Author Archives: The Geek

Digital Strips Podcast 254 – Review – Aquapunk (More Aqua Than Punk, Really)

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The vengeance... it will be furryThis week, we go under the sea (under the sea) to take a look at Aquapunk by Lauren Baker, a tale of the downtrodden rising up against an oppressive regime in the (art) style of the Hellboy books. We take a look to find out if this take on epic storytelling sinks or swims.

We also spend way too much time talking about Steve’s strange willingness to forgive Brenden Fraser for everything he’s ever done and Jason’s unwillingness to look beyond the hair styles in a movie. We hit on the new PA/PVP team up and just have a lot of fun.

Sorry for the quick recap, here are some show notes. I’d love to read some comments.

Peace out.

Filmsack
Brenden Fraser on IMDB
Trenches
PVP
Penny Arcade
Free Mars
Hereville
Space Trawler

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Digital Strips Podcast 251 – Harvey Nominees 2011

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This is the ChromebookWhat up guys, I’ve been having computer problems all morning, which is a lame reason for a lame show write up but hey, what can I say, Jason is totally lame.

This week, we do our annual look at the Harvey nominations for best online comic. As much as I piss and moan about how big timey awards don’t get webcomics, I do think they’re starting to, and I’m super glad they’re at least trying. This year’s list is certainly not what I would have picked, but it’s a good one and it gives us a lot to talk about.

We start by talking about how hot it is in various places and why Jason can’t play games. We then get into how Steve may buy a Chromebook which gets Steve talking about his latest love Fumbbl and invites you all to kick his butt at playing a pretend sport with pretend types of people.

The music for both breaks this time is “You Are My Sunshine” by Reflector.

News is pretty limited this time around. We talk about Chickenhare’s (7:00) possible animation deal and Steve’s definite racism towards ogres is revealed. The only other news is a blip about Hello with Cheese (9:00), Lars deSouza, Jamie Noguchi are making a board game which gets us off topic onto bored games and somehow to another podcast of Jason’s recommendation, Totally Rad Show (9:45)

Talking about other podcasts gets us thinking about a throw down we had weeks ago so we finally get into the Day[9] vs Giant Bomb discussion and other podcasts we like, such as Filmsack.

Harvey talk starts at 19:30, I’ll just list the comics nominated since we jump back and forth between them a lot:

Guns of Shadow Valley
Gutters
Hark! a Vagrant
LaMorte Sisters
PVP

Bonus points if anyone can find the point where the friggin chickadee started chirping out side my window.

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Digital Strips Podcast 250 – Book Club – Order of the Stick – 3rd Edition (There Sure Are A Lot Of Animated Movies About Dinosaurs)

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The Land Before TimeI can’t think of a snappy intro, so just imagine Jason in a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat with a couple comically over-sized maracas singing “Zombie Jamboree.” That way, you’ll be entertained and we don’t have to worry about copyright infringement.

It’s Book Club time again and that means (for the foreseeable future) more Order of the Stick. Before we dive deeper in to the monster and punchline-filled catacombs of this comic, however, we idly chitchat about how Jason thinks he looks like Harry Potter and probably thinks he looks like everyone else in the world. Meanwhile, I’m just happy to be awake for this episode.

We then mention the milestones recently hit by Dinosaur Comics and Girls with Slingshots and I get a little pissy about how there’s no chance for me to high five all the comics creators I’d like to. We then talk about a couple interesting examples from both sides of the spectrum on the art theft that recently happened to The System (although now I found the story and it wasn’t as much of direct copy as I was led to believe, you can read up on it here) and Hijinks Ensue as well as a comment by Scott Kurtz on the whole issue.

Jason does a quicker version of his recap and we get into the comic by around the 21 minute mark. We then talk about character development, the growing relationships, and how sometimes, a silly comics about adventurers can lead to some pretty in-depth discussions about philosophy and morality. Or at least how they can for me.

