Thanks for Hrosvitha

Dkinged · Post by **Dkinged** » Wed Aug 21, 2002 3:17 am

James,

I just wanted to say thank you for a couple of things. Albion Fuzz is a wonderful strip in itself, clever, witty and ereudite. (I read through the entire archives last week). And, thanks to you, I've filled in a hole in my education. When I though of Saxon literature, I thought of big guys in chain mail killing off monsters in alliterative verse. Then you brought up Hrosvitha -- a tenth century Saxon woman comedy writer. Since the, I've found two of her plays on line through The Medieval Sourcebook (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/roswitha-toc.html) and find them fascinating. Granted, they're not what we would think of as comedy -- funny things happen, and then the holy virgins are martyred anyway -- but, hey, martyrdom was still considered a happy ending back then.

Thanks,

David King

ZOMBIE USER 5169 · Post by **ZOMBIE USER 5169** » Wed Aug 21, 2002 9:16 am

I suspect happy endings, like rainbows, only exist from the viewpoint of a distant observer. (Looks wise and smug 8) )

JimRob · Post by **JimRob** » Thu Aug 22, 2002 9:23 am

Cheers. It wasn't a deliberate didactic ploy, but it's very heartening to see people following up the links I haven't bothered to

K. Ivan Ruppert · Post by **K. Ivan Ruppert** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 2:23 pm

Tim Tylor wrote:I suspect happy endings, like rainbows, only exist from the viewpoint of a distant observer. (Looks wise and smug 8) )

Neil Gaiman once said that the secret to giving a story a happy ending is knowing where to stop.

-K

JimRob · Post by **JimRob** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 3:23 pm

And that's why they're so conspicuously absent in real life, which has a habit of continuing...

The odd (if not surprising) thing is that comic strips are the ideal format for the kind of formless endlessness that real life presents, yet most writers for them, myself included, still divide strips up over time into coherent storylines with neat conclusions. I seem to remember that Bruno is an exception, but I haven't read it for a while, so I may be wrong.

Big Bad Al · Post by **Big Bad Al** » Sat Aug 24, 2002 8:32 am

All strips have to be broken up into defined stories or they would be unreadable to any new people to the strip and bore avid readers with any lack of a conclusion of some kind. Even continuous story strips like Freefall have obvious chapters.

Unless you draw a whole book to be sold as a one off then you really can't avoid this format.

JimRob · Post by **JimRob** » Sat Aug 24, 2002 10:03 am

Oh, yes - I'm not saying that a continuous formless post-modern comic strip would necessarily be easy to write or fun to read. But it'd be possible, which it isn't really in book format.

It's a quibble, really... now I think about it more, all daily or semi-daily strips have to do this by default. It's just how well-adapted they are to their format that I'm thinking of.

Blah.

LAGtheNoggin · Post by **LAGtheNoggin** » Sat Aug 24, 2002 3:20 pm

"yet most writers for them, myself included, still divide strips up over time into coherent storylines with neat conclusions" -JimRob

Oddly enough, that's how my life's running... Except the conclusions are not always neat... Only 2 weeks of work left and I'll be starting another chapter, or should I say restarting a chapter? >sigh< away goes my profesional 3D/2D Artist title and again I'll assume the role of a half hearted student...

But hey, that's the way life is, it's full of conclusions and new storys, you just gotta' notice them ^.^

Errr... Unless that's just me....

Tek Roo · Post by **Tek Roo** » Sun Aug 25, 2002 2:02 am

Yesterday's personal adventure, "How I Wasted Two Hours Out Of My Life And All I Got Was A Tank Of Petrol" would have certainly provided enough fodder to keep a web comic going for months. I'd agree that real life has its chapters too, though the pacing may be a little different...

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sun Aug 25, 2002 7:55 pm

I like being able to extend or contract a storyline at will. Anybody notice that only a few days have passed in the untitled! world since christmas?
Mueheheheheh!!!

anwya...

LAGtheNoggin · Post by **LAGtheNoggin** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:52 am

So do I... If I ever manage to get past my first storyline I might even put it into practice...

It's pretty much like life being able to play with time... Except in a comic it's usually the best bits which last the longest and the worst bits which fly by... >sigh< if only life was the same... But still, time is kinda' rubbery and flexible all the same ^.^

Oh, and I know this probably isn't the place to announce this, but, ummm, I have no where else to go *crys* you're all I've got man... *sniffle*

Ummm, yes, new comic in Noggin', may have taken me two months and a bit but there is a new'un there... And it sucks just like the rest, yay...

