"[a] vitriolic and bitter collection of unwarranted nastiness about a silly and harmless comic."
Welcome. This is a website called XKCD SUCKS which is about the webcomic xkcd and why we think it sucks. My name is Carl and I used to write about it all the time, then I stopped because I went insane, and now other people write about it all the time. I forget their names. The posts still seem to be coming regularly, but many of the structural elements - like all the stuff in this lefthand pane - are a bit outdated. What can I say? Insane, etc.
I started this site because it had been clear to me for a while that xkcd is no longer a great webcomic (though it once was). Alas, many of its fans are too caught up in the faux-nerd culture that xkcd is a part of, and can't bring themselves to admit that the comic, at this point, is terrible. While I still like a new comic on occasion, I feel that more and more of them need the Iron Finger of Mockery knowingly pointed at them. This used to be called "XKCD: Overrated", but then it fell from just being overrated to being just horrible. Thus, xkcd sucks.
Here is a comic about me that Ann made. It is my favorite thing in the world.
Really? You're utterly unwilling to concede that it might have any appeal to those who haven't read the book?
ReplyDeletePick up on some goddamn genre clues already.
Because I haven't read the book. And I think this is a hoot. Just what about combining IHOP with a slow descent into madness doesn't appeal to you?
"There was blood on the floor. Some of it was mine."
Sorry pat, I choose to stand firm. I think he could have changed it slightly to be a more general "IHOP descent into madness" and it would have worked. Like maybe if the title had been something like "They seem so innocent to most people, but I am slowly being sucked into the powerful vortex of evil that is IHOP...."
ReplyDeleteInstead, he adopts the much more ranbling, disconnected, confused etc style that I guess is a parody of the book. Which makes it I'm sure much, much better if you have read the book, but a significantly dampens the humor (to me at least) otherwise.
You must admit that even if you found it funny anyway, if you didn't read the book then you are not the intended audience.
Man, I would have liked this so much if he hadn't declared the parody at the top. I've never read the book, so at first I thought it was just an IHOP descent into madness, and that would have been awesome. He kind of crippled the joke, but hey. Still my favorite xkcd in a while.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't hold it against someone if they found this fucking stupid, though. It kind of treads the line.
I didn't get it. However I think I have figured out his evil scheme! He has a large internet audience, most of whom will NOT have heard of this obscure parody. However, it looks at least slightly interesting because of the words IHOP and blood on the menu, so everyone will click the Amazon link, which I noticed has a tag, giving him $$$$ when people get the book by clicking his link! Or maybe even $$ for clickthroughs! Heck, I clicked the link even before discovering this evil plot!
ReplyDeleteI've read the book--even wrote a final paper on it--and this is spot on. It's actually funny. This comic is a nice break from programming in-jokes and attempted romance.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the last few commentaries have been really lacking, Carl. It might be time to give this up. You used to have a really good thing going here, but it seems like you're just doing whatever you can to get the daily critique up, even if it doesn't really hold any merit.
ReplyDeleteAndy - that is ingenious. I wonder how hard it would be to start my own version of this. PS EVERYONE BUY "Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual" it is the best book EVER!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnon - Ok, that's what I was looking for. I believe you that's it's a great parody, and I am sure that if I had read it I would love this comic. Oh well. Still, I guess that means it's funny and he does have some humor left in him, I just didn't get it this time.
Tedzen - I am very aware that this is a possibility. The last two weeks have been very weird for me (as I warned you they would) but now my life is back to normal so hopefully it will get better (also I'm going to go read all the feedback people put on this post).
If enough people tell me I've lost it, I'll stop. I'm ready for that if need be. It would be far too ironic if this blog became everything I hate about xkcd, and everyone moved on to xkcdsuckssucks.blogspot.com.
I still appreciate your commentary. Though I still maintain there needs to be an xkcdsuckssucks.blogspot.com just to have a recursive balance.
ReplyDeleteI've read House of Leaves. It's one of my favorite books. I thought it was a wonderful parody, though not quite top of form. At the same time, when I read it, I was pretty sure most people would just think it was weird. Maybe amusing. Probably not memorably so.
Having literally finished House of Leaves about 10 minutes ago (it's a good read by the way), I have to agree that this is a dumb comic. Sorry, but I don't want to read all this bullshit in a bad imitation of the half-insane ramblings of Johnny Truant in relation to a damn pancake house. It's boring.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem with this comic is that to anybody that hasn't read House of Leaves it doesn't make sense, and to anybody that has read House of Leaves, it's not nearly as fucked up as the book itself. So it's either incomprehensible or a pale imitation depending on your point of view.
ReplyDeletei actually just got around to reading House of Leaves and agree with you. I really should go back and update this post with my newfound knowledge.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty dumb to say he should have watered it down to just generally going insane and obsessing about house of pancakes. Because that's like "it would be funnier if he'd taken the joke out". (and would you at least admit that the 'guy goes insane and tries to figure out meaning from the HoP menus' joke hasn't been done before?). I'd read house of leaves, and I really like this one. He's searching for meaning in all the wrong places.
ReplyDelete