December 17th, 2008
Strike One
This one is dedicated to my pal Stone, to whom this actually happened.
I’ve been off the social radar somewhat as of late, due to work and apartment-moving, but I’ll try to get back on top of things and answer some of the burning questions that have been filling up my mailbox. A lot of you have been writing to let me know that you received your shirts, which is fantastic! I hope the overseas orders arrive in time.
See you all next week for the Christmas Eve strip!
-karl
December 17th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Something very mysterious happened to your pal Stone.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
He was rejected by a rabbit?
December 17th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
ouch
December 17th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Girls!!!
December 17th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
That bunny’s look of pain and sadness is crushing my heart.
Come here, bun. I will give you a hug.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
…I dun get it.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
look at the last picture. it’s the bouquet thrown on the ground. you still don’t get it?
December 17th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
My impression of the panels was 1. Rabbit has Bouquet. 2. Gives bouquet to girl. 3. Girl likes bouquet. Giggles effeminately. 4. Something scary appears off panel. 5. Rabbits gone. Flowers abandoned. I suspect alien abduction.
Sorry, this one wasn’t very clear.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Stephen, you’re on the right track, but this is what I interpreted:
1. Rabbit has Bouquet. 2. Attempts to give bouquet to girl. 3. Girl and friend laugh at pitiful display of affection. 4. Rabbit is crushed. 5. Rabbit throws unsuccessful gift and reminder of failure on ground, leaves.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Ah you are truly the master of facial expressions on fable-like animals – and the crushing despair on the face of the flower-bunny, that’s just heart breaking
December 17th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
In fact, that facial expression would be perfect for an “Epic Fail” tee
December 17th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
what just happend?
December 17th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
First of your strips I’ve had to look at numerous times to figure out. Took me a few views, but it’s wonderful.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Hmm, I can see how this might be a bit confusing. I might do an edit to make the sequence more clear when I have the time.
-karl
December 17th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I think I get it now. The third panel with the flowers behind the girl bunny threw me for a loop, as did the next panel after it with the main bunny looking gloomily behind him. I initially took the third panel to mean that the girl bunny had taken the flowers and was holding them behind her, and so the next panel was nothing but a non-sequitor. I think I’ve got the idea now – she just walked right past him while giggling, ignoring him completely.
December 17th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
thank you for:
your sharing of your art.
your discipline to keep ACC going every week.
December 17th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Aww. Nothing hurts quite as bad as rejection.
I thought the bouquet was rather nice, actually…
December 17th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Oh, okay I get it now. I thought he was holding the flowers behind her head on purpose like it could be used as a hat or something.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Haha! Poor Stone.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Well, I understood it. It was the expression of the rabbit’s friend in the 3rd panel that made it particularly clear.
Maybe some people just don’t notice these things in real life, hence they don’t understand it when they see it in a comic?
cambiata: how could she be holding them behind her if both her paws are in front of her and you can see the male rabbit’s paw on the left of the panel? I don’t see how that could have been made more clear… (short of Karl extending that panel to actually show the rabbit holding the flowers) I think some people just don’t pay enough attention.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
1- Condolences, Stone.
2- The confused are right as far as I’m concerned, I’d lose panel 4 and have Rabbit Man do that face on flipped panel 3 instead. Cause I’m sure you really wanted to know what I think…
December 17th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Clear as a bell. Careful reading is it’s own reward!
December 17th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Karl, please don’t edit. There is just no need; it’s perfectly brilliant as it is.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Confusing. If what’s happening is what I THINK is happening, then panel three should be a longshot, showing the laughter and rejection, thus making panels four and five more heartbreaking.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Poor guy. We have to be the ones to stick our necks out and they can be so cruel.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
To be honest, I thought it was very clear. Poor little bun – so sorry Stone…rejection sucks whether giving it or receiving it…
December 17th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I agree that it needs just a touch of clarification… moving out on Panal 3 to show Stone holding the flowers would work.
so, now I know what my face looked like… so often
December 17th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Wow. I’m honestly surprised at all the confusion.
I got it right off.
