EOS 42: Not the Answer You Were Expecting

 As, always, click for a larger image.

OK, it is finally up. It actually only took a week for me to do this. I think this storyline will last a couple of more strips, then I am seriously, going to go to single strips when I can get to them for the rest of my time in school. Then I am going to do something a little more in depth which should take me most of next year, but first I seriously need to graduate and find myself a real job.

As for cometary, I had a lot of fun drawing this one. I also for some reason, "watched" the entire Matrix, Series and the Animatrix, in the process. Yes, I take that long. I will call that a bad thing.

Also, why do women not wear cargo pants? I think this rant needs to be done.

First, they are loose, so shopping for them does not take hours.

Underneath this, I have to say, that I am not really a fan of skinny pants. I don't know why, maybe it is something to do with the poor contrast of a looser top and tight pants that just looks wrong, and in my opinion, baggy pants can be hot, if they are cut right.

 Second, they have pockets, which means that you do not need to manage a purse all of the time. That is right, you can have your hands free at all times.

Now I know what you are thinking, "but I don't want to transfer everything I own whenever I switch pants." There is nothing to say you can't have a small bag with all of your necessaries that fits in a cargo pocket, and if you carry more stuff than would fit is two cargo pockets, you probably need to rethink your priorities. Besides, that bag can be a small purse, for when you decide to, I dunno, wear a skirt or something. You may be thinking tights of some sort, but tights are a completely different rant.

So basically, if I were to do something in the fashion industry, I would market a line of cargo pants, that look cute, fit comfortably, and have pockets big enough to carry a small purse. It seems so practical that there is absolutely no way it can ever be successful. Why? because people don't like good ideas. OK, I am getting cynical. Good night.

EOS41: Grad School Infographic

OK, here is a little chart joke for you. Yes, I am just practicing my lettering.
Yes, updates two days in a row. I know I am just making up for last week, but still. I hope you like it. Since most of the people who acknowledge that they read this are in grad school, I hope you like it.

EOS 40: Ominous Ball of Energy.

Here you go, as you can guess, I had a lot of fun coloring this one, especially, the background. I like them best in high-res because I am very detail oriented. I feel like I should be talking more about comics right now, but what I really want to do, is make my weekly comic shop run.

There may be a could of rapid-fire updates this week. Don't expect too much since one will be a chart-joke.

By the way, if you  like the comic, leave feedback. It can be a direct comment or, you can email me at EOS@mildlymiffed.com

If you hate the comic, then why are reading it?

Look for a little something on Tuesday.

EOS:39 Familiar Hallway

I have a new rule. One comic per week for the rest of the school year. "But you only made one this week," say. Well, I submitted a guest strip to Danielle Corsetto for consideration as filler. I doubt I will make the final five to see the internet. If I do not, I will post the comic to this site.

I actually, do not have much to say about this one, other than I am pleased with how it turned out, and it it is nice to change up the background and clothing.

Andrew

I voted for myself twice! (No Fraud)

Ug, I do not consider myself a political person, and there is little incentive for me to take part in the politics of a world that will eventually fall apart. Eh. Still I will help where I can.

I mainly just voted on state and local propositions. I have strong opinions on those. If some of those go the wrong way, then I will be very glad that I am leaving Michigan next spring. I will miss Ann Arbor. It may very well be my favorite town in the world.

So, about my title. It is correct.  No, I did not commit voter fraud.
I had no clue for whom to vote in most offices, and those I knew, I did not like. So, I left most blank. However, if I honestly felt that I would do a better job than what we have, I wrote my name in. Therefore, I put my name in for two offices.
I wrote in my name for congress, as I was planning to do, and I also wrote in my name for City Council, because I will get the roads ploughed!

Anyway, I will have the next comic up sometime on Friday. I am going to try to squeeze in a submission for a guest comic, for one of my favorite authors.
 It is going to be a busy week. Oh, I have a dissertation to write as well.
At least there are no more 1 AM broomball games.

By the way, I must ask. Am I being repetitive and boring here? My goal is a combination of character development and examination of social interaction punctuated with some slapstick. Is this jiving with anyone?

EOS 38: Something to Remember

That's right! Two updates this week, and at a decent time! Why, because I was sick, there wasn't much else I wanted to do. Also, I kind of want to finish up this storyline. It is kind of dragging out. Expect another comic next Friday. I need to get some real work done this week, and read up on some local ballot initiatives. If you are in the Fifteenth district of Michigan, vote for me. Write in "A. Crow" for congress. If you need my full name, it is Andrew Joseph Crow. I would love it if the longest sitting member of congress was defeated by "A. Crow."

I am tired, and an early bedtime with a good book sounds really appealing.

EOS 37: Small Particles

Here is the new comic. This only took a week, and visually, I like it, a lot. I apologize for taking the last week off. I should be done with this series in a month or two. I hope you can bear with dialogue and character development. This is generally how I write stories.

Since I have no clue beyond my mom and like two other friends, who actually reads this, (yet I appear to be getting some traffic now days) I am curious if anyone has any questions comments or concerns.
If so, contact me at EOS@midlymiffed.com I would just appreciate it to know who is out there.

EOS 36: Linux in Limbo

I like the idea of a floating text box in space. Regular comics return next week.
Notes on each of these.

1: I don't care; it gets water out of my ears.
2: This only works to increase brand recognition.
3: Let me be clear, this is not my endorsement of Mitt Romeny. I don't like either candidate. This is my endorsement of a "Vote the Bums Out" campaign. Seriously, congress has no accountability. We can disrupt the intrenched power structure, simply by not re-electing someone we hate.
4: I have greatly altered my speech patterns to accommodate this one, but I still slip up.
5: It's something I started as a teenager, and I am finally getting good at avoiding re-infection. (still gross though)
6: It makes spectator sports interactive!
7: I am learning to avoid this, but I am not perfect.
8: I like ice cream, and I am just looking for an excuse.
9: My dreams are awesome, and usually very rational and physically accurate.

10: I made this mistake tonight. Essentially both of us are trying to cultivate cults of personality in the same group of people. I'm not sure I like her tactics. I may have to pull out the big-guns.

Edit: case and point, the dream I had after I drew this involved me being layed-over in some Podunk town on my way to Madison Wisconsin, and meeting Mitt Romney on the campaign trail. I'm not 100% sure why he befriended me in this dream and stepped in when things got messy, (add that to the cult of personality,) and I don't remember what knocked out my teeth... and I will spare the wierd details.

