Monthly Archives: October 2012

Digital Strips Podcast 301 – Review – Kiwi Blitz

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You know what’s really awesome? Banana bread. You know what’s even more awesome? Giant robots fighting to the bitter end in the most non-coming-of-age coming-of-age story ever. That sentence may be gramatically unsound, but if you read this week’s comic Kiwi Blitz, I think you’ll find it very accurate where it matters (in its pants).

It seems just about every other week we talk about how much fun it is as a web comics fans to watch creators grow and push themselves in new directions. This week is no exception as a lot of the mean stuff I say about the first part of the comic doesn’t apply to the second part. However, I make my notes as I go, so I have to say that stuff anyway.

This week’s comic deals with a lot of issues a normal teenager faces. Trouble with friends of the opposite gender, not understanding your place in the world, not trusting the robot your father’s underground college buddy sent him for no apparent reason. Despite this totally generic set up, the comic has a lot of guts and a lot of heart and enough anime action tropes to keep us going.

We talk about how much better hurrincanes are when you know someone who might die, how Jason’s wearing skinny jeans almost lead to his daughter’s starvation, why living in a Ninja Turtle world would be completely underwhelming experience, why if you’re in a long running podcast about web comics, when reviewing a comic, why’s its so important to read the about page. And how one wrong telling of a joke can lead to a lifetime of confusion.

Please join us, it’s a fun time.

2D Goggles – 6:00
The Meek – 8:15
Red’s Planet – 8:15
Kate Beaton – 9:15
Doom-mates – 10:00
Meet tha ____ – 11:15
Questionable Content – 31:00

Middle music by AkumajoBelmont and Jason Covenant over at OCR.

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Digital Strips Podcast 300 – Sin Titulo Con Catchup

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Sin Titulo by Cameron StewartIt’s been a long journey, and Steve and I weren’t even along for a good chunk of it, but we’re here with Episode 300 and kicking things off right with a little love and dedication to Arrested Development. In news, I mention a story about a guy who paused during a livestream of League of Legends to masturbate and Steve reminds us all that there used to exist a Digital Strips comic. Also, webcomics:

Our mid-show break is something appropriately spooky and weird for this show, a little something from The Addams Family video game called “Nightmare on Cemetery Lane” (14:19), remixed by Random Hero. Full disclosure: I was also watching The Addams Family on cable before editing this show. So there it is.

When deciding what to look at for our 300th installment, picking a single comic to take a fresh look at just didn’t seem right. What if we could take a look back at something we’re eager to catch up with, as part of our new feature podcast series, Catchin’ Up? Not moments after that, Cameron Stewart, comic creator and illustrator extraordinaire, Tweeted that he was currently working on the last few pages of his five-year project …

With that, we dive back into the supernatural, introspective, wild world that Cameron has constructed over the last few years. For past reference, we previously looked at Sin Titulo in Episode 128, and I conducted a two-part interview with Cameron, which you can find here and here (SPOILERS: I talked about LOST a lot back then, too, and even promised to jack-slap the esteemed creator over IM. Classy!).

During our first conversation, the discussion skewed more towards, “Where do we think is going?” but our most recent one retrospectively ponders, “What did it all mean?”. It’s one of our longer podcasts in recent memory, but the topics never stray far from the comic itself (a first for us!). Listen in and then comment below with your theories as to what the heck went down in the course of those 160 pages (my interviews with Cameron provide a good basis for this understanding).

The Rambletron rambles on, during both the mid and post-show music, and includes, but is not limited to: how Jason is not a person to depend on in a clutch situation, being prepared, meat loaf (in both delicious, beefy combinations and washed-up wailing rockers), and how it’s always more American to make your own sauce than to buy one.

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Digital Strips Podcast 299 – Review – Nightmare Pro Wrestling

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Nightmare Pro WrestlingIt’s Halloween … ok, well, it’s getting close to Halloween, and we’re getting into the spirit with a comic review all about monsters and things that
go bump in the night. Though having now lived in a house with my wife for over three years now, I can safely say that many things go bump in the night, and are not, to my knowledge, necessarily supernatural or ooky-and- spooky in nature. Take that as you will.

It’s scary how few new webcomics I’ve been reading lately (blame a busy work season), but Steve has all the time in the world and handily picks up my slack with two different comics for our Whatcha’ Been Readin’ portion:

Our featured comic this episode weaves a tale that is set, up to this point, in a castle. And what better transition could we ask for than one from Wolfenstein 3D, titled, “My Loved Ones Are Gone” [remixed by Psycho Crusher, (14:53)]?

Steve enjoys a good many horror comics and is a casual fan of pro wrestling (or sports entertainment, as Vince McMahon would like us to refer to it). I, on the other hand, enjoy some horror but I am still deeply ensconced in the world of arm bars, drop-toe holds, suicide dives, and the occasional senton powerbomb. So yeah, I was thrilled when we agreed to take a look at something that would satisfy both our curiosities:

I take the opportunity to school Steve on the finer points of grappling and laying the smack down, while Steve helps me discuss all things WWE by the time we wrap things up. If you’re a fan or horror, you’ll love the monster homages that this comic cooks up. If you’re a fan of wrestling, the action is more than satisfying and really cranks things up when the participants are at it in the ring. If only we had a handy RSS feed with which to keep up-to-date on the comic’s updates …

Topics for Rambletronning include, but are not limited to: the horror that is Ink Outbreak (to Steve, I’m ambivalent), PvP is the SportsCenter of the Internet, and we find out what it might be like as Steve attends his first orgy. Despite all that, come on up to the castle and join us, won’t you?

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Digital Strips Podcast 298 – Review – Rutabaga

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This week we’re heading back in the wide and dangerous of fantasy adventure long form comics. I say wide because, seriously, there is a metric butt-ton of these things out there. And I say dangerous because after every episode we do of one, Jason threatens me with bodily harm should I bring forward another one.

But seriously, what’s he gonna do to me? Screw that guy. Besides, despite the fact that he says he hates them, he seriously loves them, just like all the girls over the years who said they hate me, secretly love me.

This week the potential podcast ender is Rutabaga by Eric Colossal. A whimsical romp full of daring adventures, fantastical creatures and hero who really knows when it’s time to get cooking!

We talk about the art, we compare it to other comics, we even make fun of each other like grown men aren’t supposed to. We do everything that that you expect from an episode of Digital Strips. We even find time to talk about real-life never nudes, Jason’s bumhole book and the proud crest of the Shinney clan. All this and more on the latest episode of Digital Strips.

El Esqueleto – 6:15
Witch And Knight 7:15
Trenches 8:45
Order of the Stick 10:15
Gastrophobia 18:15
Ellie on Planet X 19:30
Skadi 20:15
I think you’re saucsome 23:45

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