Does This Mean the Storyline is Finally Over?

Cidu Bill on Jul 29th 2009

9_chickweed_lane784g.gifThank Monty!!!

Filed in 9 Chickweed Lane, Bill Bickel, Brooke McEldowney, comic strips, comics, humor | 34 responses so far

34 Responses to “Does This Mean the Storyline is Finally Over?”

  1. Freezer Jul 29th 2009 at 04:21 am 1

    I often theorize that 9CL is one big performance piece, pushing the bounds how much he can slip past the radar while testing his readers and editors’ patience.

    But mostly I think Brook McEldowney really wants to draw full-on porn and is working his way up to that point.

  2. yellojkt Jul 29th 2009 at 06:11 am 2

    For the porn, he has Pibgorn.

  3. Mark Jul 29th 2009 at 08:33 am 3

    The only reason I keep reading 9CL is because every day I hope it’s a strip about the cat. None of the rest of it is generally worth anything.

  4. MoWatt Jul 29th 2009 at 09:20 am 4

    I never “read” 9CL. I just look at the pretty pictures.

  5. Winman Jul 29th 2009 at 09:37 am 5

    The naked guy is disappointed because he wants the Full Monty.

  6. Heather D Jul 29th 2009 at 09:42 am 6

    LOL @ Winman

    I always enjoyed the “Monty” idea when it was just a strange quirk of Thorax to talk about the Almighty in that way. When he became an actual character, it was hit-or-miss.

    The current storyline was starting to lose me, though it was a good setup for Edda and Amos to be “naked” in the water together, and also for the hiding of the clothes and the nun’s involvement in that, which was quite funny.

    But yes, I’m ready for this arc to be over. Bye-bye Monty! Let’s get back to Edda & Amos lovin’!!

    BTW I love 9CL and discovered it through CIDU. Gracias. :)

  7. ZBicyclist Jul 29th 2009 at 09:51 am 7

    I’m with Freezer and MoWatt; it was particularly embarrassing when the young blonde was supposed to be in high school, so he was drawing erotic pictures of jailbait.

  8. Kate C Jul 29th 2009 at 11:01 am 8

    I was a fan of this strip for years, back when Edda was in HS–I found it creative and interesting, and I liked the dynamic between Edda, her mom, and Gran. But once Edda moved to NY, the strip just changed entirely. Not only did you lose those core relationships that made the strip so special to me, Thorax started becoming a major character, and the sex talk just became constant and Edda became the ultimate Mary Sue. I gave it up for good during that extremely tiresome sex-in-Brussels-while-the-whole-world-watches storyline. Part of sort of cares what is going on in this strip, but part of me really doesn’t want to know.

  9. Keera Jul 29th 2009 at 11:27 am 9

    What storyline? I mean, I’m sure it started before everyone got naked. Something to do with pregnancies and cockroaches. But wasn’t there something going on before that?

  10. CTew Jul 29th 2009 at 02:19 pm 10

    Always well drawn, the art is as functional as the text, and usually makes an interesting point IMOH. if you’ve kept up with the story line, the outcome of this strip makes perfectly good sense within the 9CL world. one of my favorites, as its characters demonstrate growth in real time. I guess no comic is everyone’s cup of tea. BTW, there have been two cats.

  11. CIDU Bill Jul 29th 2009 at 02:23 pm 11

    If this storyline had gone on any longer, I’d have seen three cats.

  12. Heather D Jul 29th 2009 at 02:35 pm 12

    There. Are. FOUR. Cats!!!

    Um, sorry, wrong reference…

  13. Rebecca Jul 29th 2009 at 03:02 pm 13

    I pretty much skim of 9CL every day because of crap like this. The art is nice, though.

  14. J-L Jul 29th 2009 at 04:55 pm 14

    Wrong, Heather D.

    There are FIVE cats — the Cardassian said so himself. ;)

  15. The Bad Seed Jul 29th 2009 at 06:41 pm 15

    I read this strip every day because it often piques my interest, but Thorax - and now Monty - definitely are negatives for me. By the way… this story line started with the ex-nun discovering she was pregnant. She went out to a rock by the lake to think and to wait for her husband, to tell him the news. Then along came Monty and Thorax to suck the life out of what should have been a joyous and blessed event…

  16. Silviya Jul 30th 2009 at 03:48 am 16

    Aaaaand, all of the people who used to comment 9CL in comics.com can now come here and throw crap at the comic strip…..