EOS 35: Newton's Third Law of Waterfalls

There is an old joke. How do you catch a Lion using Newton's Third law of motion? For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, let the lion catch you, and you have, in turn, caught the lion.
That and the title, are the hints you get this week.
Now, go and listen to your 90's R&B collection.

I realized with a heavy duologue driven strip I needed to take my time and write it clearly. It really needs its own day.

As for humor vs. story, I get some comfort that the pros deal with this doubt as well.
http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/filler-friday/

For style, does the waterfall make sense in the first panel? This went through quite a few iterations, but it did not take that much time. I think I am starting to understand backgrounds. I don't want to make them overly simple, especially, since my next project will have them be blank white. That being said, I don't want to make them distractingly busy, either. I like what I have so far.

I am trying to come up with some Halloween costume ideas. Here is what I have as of yet.
A sexy potato.
A hipster, but I tell everyone that I am wearing the outfit ironically.
The first thing I get from theyfightcrime.org/

Ron Swanson
An abstract interpretation of any song by "The King of Sleaze," Rod Stewart.

Also, after sitting in a lecture today where the people next to me were eating Panda express, I came up with a list of things I encountered today that smell better than Panda. Please note that I love Asian food and its associated aromas. Panda does not qualify as such.

The leaves on the ground.
The rest of the unaffected air in the lecture hall.
The girl next to me at the hockey game.
The burrito I had for lunch. (not a high quality one, either)
The bubble gum the ref threw at the student section.
My shoe that I took off during the first intermission.
Yost Ice arena, in general.
The stench of defeat from having your own goalie kick in the losing goal in overtime, with no opposing players anywhere near the net.
Pretty much everything.

I may talk about my love of comics tomorrow. I have guess I could start reviewing some of the small press stuff I have been reading.

EOS 34: Font Wars

Well, here is the continuing story.
So right now, I am working on storytelling, character development and composition. I like that a lot more than last week, and this took a lot less time than the monstrosity that was EOS 32. Anyway, I like the composition, but I fully admit that it isn't funny, unless you think feeling a major connection with someone over a minor opinion is ridiculous. I, personally, like it though. I will try to put more punchlines in my comics as the stories progress.

Anyway, bed is a-calling.

New Domain! Same host!

I am pleased to announce that I now have a permanent domain name!

www.MildlyMiffed.com

All of the old links should still take you to the corrected site name. In fact, you are already here! So, functionally it is no difference, but it is easier to remember. In the future, I will be able to change hosting without any updating on the end user's part. Yeah!

Also, MildlyMiffed works better as a brand name. Eyes of Solace is just the title for one particular comic project I am doing. (www.Eyesofsolace.com was taken by some band). I want to associate MildlyMiffed with whatever creative projects I happen to do.

Ooooh I could create a logo! This just feels so official. I think I should hire a webmaster, those are a dime a dozen. As Tim Miller once put it, they are willing to work for less than a cent with eleven other people.

Why I read comics

This is sort of a rambling news post.

First off, I have been examining my old works, and I will, hopeful, put the lessons learned into my next post. I'm probably just going to give up on flat perspective comics. They aren't as much fun and they never look organic. Also, they get really busy really fast, meaning that backgrounds need to be left bare. I like treating the background as a free space to fill in whatever environment I want, so it is back to perspectives for me.

OK, every so often I read a comic that forces me to say "this author just plan gets me." Recently there have been a number.

Such as this GSW and this PhD Comic. Note: I do not endorse all (almost any) behavior portrayed by GWS)

The big thing about these is a very simple theme in graduate school. The base level response of most frustrated scientists when they are stuck in a tedious long-term project is to do something creative and unrelated to their fields of study with instant gratification (The other response is to go to football games.) Baking is an awesome escape, and we can still use our analytic ability, but we also have to trust our instincts. I think QC put it best.

Of course, since dissertation projects are so long with an extended feeling of impending doom, we craft fantasies that our escapes will somehow be awesome if they become are our full-time jobs. Isn't chasing a fantasy what got us into gad school in the first place? We ignore that we are taking the stress of working for the approval of our peers, finding funding, deadlines, and the overall success of the project,  and trading it with with the stress of trying to meet the approval of the masses, trying to thrive in what is inherently a luxury industry, and being self-employed with a very low cash-flow.
Now, most graduate students want to find a way around this. We say that our career goals are to marry someone rich and open a restaurant. I am not joking about how often I have heard this.

(If you are a rich woman with some good child-bearing years left you can contact me. Actually, I am desperate enough that I will not take financial accounts into account.)

 The point is, that because we are stressed and feeling hopeless we look to our escapes to figure out what we want to do, even though being a rocket scientist is pretty freaking awesome.

What does this have to do with comics? Well there are two fantasies that comics offer. The first is the fantasy of the comic itself. The escape world that it offers. I want to be a baking scientist. I want to fight bad-guys. I want to cause random trouble in the name of enlightening the world.

The other fantasy is that I want to be the artist. I want to add to what other people have done and contribute to the great comic movement and culture. That being said, I know that I do not want to be a self-employed artist. Part of it is because I don't like the idea of charging for my work. (I'm going to put everything I do under a creative commons soon unless otherwise specified).  The other part is that if I am going the self-employed route then I am going to use my other set of skills that I have been developing that will make me a whole lot more money. I either need to be independently wealthy, or do this as a hobby.

So that is a little thought about comics, creativity and escapeism, but I woudln't take it too seriously.

I mostly just read them because they are visually stimulating and funny with good characters. Why else would I read them? I love pretty pictures that tell stories.

-Crow

EOS 33: Pie to the Face?

Here we go, again. I apologize for the late update. I was busy talking with my about research.

This comic only took a couple of days, unlike the last one which inexplicably kicked my butt. This series of comics will last for foreseeable future. I don't have much planned for the next few months.

Perhaps I will talk later this week, about slapstick. Perhaps I will not. I haven't really developed completely how I show action in my comics. On the other hand, I could also talk about violence. It is something I am trying to avoid in my comics, especially violence towards women. That always rubs me wrong. Threatening or manhandling a women really bothers me, and those people are seen as villains. That being said a soft bag of fluff to that face that causes you to fall over with no harm done is still slapstick in my book, especially when the character is a personification of me, and I feel that I need a sleeping bag to the face as well.