The music this time was “Airbrushed RAC” and “Mess”, both by Anamanaguchi. As always, we live for feedback, please leave it below.

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Digital Strips Podcast 249 – Review: Gingerbread Girl (You Could Catch Her, But You Probably Don’t Want To)

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Crazy... but that's how it goesI promised myself that I wouldn’t do another of those cheesy intros that I do here, where I say something like “This week on Digital Strips, you’ll actually learn something..” and then proceed to reveal that all you learn is something bad about Jason. And I could totally do that this time too, in the first five minutes we learn that he’s a weiner, an old man and kind of a pervert. But really, we already knew all that and it also comes up that I’m a bit of a creeper, so I’ll just leave it be.

This week we’re talking about Gingerbread Girl by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover, where we meet Annah Billips and her twin ripped from her own brain, Ginger. It’ll make more sense if you read the comic.

We start out this week with all those discoveries mentioned above, then jump into Google + and social media in general and why I just don’t get it.

We then go off the rails into the first break with a cover of “Crazy Train” by Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls.

Next it’s news, where we cover:

The next break is a version of “Send Me an Angel,” by Emily Zisman and Ryan Avery.

Finally we get into the actual comic. We talk about the spastic storytelling style, why too many narrators is bad, the difference between a story and a set up and how bad navigation can make you hate a comic. We also hit on the art, the portrayal of Portland and the interesting set up contained therein. And we write me into the comic, so I can do some much needed bodily harm to a character or two.

Please, drop us a line about what you think.

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Digital Strips Podcast 248 – Horizons Watch: Free Mars and Oyster Wars (That Should Rhyme, But It Doesn’t)

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Mario NOOOOO!!!It’s a holiday here in America. I really don’t think I need to say that though. We Americans are pretty outspoken about our holidays. I don’t think too many people are caught off guard by any one of them any more (except Mother’s Day, which sneak attacks thousands of men every year). This goes along with the general theme of being American of “non-sublety.” We are not a nation of ninjas, I’ll tell you what.

Anyway, it’s time for another episode of Digital Strips Horizon’s Watch. This month we bring two more quality up and comers to the Brotherhood of Web Comics for your approval. First we do Free Mars by Dave Pauwels and Nicolas R. Giacondino, a grungy, flowing and epic tale of the rock and roll and the revolution of Mars. Next we go back in time to the days of Reconstruction, wood ships and piracy with Oyster War by Ben Towle one of those neo-oldschool comics that I love so much.

We also talk about Mario and video games in general for a bit. I share a little life lesson I learned about eavesdropping on old people and Jason raves about having a Mac.

We then hear the first of our Mario themed songs, “Pipes” by Seventh Epic.

We then go to news. Jason mentions a couple new comics. Bucko and Cochlea and Eustachea (Jason couldn’t say it properly so I can’t find it, if you can translate his babbling into a link, let me know EDIT: Link now present and working. You’re welcome. – MIDNIGHT). Then we talk about Kate Beaton, Meredith Gran and Carly Monardo take on “Strong Female Characters” and about how I apparently don’t know enough dirty words.

We then hit the latest book releases from Scenes from a Multiverse and Imagine This.

The mushroom popping tunes continue with “Monstrous Turtles” by Zircon.

We finally get in to the reviews, giving both comics the what for. We also mention Spacetrawler, Ellie Connelly and Rigby the Barbarian. We talk a lot about scope and how some stories don’t have a good sense of it.

Sorry, I’m wrapping this up. It’s about time for me to celebrate the birth of my nation by eating pancakes in the park. God bless America. And pancakes.

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Digital Strips Podcast 247 – Review: The Ghosts of Pineville (Pick Your Class)

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OK ladies and gents, I’m back in charge of the editing/posting for a month or so, which means that you’re not going to get the luxurious, weak-kneed posts you’ve been getting from that namby-pamby Jason fellow. No, I’m going to hone you into a finely tuned Web comic loving machine with my spartan style of hard love.

