Zero Punctuation: Webcomics
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Thought-provoking first post. You have completely re-shaped my outlook on the webcomic.El Mexicutioner said:
I think Yahtzee needs to stick to what he does best- VIDEO GAME Reviews.
I mean, god forbid a writer should write about something important to him. That's just unheard of.
I mean, god forbid a writer should write about something important to him. That's just unheard of.
Well, to each their own, but my point is that I don't believe that the people who make C&H really think that what they are making is GOOD.Indigo_Dingo said:
I find pretty much all their comics depressing.
Tell me about it. When I was 15 or so, my mom and me took a Celtic singing class (in one of life's little ironies, I still remember some of the lyrics, but I have no idea why we signed up in the first place), they had to provide two separate books for us: One with the lyrics as they were written, and one with the phonetic pronunciation. It was a rare occasion on which I ever saw a similarity between the two. How do you think "Raghallaigh" is pronounced?Razzle Bathbone said:
Of course... this has nothing to do with the topic, so forget I said anything. ^_^;
Hello. I registered here to post my view, to not flame others, webcomics, ZP, or anything along those lines. I have just read all 24 pages of comments, and wish to offer a different point of view. I will not say if it is better or worse then any other comic, and I'm not going to get wrapped up in frivolous debate on the matter,
I have been a huge fan of Zero Punctuation for quite some time and enjoy the videos. CAD on the other hand, I only first saw about 2 days ago. But, I must point out, not because of this forum or the video. I found it trying to understand the explosm comic, many of us have seen, which parodies the Lilah's miscarriage and Ethan's discovery. Now, I had no idea what the comic meant or was even a reference to, until two days ago. Somehow, I stumbled upon a link which took me to the CAD homepage. I began viewing the comics, newest to oldest, and what did I find..... The miscarriage. After then looking over the news, on a hunch, I found the text used in the explosm comic. I was a bit stunned, and I wanted to know what the miscarriage was all about (As in why did it occur/backstory). But, rather then troll forums, I just went to the very start of CAD, and read every, single, strip.
So, I have experienced CAD from the beginning of honestly not giving much attention to the jokes, but more to the plot and story. My personality is drawn towards solving the unknown, or what I don't understand. I feel that is one reason I read novels in single sittings and enjoy the sciences, but I digress. After catching up fully I have to say, I couldn't give two shits about the writer, the humor (Which as a
gamer I DO get), or the evolution of the art work. But, as someone who came at this looking to see charecter development and a plot, I enjoyed CAD very much. Now, I KNOW will take flack for that statement. But, I'm going to continue to follow the comic closely. WHY? Because I want to know how it "ends" in a sense.
I need to note, the reason I believe the miscarriage did not piss me off, or turn me away from the comic immediately (Unlike others), is that I didn't know any backstory, or even realize it was a gaming comic.
Also, as odd as it may sound, I have identified with the characters in regard to loosing a child. While I have not suffered or had a family member with a miscarriage, myself, my brother, and children I know of from other families we extremely premature at birth, and had almost no chance of survival. The stress and heartbreak can destroy or strengthen families, as I have seen firsthand. I feel that is why I'm driven to see how Ethan and Lilah turn out, because I, in an odd way, do care about the characters,
So, to sum up this late-night rambling, I wanted to explain how a humorous, gaming-based comic, though a different set of circumstances, can for one reader, never even have humor concern them. Yes, I do laugh at some material, but in the end, all I want to know is what happens next.
I have been a huge fan of Zero Punctuation for quite some time and enjoy the videos. CAD on the other hand, I only first saw about 2 days ago. But, I must point out, not because of this forum or the video. I found it trying to understand the explosm comic, many of us have seen, which parodies the Lilah's miscarriage and Ethan's discovery. Now, I had no idea what the comic meant or was even a reference to, until two days ago. Somehow, I stumbled upon a link which took me to the CAD homepage. I began viewing the comics, newest to oldest, and what did I find..... The miscarriage. After then looking over the news, on a hunch, I found the text used in the explosm comic. I was a bit stunned, and I wanted to know what the miscarriage was all about (As in why did it occur/backstory). But, rather then troll forums, I just went to the very start of CAD, and read every, single, strip.
