[9-26-11] THE END... but come back Wednesday!

[Cheshire]

Getting back to discussion of the comic itself, I did some thinking today and I think I've realized why I didn't really love the ending. I'm going to say right now that it is not because of the actual ending. Honestly, I liked ending with an open question and hint at future possibilities much better than a huge fanservicey kiss (or wedding). But when I was reading it, I just didn't feel much of anything.

So I reread some of the earlier arcs with some of the endings that really did touch me, and I realized that my problem with it is that it's just too compact. There's so much speech going on, with so few visuals for almost the entire page. It would have been nice to see Penny's look of regret and memory when she said "Or Rich," or Aggie with a kindly smirk saying "No regrets, Pen." It might have worked if this were a normal page in the middle of the arc, but this is the very ending. This is the time for us to linger, to draw out the moment and savor it a little. While the ending of the Popsicle War with only one shot of Penny and Aggie with multiple balloon bubbles was extremely successful in my opinion, this was because it was a grand, detailed ending statement. The fact that it was followed by a silent, drawn-out sequence with Karen boosted it a ton. Or the ending of Dinner for Six, which only needed one sentence because of just how much the images were able to carry the weight.

I think the last three panels were great. But they weren't enough. The page went down like a bite of pizza when I wanted to savor it like a sip of wine.

EDIT: I also have to agree with Bunnythor on this ending not meshing well with the pre-coda ending. One anticlimatic "let's see" works for me, but two?

[mindstalk]

Fanfic can be awesome. Evil? No.

Last night I did run into someone who feels fanfic is best or strongest when arguing with the author, thus she's more into HP than Tolkien fic. Not sure how I'd sum up my own tastes, but it wouldn't be that.

[Ollie]

The ending here feels like the ending to Cool Cat Studio.

Something about it, eh, it tries too hard.
It may be just the art or the way this page was composed.

wasn't that last chapter the summer before senior year? Why no senior year?

Still, I enjoyed it all these years, at least to some extent.

[bokonondeemax]

Thanks, T. It's been a lot of fun following this comic and this forum, and I wish ye well of it. I will continue reading the other comics of yours that I follow, of course.

And thanksh to all ye forumites ash well, I raish a frothy pint to yez. Yarr!

[bunnyThor]

First, fanfic is unauthorized. The moment the author grants permission for another author to add to the canon, it becomes authorized, and no longer fanfic.

See, fanfic authors don't claim their derivative works are canon. I'll grant that some of the more adamant (fanatical, even) fanficcers may claim that they should be canon, but unless they're under a psychotic delusion that they are in fact themselves J.K. Rowling or Gene Rodenberry, or that Rowling or Rodenberry said to them, "Yes, filch-dobbyfangrrrl69, I officially accept your work as canon," then no, they do not claim their fics are canon.

I think you're misunderstanding what BunnyThor said in the part you're quoting.

Indeed he is. Or at least he has it backwards. I was responding to a claim that someone had commissioned fanfic writers to add to the canon. And my point is that whatever they wrote for this commission could not be fanfic as it was canon. If I write a screenplay for STAR WARS: EPISODE VII, it's fanfic. But if George Lucas pays me to write the same screenplay, it's profic. And if he produces a movie from my script, it's canon and not fanfic.

And I'm not saying that fanfic is bad because the ficcers think it is canon. I'm saying it's bad because it's the intellectual property equivalent of trespassing. T Campbell might have a sign out saying "C'mon in. Hang out. Just don't pee in the pool." but it's not right to assume that all other authors feel the same way, or don't mind you sneaking across their lawn when they aren't looking.

[mindstalk]

Meh. Property exists to serve people, not the other way around. The consequentialist analysis of fanfic seems pretty harmless.


I didn't read all of the previous threads. Did anyone note that insofar as we know of their relationships, Penny went back to men while Aggie stuck with women?

[Alice Macher]

Not surprising, as T said somewhere in forumland that Aggie has been Penny's one exception to her heterosexuality, whereas Aggie does prefer women more generally. (Remember that, as she realized after Darren, Marshall was, like with Sara, the one guy she genuinely felt attracted to.)

[MudFlap33]

Not surprising, as T said somewhere in forumland that Aggie has been Penny's one exception to her heterosexuality, whereas Aggie does prefer women more generally. (Remember that, as she realized after Darren, Marshall was, like with Sara, the one guy she genuinely felt attracted to.)

Was straight plus Aggie a definitive orientation, or how Penny identified herself to herself at age 17? All I can find is

Penny can solidly claim not to have been attracted to any girls who aren't Aggie.

But that's at that point in her life.

OTOH, T once said that Authoress Penny identified herself as bisexual. Depending, of course, how one reads those two strips, it could imply that the Penny who came to be would one day come to accept that identity as well.

It could be just me and any labeling biases I might have, but bisexual seemed to me like a more likely identity for Penny to settle on one day. It's probably likely that she prefers men and/or has an easier time finding men with whom she's compatible, given her dating and attraction history that we are privy to.

I wonder if Aggie is still the only woman Penny has been involved with romantically or sexually?

[nymosy]

The ending here feels like the ending to Cool Cat Studio.

Something about it, eh, it tries too hard.

welcome to penny and aggie

[L'HommeQuiRit]

I will miss this comic like no other webcomic I've ever read. Thank you, T, Gisèle and Jason.

[Makkabee]

There is a universally recognized meaning for "fan fiction"

Cite, please.

Will the Oxford English Dictionary do?

"And not just Miriam-Webster-- the motherfuckin' O.E.D!"

-- Brady Kincaid (Edward Norton), Leaves of Grass

[Davidj]

And I'm not saying that fanfic is bad because the ficcers think it is canon. I'm saying it's bad because it's the intellectual property equivalent of trespassing.

I think the world of the imagination shouldn't be fenced off.

[


Nothing whatsoever in the above about whether it's "authorized" by the creator of the original work or not..

Note, however that if you got paid for it, it isn't fanfiction because collecting a pay cheque makes you a professional.

[Mr. Brightside]

IIRC, Rowling's said she likes the fanfic, except for the erotic fanfic, especially that between minors.

...of course, last I checked, HP fanfic was 99% erotic pairings of minors and 1% futurist manifesto.

[Alice Macher]

...of course, last I checked, HP fanfic was 99% erotic pairings of minors and 1% futurist manifesto.

And let's not forget erotic pairings of faculty (especially Snape) with minors, which I'd imagine squicks Rowling out even more.

(Although Tamar, Kamino Neko and I have been shipficcing Lisa and Luna in the Complete the Sentence thread recently, we've been keeping it PG, so we're off the hook as far as erotic underage pairings are concerned. Please don't sue, Joanne. .)

[Freemage]

IIRC, Rowling's said she likes the fanfic, except for the erotic fanfic, especially that between minors.

...of course, last I checked, HP fanfic was 99% erotic pairings of minors and 1% futurist manifesto.

And Naked Quidditch, which had an astounding lack of erotic content despite its title and premise, and was actually decently true to the characters, other than giving Harry a better sense of humor ("Oooh, I tink I taw a bid bad Moldiemort!
I DiD, I DiD
I Did tee a bid bad Moldiemort")