And it’s completely adorable, and so sad for him.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Ah, yes. Unrequited love….happened to me too in college. Took a similar slap in the face to get me to see the truth of our relationship: a simple friendship. Now on to a more disturbing thought….rabbit/squirrel relationships and the products thereof. ;->
December 17th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Esn: Yeah, I didn’t get panel 3 at all. The flowers were behind her, but I really didn’t have an explanation for how. The fourth panel is just ambiguous, and then the bouquet is on the ground. It was so ambiguous, that at first I thought the last panel was what bunny was looking at in the 4th panel. Very confusing.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Huy estan increibles las traducciones y el arte aun mas , esta genial , aparte el abominable no se sabe aun de donde viene , uff tardaran años en reveñlarlo y aun asi lo seguire leyendo ,,, genial ,,, simplemente genial
December 17th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Stone: Life still loves you! Ü The sun’ll come out tomorrow.
I really enjoy your comic. Thanks for posting it.
One question: How do you keep your characters looking so consistent? I can never draw the same thing twice.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
people, anyone who’s ever faced rejection knows what happened to this bunny; come on, THINK, it’s not just your average comic strip: this is a series that actually provokes thought, give Karl the time and effort of your analysis that he deserves in return for the time and effort he puts into creating such a beautifully complex and unique, yet so very simple and universal story.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Thanks all for the insightful comments, I too was confused by this strip. It wasn’t readily apparent to me that the girl and her friend are walking along a path. When I first read the strip, I thought the bunny presenting the flowers was walking towards them himself, and then the girl had put the flowers in her hair, and then…yeah, it’s the first strip of this wonderful comic that has confused me so.
I still don’t understand why his hand extending the flowers is behind her head so much in panel 3. Did he extend the flowers in front of her as she approached him, and then she walked around them and resumed her path while he remained like a statue? Karl said he saw how it was confusing, and it did confuse myself and others, so perhaps an edit is not such a bad idea.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:02 am
I discovered this comic last week and have enjoyed it very much thus far – thanks for having us along for the ride!
This was my first update check, and I think I have to agree that it required a couple reads before I understood it. It’s probably that fourth panel – the framing is a bit weird. The flowers are there, so are we assuming the she-bunny is smiling about them? Her friend is laughing at the poor suitor, but only half his face is visible. The poor rabbit is in frame, but only as a hand and arm. Getting that panel to read quickly as a “rejection” beat (maybe by pulling the “camera” out and crowding the characters less) will bring this up to your usual standard. Keep up the great work.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:34 am
HiredN00bs: You can see that they’re walking along a path because the first panel shows them walking (note how one of their feet of each of the girls is lifting off the ground), and you can see that the male rabbit is stationary because he is sitting in the first panel.
Regarding the second paragraph of your post, yes, that’s exactly what happened.
P.S. Laughter may just be the most cruel form of rejection. Even active dislike at least shows that you’re being taken seriously.
I kinda wonder how she would’ve reacted if she hadn’t had her friend with her when he presented the flowers.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Karl, I too got this straight away and plead with you not to change it. Another brilliant strip, mate.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:48 am
Kat: I don’t think Karl’s characters are all that consistent, except for some of the main characters, it’s just that he draws so well that you usually don’t notice it. For example, compare the bunny in this 2007 strip:
http://www.abominable.cc/2007/08/22/09/
…to the bunnies in this one. The animals have gotten a lot more anthropomorphic, even walking on two legs now.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:48 am
It is clear that there are two types of people in the world: those who immediately relate to, and got the full tragicomic story in those 5 frames, and those who haven’t lived the pain of the rejected flower-bearing bunny. I think this was done just right- the framing in panel 3 shows the girls having walked past the RF-BB (hand and nicely rotated bouquet seen as backdrop) and in 4, his stricken face turned to watch them passing further down the path to his right. Oh, the pain. (tragic for him, comic for the gals)
December 18th, 2008 at 4:32 am
“The girls”? the weasel is female too? I didn’t get that.
This is very funny as a strip to print and put, depending to your age and occupation, in your office or in your school diary or as a gift to someone.
