Weekly Webcomic Wrapup (April 9 - 15, 2006)

So WTF? You have a tall Tetris block that looks like one of the twin towers with a terrorist attack caption and it's supposed to be funny? Do you guys even read these before posting them?

#1

Don't forget the pun on the Bloody Tet Offensive from the Vietnam war. I suppose hundreds of thousands of casualties is funny..


That said, the VG cats one is fantastic. Hands down one of the funniest webcomics i have seen in a while.

is #1 serious? how is that comic at all even hinting at the twin tower attack. i mean, the tall block is supposed to be the bomb not the building. It seems like your making a pretty big stretch just for the sake of getting attention... or you're an idiot.

yeah, the tetris one simply refers to suicide bombing in general. because, if you think about it, what else is happening when you complete lines in tetris? don't be such a rabid "patriot".. it's very unappealing.

ANYWAY.. VG Cats was hilarious. Penny Arcade was second place for me, but it wasn't even a close decision.

"N**ga please!"

omg my first non PA vote!!
vg cats was just perfect this week

Clearly it's just controversy for controversy and not it's got a ton of people talking about it, success for the author. I didn't find it funny but I thought it was an interesting look at Tetris. Do blocks die?

So far as what was funny to me, I enjoyed VGcats. My vote.

It was definitely clever. I can see how people got offended though. A lot of people are addicted to the sensation and righteousness of being offended and this is their weekly drug of choice.

It's not a webcomic, but you should have a look at Katie Rice's 8-bit Show pieces. http://funnycute.blogspot.com/2006/04/8-bit-show.html

She was an artist on the last iteration of Ren and Stimpy.

Am I the only one who vote for dueling analogs?
That special olympics game tickled me.

Didn't find VG Cats that funny, maybe its becuz we don't get that commercial over here :(

But seriously, why no Concerned, Joystiq?

Ha.. Dr. Mario's abortion clinic. I know to some people that shouldn't be funny, but still, Mario running an abortion clinic!?!?!

(I don't want someone who's opposed to this to start calling me out, it's just a joke, a funny joke)

Alright now. The Tetris joke: distasteful, definitely streches the boundaries, but dont you dare invoke the twin towers on this one. If you live in the middle-east, in israel or palestine or something, and you know the true dangers and sorrows of suicide bombings and other such acts of terrorism, then, by all means, be offended and email the maker of the comic to tell him that you would appreciate more sensitivity and class in the future. But, seriously now, this has nothing to do with the twin towers.
Personally,I have laughed long and hard at my fare share of incredibly distasteful jokes about terrorism and the like, I just didn't really find the joke all that funny. I can see where he could have brought it further and had some ridiculous comment on how tetris can be construed as violent...rip on Jack Thompson or other witch-hunters...etc etc, its cliche now but I might have giggled at that.

As for the other comics, I like the focus of both the VGcats and the PA comics. They are both rather scathing towards their subjects but I feel like both could've been executed a little smoother. Now, I did think PA was funnier...maybe its just a sense of humor thing, but VGcats had a better commentary on the ad campaign that is its subject. In fact, it includes some of the most serious, non-obnoxious statements I have ever seen in a VGcats.
My vote goes the VGcats not because it was that much funnier than the others, but becauseit ripped on an ad campaign that needs ripping on and did it very well. In my mind, it was tied with PA in funniness, but 1st place in scathing PSP ad criticism. As much as I like squirrels and funny-looking dustballs...WTH.

Number one was probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

I'm gonna have to agree on VgCats...whoever made those PSP commercials deserves a slow painful death. PA came in a close second.

What i dont understand is why they chose THAT PA comic...the better one this week was "I hope you like Text"

"I will open one of my six mouths, and i will sing the song that ends the Earth"

I vote for that one.

the vgcats was pretty funny though, we talked about it on our radio show.

I dunno what's funnier: the comics or how everyone got pissed at that first guy that commented.

I think "The Comments on This Post" should be a choice on the weekly poll, it'd be a close 2nd to the VGcats.

