The Escapist Radio Theater #3

[Samurai Goomba]

Am I the only person who doesn't find this funny at all? It reads like CAD or really, really bad Penny Arcade stretched impossibly on and on and on. There's a reason comics stick to a relatively small number of panels, and it has to do with holding the reader's interest and keeping humor punchy. I can stick with any manner of panel tomfoolery if there's a delicious and jolting punchline at the end (Cyanide and Happiness/VG Cats often do this, as does Pearls Before Swine), but this just wasn't funny.

I mean, NONE of it was funny. I don't want to be insulting, but I've been reading comics for years, even drawn some myself. I'm not saying they were any good, but I've got a general idea about things like framing. Your art is good, yes, but everything is seen from a completely flat angle, the whole strip is talking heads and the jokes are like the mild quips I'd hear in conversation with my MOST BORING friends. When my family gathers for Christmas we ad-lib better material than that insulting each other. Yours probably does too (directed at everyone reading this thread).

So what I'm trying to say is:

1. The jokes weren't funny.
2. The strip was too long for little payoff.
3. If you were going for a narrative, story strip from the beginning, the angle was flat, nothing happened and the strip was still too long.

I prescribe liberal doses of Sequential Art for both problems.

Sure, this can get better. I encourage you to continue working and improving. And I know this isn't very far into your run of strips. If this was a 3 or 4 panel strip I wouldn't have even said anything, but because it was so long and you had so many chances for your strip to become funny or interesting (it was at least 5-10 times the size of a traditional comic), I figured I'd voice my thoughts now. Yeah, I know I'm gonna get a lot of backlash for this (well, maybe).

 

[ravensshade]

It's times like this that I wonder if I should give up being sarcastic on the internet altogether.

sarcasm on my internet? that will never work..

also great comic

 

[Irridium]

My only complaint:
Characters are too athletic and/or good looking for
A- working at the radio
B- being a group of 5 people into gaming.

Indeed. This lacks realism. They should be more fat and less good looking. Also, one of them was a girl. There's about a 1 in 100,000 chance of a girl being a gamer. After all, there are no girls on the internets.

Mmhmm, this piece of fiction isn't realistic enough.

Good comic, by the way.

It's times like this that I wonder if I should give up being sarcastic on the internet altogether.

Well... if its any consolation I thought it was funny...

 

[Tinneh]

My only complaint:
Characters are too athletic and/or good looking for
A- working at the radio
B- being a group of 5 people into gaming.

Indeed. This lacks realism. They should be more fat and less good looking. Also, one of them was a girl. There's about a 1 in 100,000 chance of a girl being a gamer. After all, there are no girls on the internets.

Mmhmm, this piece of fiction isn't realistic enough.

Good comic, by the way.

It's times like this that I wonder if I should give up being sarcastic on the internet altogether.

Same here, seeing as you didn't detect my sarcasm. But either way, I was agreeing with you and actually talking to the first guy in this conversation.

 

[rsvp42]

My only complaint:
Characters are too athletic and/or good looking for
A- working at the radio
B- being a group of 5 people into gaming.

Honestly, that was my reaction too. Don't get me wrong, the art is solid, but the character designs feel more like an idealization, some gamer's fantasy about his cool, sexy gamer friends and the conversations he wants to have... For this more realistic style, I'd hope to see more realistic people. Doesn't necessarily mean ugly, though.

snip.

I'm inclined to agree with this critique, although I'm not as vehemently critical. The comic overall is quite pleasant, if somewhat bland. I definitely encourage you to keep going though. I wish I had the patience to do a comic every week.

 

[MasterSplinter]

Indeed. This lacks realism. They should be more fat and less good looking. Also, one of them was a girl. There's about a 1 in 100,000 chance of a girl being a gamer. After all, there are no girls on the internets.

Actually, two of them where girls.
I don't care for realism when it's uncalled for, the thing is that i just didn't believe those character designs on that particular situation they where all too cool and stylish people in cool places doing cool stuff. Just saying the first thing that came to my mind after seeing the two comics.

But i can understand that many people start learning how to draw by learning how to draw how they wish stuff were. And i will keep on reading it, if it's going to try to develop at least some personalities in the characters, as it seams to be doing.

 

[The Random One]

What happened to 2?

 

[Hutchy_Bear]

This is really quite fun to read. I LOVE the art work and can't wait to see more.

 

[Unhappy Crow]

For those that say the artwork is great I agree with them. Also I'm excited to see E3 2010...through my television.

 

[Remy Cambridge]

Am I the only person who doesn't find this funny at all?

(snip)

Yeah, I know I'm gonna get a lot of backlash for this (well, maybe).

You'll hear no backlash from me, and I doubt from anyone else here. And I doubt you're the only one who doesn't find it funny. You're voicing a valid opinion, and I even agree with some aspects of your critique. But I'm not quite sure I have it in me to write the comic that you want to read. Though I enjoy the best snappy punchline and visceral wit of a Penny Arcade or even the occasional great VG Cats, I'm a sort who could happily write about paint drying.

That I'm getting away with using some talented craft to pull some readers has helped. And I get the feeling some people here are liking it even after reading through it. But that isn't a helpful argument in my case, and I can't force you to like something you don't. At the same time, I want to see out this slow burn comic. This sort of long, punchline-less, form of webcomic, is going to be tough to make and even now I'm unsure of it's "payoff" as it has been satisfying to me but I'm not entirely certain for others.

