0:00:00the incomparable number 220 November
0:00:11welcome back to the incomparable i'm
0:00:13your host Jason snow we are here in this
0:00:16very special episode to talk about
0:00:18webcomics that's right
0:00:20comics found in Webb's put there by
0:00:23spiders joining me to talk about
0:00:25webcomics tonight are the following find
0:00:29people
0:00:29Glenn fleischmann hello hello pleasure
0:00:32to be here mr. Snell welcome to the web
0:00:34thank you hurt my way out of it i'm
0:00:36still dubious about it's about I think
0:00:38you're right
0:00:39Erica and sign also here hello hello
0:00:42welcome to the web of comic you and I'm
0:00:45happy to be caught in the web
0:00:47alright Tony Tony sindelar we'll see
0:00:49what happens later you may regret this
0:00:51choice
0:00:52Tony simple are also here hi Tony hello
0:00:54nerds the classic Tony you can that's
0:00:58gonna be your thing now you're gonna be
0:00:59mr. hello nerds that is it's my thing in
0:01:02real life I'm just kind of my thing on
0:01:03the internet okay good
0:01:05and John siracusa hello no more
0:01:07catchphrases
0:01:08yeah I think that's probably also also a
0:01:10webcomic is one word yes web comic
0:01:13webcomic wow no no webcomic is a
0:01:16comedian least note who is stuck in a
0:01:19web and that is totally different
0:01:22it's like a comedian spider-man doesn't
0:01:24like is a webcomic so webcomics these
0:01:27are like I said comics that you find on
0:01:29the web and we had a conversation on a
0:01:31little mailing list of behind-the-scenes
0:01:33about web comics and I was really
0:01:35excited by by the conclusion of Mona by
0:01:40Noelle Stevenson and that would and I
0:01:45have ever had like three webcomics ever
0:01:47but everybody on the panel was like oooo
0:01:50let's talk about what Kyle of webcomics
0:01:51I thought okay well I consider a nod and
0:01:54say I read pneumonia and I really liked
0:01:56it and XKCD is a thing right and then
0:02:00everybody else can talk about actual web
0:02:02comics that people that they like and
0:02:04the people should look at because these
0:02:06are comics that you can find on the
0:02:07internet did you know k people out there
0:02:10did you know that you can read comics on
0:02:12the internet it's true
0:02:13Kevin webcomic something internet now
0:02:15that you there are there one word the
0:02:18webcomics so this is not a draft because
0:02:22quite frankly after three rounds i would
0:02:23be out of I
0:02:24yes and that's only if nobody took any
0:02:26of the three things that i've read so
0:02:27instead i thought this would be more of
0:02:29the e easygoing meandering let's talk
0:02:32about some web comics that we like and
0:02:34and and command them to the folks out
0:02:36there John siracusa do you have either
0:02:39an opening statement or something you
0:02:41would like to discuss about promise I
0:02:44don't know what the format of the show
0:02:45is going well muted I so welcome i I
0:02:48didn't remember if i had rsvp'd hurt
0:02:50either
0:02:50I don't have an opening statement but
0:02:53what I was thinking about the topic i
0:02:54realize i read a lot of webcomics
0:02:56surprising amount and so yeah I have I
0:03:00have selections I have things I like but
0:03:02i do not have an opening statement
0:03:03alright i actually have like I don't
0:03:05think it counts as an opening statement
0:03:07is now go for it ok here I go
0:03:10you know last time we talked about
0:03:12reading i had crammed a bunch of novels
0:03:15before we recorded right and this time I
0:03:17have been cramming webcomics because i
0:03:19tend to go through webcomic cycles where
0:03:21I will read a few for a couple years and
0:03:23then something happens it was job or
0:03:25something and I was track for a year or
0:03:27two or three or more and then eventually
0:03:29I remember and then I catch up on what
0:03:30I've missed and stay current for like a
0:03:32year too and you know leather rinse
0:03:34repeat
0:03:34so the last time I was having webcomics
0:03:36like five years ago I figured it out and
0:03:39that was that's probably the longest gap
0:03:40I've gone and i was reading at that time
0:03:43I think six of them pretty regularly and
0:03:45for something that was every single day
0:03:47and then I got a new job so the losing
0:03:50track of them face started up again and
0:03:51so now i guess i have to say thank you
0:03:53Jason for being the catalyst of me
0:03:56entering the reading webcomics phase
0:03:57again because I've spent the last two
0:03:59weeks reading about five years worth of
0:04:01a couple of my favorite comics which has
0:04:03actually been really fun of course now
0:04:05I'm had so much material to binge on at
0:04:08the time and now I've got like
0:04:09withdrawal shakes try to go back to this
0:04:12one a day it's a little sad things we do
0:04:14for podcasting yep
0:04:16yeah like read our paper comics yeah i
0:04:19know in novels and that store it's what
0:04:22you gotta do it anybody want to talk a
0:04:25little bit on the road glen I sense you
0:04:28might want to say something i have an
0:04:30opening statements
0:04:31yeah first of all you will so I've
0:04:35always been a comics fan
0:04:37dumb i'm going to office cleaning or not
0:04:39but back in the late nineteen nineties i
0:04:40want of writing quite as where it is
0:04:42cme New York Times about comics on the
0:04:46web sort of the nascent days of
0:04:49webcomics and when people were taking
0:04:52like scott adams was was early on to
0:04:54even people like I know this will sound
0:04:55ridiculous but Frank in earnest which is
0:04:57still running the Creator is a super
0:04:59nice guy passed away a few years ago his
0:05:01kids still running it's one of these
0:05:02sort of pun strips so you know I have to
0:05:04like it
0:05:05it'sit's dad humor and it's been dating
0:05:07forever very clever guy PhD in
0:05:09psychology and anyway so he he had gone
0:05:11on they put an email address and his
0:05:13strip it somewhere in the late nineties
0:05:15and they were getting like thousands of
0:05:16inhale speak here which stunned them
0:05:19about a pun strip basically and and i
0:05:22remember seeing like these little
0:05:23glimpses there's a strip called Alex's
0:05:26restaurant and like a few like early
0:05:28things that were people who had been
0:05:30conventional cartoons or maybe not
0:05:31broken into the syndicate market and it
0:05:33started to post things sometimes every
0:05:35day and we're just playing with the idea
0:05:37of being not comics that were somewhere
0:05:40else put on the web because that's the
0:05:42only way you could have made a living to
0:05:43do it but like I say like that putting
0:05:46you know making him
0:05:47webcomics and mikael jansson who is
0:05:49still very active and does animation
0:05:51studio that animates other people's
0:05:53webcomics his own he was very very early
0:05:55and you can still find him active and he
0:05:57may be one of the few people who has a
0:05:58scope that spans sort of the entire you
0:06:02know early period to now of of being a
0:06:05web cartoonist and that is all i have to
0:06:06say it's a great field tony do you have
0:06:08any any statements you would like to
0:06:10make her or would you like to cry
0:06:12previous statements yes i'll just say
0:06:14I've been reading webcomics for a long
0:06:17time now since around 1998 and it's like
0:06:19it's like the first thing i do every
0:06:20morning
0:06:21Wow some people some people like
0:06:23newspapers for me it's like I read
0:06:26webcomics and then I start working
0:06:27through my email and then you know then
0:06:28I do real work so I do my my day
0:06:31wow I don't know what year is it now i
0:06:34don't know i lost track but like 90
0:06:36years a while it might write 1999 yeah I
0:06:38was like my ways of reading them has
0:06:39changed a little bit over the years of
0:06:41but yeah you're reading on your computer
0:06:44on an ipad on iphone you know I mainly
0:06:46mainly alta on a computer
0:06:49I want the internet rely on bookmarks
0:06:51and I would have bookmarked folders for
0:06:53like comics that were only once a week I
0:06:55would have liked the Monday folder and
0:06:58click on that and it would open all the
0:06:59you know all the Monday comics and you
0:07:01read those words now we have things like
0:07:03RSS or other things where it gets pushed
0:07:06to us see my method of reading the few
0:07:08web comics I've read is erica's method
0:07:10which is you forget and then you for
0:07:12remembering you're like oh I've been
0:07:14there in a little while and you go and
0:07:16you find that there are like eight pages
0:07:17that you haven't read and you read them
0:07:19and you're like oh man and then you
0:07:21forget for another occasionally that
0:07:23happens with like like when it was in a
0:07:25fetal break and I realize I haven't read
0:07:26that long time to the it's hard because
0:07:28some comics like kind of trickle and
0:07:30fade in and out and sometimes it's like
0:07:32no they broke their feet and I have to
0:07:33go find their new feed and look I got to
0:07:35read got to read for the first time six
0:07:37months of their crack all at once but
0:07:40you know and then the number has been
0:07:42floated their I think there's a
0:07:43one-point probably in the early 2000s
0:07:46where I probably reading about 20 or 30
0:07:48and i have paired that down to maybe
0:07:51like a dozen now and you know i did that
0:07:53like I'm not gonna start reading new
0:07:54comics and thankfully these people are
0:07:56like they can't keep making the same
0:07:57comic forever so they'll die off and to
0:07:59imagine the comics not that people
0:08:01either way
0:08:03oh I mean yeah comics yeah well it's
0:08:07kind of a shame the webcomics like it
0:08:09has all one word
0:08:10it's so all-encompassing because i think
0:08:13for other comics like when we say comic
0:08:15books
0:08:16everyone knows kind of what we're
0:08:17talking about it right and then we say
0:08:19comics without the books it's like three
0:08:22panel gag strips in the newspaper don't
0:08:24know I i would say i was a comic strips
0:08:27comic reading that's what I'm looking
0:08:28for comic strips comic book right but
0:08:30when you say webcomics encompasses
0:08:32basically any thing that has pictures
0:08:35with words that's on the web because the
0:08:36web part was deemed to be the most
0:08:38important part and so it covers
0:08:39everything like it does and you know not
0:08:42all comics are the same to right i mean
0:08:44not all comics are 32 pages you know
0:08:46staple I know but like a very
0:08:47experienced be there is no comic book
0:08:50that is a one panel one based get you
0:08:54don't mean that you wouldn't go to a
