-heads and stupid-farts.
You don’t like the self-censoring, that’s fine. It doesn’t bother me if people don’t like what I choose to do; but don’t rail off every invective in your vocabulary just to lash out over it. That’s unnecessary. And calling other readers twats, or referring to one of the non-caucasian characters as a “dot head”, is not fine with me. Stop it.
3. Calling people names and lashing out at them then claiming they are “choosing” to be offended by your actions is low play. Be better than that.
4. The Star Trek shirt is mostly to show a little bit of Todd’s interests and personality outside of his role as “The Dad”, more so than keeping him in the generic white button-up would. It’s in-story reason may be explained in the strip or I may just do a commentary about it to avoid more clutter, I haven’t decided. But I can’t agree that something that helps give the characters more expression is bad. Same for the tattoos. However you may feel about them, however stupid you may think they are, they’re part of who Todd is. They help make him more interesting than just “that guy who cooks Selkie’s meals and shows up when she needs help”
Also it’s about time SOMEONE uses “crass” language. Dave is dealing with a very adult comic with very adult situations, situations in which, most children most likely won’t be able to process fully and yet he had the audacity to censor his own work with some of the worst fucking censorship I’ve ever seen.
If you are going to deal with children’s works, then go ahead and deal with children’s works, but don’t sit there and work on adult subject manner and try to pass it off as literature for children. It’s not realistic.
Fucking **** shit poop twat cantaloupe, I feel like I have to make up for the vague terrible censorship Dave enforces upon himself.
At the very least I’ll give Dave credit, he hasn’t jammed his ideology down our throats like Sandra and Woo has. I can’t tolerate those fucking turds anymore.
Clit.
-| edited out the C word. I may have to backlist a couple of these other ones, too. -Dave |-
I don’t think your issues are just with (some) webcomics, buddy.
The censorship Dave puts on himself is funny: he’s making it pretty obvious what the characters say, without having them say it.
As where others are just replacing complete words with some icons that will give you an idea that they’re mad, but don’t know what they’re saying exactly. That’s true censorship.
Dave is pulling some half-censorship here.
And there are two ways to post your criticism:
– Your way (a very very rude way)
– A constructive way
Where there are plenty of bad examples of your way, the constructive way would be something along the lines you grudgingly did on the drawing of the fingers.
However: calling someone a twat, a hooker and whatnot, just for calling you out on your obnoxious behavior, and then have the audacity to tell her “You choose to be offended, because you defend what you like”???
That’s a whole new level of douchebag.
You’re not adding anything constructive to these comments, and I’m probably just feeding a troll here. But I will be glad someone as crude, vile and obnoxious as you gets their comeuppance.
I have just one thing to say to you TheJerk. Shut-the-heck-up. You’re doing nothing but whine, whine WHINE like an entitled douchebag-troll which is probably what you are. Stirring crap up and dismissing everyone telling you to get your act straight. So do everyone a favor, LEAVE!! You can’t say anything constructive, so don’t…bother talking. If the comic bugs you with all your nitpicks then find another comic you little whiny baby, and yeah I’m calling you that because you’re whining like one that wants something and won’t shut up til you get it. So shut up and leave
@TheJerk
I really don’t get your vendetta against people who don’t use curse words. Your attachment to them confuses the heck out of me.
I didn’t really learn curse words until high school and didn’t use them until I was in college. They just aren’t necessary.
That’s not to say I had a super awesome childhood.
My childhood was kind of the definition of super-adult situations: rape, multiple dead siblings, a parent with suicidal tendencies, etc. Cursing was just never considered socially acceptable. That said, there are all sorts of books written specifically for kids that deal with the very “adult” issues of life that kids experience despite everyone’s best intentions.
Kids are often have friends in foster care, friends that were adopted, or experienced those situations for themselves. Kids are also often the recipients of injustice. They look for stories and examples of how to deal with these things and issues. They are not incapable of understanding.
Selkie is an awesome web comic that appears to be designed to appeal to people. Not adult-people, not child-people, and apparently not even just polite-people, just people.
I wish I could like your comment mnh. You hit the nail on the head. This comic is meant to appeal to everyone and I think the censor idea is clever.
A work of art doesn’t have to have piles of curses to be adult. It can have people screwing up, being screwed over and being human. That’s a much better way at getting an story to have some authenticity.
