I like the comic.

I guess perhaps I'm giving too much credit due to my ignorance of the true intricacies of the indie music scene, but I'd been reading all the obscure and contradictory and just plain odd music references as jokes in themselves, sort of a "Do you people understand just how ridiculous and idiotic you sound?"  I have sat in coffeeshops and listened to indie music geeks play the "Oh, I have more cred because I can name a band only eleven people alive today have seen perform, that released one album printed on tofu loaf instead of vinyl (because they're just that indie), and I once ate a sandwich made from the remains of track 3..." game.  To me, a lot of QC reads like self-deprecating referential humor.  Cause frankly, a lot of the indie music geeks I know are kind of asinine, setting up criteria for 'indie' that essentially equate to 'obscure and fiscally unsuccessful', so that the biggest faux pas seems to be not stopping listening to a band before other people find out it's any good.  The indie music geeks I know who like QC like it because it mocks the hell out of the arrogant, smug jerks who use knowledge about a specific genre of music to define their lives and explain why they're better than anyone else.

Marten had to date someone.  The problem with Unresolved Sexual Tension is that no one believes that your characters, who are in their 20s, are all going to restrain themselves from dating until they're emotionally healthy.  I figure the Marten/Dora thing was because it would blow the storyline for Marten to date Faye but there was a whole lot of reader pressure to make that happen.  So, Faye goes on vacation and Marten hooks up with the woman who's been holding a fair amount of her own UST for *him* for some time.  Anyone who didn't see it coming wasn't paying attention.  She's been all warm and squishy about him forever.

As to the 'interchangeably similar' characters thing, well, for most webcomics your options are 'remarkably similar characters' or 'easily recognizable caricatures.'  You don't get a lot of one-shot-a-day comics that start you off with deep, compelling characters engaged in intimate explorations of their complex personalities.  You get caricatures or stock characters, and they develop over time, which I think the QC characters have (and I'm not just talking about Faye's emotional bombshell).

If I want deep intellectual stimulation and exploration of intricately crafted characters with subtle stylistic nuances and immeasurable depths, I'll read Dostoevsky.  I read webcomics because they make me laugh, and occasionally because they make me say, "Hey, I've felt that way before, and it wasn't funny at the time but it feels kind of good to laugh at that now."

Plus, fart jokes.

All I know is, I want one of those damned ArthroPC's.

*gets out a dremel tool, gets ready to do some case modding*

I don't think it is attempting what you believe it is attempting. I think it is BEING what it is, which may or may not appeal. I've been reading, I find it light and frothy with a dash of nutmeg, nothing to base a diet on, but I don't think it is failing at being something, I think it is succeeding at being something that you may not like.

Subtle distinction, but one I feel important.

I don't really see a problem in that as much as I see that as being very true to life.

Even here, people with the same type of humor and personality flock together. It's one of those things that helps people to get along. While I'll have to admit, it seems more of an 'ease of writing' thing than a 'creator growth' thing, but the few comics that had Raven as a goth also had her not gelling with the rest of the group because her personality and sense of humor was different from the rest. Over time, she did learn how to roll with the punches. And even though she's still an airhead, because she can pull out those jokes every now and again allows her to be one of the gang.

It happens, but it's very rare when you see a person with a intelligent, dry sense of humor hanging out with a person who has a crude, childish sense of humor with the two parties completely getting (not to mention liking) each other's jokes. It's hard to pull of.

Also, just because they have the same sense of humor vaguely doesn't mean you could switch out their heads and still have the joke make sense. Honestly, could you see a Dora earmaked Sexual joke coming out of Faye's mouth? A vapid, air head remark which is normally Raven's domain spewing from Marten's? A random bit of "Whafuck" that Pintsize is known for being said by Sven? Similiar, yes, I'll give you that, but what they say are still usually their own.

I disagree.

I used to think S*P was fucking hilarious. Now I think it's a comic drawn by someone who doesn't know how to end it, and continues not because he wants to, but because it's the thing to do. And his dark twisted humor keeps him rolling, and people love him for it. You CANNOT slap QC with a "the characters are all in the same sense of humor" and then turn around with Something Positive, because the characters are virtually fucking identical in their styles - with any character of growth moving to the periphery and then getting brought back in as a foil against the static, pissy stars. Surprise, it's the same goddamn comic the same goddamn week after week with death, marriage, and surly parents rounding out the bill.

Woo, I say, woo. No. Thanks. I read it, but it's no longer the "BWAHAHAH", maybe more like reading Prince Valiant, because you want to see what happens next, having invested some amount of interest in the characters.

I still think Diesel Sweeties is funny in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way.

And that brings me to QC. At least the guy who's writing QC manages to bring a cast of people together with some major fucked-up flaws. And yes, the dialogue sounds similar, but you know what? Read Harry Potter and see if the dialogue (outside of the obvious thick accented english of the stock comedy characters) doesn't sound familiar at all. QC actually has people rolling through their problems in a sort of caffeinated "Rent" sort of method. And the fact that it's one emo kid in the middle of four emo ladies with a buddy who's a chronic womanizer means it's a more interesting series than "Me and My Bitter Dinner Friends Who Drink A Lot And Cause Bodily Harm". If I wanted that, I'd go hang out with the DPW kids. They're funnier.

Seriously, don't say that QC has characters that all sound the same, then go to S*P and hold it up as a shining example of all that's right with webcomic dialogue.

Eh, and the other thing is, S*P is getting older; QC is still mid-20s in their character development. Had I a webcomic detailing my life, it would look a lot more like a QC/Flem! comics crossover than S*P - mainly because the people who're that whiny in my circle of friends are hurled out the minute they pull in a Drama Llama.

Again, accounting for taste. I still think S*P wins the most annoying comic ever award, but I don't say that like it's a bad thing. It's like Husker DU, you have to put up with the crappy playing to get the fun of it.

Wait, you CAN'T argue about funny?

That totally fucks up my business plan.

You have no idea, Krieg.

There are two halluginocenic characters in our group - the Blue Beast and Whiskey Bear. Whiskey Bear is a drunken carebear who douses himself in whiskey and stumbles up to people in a bar muttering darkly, then burps and wanders off. He is, in a word, hilarious.

The Blue Beast is actually something my friend Heather dreamed up, which is a Muppet-like character with pivoting eyes on stalks and an outfit that literally looks like it COULD be a real creature. She wears it to outdoor parties and events with plenty of hiding spaces where people take mind-alterting substances, then walks up, looks people in the eyes, and says, "Are you edible?" and just goes to fuck with people.

I wore all black one night and was talking to her, and she did a crouch-shuffle across the path as some happily imbibed people came up. Two women shrieked and ran the other way, and the guys leapt back and said, "JESUS FUCK WHAT IS THAT?"

The hilarious thing was, they leaped back into me, and in a deep dark voice, I said right by their ears, "The bait...."

They about shit themselves.

Luckily, you don't have to contradict anyone. Just go with "Eh, I like it a lot, screw you YA HIPPIE BASTARDS!"

That's what I would do