The Islands Call To Him…
I’m not sure why… but I’ve had this ghostly inspiration in my mind to move away to the islands some day. Get away from here. Maybe Hawaii, maybe elsewhere… just an island somewhere, that’s probably where I belong. Can someone make sure I’m buried there? Thanks!
Yirblog Briefs:
UPDATE to the following drama… it appears as though the drama loving Kris Straub is being sued by an ex colleague for using their name and mocking them. I guess… see here. (I don’t think they have a case really, but still, DRAMA!)
Webcomics Drama Llama Land
Ctrl Alt Del’s Animation Deal draws bitterness in some other cartoonists But not this one…
Mmmmm.. finally, some drama in webcomics again! YES!
Hey, look, I don’t read Ctrl+Alt+Del or whatever it is, nor do I read practically any webcomics besides the ones my friends make. But hey, this looks like a pretty cool deal the guy has going, so I wish him the best with it. Wow, I’d love to see some Yirmumah 5 minute animations, and I’d totally sell those babies too or offer them in the club. That’s kick butt. Anyway, everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I don’t even know why it’s a big deal to some. Unless you dig a little deeper into the conspiracy….. simply from an outsider’s view looking in on all these losers…. let’s do it…
Let’s do the Math here:
-FACT: Scott Kurtz had past beefs with this guy, or they had bad blood between them. Lots of people say CAD is a ripoff of PvP and Penny Arcade. CHECK.
-FACT: Scott Kurtz has also had a problem with Keenspot in the past. CHECK.\
-FACT: There is some sort of bad blood also between CAD and Kurtz. But I’m too lazy to research it.
-FACT: A group of cartoonists left Keenspot, BlankLabel, and of course drew the praise of Scott Kurtz for doing so. Scott even “advised them”. (Whoopity Dee! Another webcomics hub! Way to go guys!)
- FACT: Instantly, Blank Label Comics became the favored Assmites to the Mighty Kurtz, some even shacking up at his house, to plot world domination or…something. They were heard to be chanting something in unison like “WE…LOVE…YOU… SCOTT…. SHOW… US … THE … WAY…. TO ….. THE ….. MONEY….PLEASE….”
-FACT: One member of BlankLabel, Kris Straub. Who has also bedded down at Scott’s house.
-FACT: Straub’s comic about the CAD deal on Checkerboard Crapmare.
- FACT: Said comic is linked on Scott Kurtz’s site the same day the news breaks about the CAD deal. Coincidence? Don’t be a fool!
- FACT: Bitter Webcomic artists everywhere celebrate the mockery, and even the CAD’s news story on Comixpedia is bumped down by an older breaking story about Scott Kurtz’s new book with Image…
- FACT: Scott Kurtz wins again.
The real lesson here? Scott Kurtz is the Phantom Menace of ALL Webcomics Drama. Face it. Move on. Even if the Blank Label guys don’t know it, they are doing his bidding remotely. He just IS THAT POWERFUL.
I should have put this in an ebook and sold it like the whhhhore I am.
December 2nd, 2005 at 4:48 am
after looking at the various websites involved in this little bit of retarded webcomic drama, i’m going to essentially restate what i did on the checkerboard comment section. they sound like 15 year old high school girls who are either pissed off they didn’t come up with the idea first, or that they don’t have the fan base to support such an endeavor. just my two cents. i think tim has got a great idea as far as webcomics go. not being a gamer, i doubt i’d have the knowledge of the subject matter or interest in it to make it wortwhile to pay for, but as far as the attacks on his comic and it’s subject matter, i say it has a fairly engaging group of characters and plot lines, enough that a ‘non-gamer’ such as myself was able to jump into the strip well enough to bookmark and plan on adding it to the list of webcomics to check on.
if anything, i think this attack on CAD will result in more readership for tim.
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:38 am
I read CAD. I read Peny Arcade. I read PVP.
