Is it normal to find this comic strip really sad?

26 Comments

I've been reading this comic called 'Megg and Mogg' about a cat, a witch and an owl and I find it really sad! It hasn't made me cry, but I find it kind of upsetting and melancholy, despite the jokes.

However, when I've shown it to friends, they all say it's stupid stoner humour and either find it vaguely amusing or just plain dumb. Basically, other people don't find it sad in the slightest.

Here are some links so you can see what you think.

Adult content, but everyone on here should be over 18:

http://www.vice.com/read/megg-mogg-owl-part-14-941?Contentpage=-1

http://girlmountain.tumblr.com/post/24970408857/megg-mogg-owl-hair-dye-2012

http://girlmountain.tumblr.com/post/41028999472/from-victoria-drug-scene-1

http://girlmountain.tumblr.com/post/25934077677/part-three-of-meggs-coven-2012

No - it just looks like stupid stoner jokes! 8
Yes - it actually does seem pretty sad! 29
WTF? This is messed up. 11
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Comments ( 26 )
  • RoseIsabella
    9 years ago

    Meaningless drivel.

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  • Shackleford96
    9 years ago

    I could see how someone would find them sad if they related the stories/situations to their personal lives. I, however, just found them rather dull.

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    • Anonnet
      9 years ago

      I can't relate to any of it at all, I just have empathy.

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      • Shackleford96
        9 years ago

        It can be good to have lots of empathy for people/things. I'd imagine you need to be careful not to be taken advantage of though..

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        • Anonnet
          9 years ago

          I said I have empathy, not that I'm an optimist. I learned pretty fast, from being too trusting when I was little, not to really trust anybody. Why do you equate empathy with being easy to take advantage of?

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    • disthing
      9 years ago

      I'm glad I'm not alone in that feeling.

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      • Shackleford96
        9 years ago

        I could make funnier comics than that, and I don't even make comics.

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        • disthing
          9 years ago

          I don't think it's supposed to be funny - I think it's supposed to be entertaining and meaningful.

          But for me, it isn't any of those things :|

          Ah the subjectivity of art...

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        • Anonnet
          9 years ago

          The comics aren't supposed to be funny.

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          • Shackleford96
            9 years ago

            Then what's the point? I don't get it.

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            • associate
              9 years ago

              Sometimes I find them funny... but then again, I laugh at Kafka. Mostly I think they're sad though. I guess the point is just the observation really and the characters... also, personally, I like the colours.

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  • Shoefish
    9 years ago

    Has anyone read the children's book series 'Meg and Mog'? That was about a witch and a cat. I think there was an owl too. Pretty disturbing to see it turned into this!

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  • associate
    9 years ago

    Ha - seems divisive, but I'm glad I'm not alone in my feelings on this!

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  • iEatZombies_
    9 years ago

    I found the first two sad, the third awkward, and I couldn't read the fourth.

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  • Anonnet
    9 years ago

    Okay, being a person who reads a lot of webcomics, I thought I'd read some pretty freakin' sad webcomics. Apparently I haven't. This is possibly one of the saddest things I've ever read in my life.

    Bookmarking it.

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    • disthing
      9 years ago

      Why do you find it sad?

      I'm really trying to understand what OP and you see that I'm unable to see.

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      • Anonnet
        9 years ago

        The comics are about people that heavily abuse drugs because they can't cope otherwise. It's destructive in just about every way, and the more they do them the deeper they go.

        Even the funnier situations are sad in some way or come immediately before after a sad situation. Megg has to sit with a bunch of guys and try to have fun right after leaving an awkward semi-sexual encounter with another guy. They mess up their apartment "cooking". Megg's Mom is really quirky but also seriously messed up in several ways.

        She picks a coloring book to read instead of Hunger Games (which could mean... lots of things).

        One of the comics is literally hashtagged with the word "depression" at the bottom. I don't see how someone could find this dull unless they lived a similar life themselves. Which brings up the This-Happens-In-Real-Life aspect which makes it even sadder.

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        • disthing
          9 years ago

          I suppose I just didn't really see the mental illness / depression within the stories :/

          I mean, awkward sexual encounter cut short, has to return to social situation... That's not really depressing. Just one of those funny things that happens sometimes.

          Picking a colouring book to read instead of Hunger Games... I'd probably do the same. Not sure what that says about me.

          The drug use in the story also doesn't seem depressing. If anything, they make it look fun and relatively harmless in the comic.

          Maybe I haven't read enough - just for whatever reason I never got that sense of an underlying mood of melancholy. I got... neutrality, I suppose.

          I found them dull because they're vignettes, brief 'sketches' from the character's life, but not a lot of interest really happens. I don't feel anything for the characters or their situation. Just seems like a bunch of young adults, bored and getting high.

          I find it interesting that you and OP both have a totally different emotional response to it compared to me, though.

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          • Anonnet
            9 years ago

            What part of the drug use in any of the comics looked fun and harmless? Seriously, I want to know.

            To find the comics at all sad you have to care at least a little bit about the characters, which I do by default. Nothing super amazing or drastic happens because, outside of the characters' physical forms, the comic mostly takes a realistic approach. "Slice of life" as they call it. What has to happen to the characters for you to feel anything for them?

            What I don't understand is what everyone else is seeing when they read these. Are you guys just skimming?

            I guess if sadness or depression isn't made the center-focus from the get-go, people ignore it. Either that or the contrived nature of the characters just turns brains off. Would it be different if the characters were all human and the art was better?

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            • disthing
              9 years ago

              "What part of the drug use in any of the comics looked fun and harmless?"

              <a href="http://girlmountain.tumblr.com/post/24970408857/megg-mogg-owl-hair-dye-2012" rel="nofollow">http://girlmountain.tumblr.com/post/24970408857...</a>

              They get high, stop caring so much about cleaning up and go space out at the car wash. Sounds fun to me!

              "To find the comics at all sad you have to care at least a little bit about the characters, which I do by default."

              You care about every character by default? How strange. For me, whether it be a comic, novel, TV series or movie, I have to get a feel for the character first before I empathise with them, before I'm emotionally invested. After reading the strips OP linked to, I can genuinely say I'm given no real reason to care about this girl.

              BUT I can also say - if I did care about the girl - I still wouldn't find it sad, because based on the strips I read, nothing particularly sad happens.

              "What has to happen to the characters for you to feel anything for them?" Enough for me to get to know, and like the characters.

              "Would it be different if the characters were all human and the art was better?"

              Not at all.

              Do you think maybe you're projecting on to the story, though? Maybe you're looking at these comic strips through a skewed lens and seeing something which isn't actually readily conveyed within the comic?

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  • disthing
    9 years ago

    I don't get why it makes you sad.

    Just seems quite dull, really. Sort of reminds me of Clowes' 'Ghost World'. I like the art style, though.

    Maus is sad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus

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  • Shrunk
    9 years ago

    i lol'd at the last panel of the first one. I like the art/style but yeah the whole stoner thing is a bit played out, too bad, it would be a rather cute comic... Reminds me of Boy's Club comic (feels good man)
    I thought it was going to be this-
    http://animalcrossingtragedy.ytmnd.com/

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