Slices of Life and Other Issues o' the Week

This week in Questionable Content: Marten realizes he must be... a townie. I'm not sure why that matters, and I came to ponder on how often QC actually does strips where Marten says he's not something and the others say he sure is.

If Jacques wanted to do something fun and new, why not go meta? The kids love meta these days. Watch an episode of Community and learn! Make fun of why Marten goes out for coffee every day. Make him question the need for such a routine. Have him pick up some new hangout and be all "Hmm, this doesn't really fit this strip". It's the lack of taking this sort of risk that makes the strip boring to me.

Edit: revising this post, I realized the strip kind of went meta with introducing the "bizarro coffee shop". Not only do the employees look like the regular cast, they also act the same. So Jacques kind of is making fun of his own concept. It was fun - for one strip. But making them regulars, which seems to be happening, kind of kills the joke.

Edit 2: flipping back through the strips to find the first bizarro coffee shop one - I realize many, many strips start with the word "so". As in, "so you really lived on a space station", "so I think Cosette will move in with me". It kind of suggests this constant stream of dialogue and events, but I suspect Jacques uses it to remind his readers of story strings he hasn't addressed in the last few months.

Slice of life must be hard, because picking the slices to present is the biggest problem. Which brings us to  American Elf: Uh, yeah, people have dreams about other people's genitals. It's just a little creepy if you dream of your kid's penis and then tell the whole world. Or is it? Kochalka seems to have this childlike innocence about genitalia, poop, and various other things that grown ups generally don't talk about. I love his childlikeness, but I guess I draw the line at these taboo topics. Should I? Am I being a prude? Why do I always question myself when I criticize Kochalka? He's not a god. Please don't show your kids' genitals in your strip, people. I know it's not meant sexually, but eww, and what if some kids from his school read it? Moving on.

After such deep and disturbing pondering, Buttersafe gives us more Robot Cat, and I really don't have more to say than - hee, so cute! He looks just like my kittywitty! *coos* (Is being a pet owner mushing up my critiquing skills?)

Marc Johns gives us 100 % natural arm hair. I... :D Johns' talent is, above all, relating random things to each other in a funny way. Not a lot of comic artists know how to do this. It must mean his brain is a little weird and jumps into weird places all of a sudden. I love that.

..while Sinfest's strength is making fun of cultural phenomena and people's silly beliefs. "I'm back. And I'm buff." is so perfect.

At Abstruse Goose, we have a very sad bee story. I love the level of detail their language has.

Question Duck finds his match: Answer Chick! Awesome. Ah, I see this is in fact a guest strip by the author of Roby's Sprites! I realize I don't know what sprites are. I'm such a comics noob. I should look into this and make a separate post. Maybe the sprite-related Question Duck gives some clue.

Ye Olde Favorites: a Rundown

I think there's a fine line between "amusing but inappropriate sidekick" and "dirty little sidekick who brings nothing at all to the strip", but Pintsize in Questionable Content has managed to frequently cross that line. See also: today's strip. How would Marten fuck him? How would that even... what... eww. Why is Pintsize's only role in the strip to provide even more dumb sex jokes? I don't get it. I hope this storyline ends with him leaving the strip, but I'm not holding my breath.

The "bros shooting hoops" storyline in Sinfest fails to engage me. Maybe it's because I'm not a bro, but it's just not very original. I'm not saying every strip has to be all about religious thematics, but I guess it's why I read Sinfest, because I tend to be bored by the more down to earth strips. (Except for the pet strips, which I love.)

T-Rex creates a new language. I love how Ryan North takes something everybody (well, every nerd) has thought of sometime, and t-rexes it into something deliciously herpy-derpy.

Buttersafe is being awesome and original in Tuesday's strip: veiny origins. I cannot tell you how much I adore Veiny Dog. It's just so RANDOM. Which makes it brilliant? Well, not necessarily, but come on. It totally is. I also love how there are human-like creatures and then - the dog, the highest step of evolution. Awesome.

A very cool math strip at Abstruse Goose. It actually reminds me of Röyksopp's video "Remind Me", with all the graphs depicting a typical day of work for a British woman. Anything in life can be shown in math form. That's both cool and a little sad.

This Week in My Favorites

Marc Johns waxes deep and somewhat political: we are all holding the spear. So true. I think he should do more texts in the illustrations.

Sinfest warns us against letting the cat sleep on the laptop! I especially liked "aaaaasssss". Unfortunate keys to step on, indeed!

Continuing with the cat team: the legend of the turbo cat! Bravo, Buttersafe, you've done it again. Utterly surreal yet so good. Surreal stuff+serious/dramatic tone = WIN.

