Better Days

From Comixpedia

Better Days was a furry webcomic created by Jay Naylor. The comic, which ran from 2003 until 2009, focused on the life and experiences of Fisk Black, an anthropomorphic cat growing up in Georgia. Although popular, the comic received criticism for its portrayal of controversial subjects, including incest and racism. In 2009, Naylor concluded the comic's storyline, and began work on a spin-off entitled Original Life.

[edit] Overview

Better Days was announced in 2003. Naylor wanted to write about the life of his primary creation, Fisk. Formerly known as a pornographic artist, Better Days would be Naylor's first webcomic. He wanted to create material that was "creative and entertaining without being obscene", and to establish himself as an illustrator and a cartoonist rather than a "furry artist". Better Days focused on a number of controversial issues, including racism and incest. The art style derived from anime and manga influence.

Better Days takes place in Georgia, focusing on Fisk, his twin sister Lucy, and their mother Sheila. The twins' father, Jim, died in the Vietnam War. Most of the storylines are character-driven. According to Naylor, the title "[refers] to the future: the result of a lifetime of planning, effort, and just living." Naylor states that Fisk "most personifies my outward attitude", and that the character experienced "phases of arrogance, crassness, naivety, detached bemusement, disregard, and other flaws". Lucy and Sheila were based upon characters created by Mat Sherer for Badly Drawn Kitties. Because of the strong differences between the appearance and personalities of these characters, Naylor states that the use of these characters does not constitute "character theft".

Naylor did not include nudity in Better Days because he did not want to rely on pornography in order to keep readers' interest, and felt that nudity and explicit sex would distract from the story. However, the comic has included violence and non-explicit sexual content.

Better Days portrays African-Americans as hyenas. Naylor chose to use hyenas for characters of African origin because he enjoyed drawing them, and had received compliments about his hyena characters. Naylor's exploration of racism has drawn some criticism, as some readers felt that race should not play into a comic strip featuring anthropomorphic characters. Naylor stated that East African characters would be portrayed as African wild dogs.

Naylor's influences include Phil Hendrie, whose radio program was often referenced within the comic, and Bloom County, which Naylor cites as having influenced his political views. Naylor has also expressed admiration for Calvin and Hobbes and Lackadaisy.

Naylor sells a number of pornographic comics featuring characters from Better Days, and other side projects. Naylor is supported entirely by the sales of his comics.

In 2009, Naylor announced that he was ending Better Days, and would launch a new webcomic entitled Original Life, which would focus on a now-married Fisk and Elizabeth, and their children.

[edit] Plot

Main article: Storyline of Better Days

Fisk displays strong political viewpoints from an early age. These views lead to conflict between his teacher, Mrs. Bedbutter, and Sheila, when Fisk is given bad grades for a series of patriotic essays. Sheila goes on a date with Principal Longfellow, who claims to have been a Vietnam vet who served with Jim, and that he had cheated on her while serving in the war. Sheila calls Jim's former commanding officer, Robert Kelso, to inquire about Longfellow's claims, and learns that Longfellow lied about serving in her husband's unit, and was discharged for aggressive fraternization and other issues. When she confronts him about this, Longfellow attempts to rape her, resulting in Fisk knocking him unconscious with a baseball bat. Longfellow is later assassinated by members of his former unit.

Fisk loses his virginity at age 10 to Nikki, an 11-year-old hyena. Nikki's father is wanted by the FBI for murder and rape, and her sexual induction of Fisk had been the result of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. At Lucy's insistence, Fisk asks his sister's friend Elizabeth, out on a date, after Lucy threatens to tell their mother "what really happened to her lawn gnome". Although Fisk soon falls for Elizabeth, she learns that he had only gone out with her because Lucy had pressured him to.

After Lucy learns that a boy in school had only dated her in an attempt to sleep with Sheila, Fisk attempts to comfort Lucy, and they begin an incestuous relationship. When Fisk reaches college age, he decides to join the army. While attending college, Lucy begins a relationship with Tommy, the boyfriend of one of her roommates, Rachel, who has been unsuspectingly cheated on for years. When Fisk is injured in training, he reunites with Nikki, who has since become a nurse. Fisk fights in the Gulf War, and takes over his father's former job as an undercover CIA agent. When Fisk's cousin, Persia, disappears, he tracks her down, learning that she had left her job as a model to become a pornographic film actress, and was forced into prostitution by mobsters. After a violent confrontation with the mobsters, Persia stays in Fisk's apartment until she can get back on her feet. After a series of bad relationships, Elizabeth is still in love with Fisk, and reveals her feelings to him, leading the two to resume dating. They marry, and decide to have children.

[edit] Reception

Although Naylor's artwork has been consistently praised, Better Days has received criticism for its political views and approach to controversial subject matter. Crush! Yiff! Destroy! wrote that "the normal story-telling and humorous functions of the comic take a backseat to political diatribes and the characters are only there to serve as mouth-piece's for the author's opinions rather than as characters in their own right." The Webcomic Overlook called it "the red-headed stepchild of a genre that’s already a red-headed stepchild."

Better Days receives 15,223 unique visitors per month, and is the most-subscribed webcomic on The Belfry Webcomics Index. On October 30, 2005, Better Days appeared as a "awful link of the day" on the comedy website Something Awful. Naylor stated that he received favorable responses from visitors who discovered his website through Something Awful. In 2006, the character of Jessica was used to promote the Sacred Fools Theater Company's run of the play Poona the Fuckdog (And Other Plays For Children).

[edit] External links

• Better Days home page
• Better Days at WikiFur.
• Enter The Dream collection of reviews about Better Days
• Review of Better Days by The New Meat at Crush! Yiff! Destroy!
• Better Days, in Russian
• Better Days ВКонтакте, in Russian
• Review of Better Days, Webcomic Overlook

[edit] Credit