"[a] vitriolic and bitter collection of unwarranted nastiness about a silly and harmless comic."
Hello, and welcome to another installment of Randal Munroe's comic, "Love Love Love Love Love Whoops It's Inappropriate." I'm glad you stuck with us for comics 49, 116, 158, 176, and 317. If you enjoyed those comics, you'll be sure to enjoy this one.
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seem to be coming regularly, but many of the structural elements - like all the stuff in this lefthand pane - are a bit outdated.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.
At least the shadows of the stick figures in this one are pretty nifty.
ReplyDeleteOk, I can grant you that one.
ReplyDeletereally? This is the comic that's all about Megan leaving him or the first real inclusion of her in a very creepy way. How come more people haven't commented on this post?
ReplyDeleteit's an old post, from before most people knew this blog existed. Most people don't have the patience to read through all the old posts the way you do, Cam.
ReplyDeleteWell, the posts also used to be a lot shorter
ReplyDeleteI feel like this was a point in xkcd's history where there was still an element of subversion that made the creepiness a part of the character's life and not that of the artist. This is amusing and not too much like the previous examples of inappropriate romantic humor, a successful foray into the type of material seen in SMBC.
ReplyDeleteHell, if it weren't for the Megan reference, I wouldn't be entirely unhappy if this comic would have been posted recently.
don't you think he does it so often that it comes off as weird though?
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's true. Now, the "RANDAL SEAL OF APPROVAL" is attached to every punchline and it's impossible to separate him from his joke. I guess it's actually impossible for him to make these kind of jokes successfully anymore. He's pulled out the rug from under his own feet.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, what kind of mind would come up with something like this to say, and then publish it? It would take a masterwork to present THIS comic in a context that ultimately ends in a good and noble thing; unfortunately, the context is XKCD, so we know that isn't the case.
ReplyDeleteImagine the circumstances in which this kind of toast could take place. This is the bride's ex, and apparently the groom's friend. Clearly this character is being a delusional self-important asshole, willing to ruin a wedding he doesn't agree with -- at the last minute, when he has been honored to toast, by his apparent hated competition. Those emotions must have been seriously bottled.
But the worst part about it is the presentation of the ethos. We're actually being asked to sympathize with the speaker. All other voices and representations of other characters are willfully censored by the voice and memory of the speaker. The standard four-frame format has been replaced by a single full panel, giving a sense of regal importance to the message. The color and typography is reversed, and the depiction is dramatically lit, which in the context of XKCD's drawing style, is something like approaching the sublime. And finally, the speaker himself is attempting to be poetic with his insults, and Randall has allowed the typographic treatment to reflect that "poetry," given the way it breaks and flows around the image.
It's very unlikely that this is a fantasy Randall does not support. It seems he finds the idea romantic, wrecking another person's wedding on nothing but his wounded and illustrious ego.
I stumbled across this comic when linked to the "random comic" function on his website. It was the first one I was brought to, and it reminded me of how unbearable this webcomic can be. What a sad little man.