And still more cats! American Elf can hear Spandy's angry motor. I heard my cat's angry motor this week at the vet's, when a dog tried to say hello to him. I also loved this strip, where the boys imagine they're ghosts. A big snowfall can make you feel pretty invisible. And while I'm at American Elf, I must comment on this strip. It's beautiful - the idea that you shouldn't delete your least favorite artworks, because they may be someone else's favorites. What's more important - the artist's own opinion or the audience's right to have the art? It's actually a very deep discussion to be having with a seven-year-old. I love that Kochalka doesn't talk down to his children.

T-Rex is excited about the snowmageddon - time to reinvent society in our own living rooms! This is actually amusing from a Finnish point of view. Granted, we've also gotten more than our fair share of snow, but the plow trucks are going early every morning and the roads are always clear. No cancelled school or work here. It's just par for the course. (The trains can't handle it, though.)

Isaac Newton sits under the tree - and down falls a squirrel! What would have happened? Abstruse Goose gives us the answer.

Here's a Finnish comic in English! Rather chaotic and very true to her style, a travel diary entry from Norpatti at En Vaan Osaa!

Multiple Monday Musings

Shameless nepotism: my boyfriend Toby discusses Question Duck briefly in his tumbrl. I don't have much to add, so just linkage!

This week's QC has involved some new backgrounds, a singing fairy princess, and a café populated by dark-skinned doppelgangers. I'm really not sure what to say. In one way, it's a change of pace; it shows Jacques wants to develop the strip, and he's clearly worked hard on this. I may gripe about the stories, but I'll never claim he just doesn't bother with the strip. The backgrounds look alive and colorful, there's something new to look at, which is enjoyable. On the other hand, although I laughed at the fairy princess, I'm still not sure if this takes the comic far enough in a new direction.

xkcd is being awesome: The world according to Americans, and the nananana chart. I love how Finland is a part of "Scandanavia" on the map. The nanana chart reminds me of how xkcd introduced me to Katamari Damacy and its amusing, cheerful Japanese pop soundtrack.

Sinfest did a silent Sunday, which I always love. There's quite a lot going on, though, so it took me a while to get. I love today's strip even more; right-wing Christian militia madness and Sarah Palin. I sometimes wonder if Tatsuya Ishida is really vehemently against Christianity, or just approaches it with this intellectual, yet warm irony. The strip can be read both ways.

On the subject of religion: don't apply way too much logic or your head will explode. Also on Kinoko Fry: the good dog, the bad dog and the ugly dog. :D

Finally, Buttersafe ponders on the moth's attraction to a flame. I found the philosophical pondering fascinating, more so than the silly punchline. I recently had a conversation with someone about how elks walk under cars because they can't comprehend how fast a car moves. The ones who learn how fast cars move tend to die. So it's impossible for them to warn the other elks. Maybe this is also true of moths?

Tuesday Notes: My Favorites

Lovelace and Babbage Against the Organist - the Finale!!! Very exciting. (I love how Babbage doesn't mind notes, as long as they're not expressed in noise form.)

Guy friendship can be odd and painful, at Sinfest.

This Abstruse Goose took me a while to get. It might be because I'm drunk. But then my boyfriend isn't, and he didn't get it either. I think I get it now - he wants to see the stars better, so he leaves the party. Which is kind of awesome.

At En Vaan Osaa!: I loved this little thing, it's like old-timey photos turned into a manic comic. Norpatti, the author, is a vegetarian; I'm not, but I still think people who call vegetarians childish are LAME.

American Elf is back to really cute childlike strips. I really liked today's strip where Oliver, quite nonsensically, decides to trample over his daddy's drawing in the snow. Awww. I also love his doggy hat.

The farmer's pride doesn't depend on the farm size, at Buttersafe.

And Ursula V has some flower seed ideas:
Berserker Bluebelles
Delerium Daisies

What can I add? Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Monday Report: My Favorites

Qwantz asks another important question: Is there life in space? If so, why not in the form of puppies?

A somewhat disturbing nature comic at En Vaan Osaa! On the one hand, it's about an animal's eye randomly falling off. On the other hand, it's the circle of life: one animal's lost eye is another's dinner. So all is well, I guess?

Question Duck is lured into a trap with a particularly sparkly donut. But he still asks a question! (What does a purple donut taste like?)

Ughhh giant bugs! Yet they kinda look cute, like everything in Kinoko Fry. Also, I really want the floating bear and bee to visit me for stress release purposes.

Elevators are awkward. I'm not sure I get it, but I still kinda love it. Buttersafe rules.

This American Elf was really dull. It's like - you keep your beer out to keep it cold. So? I know many people who do this in Finland in the winter. Maybe it's just unusual in the US, or maybe he really had nothing to write about. It reminds me of that strip where he drew how his crap looked in the toilet bowl.

So I may not love every strip, but the idea of Kochalka quitting Elf upset me. My boyfriend also seemed upset. Is he serious? Would he really quit such a long-standing comic? Aren't we going to see his kids grow up? I know he can't go on with the strip forever, but it's so addictive, I can't imagine my everyday life without it.

