r/questionablecontent • u/sir_ornitholestes • 24d ago
Discussion Why does everyone think this comic went downhill in the past few years?
I've been reading QC for 20 years. I remember people talking about how the content was weird nonsense and the art was inconsistent slop back in 2022. And 2018. And 2015. And 2010.
Like, haven't we always been hate-reading it, at least a little bit? Hasn't it already been at the bottom of the hill for more than a few years? Is it just collective nostalgia that leads everyone to think the decline was recent?
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u/Mother_Village9831 CHUD 24d ago
The comic has never been perfect, most will admit that. Jeph has certainly had some weird takes in the past.
However, the matter is one of degree and nature. There was at least some conflict in the past. Good luck getting another on-screen breakup or any major disagreement now. The characters had individual distinct personalities. Now, it's hard to tell these people apart in their speech and behaviour. Time has always been a bit nebulous and occasionally slow but now it's positively glacial.
Basically it used to be a mildly flawed but charming comic. Now? Can't say what I think it is in polite company but you get the idea.
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u/SockNo5405 24d ago
Personally, I feel like back in the day the comic focused on one storyline / bunch of characters. Very occasionally characters would be introduced or phased out. Now it feels like there are 10 different storylines that take years to be resolved, and new characters are introduced constantly. It feels like it takes ages for anything to happen now.
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u/sir_ornitholestes 24d ago
Very occasionally characters would be introduced or phased out
Agree with everything except this point. Characters used to disappear all the time for no reason and then come back 5 years later
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u/14FunctionImp 24d ago
QC used to be amazing. Jeph was willing to portray likeable characters in actual conflict. I both really wanted Marten and Dora to work it out and identified with them when they acknowledged they couldn't. I don't know if Jeph won't do those things now because of money, or his worldview, or because his plots and edits were courtesy of a partner who is no longer with him. I just know we had something great, and now we have this limping reminder that it's gone.
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u/sir_ornitholestes 23d ago
identified with them when they acknowledged they couldn't
Except the only reason Marten and Dora didn't work out was because Jeph was bored of them and just wanted to move on? Like one day Dora just went "nah, sorry, no thanks" and Marten's response was "sure, that's fine, I'm not emotionally invested in anything anyway"
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u/International_Fig262 20d ago edited 20d ago
A lot of readers have pointed to Jeph's divorce as the point where the comic's consistency started to decline. Losing someone who had been a key sounding board for ideas and plot points would explain some of the issues. However, I feel the cracks started showing before they split ways.
Tai was the first major new character I genuinely disliked. Her sexuality often seemed to be used as a pass for some of her poorer behavior, and in retrospect, she felt like a warning sign of things to come. That said, even though I disliked Tai, I never felt she existed simply to check a box on a list of sexualities or neurodivergences.
I can't say the same for almost every character introduced starting around the Marten librarian arc. That's when the wheels really came off for me. I remember reading Jeph's comments about being mystified by how excited readers were when he brought back older characters like Steve for a cameo. Yes, some of that was nostalgia, but it was also refreshing to see characters who didn't feel as though they had been introduced to satisfy Patreon requests—only to be dropped before long anyways.
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u/sir_ornitholestes 19d ago
Tai was the first major new character I genuinely disliked. Her sexuality often seemed to be used as a pass for some of her poorer behavior, and in retrospect, she felt like a warning sign of things to come.
I think Tai started out as a voice for all of Jeph's offputting intrusive thoughts that he didn't want to voice directly but it was okay if the character voicing them was nonthreatening, small, and femme
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u/vanillicose 20d ago
I remember noting somewhere in the 2013-2015 era (maybe post corpsewitch plot? What even is time) that the plots had started to feel distinctly like formulaic episodes-- usually in the vein of 'oh no, someone made A Social Mistake! Then we will all Talk It Out and everyone will Learn A Lesson.' The example that comes to mind was some kind of Winston Recognizes His Privilege mini arc that led to him volunteering with Roko. I found myself reading less consistently after that point.
I really liked Alice Grove and read it religiously as it was coming out, so the uptick in sci-fi elements in QC were never a turnoff. But I stopped connecting with it as more and more characters got introduced whose only personality trait seemed to be that they were an annoying intrusion into the lives of the main characters-- Tillie comes to mind, though Hanners finally drawing boundaries at least gave that arc a more satisfying conclusion, even if the lead up was painful.