So, I have experienced CAD from the beginning of honestly not giving much attention to the jokes, but more to the plot and story. My personality is drawn towards solving the unknown, or what I don't understand. I feel that is one reason I read novels in single sittings and enjoy the sciences, but I digress. After catching up fully I have to say, I couldn't give two shits about the writer, the humor (Which as a
gamer I DO get), or the evolution of the art work. But, as someone who came at this looking to see charecter development and a plot, I enjoyed CAD very much. Now, I KNOW will take flack for that statement. But, I'm going to continue to follow the comic closely. WHY? Because I want to know how it "ends" in a sense.
I need to note, the reason I believe the miscarriage did not piss me off, or turn me away from the comic immediately (Unlike others), is that I didn't know any backstory, or even realize it was a gaming comic.
Also, as odd as it may sound, I have identified with the characters in regard to loosing a child. While I have not suffered or had a family member with a miscarriage, myself, my brother, and children I know of from other families we extremely premature at birth, and had almost no chance of survival. The stress and heartbreak can destroy or strengthen families, as I have seen firsthand. I feel that is why I'm driven to see how Ethan and Lilah turn out, because I, in an odd way, do care about the characters,
So, to sum up this late-night rambling, I wanted to explain how a humorous, gaming-based comic, though a different set of circumstances, can for one reader, never even have humor concern them. Yes, I do laugh at some material, but in the end, all I want to know is what happens next.
Yahtzee isn't funny.
He's hilarious.
This could actually go well with your Hat Man Stick Figure. I'd bookmark it right away!
People from the www.GRevForums.net community are a very big fan of yours. We always look forward to your next video!
He's hilarious.
This could actually go well with your Hat Man Stick Figure. I'd bookmark it right away!
People from the www.GRevForums.net community are a very big fan of yours. We always look forward to your next video!
Why do so many people seem to just stumble across CAD then some how end up defending it? However I digress a little here, what I wanted to say was character development? Then I die laughing. CAD has no character development and you know what is worse this miscarriage is going to be forgotten soon enough and then will be nothing other than a reset button. A RESET BUTTON (this fact alone makes it horribly offensive), it is not character development there are no characters to develop. If the child had been born there could have been some attempt at character and then maybe some development of that new found character but that is never going to happen.
Really go back and look at all the strips and tell me how Ethan's character evolves. Seriously I would like to know what any one could take as it or you know just what some one could mistake for being real characterisation. As it is you have the "zany" self insert, straight man and love interest there I have written down all the character you could get out of it.
Really go back and look at all the strips and tell me how Ethan's character evolves. Seriously I would like to know what any one could take as it or you know just what some one could mistake for being real characterisation. As it is you have the "zany" self insert, straight man and love interest there I have written down all the character you could get out of it.
Advertising is fun! i was just saying that on www.plugmywebsite.com...TaintedSun said:
anyways i can't remeber which i'm a gamer and but my flatmate is a causual gamer and girl blah blah blah but i did enjoy it. it might have been CAD. If it was the first "popular" one then it was. It is true that i did get bored of it though, the punchline could generally be predicted after so many squares and i started finding the lead character something of a dick.
Good review. There are far too many CAD-alikes now and i personally never got to the miscarriage storyline, but i don't care for something that horrific in a humour comic. WTF? Yes most comedies go for "Drama" at some point, a sad point in a characters life. But miscarriage? Not cool.
EDIT: Anyone else notice how Digress has become the new buzzword since yahtzee?
I stopped reading CAD when he pulled that, heck it stopped being very funny when there wa one comic that Ethan could have seen some character development, but instead the creator opted to pick the "silly" option. And he wonders why his "choose your adventure" didn't pan out like he hoped it would.
