Better Days
I’ll admit I’m often reluctant to review adult webcomics. While I suspect the vast majority of my readers are over seventeen, I like to think of Tangents as a family-friendly review site. Still, I do have a growing number of adult webcomics that I read and enjoy, many of which would probably be considered “adult” because of nudity, sex, and in rare circumstances excessive violence. (This is actually rather sad when you think of it. What does it teach children when you hide away a woman’s breasts as something “shameful” but allow them to see people pull beating hearts out of some poor sap’s chest?) But I’ve rarely come across a comic I’d consider “adult” because of the content matter of the comic.
When I started reading the anthropomorphic comic Better Days (found thanks to a TV Tropes link), I had no idea of the ride that was waiting for me. The TV Tropes link seemed innocuous enough, and I’ve encountered teachers who let their beliefs bleed through into their teaching (I suspect many of us have). Unfortunately, those strips were the brief breath of levity in what was going to be a long and bumpy ride. BD has rape, tweenage sex (and that’s not a typo!), consensual incest between siblings (well, one instance that we know of), adultery (on more than one occasion), the depiction of armed military conflict, a man going into a mafia safe house and killing pretty much everyone there to save family, and more. If you’re easily offended, religious, or not conservative, you’re probably going to get offended by the content of the comic.
And yet, even with the growing Sueification of one of his main characters (Fisk) and the multiple injections of Drama in the comic (to the point that the mother once shouted “Is my life just a big lighting rod for drama!?” which I must admit I found quite amusing), there are some decent elements to the comic. For instance, when Sheila (the mother) was attacked and raped by an ex-boyfriend and her son (who was nine, and just starting to get his Sueification injections) went after the guy with a baseball bat, both Fisk and Sheila went into counseling afterward. Likewise, the incident of incest between Fisk and Lucy was intelligently done, and had long-lasting consequences, though perhaps not as severe as they could have been.
As for the adultery? Each time adultery occurs in the comic, divorce follows. Friendships are destroyed by it. Less realistically (perhaps) is how each incident results in a new stable relationship (Sheila ends up marrying the guy she slept with, though it takes a while for Fisk to forgive his eventual stepfather, and Elizabeth and Fisk end up together after she catches her new husband in bed with another woman… and possibly cheats on him in turn with Fisk). Likewise, while not technically adultery, when Lucy steals away a guy from his cheating girlfriend, that relationship ends up stable and happy. It’s a minor quibbling point, I know. The situation behind the adultery in the first story was logical, reasonable, and sad. The marriage wasn’t depicted as a healthy one, and the story itself was handled with considerable maturity. It’s just the end-result almost seems to say “adultery results in happily-ever-afters” which I’m sure was not the cartoonist’s intent.
Less forgivable is the “Sueification” of Fisk. He went from a “Crowning Moment of Awesome” in defending his mom from a rapist to James Bond (and I kid you not on this). The presentation of him fighting both in Desert Storm and in Bosnia were fairly well done, though the depiction of him in Ranger training fighting off a bunch of Marines in a training exercise was… pushing the boundaries. But once Fisk got recruited into a private intelligence agency to literally become a Bond-type… well, if you turn off your brain and go along for the ride, then you’ll probably enjoy it. Just… don’t think about it too much or you’ll start to find it annoying. Fortunately, outside of his initial recruitment into this corporate intelligence group and his taking out a bunch of Mafia (who admittedly were not expecting an ex-Ranger to invade with guns and grenades) to save a cousin they were using as a prostitute, we don’t see anything about his Bond activities. That’s likely for the best.
Amusingly enough, a couple years back cartoonist Jay Naylor pulled an April Fool’s prank by stating he was going to recast the crew as humans. The drawings he did were quite good (Naylor’s a talented artist who makes a living on his art, though sadly enough it’s the porn he draws that is how he makes his money) and I’m left to wonder just how much of an impact Better Days would have had if he’d drawn his characters as people instead of anthros. There is a degree of separation (similar to that found in science fiction and other forms of fiction) that comes with drawing the characters as non-humans. Just imagine the impact of seeing a nine-year-old boy taking a baseball bat to the man raping his mother… or of the brief images of the twins when they had sex that one time? Or the utter anguish of Fisk as his best friend was forced to move away because his mother slept with his best friend’s dad? Would these not have deeper meaning and more immediate impact if these characters had been human?
Then again, that degree of separation might help readers from becoming too offended by the story. It’s easy to say “it’s just a story” when you’ve cat-people and mice-people and the like as your cast. But seeing them as people… and it might have been too much for Naylor’s readers. And that’s a shame, because even with this degree of separation the stories hit hard. Better Days is one of those comics you’re either going to love or hate. It’s not easy remaining ambivalent about it. And while some aspects of the story could have been told better, and Fisk seriously could have been toned down… it’s worth reading. (Small note – Better Days concluded last year. Its sequel, Original Life, focuses on Fisk’s three kids and is a far more light-hearted tale which I’ll review later.)
