Questionable Content is a hipster/indie webcomic. (If you haven't read it in a while, I suggest you catch up now, to avoid spoilers.) One of the main characters, Marten, has long had a crush on the female protagonist, Faye, but she pretty much refuses to open up to anyone, and uses sarcasm as a defense mechanism. (No one will get that reference.) Several days ago, at Strip #500, she finally began opening up. In today's strip, she finally reveals why she's so screwed up; she walked in on her father killing himself.

The Forums: OMGWTFBBQ.

The forums' reaction is generally positive, people registering just to comment, the usual. But one guy mentions that the "BLAM!" used in the last panel may be a little cartoony.

cacuhuate: Anyone else think the "Blam" was morbidly cartoonish and amusingly shaped?

It was supposed to be serious and all... but the blam... just looks silly! No complaint really.

Link mine.

ALoveSupreme: agreed. It sort of took me out of the strip. Dang.

Kid Amnesiac: I'll complain. It was stupid.

Fact.

I thought it was going to be that he raped her or something. This was an obvious way to go.

thereedee:Bah, QC is turning into "redizu" manga and/or schisophrenic anime.

Faye is becoming something similar that Cloud Strife is (FF7). Unsocial, quiet, introvertial.

And all this BLAM business is all way too familiar to manga/anime lovers Smile so, nothing really new, except that overused concept is used in western comic style. In manga there are countless instances of this situation we have here today

I would just like to point out that TRD registered just to say that.

KA again: You can try and generalize American readers by their overreacting about the use of the onomatopoeia as opposed to the mighty mental prowess of your average manga reader, but the guy was telling a serious story, not a tale of a lovesick robot and his talking cat. So, yes, the "BLAM" was incredibly cartoony and unnecessary.

Does anyone else think that the only other options were explicitly showing the shot, or going the classic "shilouette" route?

lastclearchance:[quote of KA's earlier comment about rape]
Which is why no one guessed it here and plenty of people guessed rape?
[quote of KA's above reply]
Notwithstanding that QC has a robot (and a superhero for that matter) I think he has a point. It's not that we don't read manga. It's that our cultural expectations (shaped by our experience) has disassociated sound effects and dramatic storytelling.

I blame the Batman TV show.

Und so weiter. The people criticising the "BLAM" get ranted at. Sideways makes me wince by using the word "chillax". The cartoonist responds. And, finally;

KimJongSick:If anybody makes a "boom headshot" joke I'm going to have to beat them senseless.

Please, no furbashing.