But this isn’t exactly what I’m expecting to read in this comic. I’m fine with things being taken slowly, but will all these one-strip humoristic scenes, aren’t we straying off from the original plot? I mean, geeze, it’s either a deep story about the forces of nature and Charles Christopher, or it’s one-strip humorism with funny animals. Mixing them both is starting to confuse.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:47 am
hey, rest assured one oversea order has arrived here in the uk
December 18th, 2008 at 8:59 am
i don’t understand how some of you guys could not get whats going on in those panels. especially given the title of the strip.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:12 am
m0nky is right about the title taking away the confusion, but I had it too. I think it’s because we never know when this strip is going to wander back to the supernatural theme that’s pervaded other strips. I got “omg that’s going to eat me!” out of panel 4 and if the flowers were on the ground — well I doubt whatever took the bunnies would take the flowers too.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:57 am
This could mean many things, really.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
It took me a moment to understand exactly what happened as well, but, after a few moments of staring, I finally got it.
Aww, poor bunny! Tell your buddy Stone that it’s really sad what happened, but… there’s always plenty more out there.
Great comic as always! I love the art so much!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
UPDATE: edited for clarity…
December 18th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
poor Stone…I’ll hopefully see him so I can give him a hug…
December 18th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
ahhhh, better.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
… yesss! and has the girls moving forward through the planes (eg. b’ground, midground, f’ground), while letting boy bunny keep us grounded relative to those planes… it makes for a much easier read, and therefore much hilarity ensues… lovely
December 18th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Amazing work, great pacing, all too relatable sentiment. Really speaks volumes. I just found out about your strip, and I think this is a great introduction for me.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Ah… now there’s the pang of unrequited romance that haunts us all… well done.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Lun-Sei: Speak for yourself, I personally like the strip’s meandering nature.
And I liked the first version of this strip better, because of two reasons: in the new version, we see the bunny’s dejected reaction BEFORE we see the reaction of the girls; it’s in the wrong order… and too much attention is given to the girl on the right… I think Karl’s cinematic and framing instincts were righter the first time. Also, the rabbit’s dejected expression was better-drawn and more emotionally intimate in the previous version. I could relate to it more.
The one thing that is better here is that it’s more clear that the flowers are BEHIND her in panel 3.
So I’m going to do something unprecedented for me; a “fan re-edit” of Karl’s comic… this is the version I would settle on:
http://e.imagehost.org/0002/20081217gr7b.png
The only thing changed from the first version of the comic is that it is more clear in the 3rd panel that the female rabbit walked by the flowers while he kept holding them.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I kinda preferred the first version (I think it was the close-up on his crushed face – that struck a chord with me) but I can see how this edit is much clearer for those confused by the first. As always: beautiful work Karl.
I hate to bug but.. *ahem* .. Townsen?
December 18th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
I have to agree with Esn…and I like the Esn re-edit. This is not your average story…it follows life like it should be told…in parts of a whole.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
I think the meandering nature of the strip is a pretty accurate depiction of the forces of nature
haha
You changed this right? It looks clearer…
I can’t believe you actually took the time to do it over XD You are very dedicated
December 18th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Esn: I agree, your fan re-edit is the best version.
December 18th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
DX Poor Bunny.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:58 am
I love Boy Bunny’s rejected face in the 3rd panel.
December 19th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I personally love all the side stories. I don’t think this one even is one strip humorism, because I suspect a story line developing with this bunny in his quest to find love and acceptance. It might even be that Charles Christopher helps in that quest later. The artwork is spectacular, the story writing is splendid, and the entertainment standards are one of the best in comics, period–not just webcomics.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I found it perfectly clear… mean and saaaad
but rlly BEAUTIFUL too
December 19th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I don’t understand why everyone is so confused by this strip. And yea, normally the strip wandering from Deep Story, to one shot funnies would make the comic unfocused and annoying… but for some reason… It just works here.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Much clearer…. I didnt get it when i stopped by earlier in the week.
I got confused which bunny was which, originally. This clears it all up.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
they’re like opera intermezzi
December 20th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Ohh, it was changed before I saw it. I was having an awful time trying to understand why it was supposed to be hard to understand.
December 20th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Both versions of this strip have positive points – the first version had a more emotive effective with the way the scenes were cut, but the new version is easily understandable (by those who apparently turn their brains off while reading this comic?).
