Tag Archives: Nedroid

Metapost: so lazy

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Apologies for no new reviews this week. I’ve been busy wasting time, what with Lost premiering this week, me lurking on Lost communities, me inputting crackpot Lost theories on my wife’s Facebook, and generally being Lost. (Seriously, this is an issue. I think the same thing happened early last year when my wife and I plowed through the first four seasons on DVD in preparation for Season 5.)

(In related news, Joel of HijiNKS Ensue may need to detonate a nuclear warhead to put his mind at peace.)

(EDIT: And while we’re on the subject of Lost, Nedroid’s Spoiler-Free Lost Spoilers.)

Also, the Superbowl. So my mind’s been in several places at once. I will let you get a peek into my next three planned reviews, though, if you’d like to play along this February:

Also, once upon a time, El Santo was once in a collaborative storytelling circle, where you post three or four paragraphs and then another writer takes over. It went through a pretty good run until we got bogged down by our own mythology. (Though, now that I look back at it, it was not nearly as confusing as Lost.)

Well, the folks over at Witch’s Brew are trying the same thing, but with webcomics. I checked out a few panels, and frankly it’s badly drawn/copy-pasted and makes no goddamn sense… but it does look like everyone involved is having a lot of fun. And what more could you ask for? The Webcomic Overlook sorta hopes that this kind of thing catches on as a sort of fun past time.

The Webcomic Overlook #71: Nedroid’s Picture Diary

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I do not envy newspaper comic strip writers. With their seven day a week schedule, they’re expected to be funny 365 days a year. Man, I have a hard time being funny for 30 minutes. You have to work within the narrow, profit generating constraints of the funny page format, which severely limits artistic freedom. If you fail, your hard work gets mocked cruelly online by a bearded weirdo who lost on Jeopardy. And if you somehow get the luxury of retiring, you’ll be lucky of your spouse didn’t run off with your pretty, young apprentice.

Should short form webcomics follow the same rigorous schedule as their print counterparts? Some folks think so, like Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance and Dave Kellett of Sheldon Comics. I think for the most part, though, webcomic creators have settled into a more relaxed schedule. It takes time for a lot of people to be funny. Why burden your flashes of comedic brilliance with mediocre gags?

Then again, what if we’re giving cartoonists too much time? What if they’re overthinking their gags to the point that they’re no longer funny?

Well, friends, there’s a webcomic out there that does both. Few other comics online have a higher hit-to-miss ratio than Nedroid’s Picture Diary. The comic is written and illustrated by Anthony Clark, who goes by the pseudonym “Nedroid.” Despite being featured on the college-humor site, Cracked.com, Nedroid is an all ages gag strip: both kids and adults will enjoy its pleasant humor.

beartato-thinkingofme
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The Webcomic Overlook #1: Nedroid’s Bad Comics Challenge

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This is my first post of The Webcomic Overlook, in which I will review various webcomics on the net. It will be something similar to Your Webcomic is Bad and You Should Feel Bad, except I’ll look at both good and bad webcomics, and be at least a little less cruel toward the bad ones (unless they really, really deserve it — like Minimum Security).

Webcomics are not typically tied to a publisher, which, you would think, means that they’re more free to pursue more creative avenues. However, this is often not the case. Look at enough webcomics, and they easily fall into a few distinct categories: manga-style comics, furry-style comics, fantasy comics, and Dilbert-style comics. Some of them are not published in newspapers because their novel concepts are considered too counter-culture for family newspapers. Or some are rather good, but the artists don’t have the right connections or don’t have any luck when it comes to publishing. However, most aren’t in your local paper because … well, because they’re terrible.

This first one doesn’t fit any of those categories. I present Nedroid’s Bad Comics Challenge. Nedroid claims that someone challenged him to create 200 comic strips that are bad. It’s apparent, from the very first panel, that he’s failing spectacularly.

Bad Comics Challenge, Page 1
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