The Big Bob-Blog

Please excuse my slightly awkward sentance structure tonight, as I am very tired.

2006-07-28T23:40:00.000-05:00

T Campbell and Gisèle Lagacé have a pretty decent little comic going over on Keenspot: Penny and Aggie (T's the brains, he writes it; Gisèle is the brawn, she draws it). Penny and Aggie's stated purpose is to be Mean Girls for webcomics, and at that I can say it's succeeded- of course, I say that because I was ambivalent about Mean Girls, too.

My reason for bringing it up is that I hope T isn't still wishing/hoping/planning that Penny and Aggie will be some kind of crossover hit with actual teenagers (or at least, those who aren't reading a lot of other webcomics anyway). I hope this because any chances of it becoming a hit of that nature died with today's installment.

To my mind, one of the hallmarks of truly knowing something is that you start to forget that other people don't know it. For example, I know a lot about Spider-Man, but I don't think I realized how much I know about this fictional character and his supporting cast until the movies hit a couple years back. After Spider-Man 2, the topic of Harry Osborn's likely fate in the third movie started coming up in conversation. "He's going to become the Hobgoblin", people would say. "No," I'd gently correct, "in the classic comics story, Harry became the second Green Goblin. The Hobgoblin was someone else entirely- just some random guy who found Norman Osborn's weapons stash and recolored it" (of course, Marvel Comics then went on and did make Harry the Hobgoblin in their highest-profile alternate universe, the same source from which they also appear to be drawing their interpretation of Venom for the third movie, but I digress).

Conversely, if you went around bragging how much you knew about breathing, you'd sound like an idiot. And that's sort of what T Cambell is doing here: the implication in the third panel is that he and Ms. Lagacé have been "portraying real, honest-to-goodness hyper-hormonal teenagers" for the run of the strip so far. I don't think that's so. Certainly the characters in Zits, by-and-large, strike a more realistic chord with me than the P&A teens.

Thoughts while watching the premiere of Who Wants To Be A Superhero? on Sci-Fi Channel

2006-07-27T22:16:00.000-05:00

So I'm watching Who Wants To Be A Superhero?, and while Nitro G has the best costume, my choice (from what I've seen so far) is Feedback. I mean, c'mon, he started his origin with "My father died when I was young" or something. He's got it made. He's also got an impressive costume- looks very durable and practical.

Although I have to say- Cell Phone Girl? Call me, call me, any, any time. Hotcha! She's also got some fairly well-thought-out powers, judging from the bio online. I may have to root for her...

Levity, who immediately self-identified as homosexual, got knocked off right away. Northstar could've told you, dude- gay superheroes always get the shaft (pun very much not intended).

Stan Lee has a framed picture of Stripperella on the wall behind him whenever he appears. That's kind of creepy.

Oh, no, Feedback blew right past the extremely-unconvincing crying little girl. Oh, Feedback, you dope. Didn't you ever see Spider-Man 2?

Whoo! Cell Phone Girl's stopped to help! Good for her. :-) She did have to think about it a little, but she came through in the end (plus she's hot). She wins. Spider-Man would be proud.

Oop, Nitro G blew it too. So did Honor Greek Guy, Vegan Ho, Creepy Gun Dude, and Fur Bikini Lass. Way to fail to be superheroes, dopes. Mr. Incredible-by-way-of-Bruce Cambell Man, Makes-Power-Girl-Look-Modest-By-Comparison Woman and Fat Momma (can't beat that name) all passed. Good for them... I guess.

What?!? He ditched Nitro G and kept Creepy Gun Dude? I mean, Nitro G really, really failed the costume-changing test, but c'mon, Stan, vengeful trigger-happy 'heroes' went out of fashion in about 1992. Even your famously-out-of-touch self has to have figured that out by now. The producers are probably hoping that if they keep Gun Dude around, he'll do something outrageous before he goes. I just hope he doesn't pull it together and end up winning. That would be sad.

In conclusion, I'll probably tune in again next week, if only for Cell Phone Girl. She can possibly give me cancer whenever she likes. ;-d

Now, the highly-anticipated television premiere of The Amazing Screw-On Head! If you didn't see it, don't worry- the whole thing is available online, for free. Don't miss out!

Look at the smug little grin on that bastard: he knows what he's doing.

2006-07-27T10:06:00.000-05:00

Today, Dennis the Menace sows seeds of marital discord between his parental units. Now we're getting into "menace" territory. Tomorrow: Dennis pushes Mr. Wilson down some stairs, makes it look like an accident.