*pulls a blankett over his head and sobs*

W.M.Y.L.G. Joe · Post by **W.M.Y.L.G. Joe** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 7:59 am

*watches roommate rush in and rush back out to get to his band practice...*

Speaking of time. My schedule ain't that cramped I guess. I seem to be able to relax more than some of my roomies...
But then, I'm a pretty laid back guy most of the time. It is really interesting in retrospect how you've been reading a comic for a couple months and all of the sudden realize that, as Gloria said, only a few days has gone by in the comic world. I dunno. Feels like a strange testament to one's patience. All that time of waiting for that amount of time in their world. I'll just shut up because I"m making no sense now.

Tek Roo · Post by **Tek Roo** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 9:18 am

LAGtheNoggin wrote:Oh, and I know this probably isn't the place to announce this, but, ummm, I have no where else to go *crys* you're all I've got man... *sniffle*

Well, you could follow Scotty Arsenault's example when he got bored with his Nature Niche storyline, pull a "duex ex machina" (sp?) and blow the place up without warning. (go here, click on "archive" and just keep reading in order until you figure out what I'm talking about -- you'll be glad you did. Then read Commander Kitty)

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 11:28 am

LAGtheNoggin wrote: *pulls a blankett over his head and sobs*

*hugs* Poor baby... *I* don't think it's that bad!!!

JimRob · Post by **JimRob** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:28 pm

Tek Roo wrote:Well, you could follow Scotty Arsenault's example when he got bored with his Nature Niche storyline, pull a "duex ex machina" (sp?) and blow the place up without warning.

Aw... I remember feeling at the time that it was a rather cheap strategy and, even inside the comic, a nasty thing to do (even if it was some kind of bizarre cult-type situation). I can understand it, given that Scotty wasn't keen on continuing with the comic, but as just a plot device...

If you must, at least make sure you get everyone out first, okay?

LAGtheNoggin · Post by **LAGtheNoggin** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 5:51 am

You mean this?

It... it... wasn't supposed to be part of the story? o.O

I didn't even notice...

...

It's taken me half a year and someone else to tell me, that that wasn't how it was planned to happen all along... God I'm blind. It seemed completely normal to me... I mean, that's what I'd do in that situation... If I could... Mmmm, explosives...

Now I'll just return to nursing my hangover... It was horrible last night. Horrible... Unlimited alchol, plus jousting on a bouncy castle, giant foam boxing gloves, super soakers, beer, water pools, food of some description, arcade machines, horses, pigs, drunk people, quake 3, chickens, and, errr, for some strange reason my memory is telling me that I did some very silly things...

... Whhhy god why must the day after be so bad?! WHHHYYY?!

And why does my diaphragm hurt so much? o.O

Tek Roo · Post by **Tek Roo** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 10:33 am

LAGtheNoggin wrote:You mean this?

It... it... wasn't supposed to be part of the story? o.O

I didn't even notice...

Yeah, it you were following the forum at the time, it was downright hilarious. One day he mentioned that he was a little bored with the storyline, and the next day he just blew the place up! We knew he was bored, but didn't realize he was that bored!

Of course, I couldn't help but wonder what those that weren't reading the forum thought!

LAGtheNoggin wrote: Now I'll just return to nursing my hangover... It was horrible last night. Horrible... Unlimited alchol, plus jousting on a bouncy castle, giant foam boxing gloves, super soakers, beer, water pools, food of some description, arcade machines, horses, pigs, drunk people, quake 3, chickens, and, errr, for some strange reason my memory is telling me that I did some very silly things...

That almost reminds me of a non-English-speaking game show of some sort I was watching in French Guyana once. Just add three guys in an inflatable taxi cab running through an obstacle course while being chased by one angry-looking bull, and you're all set!

JimRob wrote: If you must, at least make sure you get everyone out first, okay?

Or he could use the War of the Worlds technique, and as soon as it looks like all hope is lost and there is no possible way out of it, the toothy critters can just suddenly catch a cold and die! Now that was a disappointment!

LAGtheNoggin · Post by **LAGtheNoggin** » Wed Aug 28, 2002 2:27 am

"That almost reminds me of a non-English-speaking game show of some sort I was watching in French Guyana once. Just add three guys in an inflatable taxi cab running through an obstacle course while being chased by one angry-looking bull, and you're all set!"

It was the work party... And I do remember bulls, somewhere... And a taxi... The taxi was cheap... I think... And, nyergghhh, why am I getting so many funny looks? What did I DO?! Gaahhh...

And my diaphragm still hurts... It hurts to breath...

Erghhhh...

Whoopdedoo... college in two weeks... Why does real life have to be so much easier?

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Wed Aug 28, 2002 11:09 am

Easier than what?

LAGtheNoggin · Post by **LAGtheNoggin** » Thu Aug 29, 2002 5:24 am

Than college... And education... And living at home with your parents... I mean, real life; ie, cooking and looking after yourself and earning money is just so much easier. Or is that just me?

Ho hum... It's such a pain ditching a job you love... But I suppose living on the streets'd be worse... Onwards! To College! And living with my parents!

Yay...