New Webcomics Thread is Tremendously Magnificent

[Amake]

Slow Wave is a collective dream journal. It's also pretty funny.

[Donomni]

Remember that old VGCats comic with learning Poop in place of Breathe and such?



I think this one's funnier.

[Art of Hilt]

Alternative strategy: She could use "Dig" to "dig in" to her food.

[Amake]

Let's examine these two poke-based cartoons closely. In exhibit A we see: Some stupid pokemon I never heard of unlearned its eating skill and suffers the awkward realization that it can't eat. That's it. One note joke. Do pokemon even eat food?

Exhibit B contains:
1. A slightly silly name for the strip, "Rare candy".
2. Leo, the crazy cat we know and love. Can't overstate the value of original characters in an ongoing comic strip.
3. Leo doesn't eat his sammich, he "defeats" it. That still cracks me up. Minus points for the typo though.
4. Poop. It's always fun.
5. Leo chooses videogames over breathing. Ho ho, nerd humor.
6. He asphyxiates with a smile. Kitty sure loves them videogames!
7. To add insult to injury to the poop jokes, Leo even suffers a critical failure when vacating his bowels upon death. What is he, Black Mage?
8. On top of all this, half of the humor in this strip comes from Ransoomair's command of ridiculous facial expressions.
9. I just realized the olive with a toothpick in it indicates the vanquished sammich was a rather fancy one. That kind of adds to the humor I think.
And a gold star for doing the joke first.

It's a matter of taste of course but I find it hard to see any redeeming qualities for strip A here.

Edit to answer phil_: Yes.

[phil_]

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

Some stupid pokemon I never heard of

Seriously?

[Tev]

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

Edit to answer phil_: Yes.

Follow-up question: What....what pokemon do you know? I only ask because Nidorina is a Generation 1 pokemon. By now most people who have heard the word "Pokemon" and understand that it references a show or game about cock-fighting monsters knows the first 150 of them pretty much by heart. Also, game-wise, Nidorina was the female evolution of Nidoran(girl) which was practically one of every trainer's 3rd or 4th catch out of the gate in the first and third generation of the game.

EDIT: Hell it was the first kind of pokemon with sexual dimorphism!

[Mike McC]

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

That's it. One note joke. Do pokemon even eat food?

Honestly, simplicity is usually best when telling a joke. This comic cuts right to the point, without any extra fluff, and it does it pretty well.

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

On top of all this, half of the humor in this strip comes from Ransoomair's command of ridiculous facial expressions.

... Seriously? One of the main weaknesses of VG Cats is that he replaces jokes with WACKY FACES. It's a crutch, and not a very good one.

Another main weakness is that he stretches out jokes too long most of the time.

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

And a gold star for doing the joke first.

I highly doubt he was the first.

[Amake]

I don't see how funny faces are less fun than no funny faces. Or eight simple jokes instead of one. I mean, people (me) remember VG Cats strips and go back to them year after year to laugh. How many times do you see yourself reading that Nidorina strip? Or making faces as you tell your friends about it? Maybe you all prefer gags that rely on shock and novelty and can be forgotten in five minutes, that's fine if it works for you, but I like jokes with staying power.

Also, poop.

what pokemon do you know?

I guess I could name about 50. How would you learn those 150 by heart if you don't watch the shows or play the games?

More importantly, does it make any difference to the joke which pokemon it's about?

[Mirai Gen]

The joke in BITF is the surprise of the punchline and the lack of expectation, and is therefore funnier.

[Mike McC]

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

I don't see how funny faces are less fun than no funny faces.

Not a matter of them being used, a matter of them being overused and relied upon. Besides, the Nidorina comic is far more expressive than Ramsoomair's stock WACKY EXPRESSIONs!!1

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

Or eight simple jokes instead of one.

If you crowd in too much material into a limited space, then everything looses it's impact. It's like having a character in a novel walk in and give a massive all-encompassing infodump. There's really no need to insert wackiness and jokes into every panel, especially since that does quite a bit to diminish the set-up. It's really best to focus on one or two jokes at a time. This allows for better set-up and timing.

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

I mean, people (me) remember VG Cats strips and go back to them year after year to laugh. How many times do you see yourself reading that Nidorina strip? Or making faces as you tell your friends about it? Maybe you all prefer gags that rely on shock and novelty and can be forgotten in five minutes, that's fine if it works for you, but I like jokes with staying power.

This is baffling, as, really, it's essentially the same joke. They both have pretty much identical staying power using that criteria. However, the Nidorina one is more fluidly expressive, and really is more visually appealing than the VGCats strip, which is pretty much a copy-paste fest with minor alterations to the head, and frankly lazy artwork, even by Ramsoomair standards.

Also, VGCats? It is practically completely composed jokes that rely on shock value and novelty.

Also, poop.

Yes, that too.

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

More importantly, does it make any difference to the joke which pokemon it's about?

Apparently to you, it does. Eh-hem....

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

Some stupid pokemon I never heard of

Anyway, Mirai has the right of it here. (Me, agreeing with Mirai! Make note, kiddies.) The Nidorina comic is better written in that the outcome is not immediately obvious. In VG Cats the punchline is telegraphed in the set-up. The crux of humor is found in the unexpected, in going against preconceived notions, defying expectations.