They are ALL DIFFERENT. Hey, the all feature human beings speaking! They are all ripping off Yurmumah!!! Sue ‘em.
Checkerboard Nightmare, I read once, got bored, and stopped.
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:39 am
Sorry for the double post - I must defend myself by saying I can spell Penny Arcade perfectly well… I just can’t type.
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:40 am
Are links not allowed here I’m assuming
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:42 am
sorry for double posting, now that I know why my message didn’t work I posted what I was going to say over in the forums, about why I think they have come to dislike one another. Links to all the juicy drama
December 2nd, 2005 at 6:43 am
I like CAD but it’s to similar to PA and Kurtz well I like his comic but I hate the guy.
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:23 am
I read all 3…. yes they are different, but do have similar subject matter. If that’s as far as you want to dive into it then yeah “total ripoff”… pfffbt.
I like all 3 comics and I like the writing on all 3. But goddamn if Kurtz isn’t a total DouchNozzle in full-on Primadonna mode 90% of the time he’s talking about the community.
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:39 am
I love the medium of comics (web, print, or otherwise). I don’t know if I completely buy into the Mc Cloud-ian ideal of the comics form but I do believe the web offers a great outlet for creative expression to those, like myself, who have a computer and a cable modem and not a publishing house.
I learned about PVP first and from there moved to Penny Arcade. After that, I discovered CAD and CAD is funny, too. Now I’ve added Yirmumah to the list (there’s a joke in there somewhere if you look close enough). They all make me laugh or think.
Kurtz has allot of detractors and be they right or wrong, I still like his comic and will continue to read it as long as it’s good. The same goes for all the above. My opinion is just that, mine. There is a great deal of venom and bile out there being spewed back and forth by critics and creators alike. I only read three of the Blank Label comics. Those three are, again, in my humble opinion, the best of what’s offered. And, yes, I hitched a ride over there from Kurtz’s site.
Checkerboard Nightmare just isn’t my cup of tea. It’s not what I deem funny but maybe I just don’t ‘get it’. I agree that ‘his’ comic about the CAD announcement was a cheap shot. If I was Mr. Buckley and it was my comic that was being animated, I’d have been just as excited to be able to offer it to anyone. Hell, I’d have devoted a whole site to it as well.
My point, if I have one, is that there are far more important things in the world to argue and fight about. Opinions should be listened to and respected so long as the same is done in kind.
If you are going to be critical of someone’s work, then be critical of the work and not their character (particularly if you don’t know them personally).
How can you hate someone you’ve never met?
We’re not talking about Adolph Hitler, here. There’s someone worthy of contempt. Kill six million people? Sure, then the word hate becomes applicable. Create a fairly successful web comic and reap all the reward it entails? Jealousy might be a good descriptor and hellz-yeah, I’m jealous!
I wanna make comics, too! I can imagine nothing more fulfilling than bringing something new and creative and, at times, thought provoking into the world and then… marketing the living sh*t out of it. I’ve heard this called ’shilling’ or ’selling-out’. I call it retirement. But, I digress…
Scott Kurtz could be a real bastard in person for all I know, so could Tim Buckley. But, their work is entertaining and their artistic talent is undeniable. I say, let them have and enjoy their success (unless they turn out to be pederasts, in which case, hit ‘em with a Brick ‘O Silence). I wish Yirmumah great success as I enjoy reading it immensely. And one day, should I be lucky enough to find the time and courage to throw my hat into the web comics ring, I hope to be just as successful.
Mugs and mouse pads in the gift shop; down-loadable, 5 minute animations only $5.99…
- Jeff Himes
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:47 am
I also kind of feel like, criticism is fine, but if it’s coming from other webcomic creators, it almost seems petty and indistinct or non geniune.. like there IS an agenda of some sort.
