So I’ve been away for a bit, as mentioned last week. For those who were wondering, being married for twenty years and then getting to throw a party for your friends is sort of awesome. But I’m back now, and it seems not a moment too soon, as things are beginning to pile up around here.

• I’d planned on coming back to bloggening today, and even if I hadn’t I would have had to after seeing a blip in my twitterstream last night, the first in 18 months or so from Allie Brosh who is sublimely wonderful and had fallen entirely out of public view. It happens, and in her case, Ms Brosh has shared why it happened and done so in a way that’s honest and brave and makes me want to punch capital-D Depression right in the neck.

  I don’t know if her words+pictures today have helped more people with depression or without — being able to recognize when somebody you know is suffering and being able to help is not a skill that’s widely taught just yet, but damn if this comic isn’t a tremendous first stride. Read it, think about it, go be a shriveled piece of corn for somebody that needs it.

• Also dropping today is the latest Jim Zub project; while he was famously jerked around by DC Comics earlier this year, he was also classy as hell about the whole thing. I’m going to ascribe his newest news to that classy-as-hellness, because I’m not certain that anybody at DC has two functioning neurons to rub together, but they probably recognize kind behavior¹. In any event, Mr Zub is responsible for the writerly portion of a two-part Batman story in a digital-first anthology series, with Part One appearing on devices today and part two next Thursday, 16 May. My only quibble with Zub’s entirely understandable enthusiasm is when he says:
  

  My first published superhero story and first published DC Comics work, Legends of the Dark Knight #49, has been released on digital and mobile platforms and it’s only 99 cents!

  That’s because every time Zub shares his wisdom on making comics and making it in comics (start here, look to the sidebar that says “Tutorials” and don’t stop so long as there are still links to follow), he is himself a goddamn superhero to everybody that loves comics, and don’t you forget it, Zub.

Various new things were introduced while I was gone:

• Comic Chameleon, long awaited, has seen its official launch, meaning that you can download it to your iDevice now and start reading webcomics for free, and with the cooperation of their creators. Well done Bernie Hou and the entire Comic Chameleon team; once I get my Android version you’ll escalate all the way to “Attaboy” status.
• Dante Shepherd, this blog’s favorite Chemical Engineer², has launched a new undertaking and it’s not the second comic (provisionally dubbed PhD Unknown) that’s been hinted at for a few months now. That’s cool, we at Fleen would rather wait until it was done cooking to Shepherd (and art collaborator Joan Cooke)’s standards.

  No, what Shepherd announced was a new initiative to promote interest in and understanding of STEM topics by K-12 educators, who will presumably share their knowledge and enthusiasm with the various rugrats budding scholars who will form the technological basis of future generations. If you happen to know anybody that teaches K-12, do everybody a favor and point ‘em towards Science The World so we can start building a smarter tomorrow.

• Kickstarts have also been underway, with campaigns set for the second volume of The Bear (including a webcomicky presentation of Volume 1 at MyBear.net, as promised recently), the second volume of Dumbing of Age, the first volume of Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether, and the revival of the Penny Arcade Downloadable Content podcast.
• That last one has been getting a bunch of (to my mind, ill-informed) pushback, on the grounds that podcasts don’t cost anything and therefore it’s a big scam. Au contraire, mon frère, podcasts do cost something; they cost time, which if Mike Krahulik, Jerry Holkins, and others at Penny Arcade Industries take, they won’t be spending on other things that will generate money.

  Could Jerry and Mike do the podcast without impacting their lavish, Russian mafia-like lifestyles? Probably, but they aren’t just supporting themselves — their efforts are what make payroll for more than a dozen people, and with that kind of responsibility comes Robert Khoo’s responsibility to say, We have to find a way to make it pay. Me, I’m just interested to see if they set the all-time record for highest percentage funding in Kickstarter history, which as of this writing is at an astonishing 570,000% of goal. Okay, granted, that was a ten dollar goal, but let’s not lose sight of the distractingly-large number.

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¹ Much in the way that my dog will be your very best friend if you offer her a treat, but shies away from small children that haven’t learned how to pet gently.

