WordOwl

As I write this, I have some plans for 2009. As per my plans for the end of 2008, some, all or none may come to fruition.

However, these are the plans I have for 2009. Let’s see what happens.

Review of 2008 webcomics

This one’s an easy one. Next Monday’s “Comic of the Week” article will actually look at 2008 in general for webcomics, highs and lows of the webcomic industry as I’ve seen it, so it won’t follow the usual structure of a CotW article, but hopefully it’ll be worth the read anyway.

Finish the comics I already have

I have about 650 Melonpool still to do, plus about 600 Angst Tech (it’s on hold for the moment, however for reasons that will become clear). On top of that I also have about 230 or so Cool Cat Studio strips, plus another 4,300 that have been agreed.

I’ll announce them properly once I start work on them officially, but I’m fed up of keeping it a vague surprise. (Some people know it already so, meh.)

As well as finishing Melonpool, Angst Tech, and Cool Cat Studio, it has also been agreed that Penny & Aggie and Superosity can join WordOwl. More news as it happens.

Administration system

One of the goals for 2009 is to implement an administrative system and allows me to add strips from wherever I am, rather than just when I’m at my computer. The eventual plan is also to expand it out to other authorised users to input strips (subject to approval from other authorised users, although I expect initially at least I’ll still review every added strip). The logistics of doing this are complex enough, without worrying about the user interface/management stuff. But that’s one of the plans for 2009.

WordOwl Wiki

This is already off to a start; I started playing with this back in August, but stopped while I concentrated on other things. The Wiki is, however, back on the drawing board and has allowed me to get my thang back with coding. (The holiday season always kinda wipes me out, which is why I’m so far behind with everything. I just don’t get on with it.)

So I’ve been writing up templates and parser extension functions and basically having a super-happy-fun-time with MediaWiki’s theming and template system. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an amazing system, but I get frustrated with some of the things it does sometimes.

One preview of what it looks like has already been released into the forum for the comic that it currently supports, and no doubt more information will follow in due course.

Anyway. That’s all I have for now. I haven’t forgotten where this is all going, but maybe I can start getting back on track properly.

For this week, the last of 2008, we take a look at one of the older webcomics out there: Ashfield, variously known as Ashfield, Ashfield Online, and ? - The Demented Comic Strip.

I’ve always taken the name to be Ashfield Online, for reference.

So, what’s it about?

The strip follows the exploits of one Professor Ashfield, though his experiments and attempts at world domination. Like other comics (such as Cyanide & Happiness and xkcd), Ashfield isn’t predominantly a story comic, but mostly a series of one-shots in the classic gag-a-day format.

One of the running jokes is that Ashfield is in virtually the same pose every day, standing upright with his trademark cigarette.

The caption is usually the punchline, sometimes helped by the art.

What’s the appeal?

Unlike some of the beautiful artwork out there, Ashfield tended towards simplicity; frequently there is no art other than Ashfield himself an a line for the horizon, but mostly Ashfield’s humour tends to the punchline in the caption.

Aric McKeown’s own brand of satire - now visible in Blank It - is what defines Ashfield; it is blunt, to the point and often funny because it evoked a sense of realisation about the true inanity of the world.

McKeown also wasn’t afraid to experiment with the format a little; in the later part of the comic’s life, it had two staples that push the boundaries of the webcomic medium: “Multiple Mondays” and “Animated Fridays”

The latter speaks for itself, being a short animation, usually only a few seconds, that featured Ashfield being - well - Ashfield, while the former is still probably the most unique feature about Ashfield to this day: providing three different punchlines to the same artwork. As far as I know, no other comic has attempted to replicate this, despite it being a very interesting (and no doubt difficult) feat to pull off.

There was something about the Internet media realm in the first part of the 2000s where sound was a fad as part of the entertainment business, but looking back it now seems somehow pre-emptive rather than jumping on the bandwagon.

What I like most about Ashfield is that where it is reasonably minimal and relies on the punchline, it’s very quick to digest and doesn’t require studying the artwork - great for a “quick first comic hit of the day” pick-me-up.

What about its history, and its future?