His series is like that of Teen Titans, where each episode plot may not directly involve with each other, but effect future episodes anyway, that is about as much "world" as CAD has.
Of course I only read very few comics, other than VG CAts it's sprite comics like BobandGeorge and 8bit which are sadly ending boo...
His series is like that of Teen Titans, where each episode plot may not directly involve with each other, but effect future episodes anyway, that is about as much "world" as CAD has.
Of course I only read very few comics, other than VG CAts it's sprite comics like BobandGeorge and 8bit which are sadly ending boo...
If assholes had their own religion Tim Buckley would be one of their saints. Way to go on the CAD-bashing. Easy, but fun. My own take on CAD is that anyone who likes it either has a terrible sense of humor, an IQ below 90, or both. Anyone who thinks CAD is funny has something wrong with them, and should give some serious thought to their problem.
CAD is never intentionally funny. It is only funny when Buckley somehow deviates from his usual shit, and it is then funny only for that reason. It becomes an inadvertent non-sequitur. It's funny like someone who eats at Burger King regularly going into McDonalds and ordering a Whopper, actually believing that McDonalds sells Whoppers. You laugh because he's fucking clueless, not because he himself is funny.
As for gaming webcomics I actually like, PA is the only one, because it's kind of funny. Every other gaming webcomic I've seen is very much hit or miss.
CAD is never intentionally funny. It is only funny when Buckley somehow deviates from his usual shit, and it is then funny only for that reason. It becomes an inadvertent non-sequitur. It's funny like someone who eats at Burger King regularly going into McDonalds and ordering a Whopper, actually believing that McDonalds sells Whoppers. You laugh because he's fucking clueless, not because he himself is funny.
As for gaming webcomics I actually like, PA is the only one, because it's kind of funny. Every other gaming webcomic I've seen is very much hit or miss.
I read CAD for probably two or three years, having found it on a webcomic site of some kind where it was ranked #1 in popularity at the time (on their database). I checked it out, found it actually hilarious at times in a kind of "heehee Ethan did a dumb" way. Always found attacks on the guy unfair and all that.
The miscarriage angle just plain pissed me off. I'm sorry he had to deal with that, but if every webcomic author dumped their own personal tragedies into their comics, we'd need something to read to get a break from the fucking comics. We've all dealt with tragedy. Deaths, illness, bankruptcy, the works.
Someone mentioned Strong Bad. When The Brothers Chaps' father died, did they insert a father-death angle into H*R? No, they took time off and came back. Why? Respect for their fans and a realization that while we all DO care about them as people, we don't want that to infiltrate the comics/cartoons we love.
It doesn't help that Buckley's writing was so inept it was just painful.
The miscarriage angle just plain pissed me off. I'm sorry he had to deal with that, but if every webcomic author dumped their own personal tragedies into their comics, we'd need something to read to get a break from the fucking comics. We've all dealt with tragedy. Deaths, illness, bankruptcy, the works.
Someone mentioned Strong Bad. When The Brothers Chaps' father died, did they insert a father-death angle into H*R? No, they took time off and came back. Why? Respect for their fans and a realization that while we all DO care about them as people, we don't want that to infiltrate the comics/cartoons we love.
It doesn't help that Buckley's writing was so inept it was just painful.
I like CAD, and people saying oh well you have to be dumb to like it etc etc are really friggin closed minded. Okay so someone put some real life issues into a comic, into their work or form of expression, is that so surprising? I'll admit CAD isnt always amazing, and many a strip has left me feeling empty, but still it has its moments. To insult the comics writing is a fruitless effort, because he has so many fans already, and comics online of that variety are not well known for being amazing tales. People who get pissed off by such inserts of issues etc need to realize that you wont always like what someone puts out, and that you can just skip it. It shouldn't piss you off, its not like anyone owes you anything.