My comment about how I think this comic’s starting to lose its original, powerful charm, was of course disproved by other readers. I know that when you comment on something, fans of it will pop out everywhere because there can’t POSSIBLY be ANYTHING that is less than perfect in what they worship so much. Me, I have the quality (negative or positive, who knows) to be able of seeing the faults of something even when it’s a work I like.
I just had to express my point about how lately this comic strip feels quite less powerful and inspired than before, and when I said that on a comic, I rarely was proven wrong in the long run….
December 20th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
normally I am horrified by the idea that a good artist might listen to advice from the internet– the internet is staggeringly, aggressively stupid– but in this case I think the revised strip is an improvement! I understood the first one after studying it for a bit, and I enjoyed the hell out of the closeup of bunny guy’s anguished expression in v1, but v2 is definitely better storytelling.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:14 am
I’m impressed. This webcomic’s the bomb.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:07 am
second version is better, but I miss the zoom on the sad rabbit
-
the giggle of the female rabbit is beautiful.
-
she doesn’t worth flowers.
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about listening internet readers, I hope you will be very very very very cautious with that. I do not want you take advice from me, I’m NOT a professional cartoonist, I pay (or here waiting for a marvelous book) cartoonist because I can”t put all that work to decide the best way to tell a story.
-
Lun-sei seems he has to tell us a big message, but for me, the strips is exactly like at first. Same style, Same rythme, many characters and back-forward with Charles. If magic is gone, then, there was never magic.
I don’t care about “powerful charm” or whatever crazy crave people have when they found a new marvel. Soon, the marvel is just an old thing, and they say it’s no more marvelous…
Simply, the strip is no more new. it’s just that. I prefer now, when we knows the author, the reason of the strip, the goal, the feeling.
-
The artwork is stunning.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:24 am
Hi everyone!
First of all, thanks so much for the thoughtful comments (and the fan-edits)
Here’s my thought on this week’s strip: it was confusing in its initial format, and I changed it based on that fact alone. I had some reservations about it when I posted it (something felt ‘off’ about the flow of the panels, visually as well as narratively) and your feedback solidified my resolve to change it because, after all, if the story isn’t clear then no amount of fancy drawing is going to save it. And clarity is key here.
I think this version is much stronger – none of the sentiment is lost and the situation is easier to grasp at a glance. The original close-up of the spurned rabbit’s face (is his name Stone now? I don’t know!) was funny on its own, but ultimately too jarring and out of place; this sequence doesn’t warrant a close-up like that – it takes us out of the moment and disrupts the flow of the story, visually as well as emotionally. His face in the third panel says everything that needs to be said.
As for making changes based on reader comments – I don’t do this sort of thing lightly. I value all of the opinions here. Really, all of them. And if there’s an indication that something is confusing or hits a wrong note, then I give it a lot of consideration. Unless it’s *supposed* to be confusing, in which case I delight in the speculation.
That’s it for now!
Yours weekly,
-karl
December 21st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
It’s not confusing – except, it makes a bit of difference if the rabbit and the, I don’t know, some kind of weasel, are both female? I think they are, because the expressions in panel 4 both look feminine to me, but maybe that’s just my imagination, because it shouldn’t be possible to convey that on a weasel with no iconic cues such as eyelashes or blush, dammit!
The first time I read it, I thought the weasel was male, which made me sympathize less with the male rabbit, since he was being (in that case) a doofus.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
This little vignette makes me sad, because no man has ever given me flowers. *sniff*
December 21st, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Frankly, I was disappointed you changed it. I kind of liked toying with my vague idea of a webcomic artist doing a comic about his friend who got abducted by aliens while proposing. Oh well, at least this one is much more clear about the real meaning.
And whoever said anyone who has dealt with rejection got the first version straight off was right. I don’t know the feeling (yet) so of course I was one of the confused people. I think the whole fiasco speaks volumes about this comic’s ability to relate to people. If you ever publish this you should have both versions.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I’m no Bill Oddie, but I would say that the other animal in this little story is a pine marten…
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:39 am
I know that feeling. ;_;
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 am
I love the edit! Now it definitely looks like the two … ladies … just waltz right past the poor bunny while blowing off his flowers. (Poor lil’ guy!)