Love is never easy in the comics.

2006-07-26T02:33:00.000-05:00

It would seem that at some point when I wasn't really paying attention- possibly as long as a year ago- Jeremy, the protagonist of Zits, and his sometime girlfriend Sara "broke up". Jeremy seems bummed about it, though neither that nor the breakup has stopped Sara from coming up to his room to "hang out". If you're still getting the "benefits", J, it doesn't matter if you're "unemployed". Quit your whining.

Meanwhile in Misfile, Ash, the teen drag-racing delinquent who was a boy but has been reality-shifted into a girl thanks to a clerical mix-up in Heaven (hence the comic's title) seems on the verge of confessing his feelings for Emily, who regressed in age by two years (except in her own mind) due to the same stoner angel's error. I hope he gets the girl- if anyone deserves a little lesbian action, it's this poor guy. You thought Marten in QC had it bad, that guy has nothing on Ash. I'd link to a whole bunch of examples, but while the Misfile comic is excellent, the site design is less so, and it seems to have been intentionally made difficult to search. So, just read the whole archives and see for yourself. C'mon, it's not like you have anything better to do.

It's interesting that, now that I think about it, we've never seen Ash as a guy. In his first appearance, he was already female. Huh.

Now, he will SHOW THEM ALL!

2006-07-26T02:08:00.001-05:00

It's been nearly six years in coming, but in Narbonic, Shaenon Garrity's brilliant, modern-classic webcomic about the life and times of a mad genius, her evil intern, and the put-upon techie who works for them, Dave, the aforementioned put-upon techie, is finally blossoming into the full flower of his own latent evil-genius-ness. It's at the worst possible time for all concerned, of course, and may end up causing the destruction of mankind, but man- this is going to be good. I like the text styling she uses here as Dave gets excited and his mind fills with twisted possibilities. It's the little touches like that that make Garrity such a master.

Speaking of things long-suppressed, this past weekend Greg Evans finally gave in to his darker urges and presented Luann the naked exhibitionist while Bernice, who apparently is actually a fifty-five-year-old woman who failed ninth grade a lot, made a remark that surprised nobody. Today, Tiffany is kind of a racist, which is also not surprising. It looks like the "Luann And Bernice Trick Tiffany Into Thinking She's Going To Be A Movie Star But It's Not That Funny Because Really They're Just Crushing Her Hopes And Dreams In A Way That Will Lead Her To Murder Them, Hopefully, Because That Would Be Interesting" plotline is going to be resolved without actually getting rid of Tiffany, though where there is life, there's hope. Hope for a character to get brutally killed off. C'mon, Evans, seven years after the fact is just about your speed for tackling Columbine! Go for it!

...wow, I'm morbid tonight.

Compensating just enough

2006-07-26T00:23:00.000-05:00

Today's installment of Overcompensating is an excellent use of drawn images superimposed over photographs. I wonder what will become of Joanna the undead cat now, and whether Catcoon is involved.

Basically you just need to read the whole archives of this comic, it is awesome.

From the Luann Files

2006-07-22T00:14:00.000-05:00

Luann and Bernice decide to prank Tiffany/"Sheraton St. Louis", their eternal nemesis who can't possibly be as stupid and whorish as she is portrayed. Tiffany does every dumb-ass thing they think of, because she thinks she's going to be a Hollywood star. Because she's a stupid whore, she 'hires' local Jughead-ripoff stoner Knute as her agent. Knute wrangles resident nerd Gunther as publicist. Gunther displays actual competency at the task.

Could this actually work? Will Tiffany/"Sheraton" be going to Hollywood? I hope so, because then, like Luann's longtime pseudo-love-interest-crush Aaron Hill (who moved to Hawaii, of all the lame soap-opera twists), she'll be out of the strip and we can get back to what's really important here: The Saga of Brad.

Today: In response to Tiffany's burgeoning stardom, Luann takes some time off from her busy schedule of being self-absorbed and insecure to be a smug, condescending bitch. Way to yank Tiff's chain, Luann. Your co-dependent hatred of her is fooling nobody.

Ironically, as I type this, I'm not wearing any pants at all.

