Stradivariables

Or, you know, Martin could be a house husband, supporting the major breadwinner of the family, and doing a low stress job on the side because he likes it. Tons of people do that. It's not fair that that route seems to be of less respect when the home support partner is male. Damn. Now I TOTALLY want a House Husband...

Kerin Schiesser

This strip reminds me of Ypung Jean Lee’s “Straight White Men”. Why can’t people accept that Marten is just not that ambitious and content with it being content? He seems happy with his life; what’s so wrong with him just living it? Plus, unless Claire gets *extremely* lucky, it will makes continuing their relationship much easier. Librarians are like academics—they have to go to where they can find a job. If that town also needs a instrument repair shop that’s hiring for Marten to join her—well, long distance is hard.

Bruce Steinberg

Tragically unnoticed comment

INB4 scenes of gratuitous violins

Irian Greenleaf

He's QUESTIONABLY content working at the library...I see what you did there!

Douglas E. Smith

I would listen to a band called Shattervarius, that sounds like an awesome band name.

jimfromtx

Come on, Claire, we know you're just trying to steal Marten's job.

He could indeed say he had finally arrived if that day <i>ever</i> comes. They don't take those things to just anybody.

awgiedawgie

easily.

Joe

Help, help, I'm being re-strung!

Danya Michael

Ah! Now we see the violins inherent in the system!

prettydragoon

Jeph I genuinely had a dream about trying to get a violin repaired last night, and rereading this now, I'm wondering how much reading QC before bed led to this dream

Chelsea

I disapprove of this storyline due to its utter lack of robot butts.

Tim Keating

Marten is a kind, compassionate, supportive and loving person. IMHO, that's the most important thing for anyone to have to show for their life.

Hugh Eckert

It's still there. Lurking. Waiting for when the Stars Are Right.

Hugh Eckert

Hanners is still my fave but I never knew I could love another almost as much. Claire is so great.

AJ Saint

He plays a couple of stringed instruments, doesn't he? That's pretty fine motor skills...

Verteiron

I’ve not seen Marten do anything like a craft that requires fine dexterity.

Sleepy John

Do what you love for a living, and you’ll never work a day in your life, because they’re not hiring.

Sleepy John

His fears are baseless. It’ll be at least twenty years before anyone asks him to repair a Stradivarius.

Nancie

Shattervarius... Sounds like a pending Lindsey Stirling track.

Chris Gallaty

Yeah, that's why Claire was suggesting looking into training.

Diptych

I know Marten has studied music, but wouldn't he need to be handy with tools to be any good at fixing musical instruments? I don't think we've ever seen him so much as pick up a hammer, except to pound dents out of Pintsize's head.

Dean Reilly

I can see how this will play out. He’s gonna share his workspace with Robot Union. Spray clients will notice the instruments and start asking for rad musical body modifications like flute fingers. This will spawn a new trend of indy AI bands with instruments integrated into their bodies. One of these bands will be a commercially successful pop phenomenon and Faye, Bubs, and Martin will be filthy rich.

When I challenged people on yesterday’s discussions, I swear I had no advance knowledge of today’s strip. But Claire’s explanation is exactly what I was telling people.

awgiedawgie

Martins backstory is that he left his life behind and moved to the other side of the country to follow a girlfriend, who then left him. This has possibly left him nervous of making big changes again. That said, it’s been mentioned in comic that even if that big change didn’t start too well, it turned out ok for him.

Thisguy

Stradivariables is really fun to say!

One of Marten's dominant characteristics since strip 0001 is that he's psychologically incapable of taking action to improve his own life. He's happy now 'cause he's stumbled into a job he enjoys, but there's no guarantee that he'll be able to replicate that luck when his financial responsibilities increase as he gets older, or if the library decides to restructure and he needs to find alternative employment. He desperately needs some practice in taking charge of things and looking out for himself without being wracked with anxiety.

Diptych

,fuck you beat me to it

Nothing I love more than an incredibly bad pun. Thank you, BobC! :)

Joseph Bonnar

As featured in the movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Office. It's basically a violin that costs a lot because it was made by the big name in violins, despite being not that difficult to make knockoff copies of with very similar qualities.

Some Ed

Does he know that it's a bad idea? It reads to me like he's a bit anxious about it, but that's suuuuuuuuuuper not the same thing. Speaking as someone who isn't exactly the same as him, but can get trapped in similar patterns, this reads to me like the beginning of some big character development, and not in the form of a crash and burn.

Dev

I feel like this is too much to hope for, but was his name Lex? Or at least Alex?

Dev

So, does this mean Marten will FINALLY level-up to Mareleven?

BobC

Ugh, Marten knows this is a bad idea but he's going to be coerced into it anyway. He's got a job that pays the bills, doesn't chafe, and doesn't follow him home. Why fuck with a good thing?

Uniquitous

I miss old Martin. He wasn't just an accessory...

shedemon

Unrelated to the joke, but people who work on woodwinds are goddamned witches.

Gary Walker

"Don't ever settle" seems to be one of the core ethics of this comic. "If you're content, you're doing it wrong."

Daryl Sawyer

Finally, someone is questioning how content Martin is with everything :P This comic still makes me laugh, even after reading it for 10 years.

Tyler

Meh. I can totally see being content as enough (not questionable at all). When you break an equilibrium, you get lows, too, not just highs.

Erin Hartshorn

Hey, I know a guy who was miserable at some corporate job, and just went out and became a luthier.

David Browne

I love these two. And I love Dora and Tai. And I love Faye and Bubbles. But I have to admit I'm really invested in their story. We are all like Claire. And We all have Marten in us. Things will work out. Marten intellectually realizes Claire is right, he doesn't want to wake up some day in his 40's and realizes he doesn't have much to show for his life. And Claire believes in Marten as being her soulmate. She wants to spare him that, so they can go on together as lovers and partners.

Michael Boettger

Saxon violence? Damn vikings.

Douglas E. Smith

Violins are never the answer.

BearPerson

She's good for him. ^_^

Hopefully all the people who were upset with Claire last comic can calm down a little? She seems like she had good intentions, and I'm glad it didn't end up becoming a more problematic discussion.

Samantha Yeaman

I still miss Claire's hair.

Buck Caldwell

"Stradi-who-vius???"

Peter McDevitt

Or saxophones. Sax and violins is a bad combination.

Captain Button

The immediate cause of his regrets were probably due to sex and violins

Jason Wotzko