You
Say "Self-Pity" Like It's A Bad Thing
"If the doctor told me I had only six minutes
to live, I'd type a little faster." - Isaac Asimov
 Long
Story Short: Wanna make a web comic?
It's
been an enlightening experience creating Raging Pencils.
The main thing I've learned is that the vast majority of
internet users could
give fuck-all about politics or progressive ideals, no matter
how many mad scientists or dinosaurs are involved.
Don't get me wrong. These cranky creations of mine are receiving
a bewilderingly decent amount of repeat
viewers but I can't help but glance enviously at web sites
which
feature somewhat,
shall we say,
less altruistic humor. These sites are so popular they basically
have to fend off the ravenous hordes
with
the threat of viruses, buffer overflows
and pictures of Anne Coulter giving herself a Harvey Wallbanger
enema.
Anyone who creates a web cartoon, and that includes humble
little me, fantasizes about achieving the sort of celebrity
that eventually leads to one's moral and physical destruction,
but drawing pictures of sheep calling Cheney a fat, fascist
fuck
ain't gonna do it.
No, the droves of internet addicts endlessly
crusing the net clearly want tits or, at least, the promise
of tits. Second on that list is games, especially if they
reek of the heady scent of Pocky and D&D. So if you can
develop a web 'toon
that features half-dressed, mystifyingly adorable young women
hanging around pasty, dice-rolling losers then you don't
even have to bother with punchlines.
The self-pitying point I really want to make is that creating
jokes for
Raging Pencils is harder than it looks. Lots harder. I don't
have the full gamut of human foibles to exploit as I'm philosophically
restricted to
one small left-wing wedge. You know, unimportant topics like
freedom, the protection of the Earth, the storming of the
Neocon Bastille. Since RP gags have to be progressive in
nature that means
I can't use just any kooky koncept I kome up with. And
I've written lots of those. More's the pity.
More often than not I'll find myself backed into an
allegorical corner that's more Aesop-ian than slapstick-ian.
The Emperor's
rampant
nudity, in other words, wears pretty darn thin pretty darn
quickly.
Grin.
=mike=
|
