tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post4543535277222065855..comments2024-03-17T05:03:46.056-07:00Comments on xkcd sucks: Comic 788: Death DefyingCarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-23020855053444448852010-09-08T08:59:29.144-07:002010-09-08T08:59:29.144-07:00Am I the only one who thought "GG Randall, Re...Am I the only one who thought "GG Randall, Red Dead has been out for a while now."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-24775979589611343752010-09-07T17:20:37.598-07:002010-09-07T17:20:37.598-07:00In Randall's defense, he did make Dickinson mo...In Randall's defense, he did make Dickinson moderately interesting, as opposed to the anti-intellectual pile of crap that it actually is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-4909722828790268362010-09-07T11:19:54.948-07:002010-09-07T11:19:54.948-07:00I understand Anonymous's point. That Achewood...I understand Anonymous's point. That Achewood comic doesn't line up the words with the notes correctly. The section of the song it shows should end with the word "stopped."<br /><br />Also, wherever it has a pair of eighth notes in the Gilligan's Island theme, you have to sing that as a single quarter not for the Emily Dickinson poem.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-80442401734208705762010-09-07T07:24:07.640-07:002010-09-07T07:24:07.640-07:00Apparently Randall harbors this fantasy that a fri...Apparently Randall harbors this fantasy that a friendless shut-in could secretly become an ass-kicking thug when called upon.<br /><br />I wonder why...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-65567167647794514332010-09-07T04:22:23.227-07:002010-09-07T04:22:23.227-07:00Anon 0010:
Wanting Onstad to finish the current s...Anon 0010:<br /><br />Wanting Onstad to finish the current storyline, and thinking that the current storyline is awful, are not the same things. Onstad has proven himself a skilled storyteller. I actually hold out a bit of hope that he has some interesting subversion or twist to the whole thing. <br /><br />Randall, on the other hand, has proven that he has a tin ear for humor and dialogue and generally has no idea how to set up or finish a joke. When he does, it seems to be the result of luck or chance, and not much else.Gryffilionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14326158632676811873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-7914421326028460112010-09-07T00:25:42.587-07:002010-09-07T00:25:42.587-07:00apparently! your thread appears to be fictional, u...apparently! your thread appears to be fictional, unfortunately. or perhaps you're conflating "two people, including an anonymous poster (who therefore doesn't count as a real human)" with "everyone?" or maybe you're just a moron, as seems to be the case.<br /><br />"Funny, everyone keeps doing it anyway, to point out how shit xkcd is."<br /><br />cf. "very specific circumstances," eg "when xkcd is directly applicable to a specific comic from said long-form comic." which is to say, you compare things when they are similar. I do not compare XKCD to long-form comics because it does not do long-form comics--though it is categorically inferior to SGR and GC, it is not in the same category and thus it is not comparable.<br /><br />"I'm just bewildered by the prevailing attitude of "Achewood is awesome even though some of these story arcs kind of suck" as compared to "xkcd sucks even though it used to be consistently good and occasionally has some ok strips now" "<br /><br />apparently you're a moron? long-form strips are significantly different than gag-a-day. it is very possible for a storyline to be bad without people saying "FUCK THIS COMIC I HATE IT AND AM NEVER READING IT AGAIN," or, at worst, to tune out until the storyline is over. even if a storyline consists of a hundred strips or so! in contrast, with a gag-a-day strip, if you write 100 consecutive bad comics, you lose you readers.<br /><br />there are a number of reasons for this, pretty much all of which are based on the format, and the difference between "story" and "strip." I'll leave you to do your own research as to the difference there--mostly because I get the feeling you've got about a fifty percent chance of demanding an explanation as to what the difference is, and that will be hilarious.<br /><br />there is also a difference between "I'm not feeling this recent arc" and "this comic has been completely and utterly infused with distilled essence of shit." maybe you're not bright enough to understand that the world doesn't exist in binaries, and that it is possible to think that a thing is not good without thinking that it is literally spawned from Satan's perineum.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-62142528056271768282010-09-07T00:24:44.708-07:002010-09-07T00:24:44.708-07:00the storyline would be more bearable, even good (u...the storyline would be more bearable, even good (uh, minus the cat cock) if it updated more. the brisket strip was posted last month and it has updated twice since, and one of those was a roomba comic. there is a lot of shit in the archive but it gets forgotten in favour of the sheer numner of good things. i don't pay for the fanfeed which probably updates more than the comic so i don't know if there's anything good in there.