Talk:Better Days

Better Days is a featured comic, which means it has been identified as one of the best comic articles produced by the WikiFur community. If you see a way this page can be updated or improved without compromising previous work, feel free to contribute.

The sexuality is hardly minor. -- 24.0.213.70

Come on -- there's not a single nipple displayed :( -- Wesha.

True. It's not "sexually explicit", as the genitals and breasts aren't really shown, but the sexuality in the comic is huge. There are entire chapters based on this, like "Tough Love". Sexual abuse, rape, affairs, strippers, even incest. But the term "it is not sexually explicit" might be misleading to some people, making them believe the comic doesn't even TALK about sex. 70.171.209.15 02:58, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

---

When Jay initially created Better Days, Lucy and Fisk were supposed to be the same characters as those in Badly Drawn Kitties. Jay later had a falling out with Mat Sherer, and if I remember correctly, he eventually declared the characters of his strip to be separate and unrelated to the identically-named characters from BDK. Maybe a Controvery section should be added to this entry (and/or BDK) to give more specifics. mwalimu 17:29, 6 Sep 2005 (UTC)

There's a relevant entry in Jay's LiveJournal where some of the details of the split between Better Days and BDK are discussed. --Sebkha^(talk) 15:17, 18 Sep 2005 (UTC)

---

Of note, there's already a Wikipedia entry for Better Days. Does wikifur need to replicate that, or should it just redirect? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.221.195.132 (talk • contribs) 15:12, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Debatable. It's a furry topic, so it should probably be mentioned here, at least. I don't know how popular it is, but if it's not got a significant fanbase, it's possible it might be deleted over there, in which case the whole article could justifiably be moved over here. For now, we should certainly link to it. --GreenReaper^(talk) 22:53, 17 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Better Days is currently ranked #4 by number of subscribers at the Belfry WebComics Index. That's out of over 1100 furry comics. I'd say that's a pretty significant fanbase. --mwalimu 03:31, 18 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Agreed! --GreenReaper^(talk) 06:47, 18 Sep 2005 (UTC)

General timeline trivia?

You can tell I have too much time on my hands lately. Reason being that I had enough spare time to research the visual clues in the comic and extrapolated a timeline from that. The general explination is below.

• The characters are first seen as nine year old kittens at the start of the comic, this isn't hard to miss.
• A school teacher says it "isn't 1950 anymore". inconsequential to the majority of the timeline except to prove it doesn't take place before 1970.
• Vietnam is mentioned at least five times in relation to a pivotal character that is deceased yet still plays a big part in Fisk's life.
• The song "Into the Groove" is used in one arc and that same song has a release date of around 1985. Both Fisk and Lucy are roughly 13 or 14 in that arc and starting high school as freshmen at that time.
• "The Wall" is visibly seen and they have or are very close to graduating high school which places the two main characters at about 17 or 18 years old.

The above, when I think about it, means they were born sometime in or near 1972. The comic strip's visual history started in 1981 or 1982, and that when they graduate high school (Lucy goes to college and Fisk to the Army) it is either 1990 or 1991.

Think any of that could make a good trivia section for the article? ----Markus^(talk) 20:10, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Sure, I think that this would absolutely make a good addition to a trivia section. It might even be interesting to bounce this off of Jay and get his comments on it, if he's willing.----DuncanDaHusky^(talk) 11:54, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Interesting idea about the impending war...Fisk's in the army now, after all. Spaz Kitty 00:31, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I had a good bit of time on my hands to review the entire archive for this. I left a comment on the artist's LJ to confirm if any of what I added is accurate or if it needs changing. I am not optomistic however that I will get a responce since he is a busy man after all. Greenreaper himself said the timeline and trivia made sense. Assuming this timeline is accurate then as GR said on AIM last night: "For story purposes, there is no real point having the main character not be on the front line." It gives rise to many opprotunities for mishaps to occur, minor or major of all kinds as well as probably bringing up new love interests for both Fisk and Lucy. ----Markus^(talk) 01:22, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Well, I commented on his LJ after FWA and he replied rather quickly...so you may get a response sooner than expected. Spaz Kitty 01:11, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I can hope, but I won't hold my breath. I know what it is like in a vague sense to be so busy. It would take time off your production schedual to answer every little comment posted or emailed to you. And given that I posted a comment on a two month old post.. It might take longer. I have my own comic to write for myself now. So I can write more for it as I wait. No harm done either way. ----Markus^(talk) 01:22, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

With the latest chapter (17), it appears that the year is 1989 (the Berlin Wall is falling), so the years need to be tweaked slightly. As it stands in the article, the twins graduate from high school in 1989 - it would seem they graduate a year or so earlier than that. 24.99.238.8 01:32, 25 November 2006 (UTC) (SpazKitty unlogged in)

We should let it play out a bit. I suspect it may actually be 1990. Fisk is suggesting remaining in the Army, and it may be Desert Shield that convinces him to stay. So let's let the chapter play out a bit before making any changes. --Kitch 18:58, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Outside story arcs

At least one of the descriptions under Outside story arcs, that of Puss in Boots, is quoted directly from the catalogue. At the least, this should be attributed. -- Sine 01:34, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Should True Love be listed among the outside story arcs? Persia's appeared a couple of times in the comic, so she's part of the setting, at least. Or should we wait to see if the comic catches up with some of the bits of Persia's backstory mentioned in the folio? I'm thinking it should go ahead and go on the list, but I wanted to run it by folks here first.--MythicFox 20:47, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, looks like the backstory for Persia mentioned in True Love is about to become relevant in the storyline as of Chapter 23. I'll look at putting True Love back on the list of Outside Story Arcs when I've got time to write it up (unless someone else wants to do it, or if there's an archived copy somewhere that can just be replaced).--MythicFox 00:18, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Chapter 21: "Father's Footsteps"

I'm pretty sure it's not a CIA job he was offered. The dialogue makes it very clear they no longer have government funding, approval, or oversight. Last time I checked, running black ops under those conditions counts as terrorism. The chapter summery should be changed to reflect this, or to point out the ambiguity. Objections?ANTIcarrot 13:44, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Restored his criminal status. Anyone questioning this is welcome to read up on US law or international law. Or read up on the history of (excuse me while I vomit) 'off the books counter terrorism organizations' in Northern Ireland. Or just play a drinking game in Persia for every law he breaks. Double shots for every federal crime.ANTIcarrot 10:32, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

chapter 1: unsure of wording

Currently part of article reads: “Chapter 1: "Honest Girls" - Fisk has his sister Lucy deliver a love note to a popular girl, who turns him down after reading it aloud to her friends.” I think that bit should be rephrased, but I am not sure of what wording should be. I looked at Chapter 1, page 6 and it looks like another girl is reading the letter (the popular girl might be the girl on the right-side of that panel). --EarthFurst 11:55, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Timeline Issue

Because of the new strip showing Elizabeth sending a text message to Fisk, I've decided to update the timeline, given that flip clamshell phones became comercially available in the United States in 2004. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.123.219.33 (talk • contribs)

Unless there are other factors present to suggest the strip has jumped ahead ten years, I'd rather chalk it up to being a goof on Jay's part. It will be interesting to see if others point it out and he changes it. --mwalimu 06:18, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps since text messaging became commercially available in the 90's and the very first early flip phones appeared in 1996, we could put this strip somewhere around there. Also, in the beginning of the chapter, Jessica is back after what has to be at least a few months to a year of maternity leave. 69.123.219.33 15:29, 2 March 2009 (UTC)