Molly Lane, SiP 46, and Spoilers!

[frosti]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="comic sans ms, jester, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Darth Fett:
My point exactly Janine.
But if Molly doesn't appear in the story beyond this issue, why have a whole issue dedicated to here?

Unless it was to drum up extra sales of the soon to be re-printed M&P Special.....
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As usual, I only partially agree with your reasoning. I really hope that we don't see Molly come after the girls. That's something I'd expect from a cheesy soap opera. But I have enough faith in Terry's writing to not expect that from him.
On the otherhand, i don't agree with the idea that Terry's just looking to cash in on the re-print. I can see how one could come to that conclusion. But I really doubt that he would decide to make issue 46 one big commersial for Molly and Poo. I think the series means more to him than that.
As far as a reason to do this issue, maybe Terry just wanted to write about her again. He's talked about it in the past. Is it possible that there's no ulterior motive behind the decision?
I will agree (once again) that the pacing of the series hasn't been that great for a while. The focus hasn't been that great ever since issue 38. To much starting and stoping. I would really like to see one complete arc (with no abrupt stops like issue 43) before another single story issue like this.




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[happybunny2]

I have always loved the story of "Molly & Poo".I loved this story,I loved the interplay between Francine Benjamin and Molly.I also thought the scene in the bar priceless.

Molly Lane..Now there`s a woman who knows how to keep her husband..Not all it the same place I grant you...but you can`t have everything.

...

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It's simple tips like these
That keep you safe from injuries
The surgeon general should do his part:
Warning, beware, be careful - Fragile Heart

Words By Jewel(EDA)

[Jaxom 27]

Disclaimer: I have not read through this entire thread right now, but I seem to see a couple patterns of argument that I'd like to comment on briefly.

1. A fun issue.
2. What's the point? It doesn't have anything to do with anything, except for the brief mention by Francie's mother about that "nice Molly Lane girl" way back when, Molly doesn't have much interplay in the SiP mythos. So why does this issue matter? Sure we get some fun interplay between Katchoo and Francine. We get to see Francine's elusive brother and how HE is and how that undeniably helped shape Francine into who she is. We get some fantastic writing by Terry. But does it matter? In the grand scheme of things? Doesn't look like it. Could it? Maybe. Worry about it? Why? Terry said he put this one together rather quickly (I do believe). Well it doesn't look rushed to me. It looks like some of his better work as far as line work and facial expressions and everything associated with the artwork. I thought the story was crisp and haunting in a way. Myself? I kept reading Molly's take here and applying it to whast we know about the other characters in the story and how their tragedies affected them. And that is kinda my point, it doesn't matter HOW (or IF) it fits right into the SiP story. It matters because it made me think more about the characters we deal with every other issue.

3. Did he do it for the money? Specifically? Yep. Bet he did. SHould we be upset about that? Maybe I'd be more contrite if the issue was put out as a "Special Issue" or "Special Companion" to the Molly & Poo issue. THAT would've incenced most people more because it'd've meant an extra $3 for another piece of the SiP puzzle. Terry did it in the regular numbering. He gave those who read SiP religiously, but who didn't have a chance to get the elusive vol. II #14, a chance to meet the reason behind that issue a little more fully and interest them in hearing her entire story when he does rerelease the issue here shortly. And for those of us who own and cherish the story, he's giving us another taste and showing a bit more about why that issue was so haunting.


That's my story and i'm sticking to it.
2 cents even.

I liked the issue.

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Before allowing drunken friend to cheat on his girl, you must attempt one
intervention. If he is able to get on his feet, look you in the eye, and deliver
a "F...OFF!" You are absolved of your of responsibility.

[dogbowl]

Probably the black pages should be dropped for future collections... the ink rubs off sometimes. Defray some printing costs...

I predict Molly gets out (as in F's dream) and goes after Ben. Of course she'll reappear, no one is left to provide physical conflict! She'll eventually be dispached in a climactic battle between good and evil as seen with Walsh vs. Samanhta, Katchoo vs. Darcy, and Tambi vs. Veronica. But it will be a battle of ideas rather than power. Imagine the good writer vs. the evil twin, like in 'The Dark Half.'

Yep, Griffin Silver is gonna have to finish her off.

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[Darth Fett]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="comic sans ms, jester, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dogbowl:
Yep, Griffin Silver is gonna have to finish her off.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

&lt;*SHUDDER*&gt;

My point/problem precisely.

Darth

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'A long life eating mush is best.'
Kawatabuke Sanjuro, ronin

[Branflakes]

What Jax said. I really liked this issue.

I keep reading about getting on with the "real" SIP story and I wonder, what is the rush? The best part of a destination is the journey to it. Yes, maybe the road has been a bit rocky lately, but SIP is a story, not just an ending. And the story is not just about Kat and Fran. Terry knows where he's going. There's no reason we can't stop every once in awhile and take a rest. We'll get to the ending in due time.

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The ninja lesbian milk getter. aka dorkflakes.
Take the time to feel the wind.
I'm tired of the silent majority. Silence equals death.
"I'm not crazy, I'm just reality challenged" -tyledras
Help Hostboard by using that search engine.
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Bran's Place

[fallingstarre]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="comic sans ms, jester, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dogbowl:
I predict Molly gets out (as in F's dream) and goes after Ben. Of course she'll reappear, no one is left to provide physical conflict.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Right idea! Wrong target?

I think Molly gets out and goes after the animal that assaulted Freddie's client. I thought Freddie was going to have Katchoo do it, but now that Terry has brought Molly back, it's all too perfect.

