Talk:web comics

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Contents 1 Penny Arcade 2 Captain N parody? 3 Bob and George? 4 Explanations 5 Spamusement 6 Kirby 7 The Smurfs 8 Spam senders 9 Signature blocks 10 Cast of Characters 11 Captain N 12 Stinkoman Sprite Comics 13 ... and elves.

Penny Arcade

Doesn't anyone think that that Game Pox comic looks like Penny Arcade?Marvelrulez 20:27, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

What, the first comic? With the brick? That's the first thing that came to MY mind, and I've never even read Penny Arcade. --DorianGray 20:29, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Already in Real-World References. And yes, yes it does. It's a reference, no doubt. Bluebry 20:31, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

While Strong Bad is pretty clearly modelled after Gabriel, I don't know who the Strong Sad character is supposed to be. But the speech balloons and fonts look similar, also. I think the reference should be put back. (I think it was removed earlier.) Danny Lilithborne 20:32, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Strong Bad's point is that there are a million comics like this. We can't assume that he's making a reference to one specific comic. And as far as being modeled after Gabriel or whoever, I disagree. And besides.. again.. lots of comics are alike. OptimisticFool 20:46, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

STUFF'd. Danny Lilithborne 20:47, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

If not PA, its most likely CAD

69.125.174.75 Poster of that fun fact

I don't think so. There's nothing that reminds me of CAD in "Game Pox". If anything, Strong Sad is reminiscent of PvP a little bit, but not enough for me to call it a reference. Danny Lilithborne 21:24, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

That is definitely a PA reference. If you say otherwise, well, you're wrong, and you're just going to have to deal with that. And that's my objective opinion on the matter. --Soapergem • • 06:21, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, after seeing the cartoon and noticing the conspicuous absence of a Penny Arcade fun fact, I moseyed over to look for the conversation. Obviously it needs to keep conversing a little longer, but my two cents are in favor of it. Yes yes, there are Ctrl-Alt-Del and PvP and Dueling Analogs and VGcats and ever and more. But TBC didn't have to put a shirt on Strong Bad at all, much less a yellow one. Plus his black hair, scowly expression, and backwards-leaning posture—I think they were trying their best to give us an overt reference. —AbdiViklas 13:15, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Not only that, but look at the way the eyes and necks are drawn. The art style is closer to PA than PvP or CAD.

I dunno, I've been reading penny arcade almost as long as I've been going to homestar runner, and I just don't see it. I'll grant that the characters look somewhat like their real life counterparts, but I say that's a pretty oblique reference. There's nothing else really penny arcade about the comic, none of the writing screams penny arcade (except maybe the very early stuff). I still say it's too much of a stretch. Nynexman4464 15:09, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I think you most likely feel this way because you're very familiar with PA and thus notice the differences, but to someone who's only passingly familiar with it, it's pretty obviously supposed to be PA. Plus, PA is the most famous of of the gamernerd nerdgeek webcomics, and they're well-known for being impossible to understand if you don't play video games (just see the article on them in Wired...)--75.68.233.187 15:16, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

While Strongsad's character is debatable, Strongbad is definitely a reference to Penny Arcade. Stev0 16:13, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Strong Bad is Gabe from Penny Arcade. It is possible that Strong Sad is supposed to be someone else entirely from a different comic. Below someone suggests the idea that he's from Ctrl-Alt-Del, about which i know nothing -Jdhannan 16:29, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Personally, I thought it was the Red vs Blue comic when I first saw this email.

Captain N parody?

Part of this email clearly seems to be sending up Captain N the Game Master. A series which featured a human in the video game world, and the game worlds, story plots and characters often bore little or no resemblance to their game counterparts. For example the Secret Collect character is a whiney coward not unlike Simon Belmont's portrayal in Captain N. The in-jokes may even go further than I recognise.

