Molly Lane, SiP 46, and Spoilers!

[Thrasymachos]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="comic sans ms, jester, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Darth Fett:
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.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Amen. But Terry has always said this is a story with an end. And he has already written the final chapter and put it into a vault. And, according to what he said at one time, there is about a year and a half to go.


------------------
Peregrinator in paradiso.

[Oz]

thats not acutally what he said. i think he said that there was about two more years (at that time) till we got back to the "main k and f" story.

------------------
will you fogive me when i'm gone?

[Darth Fett]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="comic sans ms, jester, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jaxom 27:
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. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh, not true Jax. Is Foggy Nelson a main character in Dardevil? Was Microchip given the same amount of page time as the Punisher? Sharon Carter?

On the other hand, was Smax the 'star' of Top 10, or did Girl 1 get as much coverage as the rest of them(till Alan kak'd her)

This is basically an off shoot of my explanation why I think David is actually a secondary charcater(don't worry, I intend to honor the David/Anti-David Armistice!)

We generally see the supporting characters(Darcy, Freddy, Chuck, Tambi, Bambi, et al) in reference to K and F, not to see their own story. One of the few exceptions was the all Freddy issue, which was cool, because we rarely get to see things outside of the arc the K, F(and sometimes D...) scribe.
However, these things have to remain rare to remain cool. Really, compare SiP to my example of Top 10. Top 10 is a very carfeully crafted enemble cast. We have certainly not seen as much of say Chuck or Bambi's lives from their own persepective in their own story(as oppsed to simply how they connect to K&F's story)

Ok, here it is, my greates SiP fear:
Terry is afraid to end SiP(which I am sure he knows how he wants to end it) and is now putting everything and the kitchen sink into the story so he can delay the inevitable 'Final Issue of SiP' I don't really *BELIEVE* that is the case, but it is my greatest SiP fear, cause I've seen it happen before to others creators I have enjoyed.
If you are right Oz, and Terry plans to meander for 2 years before getting back to the heart of the story, wow, that would suck. I promised I'd buy SiP if it started to suck for at least as long as i bought Dan Jugen's Captain America, so at least I'd see through it to the other side.
As stiring as the first 2 pages of #45 were, I don't buy SiP for 22 pages of it every six weeks. Sure, I'd probably buy a book by Terry with that sort of rotating content, but durn it, that's not why I buy SiP!
Really, expanding SiP to now delve into the lives of the supporting characters from the first 50 issues in detail just doesn't make sense as far as the goal of telling K, F(and D if you must ). Which has pretty much been the goal I have seen evident in SiP since I picked up I Dream of You so many years ago.

Litmus Test Time!
Say you have just a moment in a book store, and someone sees you leafing thru an SiP book. They say it looks interesting and ask you what it's about.
Are you going to tell them about this cool pair of twin hitgirls? A pathetic loser who can't get over the one who got away? The neurotic narrow minded mom trying to live vicariously through her daughter? The whack job mob boss who crashed a plane to kill 1 person? Or Francine and Katchoo(and David, if you MUST)?

I mean hey, get what you want out of it, if you really think SiP is an ensemble cast and are happy with issues like #46, cool, you should be dancing a jig. But I don't, so I am leary. And when you get down do it, yes, I want to see the end of SiP-partly cause I want to see how it all shakes out, but partly because I want to see what Terry will do NEXT!
(No, I don't mean BoP, I mean what comes out of his head all on his lonesome!)

Darth

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

[Jaxom 27]

Points taken.
Leariness accepted and shared, despite everything.

However, we're looking at the term "ansemble" from two different angles, and that's okay.

But despite how we view the term, I gotta maintain that Katchoo and Francine and David's (armistice! armistice!) story doesn't advance without the stories we see of Freddie and now Molly. I would like to see more of this as well. "You're a Loser Freddie Femur" is still one of Terry's best issues to date, not because it was witty and creative and entertaining, but because we saw a side of a caracter we haven't seen before, yet this new light also reflected upon how we viewed the relationship of Katchoo and Francie.

Semantics, schemantics. You make good points, but when do ever really see exactly eye to eye, eh?

Keep the faith and toss another couple pennies!

------------------
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.

[Darth Fett]

Well, Jax, it looks like once again we seem to be both working with the same data, but coming to different conclusions. C'est la guerre, nes pa?

I interpreted what Terry said the same way you did Thras. However, I could see a few issues of denumount(sp?) and reflection after we 'see what happens', just so long as it doesn't go on for ever......

Darth

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

[Thrasymachos]

Well, Oz, here's what Terry said on September 6, 2001:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="comic sans ms, jester, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
you're not going to know what really happens to Francine, Katchoo and David without reading the next 2 years of the series. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I interpret this as meaning that nothing more will happen to Francine, Katchoo, or David after that time. I don't believe that the series will continue without them. ( "S.i.P.: the Next Generation" -- shudder)
Therefore, I believe the series will end at that time. Like Boba Vader, I want S.i.P. to have an end (just not right now).

------------------
Peregrinator in paradiso.

[Oz]

i interpret this statement differenty. i think that this time period is only gonna tell us what happens in the "flashback" and that we are going to see their "present" after that time is up.

cool new sig darth.

------------------
will you fogive me when i'm gone?

[Yamokhan]

Ok, haven't been here in Ages. Hi all. I enjoyed this issue thoroughly, and I may have an advantage in that I haven't read the M&P issue. In one of the issues, there was a sample of M&P, and that's all I had seen-so my interest was piqued. This issue to me was another fine example of what Terry does best-unfolding a character like a beach towel, letting us slowly see all of it. I don't know about putting Molly in the main story line, that seems a little nutty to me, but I tell you what. Even though there have been times that I was wondering where the story was headed, and why, I still read it. I'm completely, hopelessly hooked. Unless Terry starts taking heavy drugs or gets a lobotomy, I have no doubt that his art and writing will always be interesting to see. Just my two cents, folks. Bye!

------------------
"Knowledge Speaks; Wisdom Listens."-Jimi Hendrix

[Gem Farriss]

I agree with Jaxom. This issue just didn't seem to be SIP related at all to me, and seemed like it should have been sold under another logo, not Strangers in Paradise.

He tricked us into buying it, I say! I wouldn't have bought it if it was published under any other name, and I would not feel like I missed anything.

------------------
------------
-Gem
Join tmsiplist, a Strangers in Paradise fan mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tmsiplist/

[This message has been edited by Gem Farriss (edited February 12, 2002).]

[Jaxom 27]

No offemse, Gem, but I think you're misinteroreting what I said. While it night not exactly have seemed like an issue of SiP, I believe it had it's place right there in the middle of everything for the story, in my humble opinion, of someone else in the SiP universe gives me new insight into the three main characters, even if they aren't part of the main set-up.

Maybe you meant you agree more with Darth?

------------------
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.