² In keeping with tribal custom, all specific engineering disciplines are capitalized here at Fleen, in acknowledgment of the skills, knowledge, and hard work of those who practice our peculiar intersection of design, intuition, math, science, the right-hand rule³, and blowin’ shit up. Respect.

³ AKA, The engineering gang sign.

What to do when your e-book publisher decides to drop comics of an adult nature, including your very popular anthology that is surely bringing in a considerable amount of money? Sale on the physical copy, naturally. Let’s let Smut Peddler editor Spike tell the story:

Hey folks FYI: Gumroad has temporarily dropped adult content. But Smut Peddler will be available on Comixology, starting in May!

I’ve been working with Comixology for a while to get my stuff on there, and it’s scheduled to go live in a couple of weeks. EXCITED.

SALE: Smut Peddler is ALL GUMMED UP! Until April 30th, physical copies of this fabulous anthology are 33% OFF!

That was where it stood 30 minutes ago (as of the time of writing this paragraph): unfortunate occurrence, making the best of it, resilience of the artist, etc. Then I noticed that Bleeding Cool was reporting on this situation, and their report (more precisely, a link from their report) made this situation seem a bit more … tawdry.

Not because of the porn (especially tastefully done porn, predominantly from the ladies), and not because Gumroad pulled Smut Peddler (taking credit cards means that they have to adhere to policies put forth by the card companies and payment processors, a situation that has tripped up more than one previous purveyor of porntastic provisions). See, the Bleeding Cool piece talked with a guy who had his gay-themed e-book pulled by Gumroad, and he asked why, if he’s being pulled, is Smut Peddler allowed to be on the service?

More precisely, he asked three times, by name, in all caps, via an open posting on Facebook.

All of which leads me to a dilemma. We at Fleen are not in favor of rewarding people who behave poorly with links or attention. Yet we also realize that you shouldn’t necessarily take my interpretation of this situation at face value, and you should have the opportunity to judge for yourself, which is less likely to happen if you have to go searching all over the hell’s half-acre that is the internet to find what I’m talking about.

So here’s what I’ve done: Ive screenshotted the posting that the person in question made to Facebook (seen above), and removed his name. This is for two reasons:

1. If I’m being unduly harsh, the creator in question doesn’t deserve to have his name unduly linked with critical rhetoric.
2. If, on the other hand, my gut feeling on this is correct and the creator in question is engaging in behavior somewhere between a hissy fit and sour grapes¹, he doesn’t deserve the publicity that even a critical assessment would bring him.

In any event: Smut Peddler’s on sale for 33% off until the end of the month.

Let’s talk about things that are more unambiguously positive, ‘kay?

• The Jeff Rowland’s Flickr account has a new video up showing some of the activity around the in-renovations future home of TopatoCo. At one point in the video (18 seconds, to be precise), Rowland approaches a road roller, leading to the possibility that joyrides may take place at some point in the future. There is no part of this that could possibly end unawesomely.
• There are several webcomics “review” sites that are little more than exercises in drive-by vandalism, delighting in the negative for the sheer nihilistic joy of it². So I am overjoyed to see a new webcomics review site pop up that is dedicated to the prospect of sharing what the author finds to be good rather than tearing down what’s subjectively bad.³ Ladies and gentlemen, may I commend to you Robynne Blume’s Webcomics Worth Wreading, which opens with a discussion of Reptilis Rex by William Tallman.
• Strip Search Elimination #5 spoilers ahoy. Hold up here if you haven’t seen it yet.

  All good? ‘Kay, let’s start off by saying that was the best visit to Artdome we’ve had yet, and I was sorry to think that either Amy or Maki would be going home because we really are past the point of obviously weak competitors; anybody in the house could win it at this point. Also they both interacted with each other and the Creators in a way that was more lively and unguarded than we’ve seen before. Also-also, Jerry drank a comic⁴, which is not a sentence I ever thought I would type.

  Now what I find to be the curious thing at this point is where the show goes from here. When I spoke to Robert Khoo and Erika Sadsad about the show before it debuted, Khoo said that while there will be no way to tell the entire story of what happened in the mansion, there was a natural narrative that emerged during filming.