The evolution of Faye Whitaker

I noticed that my characters tend to change from strip to strip. That being said I am still working on my consistency. Then again, many cartoonists change their styles over time. I was thinking about one in particular. While I was waiting for the red eye last night I put together this little collage.

I give you the Evolution of Faye Whitaker in 50 strip increments.
Faye is the female protagonist of Questionable Content, a strip that is sometimes too racy for my taste, but I am addicted to the characters. Seriously, who doesn't love Faye? I also love that her wardrobe does repeat.

EOS 32: In Need of an Excuse.

Here is the final product. Normally, it takes me a weekend and Monday night to finish. I am not really sure why I am taking so long on this. Since I will be traveling the rest of the week. I will have the next one to you on Friday the 14th, marking the 7-monthaversery of EOS!

I think it turned out well, and I had fun with the background, except for one part (try to guess which part). I also think Sylvia is finally getting to the appropriate level of cuteness, that I need for her. Nat and Mark aren't that bad either, but they need work. We will be seeing a lot of them in the next couple of weeks. If you want to see the evolution of the strip check out the last post. It has pictures of all major steps.

In Need of an Excuse.

I am updating this from my Amazon Kindle (TM) because it is my last remaining internet capable device. My laptop needs a new power jack, and while cheap and easy to replace, it will be in pieces for the next couple of days until the part comes in. I have a fallback in my office desktop, which is a very nice machine except that I just locked my office keys as well as my tablet in my office. So, I will not be able to work on anything digitally until Monday. Even then, I am trying to actually accomplish work for a dissertation. So, I will be shooting for a Friday update. As a treat for waiting, I will post the updated revisions of the comic to this entry as I complete them. That way you can see the evolution of the comic. Expect one per weeknight, starting on Monday.

Update 1: sketching.
Here I have a basic layout of the comic.

To be perfectly honest, I was hoping to have lines done as well tonight, but I keep on letting my life get in the way. I'll also be honest. I really need to put forth more mental energy into my work and less into comics. I think I am officially going to stop regular updates, if I cannot reduce my cycle time  down to about 10 hours, but that would be a major reduction in quality. Its more of the fact that I like reading books, running, eating homemade dinners and sleeping. I am sorry to disappoint you. I feel that this is only going to get worse as I head towards April. Why didn't I start this four years ago?

Scrappage!
So, I realized that my main goal of this comic was to explore a bit of facial expressions and body language. I also wanted to get a little more of a flat aesthetic, which is more common in comic strips.
What I realized is two things: 1) I can convey emotion from figures but I need to have it in mind when I do the figure. It is not an add-on. 2) I naturally, draw things with the lensing effects of the human eye, which I think makes things look natural, but it means I have to mentally change my focal lengths if I want a different aesthetic. The best way I can describe this, is what I figured out last night when I should have been asleep, I have to picture the the image in it's natural 3d, then apply a mental telephoto zoom to flatten it out, while backing away to keep the same framing. If a quarter of our brainpower goes to image processing, which I guess is like one sixteenth of our overall blood-flow (Do not quote me. I just heard this statistic somewhere.), then we might might as well take full advantage of our awesome super-parallel GPU.

Anyway. I have never once regretted scraping a part of an image and starting over again. The following, doesn't look bad. It's just not that for which I am going. We will restart, probably getting the lines finished on Saturday. I hate to say it, but it is hard to get going on a project when one gets off work at 8 and needs to take care of needs like eating, and jogging. Yes, running is my supreme compulsion.

 OK, here is my re-sketch. Basically, I like the perspective and body language better.

Update: I am updating from the world's slowest internet connection.
I have no clue, why this comic has been kicking my butt. I think it is because i had no clear vision as to what I wanted it to be. I think the faces were giving me trouble. I have no problem with bodies and forms, and I can free-hand 3D perspective and straight lines. Faces on the other hand... Maybe its because I usually avoid eye contact. That is probably why I also have a terrible memory for faces as well. I am sorry, but turning every conversation into a starring contest is just plain creepy. Also, I think I will  get myself a ciniq this year, as a graduation present. It is less the hand eye coordination, and more the large drawing area, that appeals to me.

Anyway, here are my lines. Also I have been enjoying the lack of pressure and the better sleeping habits, but I feel this need to spend my free time drawing (especially on the weekends.) I will try to get back to regular updates next week. Comics are now like running, they are just a part of me. Next is background detail and shading/contours. Those should be done by Saturday.

One more day, I promise.

Anyway, here is the comic with details, contours and background lines, tomorrow, I will color it, and add in dialogue and overlays.

The second to last step is coloring. Do you honestly think it enhances the image? By the way, I am always going back and tweaking my previous steps. Some things (especially hands) are never done until the final revision. I can spot something to change before I do the overlay.

EOS 31: Bridge Talk

I apologize for being late by about 40 minutes. My excuse is that it was hot-tub time. Why am I making excuses? Half of you were there with me, and the other half are currently living in yesterday compared to me. Ah, the joys of having a very small readership. You will need to super-zoom this thing in order to read it. It is actually double the size of the a regular comic. Anyway, I am hungry and I have a presentation tomorrow. Tootles!

EOS 30: For Your Own Good

Here is your comic.
EDIT: I changed the boarders and a couple of speech bubble. I really need to give finishing a touches their own day. That was the plan this week, but bike rides and pizza baking got in the way.
 No, I did not work on it for two weeks. Actually, I had a lot of fun not working on comics. That being said, I will start into a five day drawing cycle instead of a two or three day cycle. The reason is that I am always less rushed and more willing to do more crazy things. That being said, I think this one turned out nicely. By the way, trees are hard to draw. I was not about to draw thousands of multicolored leaves. However, I love the way they layer their colors. There is nothing quite like green on top of green on top of green. When people say they don't appreciate green, they just don't know how to use it. Take the green from plants, and layer them. Greens layer and blend so beautifully.

Other notes... um. I have no clue where that tag goes in the final panel, I suppose we could just be looking at a different set of doors. Anyway, I only do that once per comic. It is my final touch. So that is what you get.

Also, I threw some money at the B9 kickstarter today, my first time doing that.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/benignkingdom/benign-kingdom-fall-2012
I religiously follow two of the artists, so I thought it would be fun. I was slightly tempted to go for the $1250 level, but my ego just isn't what it used to be. Eh, that money should go for a Walcom Cintiq, someday...