Well said! (And an internet hug for surviving a crappy childhood.)
thejerk obviously doesn’t read Grrl Power, that comic has been online since Aug 23rd, 2010… and it’s STILL the FIRST DAY!! in comic-time, and not even all that far into it as well, i would say that in-comic, it started at about 10am, just before lunch (about) and it’s now about 7pm-ish (dinner was interrupted while the food was being served) … yet the comic has been doing weekly updates all that time, with a 2-a-week update for the last two or three months…
Dave, ignore thejerk. we like your comic just fine as it is…
Ohmygawd I LOVE GrrlPower. 😀 And yeah. It’s been on the same day for four years. I can’t imagine how TheJerk would handle that.
I counted 19 strips with Todd in the Star Trek top. That’s 6 weeks plus one strip. That’s too much for the same clothes to be on a character?
Heaven forbid you should ever read any classic newspaper strips, watch any cartoons on TV, anything else if it bothers you. While I don’t mind, clearly you do, and that’s okay.
Be polite and calm in your criticisms if you want them taken seriously and not have other people jump on you for them.
The way you are coming off on this criticisms, it’s not doing you any favors. You look like you are being TheJerk (to put it nicely). It kind of seems akin to internet bullying; we’re not on 4chan here.
We can convey things in a way that, while some people will come down n you, most will not read it in a disrespectful tone. I’ll give it a shot, using your criticisms from the first post only worded differently.
The Star Trek top, while cute at first, is starting to grow tired I feel. I know it’s the same day, but perhaps he could put his jacket back on, change into something else, give him a little variety in his clothing. It has been more than six weeks, and the top is no longer charming.
I am not a fan of his tattoos. They seem like the kinds of things that kids get on a whim before they’ve grown their own unique personality and seem to detract from the kind of character Todd actually represents. In other words, I don’t feel like his tattoos match his personality well at all; they are the weakest part of his character design.
Sure, it took me a little longer to convey the point of your first paragraph, but it does it in a way that seems less hostile.
As an aside, I completely agree with your third paragraph. I’ve said very similar things in previous comics.
My recommendation is put a little more thought into your words to avoid coming off like an internet troll. In other words, don’t be a dick about things. I mean, people are still going to take offense regardless (many a person has a thin skin), but if you take a different tact, you won’t seem to be the one being a dick about things, you know? I was even with you on your second post until you called Myoko a “twat”. That’s pretty uncalled for right there, you know?
Sorry about the wall of text. Others are gong to rip into you far more harshly than I.
I just saw it as a comment that quickly spiraled out of control for no real good reason.
As far as the tattoos go: they are essential to Todd’s character.
Why? Because his whole past is about making some bad decisions.
Being an orphan isn’t a choice, but just like Amanda, Todd got into fights all the time.
Being adopted by his new parents got some of that out, but then he went into that punk rock stage, where he probably got the tattoos from.
Andi probably liked them alot, and it was only when Andi lied about the death of Amanda that Todd decided it was time to grow up.
So essentially: he wouldn’t be Todd without those tattoos, that would make the whole background of WHY he wanted to adopt Selkie very weak.
….would you like a moist towelette?
Well, at least you lived up to your chosen handle quite well. Other than that, I don’t see the point in arguing with TheJerk’s opinions, and the author did a good enough job on pointing out where it became a genuine annoyance and should either cut the insults or go away. Oh, and most of this post is honestly meant for other readers to see, though I know for a fact I am not the only one to take this tone. The only thing I wonder is if TheJerk isn’t actually a troll, but someone who assumes this is reasonable behavior. I am not really going to bother checking to see if TheJerk responds, but I do hope any readers who just started hitting his comments realize that arguing with it is worth less than the time it takes to do so.
Ah, my apologies. I meant to replace “his” with “its” as I realized while typing that my unwillingness to finish reading all of TheJerk’s posts means I am unable to determine whether it is male, female, or some other choice of gender identification specified within one of the posts I ignored.
I’m very much hoping it doesn’t identify as female, because no woman should be so stupid as to rant because something great they’re getting for free and which no-one’s forcing them to read, isn’t going their way.
I tend to opt for “it” when uncertain/uncaring of a troll’s identity. It makes more sense in Finnish.
How incredibly sexist.
What everyone else said: This was a serious tactical error.
I wonder why anyone bothers to talk to ‘The Jerk’ he’s clearly a troll.
Don’t feed the trolls.
Of course having an opinion is trolling.
No, fool. Having your opinion is not trolling. Expressing your opinion with no thought for whether you should is trolling. I bite my tongue all the time over issues where stating my opinion on the matter would do no good, or make things worse.
No one is impugning your honor. We are impugning your valor. Because, just as the officer reminded Todd in the previous strip, discretion is the better part of valor.
What you just said actually made no sense. Try a little less hard next time to sound like you’re not in high school.
