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Digital Strips Podcast 310 – Book Club – Gunnerkrigg Court, First Edition

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: First Edition

It’s January and Winter has finally come to Virginia! Sure, it was barely enough to cover the cars and bring down a tree into a power line here and there, but it came just the same. The first month of a new year also means it’s time to start another Book Club! Or something. Really, it all boils down to me (that’s Jason, so there’s no confusion) picking a comic that, while of a good quality (namely The Rack), did not lend itself well to the task of reading a couple hundred pages at a time in an effort to go through the back issues. So Steve is up this time with a pick he says will do the name Book Club proud. We’ll see.

First up, however, we must tell you what we’ve been reading! And my picks are those sent to us by the infinitely talented, always available Ryan Estrada, straight from his latest pay-what-you-want graphic novel collection, The Whole Story (6:14). If you haven’t already contributed to this wildly successful Kickstarter, then I can tell you that two of the stories chosen for the collection proper, The Dog’s Sins by KC Green, and Plagued by Ryan Estrada, are worth the price of admission alone (but you still get at least two other books on top these already high-quality stories!). Both are on the shorter side but offer wildly different and highly entertaining experiences for your eyes and mind to enjoy.

Steve, on the other hand, has been engulfed in the frivolity and whimsy that makes up Bearmageddon (9:02). It’s from one of the minds that brought us the soon-to-be-a-TV-series Axe Cop (9:45) and the title should be a dead giveaway as to the mindless fun you’re going to have with this one. Seriously, bears. It’s in the title.

In our first segment chatter, we also mention another of KC Green’s projects, the currently-running Gun Show (7:45). It’s thought-provoking, random, and at times randomly thought-provoking. Rarely not hilarious, too. Check it.

Ok, so normally I mention where you can find our midshow music so you can check it out for yourself. But this week, I urge, nay, demand, that you clicky the link and download all of “Dirty Coins” by bLiNd (Jordan Aguirre) from Overclocked Remix (11:07). I’m rocking to it right now as I write this post because I CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY SYSTEM. AND I LOVE IT FOR THAT. Oh, and we talk about the Glee/Jonathan Coulton situation during the break as well. Women’s lib gets a nod as well, I think. Just listen.

We are going to get through this comic, come Hell or high water, but we encourage you, the listener, to participate with us and read along. We’ll be sending out Tweets and Facebook posts when we’re gearing up for the next edition, so keep an eye out and join us in this first (only?) Book Club of 2013. For our first edition with Harry Potter and the Illuminated Bridge … er, Gunnerkrigg Court, we dissect each chapter, page by page, and come to a consensus that, while incredibly derivative in a number of ways, this is a comic worth reading in its entirety. We read the first 200 pages (11 chapters, if you want to count that way) this time around, so catch up and let us know what you think! With Book Club, your thoughts are just as important as ours. Probably more so, since we’re tired of hearing ourselves speak/think.

For those into tangents, our Rambletron chokes on the following: Why are snow plows such dicks to people who live on side streets, the useless superpower that is pre-cognitive professional wrestling color commentary, Steve reminding us of his cockamamie Axe Cop conspiracy theory, science brooms, basil vs. basil, whether or not “artificial habitat” can be considered dirty, and the threat of death in Candy Land. Join us?

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Digital Strips Podcast 308 – Review – I Am ARG!

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With the beginning of a new year, we decided to start things off like nothing ever changed. I’m still sick from something or other, Steve asks me to explain myself when it comes to my pick of the week, it’s like the calendar never flipped over! We might as well be Bill Murray waking up to “I Got You, Babe” for the bajillionth time with the amount we haven’t changed in 2013.

But that’s not all a bad thing! It’s the same quality Digital Strips Podcast (for better or worse) and all your favorite segments are here! What have we been reading? Glad you asked:

  • (6:27) Duk and Run (careful! Google searches for this term can result in unintended Three Doors Down discoveries)
  • (9:01) Greyfriars
And news! We scoured the web for a couple of news bites from over the break:
  • (10:19) The Whole Story is back, this time with a Kickstarter (pay what you want, but more gets you more)
  • (12:31) After ten years, Tom Brazleton has brought Theater Hopper to an end

This episode is bereft with weiner jokes, not terribly different than any episode of DS before it. But with our featured comic in mind, it seemed more appropriate than ever to feature a midshow backing track from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. So, enjoy some bathroom humor while “Innocent Deception” (13:20) by Claire Yaxley and DJ Mystix try to bring some class to this whole thing.