Could you imagine, here comes the King Kong movie, right? If you opened the papers and saw reviews from Steven Spielberg or other competing directors, thrashing how he put the film together? Same with comic books, you dont see reviews by other creators…. YOu don’t see Todd McFarlane publicly criticizing another comic in some editorial. It’s lame. It’s unprofessional, and also, it’s what will thwart the webcomic community from being anything bigger than it is right now…. which is, just a bunch of attention seeking jagoffs tossing their work online and feeling important and trying to make a buck.
Myself included.
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:47 am
You did a good job of analysis, DJ. Regardless of how one feels about CAD the comic, you have to admit that it’d be pretty cool to see your own favorite webcomic animated in a similar fashion. What I think most people don’t get is that people will pay to watch these things not because the cartoons themselves are brilliant but because people want to have a way to support their favorite web-comics and artists. It’s why I donated to Bob’s computer fund, and why I have 5 Sluggy compilations sitting in my house collecting dust. I’ll watch them and pay for them and be happy that I’m giving a precious $3 a month to a guy who does all his work without any guarantee of compensation or advancement.
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:58 am
As I edited up in the post, it appears someone is suing Kris Straub….. I wonder if this will make it to the webcomic news, or Comixpedia where the offending cartoons run?? Hmm….
http://www.modernhumorauthority.com/2005/11/28/to-me-my-bow-wouldst-fly/
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:59 am
and that’s why, I say, fuck it
December 2nd, 2005 at 11:35 am
I’ve read PA since just about the time they put it online. I only came to PVP after the initial bits of drama where their “rivalry” started. Same with CAD. I’ve read “the enemys’ strips” ever since, but my WoW loyalty was to PA. For the longest time, the only reason I was reading PA before any others was by virtue of having bookmarked it first: having nearly 50 different webcomics in my list at one point, Yirmumah and other real favourites would’ve been far down the list. Not good.
I recently revised the list, and I’m proud to say that CAD and PVP are in my “chump links” - the single folder labeled “webcomics” in Firefox bookmarks which I just click and say “open in tabs”. I like these comics still; they can still make me chuckle on occasion, but have only part of what I really look for anymore.
Meanwhile, PA, Yirmumah, Megatokyo, Scary Go Round, and Beaver and Steve are all their own islands (in that particular order in the list) in my bookmarks list with the RSS feeds they provide (being a software developer, this resonates with me). I feel that these five comics truly form the “backbone” of what I believe the webcomics community should be. Very seldom do I hear of malice or drama originating from these folk - at least not drama which draws the kind of bile that this thing with CAD seems to do.
DJ, a big part of why you’re an awesome artist and creator is the unabashed honesty you bring to the game. The ability to rip people for their idiocy, but also to maintain a sense of humility in the face of your own rare failures. Your attitude should spread to these others - hell, even to people at large: the world would benefit from more men like you, Sir.
Is Tim a sellout? I dunno - maybe. Will I pay for his animated thing? No. Don’t like it enough, really. What makes me REALLY curious about this thing is how quickly someone will rip it and make it freely available. Also, how would Tim react to that? THOSE are the issues around this that really make me curious.
Thanks for the ramble-space, DJ. ^_~
December 2nd, 2005 at 11:37 am
I don’t get the backbiting at all.
It’s not like someone is going to subscribe to CAD and not read anymore comics.
If you like gaming related jokes you’ll keep reading them all.
Personally I won’t be paying for CAD’s extra content.
If PvP or PA had clubs I wouldn’t join those either.
I like them but not enough to pay for extra.
Overall I think Planet Fargo (I know its column) is waaaayyy funnier when it comes to gaming humor.
I just joined the Yir Club and I can recommend it to everyone that enjoys this comic. $1 a month is a barging as far as I’m concerned.
I asked this over in the forum but did not get an answer.
How does Homestar Runner stay afloat without subscriptions or outside advertising?
December 2nd, 2005 at 11:42 am
D’oh
“bargain”
Damn spellchecker hell…
December 2nd, 2005 at 12:58 pm
I can totally take a ribbing and clowning around people might do with me, I laugh it off.
