Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is Left 4 The Living

by Ross Miller { Nov 16th 2008 at 3:30PM }

16 November --Dear Diary,

Manny here. Meche and I decided to go visit Stubbs in the city, ran into a few ne'er-do-wells harassing a quartet of the living. Far be it for me to get in the way of schoolyard play, but these half-living mobs -- they weren't even well dressed! -- were being big bullies. Savages these days.

I saw the four not-yet-departed heading toward a nearby theater, so I decided to leave them a shotgun and assault rifle. Hope that helps clear the crowds. I'm not in the travel business anymore, but I'm always for new neighbors in the Ninth. It raises the value of my condo.

Time to go, Stubbs is here and he's got tickets for the off-broadway performance of Nightmare Before Christmas.

How We Used to Do It (CAD Comics)
No Escape (MNC)
Limitless Adventure (Penny Arcade)
Discontent (Castle Vidcons; context)
Guilt Ridden All Over His Face (2P Start)
It Takes Two (VG Cats)
Crash Test Crummy (Sidescroller)

Gallery: Weekly Webcomic Wrapup logo designs

Tags: grim-fandango, left-4-dead, left4dead, webcomic

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

JerJer @ Nov 16th 2008 3:44PM

i rescind my comment about vgcats...

a rare flop indeed...

a not so rare flop from all of them sadly...

Capgun @ Nov 16th 2008 3:46PM

Jeez, VG cats was kinda depressing. Laughed at first, then felt bad.

Chase @ Nov 16th 2008 3:56PM

I agree. It Takes Two is more depressing than funny.

Evan @ Nov 16th 2008 11:56PM

Is the point of a game comic just to be funny? Or to say something about the games and characters?

The VGCats comic may be sad, but what Rare has done to Banjo and Kazooie is just as sad.

Dustin @ Nov 16th 2008 3:47PM

I cant tell what's going on in the Castle Vidcons one.

FlamingEffigy @ Nov 16th 2008 4:02PM

Yeah its difficult with the drawing style, but if you look at the heads of the guys they are PS3's, then the others are the consoles that are selling better i believe. Took till the last panel for me to figure out the PS3 guys werent just wearing helmets :/

Top Cat @ Nov 16th 2008 5:12PM

Click on the comic image when on the website to get an enlarged and clearer version.

Chase @ Nov 16th 2008 3:57PM

I think none of them are particularly riotous. But I do like MNC's No Escape for its concept. First-person Mario would be an interesting game.

FSK405K @ Nov 16th 2008 4:01PM

Is there anywhere I can get Grim Fandango easily? Like on Steam or anything? I once scoured the net for a cheap disk, but couldn't find anything bug a jewel-case version for less than $25 or $30.

Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Nov 16th 2008 4:58PM

Five Year Rule - It's okay to torrent it and save yourself the trouble of digging through bargain bins if the game is old enough.

FSK405K @ Nov 16th 2008 5:28PM

Considering how highly Grim Fandango would place in late '90s gaming canon, and because Tim Schafer was overlooked on Psychonaughts and will be screwed over on Brutal Legend, I want to support him / it correctly.

If they would put it on Steam / Impulse / GFWL-M, I'm sure it would be received as positively as Darwinia was: "We sold more copies of Darwinia on Steam in three weeks than we'd managed to sell ourselves via UK retail and the Introversion store during the whole launch period" -Chris Delay, Introversion Software

Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Nov 16th 2008 5:52PM

Still, unlike Darwinia released in 2005, 1998 Grim Fandango is almost as much of a dead game as it can get.Barely short of abdonware.Just like Fallout and GTA 2 which can now be found online free of charge.

I apreciate your intentions but you're fooling yourself if you think that Tim Schafer will still benefit from this game.He has long moved on and started DoubleFine.Save your money for Brutal Legend.

Speaking of which, that's also why I have a problem with Virtual Console.Selling twenty year old games that are long out of develepment cycle for so much money gives Nintendo pure profit(it hardly ever goes to the authors) while the game should've been free by now.

Haggard @ Nov 16th 2008 6:48PM

Schafer won't see a penny of the £3 the game would cost, all you'll be doing is funding the next Indiana Jones movie.

t_m @ Nov 17th 2008 7:24AM

Ebay? Several going for under $10 on there at the moment.

Or go to GOG.COM and vote for it on their wishlist and hope that (for the first time in about 10 years) lucasarts chooses the light side and does something good.

I generally don't support "illegitimate" downloads... but when the creator won't see any profits, the company treats its fans like crap, and its a choice between abandonware and allowing a classic to be lost to the dusts of time... i'm not sure its as black and white as usual.

(PS/ Publishing companies that prevent people playing their ack catalogues are idiots. Imagine if music or movie companies refused to re-release their albums/movies after 5 years... their shareholders would crucify them...)

themizarkshow @ Nov 16th 2008 4:06PM

i love the CAD one... but VG Cats kicked its ass in all fairness.

Kyattsuai @ Nov 16th 2008 4:07PM

Curse you, MNC, I was going to do a Mirror's Edge/Mario comic this week - Faith was disarming a Hammer Bros and jumping at a red flagpole... I guess it didn't really have a punchline.

Anyway, I'm torn between that one and VG Cats' this week.

MNC Dover @ Nov 16th 2008 11:37PM

I say go ahead and do it. I seriously doubt anyone will be screaming, "MNC did it first!" at you. :) Forgive me for asking, but what comic do you do?

