As always, keep up the great work DJ. Yirmumah is great stuff, dude.

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.

I can’t remember where I heard it, but i think sales at homestarrunner completely fund the site.

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. >_>

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.

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.

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.