Sorry about yesterday. Felt like trash. But much much better now. I think I overly stressed myself on my last Patreon comic. Some comics can be monsters depending on what I want for them. It can be stressful, but it's a good kind of stress. Usually means I'll have something I'm proud of. The teaser for it is over there.> I'm sure it raised zero eyebrows.
Perfect Date is Imperfect
82 thoughts on “Perfect Date is Imperfect”
I wonder if the car is also still jam packed full of nerd gear and Wham CD’s.
‘Collectables’ not ‘Nerd Gear’ for your information lol
Now as for the comic…hmmm its hard to tell if he forgot them on purpose or it was really an accident. I’m suspicious of people by nature, but his comment just seems so…odd. ‘I seem to have left my tickets at home’ that sounds like a rehersed line to me…I would almost say he didnt actually buy the tickets and planned to buy them now to make himself look better. I’ll just have to wait and see.
As for the Patreon comic…reallllly looking foward to seeing just whats going on there o.O *cuddles ElliQuin plushy in fear*
NNEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDSSSßSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
*ahem* ELLIN
rather be a nerd than barbie
I have plenty of my own nerd gear so I use the term affectionately. :P I gave up calling them collectibles a long time ago. Action figures is still in play though.
I wonder if he’ll ask her to wear a helmet for safety.
I don’t think it’s rehearsed. Ellie was expecting to have to wait in line last comic, as evidenced by her comment on receiving her balloons. If rehearsed, he would’ve volunteered only living two minutes away to go back and get them if the purpose was to try to get Ellie to come to his place.
Dontchoo be dissin mah nerd gear by downgrading it to ‘collectables’! I’ll bust a blaster cap in yo fool ass!
And would that be a bad thing? I seem to recall McFatFat being heavy into Wham himself.
I’m half expecting Ellie to fall for him lol.
The same thought has crossed my mind. It would be an interesting twist that would likely lead to Ellie losing her job (yet again.)
Rusche did say she was going to meet the love of her life.
Didn’t he?
My recollection is that Ellie is going to get into a serious relationship soonish (maybe this chapter, maybe next) and that she’d have another one later in the comic.
A quick trip back home…nothing wacky or madcap about that. Nothing to worry about…
Of course not, what could possibly happen?
I’m callin’ car accident.
No. Ive already seeded this story years ago on what to expect at his house. Just read the reactions after he gives Quinn a ride home.
Oh no. It’s going to be *worse* than a car accident?
Ohholyfecalmatter.
Brjnging a girl home to see the parents? It’s a mad cap trip to Russell the pharmacist played by that crazy rascall from “Fernwood 2 nite,” Martin Mull.
Mamma Blackwood expecting this means marriage? That’ll be fun.
She meets the five Asian students living in the yard shed on his neighbors lawn and a race to take over the world ensues when two abnormally looking white lab mice kidnap the students dog and Fatty McFatFat.
If it’s only 2 minutes drive, they could probably walk there and back in 45 minutes … but then, they are Americans :-)
Exerting effort to go somewhere? PAH. Quash such snivelry and bring me my chariot!
I love every one of these panels because they all have James in then. Yay for James! If Ellie can’t appreciate how awesome he is, I’ll take him! …oh wait
Didn’t Harleen Quinzell beat you for it?
Oooo he ALSO kinda has cheek marks. What could this MEAN!?
Illuminati confirmed!
Skin condition, genectic factors, florida sun, comic book mishap, survivor of a mob ascorbic acid attack?
I forgot the obsessive compulsive compulsion to scratch repeatedly on a specific spot.
Word of god confirmed early on that James cheek scribbles are rosacea. Someone asked that very question during one of James earliest appearances (I think during the “Quinn gets a ride in the nerd mobile” storyline) but I can’ t find the specific comment.
Found it, it was during the movie theater storyline, not the car ride as I originally thought. http://shotgunshuffle.com/comic/the-sticky-seat/ Chris’s comment regarding James facial features is about halfway down the page.
First off, I had NO IDEA that was the same guy! Second, I need to be more observant. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Illuminati confirmation rescinded.
I always love seeing how the artwork has evolved over time. When we sit here, refresh-whoring on a day-to-day basis, it’s sometimes easy to loose sight of how far things have come.
As a sufferer of rosacea I am super jealous of how easy it seems James has it, lol.
