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Underground > Comic Books >

Strangers In Paradise, counting down to 0.

12:29 / 02.01.07

I am going to miss this series something fierce. A regular criticism of it has been that the characters don't always advance or grow at any terribly great speed... but isn't that the human condition, really? No matter how much many of us like to think we've developed after the 30, 40, what-have-you years that we've been around, fundamentally we've changed very little.

Except for bits here and there. A lot of important bits. Which I think Terry Moore was / is an absolute master at capturing. Unfortunately, some of his characters outside of the main three (Katchoo, Francine, and David) sometimes come off as little more than ciphers for the main three to play off of. But there are certainly exceptions, and those three are just so... fantastic, and human, and so richly written that I, for one, can't help but find myself caring about them.

So, anyway. As far as the last few issues go... I really wish Moore would stop putting the countdown on the front of the issue. It's garish and unneccesary. Makes it feel like the blindfold has already been wrapped around your head, and you're just waiting for the gunmen to line up their shots.

That complaint out of the way, this last issue was easily the most heartbreaking thing I've read in comics in quite a while. Without going in to too much detail, it really tears it out of you.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

17:42 / 02.01.07

I used to really enjoy Moore's work on Strangers in Paradise but stopped reading it after a couple books because elements started to repeat themselves too much and it felt like it got caught up in its own tail. It felt (too me, at least) like it should have been a finite work that kept going a little too long. How exactly have the stories been for the last little while?

BlueThunderArmy

18:46 / 02.01.07

I'm very much going to miss Strangers, but I think it's a good idea for the story to conclude. As you've mentioned, the characters develop very slowly, which is great for real people but can be frustrating when reading fiction. Plus, in my opinion (and I know I'm not unique in this) a conclusion caps things off and makes the whole thing mean something. Strangers deserves an ending, even if we'll all hate to see it go.

Something interesting, though, is that Terry Moore said in an interview that the ending that will appear is something other than what he'd originally planned. He seemed to indicate it would be a bit more 'hopeful', though I couldn't say for sure if that only involves Francine and Katchoo getting together or if there's a bit more to it. I rather hope there are a few more surprises before the finish line, and I really begging that it's something other (or more) than Katchoo or Tambi being pregnant.

20:36 / 02.01.07

I second Paper's emotion.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

07:10 / 03.01.07

Yeah, I stopped around issue 45 when it seemed that not only was the story going round in circles but that Terry Moore had no real idea what to do with the story and was spending his time telling the readers that the story was going round in circles (I seem to remember a story in the future where Katchoo and Francine were old ladies and their daughter was selling their story to a publishing house which turned it down because the story was going round and round in circles).

It's a shame as I think Terry Moore is a good artist, but once Strangers in Paradise became an ongoing I don't think he had enough ideas for storylines.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

14:45 / 03.01.07

I wonder what would have happened if Moore had wrapped it up back then instead of continuing as an ongoing - if he'd instead pitched a new idea to use his relatively good reputation in the industry and his fan appeal to do something completely different.

But the high points....sigh. That whole sequence with Katchoo painting Francie and then Francie freaking out about it had such a oddly delightful execution, even as everything fell apart because of Francie's self-esteem issues. Moore is very good with the detail/scene-by-scene work but his plotting seemed confused at times.

05:17 / 14.06.07

Well, it's done and done. Issue 90 finally broke through Diamond's shipping blockade... I had the thing devoured before I left the parking lot.

I wish there had been some resolution with Freddie; as it is, he doesn't even show in the last issue at all. Sure, he was a chode, and all throughout the series he seemed to serve as the archetype for all things that are wrong with Masculinity, but occasionally he did show glimmers of being an actual human. It would've been nice to see him one last time, even if it would only be so Katchoo could slap 'im around a little more.

Really though, a fantastic sendoff, if a bit deus ex machina. I cried a bit, though admittedly that's not the first time Terry's managed to get my waterworks flowing during the course of this series... Emma's death early on comes to mind. Barely knew her at that point, but the scene was written so fantastically it couldn't be helped.

If any of you don't really plan on getting back into the series but would like a general summary of what happened, let me know and I'll give it a crack.