    Really.Am.I.The.Only.One.Who.Doesn’t.Think.I.Own.The.Characters?

    It’s Brooke’s storyline and he decides what to do with them. If you like them - you read it. If you don’t - then you don’t read it. It’s as simple as that.

    Thorax just tells Monty he doesn’t want to talk to him anymore. That’s it.
    I have to admit that Monty and Thorax were a little boring to me like a year ago. Now, Brooke found a great way to integrate them in the main storyline and I absolutely love them.

    It’s a sitcom comic strip, people - he just puts his characters in amusing situations and we all laugh at their absurd reactions. Like Friends. Why so judgmental?

  17. Elliott Jul 30th 2009 at 04:17 am 17

    Apparently Monty still abides.

  18. Freezer Jul 30th 2009 at 04:39 am 18

    @Silviya: I can only respond to your passionate Defense Of The Beefwit with a slightly bewildered “Umm… What’s your point?” We’re not allowed to complain about a storyline that we think has dragged on for far too long and features a character or characters we weren’t that fond of to begin with?

    I think you’ll also find that precious few of us bothered posting to Comics.com regardless of strip or opinion thereof. Even before McEldowney stuck his fingers in his ears and went “LALALALALALA”… er… disabled comments.

  19. Silviya Jul 30th 2009 at 05:23 am 19

    I don’t get your point, really.
    It is his characters to decide what their behaviour is.
    Why do you think your opinion on how Thorax HAS to react on something is more correct than his creator’s ?
    That’s the thing that bothers me.
    Like all of the people who are insulted by this storyline think Brooke is not reading his characters correctly and is drawing them do things that are not suitable for them. But they fail to admit that Brooke is the one that builds his characters and he owns them and has absolute power to make them develop in the very way he wants them to.

    For my part, I am happy he ignores all those “opinions” and just contiues having fun with the storyline. :)

  20. Powers Jul 30th 2009 at 06:26 am 20

    Silviya, no one is suggesting that McEldowny can’t do whatever he wants with his characters. Criticisms arise, however, if that “whatever” is inconsistent, and those criticisms can be perfectly valid. Consistent characterization and consistent setting are essential to good writing; their lack means (in most cases) that it’s bad writing.

    If you read a bad book, and at the end note that the book was bad because it was poorly written, is that criticism invalid just because the author has a right to do whatever he wants with his characters? Why should a comic strip be any different?

    There’s nothing wrong with expressing a desire that the creator of an ongoing work take his characters in a different direction, one that the reader would find more pleasing. One can’t cry foul if he chooses not to, of course, but there’s nothing wrong with the criticism.

    I agree with those who say the strip was more entertaining before Edda moved to New York, and before Thorax became more prominent. I stopped reading it, but I would have preferred to keep reading it in its original style. Does that bother you?

  21. Silviya Jul 30th 2009 at 06:44 am 21

    Nah, it doesn’t bother me a bit. It’s sad, cause I totally agree with you on one thing - when I don’t like where the author is going, I stop following. There are like tons of comics I stopped reading at some point, cause the direction their owners are heading towards just doesn’t seem interesting for me anymore. I think that’s perfectly normal, though.

    And, just cause you asked - when I read a book, and I find it’s end “disappointing”….. hm, that never really happened. I would never blaim it on “bad author style” - it’s THIS story with THIS plot and that’s the way it is. I don’t blaim the author for making it bad. I blaim the characters he was inspired from, for making a bad decision. See, for me an author tells the story the way he sees it. When it’s HIS characters, he has the freedom to show them as contradictory as he will. People in real life are also contradictory. They also make decisions and act in a way that is not predictable. Why would I be mad at an author for deciding on developing such a character?

    The only time I felt mad at an author for doing that, was when I read a Star Wars book that showed Leia as a complete nut, making her act completely out of character. But that was because the author took a character that was not his, and put totally weird words and actions in her. With Brooke things are totally different… For me, at least.

    As for the criticism… Well, for me it’s just the yells of people who think the characters could be different. If you want different characters, why bother reading about these?