<br /><br />achewood has gone downhill (it was at its best from 2004-6) but it's still pretty good and the characters are still amusing/consistent.R.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-91006941533886517902010-09-07T00:10:37.603-07:002010-09-07T00:10:37.603-07:00Rob, there's like a million people in this and...Rob, there's like a million people in this and the last comment thread whining about how much they wish Onstad would finish the current storyline. <br /><br />So.. apparently we've been reading different comment threads?<br /><br />"comparing a long-form to a gag-a-day is just not very applicable except in very specific circumstances--the only similarities they really share are superficial. "<br /><br />Funny, everyone keeps doing it anyway, to point out how shit xkcd is.<br /><br /><br />Disclaimer: I've read The Great Outdoor fight and thought it was pretty neat, I've read other parts of Achewood and found it meh, and I really do think that xkcd sucks. I'm just bewildered by the prevailing attitude of "Achewood is awesome even though some of these story arcs kind of suck" as compared to "xkcd sucks even though it used to be consistently good and occasionally has some ok strips now"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-87477707927713905892010-09-06T19:19:27.293-07:002010-09-06T19:19:27.293-07:00" You know, they way you guys talk about A..." You know, they way you guys talk about Achewood is pretty damn similar to the way you talk about XKCD: yeh it used to be good and there was some really awesome stuff in the past but . The only difference is that no one's given up on Achewood yet. Why is that?"<br /><br />except nobody is saying "Achewood used to be good" here, so. not similar at all really! everyone I've seen talking about how they like Achewood here still likes Achewood. they aren't saying "but it's sucked recently" or whatever, just "it's hard to get into."<br /><br />"Is it because Onstad has persistent characters and storylines that make you more attached to the strip, even when it goes through long sucky phases?"<br /><br />this would definitely redeem XKCD a lot more. he does a lot of jokes that would work okay as character jokes but end up just falling flat. the long-form format changes what a comic needs to be successful, because it is no longer a gag-a-day comic.<br /><br />comparing a long-form to a gag-a-day is just not very applicable except in very specific circumstances--the only similarities they really share are superficial.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-30206674860197086762010-09-06T18:55:46.489-07:002010-09-06T18:55:46.489-07:00You know, they way you guys talk about Achewood is...You know, they way you guys talk about Achewood is pretty damn similar to the way you talk about XKCD: yeh it used to be good and there was some really awesome stuff in the past but . The only difference is that no one's given up on Achewood yet. Why is that?<br /><br />Is it because Onstad has persistent characters and storylines that make you more attached to the strip, even when it goes through long sucky phases? Or is it the perception that Onstad is doing his own thing, as opposed to Munroe's populism? Or just that you put higher standards on XKCD because it's more popular and uses miimalistic art and layouts? I'm genuinely curious to know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-4681552881933333102010-09-06T18:52:50.298-07:002010-09-06T18:52:50.298-07:00I agree with the inanity of the GTA:ED part, but &...I agree with the inanity of the GTA:ED part, but "ripping off Achewood"? That's not what he's doing at all. He's REFERENCING Achewood because it's a COMIC that he LIKES.<br /><br />He does something about a poem and that poem was mentioned in Achewood, so he commented about it. You may as well say Achewood was ripping off Gilligan's island for including the music and lyrics to their theme song. They were referencing it. They didn't make that, Randall didn't make this.<br /><br />I've read about how you aren't biased against xkcd and I will agree with you that some of them are pretty bad/inane, but this is pretty biased right here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-15531142050178559012010-09-06T16:27:47.078-07:002010-09-06T16:27:47.078-07:00http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/06/xkcd-cake.htm...http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/06/xkcd-cake.html<br /><br />...<br /><br />I feel sorry for the poor cake decorator. <br /><br />As for the Wild West comic, the smoking gun alteration makes it work perfectly. It sets up the expectation and subverts it.<br /><br />Whereas the normal version is presented as "wouldn't it be funny if a tumbleweed shot the two people in a Wild West duel". That's it.<br /><br />I think it could have been akin to Gilliam animations if Randall had drawn the bit with the tumbleweed trying to roll into the sunset. But that sort of thing is intentional Post-Punchline-Dialogue because the Python guys were annoyed with the strict punchline format. It takes the idea far enough to become something new. <br /><br />Randall is in this in-between state, where he's mucking up the punchlines, but not taking the idea far enough to turn it into something else.