I Hate 99% of Web Comics
Comics are written and drawn for a reason. I always felt the drawing is suppose to tell the joke itself or enhance the joke that’s in the dialouge. If the art does nothing to contribute to the joke, then why even draw? Just write a joke and save the time from drawing stick figures that do nothing! This is why I hate 99% of web comics, like the popular xkcd and “Cyanide and Happiness.”
For instance, let’s look at the latest xkcd comic…
Ok, the dialogue is decent. The joke was fine. But stick figures? Really? There’s no humor in the art. It seems like there could be so much potential by putting in a visual joke or maybe some type of visual irony. Even though it’s inferred that the figure on the left is the author, there’s nothing to characterize the figure. Nothing to give it personality.
Here’s one from the popular Cyanide and Happiness…
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net
C&H is a little better with the art. They’ll sometimes visualize the joke and it’ll get a short chuckle out of me. Yet, the art is very simplistic and lacks much creativity. Simple figures, not a lot of variety.
It seems these comics have good joke writers, but the art is left to people without a lot of artistic talent. I imagine there are a lot of talented artists out there dying to get published on a weekly basis. Why not hire a few talented artists to draw your jokes? I once got Chris Kawagiwa to draw a few political cartoons for the Irvine Progressive. My ideas, his drawings. They turned out great. Our first cartoon drew a few letters because it depicted a campus conservative having a wet dream of the UCI multicultural center in flames. The student’s face and his clenched fists sold the cartoon.
This next comic is probably the worst I’ve seen yet…
I feel so cheated by this comic. I just get this intense rage because it’s such an unimaginative attempt to be cute.
If there’s one comic that best utilizes the visual medium for the joke, it has to be Perry Bible Fellowship. I’m jealous of Nicholas Gurewitch because he has both talents for writing off-beat jokes and creating wondeful visual images for his jokes. He also seems to have high standards for his work. Currently, he’s semi-retired and it sounds like he wants to make comics for the joy of it rather than make it a career.
Here are a few of the many visual jokes on PBF…
Update: WTF!!! I just found this webcomic: Circle Versus Square. Is this what we’re settling for these days? Basic shapes talking to each other? Ugh.
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January 27th, 2009 at 2:01 am
While it is totally your opinion and you are entitled to it, I don’t think count out the merits of XKCD or Circle Vs Square because they don’t have the art of a Perry Bible Fellowship.
XKCD and Circle vs. Square aren’t just stick figures and shapes, I think if you read beyond those shapes and stick figures you’d find a strip that can be just as funny as Perry Bible Fellowship and others.
January 27th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Circle v. Square is probably the worst webcomic I have ever read. It’s not funny. There’s no hook. It’s not the art that’s the problem. XKCD’s writing carries the comic forward (I’m willing to give on art for good writing), but Circle v. Square has the veritable shitstorm of both bad art and bad writing.
January 27th, 2009 at 10:33 am
If I have to read beyond the shapes and stick figures, then why draw them in the first place?
January 27th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
If you hate Circle Vs. Square so much, yo should check out the letters from Mr. Z http://www.circleversussquare.com/mrz
Now THAT guy hates Circle V Square.
January 27th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
XKCD is more for the geeky, which I don’t think really applies to you. Lots of geeky references, and sometimes the punchline will be in the hover over, which itself is another layer of geek. But the comics lately have gotten a bit stale. But I could say the same of PBF. I feel like the later ones started recycling material. Actually last I heard the artist has abandoned PBF at the moment. For a more vulgar version of XKCD, (but still very geeky at times) I recommend Abstruse Goose: http://abstrusegoose.com/99
or maybe even PHD Comics: phdcomics.com but that’s out of our demographic.
January 30th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/1/2/
This would not be nearly as funny with a stick figure.
Still, XKCD is funny sometimes.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Hey, cool tips. Perhaps I’ll buy a glass of beer to the person from that chat who told me to visit your blog
May 18th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
In my mind, XKCD has far better jokes then C&H, and is much more unique (Go Cyanides’ 10 thousand U GOTZ AIDZ LUL jokes?). Sure, C&H has better art.
But in my mind, a comic without art is far better then a comic without jokes.
Better still is a comic with both good art and jokes, but I can’t find many of them, sadly…
June 11th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting
April 6th, 2010 at 1:44 am
ah, david, you just don’t get it, do you?