Trenches comic: Tuesday Sept. 20, 2011

Bogey

QRS, TUV, X, Y and Z… and W.

09/20/2011 - Anonymous

A few years ago, my QA team and I were testing the latest mobile game to come out of our studio. Once you completed the game (or were eliminated), you had an opportunity to enter your name for the high scores table. The letters were set up in an alphabet wheel, so you could scroll left or right to get to the character you wanted. Pretty standard stuff.

What wasn’t standard was that the letter “w” was missing from the alphabet wheel. So one of my testers entered it and we awaited the new build, not expecting any problems with this particular bug.

What we saw in the next build had us falling out of our chairs. he programmers had added the missing “w”, but at the end of the alphabet wheel. So while scrolling, what you saw was UVXYZ… W.

We’re still wondering how the whole development team agreed that the bug was fixed…

Gallowglasser

I like it. This comic is starting to grow on me.

webofink

Is everyone in this comic an alcoholic?

Blake T

I enjoy the art in this.

PaperLuigi44

Yeah the last couple of strips have been really enjoyable, I can dig it.

manaleak34

webofink wrote:

Is everyone in this comic an alcoholic?

From my understanding most everyone in the video games industry is an alcoholic.

ZeroCow

manaleak34 wrote:

webofink wrote:

Is everyone in this comic an alcoholic?

From my understanding most everyone in most industries are alcoholics.

plootid

Man, Frank is a LIAR! If he loved his adopted kids just as much, he wouldn't consider "four of them" to be his. They would ALL be his. FIRE HIM!

Human Shield

Jesus. So now the strip's illustrious protagonist is questioning people he's never even met before to see if their life merits keeping their job or whether it should be given to him. And what do we know about him that would show that his need for a job is greater than somebody else's? Are we supposed to empathize with Isaac or hate him? Because everything he's done thus far has lead me to believe he's an asshole and we're supposed to hate him.

He needs that shit-eating grin punched off his dumb face, frankly.

Henroid

"Not since the accident." !

Comic and story are both great today. I wonder if the game shipped that way.

rabidmuskrat

plootid wrote:

Man, Frank is a LIAR! If he loved his adopted kids just as much, he wouldn't consider "four of them" to be his. They would ALL be his. FIRE HIM!

I was kind of thinking this myself. I'm also wondering what exactly we're supposed to take from that grin in the last panel.

The Geek

That's not a shit eating grin, that's a look of being uncomfortable.

King Riptor

Really Issac should probably be a bit wary of working for a man who keeps drunken promises so easily.

wonderpug

Human Shield wrote:

Jesus. So now the strip's illustrious protagonist is questioning people he's never even met before to see if their life merits keeping their job or whether it should be given to him. And what do we know about him that would show that his need for a job is greater than somebody else's? Are we supposed to empathize with Isaac or hate him? Because everything he's done thus far has lead me to believe he's an asshole and we're supposed to hate him.

He needs that shit-eating grin punched off his dumb face, frankly.

I'm confused by this turn, too. I thought he was being going to be painted as a good guy getting caught up in the evils of the testing world. Now he's just another jerk who'll step on anyone if it will get him ahead.

I know they said they had a long story arc already hashed out, but right now I don't understand who I'm going to be rooting for. Maybe it'll make sense once we meet the last few cast members?

YoungFrey

Well, we already know Issac is probably either vain or a thief. Because he is unemployed, desperate and still owns a Tesla. That has a base price of $109,000 according to Wikipedia. So either he can't legally sell it because it's not his, or he won't. Plus it was recently established (on 9/8) that he was arrested and it was enough to make the news. No word on if he got convicted or anything, but his words do imply that he did break the law.

This combined with being willing to troll a workplace looking for a stranger to fire does paint a picture of somebody with a lot of room to improve their character.

Syphyre

The story was actually pretty hilarious because it's a combination of rushing and stupidity that I've seen in other environments.

Mutak

Yeah, hate to be the dick who brings down the party, but only an adoptive parent who was a huge douchebag would say that. It's no "dickwolves" but it definitely falls flat.

Human Shield

The Geek wrote:

That's not a shit eating grin, that's a look of being uncomfortable.

I considered that maybe it's just a poorly rendered look of discomfort (it looks more like he's grinning about something while glancing sideways as he walks off), but what I couldn't figure out was what he would have to feel uncomfortable about, considering he's questioning strangers about personal details of their lives in order to find someone he thinks should be fired so he can have their job. If anything was going to make me uncomfortable, it would be the act of doing all that, not the answers I received. It just doesn't make sense.

And yeah, that's a real fuck-up about the adopted kids. I doubt he's lying, more likely the whole thing was just poorly scripted.