Cartoons

Looking back on my childhood, I watched a lot of TV. I mean a lot. That is part of the reason why I am so apprehensive about TV these days. The general rules is that I do not turn on the TV, although I have been known to sit down and watch along with someone. Notable exceptions are college football and my daily dose of "Scrubs."  Anyway, having seen so many cartoons in my lifetime, it is time for me to put down my opinion on the ones I loved and made everything great. Just for fun, we will do it top ten style.

EDIT: I proofread this this morning. I hope it is a little more tolerable. Someday I will have a rant about how people judge the quality of an idea based on the quality of the presentation, not the actual content. Anyone who can successful sell a load of malarkey is well aware of this.

EDIT: Other honorable mentions include Batman, Spider-man, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (No joking, they made it into a cartoon), and Rocko's Modern Life.

11. Beetlejuice (honorable mention)
Let's start this off with a show that I honestly have no idea how it got made. The network executive that approved this one had not seen the movie, because there was no way Beetlejuice should ever have been on a children show. I admit they toned him down, made everything less macabre, and gave people healthy relationships. The result was a show where anything could happen and usually did for our egotistical hero on his pun-filled adventures. I think in many ways the brilliance is that the story followed Lidia not Beetlejuice even though he had most of the action. This allowed children to see the wacky world through a child's eyes. Instead of been a sidekick, she was the link into the wacky world.
I totally, had a Beetlejuice action figure growing up. Strangely, they made them for the movie. Like I said, the movie was not for kids.

10. The Tick
Everybody loves superheros. More importantly, everybody loves superhero parodies. The Tick was an awesome character. When one is generally impervious with superhuman strength, why not become a superhero, and why not flaunt it? The great part about The Tick was that he had fun with it all. If you so little to fear, you had better. I also appreciate that the superheros tended to have more of a professional annoyance than an outright rivalry. I mean, if saving the city is a job, then office politics are not far behind. How, can anyone not love a show with the line, "We may be out of our element, but we aren't out of our league. Spoooooon!" Also, the show was laugh-out-loud hilarious at every turn, especially with our dimwitted hero leading the way.

9. Dark Wing Duck
Let us set the record straight. There are superheros, and there is Dark Wing Duck. I tend to get annoyed with superhero creators who always try to create some dark origin story or personal daemon to give the character depth and drive the hero to do good. It sounds great, but it is a load of malarkey and very overused to boot. The hero doesn't actually have depth, it is just driven by some force outside of it's control, and what does living in the past have to do with being a hero in the present? Of course you can always have the hero on the other side of the extreme: the personality-less "Captain Awesome" who is about as two-dimensional as the paper on which he is printed. Then there is the perfect balance, Dark Wing Duck. He has no coherent origin story, but that isn't what is important. Nothing made him be a hero. He is a hero because he chooses to be and chooses to do good. What a concept! For kids, I love this, no one has to give you permission or make you do good; you can just be that awesome person. He also genuinely loves the people (or rather anthropomorphic animals) around him. Yet, he is not perfect. He has weaknesses, fears, limitations, and his own faults which he must overcome. The biggest of these being the conflict not of some personal daemon, but rather the conflict of his love of self and his love of others. This is as meaningful to kids as it is to adults, especially since our faithful hero is a parent. This is actually more meaningful, than all of the anger, alcoholism, and existential crises of all of the other superheros written during the same time period combined. Oh yeah, the shows were funny with great supporting casts and unpredictable episodes.  

8. Garfield and Friends
I guess that there is not much to say about this show. We all know the characters and the premise. What still impresses me about this show is how it kept it's comic strip pacing. In comics, things have to go from normal to absurd in three panels. The show effectively did that. Somehow, in every show they would take the simplest everyday concept and push it to the extreme. How can renting a movie possibly a big ordeal? Well you would just have to see the show to find out. With Jon Arbuckle somehow stepping into ridiculous situations, and Garfield somehow finding a (usually lazy) way out, the show somehow was a satire on the mundaneness of life.

7. Talespin
You will notice this as the second Disney show on the list. There is a reason. In the early 90's, Disney was cranking out pure television gold. They had some of the greatest adventure shows, with amazing characters. Every-time they stepped up to the plate, you knew it was going to be a home-run. Let's be honest, if you tried to pitch the idea of a stylized show about a 1930's transport pilot you would be directed towards the adult-drama department. If you said you were interested in doing a children's adventure show people would ask you how you were planning to break into a market ruled by GI Joe and Transformers. Well, thankfully, Disney was giving out some creative freedom. What you got was a healthy does of amazement with a little nostalgia mixed in. Much like Dark Wing, they knew how to create a balanced lovable characters with relationships that were accessible to children and adults alike. Add in a plane that can take you anywhere and a job that requires it, and you have a formula for high-flying adventure every single episode that is one part Indiana Jones, one part Cowboy, one part Star Trek (original series), and all fun. While, as a child, I probably never picked up on any other cliché episodes there had, not a single one was boring or failed to delight. Seriously, while better toys, transformers and GI Joe just didn't make for better stories than this.

6. Ghostbusters
If there was a ever a movie that needed to be made into a children's show, it was  Ghostbusters. First off, the characters were ready to translate, just make Peter and little more egotistical, Ray a little more childlike, and add Slimer as a permanent comic relief, and you have a ready-made show with endless adventures. While the show could have easily fallen into the monster-of-the-week routine which is the death of many good concepts, Ghostbusters stayed new and unexpected with every episode. What was great about it was that there was pretty much no limit to the potential world that they could have. So, the writers never limited it. Take that, formulaic writing that dominates TV these days. Want to jump into the world of the dead and visit  Boo York, the Big Pumpkin? That's cool. Want to visit the house essentially haunted by citizen Kane? Why not? Need to confront the childhood fear that drove you into paranormal investigation to begin with? Naturally, that will come up. My point is, just let the awesome flow. Oh, yeah, I had Ghostbusters action figures growing up. They were awesome.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
While there is much I can say about this show, I feel that there is very little that needs to be said. As an adaptation, it took a very solid premise to begin with. Additionally, the world, was huge, and the characters were colorful in both personality and, well, color. Seriously, everyone had a favorite and for good reason. Mine was Raphael because he was a wise-cracker. I bet you thought I was going to say Donatello. Anyway, nothing every felt flat with that show, it was solid in every adventure, and every character. More importantly, it opened a whole new world of adventure, with the underground Technodrome, Dimension-x, and a very nicely laid-out sewer system. I mean, seriously, it turned the every-day world into a fantasy world. It's just happened when you were not looking. The toys were cool, but I never had one. (Seriously, the show ruled on all levels) I just have one question, "What was with the Foot Clan robots?"

