Category Archives: Podcasts

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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Digital Strips 235 – Book Club: Templar Az, Chapter 5

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Holy friggin’ butt monkeys. Steve is updating on time. Take that past performance!

This week we jump back on the smelly Greyhound and head South to Templar Arizona for the final episode of Digital Strips Book Club dedicated to this comic. We discuss what’s happened in the story, what that means to the characters and most importantly, what that means to us as readers.

But before we get all AP English on people, we start out talking about the comics that has stood out to us this last week.

Twilight Monk – 2:45 We reviewed this comic and couple months ago, but thanks to our “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, Trent Kaniuga just barely found out. He posted a nice note with his link on his site and it made us visibly blush and verbally gush for a couple minutes.

Realm of Friggin’ Atland – 4:45 It’s back baby. The long months of waiting for the return of one of my top 50 comics (which is quite the honor given how much time I waste spend reading web comics) is back and of to rip roaring start.

SuperFogeys – 5:45 Jason worked the system to see a future episode and he brags about it.

Listen Now – 9:00 A listener sent in these comic and I found myself reading it so I tell people about it.

During the break I sneak in a plug for our new side project. It’s still a baby but we love it.

We then jump into the real show. We talk about the comic, it’s huge list of character that seems to be slowing in growth and the sudden jumps, which are not getting any less sudden. I discuss my theory that this story is actually more of a play story structure than that of a comic. Then we jump into the characters, which ones have grown and improved and which ones bore the butts right off of us. Then we give our final thoughts over all.

Next weeks show will be about Remind so check that comic out and let us know what you think. We’d love to read some comments from the listens in the show.

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Digital Strips 234 – Horizons Watch: Corporate Skull and Kick Girl

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UPDATED: Midnight here, filling in for Steve, who once again darted off to points unknown with nary a word beforehand. I’ll fill in the blanks for this episode via his hastily scrawled notes. Also, I promise not to sound so off-in-a-cave-somewhere-ish next time.

It’s only right to start this Horizons Watch episode with a comic that shows tremendous promise, despite only having one page posted thus far:

Next up, a mention of the perfect “WTF But This Is Awesome” comic on the web trifecta comprised of:

What is indie? What does this term mean for the various mediums it inhabits? Listen up in the first segment for our thoughts on the matter…

Definitely not in the WTF camp but certainly worth mentioning whenever possible:

This week’s Webcomics News Minute (10:45) has some great mentions, all in a neat, compact case you can carry in your pocket!

Other comics mentioned in our wake:

The music in the Music Break comes to us from the land of goodness that is Overclocked Remix. This particular remix is titled “Mega Man 2: QuickDraw” (17:36). I miss my arm cannon already…

Our Horizons picks this week are varied and awesome, as (nearly) always.

In our discussions we also bring up:

Finally, check the outtakes for that engaging conversation about the previously mentioned Messed Up Amish Guy.

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Digital Strips 233 – Review : Billy the Dunce

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I’m back cool guys and girls and bring with my the 233rd episode of Digital Strips (now the question is, what did you get me?).

We waste no time (well no more than usual) as we get right back into the swing of things reviewing a comic that brings much comicness to the table. I’ve been holding back waves of web comics criticism for the last month and I and just aching to get it out. Billy the Dunce by Jason Week is the first comic to step up to the torrential downpour of opinion that wells up side me. Is it comic enough to stand up to the task? Listen and find out.

Oh and I guess Jason is in this one too. Proving he knows way too much about Full House.

Show Notes (now with time stamps)

News Section
Bun bun – 6:13
Oatmeal – 6:26
Not Invented Here – 6:39
Kate Beaton – 7:00
Perry Bible Fellowship – 7:04
Strewth – 7:10
BattlePug – 7:22

This Weeks middle song id
Frets of Fury by Vertrexguy

Review starts at 14:00
ChickenHare 16:03
Hereville , Pigtails and Potbellies, Bean, Snowflakes 16:45
Faraday the Blob – 17:15
Looking for Group – 17:45
Imagine This – 23:00
Sinfest – 28:15

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Digital Strips Episode 232 – Review – RatFist w/ Guest Co-Host Lucas Turnbloom

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The good thing about doing only largely positive critiques is that our address book is full to bursting with names of enormously talented creators who are extremely eager to chat about the world of comics on the Internet. This week, I dialed up Lucas Turnbloom, the man who has crafted memorable, whimsical characters for Imagine This and 4G. And, according to our chat, it sounds like he has at least approximately 32, 458 more ideas bouncing around in his head.

… nope, make that 32, 459.

