This is really interesting, though I'm learning to appreciate how difficult it is to make anything decent that's 3 panels long. I'll learn to make something okay, though, if it kills me.* My favourite I've seen so far was posted under the "worst comic" thread - it's the one posted by andydougan called "Hopefully the worst comic I'll ever make". Of the few I've made so far, the only one I kind of like is this one:

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I like the first panel of this one, but I'll have to work on how to end things.**

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* but only if.

** (morbid tautology)

I didn't like "Robots Were not Built for This at First," but after re-reading it, I realize it's just more than I've come to expect on this site and is actually very, very good. Bravo.

"The Holidays," however, is wierd. Normally pointless non-sequiturs happen at the end of a comic as an excuse for a punchline. You have a great punchline, but the FIRST panel doesn't seem to do much for anything. I don't know if it's a non-sequitur or just vague.

Anyway, I think you're going to be a great stripper. More, please!

Are you a speed GRAVY boat?

Hi! Thanks for reading them - I really don't know what I'm doing! When I've started making these, at the first panel, I haven't yet had any idea how any of them will end. I find I really flinch with punch lines - for some reason, I almost don't want to have the LAST panel in "The Holidays", except that you're right - the first panel is the odd one, and it messes up the structure. Something about even putting a punch line in the last of 3 panels makes me squeamish, but when I see a great punch line like the one at the end of "Psychology Experiment: Can Robots be Gay?"*, I realize that I'm probably squeamish about floundering around with an idea in the rest of the comic. I'll have to make some things and see what I think of them after a few days. Maybe I'll just re-work something after that.

Here are 2 that I tried somewhat later today that I don't mind - I wanted to try making something more conventional and get the hang of structuring things, punch lines and all. I tried another one called "Travellin' Matt" with terrible 'non sequitur after the punch line' , which ruined the whole thing for me.

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Dcomposed - I've tried one of those speed gravy boats, but I got flour all over my shirt. I traded with my dog for that little chuckwagon he was always chasing around the kitchen, and he's never looked back. *sigh*

*the robot's whole expression - even his arm, which I'd not noticed much before - becomes funny.

Here's one I like more today than I did yesterday. I don't know why. I screwed up the lettering a bit.

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Yeah, I like that one.

Dolphins are always funny...

I 'specially like the little noises they make when they're caught in my uncle's fishing nets.

I'm really creepy, by the way

Pleased to meet you, Boritom - I have the recording your uncle made that was included in an issue of National Geographic back in the '70's. The sound quality suffers considerably on those old flexi records - I've often wondered if there should be a remake in the works, but then I think to myself "you know, good luck getting those dolphins back together".*

*if you know what I mean.

This is the first comic that I've tried where I've actually thought about what was going to happen before I started making it - doing that cures my squeamishness I was having about punch lines. It's a pretty mild series, but I don't mind that, and I want to finish it.

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I'm doing more reading of other people's comics than comic-making the last couple of days, but I liked this and thought I'd post it.

I'll post this one, and cut back on coffee tomorrow.

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They nothing funny about cancer. Or that comic. Especially that comic.

quote:

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They nothing funny about cancer. Or that comic. Especially that comic.

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I'm talking about safety, and it's okay to have sex as long as you use a condom. C'mon, I'll treat ya to a smoothie.

your on babe :-). ill wear the dress

I like July 12, 2003 quite a bit.

I'm kinda hot and cold with your comics at the moment speedboat_lou, I either really like them or I don't understand them, but they are still a lot better than some of the shit the's been posted recently, keep up the good work, this thread is good.

Thanks for commenting... There were a few I made earlier where I was just experimenting. The "Holidays" one that I posted first, I realize, may have been too vague in the first panel (I had thought that the "whoosh" also looked like the back end of an ostrich, but that was probably too much in my own head - in the "Helen" series, I'm trying to use the dialogue to make what I imagine happening more clear) - then there are some that didn't make sense at all, and aren't worth looking at. I'm going to post another one that I just made, though.

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Okay... *#$@*!! If you didn't read that last one, please read this one instead, as I'm an editing freak, and this dialogue is 2% better.

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You can take the whole family to this.

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I'm having, like, the worst insomnia.

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hahaa i like that one

The latest strip (July 15, 2003) really is rather clever. However, I can't say I really enjoyed the "Bob Kirshnir Presents" strip(s).

Oops. Don Kirshnir... Sorry..

I like this one:

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The last line delivered by a smiling Clango is really sweet, he seems geniunely happy to just do what he was designed to do until the end of time.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

Originally I had him upset, but then I looked at the comic and thought "why would he be upset about that? He's a robot - usefulness and monotony would be the "real" robot heaven - none of that "freedom" garbage". Changing his expression gave me a punch line I could live with, and a title. I like the idea of that comic, but it bothers me that I didn't consider the whole thing better - I don't know if it works well enough in 3 quick panels.

Does anyone notice how a comic can change if you read it quickly or slowly? There's a brilliant comic I saw (that I'll post in that other thread if more people think it's okay) that works if you look at it as one panel (all at once) or 3 panels consecutively.

I'm beginning to wonder some things. Comics are kind of new to me, and, in all other aspects of my life, if I were making, say, a guy-with-a-rocket-sidekick-doing-a-concert-on-TV-in-the-70's joke, based on a stupid pun and working in an awkward double entendre, an AC/DC reference and some appropriate background changes, I'd only do it if I were, say, hanging out with 35-year old record store employees. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I'm not just doing things that can ONLY be funny to me, and complete randomness to everyone else. How do other people sense what they can get away with, audience-wise? Has it been an issue for anyone? This, to me, is the "brutal" aspect of comic-making.

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How do other people sense what they can get away with, audience-wise? Has it been an issue for anyone? This, to me, is the "brutal" aspect of comic-making.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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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!

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Insomniac Theatre Presents:

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

These are tasty as well...

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