L Ron Howard

It looks more like a smug smirk to me.

mentok1982

[singing]Now I know my ABCs, won't you come and develop games with me?

Belruel

The smile looks like an uncomfortable look as he tries to force a normal look on his face as he leaves. 'NOTHING ODD GOING ON HERE FRANK DON'T WORRY HAH HAH. HAH. YOU HAVE A GOOD ONE.'

And his face in the first panel looks dismayed, like he doesn't want Frank fired, and is all 'oh shit, this guy probably has a lot of kids, look at all these little dudes'.

Then in the second panel he is all 'well maybe the wife has a good job...'

So far Isaac seems to be a guy that desperately needs a job, but is still basically decent. Not a perfect guy by any means, but not worthy of hate.

Athenor

Yeah, I'm confused by how so many managed to misread this. The idea that someone has to be fired for Issac to get a job really disturbs him, and that Frank was going to get dropped without the boss knowing, or caring, about his family and personal situation really worried Issac. So Issac made it a point to make sure Frank was in a good place.. which he wasn't, so they moved on.

either,or

I think you're reading way too much into the adoption part. I'd guess the distinction is only being made to emphasise how fucked he is (4 kids + 4 kids? That's 8 kids!) If he doesn't mention it then the reader has no way of knowing that they are adopted and the joke suffers.

2 Marcus 2 Ravens

Athenor wrote:

Yeah, I'm confused by how so many managed to misread this. The idea that someone has to be fired for Issac to get a job really disturbs him, and that Frank was going to get dropped without the boss knowing, or caring, about his family and personal situation really worried Issac. So Issac made it a point to make sure Frank was in a good place.. which he wasn't, so they moved on.

Bingo! I thought that was kind of obvious.

The plan to fire someone is not his idea. All he's done is stop someone who really needs the job from being fired.

Seems like a pretty rad thing to do to me.

Andy Joe

Athenor wrote:

Yeah, I'm confused by how so many managed to misread this. The idea that someone has to be fired for Issac to get a job really disturbs him, and that Frank was going to get dropped without the boss knowing, or caring, about his family and personal situation really worried Issac. So Issac made it a point to make sure Frank was in a good place.. which he wasn't, so they moved on.

I can tell you from reading new comic threads on this board for years that many people are really bad at parsing sequential art.

Athenor

Andy Joe wrote:

Athenor wrote:

Yeah, I'm confused by how so many managed to misread this. The idea that someone has to be fired for Issac to get a job really disturbs him, and that Frank was going to get dropped without the boss knowing, or caring, about his family and personal situation really worried Issac. So Issac made it a point to make sure Frank was in a good place.. which he wasn't, so they moved on.

I can tell you from reading new comic threads on this board for years that many people are really bad at parsing sequential art.

Ah. Maybe I should swing by SE++ more often, then. Carry on!

Syphyre

Athenor wrote:

Andy Joe wrote:

Athenor wrote:

Yeah, I'm confused by how so many managed to misread this. The idea that someone has to be fired for Issac to get a job really disturbs him, and that Frank was going to get dropped without the boss knowing, or caring, about his family and personal situation really worried Issac. So Issac made it a point to make sure Frank was in a good place.. which he wasn't, so they moved on.

I can tell you from reading new comic threads on this board for years that many people are really bad at parsing sequential art.

Ah. Maybe I should swing by SE++ more often, then. Carry on!

I wouldn't suggest it if you're a decent human being. (I kid)

LTM

I think its that the face in the last panel is slightly ambiguous. Is he enjoying the process of finding his firee, or is he revolted by it, but realizes he needs a job?

Tune in next week, same crushingly bleak time, same crushingly bleak channel.

I just sort of wonder, what is The Trenches trying to accomplish that other comics before it haven't already tried?

Human Shield

Belruel wrote:

And his face in the first panel looks dismayed, like he doesn't want Frank fired, and is all 'oh shit, this guy probably has a lot of kids, look at all these little dudes'.

His expression doesn't look like that at all. It looks mildly curious, like he's asking a question, which he is. There isn't a smidgen of dismay on his face, and if this really bothered him and he was really the stand up guy you think he is, there's no way he'd be going through with this in the first place. He's the one asking all the questions. If anything, Isaac is putting forth more effort to decide who to fire than the bean-shaped HR guy is.

You guys say we're misreading this, and maybe we are, but we're basing our ideas on the artwork, what the characters are saying, doing and how they are emoting, not on what we think the characters are supposed to be like based on some preconceived notion without anything to back it up, like you guys are.

tastydonuts

Both eyebrows are raised in frame 1 and 2, it's curiousity.