Ah, Better Days. I’m definitely one of the people who loved that one. And it’s a good thing I already know it so well, or you’d have spoiled it quite a bit for me now! To be blunt, the form of this review was rather unexpected. It focused so much on the controversial topics (and specific examples!) that it didn’t quite sum up what made Better Days worth reading, cause as far as I’m concerned, one rarely looks for a “webcomic with adultery”.
Also, to tell the truth, I’ve read it about thrice now over the last years and I never saw Fisk as “suificated” (ugh, what a term), but I guess I better not heat up that debate…
I agree on the anthro-concept. I somehow doubt Naylor ever considered this (since all his comics are anthro – and I just see that New World has been removed from the website :( ) but in the end it really helps to overcome some psychological defenses in our mind. The story will still hit you as if they were humans on a deeper level, so I doubt making all chars humans would have improved anything there, but it evades some major defensive mechanisms in our mind (which is one of the reasons why anthro fairy tales came into being, if my memory serves me right)
Yes, I suppose I did “spoil” much of the comic with the review. However, considering the subject matter and the fact that Naylor managed to handle a lot of the stories intelligently and fairly realistically (with the exception of the pseudo-Bond stories), I suspect knowing what happens only increases the draw of seeing how it was depicted. My reviews do tend to spoil things more often than not, especially if I’m focusing on specifics with a comic.
However, Fisk is a Sue. I mean, he single-handedly takes out a bunch of Marines after they took out most of his squad? Hmm. Was about to rant about all the stuff he did, but there’s a simple litmus test: if Lucy had been the one to do everything Fisk did, would we have heard cries of “Sue!” being bandied about?
I also agree that it’s sad he removed his New World comics; it seems he’s realized he doesn’t have the time to dedicate to it (at least until he gets bored with Original Life) and has taken it down for good. I’ve no idea on how extensive his adult content is, but from the few hints I’ve dug up, he’s got a fair number of stories available.
The funny thing is? I’d not even have commented on the anthro/human concept except for that April Fool’s joke that I stumbled across in researching him. It’s one of those things that you look at it and go “damn. It’s a shame really…” and it’s not even that I dislike anthro-comics. It’s just that I wonder at how hard the stories would have hit if the veil of “imaginary” brought about by animal characters had been stripped away.
Rob H.
You did do quite a bit of research, eh? I sometimes browsed through the blog, but don’t remember stumbling upon it. I think it may have hit less hard, though.
>if Lucy had been the one to do everything Fisk did, would we have heard cries of “Sue!” being bandied about?
Well, I never hear cries of Sue, except if I join forums – which I don’t, anymore, but anyway… had Lucy been in the army and done that? Hell, why not? Woulda surprised me, if she had joined the army, though. It was always Fisk who wondered about his father. There was this subliminal feel of him being a fighter, that started very early on. I guess that’s why I took the author’s word for it, later on. Dunno what destroyed your suspension of disbelief there, Rob. For me that usually happens if I know something could not possibly happen the way it did. But I don’t get that feeling anywhere in BD – not even in Fisk’s search for his cusin.
Gnnng, Better Days. The webcomic equivalent of crack – you know its wretched and vile and probably doing something heinous to your internal organs, but you keep going back for more just to see how it will mess you up THIS time.
Let’s see… poorly disguised Mary-Sue/Author Inserts, laughable strawmen, a contempt for anything that doesn’t side with Naylor’s objectivist leanings, plot developments that do little more than advertise his pornfolios (at one point even specifically drawing attention to this in the main story), a disturbing portrayal of non-caucasian characters that borders on the hideously xenophobic, the controversy surrounding the ownership of Lucy Black and Naylor’s inability to tolerate ANY form of criticism…
Mmm, that indeed is some delicious trainwreck.
To be honest, it wasn’t until viewing the full TV Tropes page on the comic that it dawned on me that the hyenas were proxies for African Americans. But I don’t see it as a slam against African Americans, especially as that one girl got straightened out quite nicely. Instead, it was a slam against religion (specifically, Islam) and the types of monsters that will use religion as an excuse to do some truly wretched things.
That’s not to say that Better Days does not have its flaws. I pointed out some of them (including the fact that every single adulterous situation ends up with the protagonists in a stable relationship – Fisk’s mom, Fisk, and Lucy (though that was more boyfriend-stealing rather than adultery)). But I’ve seen some truly wretched comics. BD stumbles… but manages to retain some element of decency (at least, enough to keep me more on the positive than negative side for the comic).
I’m not sure of the specifics behind character ownership. If Naylor did poach another cartoonist’s character (or even the concept for the character), then it’s regrettable. I lost tremendous respect for the people behind “Elf Quest” due to their trying to steal Colleen Doran’s copyright for “A Distant Soil” and also over the whole “Wavedancer” fiasco that killed a comic I grew interested in before it had a chance to truly grow.
Seeing that BD is finished, and Naylor is focusing on BD-Lite (with the primary focus on Fisk’s kids – in essence, For Better or For Worse as anthros) it’s less of an issue but something I haven’t forgotten. Even if I don’t know all the facts or what both sides of the story are.
