It may not be the answer you're looking for, but I simply don't care if people dislike my strips. My primary audience is myself, and if other people enjoy it too, all the better. Regardless of how bad an idea I may have, if I can articulate it on the screen, I save it. You never know when it might strike up another idea that could potentially be better, and if it's not saved, it can be easily forgotten. In the "real world," I think this is what a comic artist would keep a sketchbook for. Since I'm nowhere near organized enough to keep a sketchbook for an online comic site, my library reads like a sketchbook.

Sometimes it's even funny.

As for my own opinion of your strips, I think the ones of yours I like the best are the ones involving clever sight gags like the dolphins and the reindeer. The bad haircut was also a clever idea, but I've seen the joke done once before, a long time ago. It was at its funniest the first time I saw it.

Many of the other strips are simply too esoteric for me to find any humor in. You are doubtlessly referencing things that are out of my realm of experience, and as such, my reaction tends to be similiar to that of cowboy2 in this strip:

Cowboy physics by max 1-06-01

One day at the ranch... So I says, "Well, them rotor turbines ain't gonna generate gravitons by themselves!" Ha, ha! What the fuck are you talking about?

Anyhow, welcome to SC.com!

Oh - I think that's a good way to think of doing comics, and I can't imagine being able to do it any other way. It is like a sketchbook, I think. I was just wondering what people thought about the idea of an audience here, and thanks for replying.

A Powerful Barnyard Drama by Eugene O'Neill by speedboat_lou 7-15-03

Sully? You're gonna fall offa there! Hey, Sully - you shouldn't oughta be sittin' up on the edge like that. You could hurt yourself! How many times I gotta tell you? Sully! I can't even look you in the eyes no more, Sully! I get all wobbly every night thinkin' about you up there like a crazy fool. You wanna go to the hospital, Sully? Fine by me. I just wanna say - real friends don't do this to each other, Sully! They don't do this to each other.

I think that for the most part, the audience here tend to be on the geekier side of the equation, and that strips which play up to that sensibility often are the most well recieved.

Now that I think about it, the audience here has changed a lot from when I first arrived. The site's membership used to have a far older average age, and it felt like the age dispersion was more even. It seems to have attracted a lot younger a crowd lately, not that this is a bad thing by itself. You may want to keep in mind that the audience will likely change if you stick around here for any length of time... it's a very fluid demographic.

I really like that latest one, by the way. Still not familiar with the reference, but the absurdity is well played. Kudos!

If you read any of my threads (linked to on my comic page) you'll see that most of the replies are from the same people, these people are my audience. You tend to notice that your comics will strike a chord with certain people and others may just not get it or find it as funny.

I don't think of my audience when I'm making comics, I just make them and somehow it's always the same people that reply.

Those people are awesome.

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Dad was flammable

That's interesting - I can imagine that, and it doesn't sound bad at all.

They Said It Would Never Happen... by speedboat_lou 7-17-03

Thirth! Come quick - the rotor turbineth!! She can't mean - ? You shut them down last night... I was there! Great Scott! We haven't got a moment to lose! Activate the stabilizers, Alicia! We'll be right there!

I've just noticed the search engine, and now I'm going to try to find the most gothic comic I can.

The Sketches of Dr. Cartonius by speedboat_lou 7-17-03

What a cruel fate that I, who have learned to give life to lines of cold graphite, cannot draw worth a damn. He was once my favourite horse - now look at him! He haunts my laboratory day and night! But I must be quiet, or he'll find me. He is my guilty conscience, Simon. You think he does not know my secrets? But there is still that one last chamber... look at him. Watch him enter it... Yes...yes... it's dark back there, isn't it? Now he sees what I've become! Have pity on my trembling hands, Simon... I only wanted to remember him forever! Forgive me, Snuffles!

I didn't find what I was looking for yet, so I had to go down to the laboratory. What nature cannot provide, man must take upon himself to create. You scoff, but think of what wonders exist in the cobwebbed attics of our minds - so tantalizingly out of reach? The looming faces of our unfulfilled desires, staring down at us as we lay sleepless in our beds - look into their eyes, and despair!

The Strange Disappearance of Doctor Cambiari by speedboat_lou 7-17-03

I've prepared the re-entry chamber upstairs for you, Doctor Cambiari. Thank you, Philip. I'll step into the matter transmitter while you put away those groceries. I'll meet you up in the kitchen in a moment. We'll have salad to celebrate! Philip and I had been working on this for months, and it was finally ready for the ultimate test - an actual human teleportation! I locked the door behind me, and steadied my hands at the controls. I cannot relate the horror of what happened when the transmitter started the molecular relay process... What's happening to my hands? Good God! Philip must have dropped the cauliflower in the re-entry chamber!

Insomniac Theatre Presents:

The Masque of the Red Death by speedboat_lou 7-18-03

Hey, asshole. This is a private party. Who let you in here? Take that fucking hood off and look at me, douchebag! AAAIIIEEEEEE!! Sweet Jesus! I'm only a little boy! A frail, remorseful little boy! "And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all." (Edgar Allan Poe) Hee hee! Look at myself back there while I was alive, pissing myself like a moron!

Toby Dammit (Regulars and Decap version) by speedboat_lou 7-18-03

Hey, man. Check out that turnstile over there. I bet the devil my head that I can jump right over it! Aw, geez, Toby - you don't gotta prove anything to me, man. You been drinkin' pretty hard. But it was too late. Toby had made up his mind. You asshole! Look out for that iron... *THWACK!* ...bar!

The Masque of the Red Death is my fav...

These are tasty as well...

July 15, 2003 by speedboat_lou 7-15-03

I know you'd tell me if there was something wrong... That's right. I would tell you, and what did I say? But it doesn't feel right. You know when it just doesn't feel right? It LOOKS right, so just stop it already. He took too much off the back, didn't he? Jesus, will you just take some of mine?

Captainth Log, Thtardate 1938.5... by speedboat_lou 7-18-03

Thruthterth at thtathion-keeping and phatherth are ready, Mithter Thcott. Aye, Mithter - I mean Mister Sulu. Shall we proceed, Captain?

I also added you to my ever growing list of fav strippers...keep up the good work.

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Think classy, you'll be classy.