There’s two comics I wanted to alert everyone to the presence of, two comics that have just gotten off their respective hiatuses… hiati…?
But it seems that no-good Occultatio beat me to the punch. Harumph. Harupmh, I say!
The two comics were Loserz and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Two of my old favorites. Go check them out, both are resplendently funny in their own ways.
(From Something Positive, by Randy K. Milholland)
Just a quick snark while I’m thinking of it. Every once in a while we get a chance to see Randy’s art skills at their best. Previously, I think they were best exemplified in his New Gold Dream strips. They were exceptionally well drawn compared to the average S*P strip. During Q&A week we got some good ones, as well.
Yesterday was one of those days, as shown in the strip above. We see Davan laughing. Laughing in such a way that it is either giving him great joy or great pain, we really can’t tell. But he looks like he’s laughing. Belly laughing. And the buildup to the laughter, his failed attempt to hold it in, also great.
I just wanted to point out that today’s strips struck me as an example of Randy’s best, visually.
So yeah.
Thanks to the boys over at Digital Strips, Zampzon and Daku, for their shout out for both The Hoojie Crew and I’m Just Saying.
Got a little bit more work to take care of, faithful readers, before I can bring my attention back to this here snarkblog. However, I have been as always poking around and finding many new comics and adding them to The Slate (to be updated also), so the source of material is ever growing.
And as always, if there’s something you’d like me to give a lookover, throw an e-mail my way.
Be back… oh let’s say Thursday.
In the meantime, I recommend Yukihime’s Penny Arcade Remix Project for my fellow PA fans. It’s high-larious.
(From Rob and Elliot, by Clay and Hampton Yount)
Well folks, I’m trying to keep this criticism thing up along with all my school work at this end of the semester business, so for today I’m giving y’all a webcomic pick. Somthing from the slate that I decided is 110% awesome.
I don’t remember how, but I discovered this one, and saw the thumbnailed comic above. I’m still laughing. I laugh every time I see it. This is the perfect example of that once in a while time when a webcomic can grip me instantly. I only needed to see this one to know that I’d love the entire series.
Rob and Elliot is a absurd comedy. It stars Rob and Elliot, two roommates, and the wacky shit that goes down in there apartment. And that’s really it. You can have a setup that’s so minimal like that and it absolutely works. There’s nothing more you need to know other than Rob is a total moron, and Elliot is not.
And this comic just takes any gag it wants and totally runs with it. I’ll never forget Best Friends Forever, orSatan’s Candy.
I don’t know, I’m just trying to tell you that this comic is damned good. If you’re not reading it, you should be. All that good stuff.
I’m giving it 32 Awesome Points™ just for… being.
(From Real Life, by Greg Dean)
I want to talk about pwnage, or the act of pwning thereof. In my circles, the word “pwn” (pronounced P’OWN) is securely fixed in our collective and individual lexicons. Pwn is a mighty word to me. I use it to describe the complete decimation of one thing over another.
Examples:
“Man, this pile of flapjacks seriously pwns all others I’ve ever tasted. Thanks, Grampa!”
“Check out this A+, I totally pwned my mid-term!”
“My fingers sure are tired from all this ritualistic pwning I’ve been dealing out.”
“Check out my pwnular entertainment setup.”
“I’m trying to decide who is more pwnable in this fight, so I know who to take out first.”
“Of all varieties of cheese, I’d have to say that Limburger is probably the least pwnish.”
“That was a really cheap victory. Pwnesque at best.”
“You’re just a lame bitch pwn face aren’t you?”
The possibilities therein are pwnably endless. And we’ve all but exhausted “pwn” as a word in speech. And while I have borne witness to many a pwning, I have never seen what pwning looks like in a flat out illustration of such a thing. Eric N. firing off three sniper rounds, and obliterating five enemies in the process… that’s a goddamned pwning. But while it is an act pwning, that act is not what pwning itself looks like.