  22. Freezer Jul 30th 2009 at 07:06 am 22

    The characters are who the characters are.

    The (main) complaint here is a storyline that started as Diane the former nun morphing into Skinny Dipping For Godot. And then staying there. For a month plus.

    I think you’d find the same complaints no matter who the focus characters were.

  23. Silviya Jul 30th 2009 at 08:05 am 23

    I don’t complain…..
    Is there something wrong with me not seeing anything wrong with it?

    The thing is you feel the characters are acting out of character. What makes you think you can make that judgement? Do you know the characters in person? Have you talked to Diane?
    Have you met Amos?

  24. The Bad Seed Jul 30th 2009 at 09:22 am 24

    This is a site for critical analysis of strips - sometimes leaning towards complaining - so we characters are acting exactly like we should, and should be embraced and loved for that, right? This is a site for people who understand that not everyone likes every strip, and who don’t get all bent out of shape and defensive when people don’t like their favorite strips. I hate when people get all personally involved and I get attacked for expressing my feelings. I’m sure certain people would be happier perusing only the fan pages for their favorite strips, but I love this site even when I don’t agree with people. I certainly don’t want to live in a world where people are only allowed to complain about other people’s complaining.

    I was raised to believe that we each have the write to an opinion and to express it. I’m sorry my opinion that I dislike certain characters offends some, but they shouldn’t think they can brow-beat or shame me into liking the characters. And I didn’t see anyone here complain about the characters acting out of character, they’ve just complained about not liking the characters. This is a free country, after all.

    And as for not liking storylines or endings - of course we’re allowed to disapprove and complain! And authors admit that THEY made mistakes with storylines all the time! There’s nothing worse than finishing a book or movie to find a terrible, incongruous, slapped-on ending that makes absolutely no sense or oversimplifies things or negates all the feelings you’ve developed about the characters or the book.

  25. The Bad Seed Jul 30th 2009 at 09:23 am 25

    Yikes… “…the RIGHT to an opinion…”

  26. Elliott Jul 30th 2009 at 09:55 am 26

    Does anyone really wonder why Comics.com shut down the discussion of this one?

  27. Lihtox Jul 30th 2009 at 09:58 am 27

    Can someone explain the context of this strip, to save me from an archive dive? Is Monty actually not God, or not omnipotent? And what happened to the whole give-birth-to-cockroaches storyline?

  28. Cidu Bill Jul 30th 2009 at 11:20 am 28

    Lihtox, I suspect the Monty/God thing is going to be kept intentionally ambiguous forever (same as the Thorax/space alien thing).

    And to the best of my recollection, that very unpleasant “your baby will be a cockroach” seemed to fall by the wayside after Diane attacked Monty. I suspect Brooke thought “Hey, the hell with this, I have an excuse to draw nekkid people now. Hot dog!”

    Personally, I think Thorax and Monty work much better when we can just assume they’re both nuts and buying into one another’s insanities — and in very, very small doses.

  29. Elyrest Jul 30th 2009 at 12:28 pm 29

    Jessica Rabbit - “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way. “

  30. Silviya Jul 30th 2009 at 02:06 pm 30

    Well, it looks like CIDU is just a place where people complain, and are really not open for a discussion.

    That’s disappointing, I thought I could find some spiffy people, who are open for a discussion.
    Unfortunatelly, I found people who just want to complain about stuff.

    I still love CIDU though.

  31. What? Jul 30th 2009 at 02:29 pm 31

    Silviya, you claim to be looking for a discussion, but immediately tell anyone who claims that characters seem to be acting out of character doesn’t know what they are talking about. That’s not a good way to initiate a discussion. Ask them why they think somehting is out of character and then enjoy the discussion. Don’t tell them they can’t have an opinion if they aren’t the characters creator.
    I personally find the discussion of how people’s affection for the strip has changed based on story line interesting.

  32. BGneiss Jul 30th 2009 at 03:57 pm 32

    Right, “What?” - a discussion is not the same thing as an argument, a lecture, a monologue, or a tirade. You said it better and much more succinctly than I.