It is sometimes difficult to avoid feeding them, because at times they may actually be someone who means well and just needs a nap and a lesson on how to make better use of written communication. Other times they are really are just “Ashtons” (which I’m using because I totally though Todd called Ashton something else entirely when I first read that panel! Great example of a Freudian slip.).
Shhhh, don’t engage him. Maybe he’ll go back to 4chan if nobody speaks to him.
So much reality is lol
But really this is baffling. What in the world.
I guess tomorrow We’ll find out for sure if Trunchbull has somethin to do with Truck’s victims being punished.
Hope that changes Todd’s opinion of him.
Trunchbull not Ashton. Hey, you know what, I’m going to start calling Trunchbull Wulfenbach now, jus like you guys call Ashton principal hobbit, since he reminds me of him; smart, cunning, yet ultimately fallible and foolish. Just like you guys call Ashton principal hobbit.
EEEEE YES!
Wulfenbach! XD
And Ashton could just as easily be Silas Whatever-his-name-was. You remember, the one turning chalk into cheese. 🙂
In a way, yes. But it WAS Ashton’s decision to punish Selkie instead of Truck because he pegged Todd as a pushover; https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie336/
As we see here, he ain’t.
gdi, Todd. This is why you need that strategy meeting with Ms Afkami. NEVER MAKE YOUR THREATS OPENLY O_O
I really don’t want to be annoying, but – typo: “incompetent” is spelled with two “e”s.
Oh, thanks. I’ll get to it when I get to the colorings.
Did Todd really tip off Ashton? Ashton is clueless, but I would think that anyone who has messed up that badly would expect some sort of fall out, especially since there is a PTA meeting happening soon. Now if Todd went to the media or somewhere else outside of the school, then I can see him being surprised, especially if he has clued into Selkie’s “ethnicity”.
He said he was going to inform every parent…not that there was an emergency meeting planned.
That should be “incompet[e]nt”
Pay no attention to the aptly named troll, Dave. The comic is wonderful and your art and writing just keep getting better and better all the time. I only wish I had even a thimble’s worth of your talent.
I adore this comic. It’s one of my favorites of all time, right alongside Questionable Content, Wapsi Square, Dumbing Of Age, Collar6, Looking for Group, and Least I Could Do. It’s quite literally the first thing I check every Monday/Wednesday/Friday when I wake up and I’m bouncing on the edge of my seat over the weekend, waiting for the next update. Thank you so much for letting us share the story with you~. Keep up the great work!
It seems to be the postings of a teenager, or perhaps someone just bored and wanting to start an internet fight.
Or perhaps an adult with damage to his or her prefrontal cortex.
Grandpa, are you trolling the internet again?
Ya durn kids! Git offa mah hypertext transfer protocol!
You know, Dave, you really should be waving around a cane when you say that. Or a sword fish. Or… Something. And maybe I should stick to witty comments when I HAVEN’T worked 18 hours in the heat.
…
If you want, I have a cane you are more than welcome to use.
Dave, just tell your story. There are lots of other webcomics out there that people can read if they don’t like this one.
The stuff people think they deserve for free … (I work on Open Source stuff, so I also deal with the happy-to-be-unhappy people. bleh.)
I laughed at your http comment, Dave. =D
I also finally remembered what I had originally planned to say, before the breif interlude with TheJerk (no relation to Steve Martin).
In this comic, Todd has taken on the role of the bully, replacing Truck and the elder Trunchbull.
It is surprisingly similar to that of the role of the parent who is angry over the mishandling of mistreatment of their child.
I wonder how Todd will feel when he reflects upon his actions later. Will he feel good about himself, or come to the realization that perhaps he has (justifiably) mishandled the situation?
I like the comic, because even though I can’t agree with all of Todd’s actions, I can understand the perspective from which they made.
Selkie, on the other hand, I tend to agree with (almost) all of her decisions. Maybe I should have been born a (perceived) vicious fish type monster instead. =D
I honestly don’t see him as acting like a bully. I agree with everything he said. Some people said he shouldn’t have warned the principal what was coming, but I truly believe that Todd is in the right. One thing to be noted is that he hasn’t threatened the principal in any way. Telling him that his days are numbered may have been a threat, but he told the principal exactly what his plans were before that. The fact that the principal genuinely wonders why Todd “tried to sic the cops” on him is the kind of thing that disturbs me and I am not a parent, so I dread their reaction to someone pulling that if they were supposed to take care of their child.