#1.. Your comparison with the tetris illustration to the attack on the twin towers is completely misguided. The illustrator was merely hinting at current attitudes to suicide bombers, the fact that the shape of the object is rectangular is of no concern. I believe that the illustrator was not at all poking fun at what happened at september the 11th. and even if he was, this would be considered as satire. Think of the plays of shakespeare and also that of Webster. they were Satires of their time. although I don't find the twin towers 'incedant' (sp?) as some thing to laugh about i do think that, for literary reasons, they should be something that is targetted.

N.B I am quite drunk writing this, so if nothing makes sense I will re-iterate in the morning.

I think VG Cats is pretty damn stupid. I've never found the comics funny at all.

Ctrl-Alt-Del 4 life.

tru dat StefanW. TRU DAT.
ctrl-alt-del is #1.
forget you suckas.

I think Ctrl-Alt-Del is pretty damn stupid. I've never found the comics funny at all.

Option-Command-Esc 4 life.

tru dat ErkelJ. TRU DAT.
option-command-esc is #1.
forget you suckas.

CAD was funny before there was 'story' and 'continutity' and in their place stood jokes. good times.

Unfortunately my english isn't good enough to get the VG Cats comic, so I voted for Digital Unrest.

I'm not a fan of CAD myself, sometimes they are pretty stupid, but VGCats is annoying.

Penny Arcade almost always makes a classic joke.

VGcats wins hands down. About time those godd*amn ridiculous Sony ads get their due.

http://comic.thecrisiscenter.net/?comic=6

my crappy attempt. lol

An innocent question for Shifty Eyes: does the asterisk punctuating "godd" and "amn" in your comment above serve any purpose other than to force me to bore you all to agony by reiterating my argument detailing why censorship is bullshit?

No, it is far too late to rescind your comment now. Look upon, ye haughty, and despair.

Imagine, if you will, that I am an innocent adolescent surfing the websternet, when suddenly I stumble across a link about video gaming webcomics. I may think to myself, "Hooray! Video games and comics are both things that I thoroughly enjoy! Especially the ones that reaffirm my youthful optimism and unfaltering dedication to blind naivet?My only fear is that someone may have used faux profanity while alluding to an unsatisfactory ad campaign of some sort! Ha ha!”

Now I ask you, Shifty Eyes, how will that particular asterisk, placed so appropriately, prevent me from puncturing my eyes with a grapefruit spoon upon discovering that I have been unwittingly tricked into breaking the third commandment? Will you take sole responsibility for my moral decline as I begin my inevitable descent into madness and debauchery? Just think, if only I had remained sheltered in my comfortable womb of ignorance I may have grown up to be an architect, or a banker, or even a serial rapist! Woe unto me!

Let this be an overly dramatized lesson for you, Shifty. Next time, you can either refrain from using profanity entirely, or you can grow a pair of hairy, dangling principles and just say the fucking word.

I am truly sorry for venting my unadulterated rage in your general direction. It seems that the PSP's ad campaign has inspired me to reach new plateaus of fury.

@ striegs: Overreacting much?

You really should have picked PA's comic from 4/10, coz it would have won:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10

The first comic was tasteless. I can't believe Joystiq supports terrorism. ;) J/k, but it was still not funny. Probably should read these before you post them.

Overall I'd say VGcats was #1, but it definitely didn't make me laugh out loud or anything. The commercials have been out for months. I'm surprised it took anyone this long to make fun of them.

Lynk, if anything, I'm not overreacting nearly enough.

@striegs --

What's also funny is that the PA comic used the word "fuck," so if they read the comics, they would be subjected to swearing that is arguably more offensive than "god damn." Astericks do not at all make anything less offensive. Anyone with any sense can look at "f**k" and know it's really "fuck," especially when used as "That's the dumbest f**king thing I've ever read."

It's as easy to understand as me saying "That's the du**est thing I've ever read." Astericks save you from nothing.