    I was going to have to resort to another of my food analogies: if I taste a certain food and don’t like it, then 1) why would someone think that berating me and telling me I’m wrong was going to change my opinion, and 2) why would anyone care what I think anyway? I don’t agree with everyone I know all of the time, and some of them I rarely agree with. So what? I certainly don’t think less of my friends for not being clones of myself.

  33. Joshua Jul 30th 2009 at 11:00 pm 33

    Cidu Bill: While I don’t know whether the Monty as God thing is going to be kept ambiguous forever, I would have to think that this week’s strips tend to rule out the possibility of Monty being the god of the 9CL-verse. I suppose he could still have some semidivine power that could still place him at an advantage over regular people, but it’s hard to believe that a being who admits he can’t find a pile of clothes could still have the power to change an unborn child into a half-cockroach, as Monty had previously threatened to do. Alternatively, Monty could still try to pass himself off as a god, although he is likely to find most people considerably more skeptical of him than Thorax was.

  34. Silviya Jul 31st 2009 at 02:34 am 34

    BGeneiis: I love your food analogy. If you allow me, I’ll tell you my view on it, and maybe you’d agree we haven’t decided on the terminology we’d use in this discussion yet. When we do that, it’s the time to lay out arguments. Otherwise it would end up with people just not understanding what the other side is saying. And that’s how I do discussions. May seem a little slow, but the results are always amazing.

    Now, first of all, I never said I am annoyed by people not liking 9CL. And nor do I care, to be honest. What I am is curisous. And when I say “why do you keep reading it, if you don’t like it” I don’t mean “STOP READING YOU STUPID IDIOT.” Instead, I am doing just what it reads - I am calmly asking for your reasons why are you doing it. Cause people I find interesting. And their motivations have always been a challenge.
    I am really sorry, if it sounded like that, but then again, there is no way to put “calmness” in a written text - if the person who reads it, reads it as if it’s a furious lection, then it would sound like one. There is no way for me to convince them I am not lecturing them, I am not being rude… That I am only curious on WHY people react this and that way.

    Now let’s return to the food analogy, which I find absolutely correct:

    “I was going to have to resort to another of my food analogies: if I taste a certain food and don’t like it, then 1) why would someone think that berating me and telling me I’m wrong was going to change my opinion, and 2) why would anyone care what I think anyway? I don’t agree with everyone I know all of the time, and some of them I rarely agree with. So what? I certainly don’t think less of my friends for not being clones of myself.”

    So, here is the difference. Here is me in the same situation:
    If I taste a food and I don’t like it, I’ll never say the food itself is “bad”. As I understand it from your words (and correct me if I’m wrong), for you it would be “oooh, cheese… wonder what that tastes like. *tastes*. AAAAh, this is BAAAAAAAD. This is the WORST food ever. Whoever created it was a fool, who knew nothing about taste buds. …. ” and so on, I exaggerated on purpose.
    When I am in this situation it would be more like “wow, cheese. Now that is new. I wonder what it tastes like. *tastes* Aaaaaah, I don’t like this. It’s the worst thing I ever put in my mouth. I’m noever eating this again. …” and so on. The thing is I wouldn’t blaim the creator of cheese, for making something I don’t like. Nor would I go anywhere to complain how bad cheese is. I’ll just shrug and put it in my list of “things I don’t like”. And I find it interesting why anyone would even bother to waste energy on doing something more. It’s not gonna make my life better. It’s not gonna make me feel better. I would rather do something that I like. And it would be wrong if I try and make people stop making cheese, just cause I don’t like it. Right?

    Now if the cheese was really “bad” and not “tasted bad”, I would say “hey that sucks! Selling me stuff that is no good.” But that would be because I know what cheese tastes like when it’s not “bad” (and by “bad” I mean bad in a “rotten bad” way.) and I can tell the difference.

    Now, let’s return to 9CL, after this loooong explanation.
    1) I find it amusing why people keep going there when they don’t like it, and why they don’t do something that they like. Does it make you feel better when you take it out of you, or is it something else?
    2) I find it interesting why people complain about it, and when they don’t understand that people like me, who actually enjoy it the way it is right now, WANT it that way. Why do you think the characters should be any different? You say they are inconsistent. I don’t see anything inconsistent in them. What do you think they should have developed like? Why?

    Please, please, please don’t read my words with an angry tone. I am only curious, like the cat that got killed from it.

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