We have the benefit of being able to see Todd’s thought process, which is why I think he wasn’t a bully. If he had been doing this out of a bully’s spite or desire to harm, he would never have stopped the initial attack with that thought sequence. I think, after he thought about it, he realized that there is a very REAL possibility that the principal has been silencing others to protect himself. The fact that he was that insistent with the policeman that “every possible thing needs to be done to ensure safety” even after being given a semi-subtle warning about lying to the police means that I think that was Todd’s real goal in his words and actions. So, I can’t actually see him as the bully here, but I welcome a clarification on your reasoning if you are willing to provide it. 🙂
You can be in the right and still handle a situation wrong.
He isn’t raging at the principal in order to be a bully, but the way he’s handling the situation makes him look like a bad guy, even though he is perfectly right.
Think of it from the perspective of someone who only sees this exchange; how would that person perceive it? You and I, we’ve seen what has happened before, so we know Todd is justified. To someone else? Todd is in better shape, towers over the principal, and is lashing out in rage. Trust me, I totally get rage. I operated on it well into my 20s. As I’ve gotten older and hopefully wiser, I have come to the point where despite the white hot fury, I control the anger and don’t let it control me.
I know there are approaches that would still let the principal know his days were numbered, but that any bystanders would not perceive me as someone flying off the handle.
Even take it from the point of view of the principal in this case; he’s way off base, but from his perspective Todd just flew right off the handle at him; he LOOKS like he’s going to hit the principal. The principal is literally cowering in panels 3, 4 and 5. In the principal’s mind, he didn’t do anything blatantly “wrong”. He was trying to minimize the damage to everyone involved, especially himself.
I keep saying this, but actions have consequences and repercussions. Just because Todd is not out and out threatening the principal, from the perspective of onlookers not privy to what is actually going on, Todd IS a threatening presence. Think about how the cop would react if he were to just witness this scene from the other side of the door?
It’s not always what is said that matter, but how it is said and the way it is presented.
I find it to be interesting, as to take the entirety of the scene into account, and only this scene, there are a number of factors. First, using the entire scene, I think the dialog between the two of them would indicate that he is indeed angry, but even though the principal cowers, Todd’s hands are more in the throwing-hands-up-in-frustration-while-gesticulating-wildly than attack mode. Second, the fact of the matter is the last two panels are Todd giving him a look of disgust and simply walking away. That is very different than a bully threatening someone else. Out of curiosity, I showed the comic to a few friends who have never read it, first with the dialog covered up and then with dialog shown. Without the dialog, they though that Todd was either being a “jerk of a boss” (which made me laugh, all things considered) or that the “old guy must have said something stupid” and that “they don’t seem to like each other” which was an understatement.
When I showed them the version with the dialog the responses were “that is one angry parent” and “that young guy seems defensive” and “that teacher is toast” respectively. I know that three people does not a full argument make, but they are the closest I could get to simulating a person only seeing this exchange. Using the cop as an example wouldn’t really make me think he would step in UNLESS Todd actually reached for him, which he hasn’t. I look at the pictures, but I don’t see Todd as closing the distance between them except with the initial lean, from which he straightens up before turning and walking away. I realize that that the words don’t always matter but in this case, they very much do.
Your first paragraph, where you showed others with the dialogue covered up, none of their responses struck you as “bullying behavior”? Panel 3 it looks very much like Todd is about to throw a punch, fists clenched and all that, but “being a jerk of a boss”, that doesn’t strike you as the behavior of a bully right there?
Any person that looks that angry at someone cowering like Principal Ashton is doing, without knowing the context, my first gut reaction is to defend the one doing to cowering.
Since I’m smart enough to not want to get hit, I’ll probably do it in a fashion that would distract Todd’s attention from his perceived target, either buy saying, “Hey man, let’s go get a drink,” or simply drawing fire from the cowering man to myself by appearing more of a threat.
Any way you slice it, the situation looks bad. It looks bad to me, and I know the circumstances.
We just have different perceptions of the situation. It’s okay, we can disagree and discuss things rationally, ’cause we are rational adults here.
…and perhaps I am just a devil’s advocate. =D
(I’m not this time. The situation looks bad to me, and I suspect once he’s had time to cool off, Todd might be filled with some regret with regards to how he handled the situation, if not feeling outright bad).
*snerk* I was just thinking how “TheJerk” up there would approach this discussion and I believe watching their inept flailing would have been hilarious. I think one thing is that, unless they start a physical fight, I tend to try and get the context of what is going on before assuming one side deserves to be defended. I was bullied by one piece of trash in middle school, every day. The one time I blocked his attack, didn’t even return a swing, I was the one who got in trouble, thanks to teachers making the assumption that, as the angry looking one (due to getting attacked by him and ignored by teachers) I was the one who was at fault. I got really lucky that, at best, they decided we were both at fault, assumed we were good kids overall, and let us both off with warnings.