4. Animaniacs
I almost forgot about this show. What was wrong with me? I will only speak briefly on it. In the 90's Warner Brothers had an awesome show with characters inspired by Loony Toons, that show (Tiny Toons) never came as close to the matching the spirit of Loony Toons as Aminaiacs did. You see, the brilliance of of Loony Toons was not in having a bunny, a duck and a Tasmanian devil. The brilliance was in the "anything goes" sense of humor. Animaniac had this by the boatload. The show was non-stop fun from the self proclaimed parody of every comedic pair in show-business (Rita and Runt), to the hosts, The Warner Brothers (Yacko and Wacko) and The Warner Sister, (Dot), who, honestly, were annoying but in a very fun way. Being annoying but still enjoyable is a very hard trick to pull off. I think there is some proprietary secret Warner Brothers has to accomplish this. There is  a reason I cannot stand many famous cartoon characters that push the annoying button. Some sets were more entertaining than others, such as the wonder that was Slappy Squirrel at Woodstock, vs. the mundaneness of Buttons and Mindy. Although, I do admit Lassy had it coming. There is one thing to which I am sure you will agree. There was no topping Pinky and the Brain. If you do not know who Pinky and the Brain are, then you must educate yourself.

3. Gargoyles
Somehow, Disney decided to do straight up action-adventure, no more Jungle Book characters and no more ducks. Instead, they used magic and put it in New York City. Like all of the Disney shows of the era, the characters win out plane and simple. Looking back, a lot of them are somewhat formulaic, but they all had a role and a part in the show based on personality, not necessarily ability (a common mistake in adventure teams is to do it the other way around). There are a number of things I admired about the show. The first is that it required no prior knowledge, but the more one knew about world mythology and Shakespearian fantasy, the more one would get out of it. To use the show to explain mythologies and writings all over the world as incidents of a more powerful world was absolutely wonderful. As for the show pacing, I am amazed. For the sake of the kids, they kept the action good and shows episodic. While the first season contained a number of disjoint stories, the following season pulled them all together while introducing great new twists. While easy to follow and jump in, the show is surprisingly hard to summarize because of the layers of storytelling woven into it. Watch it for the action, love it for the characters (who fit rather well), and follow it for the story. It was an all-around awesome show. I will admit that the toys were cool, but I never got any. I think I was too into Spider-man at the time (who did not make the list).

2. Doug
You knew a Nicktoon had to have made it on this list. Are you surprised at which one I chose? Yes, of Nickelodeon's original three Nicktoons, Doug is probably the most undervalued. While Rugrats was cleaning up with the commercial success (although I always felt it was a little formulaic) and Ren and Stimpy were pushing the boundaries of acceptability, Doug was doing what it did best: be quietly awesome. I will explain it like this. Doug is told through the eyes of the everyman. Many writers try to create an everyman, but that everyman is either extraordinary in some way or just plane boring. Doug was not extraordinary; he was pretty normal (with some talents, some faults, hopes dreams, and fantasies, just like every other kid). He was created not to be a fantasy, but rather, someone to which the children could relate. What made him entertaining was him trying to interact with the wacky town of Bluffington in which he lived. I guess I just like shows that open up your eyes to the world, and the best way to do it is from a viewpoint you can understand. Doug did this. The adventures were small, but they were crazy, and plenty of out-of-the-ordinary stuff would happen, but it felt natural and identifiable. I swear it was like the honesty and identifiability of a well-written children's book protagonist (the kind that is written for fun and is not trying to indoctrinate or teach) meets the quirky small town of an indie film. The result is pure magic. Also, however did the music directing was brilliant. How often do you hear that when talking about a children's show.

And Number one is (Drum roll)
1. Exosquad
 I fully admit it; I am a sucker for space and fantasy. The characters were pretty good, although, not the best on this list. Still, they had their moments, and their interactions and motivations (especially at the end) stayed solid. The action and technology was awesome. Who doesn't want an e-frame?

Let us pause for a second and discuss the e-frame. The giant robot idea is pretty worthless. Even if you could put enough power into it to make it move, it is still a giant target and can be taken out by a small fighter. That is essentially what e-frame were, small fighters. However, they had several things going for them. The first is that they were in space, configuration and aerodynamics are irreverent. Second, when they get planet-side they will be moving along the ground and through confined spaces. So, give them the ability to walk and duck. Finally, they should be versatile being able to perform many utility tasks as well as combat. The E-frame did these and more. Actually, this is part of the reason why I liked the writing of the show. The abilities and the technology were were created out of practicality, and new problems were solved by resourcefulness with an existing technology as opposed to inventing a new technology (Although, that may have happened once or twice.) Additionally, they gave reasonable explanations without falling into technobable.

OK, now I am back. Besides the prominent place of Chicago in the series, the main draw of the show was the storyline. I don't know how they convinced the network executives to approve a two-year continuous storyline, but they did. It was awesome. I guess what I admire most about it are the elements which it incorporates. It is not a true sci-fi, rather it is the aftermath of a sci-fi. The show doesn't address the moral issues of being able to create a genetically engineered slave race. The Neosapians had already rebelled and won their freedom. Rather, it addresses the more humanly pressing political aftermath. What happens when they want another go? It is somewhat like Star Wars meets WWII. Much of the main storyline appears to be inspired by true events, with the Neosapians being defeated and appearing to be dormant and conformist for a while only to rise more powerfully than before led by a madman (there is a lot more than that, but I do not have the time). On top of that it, added that nice Star Wars feeling of a rebellion having to fight back against a far superior force which appears to only be getting stronger. Yet, somehow, with all of the odds stacked against them, they come back from an unexpected knock-out blow and save the day. It isn't easy and it comes at a high price, but anything worthwhile usually does.

It is late, and while the "Wheel of Morality." from "Animaniac," says, "Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, but socially dead," no one else is up, and I am really tired.

EOS 29: Kristen vs. GPS

As you can guess, I had fun with this one. Although, I didn't allot that much time to work on it, so I apologize up front for some of the rough drawings. No, I have no idea what is going on with the sky (or the road in panel 5).


I admit that this pretty much describes my feelings on GPS.
I lump it in with several other useful (but used when it is not needed) technologies, such as smartphones, flashlights, and air-conditioning.