0:08:55comic book store find a comic book open
0:08:57up only to find a gigantic far side on
0:08:59the single-page they're like that's not
0:09:00a thing that you bought
0:09:01I have a collection that is that just
0:09:03one page comic books
0:09:05it's one page comics in the assembled in
0:09:07a book so I mean it's like the far side
0:09:09tear off calendars but if you know
0:09:11depends how it was originally pretty
0:09:12wouldn't think of it as a comic book
0:09:13whatever the web eNOS just seem to win
0:09:15out so now everything that's on the web
0:09:17is a webcomic which makes it difficult
0:09:19to like when you guys are all talking
0:09:21about things that you read i could have
0:09:22to like kind of sniff out is he talking
0:09:24about like a serialize thing with like a
0:09:25narrative that goes over a series of
0:09:27things is he talking about a gag strip
0:09:29is he talking about you know like you
0:09:30can't really tell up just based on web
0:09:32comics that the great thing too is that
0:09:34a any given thing you read could
0:09:36actually more from one thing together so
0:09:38there's stuff that stick strictly to a
0:09:40form but they're certainly sites
0:09:42everywhere sometimes it's one panel
0:09:43sometimes it's like 40 feet sometimes
0:09:47there's like animation and I other stuff
0:09:49built into it i'm usually animation is a
0:09:51bigger thing but even like Jeff
0:09:52animation and the fact that some people
0:09:55stick to a format that's not necessary
0:09:57because they're on the web and others
0:09:58you know push in all different
0:10:00directions with it as well the infinite
0:10:02canvas
0:10:03yeah yeah well yeah well XKCD is time
0:10:06won the hugo award my and it is I I
0:10:11forget exactly how I it's essentially an
0:10:13animation or you could you I it's hard
0:10:17to describe what it is
0:10:18yeah it is it is a story / 3099 unique
0:10:23images and at one but what you didn't
0:10:27win the dramatic presentation Hugo it
0:10:29it won the graphic story you go which is
0:10:32interesting because it's kind of
0:10:33animation but it's kind of a series of
0:10:35stills and that's just one example of
0:10:36meanwhile be not only is it a webcomic
0:10:38not only do you have webcomics that
0:10:40could be comic strips are comic books in
0:10:42serial form but you've also got the fact
0:10:44that it's this dynamic medium and a
0:10:45webcomic can be all sorts of things in
0:10:47the middle that are not something we
0:10:49could define i was in college in the
0:10:51early 2000 you a bunch of people who are
0:10:54involved in making comics for like the
0:10:56college newspaper right and that was
0:10:58kind of a weird time because there would
0:10:59be things that would start as a webcomic
0:11:01that would then become a print comic and
0:11:03there would be things that we started
0:11:04print comics that would then become a
0:11:07webcomic and you know some people like
0:11:09different things about the different for
0:11:10matter who they would reach
0:11:12but to a certain extent was like why
0:11:14make a comic that would only be printed
0:11:16in your college newspaper when you could
0:11:19put it on the web and much larger honey
0:11:21that's right you know and some people
0:11:24jump back and forth and would you know
0:11:25have a set of characters and produce
0:11:27separate separate comics for each but
0:11:29yeah well there's the commercial aspect
0:11:31to which is that webcomics have been a
0:11:33spectacularly successful forum for
0:11:36people in a profession that has very few
0:11:38people who actually make a living at it
0:11:40in the in the olden days like there's
0:11:42some professions where like editorial
0:11:43cartoonists a great example is there
0:11:45used to be not that long ago thousands
0:11:48of people in America who is full-time
0:11:49job was drawing a few editorial cartoons
0:11:52we can occasionally writing and now
0:11:53there are like a hundred and twelve or
0:11:55something right and there's some all the
0:11:56cartoonist many of whom I i know because
0:11:59they're small circle on Twitter and it
0:12:01but like you look at cartoon comic
0:12:04strips there's always a finite hole in
0:12:06the paper that they could fill and the
0:12:08it was a power locker of distribution so
0:12:10peanuts was in every paper and calvin
0:12:12hobbes when it ran and so forth so there
0:12:14weren't that many slots that can be
0:12:16filled in the web gave infinite
0:12:17opportunity but that doesn't always mean
0:12:18it can be exploited but web cartoonists
0:12:21I think our web comics managed to
0:12:23somehow do this great thing which is not
0:12:25only give people a place that they don't
0:12:28have to you know there's no limit to
0:12:29what they could do and they can control
0:12:31it but to find an audience that's
0:12:32willing in many cases to pay enough in
0:12:35some manner by page views or books or
0:12:38Kickstarter's or whatever that that
0:12:40there are a lot of people who they make
0:12:42some of their living and a reasonable
0:12:44number to make a full time living from
0:12:46it and that's actually kind of
0:12:47extraordinary there's I think there's at
0:12:49least hundreds if not in the thousand or
0:12:52more who derive a real a substitute part
0:12:55of a living if not better from it and
0:12:57the way that has kind of emerged as
0:12:58someone interesting i remember i did in
0:13:00college I looked it up around 2001 a
0:13:02presentation for a class on the future
0:13:05of micro payments and how that was going
0:13:06to change everything
0:13:08you'll remember that that then never
0:13:09happen everyone's going to pay a penny
0:13:11to read their cum yeah everyone's going
0:13:12to have plenty to read webcomics told
0:13:14remember when that happened and then
0:13:15didn't work out nope
0:13:16yeah any day now like the answer was
0:13:20actually t-shirts so close yeah the
0:13:22answer the answer with teeth like this
0:13:24macro payment is actually pretty cool
0:13:26too yeah you know actually in going back
0:13:29and reading and catching up on some of
0:13:30these things uh one of them i noticed
0:13:32that the Creator had a patreon page so I
0:13:34went and I pledged it which is a good
0:13:36way to do it i went at a comic con a few
0:13:38years ago in San Diego I i went to a
0:13:40digital comics panel and heard the guide
0:13:42now I'm not gonna remember his name and
0:13:44I really it's a guy who does love and
0:13:48capes whose name escapes me which is a
0:13:50fun webcomic Tom Sawyer is his name and
0:13:56it's a webcomic about a superhero and
0:13:59his dating life and it's actually pretty
0:14:01fun but the point of the panel was that
0:14:03a lot of webcomics people including the
0:14:05lemon cake sky Tom there they actually
0:14:09started structuring their comics at
0:14:11roughly the orientation or end aspect
0:14:15ratio of half of a printed comic book
0:14:17page so that they could stack them and
0:14:20do a print edition every so often of
0:14:23what they did which I thought was an
0:14:24interesting way of going backward into a
0:14:27print medium in order to sell books by
0:14:29coming up with a way to structure your
0:14:31web comic in a way that you know
0:14:33eventually it assembles itself and this
0:14:35is one kind of webcomic right is the the
0:14:38thing that's that's actually like a
0:14:39comic book or a graphic novel but it's
0:14:41being assembled in in in pieces right in
0:14:44front of you which is was my experience
0:14:46with pneumonia as well which starts out
0:14:48much more punch line e at you know every
0:14:52page is a punt has a punch line at the
0:14:54end and over the course of of time it
0:14:57becomes something that's much more about
0:14:59the continuing story and that there
0:15:01doesn't have to be a punch line but
0:15:03that's the one of the great things about
0:15:04this format is that it can be plotted to
0:15:07go into other formats later and be as he
0:15:11realises you wanted to be as well as
0:15:13completely not if you don't want to be I
0:15:15i had two comics that I wanted to talk
0:15:17about one obscure one well-known but
0:15:19speaking of like how comics can morph
0:15:22and be different things on the web one
0:15:24aspect of webcomics that I've that
0:15:26really drew me into it is the idea that
0:15:29you can participate in the you can be
0:15:33there for the birth of something so that
0:15:35the just this one compliment
0:15:37comic that out well maybe maybe Tony
0:15:39sort of it up it's called alpha shade i
0:15:42was kind of a failed comic experiment
0:15:44and i don't know how i came to start
0:15:45following it but they did a podcast that
0:15:47was associated with it and it's two
0:15:49brothers working on this sort of in
0:15:50their spare time one of them is a
0:15:51graphic artist by trade and he was
0:15:53drawing it in the other one drives
0:15:55trains for a living and he wrote it and
0:15:57they would podcast about their
0:15:59experience of trying to do the comic and
0:16:00fit into their lives and how they how
0:16:04they wanted to be successful but didn't
0:16:06know how they're ever going to do it
0:16:08with their other responsibilities and I
0:16:11how they wanted to make print books out
0:16:13of it to make money and they would go to
0:16:14comic conventions and say how successful
0:16:16it was or wasn't and talk about the time
0:16:19and effort required to put in the pages
0:16:21and then and the difficulty keeping to a
0:16:23schedule and that's not really part of
0:16:25the comic but webcomics like so many
0:16:27other things on the web lets you sort of
0:16:29feel like you are participating in the
0:16:31whole thing you never got to see like
0:16:32the creative process behind like peanuts
0:16:35or whatever maybe you like a new story
0:16:36whatsoever but in the webcomics you got
0:16:38to see everything the entire struggle
0:16:40and alpha shade in particular is
0:16:41interesting because it was essentially a
0:16:43webcomic that didn't didn't fulfill the
0:16:46dreams of its creator didn't make them
0:16:47financially independent they didn't all
0:16:49get the quick that quit their jobs and
0:16:51just do the count full time and in fact
0:16:52the comic is not done and they probably
0:16:54bit off way more than they can chew but
0:16:55it is a fascinating experimental
0:16:59fascinating artifact of the creative
0:17:01process and its alpha dash a comp you
0:17:04want to pop some pages that have never
0:17:06seen before
0:17:06the artwork is absolutely amazing
0:17:08especially compared to sort of the
0:17:09average webcomics not that I'm slamming
0:17:11web comic artist but artistic ability is
0:17:13not the most important thing especially
0:17:14if you're writing a gag strip but the
0:17:16artwork is incredible and it does get
