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Questionable Content
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Questionable Content (abbreviated QC) is a slice-of-life webcomic written and drawn by Jeph Jacques. It was launched on August 1, 2003; the thirteen-hundredth strip was posted on December 22, 2008. Jacques currently makes his living exclusively from QC merchandising and advertising, making QC one of the few self-sufficient webcomics.
The plot centers on Marten Reed, an indie rock aficionado; his roommate, Faye Whitaker; and Faye's boss, Dora Bianchi.
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Encyclopedia
Questionable Content (abbreviated QC) is a slice-of-life webcomic written and drawn by Jeph Jacques. It was launched on August 1, 2003; the thirteen-hundredth strip was posted on December 22, 2008. Jacques currently makes his living exclusively from QC merchandising and advertising, making QC one of the few self-sufficient webcomics.
The plot centers on Marten Reed, an indie rock aficionado; his roommate, Faye Whitaker; and Faye's boss, Dora Bianchi. Supporting characters include employees of the local coffee shop and anthromorphized personal computers. QC's storytelling style combines romantic melodrama, sitcom, humor about indie rock music, and sexual or scatological humor. The artistic style has notably changed over the lifetime of the comic, as Jacques has been constantly refining his drawing methods. Whereas earlier strips were focused at a niche audience of indie music fans, the comic has since become more story- and character-driven.
Background
In 2003, Jacques worked at a local Easthampton paper answering telephones. According to Jacques, the large amount of free time and access to the internet led him to read webcomics "as something to do". Jacques stated that of the webcomics he read, "I've always been really interested in music, and indie rock specifically, and I never saw any other comics that dealt with that aspect of our culture. I felt like there was a niche there that would work."
Publication
Originally, Questionable Content was updated twice a week, and later bumped to three strips a week. In September 2004, Jacques left his day job to begin updating Monday through Friday, and kept this schedule even after a knife accident that sliced an artery in his drawing hand in 2005. QC's thousandth strip appeared on October 26, 2007. Unlike many other webcomic artists supported by their work, Jacques has not expanded his business outside of the comic and related merchandise.
According to Jacques, at one point he would have sought newspaper syndication for Questionable Content, but the thought no longer appeals to him because he does not want to surrender editorial freedom. Instead, Jacques is planning a Questionable Content book.
Style
Both the methods of storytelling and the artistic style of the strip have changed considerably since its inception. Originally, Jacques intended the strip to be about "a depressed lonely guy and his robot", but the introduction of the female character Faye led to an increase in Jacques' ideas for the strip. While QC is still seen as one of the main rock comic strips, the story has come to focus more on the character development and humor of the strip. Jacques informed interviewers that he makes sure every individual QC strip "has at least one thing in it that someone who does not know anything about obscure band x would find funny."
Jacques spoke on the evolution of his art in an interview at ComixTalk:
Jacques uses a Wacom Cintiq graphics tablet (previously a Wacom Intuos) to draw and Adobe Photoshop to color his strips. He cites Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes and the webcomic Scary Go Round as his main influences.
Synopsis
Setting
Questionable Content takes place in Northampton, Massachusetts; the most frequent setting locales include Marten and Faye's shared apartment, Coffee of Doom (the fictional coffee shop Dora owns), and Smith College's (jokingly referred to by its students as "Smif College") Williston Library where Marten is employed. (The real Williston Library is at Mount Holyoke College. The main library at Smith is Neilson.) The comic is mostly realistic, and action primarily focuses on banter between the characters, with slowly-progressing plot developments. Due to the emphasis on inter-character dialogue, Jacques rarely uses thought bubbles in the comic.
The comic appears to be set in modern times, though the presence of anthropomorphic robots with individual personalities (called "AnthroPCs" within the comic) implies some sort of futuristic technology. However all music and band references in the comic are current at the time of each individual strip's publishing. The AnthroPCs are the only consistent signs of advanced technology in the series. When other technological advances are referenced, they usually never get developed beyond one or two strips. Some of the memorable technological creations in QC are the Deathbot 9000; a Vespa scooter that transforms into a battle droid; humans living permanently in space, and orbital defense satellites capable of conversation. Jacques remarked of the setting:
The internal chronology of the strip is somewhat ambiguous; on January 13, 2006, Jeph Jacques stated on a LiveJournal fan community that he has "never sat down and exactly tabulated," but he suspects the total amount of elapsed QC time at that point was "no more than six months."