We reviewed a Web comic, you can listen to it here.

Done.

Ok, that may not be enough, even for me.

Curse you Jason, curse you and your stupid face.

This week we charge straight into the haunted house armed with nothing but a flash light as we review The Ghosts of Pineville by Sara Turner. It’s a timeless little jaunt into the world of small town kids and fighting small town ghosts in the big city. I actually just found it while desperately searching for something to review and my love for spunky kids and standing up to the undead pulled me straight to it.

We start out this episode talking about one of the greatest things to ever happen to mankind, Team Fortress 2 going free to play. I’ve been playing for years and am beyond thrilled that more people could soon be playing (hit me up on Steam if you ever wanna kill some dirty REDs together. I’m “Fish in a Barrel”). I try to recruit Jason to the good, color-coordinated fight and we get into a discussion about what kind of gamers we are and what kind of game related media we enjoy. A challenge was thrown down to see if Jason’s pick, the folk at Giant Bomb have the same depth (not breadth) of knowledge as Steve’s champion, Mr. Day9. You can join in the fun too.

Keeping with the TF2 theme, our first song break is “Cap My Point” by EnigmaEvocative.

We then get into the news, recapping all the news posts that have magically reappeared on the Digital Strips home page. Strips mentioned include:

Not Invented Here (8:15)
Tiny Cartridge (9:15)
Max Over Acts (9:45)
Eldritch (10:45)

We then hit you with a second TF2 song, Mmph the Way You Mmph by mymapagainstyourcash (I love Internet names).

Finally we get into the review. We talk about the art and some of the cool ways the story could go. We don’t hold back on spoilers but there’s not any major stuff to spoiler. If you only want to read things completely fresh, you’ll want to go ahead and read the comic yourself before coming back. Throughout the discussion, we also mentioned the following comics.

Northworld (21:45)
Hereville (22:15)
Templar AZ (22:15)

Thanks for stopping by, just a reminder we love feedback in all its glorious forms so don’t be shy.

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Digital Strips 239 – Horizons Watch Sfeer Theory and 14 Nights

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I’m super sorry that this show is 3 days late. I’ve got family stuff coming out of my ears and other body holes right now and as much as I’ve tried to avoid it, my real life is effecting my Internet life. You know how it goes.

Anyway here is the latest episode, full of Steve and Jason growing as people. This was a hard show to make, because it was so different from the everything else we have ever done. It’s a good thing though, it’s important for us to not make poop jokes for a while.

This week, through honestly no planning of our own, we ended up Horizon’s Watching the first two comics featured on our show to be heavily based around homosexual love stories. Sfeer Theory and 14 Nights talk about life and love in ways two uber-immature nerds normally don’t talk about in a podcast but we sure try.

Tune in to see how we do.

We also talk about several other comics, I didn’t make not of where in the podcast we mentioned them. You can still check out the links at your own pace.
Valve Comic
Chronoillogical
Cynide and Happiness
Toothpaste of dinner
Portal Vids
President Ackerman Vid
Much the Miller’s Son
Smooth and Natural

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Digital Strips 238 – Review: Mystery Solved

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There are many mysteries in the world that not even the mighty power of the Internet can solve. Like why bacon is so awesome or how the CW is still around. There are other things that are not quite so mysterious, like why thousands of local singles are always looking for me.

Also not mysterious, is the fact that day in and day out Jason and I are scouring the Web looking for more comics and bringing some of them to your attention. This week, we present Mystery Solved by Zach Kruse and friends for you’re approval. Actually our approval, but if you guys comment then your approval becomes equally important.

This comic is different from most, it rotates artists like I rotates favorite Dr. Who. It also sets out to lay down the law on many paranormal phenomenon where as most comics just try to put boobs on them (although this comic actually does that too, check out the Bigfoot arc).