Cute Overload.

Question Duck, why must you be so cute?

Popping a CD in the microwave brings much excitement.

Bath time with a gleeful dog/ship toy. And squinting at "brushie brushie". Stop, I'll melt!!

And as if that weren't cute enough, Kinoko Fry wishes us happy new year by doing the tiger dance. But remember: don't try things at home! Especially the sex bit. Rabbits - cute but lame? Not sure if I agree. Tigers are more fierce, I must admit. This strip reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes. I recall Hobbes had the praise song for tigers - maybe several versions? - and a general belief that tigers are more fierce and handsome than any other creature on Earth, especially compared to humans.

Other cuties of the week:
I love how James Kochalka draws the ladies at Eli's school as colorful groupie creatures. They're all staring at him like they have a huge crush on him!

Dog comforts owner over at Sinfest. Note that the cat, who caused his misery, couldn't care less. The dog is even willing to give up his bally. For a little while.

...And then I looked at Buttersafe. The perfect antidote to overly cutesy feelings. I must say, the new year's comic there is even more depressing than usual. Yet somehow brilliant. I haven't seen this idea before. That's why I love Buttersafe.

Friday Nerd Special.

2-D Goggles discusses measurements. If Ada Lovelace is 5 heads tall, then so is Tintin! Tiny Asterix is only 1,5 heads. Awww. :D Also: chibi versions of Lovelace and Babbage! If you haven't read the comic yet, READ IT NOW. Especially for nerds.

In the vein of nerdiness: the definition of a mathematician at Abstruse Goose.

Calamities of Nature warns against being a thermodynamist. Or a logician. Dangerous fields, those.

Xkcd shows us how nerd love dies: with a graph. An overly simplified one. Have I ever discussed xkcd here? It's the ultimate simply drawn strip: stick figures, graphs and pie charts, computers and wires. I frequently find it funny, and I equally frequently have to ask my nerd boyfriend about the references. It's interesting that I'd much rather look at this than a poorly drawn but colored Paint comic. Stick figures can be pretty OK, but when almost-cartoonish-looking humans have outlines of squiggly Paint lines, and everything is neon green and pink, it's just visually ugly. I think more online comic artists should go for black-on-white and stick figures.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal has employed a xkcd-style graph, but also drawn characters. In this case, a winning combination. I also love all of the little details about how the human eye works. A pretty original look on the old "why?" conversations with children. (I'm linking to the gif image because the latest comic doesnt' seem to have an individual link that will work later. Just enlarge it. The main page is here.)

Then, to digress slightly, a nod to the Christian comics I posted about yesterday. Rock music: of the devil, see previous post. Here evidenced by Buttersafe.

Drive-By Notes

A quick and random stroll in the meadows of the Webcomics List.

Chucklebrain Fritters seems like an interesting comic. I really loved this strip. It's just supremely surreal and random. It may be a one-time thing or a permanent feature, but I love the bizarro world idea.

I keep checking "Not Much, Said the Cow". I love the title, and I've read many strips. And I still don't have much to say about it. It's an easy read, kinda funny... but does it get under your skin? Is there an original voice? If not, why am I still reading? I will read more and comment once I have something intelligent to say.

A Chipmunk and a Lizard - some of these strips are pretty amusing. But of course, I found an annoying fatist one I have to rant about. Yes, that's right! If you tell people they're fat, they will thank you and give you money. Because it all comes from a good place, doesn't it? Doesn't it? I feel like I'm not giving the strip a chance now. So here's one I kinda liked, because it seems so random.

I LOL'ED:

Horseflies bite cows too - at Cows With Phones

"Stop being stupid" - at 28 Pancakes Later

"Thank you veiny dog" - at Buttersafe

"...Steven." - at Bear Nuts

The Usual Suspects.

Question Duck is truly touched by a film about ducks. (I'd say it's Nils Holgersson's travels with the ducks, but I don't know if that's known outside of Scandinavia.) Some strips ago, the comic broke form. The question is answered, the answer is simple, and the duck says something in return that isn't a question. I think I've finally figured out what this comic has been doing: they travel all over the world, the duck's owner was doing some humanitarian aid project, etc. and the duck is always there, unfazed by the circumstances, and asks an unrelated question. Perhaps the questions are related, after all - there could be more here that I've been missing. It's a very fascinating comic with a unique voice.

What's wrong with America, and what's right about Sinfest, all in one Sunday strip. Awesome.

Sometimes I worry about James Kochalka. But then I have those nightmares/feelings in sleep too. I think.