  Up until now, I’d been expecting that narrative to be Amy’s, from her initial presentation as the one person playing the game part of the competition, to her meeting and befriending of Erika Moen, aka my fucking hero. Sadly, that story’s come to an end⁵, which got me to wondering what else might be the new narrative if it’s not Amy’s Journey. Possibilities include:

  • Dr Strangeabby or: How Mike Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Tangent
  • Monica’s Story, brought to you by Depends
  • Katie Will Kill All Who Challenge Her And Eat Whatever She Kills
  • Lexxy: Third Time’s The Charm!
  • Maki, Tavis, Beardlove by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Erika Just Wins Everything Because We At Fleen Have Been Team Hurricane Since Day Minus 218

  Your best guesses as to where the heck the story goes from here in the comments, please.

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¹ If anybody knows a short, pithy expression that means If I can’t have something I’ll make sure others can’t either, I’ll be happy to use it. For now we’ll make do with “sour grapes”.

² No links, but if you want to know why such things still exist, my best guess is found in the extended digression on the nature of criticism by Anton Ego at the end of Ratatouille:

We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read.

³ Honestly, if it’s that bad, let it alone and it’ll go away on its own. Or just repeat to yourself Okay, I don’t like it but that doesn’t mean other people aren’t allowed to.

⁴ And he just … kept … drinking.

⁵ At least within the context of the show, but Ms T Falcone has skillfully parlayed her time on the show into more attention and eyeballs on her comic than she could reasonably expected to have had otherwise. A lot of people are going to be following her career closely from here on out.

I’ve been wondering when the first really big Strip Search-related splash would be made and last night Lexxy Douglas launched a Kickstarter to get her webcomic started. In the order that they occur to me:

• Less than 90 minutes after launch (and about an hour after the first public tweet), Douglas had cleared her US$7500 goal.
• Reading the campaign pitch the money raised is to let Douglas turn down otherwise-paying work so she has the time to launch the comic; this stands in contrast to most [web]comics-related Kickstarters that are going to succeed, in that a request to make something that nobody’s seen yet generally doesn’t do as well as a request to merchandise something that already has an audience.
• Douglas, of course, has an audience (via social media) and is well integrated with webcomics creators, not to mention the fans she’s garnered in her time on Strip Search. Last night I thought she’d timed the launch of this KS campaign well, given that she was still seeing an uptick in attention from people that felt her elimination from the show was a travesty. #TeamLexxy will be all over this.
• This morning, I think that her timing is absolute fucking genius [A/V mixed with a liberal dose of holy crap!]; seriously Lexxy, that is some Khoo-level strategy you pulled right there. Bravo.
• As of this writing, Ms Douglas is on the cusp of just north of US$21,000 and the Gary’s First Law of Kicktraq Projections has her finishing in the US$50K – 100K range.
• Stretch goals are presently defined up to 50K; better think up a couple more and ones that don’t require physical production/shipping, on account of you’ve already got a couple hundred packages to mail.
• It appears that George helped Of course he did.

Speaking of Kickstarts, what may be the most logistically-challenging [web]comics Kickstart in history¹ is making progress, and dropped some references to a pledge-management system² called BackerKit, which you may as well get used to seeing, as I suspect it will be a standard part of Make That Thing campaigns.

I can’t give you a comparison with the previously-mentioned After The Crowd as I don’t have access yet, but the screencaps and video make it seem roughly equivalent. The one key differentiator that I noticed is that BackerKit appears to give you continuous access to manage your pledge/information, where After The Crowd gave you a time-limited, one-shot access (with the ability to request re-access later if needed).

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¹ Fulfillment will involve the wrangling of literal dozens of webcomickers, wood craftsmen, printers, translators, musicians, delicious adorable kittens, and more.

² It’s only a matter of time before the enterprise software industry reduces that to “PMS”.

Two days ago it was not-yet-spring weather, now all of a sudden it’s late-June weather, with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it slice of spring in between. What the hecking heck? And with the imminent doldrums of summer comes the quiet season with not much going on as creators everywhere are seemingly enjoying the warm, nap-prompting weather.

In fact, I’ve got nothing for you other than a response from Robert Khoo regarding my questions regarding the Magic: The Gathering challenge yesterday, which is: Sorry, not at liberty to say! Fair enough.

