Saturday, November 08, 2008

Dynamic character poses make a talking head strip funny. Body language is a major part of conversation.

This:


Versus:




The latter comic (and related advice) were shamelessly taken from the Something Awful thread dedicated to "fixing" CAD. If you want to read over 100+ pages of analyzing, critiquing, and ultimately improving CAD, click here.

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Friday, June 13, 2008



Get it? By putting the tiny controller in the drawer, it's not him tidying up, it symbolizes him putting away the dreams of being a father.

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Ctrl-Alt-Del, champion of uninspired punchlines and hollow characters, has attempted to show it can handle drama. "Attempted" being the key word.

Lilah, static girlfriend-character of Ethan, silly comic relief character, has become pregnant with Ethan's baby. The news came as a shock, but through as series of strips about as exciting or interesting as a real relationship talk with a girlfriend, they've come to accept this fact.

We pretty much all knew there'd be no baby. PvP pulled the same stunt a couple of years ago, only they got through it without talking us to death. Their story gave us a twist, took on an edge, bringing us deeper into the character motivations of possible-father-to-be Brent Sienna.

Okay, back to CAD. Ethan and Lilah are having a baby, right? Then this happened.

I'll give kudos in that Buckley had the event transpire suddenly and without warning, just as something real like that would. However, this is coming from CAD. It releases strips like this. A miscarriage storyline is venturing into dangerous, unexplored territory. You can't just shove readers into it.

Lo and behold, the strip has become a punchline in of itself. Bigger Than Cheeses had a field day, Cyanide and Happiness even took a jab, and here's my personal favorite:



What I find interesting is Buckley continued the storyline for two strips, and then sort of stopped. The latest two strips since then have been unconnected, the last of which a pin-up (pin-ups being another word for "filler"). I wonder if he's rethinking his decision to have a miscarriage of a storyline in a gaming comic? That's probably reading to far into it, but really... what the hell?

Ah, heck, here are some more (pulled from BtC):




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Monday, November 26, 2007



I know it's passé to hate on CAD, but I mean... that's the punchline?

Really?

"I know a guy who knows a guy" isn't a punchline... it's a blank space, a placeholder for the author to replace upon thinking of an actual joke.

Examples:

"Eh. I once knew a security guard for a costume store named 'Nappy.'"

"Eh. Turns out my closet adjoins a highschool drama department. Who knew?"

"Eh. Turns out to be a PI, you don't need disguises to investigate cheating spouses... just a parked car and a camera"

"Eh. Just in case I need to change my name and address. Fast."

"Eh. Those "one per customer" coupons are a gold mine for a man with a thousand faces."

Oh sure, they're not all winners, but at least I'm trying

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