Consider, if you will, the regular man-activity of Cock-Drawing. Bear with me on this one. While few and far between is the act of actually drawing out the Cock performed, it is always done figuratively. Guys just do that. I do that, and you… you do that. Guys have several figurative Cocks of which to draw out. When a guy pulls up in his Mercedes alongside my Pontiac Sunfire, he has shown to me that he has a much, much bigger Automotive Cock. When a guy pulls out his ringing cell phone, I’m almost always going to pull out my Samsung Monolith (my pet name, for both its rectangular shape and its ability to fascinate and inspire) and play my ring tone, which is a delightful polyphonic rendition of Aha’s “Take on Me,” and then take a picture of him with the multi-positionable camera lens. I have successfully flexed my mighty Gadget Cock. If two guys are out for a huge dinner, and one of them snags the check and leaves a 30% tip, it may seemlike he’s doing something nice. But no, he is definitely flexing his Money Cock. There’s thousands of Cocks for which a guy can choose from. His Living Space Cock, his Girlfriend Cock, his Job Cock, his Power Tool Cock, his Gun Cock, his Computer Cock, etc., etc., etc.!
In this strip, Greg’s character has essentially Gadget Cockslapped the salesman right in the jaw, Coldcocking the guy as a result. A pwning so great that it is illustrated with an explosive word bubble. And look! The weakling sales associate is lying on the ground with smoke arising from the pwn-wound. Alan Extra got fucking pwned… In the face!
Pfft… What a n00b.
47 Awesome Points™ to Greg Dean, for his top-notch pwning.
I thought it’d be good to do a bit on all the Eisner Award Noms for the brand spankin’ new digital comics category. I mostly agree with Tycho’s feelings (read: hatred) on the idea that Webcomics are subject to different scrutiny than the rest. Webcomics shouldn’t be set aside simply because they follow a different format. But I’m taking this for what it is: A step in the right direction. The fact that Webcomics are on the list at all this year is a pretty big deal, especially since the awards are mainly for the print side of the industry.
For the record, if you are unfamiliar, here are the nominees for the award:
Athena Voltaire, by Steve Bryant.
Copper, by Kazu.
Jonny Crossbones, by Les McClaine.
Mom’s Cancer, by Brian Fies.
Ojingogo, by Matt Forsythe.
(Bento & Starchky, by Peter Branting was a nominee at one point, but has been removed due to a rules discrepancy. That one was some interesting Dadaism in comic form, well executed as far as anyone knows (it’s Dada after all). Didn’t suit my personal tastes but seems to be a good bit of comicking by any standpoint.)
Athena Voltaire just doesn’t really grab me. It has a lot of good qualities, and I can see why it was nominated, I just don’t really like it. It looks and reads exactly like a serial book. The art is plenty skilled, with its very realistic style and method. Heavy inks are fun for me to look at, and the digital coloring does well with lighting effects. Although there’s one page in the previews that sticks out with its malformed faces. The story reflects a classic adventurer’s life style. Unfortunately, that’s just not my cup of tea. Anyway, I’d've liked to read more, but my cheapskate nature that I hold so dear prevents me from subscribing.
I really enjoyed reading Jonny Crossbones. It uses a classic art style that reminds me very much of Tin Tin. Another good ol’ adventure story, about pirate’s treasure. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like a story of pirate’s treasure hunting. Also very noteworthy is Johnny Crossbones’ character design. Just what is he, anyway? Is that makeup, a full body suit? Whatever it is, it’s damned cool. And he’s a great lead: Smart but clumsy, aloof but charming, reluctant yet daring… He’s like Johnny Quest without the suck.
I read Ojingogo and honestly I have no fucking clue what is going on, but I don’t care because it’s still awesome. Very abstract and cool, and good use of Infinite canvas. And I really, really love that “Ak!” thing, whatever it is. Personally, I’d prefer the thing to be in English so I could maybe read it and understand it, which is my only real complaint. Otherwise, weird awesome stuff.
Mom’s Cancer is a pretty heartwarming story. I never got a chance to read Pekar’s “Our Cancer Year,” but I plan to prioritize it now, since the author of this one acknowledges the differences and similarities. Anyway, It’s weird to say the story was “Well written” because it’s a true story. So I’m going to go with “Well interpreted.” I really was a cool way to tell the story. So human, and with fun visual analogies to what’s going on. It may be selfish for me to say that I’m hoping this one doesn’t win based on the idea that it’s a cancer story. If it wins, it should win based on its creative merit. But that’s just me being a preferential dick.