0:17:18much better from the beginning towards
0:17:19the end the writing not so incredible
0:17:21the world much bigger than they could
0:17:23think of but then they could possibly
0:17:25pull off but it is a fascinating not
0:17:28gonna say failure but it's a fascinating
0:17:29sample of something that can only happen
0:17:31on the web because you would never I
0:17:33would never have heard of these people
0:17:34they would never get a book deal they
0:17:35would never you know have a
0:17:37half-finished story on shelves somewhere
0:17:38like they would have had to go through
0:17:40an editorial process if I would not have
0:17:42been able to see this thing at all
0:17:43probably let alone see the entire sort
0:17:46of creative process of it and that is an
0:17:48aspect of webcam
0:17:49accident kind of I guess it's kind of
0:17:51like a reality-tv aspect where you feel
0:17:53like you're a connection with the
0:17:53creator's more much more so that you
0:17:55would anything you would buy in a store
0:17:56in decades past i completely agree one
0:18:00of the ones that i caught up on was that
0:18:02questionable content and one of the
0:18:04reasons that i like that comics so much
0:18:05is that after the end of every comic the
0:18:09co-author puts in but you know sometimes
0:18:12it's just that you know hey come and see
0:18:13me at such-and-such a convention but
0:18:15quite often it's like a little comment
0:18:17on the story or the the strip that you
0:18:19saw that day and quite often it seems
0:18:21like he is as surprised at what happened
0:18:25in the strip as I am or that you know
0:18:27the characters did something he didn't
0:18:29expect and I just always find that kind
0:18:31of hilarious and I don't know if it's
0:18:34still going but for a while the many of
0:18:36the characters in the comic actually
0:18:38have their own Twitter accounts and he
0:18:39had been playing back and forth and you
0:18:41could follow all of them and it was just
0:18:43it was it was kind of it was just great
0:18:45because I really from reading so many
0:18:48years of this comic I felt like all
0:18:49these characters were my friends and
0:18:51then going back and catching up on the
0:18:53last five years was really cool just
0:18:55like my life had been changing and and I
0:18:57was growing and and they were to a their
0:19:00lives had moved on and and and it was
0:19:02cool catching up and I should look and
0:19:04see if they still have Twitter accounts
0:19:05because that would be cool i like that
0:19:08comic a lot too
0:19:09it's like the ancillary materials like
0:19:11like the blog posts that associate that
0:19:14are associated with a lot of comics or
0:19:15podcasts or things like other like sort
0:19:18of extra material surrounding the
0:19:19comment that the comic is the thing but
0:19:21there's like this expanded universe of
0:19:23content from the author that is just
0:19:26always surrounded as the communities the
0:19:27forms that you're on there's the
0:19:29blogpost the news post the you know the
0:19:32even the merchandise that they sell
0:19:33forms this world around this work and
0:19:35it's all like one thing there's this
0:19:37comment like this pretty popular cat and
0:19:39girl and the artist and writer solicits
0:19:43donations for maintaining the comic and
0:19:46she then draws a comic about spending
0:19:48the money that she gets on donations
0:19:50here's the groceries hype ah here's the
0:19:52community was repaying my cable bill you
0:19:54know here's here's buying one take a
0:19:56guess so i can do to some important
0:19:58thing right
0:19:59well it's interesting to think about it
0:20:00to that a lot of these comics in the if
0:20:02you draw that line
0:20:03back to the content newspaper comic
0:20:04strips especially that was something
0:20:07that it didn't it didn't have a world
0:20:10around it like like what you guys are
0:20:12describing it wasn't a website and
0:20:14ancillary material and expanded universe
0:20:15it was literally like a comic strip in a
0:20:18row you know in a column with a lot of
0:20:20different comic strips and it would
0:20:22change day by day and it certainly had
0:20:24its fans right but it was in no context
0:20:27other than the comics page inside the
0:20:29newspaper and you you know peanuts by
0:20:31Schultz ok and then that's all you
0:20:34really knew and and the most you might
0:20:36get is like my brother when I was little
0:20:40I remember he had some peanuts books and
0:20:43then when I was like 9 or whatever I got
0:20:45some Garfield books and was like oh my
0:20:47god the whole book of just got your
0:20:49field comics it was really nothing more
0:20:50than the comics but yet it it was like
0:20:53this is just about peanuts or Garfield
0:20:56or whatever and that's a great thing
0:20:58about webcomics is that they can be
0:21:00their own thing they have their own
0:21:01product their own world they've got
0:21:02everything around them if you really
0:21:04love them you can know all these things
0:21:05about them that when they were just a
0:21:07thing stuck in the corner of the
0:21:08newspaper that mean you literally
0:21:10couldn't glean anything more beyond what
0:21:12was in the newspaper
0:21:13that's why you'd buy those books from
0:21:15the comics from you know you by the
0:21:16collections of like bloom county or
0:21:18calvin hobbes and we have notes from the
0:21:19author about the strips and I know
0:21:20that's like oh they're gonna talk about
0:21:22this trip that I read you know six
0:21:24months ago or they're gonna have an
0:21:25introductory paragraph or something you
0:21:27just wanted anything from the creator of
0:21:28this thing you love like these are the
0:21:29color versions that papers that printed
0:21:32in color used but my paper didn't and so
0:21:35I never saw them in color even though
0:21:36they made them in color stuff like that
0:21:38too i mean it's yeah so and that that's
0:21:40the thing about a webcomic is that it it
0:21:42doesn't just change the form of the of
0:21:44the comic that they can have it be
0:21:46infinitely long and have it be an
0:21:48animated gif or whatever that you know
0:21:50all these different things that you can
0:21:51do with the format but it's also that
0:21:52it's surrounded by all this stuff so
0:21:54that you can really connect to the
0:21:55creator and other fans in a way that you
0:21:58just can't if it's laying there flat on
0:21:59the page and that's an upgrade over the
0:22:01speaking of content like a comic was in
0:22:04black and white
0:22:05I think it's not great even over the
0:22:07best quality color printed like x-men
0:22:09comics not that
0:22:10high-quality me but like for example
0:22:12alpha shade is done in 32-bit color and
0:22:15flash so it's a resolution independence
0:22:16and has the full color palette available
0:22:18nothing on the printed page can compare
0:22:20with that and you know especially in the
0:22:22pre sort of dark horse you know graphic
0:22:24novel type of days when it was just you
0:22:27know how many colors were comics when
0:22:28you were a kid Jason 6 8 16
0:22:31well I mean it was a four color process
0:22:32so they could be lots of colors but it
0:22:34would be half tethering yeah yeah yeahs
0:22:36dithering half-tones we call that
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0:25:48being comfortable the I was gonna point
0:25:50out a kind of extreme example of that
0:25:53like the autobiographical elements like
0:25:55knowing more about the artist is
0:25:57hyperbole and a half by ali bouche which
0:25:59is one of the it's almost you know it's
0:26:01john redefining inside as onra insiders
0:26:04genre which is if you don't overwork as
0:26:07other people read her stuff i don't know
0:26:08yeah I haven't I haven't gone back in
0:26:11you know devoured it all but I've right
0:26:13enough to know that that's something
0:26:14that's on my to do this
0:26:16oh my god it's just it's it's
0:26:18mind-blowing because it's very personal
0:26:19and it's very funny and it's very dark
0:26:21all at once and it's you know
0:26:24she's got severe depression and she had
0:26:27she's kind of you know it's really weird
0:26:29kid and she writes these amazing things
0:26:31and she gets inside the head of what it
0:26:33was like at the time she's going through
0:26:35these things there's one of the more
0:26:37recent thing it hurts go on and on and
0:26:40on and they're like book-length accounts
0:26:43almost there just one bit where she's so
0:26:45their parents give her a dinosaur
0:26:47costume and she's a little kid and she
0:26:49conveys the power she fell and the
0:26:51unlock of control she suddenly exercise
0:26:54whenever she was wearing and how long it
0:26:55took her parents to realize that her
0:26:57terrible behavior was whenever she was
0:26:59wearing the dinosaur costume but she
0:27:00tells you the story from inside that and
0:27:04her drawing a sort of purposely it's not
0:27:06a lot of you like fake naive kind of
0:27:09style but its its course in a really
0:27:11specific way and when she wants to its
0:27:13it's better but I think that's part of
0:27:15the way that she's representing these
0:27:16really jagged experiences but it's oh my
0:27:19god is it funny and then she released a
0:27:20book that has some stuff from that's
0:27:22online there's a lot more words in the
0:27:24book let's say and in some that were new
0:27:27and the book is powerful and amazing and
0:27:29whatever in and like other times you
0:27:31know laughing so hard I can't breathe
0:27:34sort of stuff and then others feel like
0:27:35oh my god this woman is talking about
0:27:37the deepest darkest point at which she
0:27:39just is telling people no it's okay i
0:27:41just want to die
0:27:43it's alright though it's fine it's just
0:27:44I don't have any feelings and I'd like
0:27:46to die and then realizing what that
0:27:48sounds like to other people and it's but
0:27:52i don't know if i can underestimate how
0:27:54hilarious is because it's so raw but
0:27:57also relatable and she pushed the medium
0:28:01and she nurses webpages she's one of
0:28:03these people this is something I point
0:28:04out to is so many people who are on the
0:28:06top of their profession I don't want to
0:28:08say nobody you know people like which
0:28:10Stevens his friend friend of the show
0:28:12which yeah
0:28:14diesel sweeties I mean he's been he's
0:28:16been cranking it out for over a decade
0:28:18and working his ass off for that time
0:28:20but they're also the people like kate
0:28:22beaton Oh
0:28:23for uh you know is actually number of
0:28:25people we talked about the tally bhushan
0:28:26other folks who they just posted some
0:28:28sometimes modest stuff for one thing and
0:28:31people went berserk on tumblr or