I get a kick of the people who criticize, but then can’t take criticism of any kind themselves. And even if I’m fucking around, which apparently I am here, I bet these guys can’t stand me today and are cursing me.
December 2nd, 2005 at 2:38 pm
You raise a good point, DJ. We don’t see a lot of comic creators offering constructive criticism of each other’s work. But then, most claim to take no serious interest in their own work. As you said, they become, “a bunch of attention seeking jagoffs throwing their work online trying to make a buck…”
…”and feel important.”
Me thinks they do protest too much. If they did not take a serious interest in their own work, their egos would be much harder to bruise. I recall a similar incident in the print comic media in the early nineties.
We’ve all heard the story. Marvel’s top “talent” leaves to forge a new destiny for themselves under the unified banner of creator’s rights. This was not a new concept (see scottmccloud.com for the full history) but one that, I think, had not been tried in the mainstream before. However, shortly after emancipating themselves they quickly took to what was viewed as petty bickering among themselves and employing the exact same practices with their employees as were practiced by the House of Ideas. What was to become Image comics, in fact, became three separate studios (Todd MacFarlane’s; Jim Lee’s Wildstorm Productions; and Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios). In the end, the whole thing seemed rather pointless. MacFarlane has since focused most of his time and energies into his toy, movie, and cartoon projects; allowing others to oversee his comics. Jim Lee sold Wildstorm to D.C. and went back to work for them. And, Rob Liefeld… well… what IS Rob Liefeld doing these days?
What could have been a progressive step forward in the promotion of comics as an art form and a forum for creative expression became just what you’ve described… “just a bunch of attention seeking jagoffs tossing their work (into print) and feeling important and trying to make a buck.”
That’s why I feel like online comics are so fascinating: the diversity of genre that is taking hold. I think this is the edge that web comics have right now over their print predecessors.
Yes, there are quite a few devoted to gaming humor right now. I don’t see this as surprising given the increased way in which gaming technology has permeated our lives in the last three decades. It’s a sign of the times. But, one of the reason’s I still read PVP is because the focus has deviated from the game coverage and shifted to the characters. Not always, but some of the time, I find something in them I can identify with. Yirmumah is the same way. I found I could identify with aspects of Drew’s character. I think I roomed with Bob in college for a semester.
I agree with Darren about the direction Beaver and Steve (also one of my favorites) is taking. They, and comics like them, seem to be outside the ‘drama’ ring.
Perhaps, if more creators admitted to having affection for their own work, and were able to own the fact that this is how they want to make their living, they would be more supportive when one of their contemporaries makes a personal leap forward as Mr. Buckley has done. Maybe then, there could be an open dialogue between creators that would ultimately push the medium beyond this narrow view.
Then again, perhaps my observations are simply utopian and, like Communism, look really good on paper but not in practice.
A parting question:
As a comic creator, yirself, do you feel that the reader base has any impact on how the creators react toward one another? For example, creator A’s site gets twice as many hits as creator B’s site. A reader points this out in a “colorful” way in a forum. Another reader sends a link to that post to creator B who then comments in a reactionary or defensive fashion on his blog. Thus, a rivalry is born…
December 2nd, 2005 at 3:18 pm
All of the drama is just plain total bullshit. Whether you like the comic or not, it’s obvious that Ctrl+Alt+Del is a ripoff of nothing. What is possibly the most memorable thing about it? It’s got the X-Bot Zeke. The only thing even CLOSE to that is Eve from Applegeeks, the Macintosh powered android. Just because a comic is game related doesn’t mean they’re ripping anyone off. It just means that *gasp* the creator is probably a gamer. People are just fuckwads on the internet grasping for shit to bitch about.
December 2nd, 2005 at 4:11 pm
no I think I saw an xbox in PA wink at me once, that’s kinda like the xbot to.