Of course, then we bring it right back down into the muck with our first and filthiest comic review of 2013 …

This gag-a-day, penis joke-infused, pseudo-journal comic has both a trashy and a touching side. And I can almost guarantee that 2013 will only get more interesting from here. We only mentioned one comic by name in our discussion, appropriately one also focused on genitalia:

We don’t get around to much Rambletronning, but we do ask the important questions like, “Who will carry on the Twinkie legacy?” and “Is there a good way to crap your pants?” Enjoy it all on welcome to 2013!

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Digital Strips Podcast 304 – Review – Walking On Broken Glass

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It’s that time of year, the one that makes everything we touch, everything we do, everything we attempt both scatter-brained and unfocused. Why, take this podcast, for instance. Sure, it’s well-intentioned and full of mirth, but behind that joyful facade lies a think layer of respiratory ails and troubled children. Sometimes these circumstances breed the best podcasts though, so we’ll see what turns up this time around.

How about the Wii U? Enough webcomics have focused on the newest kit from Nintendo to make it a worthwhile topic on our show. And since I actually have first-hand accounts of the magical, mystical device, all the better! If that’s not enough, we also have comics we’ve been reading, checking out, and talking about:

Our featured review comic this episode purports to have a heavy dose of the supernatural (our discussion reveals possibly otherwise), so I’m using that as an excuse for another awesome remix of Castlevania tunes from Overclocked Remix.

Using the copy direct from the comic’s website, our review centers around a comic that features “a supernatural office dramedy romance about murder”.

It’s hard to say whether we just don’t get this comic because it’s not “for us”, or if it just doesn’t hit enough of the right notes to sing the way its potential would have you believe it does. That distinction aside, the work on this comic has come a long way since the beginning back in October of 2010. Our recommendation is that you plow through the archives yourself and come back to us with your thoughts on this unique webcomic.

Also, don’t forget our thoughts on why we hate all of you one-webcomic-reading bastards, Steve confusing The Honeymooners with Moonlighting, me admitting to watching Moonlighting (my parents’ fault, I swear), and why Steve and I are both tired of picnics. Enjoy!

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Digital Strips Podcast 302 – Horizons Watch – Monsterkind

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It feels like a first … could it be a first? I believe we have never gone longer on news and other items than we have on the featured comic(s), but that’s exactly what we have here. Taking part … ok, all of the blame, as the Horizons pick I brought to the table turned out to have far too many updates to be allowable for this type of show (but very possible for a regular review candidate some time soon!). With that said, the news and Whatcha Been Readin’:

Having nothing to do with any theme in the show but coming from a damn fine video game, the track “Paris” by M.O.O.N. (19:00) from the psycho psychedelic puzzle/shooter, Hotline Miami serves as our midshow music. If that entire sentence didn’t get you pumped, then perhaps this track will. I’d also feel terrible if I didn’t mention that the entire soundtrack is available to stream from Soundcloud.

One pick for Horizons Watch this time around, and it’s not exactly lighting a fire under either of us.

What kind of world would you get if humans (or more accurately, human) and monsters lived together? It’s hard to say from the quick glance this fairly fresh comic provides us, but why not be the judge for yourself? Along the way, we mention a couple other comics:

And finally, the reason you all listen in the first place, the Rambletron is activated! Its topics this week include (but are not limited to): More than you ever wanted to know about The Last of the Mohicans, the very real help you can still provide to Hurricane Sandy victims (text REDCROSS to 90999), booger babies and how all children eventually turn to leprosy, A Tale of Two Skypes, and the disgusting lie of the Tootsie Pop. Enjoy!

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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 297 – Review – Sakana

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If you’re like me, you don’t care much for manga and you won’t give anything that resembles manga a fair shake. Of course, Steve knows this and enjoys playing on that cultural blind spot whenever he can. Enter Sakana. I’d categorize it as Japanese sensibilities by way of an American storyteller, but we’ll get to that soon.