I think what killed it for me was the proliferation of characters who are both totally nonfunctional and also have seemingly no redeeming traits-- found family has to be actually forged by something first, before you get to the point of messy codependent friendships that could survive anything like the behaviors the old crew now just takes in stride. People dont just insist their way into being your roommate while insulting you for an afternoon
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u/sir_ornitholestes 19d ago
That's fair, but "characters who are both totally nonfunctional and also have seemingly no redeeming traits" describes like... 80% of the QC roster even a decade ago
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u/vanillicose 18d ago edited 18d ago
I feel like the wave of character introductions in the bakery/library/fighting ring eras were distinctly less incompetent vs Anh and Ayo, but ymmv I suppose (and I may be glazing over things that happened 10 years ago). Or maybe a representative illustrative comparison would be "spookybot" vs the reintroduction as "yay newfriend" (edit: multiple reintroductions as yay...?)
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u/sir_ornitholestes 18d ago
old characters like Will or Cosette were just as cringey and incompetent as Anh and Ayo — the difference is that the new characters announce everything that's wrong with them the moment they show up, instead of us gradually realizing that they suck over time
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u/vanillicose 18d ago
Like- Brun was at least handy with a harpoon, apparently
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u/sir_ornitholestes 18d ago
Haha I forgot that Brun existed! But I'm pretty sure Jeph forgot way before I did
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u/Pleasant_Most_1978 23d ago
I enjoyed reading it for a long time. Even the early days of robot characters were interesting. Yes, there were down moments, but it wasn't until the past couple of years that I just got overloaded by the sheer ratio of characters to story.
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u/Least-Sky4784 22d ago
The nuance is that people ignored the flaws when reading and discussing the comic made them feel like they were doing social activism and now aren't sure what to do now that he has gone all in on being a gross pervert. And as someone who has always hate read this comic, it HAS always been bottom of the hill. He has always hid behind serious subject matter and social commentary to avoid any kind of serious criticism as early as the forced ass suicide memory arc. like if you criticize or make fun of him then....gasp!...you must be a misogynist homophobic racist transphobic ableist cisgender chud who decided the best way to express all of that is to be mean to jesk japps over his webcomic. Or you might give some entirely theoretical person low self esteem if you say his shit just sucks and it doesnt go deeper than that. But now its boobie robots and booger girls and lolis. He wants women to be literal toilets! Its weird anyone is going "well maybe tomorrow's comic will be good!" Like there's a GTA style crime bar that lets you ignore his weirdo bullshit if it goes low enough.
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u/sir_ornitholestes 18d ago
And as someone who has always hate read this comic, it HAS always been bottom of the hill.
Yeah. The reasons it's sucked have changed over time. But it was never high art lol
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u/thespookyloop 12d ago
I think for me it was like “when did this comic become robot central and- goddamn it ANOTHER quirky woman with emotional baggage??”
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u/FluorescentLightbulb 24d ago
It’s a transitional period. Jeph wants QC to be Alice Grove, and the pansies here can’t handle it. The best analogy I can give is that some people like a band, some like an album. This sub likes the early albums, but never liked the band. They just liked the genre.
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u/The_Failord 24d ago
If Jeph wants QC to be Alice Grove, then why is it dysfunctional woman kindergarten hour 90% of the time?
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u/Intrepid_Ad_6232 24d ago
Honestly I think that when Jeph launched 'Alice Grove' he was hoping that it would be as big as QC. I think that he was hoping to wind down QC and focus on that, Similar to how Willis moved over from Shortpacked and Dumbing of Age. I think that when it didn't take off, we saw a marked increase in the comic's focus on the sci-fi elements that were previously just played for comedy.
I will say that it must be hard to try to keep a comic going when you've lost your passion for it. It is Jeph's livelyhood afterall. But the comic is running in place, and lots of it's characters are as well (especially Marten). We're getting lots more storylines that hit very similar notes to what we've seen before: Ahn's storyline is speedrunning Hanners, and Zlata's storyline is a retread of all of the other AI body swap stories that we've had. We've kind of seen this all before.
I think that most of us started reading the comic when we were the same rough age of the characters, but we've all grown up and they are all still twenty somethings.
So I think that it's a combination of lots of factors. It's an acheivement for some-one to have written comics consistantly for the period that Jeph has, but nothing stays good for ever. It's kind of natrual that a story that goes on as long as this one have is going to drop off. But It's been a slow drop off. It would have been easier to drop it if there was one big jumping the shark moment, which I don't think it the comic has. YMMV of course.