2006-07-21T00:14:00.000-05:00

Tonight I discovered, and fell in love with, Songs To Wear Pants To. I first encountered The Touchtone Genius- which serves as a microcosm of the site, aside from being brilliant in and of itself- through Channel Frederator, "the world's original cartoon podcast" (episode 14). I had no idea, though, that there was such a wealth of other material. Basically, you type whatever idiocy coalesces in your mind into a form on this guy's website, and if your blatherings catch his fancy, he composes a song based on your 'instructions'. This has resulted in such bizarre-yet-enthralling ditties as Kamikaze Highlander, Half Your Recommended Daily Intake Of Fat, Mike Celestino, What Have You Done With Star Wars?, and an ode to Washington D.C.'s most valuable resource, If The Metro Don't Go There It Don't Exist.

There's also a Celtic-punk-polka cover of They Might Be Giants' "Experimental Film", which, um, isn't really that much different.

The lesson here is that nerdy girls are the hottest.

2006-07-20T10:57:00.000-05:00

Over in Baldo, the eponymous leading man's tomboy ex-girlfriend has gotten one hell of a makeover. And she calls herself "Denise" now. She's an Uptown Girl, too good for the guy from the 'hood. Poor Baldo. I'll start the countdown until she realizes that she needs to be 'true to herself', possibly after receiving a brutal shunning from her new friends as comeuppance, and goes back to Baldo... and her old, frumpy style. Poor, poor Baldo.

It's interesting to me that in nine out of ten works of fiction, significant improvements to a character's physical appearance and the character becoming a jerk or otherwise ditching the main character go hand-in-hand. Then, when they return to being a good guy, they return to their previous appearance. Just once, I'd like the character to realize that he/she has been a jerk, repent, and return to the side of the hero, but also say "y'know, I kinda like my new look- I'll stop being a jerk, but I'm keeping the hair". Off hand, I can only recall this happening in Harry Potter.

"Batman is comedy gold. He can make anything funny". Witness one of my favorite past installments of Loserz, and this week's excellent Rob and Elliot.

I'm Blue, meet No Pink Ponies. No Pink Ponies, I'm Blue. I think you two superb comics about beautiful geek women will get along swimmingly.

My Favorite Freaky Writers, Installment One: Warren Ellis

2006-06-30T23:01:00.000-05:00

You know what's a good way to freak yourself out? Read Warren Ellis' writings. Not his superhero stuff so much- those are nothing more or less than insanely high-quality superhero comics. I'm talking his really weird stuff. He posts these little micro-stories on his LiveJournal that he calls "Submunitions". I recommend The Evil of Television, The Thought That Counts, and 060606 for starters, though there doesn't appear to be a paucity of the things. Want to get really freaked? Check out SuperIdol, a full comic story of indeterminate origin. No Global Frequency saving the day, here- hell, I'd even settle for Grant Morrison's Marvel Boy. Warren Ellis, when unconstrained by the soul-crushing burden of work-for-hire toil (note sarcasm) isn't one for happy endings. He doesn't seem to see things getting better all the time; just a species getting a little closer to death.

Starbucksian Rock City

2006-06-22T13:11:00.000-05:00

Mitch Clem- formerly of Nothing Nice to Say, the punk-rock-themed runaway webcomic hit of 2003- has posted another Starbucks comic at his new online home, San Antonio Rock City. Having spent a year toiling in the over-roasted bean mines myself, I appreciate these little nuggets of snark. Have some more.

I really like SARC a lot more than I liked NN2S. I enjoy Mitch Clem's style of humor, but insofar as I am not so much "hardcore" as "soft-and-squishy-core", I couldn't quite relate to some of the subject matter. SARC confirms my long-held suspicion that, despite all his posturing (read the newspost), Mitch Clem is a lot like me. Plus, it includes the world's only acceptable non-condemnatory reference to Larry the Cable Guy.

Nothing Nice to Say still calls itself "the world's FIRST online punk comic". That can't be true, can it? Anyone who emails me evidence proving the existence of an online punk comic prior to 2/25/2002 gets a No-Prize.

"Button-Eater Lad?" "Present!" "Mutton-Eater Lad?" "He's sick!"

2006-05-31T08:47:00.000-05:00

Lore Fitzgerald Sjoberg is the funniest man on the Internet. Progenitor of The Brunching Shuttlecocks, he currently writes a weekly column for Wired online, called Alt Text. In its latest installment, Lore discusses superheroes who haven't yet gotten their own movies.