I was trying to seed in a version of the socratic teaching method through a bit of humor.
He is just so amazingly earnest as he goes down in flames (and oblivious to it as well).
So rusche, I gotta ask, how did you come up with the name Shotgun Shuffle?
I seem to recall he at least hinted it as a seventies music reference (there is a song by the same name by KC & the Sunshine Band).
Its based on a Kaci and the Sunshine Band song of the same name. I worked at Cicis Pizza years ago and one girl brought in a greatest hits CD. I was reading through the tracklist and liked the name.
when trying to purchase a website I didnt want to have somethingsomethingCOMIC.com or any other addition words in the site name like many comics do. I just wanted the comic name to be the address. Shotgun Shuffle wasn’t taken.
Now the magic is gone :P I wanted to believe that at some point someone would juggle shotguns.
Nonononono.
Some guy was performing a magic trick when a hypnotist put our noted suthor under a trance. Instead of suggesting that he draw his characters as chickens talking like chickens to other chjckens, motes of a K.C. and the Sunshine Band drifted in from having escapedsome hoverboard riding 70s enthusiast’s headphones. (Belated happy back to the future day people)
At the point when the hypnotist was going to make the chicken suggestion, the magician stated that he would, “shuffle the cards”; the hypnotist said, “shotgun shuffle?” before the hoverboard rider collided with him, setting off that coma inducing brain aneurysm leaving the hypnotic suggestion intact, thus saving the world from Biff Tannen’s apocalyptic present taking over.
The character in the passenger seat is always changing.
And here I thought, we’d finally see some shotguns shuffleing.
Because every day I’m shufflin!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8
The fact that it was inspired by a song doesn’t mean it can’t still be a Shuffle-verse combination of Three Card Monte & Russian Roulette.
I like your thinking.
Wow,Ellie looks really mature in that last panel,sexy as well :)
I’m loving that after the 2-3 years since i last read this comic its still is going strong and can’t wait to see how it and the spin-off will develop and how they will interact with each other :)
Keep it up!!!
Spin off? The patreon? It’s being folded into the archives as we read.
Motion to amend claiming of firsts.
Motion reads,
People, individuals, entities, carbon and or artificial intelligence based life forms who provide spoilers to the artist’s patreon feed prior to said feed becoming integrated into the site’s archives shall forfeit their rights of claiming first for a period of thirty (30) days from date indicated in post of said spoiler, (not Stephanie Brown, nor any individual claiming the mantle of Stephanie Brown’s alter ego) plus one day to indicate that the thirty (30) day period of forfeit begins at 00:00:00.01 (re: midnight immediately following date of post) the following day based on the time zone of Lakeland, Florida or Eastern Time Zone (U.T.C. +5).
2 minutes and you need to drive? xD but dat Patreon doe….
That was my first reaction, too, until I remembered Florida is by far the most dangerous state for pedestrians (about 12 and half walkers get mowed down per 100,000 people).
He may also be nervous about sweating too much and planning to crank the A/C.
Though with the likely time to pull out of the parking lot and whatnot, it does seem like 2 minutes is either an ideal estimate or will take longer to drive than it would’ve to walk.
He is rather rotund looking, isn’t he?
Are you saying that he’s a well rounded character?
Nah, the MC is the most well rounded character.
Glad you feel better. I think Patreon comic #58 deserves the description of “ridiculously epic” and is something to be proud of.
However I do vote for you attempting not to stress so much about comics of that caliber in the future when you find one like that with that large of a comic needing not to be broken up.
I can’t believe I’m the first to say it (and that I forgot about it for so long), but great reference that today, Back to the Future II day, we have a comic featuring James titled Perfect Date is Imperfect.
Not sure if that was deliberate or happenstance, but bravo.
Oooooooooooooo. Now I think I see that.. Are we going to see a flying DeLorean on the trip?
Well, he did plan it through. That much can be said about him.
OK I’m saying this once because it has to be said. *clears throat* TUCK IN THE DAMN SHIRT! You’re on a date not slumming it at the computer playing WOW
Not everybody, and not all shirts, look good tucked in. Looks a little short for his to be tucked. Also, no tie; if he had a tie then tuck for sure, but no tie means no tuck required. Tbh no tie but tucked in looks odd to me and makes chubby people look even tubbier.