Reminded me more of the Pac-Man cartoon, personally. Captain N centered around a real-world human, as well as a whole *group* of random NES characters; not much of a similarity IMO. Also, Simon Belmont was a whiny coward in Captain N (something he very much is *not* in Castlevania games, but I digress), but he was also a hopeless narcissist, which Secret Collect isn't. Ramble. -YK 07:07, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

It seems more than just Captain N. There were also shows like the "Super Mario Bros. Super Show," The Legend of Zelda TV Series, and the Megaman TV Series... two of the three can be found nowadays in the form of something completely mixed up on Youtube. - Ren Foxx 01:46, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Bob and George?

Been a while since I had posted here. Anyway, when SB was listed out "They're all about video games, gamernerds, webgeeks, dorknerds, gamewads, nerdgames, webwebs, and elves." The first thing that came to mind when he mentioned "video games" (and later said "just steal some graphics from your favorite video game") was the Web Comic Bob and George, further enforced with the Stinkoman comic bit where the majority of Stinkoman sprites were based off of Megaman... Heck, I too am guilty of the use of videogame graphics for my own web-comic... which I'm currently slacking on. Also, I'd like to point out the MS Paint comment SB mentioned. Many new comers to the sprite/pixel comic landfill often use MS Paint as their very first program, and use it very badly. As far as the Elves part goes, I'm unsure. - Ren Foxx 04:59, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

• Unlike Penny Arcade, which has a form that is discernably lampooned, Bob and George and 8-Bit Theater et. al. don't really have any hallmarks that would make them stand out from other sprite comics. Danny Lilithborne 05:40, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, unless you count Bob and George being the first significant sprite comic. There's a reputation for really bad comic writers to base their works on Bob and George as well. --Jay (Gobble) 15:28, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Explanations

I think GamerJox is a spoof of Ctrl+Alt+Del. Strong Sad strongly resembles Lucas. And those web comics with the sprites could be referenced to 8-Bit Theater.

• Strong Bad's pompadour, yelling pose and yellow shirt are pretty reminiscent of Gabriel. Contrariwise, I don't see anything in Strong Sad resembling Lucas other than he's fat. Danny Lilithborne 05:45, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
• No, I don't think so. Lucas wears a white shirt, and has hair more like Strong Bad's. Evil Egg 12:31, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
  • By the way, heading off at the pass further discussion of 8-Bit Theater: Yeah, that was the first thing I thought of when Strong Bad began talking about it, but as he went on to describe such crappy examples, I think he's really just referencing the dozens upon thousands of amateur attempts using the same method. —AbdiViklas 13:17, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Spamusement

Is the Spam-based comic a reference to | Spamusement? I don't know of any other webcomic that does this. I'm not saying there aren't, I'm just saying I don't know about them if there are. Stev0 16:17, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Seconded -Jdhannan 16:29, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

STUFF'd. Vote there. Danny Lilithborne 21:17, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

STUFF should be only be used when there's no consensus on the talk page. Here's the fact that was removed (edited a bit):

The Cheat's web comic, based on spam mailers' names, is a reference to Spamusement!, a real-life comic made from spam email subject lines.

This seems to be a legitimate reference to me; the gimmicks behind the comics are almost identical, and I doubt that there are any other real-life web comics that are similar. Anybody agree or disagree? Trey56 21:21, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I think it's probably a reference, unless someone can demonstrate that it's TTATOT. Heimstern Läufer 21:35, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

The following comments/arguments were moved here from the STUFF page — hopefully, we can find consensus on this fact here without the need for the STUFF process. Trey56 00:10, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Argument For from Mathgrant: Both The Cheat's comic and Spamusement! reference spam, and have bad art.

Comment from Kvn8907: It was kind of annoying how people kept deleting and re-adding this before this section in STUFF was added, especially when they gave it as their reason for removing it. Not that it has much to do with the current argument; I'm just saying.-Kvn8907 23:47, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Argument Against from Ten Ten: Claiming it as a reference to one specific source is ambiguous: there are multiple groups that spend time making fun of spam messages.