EOS 28: Summer Filler

Here you go. this is the closest thing I will get to filler art. I am sorry for the late update. I finished it on Thursday night, but I had no way of posting until just now. My roommates, are waiting for me to go and get some BBQ.

Investigation by Any Other Name

Here is a story I put in the campus lit mag last year.
I clarified it a bit. I hope you like it.
I will be traveling across the Midwest this weekend. Hopefully, I will have time to put together a comic, and, hopefully, I will have Internet access to upload it.

Without further ado,

Investigation by Any Other Name (Revised):
 
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Most people travel to Gilroy California for one thing, Garlic. Sylvia Watson traveled for a seeming contradiction. According to all of the vampire lore she had transcribed over her years of “service,” the last time and place a person would expect a vampire attack is at noon in a church in the middle of a garlic festival. Yet, that was the time and place of the most recently reported vampire attack. Most rational reporters would consider the story something for the most disreputable of tabloids. While Sylvia certainly considered herself rational, she had also undergone a series of experiences which have broadened her accepted view of reality. Such experiences include being born in a magical kingdom and enslaved by a witch for most of her life.

Sylvia mulled it all over. The evidence showed clear signs of a vampire attack, yet the time and place were impossible. She needed help.

Over a thousand miles away, David Watson answers his phone, “Hello princess, do you have an answer yet?”

“Greetings commoner. Sadly, I do not. I could use some help.”

“Then why are you calling me? Don’t you know any vampire experts?”

“I knew one before you killed her.”

“Yes,” David Replied, “but if I had not slain her, then you would still be captive under her spell, and you would not have the opportunity to be confounded with vampire hunts.”

“I accept confusion over slavery any day, and I thank thee once again for freeing me, my love. However, you deprived the world of one of the great repositories of vampire knowledge when you burned her tower. My memory is the last vestal of the once astounding collection,” Sylvia stated.

“I apologize. The next time I see a powerful collection of writings on the dark arts, I will make sure to publish it as a children’s book.”

“Must we continue to vex each other?”

“I much prefer it over hexing each other.”

“Quite, now to the task at hand, how does one deal with a happening which appears to contradict every bit of accumulated knowledge?” Sylvia inquired.

“Let us run though the possibilities.” David suggested.

“The first possibility is that the there was no vampire attack at all, and the report was made in error.”

“I do not know how often I hear that in scientific circles. Observations are routinely taken that contradict accepted theories. Usually, they are immediately disregarded as measurement error. Although, controversial measurement mistakes do get published. 'More often than they should,' might I add?”

“Maybe, a faulty report made it to me,” Sylvia said, “However, the manner of the attack does match many of the previous vampire attacks, and the details I was given do line up quite nicely with the stories I have read, which are not publicly available. It is hard to believe that this report was falsified or made in error. However the details may line up, the overarching contradiction of the larger rules (let us call them 'theories') of vampire behavior is quite befuddling unless we are willing to accept that, perhaps, we were wrong about our understanding of the theories governing vampires. That is the next possibility.”

David agreed, “There are numerous times in recorded history where an accepted theory had to be completely scrapped because it did not hold up to reality. However, the scrapped ideas were usually based on faulty reasoning or unfounded assumptions. The geocentric universe, levity, the four elements, the four fluids, ether were all accepted then rejected by scholars in their fields.”

Sylvia mused for a moment “If the theories are wrong, and vampires are not repelled by religion, daylight, or garlic, then why do I recall many thoroughly documented incidents in which such circumstances where quite effective? What am I missing?”

“'What am I missing?' is probably the greatest sentence in all of science. Those are the words that lead to the great discoveries and to my personal favorite of our little possibilities to explain your conundrum.” David continued, “Perhaps the theories about vampires are not necessarily incorrect. Rather, they are incomplete. Many a physical law which was once thought to be universal was shown to be highly dependent on conditions which were far too subtle to detect, much like Newtonian motion was thought to be universal for hundreds of years until relativity came along and showed that it was only applicable when the speeds are small. So, what will be?”

“I agree that this holds another possibility, especially considering that there is no way to tell how many vampires failed to follow the documented rules, or rather theories, because no one lived to tell the tale. After all, a dead man does not write in his diary how holy water failed to save him, and, in fact, it only made the vampire wet before biting him. I believe that you scientists would refer to such an occurrence as 'sampling bias.'” Sylvia explained.

“Quite so,” David interjected.

 “I regret, my dear, that I must bring our conversation to an end my dear as I do not have much time. It has been following me since I arrived, and the scent of garlic which embraces this town does not slow it one bit,” Sylvia said calmly.

David was not so calm in his reaction to the news, “What? Get out of there! I should have made you take my sword.”

“It is too late, my dear. I will deal with this presently.”

Sylvia walked into the church housing the location of the first attack. The late afternoon sun shone through the stained-glass windows. While she could not hear the fiend approach her from behind, she could somehow sense its presence. Sylvia normally preferred a formal introduction, but she made a concession to both safety and timeliness by speaking quickly while avoiding visual contact. “I must ask you one thing. What is it that you fear?”

The fiend replied with a rasping pride, “Nothing, I fear nothing. Nothing can harm me.”

Sylvia mulled it over in her head. “What did it mean to fear nothing? More importantly, what did it mean to attack with nothing? Is it the same thing as not attacking at all?” Could she resolve such a question? More importantly, could the fiend? She smiled as the though came over here, and even though she did not face the fiend she knew it was quite aware of her expression. “That is good for me, for I have brought nothing with which to attack you, and I attack you with nothing as we speak. Is that not your weakness?”

The fiend laughed, “You must think yourself very clever, but if you are attacking me with a play on words such as that, then you are not truly attacking me with nothing.”

“However, if I am aware that my attack is useless, then I am effectively attacking you with nothing. This would bring me back to the beginning. I appear to have a logical loop in front of me.  Do you have anything to add?” Sylvia waited for a response. When she heard none, she turned around.  The fiend was frozen, its mind still stuck on what she had said.

She walked slowly around it and made her way to the door. Looking in was a small gnome with many other gnomes behind him, each more afraid than the one in front of him to look at the fiend. Sylvia turned to them and said. “All is well. He will never move again.” She fished a handful of metal trinkets from her purse and offered them to the gnomes. “If you would be so kind as to bury him deep in the cemetery, I will gladly make payment for you services.”