Since the news is taking a nap today, I suggest we all take the opportunity to do likewise. See you tomorrow.

Spoilers if you haven’t seen the latest episode of Strip Search: the challenge involved doing a Magic: The Gathering-themed deck for a skateboard, and in a scant 90 minutes (scarcely enough time to come up with a preliminary design and ask for client feedback) some remarkably polished work got done. However, there could be only one winner and that for the challenge and that was “Hurricane” Erika Moen¹ and well deserved it was, too.

The only thing in this particular challenge that caught me off guard was the fact that although the challenge was described as work-for-hire and that Wizards of the Coast would be producing the skate deck for giveaway during Vans Warped Tour, Strip Search host Graham Stark did not, as has been traditional, explicitly say that Moen won x-number-of-dollars for her design.

Also, as this is a work based around another company’s IP, the usual rule that “the Artists own everything they produce” may not apply; there’s been a lot of online clamoring for one design or another to be produced as a print (notably Maki’s), and I’ve yet to notice any movement in that direction as of the time of this writing. I’ve reached out to Strip Search executive producer Robert Khoo for comment, and I’ll be sure to let you know what I find out².

In other news, one of the nicest, most modest guys in webcomics, Ryan Pequin, had some big news last night:

Anyway by the way I’m a real-ass storyboard guy on Regular Show now.

I’m actually almost finished my first board but frankly I expect the ground to swallow me whole somehow before I feel like this is official.

You’ll get to see the first episode I worked on in ten months so keep your eyes peeled until then!

Taken as a piece with the other webcomics types working on Cartoon Network-affiliated shows and comics, it certainly seems like webcomics is not just a goal in and of itself, but also a damn fine mechanism for making talent known in other fields.

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¹ Personal pick of this page to win the entire competition since the day that the reality show was announced as a stretch goal to the Penny Arcade Kickstarter.

² Keeping in mind that it may be the only answer he can give is Our arrangements with sponsors don’t allow me to comment on that, which is entirely fair.

It’s one of those words with entirely too many definitions.

• Hey, have I mentioned that MoCCA Fest is this weekend? Because it totally is, and I will be roaming the crap out of the show floor¹ on Saturday². Look for a healthy contingent of webcomickers and their natural allies, including the various B9 creators, Magnolia Porter, Lauren Zukauskas, Mike Isenberg & Oliver Mertz, David McGuire, Sophie Goldstein, Sylvan Migdal, Oni Press, Top Shelf, and :01 Books — who will be debuting Lucy Knisley’s Relish, which it seems everybody loves.
• Let’s take a trip to the picture show, as The Economist examined closely the efforts of Freddave Kellett-Schroeder to navigate the waters of Fair Use in the production of Stripped. It says something that the vagaries of US copyright law would get such a close reading in a London-based magazine, but I’m not sure if I can articulate exactly what it says.

  It’s probably very insightful and about midway between the ubiquity of US-made media and the inability of the newsy segment of that same media to do in-depth reporting on issues raised in odd corners of the culture. Anyhoo, as of this writing there’s just under two days left to help get more sound and video clips into Stripped, if you should be so inclined.

• From the movie show to the reality show, Stripped to Strip Search:
  

  [Regarding surprises during the production period] Khoo echoed this, noting especially how Krahulik hit a particular point where his respect for The Artists became a major influence on his participation.

  Well! We know what Robert was talking about now, don’t we? My regard for Mike Krahulik [SPOILERS in that link] has jumped several notches with his insistence that he would not [redacted] the losing Artist’s contribution in Strip Search elimination #3.

  Very tense episode, and had Khoo not said in previous interviews that every day resulted in an elimination, I would have bet good money that this would be a candidate for playing a “nobody goes home” card. We at Fleen want to congratulate Lexxy Douglass and Tavis Maiden for sharing their best work with us; you both rock.