All the entries impressed me, but Copper was the only one that floored me. This comic is beautiful and pure. The great stories of a boy and his dog with a weird apocalyptic undertone found in some of the strips. The art is just stupendous with its flawless cartoonism, use of light colors, and just… Gah! I’m trying to get the words out on this one. I’m trying to say how perfect this strip is. Let me say then that Copper is a spot-on definition of the idea of sequential art. I’m scouring for negative points on this, and the only one I can find is the fact that it only updates once a month. Which is fine, really. I mean, I crave more, but a month of time helps make sure that the comic is one polished piece of work.
I take Copper as my pick for the win.
(From Kevin and Kell, by Bill Holbrook)
I definitely gave this strip a shot. It looked good, it was funny enough to invest a bit of interest in it, and a lot of other webcomic folks like it. So I thought, Hey. I’ll give it a shot.
And I’m sorry to say I don’t like it. I think I wanted to, but I didn’t. And I’m trying to wrap my brain around why that is, and frankly it’s mostly a matter of taste. But I can’t just go around going “Meh. I didn’t like it. Why? I uh, I just… don’t.”
One of the major things is that I can’t grasp the society they live in. It’s a world of furry, or anthropomorphic animals, whatever you wanna call it. In this world, the system of predator and prey is still in action, but regulated. And I can’t tell why some animals are fully erect with opposable thumbs and the like and some aren’t. Are they all sentient or not? And they EAT each other! And everyone’s OK with that. As I understand, there’s a regulation agency, Herd Thinners, Inc. which determines who gets eaten, or who gets to eat or something. And these creatures have to live with the fact that at any given day, they can be eaten. Killed, mauled, torn to shreds. That terrifies me, personally.
And then there was the Easter Bunny arc, which was my first bout of trying to understand the sociological workings in Kevin and Kell. Here, on Easter, Kevin is the Easter Bunny for his district. He hides the eggs all over the place. Hold on, EGGS? Those are the unfertilized children of other animals! Living people who you might know! Not to mention the fact that we’re not certain that there was a furry Jesus in order to give rise to the ceremony of Easter in the first place.
I took a stroll through the archives. Basically started at the beginning and read for a while. And honestly? The early stuff is good. Except it only causes to rise more questions in my mind. Like, when they had their baby, it came out a rabbit. But psychologically a predator. Which is funny enough, but I would never think that a wolf and a rabbit COULD mate. Being that they’re both an entirely different race from the other, it doesn’t seem possible.
I know I’m raising a lot of complaints here. This is why I don’t really dig the strip. It raises far too many questions in my mind. Not the good kind of questions, the intrigue and curiosity. But the bad kind of questions, the confusion variety. The art’s good, it’s generally funny from day to day, and a lot of people like, love, and understand what goes on in this strip. I just don’t get it, I guess.
But hey, I gave it a shot.
Ok, as a preface, let me state that this is a post based solely in opinion and in my perspective. Totally open for, and encouraging discussion.
Through Weds, I found this discussion going on over on Meaghan Quinn’s LiveJorunal. After perspectives were exchanged between she and William G., the general consensus is that more webcomic criticism blogs need to be done by readers, and not by creators. And that the principal idea is that creators can’t be critics.
This is a hot issue right now, what with the recent upsurge up snarkblogs (I don’t like to count myself as one of them out of sheer vanity… Sorry, it’s the truth). Can creators be efficient critics?
Most say no. Mainly because a creator has their set style, and their set method, and a firm perspective on how webcomicking should be done. They would have an unfair advantage/disadvantage on their critical influence based on their popularity and readership. There may be rivalries, jealousies, private hatreds and general pettiness, I suppose. I of course can’t truly tell the concerns of that position being that I’m a creator and a critic. This, in turn, shows me the merit of having a critic that’s a reader, because they’re apart from all of that. They know only the reading and consumption, and can give a totally objective opinion (which still isn’t possible, because of the fact of preference, more on that later).
To me, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a creator who critiques, a critic who creates, a critic who is just a reader, or a creator who doesn’t criticize. Because they’re all essential to the process.