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A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again. -Alexander Pope

[Darth Fett]

Hey Bran, you watched B5 didn't you?
How good would the last episode of B5(Sleeping in Light) have been if it was the last episode of a 10 year run? Specifially a 10 year run with the same 5 year story line, with 5 extra years of crap gumming up the works, just one-off 'zero sum game' star trek episodes that pretty much stank up the place?

It wouldn't. It would have been the sad headstone on an initially promising but eventually dissappointing S/F seires.

This is my biggest fear aboot SiP. It will become sad by the weight of the plot.
On one hand, I'll keep buying it until it has sunk below Dan Jurgens level for more than 2 years, but on the other hand I can't take it-get on with it I say.

Because I disagree with you that SiP is aboot more than just Francie and kat-their story is THE story of SiP-they are the proverbial Strangers in Paradise named in the title-now, we could go 'round and 'round aboot David's place in the big piture, but basically it the relationship drama of F&K as complicated by D.

The biggest problem is that it seems like Terry is trying to turn SiP into an ensemble cast, ala something like the X-Men or the Avengers or JLA. It's TOO LATE for that. If he wants to spin off stories in the SiPverse, he needs to do 1 of 2 things-give it it own title, or put them on the shelf until he's done with SiP v1(well, technically v4) and start over with a new #1, maybe a new title or variant on the original and tell these other stories.
But please Terry, stop jogging the flow of SiP to do it. It's starting to drive me nuts.

Old School super hero type books seem to me to need to go on forever-not just because the companies need to keep making money, but because as my earliest exposure to the medium and a part of my childhood, they seem to have a quality of listening to the tribe's storyteller over the communal fire, and he always has a new story about your favorite characters-myth and legend sort of stuff.
But now that I am older, the stuff I see now for the first time, and get into at this age, I want it to have endings, resolution.

Back in the 80's some of my comic collecting friends and I noticed Marvel putting Wolverine on the cover of comics he wasn't even in-we started calling him 'Wolverine: Comic Cover Whore!'

I never want to go into a comic shop, see the latest SiP, roll my eyes and go'Pffff, Katchoo's on the cover, but I bet she isn't even in THIS issue.....Katchoo: Comic Cover Whore!'

Do I REALLY htink that will happen?
Nope.
But the way Terry has been obfuscating the main story line has made me wonder aboot what exactly he IS trying to do-and having seen good things fall apart, so close yet so far, and given how much I love SiP, I get anxious and I make noise.

I want Terry to know I've got my eye on him(well, his work, really, I'm not a stalker, I've never even BEEN to Texas )
I have seen creators get soft in the lime light, and the sometimes syrupy devotion to whatever comes out of his pen around here is just the sort of thing that makes 'em lose their edge.
Well, not on my watch! Terry Moore is one of the really unique talents, and I'm going to be loud if my warning lights go off. Sure, maybe I'm wrong, maybe he'll do everything I'm 'worried' about, and in the end I'll still go 'WoW, that was kewl!' I have faith. But not blind faith. No matter how many 'Terry, you rock, SiP is the only comic I read, I named my cat Katchoo!' letters he gets, I'm going to point to what bugs me, because the problem is that now, Terry COULD slack, and glide on his past performance. I said it myself, I'd keep buying it even if the quality dropped, or Terry went nuts and started acting like Dave Sime or something....
And I know Terry would never want to do that. And having met the man in person(he told me himself he liked reading my posts-so he understands where I'm coming from or is a gracious lair ) I know he has a vision. I just want to see it for myself. I know that getting there is half the fun, but arriving is the other half!

(Bran-somewhere, this turned into a general rant, and was not directed specifically at you-sorry, I'm not singling you out, nor am I going off on you! Just thought I should clear that up! )

Whoa, holy crap, did I write all that? Man, I gotta cut back on the coffee. I guess you can all start calling me the Devil's Advocate. Ah well, you know what they say, better the Devil you know.......


Darth

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"Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there."
-Jerry Farnsworth, 'Job, A Comedy of Justice' by R.A. Heinlein


[This message has been edited by Darth Fett (edited January 30, 2002).]

[AsIs]

Hmmm, I remember a lot of people who didn't like the first season of B5 because there was too much character development.

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Selah

The bridge between life and death is love.

[Jaxom 27]

One thing I have to take small issue with in Darth's rant is the comment that it's too late to make SiP a "ensemble cast" within the story that is Francie and Katchoo as complicated by David...(as I have so often argued, all THREE of them are the main characters, but that is neither here nor there and we'll let that sleeping dog lie for now), I'd argue that SiP has ALWAYS been an ensemble cast. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be the various character bios for us to look at on this site. There'd be three and only three. While Francine, Katchoo and David are the titular "Strangers In Paradise" the story has always proven that everyone, every cast member: Freddie, Marcy, Chuck, heck even Veronica and Darcy, are ALL strangers in the vein of the story's main theme of love and friendship. As I said in the above post, I don't see a major problem with the track Terry has taken here. He's giving us another angle of his main theme through the eyes of another one of his cast (periphrial at best, I grant you), but it all falls into the main theme. I'm not saying you're wrong, Darth, and I agree that should Terry fall int a rut or whole that begins turning ugly, we should call him on it (I remember when he once told me he liked my posts too...and you're right, he's a terrible liar ), but for right now, he's using a fresh perspective to tell us something new about his overall big picture.

At least, that's what I want to believe and if it's in a comic book, it must be true right?

2 cents more.


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HOW TO STOP PEOPLE FROM BUGGING YOU ABOUT GETTING
MARRIED:
Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings,
poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me,
"You're next." They stopped after I started doing
the same thing to them at funerals.