0:28:33facebook and then encourage them to do
0:28:35more and suddenly know kate beaton went
0:28:37from I think posting some sketches on
0:28:40tumblr to a new york times bestseller in
0:28:42under three years two and a half years
0:28:44and her stuff is still out other people
0:28:47talk about her too i'm sure but like
0:28:49that's the phenomenon to is that it's
0:28:51it's like music for artists like a this
0:28:55person got discovered and then there are
0:28:57top of the you know effective charts in
0:28:58New York Times bestseller list that's
0:29:00impressive
0:29:01it's like music for artists she just
0:29:02blew my mind well it's like chocolate
0:29:06for wine so I'm we should take some time
0:29:09and let people extol the virtues one of
0:29:11the things I like to do on the show I
0:29:12really love doing is having people talk
0:29:15about things they like and that way
0:29:18other people get to hear about those
0:29:19things and then they could try them out
0:29:20and I think that's really exciting so I
0:29:22thought we would go around in a non
0:29:23draft like fashion and let people share
0:29:26some of the things that they like John's
0:29:29you want to start sure i will pick the
0:29:31easy for me it's not a pit or speak not
0:29:33of their not first graph on pic
0:29:36yes i will pick something the easy one
0:29:38that everybody knows that may be
0:29:40somewhat controversial but i'm here to
0:29:42defend oh no that and that is the
0:29:45quintessential webcomic penny arcade
0:29:48this is this is not the episode where we
0:29:51talk about difficulties with the
0:29:53creators that was no more talking about
0:29:55Colorado river's a penny arcade is a
0:29:57fantastic webcomic I think it's probably
0:30:00the first 1i i started to read regularly
0:30:01it's a gag strip it's about video games
0:30:04it does the webcomic thing and that
0:30:07sometimes three panel sometimes it's six
0:30:09sometimes it's it's laid out like a
0:30:11graphic novel and goes on with
0:30:13continuity and there's no gag like it
0:30:15does whatever the hell it wants to do I
0:30:17and in going through back through the
0:30:20catalog trying to find some links there
0:30:22is a fantastic amount of content first
0:30:24love it its it's can do it a webcomic
0:30:26can do in this comic for people who are
0:30:28into video games which that would never
0:30:30that doesn't work in a newspaper you
0:30:31know it should have during the NES era
0:30:33that shouldn't you should have been able
0:30:34have a comment about video games but you
0:30:36could write on the web you can because
0:30:38you can connect traitor and their
0:30:40audience right and in this comic yet
0:30:43started off as a gag comic the artist
0:30:45Mike could not draw very well in the
0:30:47beginning that's that's a common thing I
0:30:48think in a lot of webcomics you look at
0:30:50the first year and you like it it's it's
0:30:52in all comics because if you look at the
0:30:53first year peanuts or or dare I say it
0:30:56from my Garfield book reading years i
0:30:58was actually the first Garfield look I
0:31:00was like what the hell happened to
0:31:01garfield the answers they had heard that
0:31:03he hadn't figured out how to draw you
0:31:05something sometimes when i was going to
0:31:06say he didn't figure out how to get
0:31:08ghost artist for a while there now see
0:31:11it's not but sometimes it's like you're
0:31:12just learning how to make your
0:31:14characters in sort of a generic way but
0:31:15other times you're actually expanding
0:31:17the your artistry and i think that's
0:31:18that's the case we can see Mike
0:31:19developers an artist but some of the
0:31:21things I picked out from from their run
0:31:23as a couple of good gag strips that I
0:31:25like that again the gag trips only work
0:31:26if you have this deep deep knowledge of
0:31:28video game culture that was happening at
0:31:30the time this trip was made and so that
0:31:32connects with an audience because you're
0:31:33like i know this is you know this but
0:31:35very few other people do but we find it
0:31:37hilarious only do things like the paint
0:31:39the line series which was a sort of
0:31:42eighties movie send up involving
0:31:45ping-pong they do things like automaton
0:31:48which is a a gritty new are sort of
0:31:51black-and-white comic about our robot
0:31:53detective and his partner cardboard
0:31:56tubes tubes samurai which is like a
0:31:58send-up of the samurai movies but with
0:32:00obviously with a cardboard tube which is
0:32:01all born out of things that happen in
0:32:03their lives and more recently that
0:32:05lookouts thorn watch and daughters of
0:32:08the our wood which is like here's the
0:32:10thing about the penny arcade these guys
0:32:12wanted to make a serious comic like when
0:32:15they were in their kids they wanted to
0:32:16make like the comics that they were
0:32:18reading like you know the dark knight
0:32:19and stuff like super serious like
0:32:21everyone you know this is real art and
0:32:23everything and yet what they found
0:32:24themselves making was a comedy strip and
0:32:27so everything they do with the comedy
0:32:29strip you can see the thing they wanted
0:32:30it's like it's like a sideways backwards
0:32:32way to be able to do things they want to
0:32:34do so cardboard samurais a joke pieces
0:32:36his sword is a cardboard tube but it's
0:32:38not a joke it's also us memorize strip
0:32:40the same thing with automaton which
0:32:42that's more straight up i think our
0:32:44paint the line like it's again with
0:32:46being being with these people on their
0:32:48journey
0:32:48of how are we going to make money should
0:32:51we accept donations they didn't think
0:32:52they have microtransactions but that you
0:32:54know should we should we put out a print
0:32:56book that them selling the rights to
0:32:58their to their entire strip several
0:33:00times to unscrupulous business people
0:33:02and getting out of it then creating this
0:33:04entire business for themselves and the
0:33:05penny arcade expo and other things it is
0:33:07a fascinating story outside the strip
0:33:09which you know goes off and other
0:33:11interesting directions but the strip
0:33:12itself
0:33:13this is a solid webcomic this is an
0:33:15amazingly good webcomic it's just I have
0:33:18literally pages of what i think are
0:33:20fantastic examples of the form and so
0:33:22despite all the other things that penny
0:33:24arcade being the 800-pound gorilla and
0:33:26all sorts of other non-comic related
0:33:28things that are involved with them i
0:33:30think it's important not to lose sight
0:33:31of the fact that you know like ender's
0:33:34game may have been a really good novel
0:33:35and this is a really really good comic
0:33:37strip
0:33:38yeah i'll agree with you completely is
0:33:39that I I stopped reading it but i think
0:33:41what they do what they have done and
0:33:43what they do is actually really
0:33:44remarkable and even there it's a
0:33:47fascinating to go back and look at the
0:33:48early strips and watch the drawing style
0:33:51improve fairly rapidly into something
0:33:54that's incredibly slick and professional
0:33:56and the overall billion forgot which is
0:33:59a jury or is it gay produce the drive
0:34:01member which to get Gabriel mike is gay
0:34:04painters the drugs can he's using he's
0:34:06he's got and he's got a tremendously
0:34:08better as an artist and also he's still
0:34:11not like awesome i think that's
0:34:14endearing quality like this is somebody
0:34:16who if they were just working as like a
0:34:18traditional artist like not doing their
0:34:19own thing would probably not be hired to
0:34:22you know doing like animation hand like
0:34:26his his skills are never going to be
0:34:28sort of top-tier top-shelf kind of like
0:34:31whatever is the most recent age like
0:34:34what
0:34:35silver age and Jason can tell me
0:34:37whatever whenever there was a recent Age
0:34:39of comics he would not be in that in
0:34:40that camp but because he is his own
0:34:43person that his own thing and because he
0:34:45has come so far he's like he's good
0:34:47enough and he and he pushes himself as
0:34:49interesting things he's achieved the
0:34:50apotheosis in his own milieu right is
0:34:53that he's he he's kind of reached a
0:34:55point in the kind of thing he does i
0:34:58mean the art is very good but it's also
0:34:59for what he does he's the best added in
0:35:02that space because it's the thing they
0:35:03defined and he changes that all the time
0:35:06like gold back like out with these links
0:35:07he changes our style whenever the hell
0:35:09he feels like it wiping is going to stop
0:35:11him
0:35:11yeah i agree i mean-- and socially have
0:35:13there's there's cannon there's sandal
0:35:16and strips and I I'm not you know gamer
0:35:18myself I barely know anything about
0:35:19video games stuff but I read I don't
0:35:21play that many and I found this trip
0:35:23very enjoyable at times because they
0:35:24provide just enough context so I could
0:35:26read through the background to to find
0:35:29it and enjoy it as well so yeah i'm i'm
0:35:31a i'm a big fan of what they did
0:35:33separate from being able to read it
0:35:36anymore right
0:35:37yeah that was actually one of the one of
0:35:39the comics that was on my list you know
0:35:40five or six years ago and I felt like I
0:35:43one of the reasons i didn't even bother
0:35:45to go back to it is that I have kind of
0:35:47dropped off in gaming since then but
0:35:48even at the time I wasn't gaming as much
0:35:50as I had been in previous years but I
0:35:52felt like that comic kept me connected
0:35:55to the gaming world in a way that I
0:35:57would have completely missed out on had
0:35:58I not been reading it so I kind of knew
0:36:01enough stuff peripheral to be able to
0:36:03get most of the jokes and then anything
0:36:05that didn't immediately twig to me I
0:36:07could kind of figure out or go off on a
0:36:10forum somewhere where everybody's going
0:36:12on
0:36:12sometimes you just resign your post
0:36:14instead of actually living at the comedy
0:36:15forget as a comic care to have family in
0:36:17America do you have something you would
0:36:19like to recommend well I i mentioned
0:36:21briefly questionable content so i guess
0:36:22maybe I will talk about that i think
0:36:24it's probably at this point my favorite
0:36:26webcomic just after doing my her quick
0:36:29catch-up this is the 1i think I was most
0:36:31excited about and I think it's because
0:36:32of the characters it's the comic of all
0:36:35the ones that i read that has the most
0:36:36realistic characters because they
0:36:39sometimes act in ways that are
0:36:40unexpected but they're not unrealistic
0:36:42and I think that's an important
