That other guy who used to do this strip, Bob something I think, tended to limit the strips that just blatantly mocked the art (though when he did it, he did it well.) I’m unlikely to impose any such limit on myself, because these are just too much fun. When I saw this piece of clip art, the shapes on the suitcase just jumped out at me. I couldn’t stop giggling when I was writing this thing.
I’ll mention randomly at this point that my one-man comedy synth-punk band, Worm Quartet, will be playing the Bug Jar in Rochester, NY on February 24th. Come on out!
-=ShoEboX=-
I just wanted to reiterate that I really really like these strips. Especially since the comic is so established now.. making fun of the clipart is more than valid.
To be honest, I have to say this was your worst so far. The premise of mocking the art is in itself not that funny, and here it starts at panel 1 and just… keeps going. Few jokes can stand repetition, and “this X looks like Y, har har har” isn’t one of them.
Now, this isn’t a slight against you personally – I personally consider the one you linked to yourself, “Strange Carnival”, one of Rob’s worst. But compare it to, say, “Looking At Drawing“. Sure, the punchlike is again just art mockery of the “this X looks like Y” kind. But the actual humor derives from that punchline after a masterful, expectation-raising setup. In itself, “phallus on head” is pretty “meh” as jokes go. In that context though? Laugh-out-loud funny.
Eh, I’m not amused. I know, horror of horrors. I have not been entertained by my free entertainment.
It just doesn’t take much to make fun of badly drawn art. Anybody can do it.
I love it! I giggled all the way though it. Now I want an assortment of polygons.
I miss ‘Bob something.’ I’ve also been missing his comic for a month and change, and I feel the deal has just been clinched.
*sigh*
Thanks, Bob Something. It was a good run while it lasted.
HOLY CRAP why didn’t someone tell me this comic was back!?
I welcome our new boxy overlord! Fie upon Bob and Erfworld!
Mocking the art CAN be funny. This isn’t.
There are too many attempts at jokes crammed into too small a space. It has no flow and so the one punchline with merit, the nipple clipped to armpit, winds up falling flat because it hasn’t been built up to at all.
Remember: “Brevity is the soul of wit”. At the point that we the readers catch on that you’re mocking the art style, any future jabs at that art stop being funny. Strange Carnival worked because although the art was being mocked the entire time, it didn’t jump out at you until the third panel regarding “a poorly drawn man”.
I’m glad I didn’t read these poopy pants comments before the strip. I had to pause between every line to catch my breath. This was 100% awesome.
Wow. I didn’t know this strip would be so divisive! Really interesting to such strong reactions on both sides of this one.
Isaac – what you describe is valid, but that sort of buildup isn’t what I was going for here. This is more of an “unrelentingly drop ridiculous art misinterpretation after ridiculous art misinterpretation and let the ridiculousness itself build up” approach, which is also, strangely, how I read “Strange Carnival.” I guess that kinda drives home just how good “Carnival” is, since both you and I were able to appreciate it for different reasons.
Thanks for the comments, guys!
-=ShoEboX=-
“Whose Line Is It Anyway?” is the first thing that popped into mind when reading this one. Take your pick of hosts
but it really seemed like a skit right out of one of those episodes.
Loved the old PC, loving the new one too. Great work, guys. Thanks!
This is probably my favorite of the new PClips. It seems like it was written on a dare or something.
ahhh – love it!
I managed to not laugh on any of these, but I was laughing non-stop for ten minutes on this one. I suck. Bloody hilarious XD crazeh guise