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Monthly Archives: June 2011

Random Quickies: Our Valued Customers

The Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons was a spot-on parody of the tubby, condescending comic shop owner who has no respect for customers. But what’s it like to see things through his eyes? Mr. Tim paints a dire but comical look at his customers in
Our Valued Customers. He holds up a twisted mirror to modern day geek culture with real things that he’s heard at his comic shop: the posers who put on an air of false toughness, the virgins who have obviously never talked to a woman, and the ones who think that watching Big Bang Theory over Community is a sign of geek pride. Man it’s enough to make you wish that geekdom wasn’t so mainstream these days … ESPECIALLY when you get to the one about Rob Liefeld, then you read the comments and realize that the fans of Our Valued Customers are the exact same ones that the comic mocks.

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Posted on | Aside

One Punch Reviews #48: Three Word Phrase

Jun 22

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One of the most intriguing aspects about Ryan Pequin’s Three Word Phrase was the name. What did it mean? Most of the strips contained more than three words. I thought maybe it had something to do with the titles of each strip being three words long… but no. They were often less than three words. The webcomic site itself is rather barebones, none of the links offering any explanation.

It turns out I’m not the only person wondering about that name, and eventually someone got a response from Mr. Pequin on his Tumblr:

It’s kind of a joke about how a lot of webcomics have names that are made up of three word phrases, and also it’s kind of a dumb self-referential thing (“three word phrase” is a three word phrase). It doesn’t really mean anything beyond that, though.

Ohhhhhhhh.

On to the review!

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Posted in 5 Stars, comedy webcomic, One Punch Reviews, The Webcomic Overlook, webcomics

6 Comments

Poll: Is the term “webcomics” becoming obsolete?

Fleen reported yesterday that Websnark is back at a somewhat new web address. I checked in to see if he’s looking into webcomics again. The answer, I think, is no… since “webcomics”, in his opinion, is becoming an obsolete term:

Back in the old days, we had a lot of distinctions we threw out. Newspaper Comics. Webcomics. Independent Comics. Mainstream Comics. Comic Books. Editorial Cartoons, Cartooning, Cartoonists, et al ad nauseum.

That was then. It’s 2011 now, and it seems to me we can simplify all of the above.

It’s “Comics.”

That’s all. Just “Comics.” Webcomics are increasingly meaningless as terminology — I have access to several thousand of Marvel’s archived comics at will. I can buy almost anything from DC at a moment’s notice. There are few to no comics available in newspapers that can’t be seen on a website. Setting up an artificial distinction based on… well, community identification from 5-10 years ago just seems silly.

I argued that webcomics are still a valid term a while back myself. However, I’ll leave, you, the readers of the Webcomic Overlook, to decide. “Webcomics” — meaningless or not?

Posted on | Aside

The Webcomic Overlook #171: Blue Milk Special

Jun 20

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Oftentimes, Star Wars brings out the best out in people. Say what you will about Seth MacFarlane, but the guy seemed to be at his peak when he was doing Star Wars parodies on both Family Guy and Robot Chicken. Weird Al charmed millions of his fans with “The Saga Begins” … which was notably based on internet rumors and speculations about Episode One, not the official script. Turning back the clock, I remember totally marking out when Mark Hamill and C3PO showed up on Pigs in Space. And that Star Wars episode of Muppet Babies? Nothing but pleasant childhood memories.

Lucas may be something of a hack, but you have to give George Lucas credit for creating characters and scenarios that stay in that warm-and-fuzzy parts of your nostalgia forever. I think even Harry S. Plinkett would even agree to that. Star Wars was a little nerdy, but it was never as nerdy as the staid-by-comparison Star Trek. Epic and sometimes dark moments were balanced out by fun, creative touches. The movies imprinted both the iconically evil look of Darth Vader and the whimsical muppetry of Yoda into our fertile mental consciousnesses.

Star Wars humor is a natural fit for webcomics, too, with both Irregular Webcomic (featuring a long-running Star Wars parody) and Darth & Droids getting high marks from this site. We also have Blue Milk Special, Rod and Leanne Hannah’s own comedic twist on Star Wars.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

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Posted in 3 Stars, comedy webcomic, pop culture caricatures, sci-fi webcomic, The Webcomic Overlook, WCO Big Review, webcomics

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This froggy form grows weak. I require sustenance!

So first he proves to be an exceptional Green Lantern. Now Kermit the Frog is also … Frog Thor?

From the mind of Canaan Grall, Eisner Nominee for Best Digital Comic and creator of Max Overacts, and created from the fiery depths of 24-Hour Comics Day comes a tale of a frog, a hammer, and a rainbow connection. Witness the might and majesty … of Muppet Thor.

(h/t Robot 6)

Posted on | Aside

Metapost: spam. Not so lovely.

Just a heads up: this site has been hit with a lot of spam lately. While most have been caught by the spam filter (and it’s proven to be a super-efficient spam filter, considering what I’ve seen on other sites), a few have managed to seep through. Typically I sort through the spam to see if any legitimate comments have been incorrectly flagged and filtered out (and it does happen). However, when I wake up in the morning and I have something like 1,000+ spam messages built up in the queue, I figure if it isn’t worth it. If your comment somehow hasn’t showed up and was incorrectly deleted, I offer my sincerest apologies.

Posted on | Aside

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