Plus it’s a movie date, not a fancy place by any means.
Agreed. I’ll tuck when wearing a suit jacket, but otherwise, it looks weird. It doesn’t look dignified when I stuff anything else down into my pants, so why would a shirt be different?
That statement creates a very amusing montage in my mind’s eye.
With what we’ve seen of James so far, I can even see him doing that as part of his pre-date preparation.
James walks out of the dressing room with a tennis racket half stuffed in his pants. Ian and Asian kid shake their heads no. Cut to James jumping out with sunglasses on and a beach umbrella half stuffed in his pants. Ian and Asian kid shake their heads no. Cut to James strutting out of the dressing room, vacuum cleaner half stuffed in his pants. Ian and Asian kid shake their heads yes! They all jam out to the rest of The Electric Light Orchestra’s ‘Mr Blue Sky’, or maybe something by Oingo Boingo…
I like your object choices.
I was seeing him walking back and forth between a closet and looking at himself in a mirror rather than Ian & Richard participating. For objects I had a 2-3 foot long fish (tail sticking up), a baseball bat, a waffle iron, and a 5′ tall standing rotating fan (which resulted in ripped pants and giving up). I was hearing background music and seeing a fast forwarded style reminiscent of the TV show The Monkeys.
I agree that some shirts should not be tucked in but when the hem is uneven then you just look messy and lazy, tie or no tie
His title of ‘Most Desperately Single Member’ is proven highly accurate already. Buuut the at least he seems harmless and adorable. Plenty of girls would like that earnest, dorky manner of his.
Seriously?
That’s a joke, right?
I hope not. And I’m not even a member of date a sea captain.
James, though desperate to make the sale here, can’t be the worst of the worst of that site. He seems reasonably attractive, appears to practice hygiene, is tall, and even speaks in complete sentences. I feel kinda like I’m watching “She’s All That” again, when the jock says “Oh please, no. Anyone but Rachael Leigh Cook in glasses and overalls. PLEASE.”
Well, remember how much it takes to actually get surveyed on that site? I’d guess the worst of the worst overall would fall through at that point the latest.
He’s still certainly not the worst of the worst of those that do though. You’re right there. After all, Ellie did make a few demands and any possible candidates for a date with her are screened in advance. That should sort those out.
I think it might be more accurate to say plenty of girls could like that earnest, dorky manner of his.
Humans make a lot of snap judgements, and it doesn’t take a lot to botch an initial impression. Not that it can’t be earned back if there’s reason for continued interaction, but with a dating site (especially one with plenty of guys), there won’t be sufficient opportunity for that to happen.
Additionally, the line between considering adorable and nearly overpowering urges to hug versus irritated to the point of quivering with the strain of refraining from smacking someone can be a surprisingly narrow one.
TINY FELLA the movie produced by Wilt Chamberlain, Charles Barkley and Larry Byrd.
Hate to kill the joke but nope. Chris was giving my customizing business a shout out. Wilt Chamberlain was no how involved.
You made him a custom Mario goomba, didn’t you?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Nope. The Mario Goomba waslnt me. I made myself an Ellie PopVinyl and he shared it on here ages ago.
Okay, my curiosity is finally peaked enough. Though I am very broke, I really want to see those Patreon comics. How much do we have to contribute per month for access? I couldn’t find it listed on the various patreon tiers.
I give five dollars a month and have comic access. I believe all tiers do because Chris is awesome sauce
Last I checked, it was at the $2+ level.
Yep, I’m a two dollar subscriber and can confirm that as correct.
James is coming off as a bit over zealous. Might explain why he is still single despite his awkward charms. Also he sort of reminds me of every nerdy boy I met in high school. (I was/am a nerd too, so they were my friends.)
They would be overjoyed if/when they got a date with a hot chick. Which often lead to the girl being turned off by too much attention or would end up abusing the nerd’s devotion. Ellie wont be like that, I am sure. I just hope she gives him a pep talk to boost his self esteem. Make James feel like he deserves someone.
Yeah, I unfortunately am relating to James WAY too hard here. 15 years ago, when I was 16, I got to take this really, incredibly smoking hot nerdy girl out.
I… uh… may have bought her a sword.
James is best read in the voice of Archer’s Cyril.
Is James wearing concealer on his cheeks?
I see a darkening still with the black hash marks, but I don’t see the redness.