0:36:43distinction
0:36:44there's no big gimmick to this comic
0:36:46it's it's it's definitely more a
0:36:48serialize kind of a thing it's not a gag
0:36:50strip although there are a lot of goofy
0:36:51gags in it it's just sort of a simple
0:36:54story of a few people that live in
0:36:56northampton massachusetts you gotta
0:36:59Martin who's an indie-rock aficionado
0:37:02who doesn't really know what he wants to
0:37:03do with his life
0:37:04I can relate his friends he has a friend
0:37:07roommate named feijoo she's kinda just
0:37:09like what's Martin with a quick tongue
0:37:11to match she usually keeps abuse on the
0:37:13customers at the coffee shop where she
0:37:15works and then that shop is run by Dora
0:37:17who is a bisexual x gospel with an
0:37:20amazing talent for coffee roasting and
0:37:23then you've got handle or who is just
0:37:24the super sweet character she's a little
0:37:26shy and a lot OCD because she grew up on
0:37:29a space station and the world is also
0:37:31populated by robots with artificial
0:37:33intelligence they are like pint-sized
0:37:37who is Martin's and throw pc he's mostly
0:37:40there for comic relief and really really
0:37:42dirty jokes about cake batter and it's
0:37:46just an interesting world is written by
0:37:48I think it's pronounced Jeff jock jock
0:37:50think that it didn't jph is a how Jeff
0:37:53spelled by which i think is kind of cool
0:37:55it started in august of 2003 and eyes i
0:37:57think pretty consistently improved over
0:38:00the years both in terms of the art like
0:38:02we talked about and also the
0:38:03complexities of like the storylines and
0:38:05the character arcs there are a couple
0:38:07things that I really love about the
0:38:08comic um I love that the AI thing is not
0:38:11a big deal it's just sort of a part of
0:38:13the fabric of the the world that this is
0:38:15told from and it's a world is very close
0:38:17to ours there just happened to be well I
0:38:19guess people i mean there are
0:38:21campaigning for civil rights at some
0:38:23points kind of just in the background of
0:38:24this comic but it's not a really big
0:38:26deal it's also super geeky there are
0:38:29tons of references to indie rock bands
0:38:31i've never heard of but there are just
0:38:33as many references to star wars or XKCD
0:38:35or mst3k in in one stay in one frame
0:38:40they're kicking somebody out the coffee
0:38:41shop and saying all right Tom servo it's
0:38:43movie sign get the hell out
0:38:45so you know that's that's my kind of
0:38:47joke and though it's written by a guy i
0:38:50think this comic has pretty much the
0:38:51best treatment of female characters of
0:38:54any kind of anything that i have read
0:38:56lately they are real people with real
0:38:58personalities real flaws they make
0:39:01realistic decisions that don't always
0:39:03revolve around the guys in the strip
0:39:04which is sometimes a nice change and
0:39:07among the main characters i think the
0:39:09women actually outnumber the men by
0:39:10quite a bit which is super rare and it
0:39:13from an artwork perspective they are not
0:39:15all super skinny or like super busty
0:39:18some of them are just super skinny some
0:39:20sort of real nice career
0:39:21the ladies and the guys are really like
0:39:23that to you get some chunky fellows and
0:39:24some some really cut dudes there's a
0:39:27little bit of everything and it's rare
0:39:29that it's even mentioned it's just that
0:39:30people are people and they look
0:39:32different
0:39:33actually come to think of it there's
0:39:34kind of a nice diversity of races and
0:39:36skin color as well they don't really
0:39:38dwell upon it so I never never really
0:39:41paid attention to that until I was
0:39:42rereading it and now thinking and
0:39:44talking about it and he also doesn't shy
0:39:46away from discussions of sexuality there
0:39:49are people all over the spectrum and
0:39:51it's just sort of an accepted thing
0:39:52which i think is really great it's kind
0:39:54of refreshing to have it not be a really
0:39:57big deal and in addition he's also
0:40:00started taking on gender identity issues
0:40:02recently he introduced a trans character
0:40:04named Claire and I'm really really
0:40:06loving this storyline and the character
0:40:08because she's just super sweet and
0:40:10lovable and adorable and he apparently
0:40:13has worked really hard at doing the
0:40:14research and talking to people to try to
0:40:16make sure that he gets the storyline
0:40:17right because he recognizes what a big
0:40:19deal it is and doesn't want to screw it
0:40:21up as much as possible and apparently so
0:40:23far the feedback has been really
0:40:25positive so I just I'm completely
0:40:28enjoying it and in addition to all the
0:40:30other sort of connection to the author
0:40:33things that we had talked about he is
0:40:35also very open about his own mental
0:40:37health issues which occasionally get in
0:40:39the way of putting out comics
0:40:41consistently and I think that that
0:40:43openness is really great i wish more
0:40:44people would talk about that sort of
0:40:46stuff to help distinc- ties it so that's
0:40:48that's the kind of thing that really
0:40:49makes me feel close to the author in in
0:40:53a way that I don't necessarily get from
0:40:55from the little goofy jokes on some of
0:40:57the other web comics that i read and
0:40:59enjoy its great highly recommend i will
0:41:03second Erica's of recommendation of
0:41:05questionable content that was on my list
0:41:06is pretty high up
0:41:07if we were drafting and I could only
0:41:09talk about it but it is delightful i
0:41:13used to live for many years in the city
0:41:14where it set and so it's any he does
0:41:16lovely stuff of dropping stuff in the
0:41:18background of actual places around there
0:41:20so when I lived there it was play like
0:41:22oh yeah that place and now it's like now
0:41:24I can just logically be like yeah that
0:41:25place so that's cool
0:41:28nice tony do you have something you'd
0:41:30like to recommend since you don't have
0:41:31to recommend that one because it was
0:41:34recommended
0:41:34it's been recommended um I've got a
0:41:37bunch on here i'm gonna pick one that I
0:41:38guess we'll be slightly uh obscured by
0:41:41the metric that it does not have a
0:41:42Wikipedia page about that so i will
0:41:46recommend the webcomic metroid any dro I
0:41:50d.com which actually has a website now i
0:41:53think when i was first reading it was
0:41:54actually just images posted on like live
0:41:56journal pages I don't that tells you a
0:41:58little bit about it its pedigree and the
0:42:01the the artist who creates metroid i
0:42:04think actually does a like the coloring
0:42:06or other production stuff for other
0:42:08perhaps better known comics but metroid
0:42:11is a comic that just makes me always
0:42:14feel much happier and better about life
0:42:16i guess it is kind of one of those like
0:42:18you know one gag comic occasionally
0:42:21their their ongoing story lines but a
0:42:22lot of it is just jokes and it's about
0:42:25these two characters are potato or perto
0:42:28depending on how you pronounce that
0:42:30who is a bear shape potato-shaped
0:42:32character and uh Reginald who is a
0:42:36bird-shaped character who is kind of his
0:42:39friend but it's kind of an awful selfish
0:42:41jerk and they go on adventures and
0:42:43things happen
0:42:44I i would say that metroid is a is up
0:42:46there in terms of being perhaps one of
0:42:48the finest quality comics in terms of
0:42:50the quality of the punchline delivered
0:42:52in the alt tag for images which is you
0:42:54know a format 22 which to my knowledge
0:42:56is unique to webcomics obviously XKCD is
0:43:01pretty well known for that too but
0:43:02metroid is a delightful comic that i've
0:43:05been reading for many years I have some
0:43:06metroid shirts which lets you know that
0:43:08I like Metroid I guess yeah and it's
0:43:11great it's part of I think it's part of
0:43:15the same kind of there's a bunch of
0:43:16webcomics who live in east hampton and
0:43:18western Massachusetts or who are
0:43:20associated with that collective which I
0:43:22think just socks is part of and I don't
0:43:24know if if this guy actually lives there
0:43:26or if you just gets his stuff published
0:43:28to the same group and I know our Stevens
0:43:32is affiliated with them too
0:43:33ok 22 pitch it to particle to pay the
0:43:36court to pappadeaux I think it's
0:43:37something I don't know Ren Ren Caldwell
0:43:39used to work for yes I was actually just
0:43:41make browsing the two-particle
0:43:43merch site before we came here making my
0:43:45Christmas list gotta go is for all of
0:43:48your Christmas needs unless you know
0:43:49people that are great so I don't know
0:43:52yeah that's right said and basically is
0:43:54what you're saying
0:43:55Tony I didn't say that ok I'm saying
0:43:57that that this the network is great
0:44:00alright an alternate universe tony is
0:44:02part of the comments collective any east
0:44:03hampton massachusetts instead of having
0:44:05a game full employment but you know
0:44:06probably I have to like ride motorcycles
0:44:09in that alternate future too
0:44:10yeah that's great alright metroid good
0:44:13job Tony it's really late here you
0:44:15forgive you yet turned into the spin
0:44:17there and you got it all straightened
0:44:18out
0:44:19Glenn do you have something to recommend
0:44:20i have so many things i'm going to pick
0:44:22one that I think is most amusing and
0:44:24since i already mentioned le bouche just
0:44:26not abusing in the same way
0:44:27axe cop axe costly greatest thing ever
0:44:31story of an ex-cop no good ever created
0:44:34in any medium ever forever ex-cop is a
0:44:38cop and one day at the fire scene the
0:44:40fire he finds it acts and on that day he
0:44:42becomes axe cop and it's a great concede
0:44:45it was this guy who's a comic book
0:44:48artist he has kind of a blended family
0:44:50and he was spending time with his one of
0:44:53his brothers whose five and he wasn't 26
0:44:55at the time and they start you know
0:44:57written on Stephanie's drawing things
0:44:59like the little brother comes up with
0:45:00this axe cop idea so he starts drawing
0:45:02comics and building plots and so forth
0:45:05and they post some of the facebook and
0:45:06people go nuts and then they your cleans
0:45:08it up and he produces website and its it
0:45:11was a huge phenomenon few years ago when
0:45:13there was little less going on in both
0:45:15their lives lives for the cartoonist had
0:45:18more going on and it's just a it's crazy
0:45:22because it's what a five-year-old is
0:45:24told ok tell me the next part of story
0:45:26now the next part of the story shaped by
