Questionable Content

Questionable Content
A sample QC panel, featuring characters (L-R) Marten, Bubbles, Pintsize, and Faye.
Author(s)	Jeph Jacques
Website	questionablecontent.net
Current status / schedule	Updates every weekday
Launch date	August 1, 2003
Genre(s)	Humor/Slice of life

Questionable Content (abbreviated QC) is a slice-of-life webcomic written and drawn by Jeph Jacques. It was launched on August 1, 2003. Jacques makes his living exclusively from QC merchandising and advertising, making him one of the few professional webcomic artists. By 2004, Jacques was able to support himself and his then-fiancée based on income from merchandise and advertising sales. On July 11, 2015, the comic reached its 3000th strip.

The plot originally centered on Marten Reed, an indie rock aficionado; his anthromorphized personal computer Pintsize; his roommate, Faye Whitaker; their mutual friend, Dora Bianchi; and their neighbor Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham. However, over time a supporting cast of characters has grown to include employees of the local coffee shop, neighbors, and androids. QC's storytelling style combines romantic melodrama, situational comedy, and sexual humor, while considering questions of relationships, sexuality, dealing with emotional trauma, and, as of late, artificial intelligence and futurism.

In 2003, Jacques worked at a local Easthampton, Massachusetts, newspaper answering telephones. According to Jacques, the large amount of free time and access to the Internet led him to read webcomics "as something to do". Jacques stated that of the webcomics he read, "I've always been really interested in music, and indie rock specifically, and I never saw any other comics that dealt with that aspect of our culture. I felt like there was a niche there that would work."

Questionable Content was originally updated twice a week and was later bumped to three strips a week. In September 2004, Jacques left his day job to begin updating Monday through Friday.

According to Jacques, at one point he would have sought newspaper syndication for Questionable Content, but the thought no longer appeals to him because he does not want to surrender editorial freedom. Instead, Jacques decided to re-publish the strips in book form. To date, five volumes have been released, covering strips 1-1499.