Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
Honestly, I think this is an example of people being too quick to criticise. The first comic was the joke wherein Evan was being dopey, the second comic was the joke where Evan confirmed that she was sleepwalking, then the comic returned indoors to have Claire scold what's-her-face, and today Marten has just walked back in to mention that it even happened.

It's not an amazing joke, but we've seen joke, then clarification, then established a change of setting, then explanation in 4 comics. That makes sense, really. Who else was Marten going to talk about it with until he walked back into the room? Wouldn't people have complained about the pacing if Marten walked back in, they discussed Evan, and THEN Claire brought up Hannelore again even though we had clearly moved on from that subject?
While the clarification did come rapidly, there was still a delay and that delay was long enough for the audience to mull over it. This is a thing with pacing and structure when publishing in a serial format, the author needs to be conscious that the audience is reading in little snippets and has to adjust things accordingly. This is most obvious in daily comic strips, which may carry a long-term story, but need a punchline every single day. That actually relates to the current issue. QC #5031 is supposed to be funny, but instead it came off, in the moment as, huh? That release, on that specific day, is a loss, regardless of later clarification. Comedy relies on timing, and this is a flub.

Now, this is a very minor case. It's one comic about a relatively unimportant character and was almost immediately addressed. Whether Jeph either anticipated or observed fan reaction, the necessary course correction was made, in frankly about as timely a fashion as possible. Certainly better than previously questions in this regard like 'how do Moray even exist?' which took weeks to get answered. I've seen, way, way worse. Long-running Shounen Manga sometimes leave characters in the 'are they really dead?' Schrodinger Story Space for real-time years, which is unconscionable.