Kyattsuai @ Nov 17th 2008 12:03AM

Burn The Internet - it's more of a drawing blog, but it's been in the Wrapup a few times.

http://burntheinternet.blogspot.com/

Haggard @ Nov 16th 2008 4:09PM

Ross, you win so much more than words can describe for the Grim Fandango reference.

Trickob @ Nov 17th 2008 4:28AM

agreed. thank you for that, RM!

Steve @ Nov 16th 2008 4:17PM

This week's GameMarks is pretty funny but didn't make the list again:

http://www.gamerscollide.com/2008/11/15/creative-control/

Markez @ Nov 16th 2008 9:28PM

Nice! See this one I actually like and found amusing, the rest are garbage, in my opinion. Not that anybody cares about that, though :P The thought of a angry sack yanking an etch-a-sketch from a kid is comical.

Altairio @ Nov 16th 2008 11:36PM

I lol'd. Good one.

KiraXD @ Nov 16th 2008 11:46PM

lmao... i lol'd in RL as well... this is definitely the best one.

Trickob @ Nov 17th 2008 4:32AM

that was most good. glad you posted it :)

giantenemycrab @ Nov 16th 2008 4:18PM

What the... what is wrong with VG Cats? That was a dark, sad, unfunny turn it took at the ending. Between this one and the recent one where the Aeris went back in time and aborted Leo with a hanger leads me to believe that Ramsoomair must be going through a hard time in his life or something... Yikes.

Haggard @ Nov 16th 2008 4:26PM

I lol'd at it. I always liked black comedy though.

Kyattsuai @ Nov 16th 2008 4:38PM

At least Kazooie didn't miscarry.

Jerk Face @ Nov 17th 2008 12:00AM

The problem with VG Cats isn't that it's dark - it's that it has been shitty for like two years now. He updates whenever the hell he feels like it with some dumb ass comic that isn't even funny anymore. To hell with VG cats, I say.

Mr Khan @ Nov 16th 2008 4:19PM

All good except 2P Start, which took the problem of web-comic minimalism and sunk it to a new low (odd, because they are usually quite good)

I voted MNC 2nd week in a row, just for the absurdity of it all

Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 16th 2008 4:23PM

a good comic from PVP. Although it makes even MORE sense if you read the strip before it also.

http://www.pvponline.com/

I voted for VG cats

Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 16th 2008 4:24PM

oops, two strips before it

http://www.pvponline.com/2008/11/12/horde-vs-alliance/

nick @ Nov 16th 2008 4:25PM

It's bad enough that Nintendo insists on recycling that stupid plumber every 2 months, why do webcomics have to as well??? Pac-man isn't much better.

As usual, Castle Vidcons is anti-funny crap too.

had to go for CAD this time

Haggard @ Nov 16th 2008 4:30PM

Yeah, down with unfunny crap! Let's all vote for CAD!

...

wait

MowDownJoe @ Nov 16th 2008 4:43PM

Okay, now I have to vote for Vidcons.

Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Nov 16th 2008 5:02PM

Castle Vidicons isn't anti-funny.

It's just so sophisticated that by the time you get to the end the humour comes from "appreciating the whole situation" and "I see what you did there" rather than the "lol lol lol lol lol @ punchline" other comics do.

Mr Khan @ Nov 16th 2008 6:19PM

Discounting VC, the last Mario title was 2.5 months ago, and the next one isn't coming until February

killroy420 @ Nov 16th 2008 4:42PM

I have given up on trying reading castle vidcons.

It doesn't make any sense, when it does it not funny, and its impossible to read.

It's like the guy drew the cartoon with a pencil on a used brown napkin and scanned it with a scanner from 1990.

Joystiq, why do you insist on including it here?

FrankDrebin @ Nov 17th 2008 12:08AM

because i like it.

killroy420 @ Nov 17th 2008 10:55PM

fair enough :P

Markez @ Nov 16th 2008 4:55PM

So, are these ever actually funny at all? Ever? Think this is the 4th time now I've actually gone through and looked at all of these. They always suck. If anyone can point me to a specific strip like these, that actually is remotely funny, it'd be appreciated.

Superstar90 @ Nov 16th 2008 4:56PM

The only one that I really like is the SUPER EFFECTIVE ones, that are about Pokemon.

And, it's not about videogames, but Dr. McNinja is amazing.

Superstar90 @ Nov 16th 2008 4:55PM

VG Cats was sad, and true....

And Castle Vidicons is awful, it is hard to read and messy and isn't even funny.

hvnlysoldr @ Nov 16th 2008 10:07PM

I would have sarcastically replied you're hard to read, messy, and isn't even funny but you're none of that.

john @ Nov 16th 2008 5:03PM

Is it possible tim has finally got what people have been screaming and decided to ditch the "shitty-ass-plots-which-we-don't-care-about" and return his comic to a gaming one? fantastic. that said had to vote vgcats.

Bucket @ Nov 16th 2008 5:13PM

Hey, thanks for the context link. Without it, I never would've figured out from the comic that Wii outsold PS2. Actually, that's true because the guy does not know how to draw.

Tyrannius @ Nov 16th 2008 5:21PM

First off, I'm glad CAD is doing gaming comics again as opposed to shitty miscarriage/failed marriage storylines that wouldn't even make the cutting room of All My Children. That said, the one here sucked.

I'd vote for PvP if it was up there (it should), but since it's not up there, uhhh... I guess its Monday Night Crew for me.