December 2nd, 2005 at 4:21 pm
Oh hell, I forgot about DivX. Yeah, scratch that, between a winking Xbox and the drunken DivX, my eyes are now open, god, what a total ripoff
December 2nd, 2005 at 4:30 pm
lol, yup it must be. Tim has said many times how he came up with his comic, and he always points out that he didn’t know about penny arcade untill after the fact.
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:49 pm
Meh. So webcomic artists tend to make friends with the same webcomic artists they do business with. So they talk behind one another’s backs. So frick’n what? All they’re giving one another is publicity. Whenever one artist disses another artist, a bunch of people are going to do a Google search (or even, god forbid, follow the link the bitchy artist put up), and thus start reading the comic the other artist bitches about.
Very few people are going to go “Well, this shit is funny, but I can’t read this ’cause the guy who drew this pissed off another guy! Omg dilemma!”
December 2nd, 2005 at 7:05 pm
Haven’t had a chance to read all the comments, but I had to comment on the strip. DJ, Hawaii is the place to be, yo! I’ll scout the rental market for you (but prepare for the shock of the crazy cost of living here). (Culture shock too, as we do eat spam out here. In Hawaii, it’s not just “poor people food”, or whatever stigma it’s gotten over there in the mainland US.)
If you don’t end up moving though, and you need someone to bury you out here, have Calypso or whoever contact me. I’ll get it done.
December 2nd, 2005 at 7:53 pm
If you want to go to an island, Britain is the place to be, if thats too big, move to the isle of white, you can walk from one end to the other in 5 mintes
Besides, noone really wants to live in a hot country
December 2nd, 2005 at 9:24 pm
Welcome to Australia, fuck it.
December 2nd, 2005 at 11:19 pm
JeffH: I stopped reading when you posted : “We don’t see a lot of comic creators offering constructive criticism of each other’s work.”
I cringed so hard my balls hurt..
[/personal]
Seriously, your comment applies to a lot of “contemporary readers”… but .. an artist either creates, or doesn’t… “constructive criticism” is a Myth. Mostly propagated by “Critics”.
Defined by Heinlein as “people who lack the capacity to create, thus are truly suited to critisise those who can create, because they hate them equally”.
(mind, although quoted, the above is an…amalgamation… of rather plentyful comments about critics by this author.)
There is no such thing as constructive criticism. Either you like something, or you don’t.
I am of a generation where AD&D was new and I still think of “gamer comics” as Nerdy Elistist Shyte, even though I’m of the generation the Revenge of the Nerds was about, while noting that the actual writers/artists are too damn YOUNG to comment on Old Style. They simply haven got the friggin’ age. They talk electronics while we just had dies. They are wannabees compared to the way when we played in the Old Days, and that kind of shyte.
It’s simply comics. Regardless of medium.
And Yes, there’s a certain amount of Sieg Heil!-ism going around. If you want to define yourself by what you read, be my guest. Be “American”.. MTV won …wheeeeeeee….
December 2nd, 2005 at 11:36 pm
Everything has a problem with bitchy people complaining. No use complaining about them.
If CAD was a complete ripoff, it would be pretty obvious. Everything I’ve seen that rips off one or multiple things (intentionally) is recognizable after about 5-10 minutes (even if not familiar with the ’source’ material). Speaking of the animations, the internet in general, i don’t pay for things on: The best things in life are free (except broadband).
I think the only stigma spam has here (oz) is that it smells like dog food, and may taste worse (not having tasted spam i can’t say for sure).
Nobody answered that question about homestarrunners either… that would be interesting considering the bandwidth they must be spitting.
December 3rd, 2005 at 12:15 am
I do not like Scott Kurtz.
That is to say, I do not like his online mannerisms, the way he conducts himself when stressed/perturbed/breathing. I don’t know the man, and my online contact with him has been for him to tell me to “stop the hatin’” End quote.
I respect what he’s accomplished.
He’s turned a hobby into a lucrative full time career. He stood tall in the infancy of the infancy of online publishing and did it his own damn way. He’s the person people inevitably mention when the subject of webcomics come up.