Rob H.
I did a short rundown of the ownership debate and its origins in my review.
“But I don’t see it as a slam against African Americans”
This is the most blatant example: http://www.jaynaylor.com/betterdays/comic/BD21.gif
So hyenas are either depicted as dullards, child/wife victimisers, or typical ‘from teh ghetto’ types. Leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth, that sort of thing.
In fact, that whole third chapter made me realise that we were getting into serious soapbox territory here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for things of that nature appearing in comics, but if it’s going to be done right then you can’t be obvious about favouring one political slant against the other, as Naylor obviously does. A good writer will deal with conflicting principles with care and attention to both sides, eschewing obvious stereotypes in favour of trying to make the reader empathise with both, or at least giving them the choice of favouring one or the other without feeling the target of mockery/scorn. Whereas here, it seems any character that doesn’t conform to Fisk’s (and by extension, Naylor’s) view of the world is shown to be wrong, an idiot, quickly recants their own principles in favour of Fisks/Naylor, or all of the above. And that’s never the hallmark of good writing.
I took that as a poorly-written southern accent. I actually didn’t glom onto the fact that hyenas were depicting African Americans at the time. (Considering hyena can chase a full-grown lion from its prey and have mouths tough enough to break bones, I don’t look down at hyena. All predators are scavengers when they have the chance – it’s far less energy to eat existing meat than chase down and kill something new. Obviously anthros aren’t their animal counterparts but still.)
The way I looked at that specific story was that it was a tragic story, and one that happens far too often. However, the girl did manage to pull her life together and was now a part of the military, doing a very important job where people’s lives depended on her. This is what I look at in a positive light.
That, and it takes a lot for me to turn against a comic. I have. Both Mind My Own Business and Craving Control failed to impress me (MMOB was more of a “death-spiral into inanity” but my point is still valid) and I stated as such. But it took a lot to turn me against those comics. Better Days? It had some segments I did not care for, and not just because of story content. But there was enough good in it for me to ultimately consider the comic worth reading.
And as for Naylor’s personal views? I don’t give a damn. I disagree with a lot of them. I agree with some of them. He’s entitled to his beliefs, as am I.
Rob H.
I’ve nothing against Naylor having his views, he’s certainly entitled to them even if I find them somewhat unpaletable. But when he starts crowbarring them into his fiction, presenting them as the right way and only the right way, and depicting anyone who thinks differently as either incorrect or morally dubious, then the writing suffers as a result.
A good example I’ve seen in recent fiction was the newest Doctor Who episode ‘The Waters of Mars’. At its conclusion, the Doctor was convinced that as the last of his kind, he had carte blanche to do with history as he wanted, effectively rendering him a God with the universe his to shape into how he best decided it should be. But seconds later he was shown how this was wrong, that he had gone too far and how his actions had led to the person thinking he had saved taking her own life. There are some who would agree with the former, and there are some who agree with the latter. The point is, the main character was shown to be accountable for his actions, and that in fact he could be shown to be wrong. But in BD, because Fisk is such a strong reflection of Naylor, he won’t ever allow him to be depicted as wrong, or even potentially wrong. Whatever Fisk does is Right and Noble and Can Be Justified, regardless of either morality or conflicting opinion. It ties into the Mary-Sueness of the character – essentially the message in BD is “it’s Fisk’s way, or jump off a cliff”.
There are things I like about BD – it’s well drawn, the premise of a group of people growing up over time is a good one, and several of the characters were indeed likable. But Naylor’s self insertion and making his own beliefs take priority over anything else, regardless of plot or characters, brings the quality of the writing down in a very big way. And this ruins it for me.
There’s a quote by Robert Green Ingersoll that sums it up nicely – “Artis not a sermon, and the artist is not a preacher. Art accomplishes by indirection. The beautiful refines. The perfect in art suggests the perfect in conduct. The harmony in music teaches, without intention, the lesson of proportion in life. The bird in his song has no moral purpose, and yet the influence is humanizing. The beautiful in nature acts through appreciation and sympathy. It does not browbeat, neither does it humiliate. It is beautiful without regard to you. Roses would be unbearable if in their red and perfumed hearts were mottoes to the effect that bears eat bad boys and that honesty is the best policy.”
You forget: I spoke out against the Sueification of Fisk. I felt that there was an ongoing degeneration of Fisk’s character. His being a mouthpiece for Naylor (while true of any main character in a comic that touches on political or social themes) was just one of these Sue-aspects.
Despite this, I still feel that BD is worth reading. This might not be the case if the comic was still updating (and I don’t consider Original Life to be BD – it’s BD-lite at best), but it’s ended and there’s enough good in the comic to make it worthwhile, despite the flaws.
Rob H.
[...] little over a year ago I reviewed Jay Naylor’s anthropomorphic comic Better Days, which focused on the life and experiences of a young man as he grew up in a single-parent [...]