I bring this up to mention that his pitch for a movie based on Matter-Eater Lad of The Legion of Super-Heroes has me sold. Team MEL up with Bouncing Boy, you've got a wacky buddy comedy starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Stiller would play Matter-Eater Lad, who, for irony, would be anorexic (think Zoolander in tights). Black, as Bouncing Boy... would be pretty much like Jack Black in every other movie he's in.

Sluggish Freelance (sorry, that was a low blow)

2006-05-30T00:31:00.000-05:00

Sluggy Freelance is now officially updating again, after a week-and-a-half of stick figures (amusing) and 'teasers' (annoying). Personally, I liked the controversial epic storyline "Oceans Unmoving". It was engrossing and amusing in and of itself. Sure, Torg and Riff weren't around, but it's not nineteen-ninety-nine anymore... I don't miss Eiffel 65, either. This day-to-day stuff is killing me! Sluggy evolved past gag-a-day long ago, and the (relatively) mundane travails of Gwynn and Riff feels like a step backwards. And what ever happened with the romantic tension between those characters? And wasn't Gwynn evil, or something? And what is Torg's job now? And Pete's dredging up Oasis again? Man, that feels like so long ago.

Part of this is just the downside of having one of the richest mythologies in webcomics- it gets harder to top each adventure, characters and plots get lost in the shuffle, and you can't please all of the people all of the time. But there are just too many dangling plot threads in Sluggy for me to enjoy a strip that advances none of them. It's time to be harvesting some of the plot seeds you've planted, not sowing more.

Of course, none of this is to say that I don't like Sluggy- I love Sluggy, even when an individual day's strip doesn't thrill me. It was the very first webcomic I read, back when comics on the internet seemed like a crazy novelty that would never take off. I could no more stop reading Sluggy than I could stop using Apple computers. So I really don't mean to be down on Mr. Pete Abrams; it's obvious the guy's worked to the bone. When he again raises Sluggy to the full heights of its humorous and dramatic excellence, I'll be pleased to be here saying, "I told you so".

For the record, I'm with Faye on this one. Ewwww.

2006-05-29T23:46:00.000-05:00

So, yeah, this blog thing. I totally update it all the time.

Today's Questionable Content is an oddity- the man himself calls it a 'strange comic', which in my opinion understates things somewhat. Usually, in QC, the strangest thing that happens is maybe Pintsize behaving oddly (i.e. Pintsize showing up, period). Oh, or the Tequila Monster. Or Pizza Girl. Okay, so it's sort of an odd series in general. But it's usually a kind and benevolent sort of odd, not wiggly-mandible GIANT GRUB IN YOUR BURRITO AUGH odd.

The humor of an average QC strip consists of a ridiculous metaphor or hypothetical situation developed via the characters' conversation, with the punchline consisting of the discussion reaching or exceeding its 'logical' extreme. I have to go back more than a dozen strips in the archive to find an installment that doesn't seem to fit this humor template (being an episode where 'punchline' is literal). Today's hypothetical, though somewhat more disgusting than most, follows the pattern well enough. But for the punchline- actual bugs in your burrito! Ha ha ha. (I'm sure Mr. Jacques didn't intend to tap into a repressed fear of mine, but dang! I am not going to be able to eat Taco Bell for a week now... and I'm not sure my system can survive that long without Taco Bell.)

Mr. Jacques links to an artist named David Firth, citing him as an influence on this particular strip. I'll have to check that guy out sometime.

Webcomics Can Teach You Things

2006-05-05T19:58:00.000-05:00

It's Friday! Welcome to the First Friday of the Big Bob-Blog. Today, we will discuss all the things that webcomics can teach you. Listen well, children!

- Penny and Aggie tells you what to be aware of.

- Sore Thumbs, as ever, has a clever-yet-bizarre take on the geek headline du jour.

- A follow-up to Wednesday's post: in Luann, Brad must now contend with the soul-crushing horror of mother answers.

- The final panel of today's Scary-Go-Round marks the first time this brilliant, beautiful, British humor comic has actually scared me. Ryan's visiting his dead girlfriend in the afterlife, and isn't it always frightful to re-encounter someone you used to date, and find out they've changed?

- Shortpacked brings us the news that all girls need to take off their pants. No, really, the Bible says so! Willis gave us proof!

And don't forget, tomorrow, May 6th, is the Fifth Annual Free Comic Book Day. Fifth annual! It seems like only yesterday I was in Toronto on a chorus trip, awaiting the opening of the Spider-Man movie with slobbering impatience, playing the soundtrack album over and over again... good times (sorta).