I’m sorry to say, DJ, I don’t like you either.
I could couch it in polite terms and beg off, but neither of us seem to handle “polite nonsense” with much regard while online. We differ in opinion on where the line between being blunt and being mean is. I happen to think you go with your gut 99.9 percent of the time. The things you say on message boards are your real feelings, perhaps augmented by adrenaline or caffeine, but real.
Some of your actions online have made me consider not reading Yirmumah. But, as I finally felt after Kurtz’s 99th nervous breakdown, the enjoyment of the comic has nothing to do with the artist’s personal life, online life, or even his brand choice of puppy anal lube!
I like your work. I like Kurtz’s work. That’s enough for me.
As far as your comments about the big bad K… Gotta say man… Makes you look petty and juvenile. Considering your comic’s content and your online attitude, THAT’S SAYING A FRIGGEN LOT!!!
December 3rd, 2005 at 12:18 am
and BTW…
I meant to say it above… but I respect what you’ve accomplished HERE. Not that a faceless ranter’s respect should MEAN anything to you, but I meant to state it and lost track during my meandering comments.
December 3rd, 2005 at 1:47 am
Eh, I read PvP, PA, and CAD, and they don’t seem to be directly ripping each other off, and eh, there are only so many gaming jokes you can make…
Hey DJ, you think it’s cold in Wherever, USA? Try it here in Canada! That’s REAL cold! Eh…I’ll move to a tropical island too, as long as I can stil get CBC…
December 3rd, 2005 at 7:36 am
Ray “Crazeyal” Allen may not have noticed, but DJ rips on a lot of things and acts like a complete asshole about things he hates, but even so, he still uses legitimate criticisms and doesn’t often attack their authors personally. I think the ‘drama’ comments just show how fun it is to cook up a conspiracy theory
Also, I don’t understand why Ray is using his particular brand of the english language to basically call DJ a bastard.
December 3rd, 2005 at 7:55 am
Why do webcomic artists even ACKNOWLEDGE criticism from other webcomics artists?
How thin-skinned can you be?
If the people at the top start arguing over petty
shit like this, they could hurt the entire medium!
It like what would happen if two people at the top of a human pyramid got into a fist fight.
So someone doesnt like your work.
Someone doesnt like everyone’s work.
People, grow the hell up.
December 3rd, 2005 at 9:50 am
Ray has the right to think I’m a bastard.
But as long as I’m a MAGNIFICENT BASTARD, I’m cool with that. 
Hah… I don’t hate Kurtz. We’ve spoken on the phone on several occassions, and he even consulted me about a few things about papers awhile back.
In fact, I’ve ranted about the people who DO hate him, and why it’s stupid. I also respect Blank Label, they’re a solid a group, with some creators I’ve known for a long time.
All of my above comments were just for your DRAMA entertainment reading. I refer anyone to go back and read the wacky Scott Kurtz strips I did back in 2004. http://yirmumah.net/archives.php?date=20040823
Creators should let ANY criticism roll off their back, but it’s hard to hear it. There’s another side to that though too… as in, actually being a webcartoonist and actively criticizing other webcartoonists, as sort of commentary or something. It was something we were sort of doing with that Kurtz arc, but I realized fast that no one gave a damn about “inside baseball” type webcomic satire. There was actually a point where Crosby was going to have us at Keenspot in early 2004, and he had mentioned they already had a comic like that, Checkerboard Nightmare, which he loved, but he said it wasn’t successful because it was so inside. I guess if it’s what you REALLY want to do to get something off your chest or entertain a handful of people, fine. My long winded point is, the webcomics scene will never get past where we are now if it doesn’t grow up a little.