Ashfield started at the end of January 1999, when the webcomic industry such as it is today did not really exist; Melonpool and Sluggy Freelance (among others) already existed, however Keenspot had not formed at that point (indeed, it even predates Superosity by Keenspot’s founder Chris Crosby) so whatever web-only comics were out there at that point were very limited and were all independent creations.

After an almost solid 3 years at a 5/week schedule, the occasional gaps in 2002 hinted that the comic might be slowing down; in spring 2003 it went on hiatus, resurfacing for about a month in 2005 before lapsing back into hiatus again.

Aric has gone on to other unique and individual projects, most notably the Mustache Rangers podcast, although other projects such as Make Me Watch TV were floating around too, and more recently working on Blank It with Lemmo Pew.

Closing thoughts?

Ashfield was one of those strips I discovered in college, not too long (less than a year) after Keenspot formed, leaving it with strong memories in the mind; indeed I was able to follow strips as they came out, which was rather nice.

It is also one of the strongest cases I’ve seen of “less is more” and demonstrates what can be done with good writing, rather than detailed artwork.

Great! Where next?

• Website: www.ashfieldonline.com
• Updates: on hiatus since 2005
• Created by: Aric McKeown
• My favourite line: Why mess around with voodoo when you can just stick needles in people you hate?

WordOwl is pleased to announce - earlier than originally intended, no less - that the next comic to join is none other than Cool Cat Studio, the first strip created by Gisele Lagace (artist for Menage a 3 and Penny & Aggie)

Set in the graphic design shop of the same name, Cool Cat Studio follows the antics of the owners Belinda and Jeremy, their cat Camus (after which the studio is named) and its staff, Sophia, Michael and most infamously, the enigmatic Liz Adams.

Cool Cat Studio ended its initial run in 2001, but had a follow-on run from June 2007 until September 2008.

I said to myself - I promised myself I wouldn’t add any other comics until both Melonpool and Angst Tech were done.

Unfortunately due to needing a break from the in-transcription storylines in both strips, I needed a break, so I’ve actually added the first batch of the next comic to be joining WordOwl. I’ll make a proper announcement in a bit though.

Part of me feels glad since it was getting to the point where I was feeling like busting a gut over these two strips, and now I’ve relaxed the rule (twice!) I feel happier about doing a little more.

I’m just annoyed at myself for not having sufficient discipline to do it properly, that’s all.

First up, I’d like to wish any readers here (and this includes those who follow this on LiveJournal feed from here) a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I have a ton of things going on that will filter into 2009 so watch this space for comic goodness.

I’m going to keep this quick since I’m trying to finish up on Melonpool at least before the end of the year (next week!) and still have over 700 to do.

I got a parcel this morning. I was expecting it, but it didn’t change the fact that it was appreciated. I briefly mentioned in the Melonpool review for Comic of the Week that a new book was due out, but that at the time it was a surprise. Well, I’m extremely pleased that my copy turned up in today’s post! What I didn’t explain in the article was that Melonpool had a history even before being a webcomic; four comic books - The Melonpool Chronicles - were created way back in 1996 before it became a webcomic. Steve has arranged with ComixPress to issue the books in a single bound volume entitled “The Melonpool Chronicles Revisited”, and I gots me one!

I must be careful with it though, since it is very cool since Steve has done the 10 recipients of the pre-release edition (it’s out on general release in January) proud; not only are they numbered and signed, but there’s a sketch on the inside cover too, and there were some 1995-edition bookmarks in with it too! To me this is a real piece of comic history and is one of the corner-stones of my comic collection - Melonpool was the first webcomic I ever read and this is a look back at the prequel, if you will. Except unlike Star Wars Episode I, this is a real prequel worth reading.

So, yeah, I’m a happy chappy today and to have it here in time for Christmas is just the icing on the cake really. And I know the title for the sixth book, which also makes me happy, since it’s something I’ve been wondering for the last three years.

Now if I can only get up to my former rate of 100/day getting this done shouldn’t be a problem. But I think I’ve said that before. Perhaps I should take a leaf out of Mayberry and Ralphie’s book…

“To the time machine!”

There’s been a few things going on over the last few days that have been interesting.