The comment you make about the banal conversations of friends and family is the most interesting one to me. Because that's part of the challenge I've aimed for writing this. When you're with your friends and family, it can almost always be a great time. You laugh and share fond memories, and you build conversations and tell jokes that feel great to hear. But often times, when a stranger encounters your friends and family, there's a difficult hump to climb over. From an outsider's perspective, a lot of the best jokes can be in jokes or things best understood from within that group. It can take an open mind, or many open minds, to bring someone into a fold. But for the most part, your best jokes among yourselves aren't terribly funny to people outside of your comfort zone.

At the same time, that comfort zone is what I'm trying to extend to every total stranger reading this. By having an open and comfortable enough scenario of people who care about their lives and each other, has been a founding principle in this comic since day one of writing it. And it's not a situation that leads to the best kinds of humor. Hell, failure and mockery are some of the best and most potent forms of humor. But it was something I decided early on to eschew in favor of banal kindness and sincerity. To find humor, or indeed even interest in that, has been a challenge I find engaging as an artist and as a person.

I don't care for realism when it's uncalled for, the thing is that i just didn't believe those character designs on that particular situation they where all too cool and stylish people in cool places doing cool stuff. Just saying the first thing that came to my mind after seeing the two comics.

This is a fair comment, and I have given it a considered measure of thought. That I was indeed drawing people a little more on the prettier side of the gamer spectrum isn't an unfair observation. But to be fair, I think most gamers look better than the culture gives itself credit for. I leaned a little more towards general attractiveness than maybe I should have, but there's always time for characters to develop a weight problem.

As far as the number of girls to guys ratio, I can honestly say that every girl I've known has been a gamer. Maybe this speaks to the kinds of people I've chosen to be around, but it also could say something about the gaming community as a whole. There are more women here than we often like to think. And for some reason, a few of us find that unbelievable.

What happened to 2?

It was also quite a lengthy comic. And it took a fair amount longer to produce than I had anticipated and I missed Escapist's deadline. Entirely my fault, and no small amount of disappointment. But the comic is indeed finished. And it still remains relevant to a degree, it even suffers from a punchline of sorts. It's in the Escapist's hands now on how to publish it, if it will be.

I don't understand the playability comment for "The Last Guardian".
Is that supposed to mean that it'll be more like a film than a game?

It's concerning the nature of how it will be presented at E3. There's always a chance that it would only be shown in video form of a trailer. But, maybe like ICO almost a decade before it, it will find it's way to playable kiosks across the show floor.

Gosh that was a story. I could wax poetic for an hour about the stories of ICO's first, quiet, subdued, playable E3 presentation those many years ago. And how the journalism written about this mysterious little thing captured my imagination.

I'll take your Kojima for Rising bet and raise you CAPCOM and Devil May Cry falling out.

Calumon: And I'll go with LittleBIGPlanet 2 being super Cool!

Man... that is a curious bet. I haven't heard much about the Devil May Cry team in quite some time, though I thought I heard something about many of its original team moving over to Grasshopper or something. I could be totally misinformed about that.

LittleBIGPlanet 2 being super cool? Was there ever EVER any doubt about that?

 

[Gigaguy64]

The Escapist Radio Theater #3

Now taking your E3 bets.

Read Full Article

Ill betcha $10 that Mayamoto unveails the new Zelda at it destroys all expectations.
Including the worries about it being too "Easy".

OT:That was funny!
And i must say, i really really REALLY like your Art style!
Its good!
Cant wait for the next one!

And one more thing, your Avatar.

Spoiler: It wouldn't happen to be a snip from this would it?

 

[Silver Patriot]

10 bucks MGS:R looks like it will play similar to Devil May Cry. Of course you can only judge that if we see actual gameplay footage.

 

[longyear]

The Escapist Radio Theater #3

And one more thing, your Avatar.

Spoiler: It wouldn't happen to be a snip from this would it?

Spoiler: I thought it was a snip from this

 

[Gigaguy64]

The Escapist Radio Theater #3

And one more thing, your Avatar.

Spoiler: It wouldn't happen to be a snip from this would it?

Spoiler: I thought it was a snip from this

Ahhhh, that's the beauty of memes.
I like mine better though.

 

[TheRocketeer]

They propose that The Last Guardian is going to be unplayable, as if it's a sure thing?

Team Ico is 2 for 2, and a pretty darn majestic 2 for 2 as well. Unless there was some kind of expose on them showing that they had all gotten hooked on heroin and started taking writing and direction classes from Hideo Kojima, I've got pretty high hopes for The Last Guardian.

 

[Noviny]

Really enjoyed this comic. Well worth the read.

 

[ironduke88]

I can't get over how much I love the art work in this series. Seriously its beautiful...

My bet would probably be that Peter Molyneux talks about Fable 3 and at no point does he claim the gameplay to be in any way innovative or completely genre-breaking and that he has focused on the story-teling aspect of the game.

 

[Remy Cambridge]

And one more thing, your Avatar.
It wouldn't happen to be a snip from this would it?

Yes.

They propose that The Last Guardian is going to be unplayable, as if it's a sure thing?

Not to be glib but I believe I covered this with a previous response. As well as admitting a profound fondness for Team ICO's work. The bet in question was in regards to whether or not there will be a playable version available at the conference, nothing more insidious or interesting than that.

I think there might be something wrong with us when someone assumes the worst with any one comment, and imagines some stale age old cinema vs game argument when the reality was much more benign.

(Snip)

Would you find it odd if I took all that as a compliment? I'm gonna see how far this goes. So far, I don't mind being a little divisive but if the returns aren't coming in well then this little experiment in web comic style may falter but I'd be no less proud of the attempt. I don't believe that there isn't a space for the slow burn comic, even in a space like here. And though I've got only so much time in a day to write, and you all only so much time to read, I think there's more out there to gaming comics than what is readily available from writers far funnier and snappier than I. (Some of them on this very site, I might add.)