And that means even respecting some things you hate and being professional enough to just keep your lips shut sometimes. Ask Kurtz, it’s some of the BEST advice he’s tossed out recently in interviews…. and it’s HARRRRD to do. Especially when your vocal. But much of the criticisms I see lobbed from other creators at each other just seem juvenile… myself included! — Being juvenile can be fun in small doses… but there comes a time if we’re serious, to ask whats the future of webcomics? And how can we stabalize this mofo to actually make it a medium that will matter.
When the actual READERS start reviewing or criticizing in mass, then we have a real ballgame. Unfortunately, Webcomics is stuck in that little sandbox and not expanding out of it much.
December 3rd, 2005 at 12:00 pm
I’ve read Penny Arcade and PVP for almost 4 years now, and i’ve read CAD since it began, and I can honestly say i’ve never seen any blatant “rip-off” of one or the others work. However, while over the years PA has kept me laughing, i’ve noticed a decline in the quality of PVP, while it used to make me laugh, its plot lines seem overly convoluted and now, are starting to not even be finished. Kurtz has slowly begun to sacrifice the quality of his strip, not in the quality of art per se, but just with his schedule. I’ve seen PVP go from timely updates with a set schedule to a very unpredictible update schedule, sometimes incredibly late in the day, sometimes not at all (anybody wonder what happend to his color comics once a week?). Meanwhile, i haven’t seen any of this from PA or CAD. Also, i’ve noticed in Kurtz’ news posts somewhat snide comments that never name CAD directly but usually reference something buckley’s done from time to time. Yes, CAD has slipped as well, but at least Buckley is trying new things, and is maintaining a bit of discipline with his website and update schedule. I can respect that. All i’ve seen Kurtz do lately is fling mud and let his website slide into obsoletion.
December 3rd, 2005 at 1:22 pm
Some opinions.
1. I’m impressed that Tim could get a CAD animated series off the ground. I’m also a little jealous. But I don’t think that makes me a bad person. It makes me a fucking human being. I’m not going to snipe the guy. I’m honestly happy for him. I wish I had the time and energy to do what he’s done. But Theater Hopper isn’t a full time job for me like it is for him, so I haven’t been forced to hustle. What right do I have to complain?
2. I don’t think it’s out of bounds for creators to criticize each other. How else do you learn except from someone that’s been there? Why are there so many comic collectives out there? It’s CONSTRUCTIVE criticism that we’re lacking. At least in terms of people firing wildly across the battlefield.
3. I’ve never attracted much controversy with my comic. I could probably count the number of hate mails I’ve received on one hand. I know this is because I treat every comic like my first one. I try to take the confidence I’ve gained in my art and storytelling and temper it with humility because there’s no way I’ve learned all there is to learn.
Hubris is a motherfucker. Some people find success or think they have others looking up to them and all of a sudden they’re an authority. They start mouthing off and that’s where the drama comes from.
If someone sends me an e-mail that says “You inspired me to do my own comic.” I’m honestly touched. It gives me pause. Who the fuck am I? I’m just feeling around in the dark like everyone else.
Web comics could use A LOT more humility.
December 3rd, 2005 at 9:46 pm
I think the Modern Humor Authority lawsuit has a lot to stand on that you’d think. To pass as satire it needs to be no confusion to the casual viewer that it’s a satire and not the real deal. In this case, I would never have know MHA wasn’t something Kris made up if it wasn’t for your link DJ. The real MHA has a good case that the use of their name isn’t covered under “fair use”.
December 3rd, 2005 at 9:49 pm
Jesus. You think I’d proofread my posts. Or learn english.
December 4th, 2005 at 3:38 am
Eh, I don’t really see what all the hooah is about. If you don’t want to watch CAD’s thingy, don’t pay. Done. I read CAD, and I find it enjoyable.
However, I think Tim ranks low for pissing (not literally, although if he could reach him…) on the fan who made the home movie. Bah.
Also, Checkerboard Nightmare just wants to love you. Passionately. With dinner and a movie. Until you shut it down at second base, you conniving little… er… yeah. Read it, preferably sans lawsuits. >_>
December 4th, 2005 at 3:54 am
I remember now…
I can’t remember where I heard it, but i think sales at homestarrunner completely fund the site.