As I think I might have mentioned (or maybe not, I’m not sure without checking) I’ve been off doing other things over the last few days and I’ve actually had a few days where the comics were late going up. Yesterday was actually the worst day I think I’ve had in that respect but I got the issues around it sorted out, so I’m back on the top of my game.

In fact, this morning I was so on the ball I would have been the first one over on the xkcd forum to post a thread about today’s comic, had I had anything witty enough to say about it.

Today saw a flurry of changes for Flat Feet & High Heels, where John has moved the bonus strips around (they’re set in April 2008, and now are dated April 2008 in the archives), so I moved them in WordOwl too, plus added on the story lines that are now there.

I also did another batch of Melonpool; just hit strip 1300. I had to stop though; this block of strips is one I really need to read through in the book again (it’s part of Melonpool IV: Castaway) before I can really tackle the transcriptions, as we’re going through a time travel saga again. (We’ve already been to 2182 twice before in the archive, but due to events in 2002 (in book 4), an alternate 2182 gets created. Then, to add to it, events from 2000 lurch to this alternate 2182, back to 2000 causing a new 2000 timeline to occur. So I need to work out which strips feature: Roberta, Roberta II, Roberta III or Roberta IV, plus Old Ralphie or Old Ralphie II, plus an alternate J-LB8 in droid form.)

Like I say, I need to read the book. I may even end up making notes on who’s who (which I also did during the ‘It’s Walky’ crossover)

I’ve also kicked off with 20 transcriptions for the next comic to join WordOwl. I won’t reveal it here, but the fans of the three comics joining as we move into 2009 might already know (I vaguely remember posting about it in their forums in a moment of madness). I just needed a break from getting my head round Melonpool, so I did that instead.

But for now it’s time for bed. My sleep cycle is way messed up at the moment. This is actually the earliest I’ve gone to bed for several days… hopefully I’ll get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow and dig into more.

Well to this week’s Comic of the Week, and this week we take a look at what is probably one of the most popular, and definitely one of the most offensive and irreverent, comics out there at the moment: Cyanide and Happiness.

Unusually, this comic has four regular artists, Kris Wilson, Ron DenBleyker, Dave McElfatrick and Matt Melvin, all publishing under the umbrella of “Explosm”.

So, what’s it about?

Cyanide And Happiness is a gag-a-day with occasionally recurring characters, taking a long hard look at the idiocies of modern life and skewing the views of normality.

What’s the appeal?

Most of its appeal is that it peeks into life and skews our normal views, making it very good for the first-morning read of the day to remind you that life isn’t always normal.

It is also very irreverent, featuring various offensive attributes (strong language, violence, religion on occasion), but done in a way that makes the point, more often than not in a funny way.

The art style itself is also part of the joke, in a number of ways. Unlike some other comics - even those with fantastic art - Cyanide And Happiness doesn’t involve too much art in general. The side benefit is that the joke doesn’t get lost amongst irrelevancies and like other minimalist comics, relies more on its dialogue to make the point.

One of the on-going staples of Cyanide and Happiness are the recurring superhero characters, except that they are not particularly heroic, especially the perfectly-named SuperJerk. It’s just another facet of the subversive nature of Cyanide & Happiness.

The other appeal is that despite sounding like it should belong in the same category as Beavis and Butthead for humour and attitude, it somehow seems to retain a standing above that level.

Explosm itself also has a massive community, one of the largest linked with comics yet, and in some ways the comic is a side point to the forum, rather than the other way around; so much so that there is a fifth member of Explosm who primarily looked after the forums, and the site also hosts other material, such as Flash movies by the gang.

The one last appeal it has, though perhaps more tangentially, is the fact that it is viral in nature; not only do they provide the code from which to hot-link images, they also have a similar attitude at conventions. I had the joy of meeting the guys at the London Film & Comic Convention in July, and throughout the entire day I was there, their booth was consistently the busiest the whole day, except perhaps for a couple of the guests signing autographs. (Even the DeLorean parked in the front, straight out of the Back To The Future films didn’t generate as much of a crowd)

What about its history, and its future?

Cyanide And Happiness was founded in its current form sometime at the end of 2004, when Kris Wilson drew a few comics while ill, and the rest of the site evolved to showcase those comics. As time moved on the rest of the gang joined, all having come from other backgrounds, and the current line-up of comics evolved from early 2005 onwards.

