Chump Change Tries to create a Comics Curmudgeonlike snark blog about Web Comics

[Chump Change]

I haven't read Comics Curmudgeon in ages, but what I remember about it was, it somehow made you actually WANT to read bad comics. I was actually sad when my paper cancelled Mary Worth, because I no longer got to enjoy its awfulness.

That has got to be a hard thing to pull off. Also, I am not sure if making people regret the cancellation of Mary Worth is a service to society.

On the other hand I feel this is worth doing because a blog with the tagline "your activities are so poorly conveyed" is a really good idea.

The thing is, most newspaper comics exist in a bubble of cultural irrelevance, syndicate branding-induced stagnation, ridiculous production schedules, and whatever it is bubbles are made of. Soap? They're old, change-retardant, and usually phoning it in. Ample mock fodder, sure, but it's also not hard to build a genuine affection for these comics.

Even when webcomics are that divorced from reality, they just aren't the same.

[rowboat]

"sopoorlyconveyed.com"

Yes. This.

[pmcd9]

The thing about Comics Curmudgeon is it is mocking comics that everyone knows.  You can't just pick on some bad webcomic that 1/2 dozen people have ever read, you have to take on the heavyweights.  That's a bit tougher than CC job because as Chump Change accurately pointed out those syndicated comics are pretty universally awful and the more popular web comics aren't.  Still there is something to mock in all of them even our beloved Achewood.

[Chump Change]

Also, most webcomics don't update often enough to provide material on a regular basis. I'm talking about both quantity and quality here.

Seven self-contained gags a week? You've got to slip up sometime. Telling a story three panels a day? No you're not.

[Chump Change]

Requesting topic title change to "Chump Change Does Not Try to create a Comics Curmudgeonlike snark blog about Web Comics"



"This is the Rayne? The wacky libidinous ladies' manchild you're always going on about? What were the odds?"

Look at Holly's little thinky face from yesterday's strip:


How common is the name Rayne, anyway? Based on statistics, for the last two years Holly assumed the Rayne was a loony lesbian who constantly evades charges of workplace sexual harassment by threatening to sue for discrimination.



I know we're never supposed to see Yehuda's eyes, but would it have been so hard, Rick Smith, to draw a mess of hair? It wouldn't have to be a final design - no one's hair looks the same while they sleep - and the fans would have gotten a good laugh and moved on. I'm distracted from the joke (which is actually kind of adorable) by wondering just what is going on here. Is it grafted to his head? Is it some kind of protective membrane? Was it Yehuda's one giant pupilless eyeball all along?

See what you've done?

[smick]

I was introduced to "Least I could Do" today.

The "Pat Pat" comic was linked on another message board's thread with the text "I love this comic. This guy should be making movies or something he's fuck*ng hilarious."

This comic is like Marmaduke.  Instead of every punchline being "This is a big fuck*ng dog", the punchline is "Man, Rayne (FYI: ME) is SO AWESOME! (I am!)"

[littlefallsmets]

It seems to take the metafictional notion of "self-insert" quite literally.

[pmcd9]

Good work Chumpy!

[Chump Change]

I have nothing against Ty Halley. I like Ty Halley. I just think he could use a writer. Or an editor. Or the knowledge that text in a comic takes up space and a cartoonist needs to budget for that space when laying out panels. Preferably all three!

Still, at least he didn't use even more text explaining how Karloff was mangled and bent like that. Or where he got his new giant robocrotch. Or why a robot and a zombie use a kitchen.



See, if you cut down on text you'll have more room for the real focal points of the strip: pieces of bikes! On top of speech bubbles! Tiny, unreadable exposition can be wedged between the front wheel and the pedals.

Panel three lends powerful support to the "Yehuda is blind" theory. Either that or nothing says friendly and local like a snapshot of that guy's torso.

[pmcd9]

I'm loving these updates.

[linnea]

Oh god. "Least I Could Do" is even worse than fuck*ng PvP. Every douchey panel of that comic makes me want to stab that fucktard "Rayne" in the face.

[littlefallsmets]

Worse than PvP... wow.

Are harshest words.

[CortJstr]

Suggestion: put the comic title and date (if different from your post date) above each picture like CC does.

[linnea]

Worse than PvP... wow.

Are harshest words.

PVP is pretty fuck*ng bad. Tiny can.

[Chump Change]

There are obviously much worse things than PvP out there, but if I didn't cave easily to peer pressure we wouldn't have this thread. And so, by popular demand, Player Vs. Player.



This was last week's strip, the start of a week-long storyline about unconscious Cole and his banana-boner. Over the next two strips, three old women see Cole's banana-boner and have heart attacks. Do they die? Probably!

Take a look for yourself:



I'm more concerned with whatever the heck is going on in Thursday's fourth panel. How is the banana-boner staying erect? Fused to his #####? Rarely seen third arm? Actual boner?

I guess it's perfectly legal to sign things for unconscious people, since the police officer is standing right there. Good to know!



Really, Least I could Do? Five stars? That's not even the Youtube interface. You made up your own Youtube interface for this comic because it was important to give your fictional surrogate the fictional approval of the fictional Youtube masses. Those aren't even couplets. Poetic verse needs rhythm and meter and argh argh argh

Damn it, Fictional Youtube.



Damn it, Tatsuya Ishida. I want to snark Sinfest, but it's been all but unimpeachable these last two weeks. "I am Doctor Love!" (which neither has nor needs appropriate context) is probably single the funniest thing in updates today.

Hopefully we'll be back to nonpunchlines soon. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

edit: Looks like I triggered the filters again. It's probably funnier this way.