0:45:28someone with a really great comic book
0:45:30sensibility so you know there's flute
0:45:32cop who when he's touched by dragon
0:45:33blood because dinosaur blood becomes
0:45:35dinosaur book cop and the names are all
0:45:37ridiculous there's a super heroes who
0:45:40are named beautiful girly Bob they're
0:45:43all identical women and wrists
0:45:45you know there's bad guys next cop just
0:45:47goes out and chop their heads off the
0:45:48bad guys and well why'd you kill all
0:45:50those people they were all bad guys and
0:45:52and they turned it into
0:45:55a webcomic web by animated series to
0:45:58that I just watched a few weeks ago that
0:46:01is crazy it's like the craziest thing
0:46:04I've ever seen created in that way
0:46:07because it has that five-year-old logic
0:46:09presented in a super professional comic
0:46:12way so it has none of the you know
0:46:15script hallmarks like a five-year-old
0:46:16wrong it for animating it would be very
0:46:18different and they got patton oswalt and
0:46:20some good names on it so i highly
0:46:22recommend it because it's just it's so
0:46:25weird and strange and funny and you can
0:46:26see all the all the kids influences but
0:46:29it's shaped into into stories that that
0:46:32I think are really really entertaining
0:46:34axe cop i was at penny arcade expo was
0:46:37playing dungeons dragons as you do and i
0:46:40was in a room and in a table and a
0:46:43another one of these stories Tony we're
0:46:45playing D&D at penny arcade expo jaan
0:46:48okay go ahead a man who appeared to be a
0:46:50police officer poked his head into the
0:46:52room looked at us and said kids are
0:46:54doing any drugs are you and we nervously
0:46:56said no and he said ok then and he left
0:47:01and as far as I could tell that guy was
0:47:03a police officer until one of my friends
0:47:05that did that police officer have an axe
0:47:08it was an act top cosplayer I was not
0:47:11familiar with that I saw a lot of axe
0:47:13cop costumes including my friend in
0:47:15Putney dressed up his axe cop i would
0:47:17say that is his costume was dangerously
0:47:19on the level of importance of a guitar
0:47:22lesson 14 yeah it was pretty good and he
0:47:26had an authentic cop mustache that you
0:47:28know was not prosthetic so Dean party
0:47:31here in this show episode below on the
0:47:33futurama yeah Barbra Jean per episode
0:47:36prefer yep that's my axe cop sorry
0:47:38hopefully short good start good story
0:47:40Tony 23 time for one more sponsor break
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0:48:16thought that was really excellent like
0:48:17to get us up to speed so when we look
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0:48:21we have knowledge that we can apply
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0:48:27lynda.com CSS training to help me and
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0:50:01incomparable to try it free for 10 days
0:50:04and thank you so much to linda.com for
0:50:08supporting the incomparable I've
0:50:10mentioned before and so I'm just gonna
0:50:11put out there since this this is my
0:50:13impetus to to organize episode which is
0:50:15no Mona which is coming out by Noelle
0:50:17Stevenson you can get it in
0:50:19you can read it at ginger hazing calm /
0:50:22Damona and it's a really enjoyable story
0:50:25that is now complete so you can read the
0:50:27whole thing
0:50:28it starts out as there's a villain his
0:50:30name is balusters Blackheart the it is a
0:50:34hilarious weird combination of a fantasy
0:50:36and technology like if there's a castle
0:50:40and stuff but there's also like a TV
0:50:41station and scientists and balanced a
0:50:46black heart is the villain but and you
0:50:47get the sense very early that he had a
0:50:49horrible falling-out with golden loin
0:50:52who is the hero of the kingdom and uh
0:50:56Ramona appears to balance your black
0:50:58heart and basically says I want to be
0:51:00the villain sidekick I i can change
0:51:03shape and and I've got some big plans
0:51:05and you know basically she tries to egg
0:51:07them on to you you haven't been enough
0:51:09of the supervillain let me help you out
0:51:12boss and she know she appears as this as
0:51:14this young girl but she's got these
0:51:16powers and then the story over time as
0:51:19the the art gets richer and the story
0:51:21gets Richard because the artist is
0:51:23really learning her craft that she goes
0:51:25and you can see it the story the
0:51:28relationship between Ramona and and and
0:51:31balusters the relationship between
0:51:32balusters & golden loin the secrets of
0:51:35what's going on in this kingdom and how
0:51:37it's being operated by some sinister
0:51:40forces at work is uh it's a lot of fun i
0:51:44really love the mixing up of the of the
0:51:46genres and and the blackhearts golden
0:51:50lion relationship is actually sort of
0:51:53super adorable and and heavily heavily
0:51:56ships
0:51:57yes oh yes absolutely and intentionally
0:52:00so but it's actually it's a it's a huge
0:52:01amount of fun
0:52:02the fact that you've got black heart and
0:52:04golden loin as your blonde superhero and
0:52:07your black-hearted villain who's
0:52:11actually your main character and Jason
0:52:13is isn't it true that you're you're the
0:52:15golden line is the inspiration for your
0:52:17D&D character on my imagination Peter
0:52:19Peter dragon 4g is golden join said I
0:52:22only I want to establish for the record
0:52:24your level of murder
0:52:25yes you have a dungeons and dragons
0:52:27dragons character inspired by a webcomic
0:52:29care i do in the 1i called Peter golden
0:52:32loin
0:52:32because that would be too much you just
0:52:34changed everything in my my head but now
0:52:37I'm never gonna forget the words I was
0:52:38like uh huh well I wanted to be a big
0:52:42you know like I its captain handsome
0:52:44he's blonde and handsome and fancy these
0:52:47offensive man and golden line is that
0:52:49anyway it is it's great it's coming out
0:52:53of it as a book i'm kind of fascinated
0:52:55to see with it whether she's going to do
0:52:56like real entering or actually even
0:52:58redrawing some of the pages because the
0:53:00art style change so drastically between
0:53:02the first like 20 installments and the
0:53:05rest of the the other hundred and forty
0:53:07pages or whatever but uh it's huge huge
0:53:10fun to the point that you know I've read
0:53:12it multiple times now since it has come
0:53:15to an end and it's got a nice story and
0:53:17so I haven't had a chance to read it yet
0:53:20but she has a print comic called longer
0:53:23James yeah which I have not read but all
0:53:25my friends who have better taste in
0:53:26comics than i do say is excellent so
0:53:28I've heard excellent things about that
0:53:30as well
0:53:30ya know is tricky because right i think
0:53:34Jason's you're saying is like it it
0:53:35didn't start this ambitious i don't
0:53:37think i'll share the whole plot worked
0:53:38out in like a burden i tell you better
0:53:40you tell me about you told me about it I
0:53:42think so yeah and I was like oh I'll
0:53:44check into this and then like an hour
0:53:46and 45 minutes later I'd read the whole
0:53:48thing or three hours it was like I was
0:53:50probably the middle of a workday and I
0:53:52just I didn't actually realize what I
0:53:54was doing and you and I are probably
0:53:56doing that at the same time it was and
0:53:59then oh and then i posted a link I'm
0:54:01like oh my god Jason talked about this
0:54:02amazing thing and then other people like
0:54:04god damn you i just spent an hour north
0:54:06platte river is this it was a virus but
0:54:09uh it's incredible narrative scope
0:54:12there's world building and then there's
0:54:14stuff that's developing and I think like
0:54:16this is a danger of working without a
0:54:18net you know in in real time and I mean
0:54:21obviously daily cartoonist have dealt
0:54:22with this for you know a hundred years
0:54:25we're doing stuff and it's the stuff
0:54:27that has a narrative flow to it and you
0:54:29know that the the oldest joke is that
0:54:31the spiderman cartoon it's been around
0:54:32forever is like the slowest moving
0:54:34cartoon ever a comic strip ever
0:54:36developed where monday someone sneezes
0:54:39and on Friday someone says cousin I am
0:54:41and and then it's monday they start with
0:54:42a recap
0:54:43yeah lesson
0:54:44repeater was sneezing and then Mary Jane
0:54:47so but but most strips you know there
0:54:50they work some stuff out they have to
0:54:51plan and she was kinda I don't know how
0:54:53much from whole cloth she went so now
0:54:55that she's completed this really
0:54:57remarkable ambitious are you know if
0:55:00she's clearly I mean will she go back
0:55:01and redraw the early stuff i SPECT so
0:55:03because going to a book so maybe she'll
0:55:05preserve some of the field but but
0:55:07recreate it so it's more consistent and
0:55:09will she work out any of the narrative
0:55:11stuff i mean Jason I know that you
0:55:13weren't delighted with the way it ended
0:55:15i guess no no I I like we have no I was
0:55:18looking I have no comments about how it
0:55:20ended I i think it's a I think it's
0:55:22kinda nice I I i don't know it's like
0:55:26you said it's working without a net I
0:55:27think she also decided she wanted to end
0:55:29the story and literally the way the
0:55:31story is told she could have kept going
0:55:32but she says note that that's enough
0:55:35especially now that she's got the comics
0:55:37he's working on the book deal and what
0:55:38has some other projects I think she
0:55:39thought that was a fitting kind of and
0:55:42although my understanding is that she
0:55:43also one of the part of the book deal is
0:55:44that there's a an apple log that's only
0:55:46going to be in the boat yeah
0:55:48yes with a little more closure there too
0:55:50I I felt it could have been a little
0:55:51stronger at the end I felt that she had
0:55:53set a target to finish it and rushed a
0:55:57bit headlong other some magnificence
0:55:59that the end not to not to you know
0:56:02denigrating that but I felt like she was
0:56:03rushing headlong towards add a new model
0:56:05that wasn't totally didn't all meshed
0:56:08together as neatly as possible so maybe
0:56:10the Apple well but but very so I mean
0:56:12remarkably satisfying it's like watching
0:56:14someone right there first sci-fi or
0:56:16fantasy novel and have this incredibly
0:56:18rich intricate thing that's different
0:56:20than anything you quite seen before
0:56:23their aspects of of different fantasy
0:56:26sci fi hybrids in it but it was her own
0:56:28thing in the sense of humor is quirky
0:56:30and the drawing is quirky and just works
0:56:32it's it's an amazing thing for someone