Then he attacked me while I was walking home a week later. So, yeah, that is probably why our mindset on this is so different, as my first question, using that scene alone would have been “Why’d you sic the cops on him? Explain that a bit more.”
Btw saying, “You must be from 4chan.” Is just as stupid as using, “You must be autistic.” As an insult. Especially because you are essentialy beig an ‘internet bully’ by insinuating anyone from 4chan in an insufferable prick.
Just wanted to point that out.
No one strictly said that TheJerk “must be from 4chan”. I did, however, open that can of worms by saying that this message board was not 4chan… and later one other person said TheJerk may go back there if he or she were ignored.
I just wanted to say certain behaviors aren’t the norm like they may be on other sites.
Can you tell me with a straight face that the kid of behavior exhibited is out of the norm on the other site referenced? I suppose I could have substituted reddit, or gamefaqs, or XBox Live to a greater or lesser degree, and the point would still have been conveyed.
What site with unmoderated behavior such as displayed would you have used as an example instead, Dizzy Dial?
=D
I like where the comic is going and how it’s portrayed. I’m ok with the pacing too. There is a lot going on in this conflict all at once so it takes a few panels to get out. Todd’s tattoos make character sense to me. As for the shirt…. I focus more on people than their clothes it’s just who I am. Though on reflection it seems like a possible poor choice for showing up to a school conflict. People favour those who adhere to cultural norms.
Game. Set. Match.
Get ’em, Todd. Bring that bastard DOWN.
You can’t borrow time, you can only rent it.
Actually, to all who responded by saying Todd let the cat out of the bag on this, others have made the point that he stated his intent, but not when or how. It may take Ashton time to prep a good cover, and Ashton may not have that much.
Well he COULD just use the Trunchbulls as a scapegoat on this, hopefully.
I wonder if I’m the only person who still thinks the Principal doesn’t deserve what he’s being handed. Let’s see… he’s put in a situation that could ruin his life no matter what he does, and does one thing, hoping it won’t end his career and ruin his life, predicated on not being able to prove these allegations to Trunchbull, and if he were to do anything about it both him (and probably the children, definitely Selkie) would suffer. Then Selkie and Todd swoop in and stop Trunchbull’s self-centeredism… and then punish the Principal for not believing he could stop it and taking what he saw as the lesser of two evils.
Go Todd! You put that cowardly, incompetent, loser in his place! He expelled your little girl for a whole week and was helpless in the face of a rich influential doctor! Because of this, he deserves to lose his career! Yeah!
Ashton could have at least tried. There was enough evidence to tie Tommy as the bully who put Selkie in the hospital and finally reveal Tommy’s behavior. Ashton [i]chose[/i] to silence all who witnessed the incident to appease the bully’s father, not protect the children. That is a serious offense and breach of protocol. That is why Ashton is suffering some mean steaming pile of dung.
chose
Actually it’s been made clear that the Trunchbull’s won’t believe the truth unless it’s staring them right in the face. (For the love of god Ashton PLEASE throw them under the bus.) But Olick does kinda have a point, how should Ashton have handled this? I’m curious as to what everyone thinks.
by basically standing up for himself / the system… use the argument that Mr. Trunchbull TRUSTS the school system to TEACH his child and that if he trusts the system to do THAT, then WHY DOESN’T he trust the SAME system when MULTIPLE different people involved say that his child IS a troublemaker!!, Heck he got the staff at his kids previous school FIRED over it, yet he REFUSED to let the possibility into his head that MAYBE the TEACHERS and STAFF were CORRECT… that’s the double standard right there that Principal Ashton should have smashed the first day that Trunchbull was called up to the office over Truck making trouble… he should have INSISTED that the other teachers that had info on the case were there in the office to give their side of things,at a minimum, etc. he should have does quite a few things differently than he has…
“How do you borrow time, anyway?”
You trick Chronos with rituals and blandishments. But when you only do things for the “Time Being”, Murphy will rat you out and at the worst possible time.
I did for a while think that the author lacked skill such as character development and delivery method. He clearly has a lot of ideas. For a while he didn’t really do a good job at delivering them; sometimes the story would be too blunt to let me get into the story to even wonder what happened next. Other times things didn’t seem to add up as if there wasn’t an outline for his story and he was just writing hopping it would all work out.
The author has gotten far better now and will continue to, I’m sure. A lot of it is experience. Education such as a creative writing class might help, but either way if he’s already progressing he will continue to do so.
Well, the principal forgot a very important rule:
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”