Sometimes I feel guilty about how much attention I give to Jeph Jacques’ slice-of-life science fiction webcomic Questionable Content, but I do feel today’s update is worth a quick nod seeing its relevance to my previous review in July concerning the germination of Dora and Tai’s romantic relationship… which involved Tai confronting Dora and outright telling her about her interest (sober, this time). To be honest? I didn’t think Jacques had it in him. We went for a thousand updates before Faye finally told Marten “sorry, but no.” Dora herself has grown increasingly insecure after her own breakup with Marten (which is understandable, seeing she instigated its demise, though his passive aggressiveness didn’t help).
So to see Tai take the cow by the horns and force an answer out of Dora? No. I didn’t see that coming, especially not on a Monday. I can’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop – maybe Tai gets fired for abandoning her job to run off for a booty call, or Dora’s therapist ends up saying it’s a bad idea and convincing Dora to call things off. Despite my pessimism, however, I must admit that Tai’s thoughts on this are quite mature. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. These things happen. But refusing to try because you might get hurt is no better. Loneliness sucks, especially when it’s self-inflicted… and Dora has been punishing herself ever since she broke things off with Marten due to an over-developed sense of guilt despite the fact Faye is quite happy with someone else now.
Who knows, maybe it’ll work out. I suspect I’m not the only reader who kept expecting Dora and Marten to ultimately get back together again, and pushing Dora into another relationship helps kill those last diehard romantics. Besides, Jacques laid the groundwork for Dora and Tai back when Marten was still with Dora. Those initial seeds have taken a while to sprout. And ultimately, Questionable Content is Marten’s story. He’s been able to reclaim a tiny bit of the old friendship he once held with Dora. Having her happy in the arms of another may allow Jacques to slowly fade Dora into the background, her story mostly complete, while Marten continues on in his own quest for self-awareness and happiness.
While the first 500 or so (not 1000 as you claim) comics may have been about the will-they-or-won’t-they between Faye and Marten, I think QC since then has become much more of an ensemble comic, with Marten, Faye, Dora, Hannelore, Marigold, and others each having their own plots that get varying times in the spotlight; I think Faye may have actually appeared in more comics than Marten. As such, I don’t think Dora, who’s been one of the major characters practically from the moment she was introduced, will fade into the background; in fact, I see Jeph planting the seeds already of a future breakup that would leave her even more of a wreck (even though I don’t think he plans ahead as much as you do).
Perhaps. But I’m not sure about the demise of this relationship… or if it would devastate Dora as much as Marten did. With Marten… I get the feeling she realized she was the one who sabotaged things, partly through her guilt over Faye. With Tai, if things fall apart I’m expecting Tai to be the instigator (I’ve already mentioned to my friends that I’m anticipating her cheating on Dora at least once). Having the responsibility be Tai’s would probably reduce the impact of the breakup.
As for Dora remaining a primary character… I’m not so sure. Jacques has dropped several characters over the years. While Dora will remain a background character, I suspect she will no longer take central stage so Jacques can focus on other characters (like Marigold) that have become increasing prominent in the storyline.
(I’ll double-check when Faye laid the boom. Yes, I failed to double-check, but I was writing this after midnight. I really need to stop procrastinating on my reviews. ^^;; Ah well…)
Actually, the storyline where Faye cuts Marten off starts right at #500. I know this because the comic’s TV Tropes page says so.
I don’t think Jeph has ever jettisoned a character as major as Dora. A case could be made for Raven, Sven, Steve, or Sara being the highest-profile characters bumped to the background. You could even make a case that Pintsize has faded to the background as the comic’s cast has grown; you could argue he’s not even the most prominent AnthroPC anymore, Momo is.
But I just don’t see it happening with Dora. Even Hannelore has remained fairly consistently prominent since she first appeared, rather than fading in and out like nearly every other character outside the core four, and Dora’s surely more major than her. If Jeph slides Dora into the background for yet more Marigold hijinks, I might just quit the comic.
Remember what Tai said to Dora to start all this. It’s practically in Dora’s nature to worry and blame herself for everything. Even if Tai instigates a breakup, Dora will wonder if it was something she did that spurred her on. Or she’ll think all her relationships are doomed to failure regardless of the reason.