A day later, Carl Kolchack looked over the papers on his desk. There were very few editors who would print a story about vampires.  Still, given some of the bylines he had authored in his day, he could not say that she was out of her mind without heaping harsh implications upon himself.  He finally spoke, “You took an awful risk, but no worse than what I took in my day. Really, I am no worse for the ware. Although, it kind of turned out to be a mixed blessing.”

The mixed blessing to which Carl was refereeing was that he was once cursed to live until the day before his beloved Cubs win the World Series, thus experiencing the agony of waiting without the joy of victory. On the positive side, this turn of events has rendered him effectively immortal.

 “So, you are sure that is that it is all in their minds?” He asked.

“I am not certain, but when one examines the credible stories of vampire attacks several patterns emerge. The first is that all vampires have a weakness. The second is that the weakness is always something readily available, be it sunlight, garlic, fire, or wooden stakes. The third is that, chronologically speaking, vampires do not start being effected by a weakness until at least one vampire has claimed to have it. Finally, in all credible accounts of vampire slaying, the vampire was aware that it was being subjected to its weakness. I figured my best course of action was simply to confront it. Usually, they make their weaknesses apparent when confronted.”

“I still can't believe you literally walked into that situation.” Carl said.

                “I was imperative that I try something, even though that something turned out to be nothing, in a sense.  All I had was a theory, which I may never truly prove. However, I do have some evidence to support that the weakness of a vampire is that the vampire believes it must have a weakness, and it believes this so fervently that its own vile powers force the belief into reality. If this is true, then it must have a decision on the laws governing its reality in order to continue in a dangerous situation. It is the sole judge in each case, including the ones that have no logical conclusion. If the judge cannot resolve the laws, then no verdict can be handed out and the court will never adjourn. I like that analogy. I think will use that in my final draft.”

EOS 27: True Power

Now there are two schools of though when it comes to automatic doors.
The first camp is the one that believes that it should be a grand entrance, to intimidate all who lie inside. I know a couple that takes this as far as grand gestures and sound effects.

Despite the comic. I am firmly a believer in the second line of reasoning. If one is truly powerful, then exercising ones power for minor tasks is more of an hassle than anything else. I generally accompany my automatic door entrances with a slight wave of the hand and a mildly annoyed look on my face, as if to say I am truly above using my powers for such menial tasks. It's the same kind of annoyance as when one has to approve the download and installation of a muti-gigabite file on a machine that could have won WWII with enough resources left to put captions on all of your cat photos.

EOS 26: Born Free

Here you go. Artistically, I am very pleased with this one. Obviously, I have my complaints, but as a whole, I like it.

I am switching to hand-lettering. I figure, the only way I am going to become good at it is by doing it. That is the reasoning behind this comic by the way.

As for the late update. I spent the weekend traveling, and going to my ten-year reunion. I just didn't feel like rushing this one. Yes, I could have found time, but I had better things to do, I guess.

Thankfully, I am at a conference in New Orleans. Since all there is to do in this town after sunset is hit the bars, I had plenty of time to work on this thing. I will have my next update on Tuesday, and I have the bare-bones of my story rewrite marked-up. That means I can probably get it to you any-time over the next week.

EOS 25: Fixing the Problem

So, I took an unexpected trip home this weekend. Thus, this comic was written in a day.

This is mainly an exercise for myself to see how well I can explain something in four panels. I will wrap up this and get on to mostly joke strips, for the foreseeable future.

I have pretty much decided to do a much larger project, but I will hold off on that until I defend. I need time to think, practice, and plan.

I am not making any promises, since I will have to plan around the conference next week, but I may rewrite a story I had in the Lit-Mag this year, and post it on Friday.

EOS 24: Gone Fishing

I will be perfectly honest. I drew this one for me. So, if you cannot understand it, the problem is on my end. I am not sure if I am completely pleased with how it turned out. I was also half tempted to do the truss in Solidworks (TM). However, it is a student-made truss, and I just wanted to see if I could eyeball it.
The big question I was asking myself, was concerning, how much detail makes or breaks the drawing.

Eh. There is room for improvement, but I am tired.  I might be working more on backgrounds and color selection in the future. I think a big part of it has to do with planning ahead.
Anyway, we should resume our regularly scheduled broadcasts on Tuesday.

By the way, I watched "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World" on Tuesday. That movie may have changed my life. Seriously, if you know, me then you would know that there was no way I would not have loved it.

Wait untill Friday

I will have the comic by Friday, and I will will update next week by Tuesday as well, after that, I do not know. I will be traveling a lot over the next month.

OK, I watched "Tron Legacy," on Sunday night. It was supposed to be a visually stunning movie, but for some reason I wasn't getting it. It was cool, but the effects and style, while groundbreaking in the 80s, felt a little played out. I was half expecting Trinity to show up and throw him off his Ducati. Not to mention Jeff Bridges was allowing a lot of "The Dude" to show through. Anyway, the coolest part of the film, visually, was when the sun rose at the very end, and you realize that you haven't seen it the entire movie. That being said, you were well aware the entire time, because the rest of the movie was unreasonably dark, with all of the real-world scenes inexplicably taking place at night. I guess I am not really complaining about the computer part, because that holds true to the franchise, but it would have been nice to have the real-world opening to be a little less dark and flashy. A bit of urban dinginess would have gone a long way to create nice contrast and really enhances the lights and clean lines of the computer world. Then, when you got back to the sunrise, you could have still been overwhelmed by a lush organic world. Maybe, they were trying to make it so there was little distinction  between the real world in the beginning and the computer world in the middle, but I feel it made the movie lose emotional resolution.

Still, "Tron" is one of the great visual influences in movies. I have decided to create a list of movies that use visuals and effects better than all of the rest. You've probably heard of all of them. Surprisingly, they are all sci-fi. Go figure. It is me.

Star Wars: Let's just get this out of the way because you knew this movie had to be on the list. I am specifically referring to "A New Hope." "Empire," and "Jedi" are equally awesome, but they were not the ground-breakers. The prequels have many cool aspects, but they just feel overdone.  (By the way, I refuse to acknowledge them as canon. They are just very elaborate fan-fiction in my book.)
I do not need to tell you how "Star Wars" changed how we view action and special effects. I will simply say this. They not only invented the effects, they used them awesomely. 35 years later and they still look right. The were all over the place, but they fit perfectly into the story and the visual scheme of the movie. That is really what I am looking for in special effects: "Does it make me believe that I am seeing what I am seeing?", not, "Is it cool?"