In the last frame, one brow is raised and the other is straightened... it's really more of a "yeesh, that was close" expression, but because of the style and how the face lays out, it does look kind of ambiguous, I guess. move his mouth beneath his nose in your head?

edit: or at its worse a "glad I took the time to ask before I said fire him" expression.

Andy Joe

Look back at the previous strip. The boss brings up the idea of firing someone to make room, and Isaac's clearly surprised by the idea. In this one it's the boss suggesting Frank, and Isaac asking all the questions prompting Frank to reveal this information. His expression in the third panel, where he's not putting on a conversational persona, clearly indicates that he's uncomfortable with this entire enterprise.

Piotyr

Syphyre wrote:

The story was actually pretty hilarious because it's a combination of rushing and stupidity that I've seen in other environments.

I'm going to take the developer's side, and indicate a poorly written bug report.

Bug report: W not listed in alphabet wheel.

Resolution: W added to alphabet wheel.

Everyone's happy.

Alfred J. Kwak

this one is actually funny

Gaslight

This one suffered a little in the execution. But I can foresee a couple more amusing comics where Isaac and LBB tour the office trying to find someone terminate-able.

Maigaard

I suppose he's supposed to look uncomfortable in the last frame, but to me he just appears to be either a) cracking up or b) loving the fuck out of the situation.

Belruel

Andy Joe wrote:

Look back at the previous strip. The boss brings up the idea of firing someone to make room, and Isaac's clearly surprised by the idea. In this one it's the boss suggesting Frank, and Isaac asking all the questions prompting Frank to reveal this information. His expression in the third panel, where he's not putting on a conversational persona, clearly indicates that he's uncomfortable with this entire enterprise.

Precisely.

The facial expressions also read pretty easily to me, I did not see smugness or smarminess in his uncomfortable expression at all. In the third panel, his smile is pulled up too far to one side to be genuine mirth, there is no real curve to it, and he has one eyebrow down, the other up. He looks slightly pained. That is exactly the face someone makes when they are faking nonchalance/a smile when they are uncomfortable.

In the first panel, he has a bean shaped mouth, lower lip curled up/in a bit as he realizes this Frank guy has a lot of kids, and oh shit, Frank might be getting fired so that he (Isaac) can have a job, but he isn't comfortable with it. He is looking at the photo and pointing, and he looks worried.

Second panel his face looks hopeful, but like he already suspects what the answer is. Raised eyebrows, slight frown.

I am just looking at the artwork and the dialogue and interpreting what I see there, if anyone else interprets it differently, I am not mad about it.


I think that is enough arguing about facial expressions in an online comic right now for me though.

admanb

Human Shield wrote:

Belruel wrote:

And his face in the first panel looks dismayed, like he doesn't want Frank fired, and is all 'oh shit, this guy probably has a lot of kids, look at all these little dudes'.

His expression doesn't look like that at all. It looks mildly curious, like he's asking a question, which he is. There isn't a smidgen of dismay on his face, and if this really bothered him and he was really the stand up guy you think he is, there's no way he'd be going through with this in the first place. He's the one asking all the questions. If anything, Isaac is putting forth more effort to decide who to fire than the bean-shaped HR guy is.

You guys say we're misreading this, and maybe we are, but we're basing our ideas on the artwork, what the characters are saying, doing and how they are emoting, not on what we think the characters are supposed to be like based on some preconceived notion without anything to back it up, like you guys are.

You sure do spend a lot of time carefully reading and writing detailed criticisms of a comic you've professed to not enjoy in the slightest.

Basil

Frank doesn't really need to feed the rugrats anyway.

I like this Boss.

He is a good Boss I can relate to.

Kagera

I don't know enough about the main character or the boss to know how well-meaning they are or their internal thought processes. That is why at first I figured he was in on finding someone 'easy to fire' instead of covertly trying to save the guy.

Alfred J. Kwak

I don't really get the feeling that the main character feels uncomfortable about taking someone else's job (of course, then it turns out Frank isn't in a particularly good spot right now and they're like 'oh, never mind, keep up the good work')

Human Shield

admanb wrote:

You sure do spend a lot of time carefully reading and writing detailed criticisms of a comic you've professed to not enjoy in the slightest.

I don't have to defend my desire to express my opinion anymore than you do, kid. If you disagree with me, then disagree. Other people are doing it. But don't try to discourage me from speaking, because that's just rude. That's "I don't have a real response to the points you've made, so I'm going to try to get you to shut up."

gaslight wrote:

LBB

I am hoping this means Little Bean Boss, because that's how I'm going to refer to him from here on out.