In order to have a good criticism community, or just a good discussion period, you have to have different perspectives entering into the equation. Take me for example. I’m a film student, 19 years of age, been making a less than lesser known webcomic sporadically for maybe a year and a half. I run a webcomic small scale community/production studio. I love Kevin Smith, David Cronenberg, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriquez, Bryan Singer, Terry Gilliam, Sam Raimi, etc. I love Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Mark Lanegan Band, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Franz Ferdinand, Les Claypool, The Rolling Stones, etc. If you look at The Plate, you’ll see which comics I read.
My likes and dislikes are essentially a template for what I feel is good and bad, just like everybody else. And because everyone’s palette of preferences is different, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re a creator or not, when it comes to critique.
Let’s take Eric Burns as another case. He ran a webcomic at one point known as Unfettered by Talent. He began Snarking later afterwards, and now he is a creator once again with Gossamer Commons. He wrote/writes for RPGs. He wrote extensively with a group project known as Superguy (sorry, can’t find the link at the moment). Now with all that said, he brings a pretty unique experience to the criticism table. He’s shown us through Websnark that he is an excellent critic. But does that mean his critiques are more valid?
No offense to Eric, but the answer is no. It makes no difference to me what you’ve done or have done in your life when you make your criticisms. Because they’re (hopefully) still the best and most well thought out criticism you can muster. And that criticism is you. Which I say, is what we need and currently have in the newly forming Criticism community.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but William G. is in a different place than most the rest of us. His blog is not primarily a criticism blog. It is first and foremost a blog on his life. And at times, he gives us his review of a popular webcomic. Again, not a question of his validity. He’s just in a different critical perspective, and I think that’s what I’m getting at.
The thing we need is more variation in critical perspective. And that means a great big mix of creators, readers, fanboys and girls, art snobs, average joes, teachers, students, etc, etc, etc. Then we’ll have the best mix. And then particular readers can find their like-minded, or unlike-minded critics that they want.
I’m just sayin’ is all…
Hey folks. It’s end of the semester crunchtime, so working my hobbies in along my schoolwork is always a challenge for me.
I saw Sin City. It was damned amazing. I’d go as far as to say flawless. And that’s coming from being both a Comic Fan and a Film Majaor. My ex-roomie Bryan noted that there was some audio problems that I personally didn’t notice. But he’s a much, much harsher critic than I would ever care to be.
What have I been doing? Well I’ve been slowly chipping away at my huge comics list. It’s got 107 items involved so far, and more always seem to creep into it as I try to just get the thing finished.
I was doing some egosurfing and had found that I’ve been mentioned a bit. More importantly than that, I’ve been alerted to the existence of other snarkblogs. So, without further ado, here’s a short list of the fellas that do the criticism blog thing, along with their content style.
Websnark - Webcomics, The Community, The Life of Eric Burns, and random bits of Weds.
Delineated Blog - The life of William G., along with some hard biting analysis of big name comics.
Webcomic Finds - Lesser known webcomics brought to attention, industry commentary.
The Living Comic - Panel by panel breakdowns, general criticism.
Snarkoleptics - An LJ community where snarking is done.
And then of course there’s me.
…
*cough*
Well anyway, I say give those guys a look. They’re good, and I don’t want to be your only source of webcomic opinionation. I’ll have something up later today if it strikes me hard enough.
(From The Last Days of FOXHOUND)
Sorry if I disapointed anyone yesterday with a no-post. I was bushed.
This is one of my favorite strips, The Last Days of FOXHOUND. I’m a registered Metal Gear Solid whore, so that’s what attracted me to this strip. The art’s nothing to sneeze at really, but Chris Doucette’s skill in dialogue writing and comic layout skills deserve a word.
I wanted to point out that I really enjoyed the execution of this strip… or strips if you prefer. What we have is two events going on at the same time, and for the sake of brevity, combined into the same strip. On the left, Liquid is making his escape and on the right, Miller is joining Raven. Both strips are self-contained. Either one could have been done on their own. But I think it was a good choice to do them at the same time.
Another thing I think works well with this strip is the use of colored word balloons. There are a ton of word balloons scattered all over the typical episode of LDF, so Chris decided he’d color code them.
I think I’m still bushed, because that’s as much writing as I could squeeze out at the moment. But I’ll be going to see Sin City tonight, so I’ll definitely have something to say about that tomorrow.
Oh, and 16 Awesome Points™ for Chris Doucette.