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-15604567889344012832010-09-06T13:36:20.558-07:002010-09-06T13:36:20.558-07:00The Teador's head thing is also a lot easier t...The Teador's head thing is also a lot easier to figure out if you know who Teador is and can recognize at a glance what his head is shaped like.Ex-ambivalentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-70702489455115692602010-09-06T12:42:07.493-07:002010-09-06T12:42:07.493-07:00Fred did you ever consider that maybe you're j...Fred did you ever consider that maybe you're just dumbAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-18476155970785711752010-09-06T12:34:33.118-07:002010-09-06T12:34:33.118-07:00So much confusion over a very easily read comic st...<i>So much confusion over a very easily read comic strip</i><br /><br />No it isn't. The fact that apparently people aren't getting it means it's not "very easily read" for them. The rest of your explanation can fuck off with a patronizing introduction like that.Frednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-15046936738012345952010-09-06T11:26:14.536-07:002010-09-06T11:26:14.536-07:00Wow. So much confusion over a very easily read co...Wow. So much confusion over a very easily read comic strip. As has been stated, it might be hard to follow if you don't know the characters, or Onstad's style as it has developed over the years, but the entire thing is readable if um... you actually know what you're doing.<br /><br />I suppose if you're used to three or four panel one-offs, you might question some of Achewood's panel layout. Why is the panel of Teodor in the back of the van suddenly there? Because Onstad likes to make comic montages. It demonstrates simultaneity, and shows us Teodor's (the central character of this arc) current state. It is not a flashback. It is not imaginary.<br /><br />The whole Teodor's head biting the hamburger is also clear if you know Roast Beef's character. Besides there's a whole establishment shot of a burger with a bite taken out of it, and the diagram has arrows pointing towards Teodor's mouth, and it's the only part of the diagram that actually changes. <br /><br />Last, and I can't believe you don't get this, no one is in the van except for Nice Pete until the last panel. Roast Beef is looking inside the van from outside, as the establishment shot... um... establishes at the beginning of the fifth line, and is then reestablished at the end of that same line. Emeril is not "suddenly there again for two panels." In most Western countries, we read from left to right, top to bottom. The panel layout flows naturally if you are actually literate. <br /><br />The last thing that happens is the "Soon." panel (farthest right, at the bottom... imagine!). Onstad uses this device all the time. In a comic, it is not particularly easy to show a passage of time. "Soon" informs us that some time has passed, and if you're not an idiot, it's easy to tell what's transpired. Roast Beef got in the van, Emeril and the other guy (can't remember his name at the moment) are not in the van, so we can assume they've gone elsewhere. Brisket36, despite having never appeared before in the comic that I can recall, is clearly a code word. The only open question, really, is what Brisket36 is a code word for. And since Achewood has the value of actually having story development, that question is answered in the next comic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-89086078870926771012010-09-06T11:02:19.335-07:002010-09-06T11:02:19.335-07:00@ Anon 9:48. Nice catch. Yeah the new comic is pre...@ Anon 9:48. Nice catch. Yeah the new comic is pretty much that in reverse. <br /><br />I don't think it's that bad though. If you take out the third panel of the new one it gets a lot better. <br /><br />So of the last five, three of them were alright and amused me. Not bad Randall. Not good either mind you, but not bad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-21849031757536898552010-09-06T10:05:59.446-07:002010-09-06T10:05:59.446-07:00good points. it was probably there because onstad ...good points. it was probably there because onstad couldn't find anywhere else to put it. and it doesn't look like beef ever actually entered the van. don't know about the soon thing.R.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-83948666846276159242010-09-06T09:54:32.686-07:002010-09-06T09:54:32.686-07:00Of Teodor's head. His bitemarks on the burger....<i>Of Teodor's head. His bitemarks on the burger. I didn't get this at first either.</i><br /><br />Ah! See, that makes a whole lot more sense. It's pretty unclear though, and to be honest it's the sort of thing we'd give Randall unending amounts of shit for.<br /><br /><i>The random panel shows Teodor in the back of Nice Pete's car after... Something. You probably wouldn't want to know what.</i><br /><br />Okay. But <i>why</i> is that panel suddenly there? Does the theme to Gilligan's Island invoke a flashback to that event in Ray's (or whatever his name is) mind? That can't be it though because he doesn't find out Teodor is in the back of the van until later. So.. why is that panel suddenly there?