Comic & Newspost, 7/15

Rann · Post by **Rann** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 11:58 pm

First of all... great comic, as usual. n.n I like the quasi-fourth wall thing about why Marilith smokes, and then the bland delivery of the "real" reason. Nice joke. Also nice character development.
As to the newspost... I think it's just fine, Krow, that you decided to take out the links to other webcomics. Like PVP or Penny Arcade need (or deserve) any MORE links to them. Spacemoose, I've encountered before. Didn't think they were that funny, thought a couple were offensive, but eh. Some comics are like that, and it's TRYING to be offensive and stupid. Seems to me stuff only really gets offensive when you say it and actually mean it as opposed to simple mockery (when the mockery's generally of people who hold said opinions.)
I also find it interesting that they got flamed by Penny Arcade, who I personally despise for various reasons. From what I can tell, Penny Arcade and Space Moose really aren't all that seperated, at least in the type of humor they use, especially since Penny Arcade hasn't actually desplayed any wit in the strips in over a year and a half. His closing line is especially interesting: "Keep up the piss-poor work." How interesting that someone who thinks so highly of themselves, and obviously thinks so highly of their own intelligence, cannot manage to say a single constructive thing, and instead of offering tips like the arrogant bastard we ALL know he is, advises him to continue doing poorly. Why? Why, because of the same mentality they share with their good friend Scott Kurtz: if another webcomic goes down, I might get a few more hits to my own site! Kiss it!
... Ahem. Sorry for the rantage. I just get annoyed at the near-literal cult following a lot of webcomics seem to have... especially when the comics aren't all that good.

Krazy Krow · Post by **Krazy Krow** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 12:29 am

I never liked 4th wall stuff before, seeing Tiny Toons episodes where Buster and Babs act like they're just actors really bugged me. I liked the idea that Acme Looniversity existed in some sort of self-contained universe.

The French film "Breathless" is one of the few treatments of the 4th wall I like.

As for Spacemoose... it takes a certain state of mind to appreciate that kind of humour. Normally I hate it, but I read through all of Spacemoose in a single night a few years back. Who knows, maybe if I just read it for the first time, I'd hate it now.

I was a Penny Arcade fan from the beginning, back when they didn't even have a domain name. But over time, it seemed like they didn't even bother writing jokes, just reference video games the first two frames, and throw something silly in the last one. It got to the point where I was really only reading it out of habit.

I honestly have no idea how web comic artists become egotistical. I'm more embarassed of Krakow than anything else. I do my best to keep my co-workers from finding out it has a website, and it's certainly not the kind of thing I'd use to pick up chicks.

Rann · Post by **Rann** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 12:42 am

Still, so many webcomics develop fan-followings that are fairly tantamount to religions. It's nothing to these fans to toss around words like "worship you" and "you are the funniest man alive" and stuff like that. o.O I mean, geez. And the way they react to anyone who doesn't ADORE the comic, let alone doesn't like it, is particularly vile.
Scott Kurtz is really the leader in these. He's taken his fans' adoration to heart, and has proclaimed himself God of Webcomics, apparently fit to judge which other comics should live and which should die... which should die basically being everyone's but his, or at least everyone who can't make a living off of their webcomic.
Hard's got a major ego problem. Basically, he's an egotistical asshole. And his fans still worship him for it. The thing is, Hard at least ACKNOWLEDGES that he's an asshole. That's why I can still read Sexy Losers with a clear conscience: at least he's being honest about it, instead of a hypocrite.
Then, there's Peter Abrams. The author of Sluggy Freelance. He not only lives off of his webcomic, he lives fairly well, apparently, and attends many conventions and so on. The difference is, the man is DEDICATED. He's humble, he's never too proud to say "I'm really sorry the strip's not up, I'll do my best to get it up as soon as possible" instead of some other artists: "Eh, I had a lousy day at work, you'll get a comic next time, maybe". Basically, the sense you get from reading his newsposts is that he's a real, down-to-earth guy, neither self-deprecating or full of himself.
So, I say unto you, Krow... just always be proud of what you do. Give explanations, don't make excuses. Never feel bad for putting attractive girls in the strip or for having nudity... just draw what you wanna draw, and let it be that. The people that appreciate it will appreciate it, and those who don't like it should know better than to read it (though they usually DON'T know better, alas). You're drawing great stuff, and even if it's not the best in the world, it's nowhere even close to the worst. I look forward to reading Krakow every Monday and Friday, and I never have to think "Oh well, here comes another whiney rant or halfassed punchline" or wonder why I keep reading it... I always look forward to it, I always think "Wonder what Krow did today?"
Ah well... enough outta me. n.n;

Krazy Krow · Post by **Krazy Krow** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 12:56 am

You're trying to make me egotistical, I know it!

I read PVP maybe once, gaming comics aren't something I read.

The first time I read the Sexy Losers forums... I was shocked. How could a man who has brought me such joy be such a complete asshole? Then someone told me how Thin H Line had a different artist, etc. So I can sleep at night knowing that maybe, just maybe, Clay is a decent perverted person.

Sluggy is on my regular reading list, even if it will never be as funny as the first year. Pete Abrams leaves me a favourable impression from his news updates.