December 4th, 2005 at 2:58 pm
I love drama, especially when it pertains to webcomics! Woohoo!
Here’s my own two cents, for what it’s worth. Back when there were fewer webcomics, I’d faithfully read Sluggy Freelance and PvP. They were funny and enjoyable. I especially liked PvP because, hey, I’m a gamer, and look! They mention D&D and video games! Huzzah!
Time goes on, and I start checking out a few more strips, like Dork Tower, Full Frontal Nerdity, Nodwick…
But one of the things I notice about PvP is the sheer number of shrill, self-important, misinformed rants that Kurtz puts on his page. Now, lots of webcomic authors post rants, and some get quite opinionated as well, but Scott Kurtz’s have a foul quality all their own….As a rule, the bad rants usually consist of Scott making inflammatory sweeping statements about stuff he doesn’t have all the facts about. Then, the person/people he rants about bit back. Then, Scott posts a “woe is me, I’m getting picked on” rant to his readers. Lather, rinse, repeat ad nauseum.
So, for me, it eventually got to the point that the quality of the strips was overshadowed by the irritation factor of the rants. Now, it’s true that I could’ve simply not looked at the rants, but come on…if you’re like me, you check out pretty much everything on a page. And it doesn’t help when the rant references the comic of the day, or vice versa. So…I had my fill of his rants about his stupid dog, his navel-gazing about getting old, and not to mention the stuff about the industry. Rather than try to make a fuss on the site, I simply decided to do the easy thing: stop reading it. After all, I may be the only one who gets irritated by this exact set of circumstances. Everyone else may be cool with it. So, it’s my responsibility to either suck up and deal, or go away. I went away, but couldn’t resist posting here when I saw this discusion. Who knows, if others get fed up as well, they may go away too…
Now, I found out about Yirmumah thanks to a link in a post on Enworld.org. The forum thread was about the creepy Burger King ads. So, I clicked there, nearly wet myself laughing, caught up on all the stuff I missed, and now I’m a devoted reader. Even better, from here I clicked onto Boxcar Comics, and now read (and absolutely LOVE) Theater Hopper, and enjoy Rob and Elliot and You’ll Have That
The other thing to keep in mind is the whole perspective thing, though that can be hard sometimes, especially when you really get into something. As someone here mentioned before, Kurtz isn’t Hitler. We’re talking about frickin web comics, fer Pete’s sake. Now, granted, if someday, Scott posts “My minions! Storm the capitals of the world and take power in my name, and in return I’ll devote an entire month of PvP to a graphic series of sexual encounters between Jade and Marcy, and that chick that lusted after Jade!”, then yeah, then he must be stopped. UIntil then, read him and love it, don’t read him and have no further opinion, or don’t read him and consider him an insufferable blowhard.
To DJ: You do good stuff…and it hardly ever offends my “tender” Christian sensibilities.
To Tom Brazelton: As a movie buff, I can really relate to your strip. Keep up the great work.
December 5th, 2005 at 1:05 am
Drama doesn’t particularly interest me; but living on an island does. My wife and I love the Caribbean, and would recommend St. Thomas, or even Sint Maaaaaarten (as much as we had to drink there, the extra a’s are warranted.) The Cayman Islands are supposed to be nice too, but we haven’t made it there… yet. But anywhere besides the East Coast during the winter (teh humid… teh damed cold humid nineth circle) is ideal to us. We may be Southerners, but we are not far enough south Southerners, thus we have to deal with winter. I know that it doesn’t compare to northern winters (I’ve been to Ontario and Duluth during the winter months), but when you are acclimated to something a little more subtropical for 8 months of the year; anything else is miserable. I don’t give a damn about having four (or even three) seasons. I just want the seasonal dial to be set on “summer”. Permanently.
As always, keep up the great work DJ. Yirmumah is great stuff, dude.