Sakana

First, you probably want to know what we’ve been readin’. I’ve taken a quick glance at Starcrossed [6:50, by way of Ellie on Planet X (7:04)] and found myself thoroughly impressed with the command over the line work that creator Joel Duggan displays [it shares a similarity with Good Ship Chronicles (7:46) and Epicsplosion (7:47, but both seem to not be in working order any longer) in that way]. I look forward to returning to the archives soon. Steve checked out Sent From The Moon (10:33) and also discovered Beeserker (not a mispronunciation, I checked, 11:19), which he believes is the first webcomic to inspire a video game. Both look promising in very different ways and we hope to return to all of these works in the future.

Dungeon crawlers and action-RPGs are an awesome cross-section of genres that produce some of the most addictive gameplay experiences ever devised. While Diablo III represented one of the most anticipated games ever in this space, many have found it lacking in many ways. Torchlight, on the other hand, has been hailed as a return to the good ol’ days of hack-and-slash frivolity (and coming from some of the minds behind Diablo II, these claims are well-founded). And so the sequel to this series is now upon us, and comparisons between it and the third Diablo iteration are inevitable. One thing Blizzard (makers of Diablo, as well as World of Warcraft and Starcraft) didn’t provide us, however, is the soundtrack to their epic journey. Shortly before Torchlight II was to release, the developers posted the entire soundtrack for the game, free to all with the Internet connection to download it. Our midshow beats, from the track “Temple Steppes” (13:15), is just one sampling of the moody score that accompanies a trek through this varied, wondrous land. Listen, download, and most of all, play.

Growing up as a boy in Kansas, I knew nothing of Japanese culture; there were no sushi joints within 120 miles, and I certainly never interacted with any Japanese people. Even our Chinese restaurant, though great it may have been to my Midwesternized palate, served the most American Chinese food you’re likely to encounter. We had no fresh fish market, and wandering downtown to partake of all the local cuisine would yield four, maybe five different selections. With so very little to relate to in a comic about Japanese people in Japan, you’d think it would fail to tickle my fancy. But tickle it did.

  • (19:39) Sakana

Creator Madeline Rupert finds a way to stay true to the cultural truths of a story told in Japan, while also including intrinsically human traits that are easy for anyone to identify with. It’s on this basis that Sakana is so easy to get into. I’ll let our review speak largely for itself, but this is one culturally-rich webcomic that should not be missed.

All this, plus: where is our revamp of Muppet Babies (seriously, need to know), I ponder how torrents truly work, we question what separates the look of a pirate from that of a pimp, our plea for everyone to watch Stardust is issued, Steve hates on Book Club, we wonder if there can be such a thing as a humorous stabbing, and Hypothetical Steve is a dick to his co-workers. Join us and leave any pertinent comments below!

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Digital Strips Podcast 296 – Horizons Watch – Shiver Bureau and Zen Pencils

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Hey, this episode worked! We celebrate a successful recording with Poo Talk! What do you like to do when you number two? Do your BMs come at inopportune moments? How about when you’re out for a nice stroll? Or working up a sweat with a few-mile run? What to do when you find yourself needing to squat, and over a mile from the homebase! Steve has even thought up a slogan for Nike, “Just do it where you want to do it”. Catchy, I think.

Eventually webcomics come back up in conversation, so we talk about those for a while, too. Here’s the quick version of what we’ve been reading and discussing in the last week.

This whole episode felt so casual, it felt only right to continue that easy, breezy mood with the music selection. “A Hint of Blue” (14:43 by Gibs and Mordi) from the smash-hit SNES title, Donkey Kong Country, chills things out for our upcoming discussion. I found it funny that the score for the water stages in DKC mellowed me out, but the action they contained was anything but serene. Trying to strike a balance, I suppose? We also chat about the possibilities the Wii U holds for us this November, for those who are up on the current gaming trends (mine is pre-ordered, you?)

Horizons Watch brings us two different webcomics to talk about, both in terms of where they’ve been thus far in their relatively short lifespan and where the promise of their quality might take them in the future. Our picks this time are:

Two promising, young comics, two very distinct personalities contained therein. Join our discussion as we ponder these other, important topics: Saved By The Bell and the WTF-iness of Tori, whether or not the famed boxer’s actual name was “Muhammedah Lee”, Lovecraft is Missing (23:13), a long-forgotten Michael Jackson classic, just who is this Gary, and your pick on the ballot in this election season (Steve’s voting for ( o )( o ) ). Discuss below!