Rann · Post by **Rann** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 1:04 am

Krazy Krow wrote:You're trying to make me egotistical, I know it! :)

Nah. Then I'd be like those fawning ass-kissers I detest in other forums. I'm encouraging you to be true to yourself, whoever your self happens to be. ^^ I encourage you to attack whatever you want to do with everything you've got, even if what you wanted to do ran contrary to the bits I happened to like. You wanna cover up Kia, make her wear baggy sweats all the time? Well, I'd miss her curvy body, sure, but so long as you're doing it because YOU want to do it, then that's cool. Same for anything you do with the comic. As long as you're doing it the way you want to do it, then I can't find any real fault with that.
What I'm trying to say is, what I hate more than almost anything else is hypocricy. Y'know, these webcomicers who will say "I am unfit to breathe the air my readers have burped. I suck, I'm detestable, I'm unworthy of your clicks. Now, listen to my moral lessons in the comic and on my forums because I'm oh-so-knowledgable and 100% correct, oh, and while you're at it, give me lots of money, then shut the hell up unless it's unconditional praise, maggot."

Urban Wild Cat · Post by **Urban Wild Cat** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 6:42 am

Not really on topic, but it matches the subject of the thread, so here goes:

E. Now is still going. Tension is building, but Bunny and Babs haven't reappeared yet, so there must be a while to go yet.

Y'know, I only started reading Krakow after Poe put a link in one of his newsposts...

Krazy Krow · Post by **Krazy Krow** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 4:42 pm

Rann: I hope I don't come off as overly self-deprecating in the news posts, it always bugged me when someone says, "Here's my art, boy, do I suck!" then draws something way better than I can. It's indirectly insulting.

As for Kia... sexiness is essential to her character. She's a <i>succubus</i> fer chrissakes, sweatpants are just not going to happen. I drew her in a tank top a few times, but I think of that as casual sexiness.

Urban Wild Cat: Thanks for the update, I'm going to have one hell of a backlog of comics to read once I get internet at home. Something like 90% of my current readers came from E. Now. If I had the time, I'd send Poe some fanart as a bastardly way of angling for another link.

Rann · Post by **Rann** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 4:46 pm

Krow, not overly. Just a little bit, but it's not consistent, and it's not there overflowing every single post like some webcomicers do, so it's not bothersome.
(And I certainly don't WANT Kia in sweats. x.x; That was just an example! ... Mmmmm, tanktop...)

Rann · Post by **Rann** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 11:53 pm

*bump*
Check it out... seems an awful lot like Poe is ragging on Piro in today's (7/19) newspost over at Exploitation Now. ^^ Maybe he's finally coming around to seeing how silly that whole "my art sucks" thing is. (I actually thought he might be serious until it got to the bit about "respect my characters' privacy" bit, and remembered it from a guest strip.)

Krazy Krow · Post by **Krazy Krow** » Fri Jul 19, 2002 1:10 am

Heheh, thanks for pointing that out. I like MegaTokyo, but after a few weeks of reading multi-page essays on self-deprecation, I thought it wiser to skip over them.

BTW, Ghastly drew the best MT fan strip I've ever read.

Rann · Post by **Rann** » Fri Jul 19, 2002 2:12 am

Krazy Krow wrote:BTW, Ghastly drew the best MT fan strip I've ever read.

My favorite, though, is the one the guys from Mac Hall did, where Piro attempts seppuku during a con meeting and has to be tackled down by Largo and others ("Go to your happy place! Sad girls in snow!"), while in the audience, the Mac Hall characters smirkingly observe, "Last year he tried to set himself on fire."
Though Ghastly's comic is still pretty damn funny. n.n Hm. I think it was in the forums that Ghastly was mentioning Piro's "Pirogoeth" character, a girl. I always thought that was Ruri Hoshino, or, as she's called in a few pics, QuakeRuri. But she's Piro's av, in any event, which is why I was really kinda hyped about that sequence he did with her and goth girl's obvious av... the big, cloaked pretty-boy. I loved the gender reversal on that one, and it's strips like that that get me annoyed that Piro's so anti-hentai... some tasteful nudity and non-explicit sex scenes of those two would be... rowr.

Rann · Post by **Rann** » Mon Sep 16, 2002 12:02 am

*bump*
On the whole "Hard is an asshole" thing, I decided to take a look at his Journal-O-Ego-Masturbation, aka, his new newsbox site. Among other things, I found he'd written this regarding the name change from The Thin H Line

I get the same complaints about "the THIN H LINE" was a better title than "SEXY LOSERS". The one glaring thing that annoyed me about the previous title was the "H". "H" was for "Hentai", meaning perverted. It's a Japanese word, and VERY otaku when used in America. As the comic grew I really didn't like American otaku slang in the title. It's nerdy. I wanted a title that would be in English only, and didn't have the obvious Japanese reference in it. SEXY LOSERS was the best I could do that was short and still had a dot com available for it. People complain that the title sucks, but it's damn hard to come up with a decent title for this kind of strip that doesn't sound like a porno site name. I don't care what you people say, SEXY LOSERS is a better name. You can call it THIN H LINE all you want, I'll just think you're a diehard otaku who jerks off to pixellated tentacle-rape anime because you're afraid to see what a real woman looks like.

There you have it. Despite drawing an anime-style strip, bitching at people for not getting references to Japanese culture, having the strip TAKE PLACE IN JAPAN, Hard really really hates otaku, and thinks they're all losers.
Geez. This is a real case of "Love the work, hate the author."

Krazy Krow · Post by **Krazy Krow** » Mon Sep 16, 2002 12:21 am

I read some of his other strips... and they're actually damn good. More than I expected from the author of SL. Makes me wonder if the messageboard persona of his is just that... like Howard Stern.

I can live with the title change, being pigeonholed as an "anime comic" would turn away some potential readers. Even though I use anime-style drawings, the writing of Krakow has little in common with anime or manga.

And from Ghastly's response on his messageboard, I think "Lovable Assholes" would make a *great* title for a comic strip.