Nothing at all has happened in the past week of Questionable Content. We know Marten's mother is coming because it was pointlessly foreshadowed a week from Friday, but after that there's just been drinking. Marten and Dora broke up, and it seems to have made the strip duller. Kind of like Ethan getting married on Ctrl+Alt+Del made the strip even tireder. Not sure about this filler strip. The thing is, I love Randy. He's hilarious random and awesome. But Yelling Bird is just a cheap bird who screams obscenities, and I think that joke got old a long time ago. Randy is fresh and new. Lose Yelling Bird.

There's something really sad and touching about this Buttersafe. It's a morbid comic, but morbid and beautiful sometimes go together.

Doing It Wrong vs Doing It Right

DOING IT WRONG 

(x, why?) has a strip on the miners who were underground for two months. "It was just a miner incident." Eh. No. That's not funny. It's not an amusing pun or an amusing situation, and this comic just rubs me the wrong way. Puns don't really work in comics anyway. A pun is essentially a textual joke (usually an unfunny one), and if you might as well write it in text, why have any drawings at all?

I Fell Down the Stairs demonstrates making a visual joke instead. So here the drawings are essential. However, the joke doesn't really work. It's a nice idea, but it's just not funny enough. It might be in the delivery - I just don't buy a teacher saying "here concludes our lesson at [lesson topic]". Feel free to spam me with angry comments if American teachers actually say this. It just sounds like a clumsy way of saying "This is the joke. Now laugh."

The good side of a randomly hilarious comic is that it doesn't need a conclusion for every story. Sadly, today's Sinfest tries to conclude a story that has already run its course. It's beginning to seem like the evil fork will chase them forever and they will patch the hell roof forever. I love the strip in general, but sometimes it seems out of ideas. Like all strips that run daily.

I love the title of Gentlemen's Beards Monthly, and I love the intentionally simplistic art. And it's funny. But DON'T KILL THE SNAIL! Snails are your friends! *sniff*

DOING IT RIGHT 

I didn't get today's Abstruse Goose, but I still loved it. It's an unusual angle and a funny joke, even to non-nerds. It's probably funnier to a nerd.

Buttersafe urges us to get over it!

Crowbar Benson instructs us at how to stay regular.

IDGet  seems like a fun strip in general. But I especially like the text bubbles - it seems like the author actually took the time to make the text tidy and readable while it still looks original. Um, and I really love the content and drawings too, but that just stuck out. (Is that as bad as saying a movie has "local color"? I do think it's a good comic. Really.)

Quick Hits

I found this strip totally empowering and touching. And, well, read my comment at the strip. I don't feel like going into that much personal detail here. Either way: Rooster Tails, highly recommended if you like genderqueer/gay/well-drawn stuff.

I have nothing to add to this, only laughter. "If you do this in an email, I hate you" at the Oatmeal.

I thought I'd be on board with The Bible Belt, a strip poking fun at Christianity. But it's less poking fun than preaching that Christianity is wrong and illogical etc. Which isn't inherently funny. Each and every strip seems to have the same girl and minister, and we're meant to think the girl is right and the minister is wrong. A little subtlety wouldn't hurt.

Growth spurt! at Buttersafe. I love "growth spurt!" as a sound effect, and the way the strip is set up as "the average guy's life". The baby panel is especially amusing. I must say he has a great family if they allow him to have his band and play video games at the stairwell. Not to mention bringing the dinner table there. (But how is he ever going to masturbate?)

The title of this comic sounded fun. But then I looked at it and - it's half-nude babes. Really? Is that all you want to say as an artist? You can obviously draw. We don't need more comics like this. Also: No one is going to wear a top like the one on the girl to the right. You may as well go out naked. (In case it's a parody, I'm willing to take my words back though.)

Dirty spiders. Yes, I might end up linking to each individual Oliver strip, but he's just too cute!

And now for something completely different: a sock.

Random Panel Reviews

..because I have ADD and just had too much Coke so I keep flipping around tabs of comics eeee sugar high.

Buttersafe gives us the Earth's giant butthole. It's a pretty depressing strip - like Buttersafe often is - but this image was a barrel of laughs. Or really, maybe it's the mental image of the Earth having a butthole. Insert mandatory fart joke here.

I complimented the art of Questionable Content, and I still stand by that. BUT. Some of the city backgrounds he draws are just so... dead. Look at this strip from Friday. Why are there no people walking down the street? Or, even if we assume they are above street level, why are there no lights in any windows? Where are Sven and Hannelore dining - Silent Hill?

I love the last panel of this Sinfest strip. The Devil is a menacing sight here - something you cannot take for granted with Sinfest. The opening door, the silhuette in the light... Reminds me of some old-timey comic villains. A fun little play with styles.

"People I've spotted this summer" at Kuvatuksia - it's in Finnish, but the text isn't really instrumental for getting it. This artist has a great skill for capturing people's expressions. If you liked that, check out all the strips with people she's spotted.