But before we explore these ideas, there are some news items, some Herdy Gerdy, if you will (and you will, at least until Steve gets back and tells me we can’t). Among the news items I’m cleaning up:

Once the business side is tended to, I take a few moments to ask Lucas about his beginnings in the biz, as well as his take on the convention-going side of being a responsible, responsive comics creator. We also delve into the divide between the new guard and the old, the differences that separate traditional creators from those who more readily embrace change and go with the Interflow. Sadly, we stop just short of solving the whole crisis. Ah well, maybe next time.

During our chat, we mention the following comics:

Leading us between segments is none other than Lucas’ own brother, whose band, Mrs. Magician, has a new 7″ dropping on March 1. This song, “The Spells” (31:28), is one of two songs on that record, so enjoy it more than once and stop by the band’s site to pre-order your copy to have forever and ever.

On the other side, Lucas and I peek into the shallow but rich waters of a comic that has blown up across the Web these last few weeks:

Also mentioned:

Like Molly and the Bear before it, this comic comes to us from one of the aforementioned old guard, or at least, older guard, a man whose portfolio more than speaks for itself. With credentials this solid, it’s hard to really critique the work before us, but with coloring this horrid and a story this agonizingly trite, you have to say something.

No, not really. This is a great start to yet another exciting comic, and it’s on the web, so it’s free! You can’t ask for more than that, but we’re also throwing in some conversation about that very comic, also, for free. All because we love our Digital Strippers.

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Digital Strips Episode 231 – Review – Yellow Peril w/ Guest Co-Host Rosscott

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Co-Host Month rolls on in Steve’s absence with a creator I’ve actually met, face-to-face, mano a mano. Rosscott is responsible for those hilarious play-on-word strips you’ve seen over at The System, featuring characters that hail from such renowned places as The Door to the Bathroom and Just Outside the Bathroom.

As I found out in our first interview segment, he also helped create the growing comics phenomenon known as Super Art Fight (13:50). Part pro wrestling (sports entertainment?), part artist’s studio, this battle sounds intense, hilarious, and most of all, ridiculously fun. Head over to SAF’s YouTube page for just a small taste of the raucous, inventive experience that awaits you.

With SAF at his disposal, Rosscott has encountered many names in the world of comics, making the list of name drops in that first segment quite long, but entirely worth mentioning:

Things take a turn for the dirty, but in name only, as we break with The Missionary Position’s “The Big Sleep” (21:00). In the second review segment, we take a look at a comic that Rosscott himself brought to our attention:

This comic plays exaggeration into the genre of journal comics pretty well and creates an atmosphere that is instantly familiar to all Northeastern dwellers and graphic designers alike. To the rest of us, it’s just a humorous, fun romp through what may or may not be a true person’s story. Either way, I enjoyed getting to know Kane (pronounced kah-nay, so you know he’s not a girl, apparently) and the gang and I think you will, too. Another comic mentioned in our critique:

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Digital Strips Episode 230 – Review – Molly and the Bear w/ Guest Co-Host Brock Heasley

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We’re kicking off Digital Strips Guest Co-Host Week with a man who needs no introduction, but gets one anyways: Brock Heasley!

Though I do a terrible job of it on the podcast, I will gladly link to all of Brock’s online work, a portfolio that is sure to grow exponentially over the next few years. Watching his depth and creativity emerge since The Superfogeys began has been a joy, one that is now quickly and easily possible through the joy of delivering comics via the Internet.

If you like introspective thoughts behind the creation of a work of art and conversations with those who craft these stories, I hope you will at least be entertained by my attempt. After Thee Oh Sees take us to the break with their guitar-riffin’ romp, “Crack In Your Eye” (23:00), it’s time to get to what Digital Strips does best: a review.

The strip, and yes, it is very much a comic strip, that Brock and I took a look at exudes a timeless feel that is as deceptively simple as it is intelligent in the way it appeals to the kid in all of us.

Comic strips rarely have the life that Molly and the Bear does, but coming from a seasoned professional who has worked on the very best that Pixar (culling from our childhood dreams since Toy Story first dropped into our laps) has to offer, we’d expect nothing less. Truly, the characters in this strip look like they’ve jumped right off of a storyboard sequence for their next animated short.

Along the way, Brock mentions another children’s comic artist that brings incredible life to everything he touches, Mike Kunkel, most specifically his childhood daydream adventure:

It’s interesting having two artists of the visual leaning working on the critique and Brock comes up with some insights which are details that I wouldn’t have given a second thought about. It’s deep, it’s fun, and it’s well worth a listen or two.

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