Edgy

Someone recommended that I make QlownTown an edgier comic strip. Comics on the web tend to be ironic, satirical, gritty, or bitter, and mine is pretty traditional. But I've written out ideas for every strip for the next three months, so it seems a shame to toss all those ideas. Besides, I don't think in edgy terms. So I thought, what if I just add profanity to existing ideas? If someone swears freely, they're automatically less conventional and, arguably, hipper. So here are several previous strips with profanity added, chosen from the week of April 12th through the 18th. You can start here, then click backwards, to see the originals.

June 22nd: "My f****** dog ate my homework."

June 21st: "Come on Shtanley. Share you clamsh. Don't be sho g****mn shellfish."

June 18th: "You couldn't stoop to my level if you wanted to, you f****** g****mn s***head."

June 17th: "Yeah, he's my new partner. He's a copper spaniel, for C*****'s sake."

June 16th: "Oh, sh**! You're looking for a wise man. He's on the next mountain over. I'm a frickin' wise guy."

Note that the last one has a milder form of obscenity which is heard frequently on TV and in polite company, but it still adds a certain punch that the original version didn't have.

So part of the New Humor of QlownTown could be that clowns, normally considered silly and sweet, would have gutter mouths.  For a certain segment of the population, this could add a lot. I confess, as I wrote these, I started to laugh at the notion of adding dirty words for no reason. It's incongruous.

But this wouldn't change the essential type of humor in the strip. It still wouldn't be current, topical or satirical. And it would probably cost me a lot of existing subscribers. So I'll keep the naughty language out...although there are times when I want a character to express profound disgust and frustration, but %$@#! just doesn't quite do it. Maybe I should make it interactive, so readers could type in their own words. One reader might type in "Consarn it!" or "Dab-dang-naggle!", while someone else might type in---well, you can imagine.

So that's where it stands, at least for the _____________ time being, ___________!