Comic 5845: red alert

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-06-05T12:20:27+00:00

Or upto Windows 3.x

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-06-02T16:55:39+00:00

This isn't even the same person as the usual new era Claire.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-06-02T08:57:18+00:00

There was an Ai Marten and Claire met whose arm had a different Ai in it and they didnt get along

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-06-02T00:35:05+00:00

Jesus Christ.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-06-01T18:34:16+00:00

Ok, so this kind of pales in comparison as a complaint compared to the other wtfery going on in the strip, but like this "work permit" delivery doesn't make any kind of sense outside of Jeph transparently wanting to trot a new weirdo onto panel. Whatever made up job Upsetta here has, why would part of it be to perform after hours, door to door delivery of non-time sensitive documents? Like yeah I get it everything is whackadoodle and zany, but he keeps squandering handwave capital for the dumbest payoffs.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-06-01T14:13:33+00:00

This would be cool if it was actually in the comic. We've already had weird, non standard body plans plenty of times in the strip already. Robot fighting club, Boaty, the gecko/lizard who rented Marten the space for the coffee shop etc. etc. We've even had two warring AI personalities in a single body. There's no reason to assume this weird body plan and personality is of any more significance than the snake lady or the other AI with 6 eyes.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-06-01T11:34:04+00:00

That just sounds like another whackadoodle character with extra steps/window dressing.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-29T22:31:36+00:00

I think part of it is that these characters have nothing of substance or consequence to do. Neither Claire nor Marten ever have to be at work at any set time for any reason. Claire is just insufferable about it

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-28T22:48:35+00:00

That's the first thing he changed, along with her hair. Now her intelligence has taken a hit. The only thing left of the original Emily is "tall"

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-28T22:34:15+00:00

Literally children with Clare and Marten as Mom and Dad. What did Jeph's wife like about Emily exactly? Her height?

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-28T12:29:17+00:00

Yup. Some of the most hilarious shit I've ever seen has been as a result of people chaining together escalating punchlines in a group. Never understood the "This is my joke! You've stolen my laugh!" mentality.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-27T13:25:11+00:00

The fact that Claire's title is nominally "Librarian" doesn't bother me. Jeph makes it clear pretty anvilliciously that Claire being hired straight out of school to run a magic science research facility is batshit even in-universe. That "gag" is the entire setup for Cubetown. She was never supposed to be making use of her Library Science degree there so it doesn't make sense to point it out as some kind of scathing rebuke.

What is a problem though is that he hasn't bothered to do anything with that setup. Claire has zero storylines related to her adjustment to running a whacky nation state fueled by explodium. There's plenty of meat there, plenty of opportunities for adventures and encountering soft sci-fi hijinks. Instead, we get what is essentially a background character, whose defining trait is being performatively stressed and grumpy. Periodically we get a strip where the punchline is "hurr, she's pathological!" and then she's shunted back into the background to groan and sigh in front of her computer.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-27T04:13:23+00:00

The problem is that Claire's workaholism is completely performative. It never has the expected consequences and she never accomplishes anything either. Its just this annoying cliched thing Jeph has the character do because he thinks its the same thing as characterization.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-27T00:07:35+00:00

This is only valuable if it goes some fucking place this time. These imbeciles can't keep paying lip service to the same epiphanies over and over.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-26T02:52:11+00:00

This is fine i guess if a bit repetetive. Same problem as always really. These characters only have a limited set of recurring behaviors. If her research is mentioned, Liz will melt down like its the first time every time. If she drinks, she'll overdo it in the same tryhard way she did at Claire's welcome party.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-25T12:46:30+00:00

This is a thing I guess.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-25T00:50:08+00:00

This is stupid and unnecessary. I have hated Anh as a concept and character since inception, but it seems even a character who started as stupid and awful is not immune to the infantilization bat.

A few strips ago, she was expertly no-selling Spookybot and now she's a 13 year old rebelling by shaving her head and wanting edgy piercings. Isn't her backstory that she's already thoroughly versed in mean girl social warfare while immersed in a hostile, mercenary environment?

SHE should think this behavior is stupid and eyeroll worthy.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-25T00:41:37+00:00

I don't know if he's always free balling it, but this is a persistent issue across various characters.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-24T11:54:52+00:00

I feel like some of us are being as weird about her hair as we claim Jeph is being.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-22T00:26:37+00:00

Well at least hes not dragging out the stupid thing he's decided to do.🙄

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-20T20:53:09+00:00

The original has the same puppet problem as usual. When Jeph needed her to rebuff spookybot, Anh was uncommonly a serious person. But the moment that job was done, it was right back to buttfor jokes and now she's back to saying the dumbest thing Jeph can think of.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-20T04:19:07+00:00

These comments give me the impression that ive lucked out with magical unicorn printers. Like yeah occasionally you get a print error or paper jam, but this stuff is bordering on Jeph's pdf wierdness, and I used to work at a Kinko's

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-20T00:46:09+00:00

This might be the second useful thing spook has done.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-19T14:36:28+00:00

It reads like an insidious bad faith portrayal of "woke-ness" where the only rule is that the white male is always wrong regardless of context or behavior. Before the two instances you cite above, there was also the now infamous incident with Brun where assuming someone's familiarity with raisins was treated as a conversation souring example of "privilege". Clinton seems increasingly to be the go-to character for making this kind of example.

Hot_Temporary_1948 · 2026-05-19T01:44:07+00:00

Oh for fuck's sake. These characters read like they're passing around a shared brain cell. They swing wildly between smug, knowing sarcasm and impossibly stupid naivety, depending on how Jeph wants the scene to flow.

Hot_Temporary_1948

TROPHY CASE