Anyway! Go to your local comic book retailer, get free comics. I especially recommend the Image and Marvel offerings, featuring samples of Runaways and Invincible, two of the greatest comic series currently published. For more information, visit the FCBD FAQ.

It's all Brad's show now.

2006-05-03T11:06:00.000-05:00

I consider Luann a webcomic: because my local paper doesn't carry it, I read it online. That said, I find the saga of Brad DeGrootto be the second most interesting ongoing story currently on the American newspaper comics page, next to B.D.'s therapy over in Doonesbury.

Brad, chubby and chronically lazy older brother of Luann herself, embarked on a path to become a firefighter after graduating from high school. Along the way, he met Toni Daytona, a beautiful girl who shares his passions for firefighting, fast cars, dirty jokes, and Oreos (this last despite having a figure of flawless dimensions. In the world of Luann, this is all totally plausible). Unfortunately, Toni was involved with Dirk, who epitomizes the violent cro-magnon 'jerk boyfriend' archetype, emotionally abusive to Toni and physically intimidating to Brad. He went so far as to beat Brad up after Brad and Toni graduated from fire academy together. Brad slapped Dirk with a restraining order, and Toni insisted she was done with Dirk... a year ago. Since then, Dirk keeps coming around, 'coincidentally' wherever Brad and Toni might be. Dirk emotionally blackmails Brad to keep Brad from calling the cops on him for violation of the restraining order, claiming that it would devastate Toni if Brad did so. Toni's all but verified this claim, and since Brad still holds out hope of making it with her, he hasn't busted Dirk.

Until now.

Last Thursday, Brad walked in on Toni and Dirk fixing Reddy, the robot fire truck (Brad and Toni's assignment is to go around to schools giving fire-safety talks to the kids- Brad speaks through and operates Reddy from backstage, while Toni stands on stage being eye candy). Finally reaching an appropriate level of frustration over this musclebound psychotic's refusal to obey the court's orders and, more importantly, over his crush's refusal to return his affections rather than continue to make eyes at said musclebound psychotic, Brad dialed the cops. Dirk smashed the phone to the floor. Brad had anticipated that, and had borrowed Dirk's phone to make the call.

Go Brad! Whoo!

Then, Toni had the nerve to question Brad's sanity, as though he was the one going around acting like the Credible Hulk. So Brad told her they were over. Whoo! Good move, Brad- she may be hot, but she is not worth the baggage.

I'm so very psyched to see where it goes from here. Now, if you'll excuse me, the conclusion to last night's House is on, and I'm kind of hoping that jerk Foreman croaks.

Let's start out easy for our first one: Questionable Content

2006-05-02T23:25:00.000-05:00

I like Questionable Content a lot. I know I'm not the only one. I also really like the blossoming relationship between Marten and Dora. Faye's fine and all, but Dora's just awesome on every level. A good example of that is comic #610.

That Dora can talk to Marten about fairly serious things like this- Marten is literally passive to a fault- while keeping a sense of humor is a character trait I admire. It's also a sign of Jacques' growth as a storyteller that he can take these kind of shots at his main character. Dora expressing some leavened-but-honest frustration at Marten's passivity is a refreshing change from the Marten/Faye dynamic, where everything seems to be either totally frivolous or utterly serious.

A large part of it is that when Dora's flirting with Marten, you know she's not just leading him on. That's gotta be a pleasant change of pace for the poor dude.

Welcome to the Big Bob-Blog!

2006-05-02T21:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome, one and all, to the premier post of the Big Bob-Blog! I, the Bob in question, hope to use this blog as a platform for my musings on various topics, which I hope you will read and enjoy. The primary topic I have in mind is Webcomics, though I'll also be including print comics (newspaper comics, comic books, etc) within my purview. Webcomics are easier, though, because I don't have to leave the couch to get at them.

Further, I reserve all rights to drift onto the topics of toys, television cartoons, television that isn't cartoons, video games, movies, books, and weevils. As long as I can somehow tie it into comics, even tangentially. One thing I will not blog about is how hard it is to write a blog. If it gets that hard, I'll just quit! Ha aha haha.

Finally, if there's anything you'd especially like me to talk about- if you know of a comic that you think I should be reading- please drop me a line.

So, with these statements of intent, we move forward. Expect some actual content very shortly. And thanks for coming!