While there are many groups devoted to making fun of spam, crappy drawings based on spam subject lines are pretty much Spamusement!'s trademark, methinks. Mathgrant 00:21, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

I can't really see that TBC were specifically referencing Spamusement. The concept doesn't exactly match Spamusement; The Cheat draws things based on the senders' names, Spamusement draws things based on the subject line. Besides that, The Cheat's screen looks nothing like the POOR web design of Spamusement. Also, looking at several of Spamusement's drawings, they all seem to be black and white, whereas The Cheat's are full color. And The Cheat's style matches all PBTC artistry, so you can't really take drawing style into account. I have to admit, though, that a Google search did not seem to produce anything that compares to Spamusement. I didn't try very hard, though. And I'm not on the fence about it. I would vote to reject this being listed as a real world reference. OptimisticFool 01:04, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you're not familiar with how a 'reference' works. What would they have to do for it to be a reference to Spamusement? Have the cheat make comics based on spam subject lines in black and white, matching that guy's style and his style of web design? HILARIOUS. Direct copying of someone else? thats comedic gold. No place for creativity here folks. -Jdhannan 02:04, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Kirby

The stupid paint thing that is drawn on the Stinkoman comic looks a little like Kirby in a messed up way.

The Smurfs

• It's not something I want to put on the page without discussing it (unlike Penny Arcade where I'm pretty sure), but the evil wizard from the Secret Collect cartoon reminds me of Gargamel. He wears a crappy looking cloak, is balding, has rotten teeth, and the shot of his castle is reminiscent of all the interior shots in Gargamel's castle. Danny Lilithborne 09:31, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree entirely, although he also reminds me of Mitch Overlord. ¡ɯooz + 19:24, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I dunno, I don't want to add this unless I get more notes saying it's not a stretch. Danny Lilithborne 00:42, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Spam senders

Some of those names, besides Hooray4Dolphins I reckon could be from some other wellknown characters.

Public D. Themackinest - Pompon, The Mack Lowpoint K. Festivals - Strong Sad, being at a constant lowpoint

There may be others that I have not been able to decifer. I know that it might be a reach, and in any way a weak case, but I just throught that I would throw it out there. Lord-z 15:38, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

It's an interesting theory, but it strikes me as speculation. --Jay (Gobble) 15:41, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Signature blocks

I added the following fact as a real world reference:

The characters in GamerJox monotonously reciting computer specifications at the end of their comic is a reference to the inclusion of such information in signature blocks of posts in internet forums by computer technology enthusiasts.

And it was removed with this explanation:

Why would he be referencing signature blocks/internet forums in an email about web comics?? And being "similar to" is not enough to be a real world reference.)

The random spouting off computer specs really deserves an explanation, and I'm convinced that this is it. Why else would he possibly have done it? To answer the question the deleter asks, I would imagine Strong Bad is implying that these characters are the kinds of people who use and see computer specs in internet forum signature blocks so regularly that they automatically use them as a "signoff" even when communicating in person. That does seem odd, but it's a joke, and that's how I interpreted it. Did anyone interpret it some other way? LikeAsItself 18:51, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Seconded. That makes total sense. -Jdhannan 02:01, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Cast of Characters

How much of the characters in the comics and cartoons and so one should we include in the cast list? Any? All? Note that not everything in the cast has to be linked. Personally, I'm for including everyone we can name/has a speaking part. --DorianGray 19:29, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Captain N

The first Saturday morning cartoon reminds me of Captain N. Awexome 23:08, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Good thing this is different than the other Captain N message about 3 blocks up -Jdhannan 02:02, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Stinkoman Sprite Comics

This is obvious, but the Stinkoman Sprite Comic definitely references Stinkoman Sprite Comics on the Fanstuff Wiki. I've seen MS Painted graphics in these things. Im a bell 01:12, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

P.S. This doesn't need to be STUFF'd! Im a bell

... and elves.

I believe that Strong Bads line, "They're all about video games, gamernerds, webgeeks, dorknerds, gamewads, nerdgames, webwebs, and elves" makes a reference to 8-bit Theater, at least the part about elves. 12.18.218.230 01:52, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, because 8-Bit Theater is the only webcomic ever to be about elves. Danny Lilithborne 01:58, 10 October 2007 (UTC)