Questionable Content
Questionable Content is a slice-of-life webcomic written and drawn by Jeph Jacques. It was launched on August 1, 2003. The plot originally centered on Marten Reed, an indie rock aficionado; his anthropomorphized personal computer Pintsize; his roommate, Faye Whitaker; their mutual friend, Dora Bianchi; and their neighbor Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham. However, over time a supporting cast of characters has grown to include employees of the local coffee shop, neighbors, and androids. QC storytelling style combines romantic melodrama, situational comedy, and sexual humor, while considering questions of relationships, sexuality, dealing with emotional trauma, and, as of late, artificial intelligence and futurism.
Jacques makes his living exclusively from QC merchandising and advertising, making him one of the few professional webcomic artists. By 2004, Jacques could support himself and his then-fiancée based on income from merchandise and advertising sales. In May 2019, the comic reached its 4,000th strip.
Background
In 2003, Jacques worked at a local Easthampton, Massachusetts, newspaper 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
Questionable Content was originally updated twice a week and was later bumped to three strips a week. In September 2004, Jacques left his day job to begin updating Monday through Friday.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 decided to re-publish the strips in book form. To date, six volumes have been released, covering strips 1–1799.
Unlike many other webcomic artists supported by their work, Jacques has not expanded his business outside the comic and related merchandise.
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 told 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 in March 2006:
Jacques uses a Wacom Cintiq graphics tablet to draw his strips and Adobe Photoshop to color them. He cites Bill Watterson and the webcomic Scary Go Round as his main influences.
Synopsis
Setting
Questionable Content takes place in Northampton, Massachusetts. Frequent settings include an apartment shared by Marten, Faye and Pintsize; Coffee of Doom, Dora's coffee shop, where Hannelore, Penelope, Cosette, Emily, and Dale work; and Smif College's Williston Library where Marten is employed along with Tai and Claire. The comic is mostly realistic with occasional bouts of absurdity, 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 a reality similar to our own, but with a futuristic twist. For instance, references to music and bands in various strips are current and relevant at the time of publication. On the other hand, the comic also regularly features highly intelligent anthropomorphic robots with individual personalities, which frequently interact with human characters as though they have been doing so for a significant amount of time. Jacques remarked of the setting:
AnthroPCs are the only consistent signs of advanced technology in the series; when other technological advances are referenced, they rarely get developed beyond one or two strips. For instance, some of the notable technological creations in QC are the Deathbot 9000; a Vespa scooter that transforms into a battle droid; humans living permanently in space, single stage to orbit ramjet-powered spaceplanes, orbital defense satellites capable of conversation. The permanent human presence in space was elaborated on in a story arc set aboard the space station where Hannelore grew up.
The internal chronology of the strip is somewhat ambiguous; on January 13, 2006, 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." In a Q&A Tumblr post on January 23, 2012, Jacques estimated that it had been "at least a couple years in comic-time since the strip started."
Characters
- Marten Reed is QC main character and the first to be introduced at the start of the comic. An indie rock fan, he is a former self-described "office bitch" who now works as a library assistant. He is generally optimistic, laid-back, and altruistic when it comes to relationships. He has no pets, but owns an AnthroPC named Pintsize. Marten and Faye are roommates, and have been so since strip 22. As of strip 2807, he is dating library intern Claire.
- Pintsize is Marten's AnthroPC and was the second character introduced in the comic's inaugural strip. Mischievous, impulsive, and filthy-minded, he is often used for comic relief, throw-away gags, or punchlines. He especially enjoys harassing or pranking Faye, although his hijinks are usually brought to end by some form of punishment, such as dismemberment, replacement of body parts with other objects, or being stuffed with bird seed. Even so, he continues to be a companion to Marten, originally serving as a sounding board during Marten's more introspective moments.
- Faye Whitaker is Marten's best friend. Having met him in strip 3, she moved in with him after she accidentally burned down her apartment. Prior to moving to Northampton, she witnessed her father's suicide; in the first serious moment of the comic, Jacques devoted six strips to covering the subject, accompanied by a direct note to his audience. Faye is known for her quick wit, sharp tongue, and usually playful, but sometimes violent, physicality. For the majority of the comic, Faye worked alongside Dora at the Coffee of Doom, but was fired after Dora caught her being drunk at work. Faye then began working in an underground robot fighting ring where she developed a friendship and then a romantic relationship with one of the robots there, Bubbles, with whom she now runs Union Robotics, a robot repair shop.
- Dora Bianchi, Tai's fiancée, is a bisexual former goth who owns and operates the coffee shop Coffee of Doom. Her first appearance was in strip 75. She and Marten used to date. In the past, she has struggled with a habit of hiding her personal problems, such as her self-claimed social anxiety or trust issues caused by previous relationships. In fact, it was the latter issue which led to her and Marten's breakup. Tai and Dora declared their engagement in strip 3989.
- Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham is Marten's and Faye's eccentric upstairs neighbor. She has a rather severe case of obsessive–compulsive disorder and is an insomniac. She now works for Coffee of Doom. Despite her pathological fastidiousness, Hannelore has five piercings in each ear. Her parents are both billionaires, but her mother paid little attention to her; she was raised by her father in a space station. Hannelore first appeared in comic 515.
- Tai Hubbert studied English at Smif College and is now Marten's boss at the library. She is a lesbian with a very active and complicated love life and sports numerous tattoos on her arms. As her preferred genre of music is minimal techno, she also works as a DJ under the name Tai Fighter. Tai first appeared in comic 691 and is engaged to Dora.
- Marigold Farmer is an avid gamer. She is very introverted, despite having acknowledged her desire to be "less of a shut-in", and at low points, she has shown a tendency to ignore personal hygiene. She is also obsessed with anime and manga and has a Japanese-style AnthroPC named Momo. She is in a relationship with Dale, who she initially interacted with as an antagonist on World of Warcraft. She first appeared in strip number 1413.
- Dale is a video game enthusiast, playing a large amount of World of Warcraft. To support his mother and pay for his otherwise sedentary lifestyle, he worked "a bunch of jobs" including delivering pizzas, though he is now working at Coffee of Doom. He is often seen wearing an augmented reality device in the form of glasses, which for a brief period enabled him to see and converse with May, an imprisoned AI, who has since been released. He and Marigold are in a relationship.
- Claire Augustus is an intern at the Smif College library and an aspiring librarian, first appearing in comic 2203. Her younger brother is Clinton; the siblings resemble each other closely enough to sometimes be mistaken for twins. Claire is a trans woman, a fact that makes her self-conscious and causes herself and Clinton to worry about her personal safety. Claire and Marten have been dating since strip 2891.
Recognition
Questionable Content has been recognized several times by the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards:
| Year | Wins | Nominations |
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