• Dang if it doesn’t make my heart sing as Chris Onstad decides to show us he’s getting the (metaphorical) band back together:
  

  Achewood’s hiatus has been the stuff of much speculation, and the lack of information from me has contributed to this. In some cases, silence on my part was construed as disregard; this truly was never the reason for it. Some of my personal struggles became all-consuming and needed addressing. We can go over the unsavory details later. I’m grateful—and lucky—to be able to tell you that these are, after a long, dark tea-time, behind me. But during this period, many of my relationships suffered. Some were with my readers and supporters. For you affected by my difficulties, I sincerely apologize. Please know I’m working to restore that relationship —- first and foremost by addressing the second cookbook —- and will have good news on that to share with you soon. [emphasis mine]

  Chris, all is forgiven if even one of those recipes in the second cookbook is even half as good as Perfect Oven Fries Every Time.

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¹ Which is small enough that I’m not bothering with table numbers here.

² Sunday I’m helping to skills-test a class of EMT students, finding out who’s learned how to not kill their patients.

PAXEast kicked off this morning and if I’ve done my timekeeping correctly, a whole passel of Strip Search Artists are, even as I type, on a panel having just watched the second elimination episode with the PAXers on a suitably large screen. Two thoughts:

• These eliminations are starting to get both heartbreaking and heartwarming, as Mike and Jerry clearly are pulling no punched in the judging, yet going out of their way to encourage the Artists in such a way as challenge them to better themselves in their careers. Can’t wait to see when in the season we get to peek in on what’s happening at The Afterlife¹.
• The editing process must have been tougher than the producers estimated in January, when it was predicted that the episodes would track in the 12 – 15 minute range. So far, only one episode has been less than 15 minutes, two between 15 and 20, and the remainder over 20 minutes. Instead of a three-episode day taking the equivalent of 45 minutes (an “hour” of TV minus commercials), it’s going to be closer to a full hour, meaning this show is more content-rich than actual broadcast alternatives.
• Okay, third thing, I lied. Strip Search Artist Monica Ray is crowdfunding her first Phuzzy Comics collection, and the video is alternately hilarious and adorable. Were I not backing Hurricane Erika, I think that Monica would be one of my picks to win the competition, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want her book. Others seem to agree, as she’s a day in and over her goal by a good 20%, with 30 days left to go. If you were at the panel and saw her, I hope you told her, “Gary said hi”.

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¹ The name given by production staff to the house where the eliminated Artists were held until the competition was done. Once again, I am compelled to point out that even when given a specific opportunity to do so, Robert Khoo did not deny that The Afterlife was stocked with booze and hookers of all genders. I wonder how airtight the NDAs actually are….

Don’t worry, the math is mostly philosophical in nature.

• So if you haven’t seen the newest¹ episode of Strip Search, be aware that winning a challenge carries with it a twist that made me suspect that Robert Khoo, et. al., had finally given into their supervillain destiny. At least, the ratio of Good:Evil is dropping somewhat precipitously

  In case I had any doubts, I saw the list of PAXEast Omeganuats and certain names jumped out at me from the list of 32 names:

  Casey Carper
  Norwood Carper
  …
  Harry Hayes
  Dylan Hayes
  …
  Caleb Thompson
  Amanda Thompson
  Chelsea Thompson

  Okay “Thompson” and even “Hayes” are reasonably common surnames, but “Carper”? Are the Omegathon gamemakers (why, that would also involve Mr Khoo) choosing family members to compete against each other? Better start looking for extinct volcanoes in Lair Monthly, Robert, you’ll need one for when you make the call to threaten the UN.

• Speaking of updates today, Evan Dahm’s Vattu hit 400 pages, and as near as I can tell, we’re still somewhere in Act I. Best guess, we are maybe twenty percent of the way through the story as a whole, which is taking as much time as it needs. Heck, for the past 100 pages or so, Vattu herself has been a supporting player in her own story as Junti and the mysterious Surin alchemist enclave and their even more mysterious “unweight” have been the recent focus.

  Not that I am complaining! I would read a thousand pages about Junti and her curiosity about unweight² and its ratio³ that leads to balance. She (and goodness, so many primary characters in Vattu are female, including seemingly all of the Surin) is possessed of that most dangerous of all qualities in a place dedicated to balance: curiosity. Combined with Vattu’s drive it could change face of Overside.