0:56:33to come out of the gate and build and
0:56:36gain you know she posts a comic and
0:56:37there be four hundred and sixty comments
0:56:40on it within hours from people following
0:56:42it by the end it's incredible thing she
0:56:44did both in terms of scope and
0:56:46community-building you know it's a fan
0:56:49art and stuff too
0:56:50I so knew Mona you read it it's free or
0:56:54you can wait and get the book we are
0:56:57probably only have time to go around one
0:57:00more time so I feel like perhaps this is
0:57:03this can serve as the bring out your
0:57:05dead round that where I'm just going to
0:57:08give each of you the floor to talk about
0:57:09other comics you want to talk about and
0:57:11then that will be the end of the episode
0:57:12let's start with jon is going to pull
0:57:16out a plan is not to obscure Perry bible
0:57:19fellowship
0:57:20hello the list and that list yeah I
0:57:23don't understand I don't understand that
0:57:25comic and I occasionally forget it
0:57:27exists and I don't even know if it's
0:57:29still running and not a percentage of
0:57:32the ones that I find funny is low and
0:57:33yet the ones i find funny and hilarious
0:57:35so I keep returning to it
0:57:38I've correspond with the guy and I said
0:57:40like look I could I help you improve
0:57:42your website is really i spend my next
0:57:45and previous buttons sons looks like
0:57:47technology is later when i was here in
0:57:49Lake County understand it I can't search
0:57:51on his like wait come again there's
0:57:53pages like well if i want to find the
0:57:54type and I he just couldn't you know
0:57:56he's a really interesting creative i
0:57:58think very introverted introverted guide
0:58:01i think he appreciates the attention of
0:58:03book but yeah the site is unnavigable
0:58:05but it's me and very similar is space
0:58:08avalanche space avalanche com is very
0:58:11similar to that I don't even know the
0:58:12same guy I can't even tell
0:58:14I also forget the space avalanche exists
0:58:16until it comes up again I go yet that
0:58:18exists and take a look at it
0:58:21couples in my feeds those the tools i
0:58:24wanted to throw out there if you've
0:58:25never heard of one of those there you
0:58:27can just grind through the entire series
0:58:28in less than three hours so it's not
0:58:30like Mona period bible fellowship there
0:58:32are new episodes being pretty
0:58:33installments but I think he's working
0:58:34with a bunch of other stuff in this is
0:58:37not the same fervor but everyone's well
0:58:38there'll be a new one that comes out
0:58:40like the beach ball the hanging rotating
0:58:41beach fault but not just erasing all
0:58:45right uh Erica do you have more that you
0:58:48would like to talk about do i do i'll
0:58:50try to keep it short but the one that I
0:58:52was just thinking of when we were
0:58:54talking about dnd is called order of the
0:58:56stick which is a webcomic that very
0:58:58lovingly satirizes tabletop RPGs
0:59:01specifically dungeons and dragons and
0:59:03the characters are all stick figures as
0:59:05you might have guessed from the title
0:59:06but they have surprisingly effective in
0:59:09emotive faces when there
0:59:11no an adventuring crew made up of the
0:59:12usual suspects you get a fighter rogue
0:59:15barred paladin Ranger wizard all those
0:59:18kind of things and it's just it's super
0:59:22mega they're constantly referring to in
0:59:24world events and items using DD terms so
0:59:27like you know thank God just what i need
0:59:28another random encounter on the way to
0:59:30blah blah or ok so this belt you gave me
0:59:33it gives you the strength of a giant are
0:59:35we talking a plus for type giant or plus
0:59:376 and a giant like that kind of stuff
0:59:39which is just hilarious or their content
0:59:41commenting on the content of the strip
0:59:42itself like referring back to pass
0:59:44storylines as past story behind and
0:59:48there's no shortage of puns
0:59:49I know if you're a fan of the
0:59:50incomparable you're probably kind of
0:59:52okay with funds from good yeah the bard
0:59:55uses puns when he attacks in episode an
0:59:59issue 684
0:59:59issue 684
1:00:00specifically there are six panels of
1:00:02beatles song related puns during a fight
1:00:05scene with some beetle people some bug
1:00:07guys so it's kind of glorious it's just
1:00:11incredibly fun the characters are well
1:00:13developed and hilarious and the
1:00:15storylines are like a really good RPG
1:00:17adventure so what's not to like and then
1:00:20i'll just use a couple of honorable
1:00:21mentions buggy freelance was my very
1:00:24first web comic I've read most of it
1:00:26twice and some of it more than that and
1:00:28it is pretty much daily comic started in
1:00:30august of 1997 so that's a lot and it's
1:00:36it follows the adventures of some-some
1:00:38you know crazy people and their crazy
1:00:41not quite pets and it's hard to describe
1:00:44a comic that's been going on since
1:00:46probably some of the listeners were in
1:00:48diapers but i can safely say that it's
1:00:51fun
1:00:51most of the time and when it's not
1:00:53exactly fun it's usually because there's
1:00:54a pretty heavy arc based storyline going
1:00:56on that general genuinely pulls on my
1:00:58heartstrings kind of goes back and forth
1:01:01between light and silly stories and
1:01:03truly epic plots that the silly ones are
1:01:06usually the things that I care about the
1:01:09least like parodies like toward potter
1:01:12and the sorcerer's nuts or muffin the
1:01:14vampire Baker that kind of silly thing
1:01:16but the epic posit plots are truly truly
1:01:19epic and there's so much continuity he
1:01:21does a great job of keeping track of
1:01:22things he even includes references
1:01:24reference links after the comics so he's
1:01:27referring to something that happened 12
1:01:28years ago
1:01:29you can just click the link and go back
1:01:31and see the you know where it's all
1:01:33coming from because you know maybe
1:01:35you're not gonna remember what was
1:01:36happening when bill clinton was
1:01:37president I certainly don't um so anyway
1:01:40I quite enjoy that it there that i have
1:01:43a few minor issues with it but i'm not
1:01:45going to get into those because i'm
1:01:46going to just stay happy here and then
1:01:49the the other couple I just wanted to
1:01:50quickly mention one is is a one that's
1:01:52actually finished its run and finished
1:01:54it quite a while ago it's called
1:01:55user-friendly which is a Canadian comic
1:01:59strip which was set in canada in
1:02:02internet service provider fictional one
1:02:04and it's just it's very much and attack
1:02:06audiences lots of IT and programming and
1:02:09gaming based jokes just about the humor
1:02:11of the stuff that happens working at
1:02:13based world but there's a decent amount
1:02:15of character development and in
1:02:17storyline and there's a little little
1:02:20romance and it's just sweet and then
1:02:22I've also been trying to catch up on
1:02:24dinosaur comics which another Canadian
1:02:27one actually
1:02:28and that's not why i like the comic
1:02:29though Oh incidentally but i like it
1:02:33because it's funny and inventive every
1:02:35single strip almost every single strip
1:02:37use exactly the same artwork in the six
1:02:39panels and you might not think that's
1:02:41exactly a haven for creativity but when
1:02:44you're constrained that much by the art
1:02:46or lack of art it really makes you
1:02:48stretch to find other ways to make
1:02:49things interesting so I I just enjoy
1:02:53watching the the dialogue play out in
1:02:56the interesting ways of sort of using
1:02:58the characters without actually changing
1:02:59anything on the screen at all
1:03:02every time and then that's one that has
1:03:04we talked about like the alt-text the
1:03:07titles there are few easter eggs with
1:03:09each strip of this one actually only
1:03:11found out about one of them today when i
1:03:12was looking at it on Wikipedia you so
1:03:15you can mouse-over and you can read the
1:03:16title tag but also in the subject line
1:03:19of the contact email address every day
1:03:22it has something different which I'm
1:03:24excited to to check out now and also if
1:03:27you read through the archives when you
1:03:29link into the archives the archives
1:03:31actually has a line or two of texts from
1:03:33the author about the comic or his
1:03:35process of creating it or or whatever so
1:03:38a lot of layers to dinosaur comics there
1:03:40that are really fun i know the Canadian
1:03:42content laws i'm not sure if you're
1:03:44allowed to talk about them but I realize
1:03:45you do have to report you recommend 75
1:03:48versus the third were speculating strips
1:03:50but I I know you can't
1:03:51yeah well to to finish that off and make
1:03:54sure I hit my thirty thirty percent or
1:03:56whatever it is a quick shout out to a
1:03:59certain new-ish comic book shelf doctors
1:04:03which is actually done by my friend
1:04:04Warren from the radio freescale podcast
1:04:06he takes what he refers to it so good
1:04:08doctor who is Doctor Who action dollies
1:04:10for his action figures and set them up
1:04:13on his bookshelf and and has them you
1:04:15know face each other puts him in amusing
1:04:17little scenarios and then adds little
1:04:21talky bubbles and has them talk to each
1:04:23other and usually there's just three or
1:04:24four panels and they're they're totally
1:04:26gags and there
1:04:27very much the kind of inside gags you're
1:04:29probably only going to get if you're
1:04:31pretty hardcore doctor who fan but that
1:04:33is me I am the target on you know and I
1:04:36like it but I think that those are very
1:04:39funny
1:04:39the so just photographs of little of
1:04:42doctor who figures with funny dialogue
1:04:44it's great
1:04:46Tony what do you have high so we
1:04:50mentioned diesel sweeties we mentioned
1:04:52XKCD so we make sure those were those
1:04:55are mentioned other ones I've got on my
1:04:56list here are piled higher and deeper is
1:05:00a very long running webcomic which is
1:05:02basically to graduate students what I
1:05:06guess Gilbert is to office workers so
1:05:08it's very amusing if you have ever spent
1:05:11a extended period of time in academia
1:05:12but also therefore somewhat depressing
1:05:15but that's how it goes
1:05:17American elf is a an example of a format
1:05:20that I is you know not unique to web
1:05:23comics but i think is really interested
1:05:24in which is a diary comics so American
1:05:26elf is a by James kaka who is a
1:05:28published comics artist but he
1:05:31maintained for many years it's no longer
1:05:33running a daily comic diary that he
1:05:36would maintain that was pretty neat and