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Digital Strips Podcast 293 – Book Club – The Rack, Second Edition

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This episode is all about standing tall! This could be in part because I was trying out a new standing recording station, or it could be … ok, it’s completely about that. Don’t worry, once the novelty wears off (I’m estimating somewhere around the halfway point between episodes 300 and 400) it won’t even come up.

Sticking to tradition, we both found something comics-y to talk about for our first segment:

The only news story that came to mind was one quickly alluded to on Twitter. Ryan Estrada announced there that the next collection for The Whole Story, the pay-what-you-want digital graphic novel collection that Estrada orchestrated and participated in (or single-handedly created, if Steve is to be believed) will launch on January 1 (13:22). You’ll want to put down as much as you can for this collection as indicated by The Whole Story’s Twitter account …

Our next bundle is going to be launched on January 1st, and it will be so amazing you will pee your pants with joy.

If there’s one game series that will empty your bladder before you’re quite ready, it’s Castlevania (and Steve says my segues are terrible). Playing Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest well into the evening used to make me an incredibly jumpy young lad, something about the change from day to night was just so foreboding and and disquieting. So what better to help us jump from segment to segment than a remix of some classic sounds from the series?

Genre comics are tough to review, let alone Book Club (yep, that’s a verb now around these parts) and The Rack is proving that fact I just made up true. Among our questions and discussions in this second edition of The Rack Book Club:

  • Have the characters developed in this passage of time compared with the first?
  • Can you tell the guys apart?
  • Noses: A sly commentary on the disfigured, gangly nature of our beloved sub-species, or just some oddly-shaped appendages?
  • Lydia looks to be much more thought out and stylized in her character design. Does this have anything to do with the spin-off which she received?
  • Pop-culture references are not jokes and serve as a common crutch for genre work. Has The Rack escaped this cliche yet?

We also ramble about …

  • Validating Steve’s delinquency
  • More vacations on the horizon?
  • xkcd as an M&M (or an Eminem)?
  • Steve wants to spank all the bad video game genre comics

Listen in and leave your comments on any topic as well as comics you’d like to see reviewed below!

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Digital Strips Podcast 291 – Red’s Catchup (Red’s Planet)

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Olympic fever, mis muchachos! And what better way to complement the games, pitting one country against another in the spirit of sportsmanship and domination than a podcast about webcomics? Tying that all together with a nice, big bow, did you see this week’s Chainsawsuit(8:48) about the Olympics, specifically the oddball mascots that they chose to represent the world’s greatest athletes? Other first segment-type things to discuss…

  • Have you caught up with Wondermark (9:28) lately? If not, you’re missing out on the best, old-school, new-school writing featuring repurposed Victorian-era drawings on offer today.
  • Erfworld (11:48). It’s a comic that I possibly thought was something else, but which is very well done regardless of that fact.
  • No, it’s not the latest movie in the Indiana Jones franchise (though I’d take just about anything that might wash the taste of Crystal Skull out of my mouth). Rather, Tales of the Emerald Yeti (13:05) is a mix of the fish-out-of-water basis of Superman and the man-inside nature of werewolf lore. Steve found an entertaining take on the comic books of the Silver Age, but the style and feel seems hollow after a few pages. Certainly worth a look, though.

During a Facebook conversation with a buddy while editing the show, I asked him if he would like to contribute the episode’s song choice. When asked for a proper piece that followed the intergalactic theme that Red’s Planet inspires, he requested something from the Halo series, specifically the third iteration. Luckily, Overclocked Remixhad only one such work.

We take looks at comics, sometimes for Horizons Watches, sometimes for awards show wrap-ups, that are not nearly long enough to put together the aspects of the story, art, and other pieces of the ever-elusive comic puzzle. While we’re not sure if this will be a regular thing, Red’s Planet (17:53) fit that bill more than perfectly. As a Horizons Watch pick from all the way back in Episode 213, our time with this all-ages, space-faring tale was much too brief. Here, we get a chance to catch-up (hence the hopefully one-time title) with the archives thus far and it is a wonderful journey, indeed. As always, we mention other comics in our discussions:

All this, plus: A tutorial on Mac and Me, the zeitgeist of E.T. vs. the endearing, enduring legacy of Mario, a new perspective on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Cameron Frye’s Ball-Trippin’ Day Off?), and Steve’s son makes his podcast debut while his dad focuses primarily on gentalia, particularly of the male variety. Join us!

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