• No ratio (unless you’re counting alcohol by volume), but today’s Questionable Content made me snerk out loud, particularly the title. Also, let’s not overlook the fact that the word whisky is derived from the Gaelic for water of life which would be entirely appropriate as it appears that Claire is now a Reverend Mother. Honestly, no book could ever inspire more nerdery than Dune.

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¹ And longest, clocking in at more than 20 minutes. The earlier estimates of approximately 9 hours total running time may no longer be valid.

² We know it’s a refinement of a naturally-occurring substance, but why have no other people learned to distill it? It’s a luxury good for its coloration, its flavor, and possibly drug-like properties? Oh, yeah, and the fact that it defies gravity without violating the suspension of disbelief. Honestly, the Junti portions of Vattu remind me of nothing so much as H. Beam Piper’s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen and its story of a world where gunpowder was a semi-sacred, entirely secret concoction.

³ It’s at least 12:1, assuming that “weight” is a standard reference substance.

If I may beg your indulgence, I’d like to do something rare and respond to a comment¹, in large part because it expresses something I’ve seen elsewhere in the past couple of days. To reduce the argument to its most basic form:

Strip Search’s first episode was boring, nothing happened.

Which I think is an unfair critique. True, over sixteen minutes there were no screaming matches, no competition, no disqualifications, and no overt drama. This is exactly what needed to happen, as we’re still in the scene-setting stage of the show. Yes, but reality shows have a well-established set of tropes that we’re all familiar with, so we can jump right into the meat in the first three minutes, right?

Well, not really. The shows that jump straight into competition are ones that have tens, dozens of seasons behind them, with a built-in audience that knows how things are going to go. But look back at those shows when were they new and trying to find that audience — you have to get people to care about the contestants before they can care about the competition, and that’s what Strip Search episode #1 did.

“But Strip Search has a built-in audience already” is the usual counterargument, but it doesn’t, not really. Robert Khoo, among other things, is an inveterate collector of data — he can tell you to two decimal places anything of significance about the statistically typical Penny Arcade reader. And one of the things that he’s alluded to over the years (and it’s borne out by how he’s led the company) is that Penny Arcade, despite outward appearances, isn’t really part of the webcomics sector of the entertainment industry. It’s part of videogames sector.

Khoo could tell you exactly what percentage of PA readers read webcomics widely, but I’m willing to be that the numbers are skewed towards those that read two or three other webcomics and only read Penny Arcade². Heck, I’m all about webcomics and I only knew three of the twelve Artists introduced in episode 1, which would give me little reason to care about 75% of the competition had the others not been introduced properly. Khoo’s also been open about hoping that people who don’t follow webcomics at all³ will hopefully find the competition intriguing.

“But why didn’t anything else happen?” is the other criticism I’m seeing. The answer to this one is even simpler: time. Having run many, many episodes of streaming video, one of the things that Khoo has hard numbers on is how long people will watch TV over the internet and those numbers are clear: fifteen minutes is pushing the outer limits of acceptable to their audience. Khoo’s been consistent in describing Strip Search as aiming for a 10-15 minute running time, which limits how much of a story you can tell without running out of time. Look at it this way: depending on whether the episodes run closer to 10 minutes or 15, that’s three or four episodes equaling the runtime of a broadcast show (once you take out commercials, you’ve got 44 – 46 minutes of content per hour).

We’re just now at the first commercial break; this is the exact time that the introductions should be wrapping up and setting up a sense of anticipation for what comes next⁴. We’re most likely going to see the show run a total of nine or so hours, broken up into approximately 36 episodes each in the vicinity of a quarter-hour. Eleven eliminations will take place across eleven competitions. Three episodes per elimination (setup — competition — judging/elimination/heartfelt goodbyes) gives us 33 epsiodes, with three left over for especially complex or story-rich bits to scatter throughout the season.

Not everything will happen in every episode, nor can it unless Khoo decides to broadcast in 45 minute chunks instead of 15 minute chunks. You aren’t watching episodes of a competition show as you’ve grown accustomed to watching them, you’ve watching segments between commercial breaks. On the one hand, that means there’s fewer commercial breaks per hour than you’d get on broadcast; on the other hand, the breaks are several days long. I’d advise viewers eager for big chunks of action to watch three or four episodes at a time and avoid the Spoilers section of the Strip Search site.