I would like to address one thing. The series often was accused of being rambling at times, and repetitive in its handling of Katchoo and Francine's troubled, never-seems-to-get-off-the-starting-block relationship. I'd argue that as one of the series' strengths. Moore was excellent at writing Katchoo, Francine, and all the people surrounding them as people; granted, people who get tangled up in an often inexplicable mob/prostitute/worldwide conspiracy ring, but people nonetheless. And people don't grow in an orderly fashion, they often take years to come around to conclusions that outsiders would think they should have arrived at ages ago. That's all.

In the meantime, this was a great story.

12:07 / 16.06.07

I'm with Papers on this. I picked it up for a while then dropped it.
However I did get the last few issues. Meh. Just okay.

Phex: Dorset Doom

15:30 / 16.06.07

Moore has just signed to do Spiderman Loves Mary Jane at Marvel, his first work for the company apart from a single issue of Ultimate Team Up. I've not read SM<3sMJ, despite its unanimous praise (and inclusion in one of those 'Comix (also known as Graphic Novels) are also for teh Grown-Ups' lists alongside usual suspects like Dark Knight, Watchmen and Palestine), but I do enjoy SiP, so maybe I'll start picking it up.

20:10 / 23.06.07

I'm with Nico on this. The repetitive and time-consuming plot was what made the series work. It accentuated exactly how terribly heartbreaking the whole ordeal was for, specifically, Francine and Katchoo. Together, then apart, then together, then apart, over and over again. Rather than use literary techniques to create a false sense of time passing, Moore forced the reader to literally travel through time with the characters. It was a long trip, and it could have been done more efficiently perhaps, but I think it was worth it.

Unfortunately, this tactic doesn't really leave the series open for people who start at the beginning and stop, or want to start midway through. What the series could really use is a gigantic trade collecting every issue (e.g. Bone: One Volume Edition). That would suit its slow evolving nature.

But hopefully Spiderman Loves Mary Jane will be a bit more fast-paced.

22:25 / 23.06.07

I dunno xenosss, I kind of figured that those who found the circular storylines in SiP unrewarding enough that they stopped reading the comic at some point would get little out of reading the full extent of the series...

Which I guess is prelude to saying that I gave up on SiP at around issue 12 of the third series. The original series was a great little down-to-earth romantic comedy, with artwork free from the excesses of superhero comics of the time. It was a fairly simple story revolving around three main characters.

The second series tried to broaden out the scope of the series, introducing characters such as Darcy Parker. Unfortunately her presence was at odds with the down-to-earthness that was a key ingredient to the original series. The third series continued the trend to the point where SiP became an increasingly outlandish soap opera. Nothing wrong with soap operas, but they need an ongoing ensemble cast of well-rounded (preferably well written) and well explored characters. This was something that SiP seemed to lack.

But yeah, I picked up the last issue, and it all felt a bit flat for me. The resolution felt a little to neat and saccarine sweet. But I guess that was made to appeal to the series's diehard core readership who have been waiting for Katchoo and Francine to commit to to a sunset ending for a long time.

I'm keen to see what sort of stuff Terry Moore will get up to next...

22:55 / 23.06.07

sleazenation: More or less, I agree with what you say. There are certainly lulls, either in pages or in issues, that are very off-putting and a direct result of the series taking so long to fully develop. And the whole plot is outlandish (although I would argue that it was presented realistically enough). However, what I thought never left the story was the down-to-earth romantic comedy aspect. It was sometimes given a rest so certain history could be further explored, but it was never removed. To me, all the soap opera stuff was just background, though that is probably a superficial way to read the story.

But yeah, the last issue(s) did not have the same strength as the rest of the series. It seemed almost a cop out, taking the generic happy ending route. Still, in some ways it was the only way to end the series. After 90 issues of having Francine and Katchoo going back and forth between together and separate, how else could it end?

(Side note: Invisibles reference in the title, eh? Just got it.)

00:50 / 24.06.07

>> I'm keen to see what sort of stuff Terry Moore will get up to next...

He's going to be writing SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE for Marvel. Sean McKeever (famed for his very good indie book about growing up in the midwest, called THE WAITING PLACE) wrote the all-ages Spidey romance book for a while and he went to DC; Marvel figured Moore would be a great replacement. His first issue of Spidey Loves Mary Jane comes out in several months.