We also talk about Willy Wonka, Jason’s new iPad 2, lighting one’s own butt on fire and much much more.

Sorry I don’t have time to work all the show notes into well crafted paragraphs, so here is a list with links and show times.

7:30 Bug, Robot Beach, Geeks of steel
7:45 DJ Coffman hosting advice, Skin Horse
8:00 John Rosenburg
8:30 Activate, The Revolution will be Televised
10:00 Zarah’s paradise
16:00 Guns of Shadow Valley
16:30 Space Time Condominium
25:30 Woody After Hours

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Digital Strips 237 : RATE Ep1

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OK, in our tireless efforts to revolutionize the world of Web Comics Podcastery we’ve create a new show type. I teased ya’ll with it last week and now here it is in the digital (strips) flesh. RATE Rough Around The Edges where we take a look at the comics we would otherwise skip. The point here is not to be douchey and we hope we don’t come off that way. We’re just hoping to talk about a lot of the common mistakes that new creators make and hopefully help other people avoid them.

And get ice cream. We always want ice cream.

We start by delving into Steve’s horrible parenting style and why his kids hates him, and then we talk about the scariest movie ever to feature David Bowie’s junk Labyrinth and Steve throws a pitch for That Guy with the Glasses’s Nostalgia Chick’s review of the movie (2:00).

After that we learn about the 3DS and how an excess of Ds makes Jason barf. Then we graciously cut out 4 minutes of Steve being stuck in a van in China with 3 middle ages barfing women.

At the 5 minute mark we start the news, talking about the Super F-ers (5:00), Not Invented Here (5:45), Octopus Pie (6:30), Penny Arcade (7:00), Tiny Kitten Teeth (7:00) and many others.

We talk about 3eanuts (10:30) and it makes Steve sad, we talk about the episode of Bob’s Burgers with all the anuses And it made Steve happy.

Then we get down to the comics starting with Jake the Evil Hare (13:15) a comic trying hard to stand out in the black and white manga about talking animals market. We talk about backgrounds, foregrounds anda bout the evils of comic sans and Blambot, the cure for the common font. We get into the what it means to be high concept.

Then we mozey over to I’m Famous (22:40) where discuss the importance of structure and varied camera angles. And word balloons, lots about word balloons.

Then we hit Troops of Doom (29:30) and action figure photo comic. We discuss what it means to be an action figure photo comic and of course mention Twisted Kaiju Theater and Irregular Web Comic. Then chat a bit about epic stories, when they work and when they don’t.

So that’s episode one of RATE. Please let us know what you think and what we could do better. Rate us, if you will.

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Digital Strips 236 – Review : Remind

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Happy Birthday to me boy and girls! It’s time for another fun filled episode of Digital Strips. This time we tackle Remind, by Jason Brubaker an epic tale of love, betrayal and cats in powersuits.

We start out as we often do, quickly off topic as we discuss the greatest of all heroes, the Ghostbusters. We then wander aimlessly about movies/TV/spoilers and Jason’s flaws for about five minutes.

After that we start hitting Web Comics. We get all sciencey, the only way we know how, by talking about XKCD (7:00) and the awesome radiation chart that he made to help put the nuclear events in Japan in perspective. I love talking about this comic, because it makes me feel smarter than I really am. We also chat about the changes at Superfogeys (7:30) with Mark Lapierre formally of Boxcar Astronaut.

We also briefly mention Achewood (7:45) and it’s current Hiatus. Not much more to say, no matter how hard I’ve tried, I could never get this comic. We also talk about the art theft that seems to repeatedly happen to Jess Fink.

We finally get in talk about Remind at about 14:30. We talk about its art style, its story, its characters and about how it could have been a horror story if it studied hard and but it’s mind to it. We compare it to two of our favorite comics Rice-Boy (15:45) and Lovecraft is Missing (22:15).

It’s a good time and not one to be missed by any cool guy or girl with an interest in good comics on the Web.

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