The show may ultimately turn out to be uninteresting, or the personalities of the Artists lacking⁵, or the mechanics of the challenges uncompelling (although given Khoo’s penchant for planning for every possible contingency, I’d bet against it). However, it is way too damn early to declare that Strip Search is not good. Oh, and to answer a specific point in the comment that prompted much more than I’d originally intended to write, if Erika Moen wins, that’s when you’ll see a blog-gasm.

• If there’s any justice in the world, today’s blogging by Bad Machinery creator John Allison⁶ on the state of webcomics and the stressors that may construct post-webcomics will provoke many fertile discussions. I am particularly struck the the strain of human behavior that Allison identifies that seeks to enjoy the attention that comes from sharing creations with the world, but in the manner that is least likely to actually reflect back on the creator. Read it.
• Well played, Rich Burlew, well played. Not only have you come roaring back with eight updates of Order of the Stick in the less than two weeks since we noted your big plot twist, you’ve managed to turn said twist around 180 degrees and make a big surprise into a BIGGER SUPRISINGER⁷ [uh, spoilers]. It’s true, I got ahead of myself in my earlier reading, not waiting for the eyes to turn to little Xs, but you’ve covered that base today. Oh, and the pale skintone that crept in during the strip? Bravo.

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¹ Regular readers of this page will recall my oft-stated dictum to Never read the comments, but obviously I have to keep up on the conversation on my own site. Regular readers may also recall that it’s extremely unusual for me to respond to comments, so take this for what it is — a fleeting occurrence, like sighting an endangered bird in graceful, full-song flight, and treasure it. Or at least check off the box on your Internet Opinionmonger Bingo card.

² I’ve long since come to peace with the idea that I am not Penny Arcade’s target audience, and that they will rarely produce content that’s designed to appeal to me. I’ve never played an MMORPG. I haven’t owned a game console since I was a child and we had an original Atari deck. I buy maybe one game a year, and still haven’t gotten around to Portal 2.

³ There’s a reason that Khoo’s got people involved in Strip Search talking to The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal instead of just hack webcomics pseudojournalists, and you can bet at least part of the show’s structure is designed for the people that those stories will bring in.

⁴ The alternative — jumping straight to eliminating people without getting to know them — is certainly possible, but would require a different show. Think about it for a moment: to jump directly into competition without getting to know the contestants, you’ve got no emotional involvement. Why bother getting to know contestant #7 if he’s going to be gone in the first 15 minutes, just give him the loser’s edit and bring on the screaming could work, except for the part where Khoo’s stated clearly that he didn’t staff the show with damaged people that could only bring drama, and the part where he states his clear desire to want to do right by the Artists.

⁵ Although I cannot imagine any circumstances so dire that I won’t stick around long enough to see the context in which Hurricane Erika decided to talk about butt virginity.

⁶ And goodness, are we really just weeks away from the release of Allison’s first proper Bad Machinery collection? I say “proper” because while you can have my copy of A Feral Flag Will Fly when you pry it from my cold, dead hands, I do long for a gloriously colorful presentation of The Case of the Team Spirit.

Also, I should note that March and April are going to be webcomicsarrific at Oni Press, as we will also see the next Penny Arcade collection and two (two!) collections of Double Fine Action Comics.

⁷ Shut up, it is too a word.

Weird how that worked out.

• Obviously, the big news is the premiere of Strip Search, with episode 1 gathering the dozen Artists and ending weeks of pure agony on my part. Take away the intro with Mike and Jerry that takes up 45 seconds or so at the beginning, start with the theme music and smiling Nick on a gorgeous lakeside setting — that was start of the footage that Robert Khoo showed me last month, which he cut just as the scene switched to the hotel about two minutes later. He is a cruel, cruel man.

  From my recollection, very little has changed from the rough cut — a more subdued narration is the thing that I really noticed — which makes me think that the production was more polished a month ago than I figured it would be. Naturally, questions abound in my brain at this time and spoilers ahoy if you haven’t seen it yet:

  • Were the Artists permitted to speak during the drive from hotel to house?
  • What kind of looping, circuitous route was taken to help lend a sense of distance from the real world?
  • How much of the booze on the counter was consumed by the end of the first day?
  • What does that yellow note by the front door say?
  • Can the producers confirm or deny that there were, in fact, traps in the house?¹

  There will be a no-doubt thriving discussion of the show over at the Strip Search site, and I’ll do my best to overdose you here. In the interests of full disclosure with respect to my future writings about Strip Search, I consider Erika Moen a personal friend and I am totally rooting for her, but I’m also convinced that it’s anybody’s competition to win.