However I do agree with yahtzee in that alot of the comics are pretty lame, easy to do, and lack a certain amount of real creativity, not to mention there are so many clone strips, such as the mario and luigi gay thing etc etc. However these things will thrive because we are creatures of habit
However I do agree with yahtzee in that alot of the comics are pretty lame, easy to do, and lack a certain amount of real creativity, not to mention there are so many clone strips, such as the mario and luigi gay thing etc etc. However these things will thrive because we are creatures of habit
Appealing to popularity? That's a form of fallacy, in case you didn't know.Satoz said:
I maintain that CAD is not funny to anyone with a well-developed sense of humor. Finding CAD funny does not neccesarily mean you are unintelligent, but I believe it means you do not have a good concept of humor. Comic timing in particular is apparently an alien concept to Buckley and his fans. For some reason, he also feels compelled to explain the obvious, perhaps because some of his fans really are just a bit too slow to get the joke otherwise. He also tends to make jokes that have already been made (and better) all over the internet, though he only does this on occasion.
Even if it was funny, it would probably be just as much so without any images, because Buckley seems to be unwilling or unable to exercise any artistic talent beyond the mediocrity he has shown the world so far.
I do get pissed off at Buckley as a person, too, but not because of CAD... just because he's an arrogant, narcissistic moron who seems largely devoid of any virtue.
I must thank you for posting this sentence, it lead me to a web site I feel much smarter for reading.ComradeJim270 said:
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/
Quite frankly, I don't find most web comics all that funny. So it's a lot like the newspaper funnies section. I haven't laughed at them since I was eight. No wait. Not even then did I laugh.
Video game web comics are even worse because... Well, know how when you're hanging out with your friends and one other guy who's not usually part of your group is there and one of your friends says "orange marbles" and everyone bursts out laughing except the new guy because he wasn't there when whatever happened that involved orange marbles happened? Well, that's video game web comics in a nut shell. It's all one big in-joke. I have never laughed at Penny Arcade and fail to see why anyone would ever find it funny. it just has the worst comic timing ever, and it's a comic strip. Four panels, boom. How do you fuck that up? I don't know, but they do it with alarming regularity. Even after the joke is explained to me by some kind soul, it's obvious to me that the joke would have been better if it had been done... well, usually not at all, but done differently would have been an improvement if that wasn't an option.
As far as the CAD thing goes,... I have no idea what it is and if it's as bad or worse than Penny Arcade, I don't want to know about it. But the guy who draws it sounds like needs lit birthday cake candles dripping searing hot wax onto his flabby nipples.
Video game web comics are even worse because... Well, know how when you're hanging out with your friends and one other guy who's not usually part of your group is there and one of your friends says "orange marbles" and everyone bursts out laughing except the new guy because he wasn't there when whatever happened that involved orange marbles happened? Well, that's video game web comics in a nut shell. It's all one big in-joke. I have never laughed at Penny Arcade and fail to see why anyone would ever find it funny. it just has the worst comic timing ever, and it's a comic strip. Four panels, boom. How do you fuck that up? I don't know, but they do it with alarming regularity. Even after the joke is explained to me by some kind soul, it's obvious to me that the joke would have been better if it had been done... well, usually not at all, but done differently would have been an improvement if that wasn't an option.
As far as the CAD thing goes,... I have no idea what it is and if it's as bad or worse than Penny Arcade, I don't want to know about it. But the guy who draws it sounds like needs lit birthday cake candles dripping searing hot wax onto his flabby nipples.
Now see, I maintain that people who feel the need to lecture others on something as subjective as a sense of humor, decrying that one thing is "funny" and another "isn't" in some vague manner that ultimately boils down to "My opinion is the only one that is right and I am constantly threatened by the concept of disagreement" really lose the crux of their argument because they can't just stop at criticism of the work. They need to include base insults about its fandom.ComradeJim270 said:
