A few weeks ago, many of you took part in the Urban Underbrush Readers’ Poll to share what you liked (or didn’t like) about the comic. Now, I’m giving you the results. Here are the answers you voted for, ranked by popularity. I’ve also included some commentary.
1. Who’s your favorite character?
First Place: Maxwell (40%)
Second Place: Dynamite & Detonator / Vincent / Scatter (15% each)
Third Place: Leslie (10%)
Fourth Place: Cassidy (5%)
I’m not surprised that Max is the favorite. He’s a nice guy who gets the best pop culture jokes. I’m glad that Dynamite and Detonator made a decent showing since they often carry the stories. Vincent was a surprise. He’s so quiet I was wondering if you even noticed him. The rest of the cast did about as well as I expected.
2. Which settings would you like to see?
First Place: House and Roof Garden (45%)
Second Place: City (40%)
Third Place: Visit other places (15%)
Actually, these results reflect how often I intended to use these settings anyway. About 50% to 60% of the story will take place in the house, 40% in the rest of the city and 15% in some other locations.
3. Explosions?
First Place: There are enough explosions (60%)
Second Place: We need more explosions (40%)
Everyone likes a good explosion, but you guys clearly understand that they probably can’t happen all the time. Urban Underbrush has continuity. It’s not the kind of cartoon where everything falls apart one week, and then it’s inexplicably fine the next week. Plus, the characters make a big deal over how important their home is. So I can’t be blasting pieces off of it every other week. I do promise to blow things up whenever I can get away with it.
Not surprisingly, no one voted for fewer explosions.
4. Human Stories or Animal Stories?
First Place: Mix (90%)
Second Place: humans only/animals only (5% each)
I’ve always liked stories with both animal and human characters interacting. I really don’t see the point in keeping them apart.
5. Romance Stories
First Place: Keep doing what you’re doing. (45%)
Second Place: More stories where Vincent and Leslie do couple things. (25%)
Third Place: Vincent and Leslie are creepy. Make someone else hook up with someone. (20%)
Fourth Place: Keep it to a minimum. (10%)
I kind of screwed up this question. That line about Vincent and Leslie being creepy was based on something a friend of mine had said about my comics many years ago. I thought it would be funny to include it in the survey. But many of you like seeing Vincent and Leslie together but ALSO want to see other characters hook up, so I couldn’t get an honest answer from that line of questioning.
Most of you seem interested in some light romance stories. Not a lot of people flat-out objected to them anyway.
6. Favorite Chapter?
First Place: Ch 5 – Bicycle Ride (42%)
Second Place: Ch 2 – Storage Problems/Ch 4 – Grass Roots History (16% each)
Third Place: Ch 1 – Rabbits Move In (11%)
Fourth Place: Ch 6/ Ch7/ “I haven’t read all the chapters” (5% each)
Fifth Place: Ch 3 – House Warming Party (0%)
I hope to do more wacky stories like Chapter 5. It’s easier to write this kind of story now that we’ve settled in and met everyone.
I’m not surprised that Chapter 3 received the fewest votes. It’s the shortest, most uneventful chapter. Its only real function is to transition into Chapter 4. Some of the individual comic strips are pretty funny, but, as a whole, it can’t compete with the longer stories.
7. How often do you read Urban Underbrush?
First Place: “I check every update” (75%)
Second Place: “I check every few weeks” (25%)
My sponsors should be glad to hear this.
8. Least Favorite Character
First Place: “ I can’t answer this” (40%)
Second Place: Caius / Blair (20% each)
Third Place: Clive (10%)
Fourth Place: Cassidy / Scatter (5% each)
I’m genuinely surprised to learn that people don’t like jerks. That’s not sarcasm. I honestly thought people loved selfish, cynical, mean characters in cartoons.
I’m not planning on making any changes based on these results. The least favorite characters only “won” by a small margin. Not enough of a negative reaction to cut them or change them. Besides, we’d have a pretty boring story with no antagonists.
Oddly, Clayton and Slasher are the only characters who received no votes for “Favorite” or “Least Favorite.” Cassidy and Scatter are the only characters who received votes for both “Favorite” and “Least Favorite.”
So there you have it. That’s what people think of Urban Underbrush (as much as we can trust an internet survey.) My thanks to everyone who took the time to share their opinions. Maybe next time, I’ll give you a free wallpaper or something.
-Marj