• Let’s stay in the Penny Arcade milieu for a moment, as I point you towards a video from NPR’s Science Friday featuring the PA Rapper Laureate MC Frontalot. In fact, you can hear Mr Alot in the first hour of today’s broadcast of Science Friday (check for your local NPR affiliate and tune in 2:00-4:00pm EST), or via the SciFri website at your convenience after the feed has gone out.
• Hey, know where Penny Arcade is headquartered? Seattle. Know what else is happening in Seattle? EmCity kicks off in about four hours, but also David Malki ! waited until he got there before recording the latest Machine of Death card game Kickstarter video update. But there is a SCANDAL regarding this campaign that I must reveal.

  Note the background in the video, and the fact that Malki ! has apparently injured a finger on his right had which he has covered with with an adhesive bandage. Note the state of beard grooming and the shirt he’s wearing as well:
  

  Now in that video he finally tells us about the mysterious Kickstarter stretch goal known as FATE BLITZ, which turns out to be a series of videos that were recorded with Kris Straub prior to the Kickstarter launching in anticipation of various outcomes — raising $100, raising $200, sneaking through to meet the goal with less than a day left, etc. You can watch the first Fate Blitz video here, which was recorded in Los Angeles last Fall.

  But! Note the background, the injured finger, the shirt, and the state of beard grooming!
  
  They are identical to the Seattle video. There is, sadly, only one conclusion to this remarkable visual match between videos made yesterday in Seattle and months ago in LA, and that is David Malki ! is lying to you. The “Seattle” video was clearly recorded months ago and the entire Kickstarter campaign since has been an elaborate Potemkin village constructed for show. In fact, no stretch goals have been met, no prototypes have been produced, and David Malki ! is not in Seattle but rather absconding towards the Mexican border with Kris Straub and all their ill-gotten Kickstarter gains in bags stuffed full of money. The “David Malki !” or “Kris Straub” that you may encounter this weekend at the EmCity show are imposters, duplicates to throw you off the scent; should you meet them at the show, be sure to tell them you’re onto their little game and they won’t get away with it².

• After all that deception and chicanery, you’ll no doubt want to cleanse your mental palette. Allow me to point you towards an extended Achewood test clip, featuring Chris Onstad in the role of Roast Beef. The comments³ seem to consistently contain complaints that the characters don’t sound right, with the general exception that Onstad’s voicing of Beef is pretty okay.

  Of course the voices don’t sound like they do in your head; they don’t sound like they do in my head either, but since Onstad was involved in the production, it’s pretty clear that they sound like the voices as he imagined them, and that’s pretty much as close to definitively correct as you can get. I can’t wait until we get a clip with Todd voiced and people complain that he doesn’t sound like they think a tweaking, multiply-dead squirrel should sound.

  Actually, no, I can completely wait for that. What I can’t wait for is to see Achewood get picked up in an Adult Swim-like presentation, 11 minute episodes, with the season climax being a hour-long spectacular adaptation of The Great Outdoor Fight. I will commit to buying that sumbitch at whatever inflated price Onstad wants, right now. In the meantime, I am obsessively running a non-stop loop of Ray exlaiming, Kiss my ass, bitch! I’ll be at Duane’s! with an occasional interruption of You wanna go on a little mini-vacation to Paradise? Come look in my toilet, dude. just for variety.

• Finally, not quite video, but close enough: check out the latest Octopus Pie if you haven’t already. Either Hanna’s upping the octane in her snacks or something weird is going on; at this point, I wouldn’t rule out either possibility.

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¹ My theory is that at some point near the end of production, Mike and Jerry will tell the Artists that The Trap was their feelings for each other. Group hug, awwww.

² Please don’t actually do that.

³ Never read the comments, especially not at YouTube.