Jurassic Park: This is what inspired this post. I saw the original over the weekend. "Jurassic park" was frontrunner in trying to create realistic computer special effects. Surprisingly, 19 years later people aren't doing as good of a job with CGI. The reason is simple. In Jurassic park they wanted to show dinosaurs behaving and looking like dinosaurs. Dinosaurs weren't monsters or aliens. They were real animals, and they looked and behaved like animals. The goal was not the effect. The goal was the story, and the story was about dinosaurs. They used whatever technology was available to tell the stories, puppets, shadows, CGI, and even a bit of turning the camera on the actors to see their reactions. Now days, dinosaurs look hokey because people ask, "What can we make the dinosaurs do?" not "What should the dinosaurs be doing in this situation." Honestly, it's as much writing and visual direction as it is actual execution of the effect.

The Matrix: "The Matrix" is a film that is completely over-the-top. However, that was the goal. The world they were portraying was completely unrealistic, so their over-the-top visuals and effects enhance that feeling. Every action movie since 1999 has tried to copy their style, and I hate that for two reasons. The first is that it lacks originality. Every-slow-motion dodge reminds you of the "Matrix," end of story. The second is that it is a distortion of reality, not an enhancement. In a computer simulation, reality is distorted. So, crazy events are expected. In real-life, distorted reality just comes of as weird. It feels like you're skirting the bounds of sci-fi and superheros when you are really going for real-world action. I guess the question to ask yourself here, is "Am I distorting my reality, or emphasizing it?"

Aliens: Someone was credited with a comment along these lines when CGI came out: Why are we getting rid of the man in the rubber suit, when we are just getting good at it? "Aliens" if the perfect example. Not only are the characters rational (A first in a horror/action flick) and the story awesome, but  they are in a believable environment. That was the brilliance of the film. The goal was a heart-pounding story with a scary but functional environment and frightening monsters.  The form and aesthetics followed the emotional and story-telling goal. The effects worked to create the desired aesthetics. The lesson is the question, "Am I letting the aesthetics drive the emotional tone, or am I letting, the emotional tone drive the aesthetics?"

2001 A Space Odyssey:  Let's just pretend the final sequences didn't happen (We'll treat it like the "Star Wars" prequels.) Anyway, what was great about this movie? The technology. I understand that it wasn't nearly as impressive as that in "Star Trek," yet it was cooler. Here is the problem with "Star Trek." They had awesome lighting effects to portray their fantasy technology, but when it came to human interaction, it was dials and slide rules. I'm sure those things looked cool in the 60s but they did not stand the test of time. Eh, it was what they had. However, take "A Space Odyssey." The technology being portrayed was more down to earth, but it visually it feel a lot less hokey. The displays and user interfaces (including conversational voice commands) were what we would want in a spaceship. Therefore it feels futuristic, even in 2012. Also, the mechanics and aesthetics of the crafts in space are what we would expect a working spaceship to look like. They had work to portray weightlessness, rotational reference frames, and touch-screen displays. You don't even really think about that. You just think "That is how I would design a space ship." (Minus, the killing you part.) The question here is more of an aesthetics question, "Are we using the effects to portray how we would want the world to look and behave, or are we just sprucing up a couple of aspects with some wow factor and leaving the rest to be filled in with whatever we got?"

I think I will leave you now. The same lessons can be learned from, action, horror, and even romantic comedy. I just chose sci-fi, because visual effects are an essential part of the genre.

By the way, I was planning on writing this all weekend, but I found this post by Aaron Diaz.
By the way, you need to read Dresden Codak as it is my biggest influence.

Crow

EOS23: Grad Vs. Wild

OK, new storyline here. I think I am going to put David and Sylvia to bed for a while, because I feel a need to do something different with them. They were born out of a short-story, and I may try making a long-form project featuring them.

I am not really sure where "The Shark-Blimp Chronicles." are going. It is also a backup name for this project.

EOS 22: Dinner Conversation

So, this was supposed to be the last panel of Monday's update.
What do you think. I rushed through it to finish it by Friday (It would have been nice to not work 11 hour days this week. Oh, grad school getting in the way of things.)
By the way, I nailed it with three minutes to spare.

EOS 21: Accounting for The Lost

OK, I t did this in a day. visually, it is simpler than I woudl have liked, but I think it turned out alright.
Notes:
I wrote a story explaining panel 2.
If given a choice between drawing a Tonka Truck and Not Drawing a Tonka Truck, draw a Tonka Truck.
I was going to have one more panel on this, but I decided to make it into its own strip.
Expect something Friday!

EOS 20: Fear + Gratitude = ?

OK, I am winding things down with this storyline. I think one more should wrap up things. Then we will see what I can do with some more humorous strips. By the way. I had a lot of fun drawing this one.

Honestly, telling stories feels a little more rewarding than just jokes. I am trying to figure out if I will turn this into a big project or just a playground for comic experiments. In other news, I deactivated my Facebook account today. I will see how long this lasts.

EOS 19: Clearing Up Things

I hope this one was worth the wait. I like it, but it might be a bit confusing. My defense is that it is a hallucination. However, as long as you can read, you should be able to get what you need out of it, and since you are reading this, we know that you can read.

So the biggest complaint I get about the comic is, "I don't get it." What don't you get? Am I doing a bad job storytelling? Is it confusing to jump between a joke strip and a story strip? Joke strips are easier to make, so I use them as filler when I do not have time. Am I hinting at things about which I which I should be more explicit? Are you expecting a joke when you are getting a piece of the story or the other way around? Well, that is why I am doing this experimental phase, to figure out what needs to be fixed up.

Anyway, this storyline will be finished up in a week or two. Then we will go to a funnier storyline. Well, until next time.

EOS:18 Professorial Time Allocation

OK, this is a break from the storyline that I just threw together tonight.
I was going to throw together a hallucination based comic that would fit with the current story, but I decided that I would go all-out on that one, so I will need the full week to do it. This one took a few hours, and it was mainly an exercise in speed.

This one is a shout out to all of the overworked academics out there. Whenever I tell people that that I am doing a comic, they ask me one of two questions, "Is it going to be a superhero or a Garfield type comic?" or "Is it like the PhD comics?" Well, I never really wanted to copy www.phdcomics.com I am in graduate school, so there will be some grad school jokes. If you want the PhD. comics then read them. They are awesome.