<br /><br />The brisket thing, I see how I don't get that if it's a reference to something else. But why is Emeril suddenly there again for two panels if he didn't get into the van as well, as evidenced by the surrounding panels?<br /><br />And what is "SOON" all about?Frednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-64537576144710228072010-09-06T09:51:53.319-07:002010-09-06T09:51:53.319-07:00It's not so much that the Achewood strip in qu...It's not so much that the Achewood strip in question is incomprehensible. It's that the whole arc is. Every now and then I find myself pointed to the middle strip of an Achewood arc, and once I get back to the start of it and read along, it makes sense. This one... not so much.<br /><br />Disclaimer: I'm not a regular reader, so I know less than nothing about any of the characters. Most of the storylines are still pretty clean once started in the right spot.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-92198498874896658222010-09-06T09:48:43.077-07:002010-09-06T09:48:43.077-07:00Just sayin: http://www.viruscomix.com/page326.html...Just sayin: http://www.viruscomix.com/page326.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-66574734184831520092010-09-06T09:32:56.999-07:002010-09-06T09:32:56.999-07:00What irritates me most is that the term Grand Thef...What irritates me most is that the term Grand Theft Auto is applicable only for motor vehicles, which a carriage is not.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-58213634968913875432010-09-06T09:19:22.091-07:002010-09-06T09:19:22.091-07:00Apologies, Fred. I read your comment and replied a...Apologies, Fred. I read your comment and replied about five minutes after I woke up. I'm used to people who don't like Achewood complaining about various aspects of the presentation, so I'll hope that my comments make more sense in light of that.<br /><br />As it stands, yes, that's a confusing strip. The whole brisket36 thing is <i>ad hoc</i> at best, the panels are confusingly laid-out (I don't know why there's a flashback panel of a bruised and bleeding Teodor), and the last panel with "SOON" is so small that Nice Pete appears to resemble Emeril.<br /><br />As I said before, I really can't wait for this current arc to stop slouching towards Bethlehem to be born.Gryffilionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14326158632676811873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-90837212764033770462010-09-06T09:06:53.942-07:002010-09-06T09:06:53.942-07:00"He thought of a black and white diagram of h..."He thought of a black and white diagram of his head spinning and him eating the burger or something and smelling it or whatever that last picture is supposed to be."<br /><br />Of Teodor's head. His bitemarks on the burger. I didn't get this at first either. The random panel shows Teodor in the back of Nice Pete's car after... Something. You probably wouldn't want to know what.<br />The 'brisket36' thing makes a bit more sense (but not a lot really) if you read the next strip and understand that Emeril (the conspiracy theorist) is paranoid and shit, and also that Nice Pete is a psycho.<br /><br />This arc is definitely not the best.R.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-90297017618612526132010-09-06T08:59:03.663-07:002010-09-06T08:59:03.663-07:00Achewood has long, involved, story arcs that requi...<i>Achewood has long, involved, story arcs that require knowledge of the characters. Jumping in on this strip and saying "I don't understand any of this!" is akin to jumping into the middle of any book or graphic novel and saying "WHOA WAIT who are these people.</i><br /><br />Now wait a second. Not knowing who people are and why they do what they do is one thing, and yeah you need to know the characters and setting to jump in at the middle of a story.<br /><br />That's one thing. Another thing is that it's impossible for me to tell WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON in the first place.<br /><br />It's akin to jumping into a novel and going "Wait, what the fuck does it mean when it says 'After ray (or whoever he is) got in the van he saw a half eaten burger. He thought of a black and white diagram of his head spinning and him eating the burger or something and smelling it or whatever that last picture is supposed to be. He heard a cough from behind some sort of panel behind the seats and realised Téodor was in the van too. Then he suddenly said 'Brisket36' to another character that he was with earlier but did not go into the van either but suddenly is there anyway, to which the character replied 'hayup'. Soon the hayup character had disappeared again and it was night or something and nothing had realy happened? they were still in the van.'?" And you'd be TOTALLY RIGHT TO ASK THAT QUESTION.<br /><br />I don't know any of the characters, true. But what's that diagram? Why did the headphone guy suddenly return in the van? What does "Soon." mean when nothing appears to have happened? Why is there a panel randomly placed between the panels about Gilligan and the dabbing speech? This has nothing to do with not knowing the characters and prior history, and everything to do with not understanding how this style of storytelling is supposed to work.Frednoreply@blogger.com