Strip for Jan 25, 2006
Posted by hutchowen on January 25, 2006
Today’s strip went dangerously close to parodying the idea of being disgusted by marketing, commercialism, etc. While both these things are true: A) I want to try to make this more commercial, and B) I see no problem in lampooning everything -every side that needs to be lampooned- I nonetheless want to make fun of Hutch’s stance in this strip rarely and only when more important things are at stake. I don’t think this is the case here. So I might have come close to an edge I am not happy about. The territory of making fun of Hutch Owen for being so adamant about his values is a place I don’t want to venture. But I don’t mind, for now, skirting it to get to a place where anything is fair game -if it is truly problematic and lampoonable in our society. We’ll see how this all shakes out.
January 26, 2006 at 4:30 am
hello Tom
I understand your concern, since I had this feeling the line was thin since a few strips: the punchline with tv cable, the one with the blues cd…
Like you said, “going commercial” might ask for simplier storylines. It’s also ok to show humanity in an idealist character.
January 26, 2006 at 5:14 am
(My point is: There’s nothing wrong with giving the strip a good shape for a press proposal, but you don’t want Worner to sell it the way he sells the punk rock car. This said, I hope I’m not going too harsh here… I allowed myself this comment, since you expressed some doubts. Word, from a long time fan of hutch)
January 30, 2006 at 8:37 am
Aw, come on. Don’t take it quite so seriously. I don’t think this goes quite so far out on that limb. Firstly, I got a laugh out of it, and secondly I don’t see it as Hutch showing himself to be psychotically anti-commercial, just the neurotically anti-commercial that we’ve always known him to be. He was just caught up in the rhythm and fire of the Cause. I can see him in the undrawn next panel slapping his forhead.
January 30, 2006 at 8:41 am
Aw man, I was hoping my e-mail address wouldn’t be broadcast to address harvesters. Either it should be hidden from everybody but you, or it should be a link to a automation-thwarting send script. But no, it shows up as a mailto link.
Fortunately, I used an address other than my main one. We’ll see how long it takes before I start getting spam to it. (The last time this happened, it took about 3 months for the address to become unusable.)
Tom - I don’t suppose you can control that, can you?
February 7, 2006 at 7:20 pm
In Some ways ridiculing Hutch’s idealism in your comic is like society’s marginalising of people who are non-PC and have an independent view.
We all have just and rightous ideas somewhere in our heads that are every day trampled upon or ridiculed by every day realities.
Anyway, I am intreged as to how you are linking you’re dailys all together? I will have to look around more in the archives.
February 7, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Yeah- that’s an important issue. Everything held TOO dear, without room for wiggle deserves lampooning, and every absolute is the road to fascism, but ideals are important too, and if I cross the line into making fun of Hutch’s ideals where they still make sense I have become cynical. I hasn’t happened yet.
I’ll reorder the strips soon to represent my way of looking at it. Basically, put the “intermission” parts at the beginning, drop out Nora arrives (later) and you’re all set.
TH