Characters
- Marten Reed is QC's main character, and the first character to be introduced at the strip's beginning. He is an indie rock fan and former "office bitch" who now works at the Smith College Library. Marten lives with Faye, whom he was romantically interested in for many months, but is now dating Dora. Marten is in a band named Deathmøle with friends Amir, Hannelore and formerly Natasha.
- Faye Whitaker is an employee at Coffee of Doom. She moves to Northampton from Savannah, Georgia two years after a nervous breakdown resultant from witnessing her father's suicide and moves in with Marten after she burns down her apartment with a toaster. Faye is known for a quick wit and a sharp tongue, usually used in affection. Faye was celibate for a long time, then impulsively slept with Dora's brother Sven.
- Dora Bianchi is Marten's girlfriend, a bisexual former goth who owns and operates the coffee shop Coffee of Doom. Unlike most of the main characters, she prefers metal to indie rock. Dora does graphic and web design in her spare time and claims to have a long history of social anxiety that she tries to hide with her use of sass.
- Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham (Hanners) is Marten and Faye's eccentric upstairs neighbor. She has a rather severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, is an insomniac, and counts things for a living. Hannelore has a raw, intuitive talent for playing drums, which she was introduced to by Marten, and has joined Deathmøle.
- Pintsize is Marten's AnthroPC, and was the second character introduced in the comic's first strip. He is a companion to Marten and frequently used for comic relief, throw-away gags or to add punchlines to a strip.
- Penelope Gaines (often called Penny or Pen-pen over her objections) is the newest employee of Coffee of Doom. She has recently gone on dates with Wil, a friend of Sven's. She is suspected of having been the superhero Pizza Girl, formerly a recurring character.
- Tai is Marten's student boss at the library of Smith College, where she studies English. She is a lesbian with a very active and complicated love life, sports numerous tattoos on her arms, and is a great fan of Jimbo's romance novels. She goes by the DJ name Tai Fighter.
- Sven Bianchi is Dora's older brother. He is a singer/songwriter and has written several country music songs. Sven has a very active love and sex life, though he claims to have calmed down. Sven and Faye had a physical relationship, although they are currently on the outs after Sven had a one-night stand with Gina Riversmith, a country singer.
- Winslow is Hannelore's Macintosh model AnthroPC. He resembles an oversized iPod with arms and legs. Though Winslow was initially taunted by Pintsize with "pictures of equine molestation," the two are now friends. Winslow is a cautious foil to Pintsize's reckless nature.
- Blodwyn Raven Pritchard, a native of Houston, is also an ex-goth friend of Dora's and a junior employee at Coffee of Doom. Although she is energetic and cheerful now, Dora claims that Raven was 20 pounds heavier in college and very depressed. Raven dislikes her first name, Blodwyn (Welsh for 'White Flower').
- Steve is one of Marten's close friends. Steve is described as being more adept at dating than Marten, and dates Ellen and then Meena in the strip.
- Amir Afridi, Marten's friend, a bass player and founding member of Deathmøle. He has confessed to being in his mid-thirties but apparently can pass as much younger.
- Natasha attends Smith with Tai and Ellen, and worked for Tai in the library until she was fired after passing out topless on the Smith College library copying machine. She dated Amir, with whom she formed a band; she threatened to withhold sex unless the band was named Deathmøle. Eventually she dumped both Amir and Deathmøle when they criticized her guitar playing.
Recognition
Questionable Content was used along with Penny Arcade, Fetus-X and American Elf as an example of comics using the web to create "an explosion of diverse genres and styles" in Scott McCloud's 2006 book Making Comics. The comic has been notably used in a New Haven, Connecticut, youth literacy program sponsored in part by Yale University.
Questionable Content has been recognized several times at the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards:
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- Outstanding Newcomer
- Outstanding Reality Comic
- Outstanding Romantic Comic
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| | Outstanding Romantic Comic
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- Outstanding Character Writing
- Outstanding Comic
- Outstanding Reality Comic (honorable mention)
- Outstanding Character Writing (honorable mention)
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| | Outstanding Romantic Comic
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- Outstanding Character Writing
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| | Outstanding Character WritingOutstanding Dramatic ComicOutstanding Slice-of-Life ComicOutstanding Romantic Comic
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- Outstanding Character Writing
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External links
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- , run by Jacques and QC forum members
Translations
- , official French version, since June 2005
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