The initial comics under the Explosm banner were Rob’s, a fact which irritated a lot of Kris’ earlier fans, however the comic has never felt as though it was parodying itself; indeed the style Kris originally set out for Cyanide And Happiness (even naming it from one of the early strips) proved a strong base on which to develop and grow in all directions.

As for its future, recent strips have actually been less offensive than some of their earlier ones, although the ones of the last few days have been a strong return to the style demonstrated by the gang in their earliest outings: a nice side-view at life with a side-helping of offense.

The forum is still heaving, and with a bonus comic out for Christmas (not to be added to WordOwl, however) and an ever-growing pool of strangeness from life to look at, it seems the future is bright for the Explosm gang.

Closing thoughts?

This is not, bizarre, the most offensive webcomic I have encountered, although it is consistently more offensive than others. Interestingly, despite the odd characters being so off-the-wall, I can see a strong resemblence to people I’ve known.

The only closing thought I do have, though, is that the gang have made it clear that if a reader finds it offensive, that is not their problem - plenty of other readers didn’t agree on the offense level. For example, Jesus is an occasional character, most notably in the Easter comics - promoting “Zombie Jesus Day”. Of course, this is bound to cause offense, but to others it demonstrates the apparent inanity of Easter, that it’s the irreverent celebration of someone being “undead”.

Great! Where next?

• Website: www.explosm.net/comics/
• Updates: Daily
• Created by: Kris Wilson, Ron DenBleyker, Dave McElfatrick and Matt Melvin
• My favourite line: “…thothe are thome fuggin good clothth.”

Next milestone, wahey!

It’s weird, I didn’t intentionally stop at 8,000, that’s just where I got to with Melonpool, but now it’s 4.38am and I really have to go do some other stuff before bed.

With a little luck I should get some more Melonpool done tomorrow pushing the count over the 1300 mark.

WordOwl is extremely proud to announce the addition of the latest comic’s archive to join: Locus, by Adam Black.

Featuring full-colour art, high octane action and more, Locus follows the adventures of the title character through a veritable minefield of punch-ups that put The Matrix to shame.

Not for the easily offended, or faint of heart, Locus has a tagline that definitely pushes it into the adult arena, with the comic catering for people that don’t just expect a gag a day from comics, but a deeper, thought-provoking storyline and art from an artist who worked on the KISS 4K comic books.

Locus updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday and should be considered 18+, if nothing else for the tagline, “Boobs, Blood, and Bad Language”

Gah, I say, and Gah again.

Today has been a weird day. Net result is that it’s only just today that I’m doing today’s strips and still no Comic of the Week column this week. I really think as it’s almost Thursday morning that this week I should leave it and do one next week. (Note to self: start writing these ahead of the game.)

In personal news, today was punctuated with buying a Christmas tree. It’s 7ft tall, has nothing on top since it’s only an inch from my ceiling (but that’s what we wanted) and is black. Nothing like being conventional here.

In other other news, another comic is joining WordOwl - I have 4 comics sat in the queue now behind Melonpool and Angst Tech, but this fourth comic is kinda special.

Since it only has 21 strips total so far, I’m going to bend the rules and insert it today if possible. For 21 strips, I might as well let it go since it’s not a huge deal really. But I still want to finish the other two before I start the bigger comics in the queue, that’s the only way it’s fair.

That said, I am now beginning to have doubts about the New Year deadline. The last few days have been hectic with real life stuff, which has made it awkward to get on with anything substantial, and I’ve been doing some projects that are reasonably urgent which have taken up the rest of my time.

If I have a reasonably uninterrupted schedule between now and New Year and can pull off close to 100/day without too much hassle I should make it with room to spare. But this is my life and I should know by now that plans never work out as planned. (I used to work with the IT team closely at my old job. I know that’s the case that deadlines invariably miss. Or as Douglas Adams once said, “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they fly by.”)

But this comic can be sneaked in before I start on the juggernaut behemoths to follow. And already 2009 is shaping up to be a great year for WordOwl; I already know I’m looking at 20 comics to be made available, and with plans to do way more cool stuff.