1:05:38interesting i like that format and then
1:05:40the other one I mentioned it because it
1:05:41used to be in my college newspaper now
1:05:43it only exists as a webcomic buttercup
1:05:45festival which is a very strange very
1:05:47kind of surreal comic that you I cannot
1:05:51explain it you need to see it and read
1:05:53ten strips of it and hopefully find it
1:05:55funny or we're not friends anymore sorry
1:05:57that's it for me was that one another
1:05:59cup what buttercup festival festival or
1:06:02I feel like I've heard of that one but
1:06:03I'm really a Tony you know how old I am
1:06:05our college newspapers comic strip was
1:06:07calvin hobbes oh yeah talenthouse
1:06:11reprints that's what your Cinco where's
1:06:15Calvin and Hobbes it both of them
1:06:17yeah I haven't you know I've read the
1:06:19the college newspaper strips that the
1:06:21watterson made of before he did Calvin
1:06:23homes which are weird but yeah okay
1:06:27Glenn what do you have left
1:06:29I got a I got a bunch but i will keep it
1:06:32small because I'm small dilemma conus is
1:06:36a disclosure friend of mine she is
1:06:40a really talented artists to sort of
1:06:42took to the web in this remarkable way
1:06:45and she's just very productive and is
1:06:46really interesting stuff and she's got
1:06:48this long series going on called family
1:06:50man that's a very detailed I think she's
1:06:52in the second volume is almost done with
1:06:53that and she produced she's printed the
1:06:55first but so she's doing it you know
1:06:57sort of live online and drawing kind of
1:07:00in real time and she has plotted out
1:07:02it's much more like you know work of
1:07:04fiction that she has a i think a more
1:07:06exact idea but she also did a series
1:07:08called bite me about vampires and unlike
1:07:12revolutionary france i think and one of
1:07:15her first outings without Fox which is
1:07:17really lovely beautifully drawn drawn on
1:07:21short account is almost a parable love
1:07:23her work and she's also involved we did
1:07:26mention pvp which is less p the guy who
1:07:29behind it works with penny arcade on
1:07:30stuff it's part of a decade sort of like
1:07:32more and less problematic so we'll look
1:07:34into the people side but PvP is a game
1:07:36development company you know that's
1:07:39where the plot happens and there's like
1:07:40some kind of giant creature knows what
1:07:42is the sort of well-meaning a talking
1:07:44cat and so forth but it's it's actually
1:07:47quite funny it's got apply and dylan now
1:07:49recall right she is scripting and he's
1:07:53drawing or vice versa because he's got
1:07:55other projects he's working on as well
1:07:57the fellow behind got hurts yes that's
1:07:59right because they've also got to stop
1:08:00calling in the trenches which is a
1:08:02co-venture with penny arcade that I'm
1:08:04not as excited about it a little more
1:08:05and more walkie the PDP is as can be fun
1:08:10i was gonna mention wonder mark which is
1:08:12a long-running strip by David Mulkey
1:08:14super nice guy super funny and he
1:08:16started out by using almost like what
1:08:19Tom tomorrow did with this modern world
1:08:22decades ago which evolved into a drawn
1:08:25strip David Mulkey found old are you
1:08:29know public domain artwork is actually
1:08:30filmmakers not cartoons by trade and
1:08:32hold public domain artwork and started
1:08:34combining it and putting captions on it
1:08:36and you know making essentially strips
1:08:37out of pieces and he's kind of becoming
1:08:39kind of an expert on engraving and early
1:08:42periods of cartooning because 10 so much
1:08:44research and if you watch the movie
1:08:46stripped he comes up with some really
1:08:48great historical observations because
1:08:50he's looked at decade's worth of stuff
1:08:52during the trends
1:08:53action from angry engraving to
1:08:55photography when cartooning is invented
1:08:58because you have all these engravers you
1:08:59suddenly have no jobs it
1:09:01he's under mark is it's a lot of
1:09:04hilarious standalone things the
1:09:05juxtaposition of absurdity of having an
1:09:08old-fashioned people say things but it's
1:09:09very cleverly scripted and he had the
1:09:11strip recently went viral about
1:09:13gamergate about with a sea lion which
1:09:15has now become pretty much instantly
1:09:16became a meme and never talks about some
1:09:18see lining into your comments
1:09:21it's because he developed a strip like
1:09:23three weeks ago it was so perfect that
1:09:26the tournament literally the term became
1:09:28a meme like within a enough hours and we
1:09:31have been used and also mention modest
1:09:35produces interesting long-running strip
1:09:36that's got a strong narrative to it's
1:09:38very sweet about a sort of like baby
1:09:40Medusa she can't turn to stone yet but
1:09:43it's a lot more clever than that a lot
1:09:44of interesting world stuff and some
1:09:46creature of casual characterization and
1:09:50also chainsaw suit i'm a late comer to
1:09:53that strip and it's just funny as hell
1:09:56it's just a very funny it's almost like
1:10:01it's a little guide comma key but it's
1:10:03like more like if Steve Martin did a
1:10:04comic strip
1:10:05it's more like what he would do then say
1:10:08daily comic strip and it's very tied
1:10:10into both like video games in the online
1:10:12vibe and there's also a podcast that he
1:10:15that he too
1:10:16that's associated change the podcast
1:10:17which is also quite strange at times
1:10:19sometimes just very straightforward it
1:10:20was very odd but but interesting as well
1:10:22alright I will also mention some some
1:10:25mailed in choices from people who could
1:10:27make this india naka wanted to mention
1:10:29girls with slingshots the abominable
1:10:32charles Christopher and Connie to the
1:10:35huanni okay and he's not here to explain
1:10:39himself and David lower wanted to
1:10:40mention pipcorn which is by brooke milk
1:10:43mikkel mceldowney I think who does nine
1:10:45chickweed lane in the newspapers but
1:10:47this is the webcomic again so it's
1:10:48weirder and more fantastical and he
1:10:51likes that
1:10:52so those are out there pigborn pipcorn I
1:10:54don't know if that score oh well I'd
1:10:57forgotten about you know you read that
1:10:58years ago and I actually completely
1:11:00forgot existed
1:11:01this is the problem with having so much
1:11:02plenty as i was doing some research to
1:11:04remind myself of ones that i read
1:11:06and I actually literally maybe I should
1:11:10tailor I've found a tons of ones i was
1:11:12reading years ago and forgotten and if
1:11:15you look at if you try to find list of
1:11:18webcomics most decisive list are
1:11:20unmanageably large they're like yahoo
1:11:22was you know a year after yahoo started
1:11:25in the nineties you're like well there's
1:11:26a few website well here's a bunch
1:11:28let's put into categories ok we just
1:11:30give up there is just like it's just
1:11:31there's that like about three different
1:11:33sites that each had I think thousands of
1:11:36listings and none of them were complete
1:11:37obviously yeah lots of comics out there
1:11:39anything else we should mention before
1:11:42we go
1:11:43yeah i'm gonna throw in camp we don't
1:11:46want you which i think is but the one of
1:11:48the best titles of a comic strip ever
1:11:50this this is came out of the penny
1:11:51arcade strip-searched reality show where
1:11:53they had people auditioning to be a
1:11:55comic artist and then penny arcade put
1:11:57them up for a year and their facilities
1:11:58and promoted their comic but the winner
1:12:00of the contest was then Katie rice and
1:12:02her comic strip is about a camp where
1:12:04you drop off your kids and then you'd
1:12:06never come back so it's can watch huh
1:12:08and so it's just a bunch of these young
1:12:10kids drawn in a very interesting sort of
1:12:13big bobblehead art-style stuck at this
1:12:16camp and the adventures they get up to
1:12:18now they have a deal in a world without
1:12:20adults and again I'm the attachment i
1:12:23feel to it is driven and large part by
1:12:25watching the reality show and knowing
1:12:27how like she you know she was an artist
1:12:30she was a professional artist working on
1:12:31live television shows and Nickelodeon
1:12:33whatever but always wanted to do her own
1:12:34thing and when this weird reality show
1:12:36thing and won the contest and that was
1:12:38is you know has to draw or strip and you
1:12:40know is trying to make a go of it by
1:12:43herself and that aspect of it draws
1:12:45being just as much as the strip itself
1:12:46but the script is adorable too
1:12:48alright well this has been a lot of fun
1:12:51i feel like now we can all do what we
1:12:53described earlier which is just
1:12:55descended to browser tax and never ever
1:12:57come back to the surface but in a good
1:12:59way so we would like to thank everybody
1:13:03out there because we've we're with your
1:13:04lives and you will never do anything
1:13:06productive ever again
1:13:08so thanks for that at you no no don't
1:13:11thank us thank you and i would like to
1:13:13thank my guests for making this possible
1:13:15John siracusa thank you very much for
1:13:17being here I stuff it like i have our
1:13:19way
1:13:19comics I guess we're done huh yeah I I
1:13:22said bring out your dead you got more
1:13:23dead said you do it now
1:13:25it wasn't a draft i would have a longer
1:13:26list now it's fine somewhere over that's
1:13:28all right
1:13:29yeah find more webcomics i bet if you
1:13:30start from the webcomics we be provided
1:13:32to you could my lord i bet i bet you're
1:13:34right Eric and sign thank you for all of
1:13:37the great webcomics you talked about
1:13:38today thank you yeah actually most of
1:13:40the ones that i found were just through
1:13:42the other web comics I was yeah and to
1:13:44hit the slippery slope guide yeah it's
1:13:46like Wikipedia with comics you just keep
1:13:48clicking and you like it well i gotta
1:13:50click on that link to when fleischmann
1:13:53thank you for being here
1:13:54a pleasure thank you for doing this
1:13:55episode yes yes of course of course and
1:13:58Tony sindelar thank you for being here
1:14:01always fun to talk to you every night no
1:14:04Jason by nerds good binders affects
1:14:10everybody out there i hope you enjoy
1:14:12spending the rest of your life reading
1:14:14webcomics that we recommended to you we
1:14:16will see you next time
1:14:22we're getting toward the end of the year
1:14:24and you know what that means very soon
1:14:25we're gonna be recording our best 2014
1:14:27episode and we want to have your
1:14:29comments involved so send us an email
1:14:32podcast at the incomparable com or tweet
1:14:35us at the incomparable