I’m grateful you were willing to edit it. I’ve seen more than a few comics where a simple thing noticed by many readers (and pointed out) festers into an argument between artist and audience that can kill a good strip.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Damned if you do, damn if you don’t.
I liked both the versions. Bu6t I respect more the fact that you redrew it based on a few confused comments.
Keep up the great work. I bought my first and only signed strip from you (the one with the bird that can’t fly and his friend/brother counting).
Merry xmax
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:31 am
I came back a second time this week and checked the comic again without reading the comments, and found myself thinking “Wait a minute, how did this confuse me before?” Now I see, you changed it. I’m on the second-one-is-better boat. In the original, while the rejection storyline is clear in the first three panels, the fourth and fifth gave me pause: Is that fear or shame in his eyes? Is he looking over his shoulder in terror? Is the hunter back? etc.
It all makes perfect sense now. Thanks for clearing it up.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I’d get you flowers, Cambiata.
And Karl, your strip is mind-bogglingly good. I’m in love with it.
December 24th, 2008 at 7:01 am
In answer to oomu:
I do believe that ALL comics change over time. I’ve never seen a single comic, online or offline, that hasn’t changed as time progressed. The longer the comic, the more it will evolve and change. Sometimes, the change improves the comic. Other times, however, it makes it lose its original charm.
You can’t possibly claim that comics don’t change over time. This webcomic already is starting to change, I can see it clearly. And naturally all comics that last more than a couple of months end up evolving!
(Truly, I took the time to reply because of your nickname. “Oomu”. That’s japanese for my favorite animal: “parrot”!!!!!)
December 24th, 2008 at 9:12 am
0o0! its wed. and you haven’t updated YET! ‘o ‘! eerrrrr
December 24th, 2008 at 9:12 am
0o0! its wed. and you haven’t updated YET! ^n^ let us down! good luck with moving though! ^u^
December 24th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Aw, lol. That’s sad.
December 24th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
i see you changed the comic a little
December 26th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
oh no… that’ll totally crush me… I don’t handle rejection too well (T.T)
December 27th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Ah, okay! I see it now. Thank ye!
December 28th, 2008 at 12:54 am
The only people who aren’t getting this immediately are the people to whom this has never happened.
To the rest of us, this is beautifully sad.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
karl, I guess the reason I and others liked the original close-up was because we didn’t find it to be funny. Rather, we found it to be painfully familiar and liked it because of that. If your intention was for the panel to be funny, then the re-edit might be more so, by drawing attention away from the bunny and more onto the ladies.
I still don’t find it to be funny, though. And I would say that as far as losing sentiment, the removed close-up of his face said a lot more than the one in the current panel 3. At least to those of us who could relate to him.
December 31st, 2008 at 7:25 am
How did any of you NOT understand this? It’s really quite plain and simple to follow…
It’s funny and sad too… Kinda like people not getting it
January 1st, 2009 at 8:42 am
Yeah I’m actually amazed at some of the comments about not understanding the comic. That’s just mind-boggling. Were you people drunk when you read it?
January 8th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Wouldn’t a bunny be more likely to eat the flowers?
February 27th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I ‘got’ the strip right away, but I might have read too much into it… I was under the impression that the doe was dating the weaselly guy (and I assumed it was a guy), and that the buck figured being one of her kind, he could just step in and sway her some cliched gesture, but that he was placing too much emphasis on “race” and not enough on personality. I suppose there are dozens of ways to interpret this strip, though. It’s what you bring to it.
May 30th, 2009 at 12:37 am
For once, I ‘got’ what happened right away. Seems obvious. Usually I have to read others’ comments to find out what happened.
The girl’s smirk is pretty cruel. She could have been a lot more gracious about saying no.
So what happened to Stone… I assume he was the rabbit on the left, not the weaselly guy?
June 9th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
JS and Lars (and possibly Mike and James, too) – I think you ‘get’ what happened right away because this is the edited version. From earlier comments there seems to have been 5 panels in the original strip; now there are only 4. I wish I could see the original!
August 24th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Didnt read all the comments, but #1- I did get the sequence and #2- Where in the heck did that bunny get cultivated roses from???
March 6th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
I totally feel for him.
February 4th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Aw, poor rabbit:(