3. Using Oddball Things That Aren't Supposed To Talk
Stewie the baby. Brian the dog. Klaus the fish. Roger the alien. Tim the Bear. Arianna the Bear. Ted the teddy bear. The pattern is pretty hard to miss, and that's excluding all the one-off gags where things start talking just for a minute or two to deliver one quick, jokey exchange. There's no way to predict who will be able to hear any of the Talking Things: Brian seems to have made himself heard from day one, but Stewie's insults, initially at least, went right over Lois' head. No wonder Ted 2 treats Ted as if he's the representative of a minority: in the MacFarlaneverse, he is. "Talking Things That Have No Business Talking" are far better represented than actual gays, though Stewie at least is both.
T Campbell has written quite a few online comics series and selected work for Marvel, Archie and Tokyopop. His longest-running works are Fans, Penny and Aggie-- and his current project with co-writer Phil Kahn, Guilded Age.
